Dear Jefferson Lab User,
During the week of July 13-17, the Jefferson Laboratory Program
Advisory
Committee (PAC14) will consider new proposals, updates, and
letters-of-intent. PAC14 will also review the schedule for experiments
in the three Halls. The JLab Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will
make comments on the technical viability of the proposals and provide
these comments to the spokespersons and the PAC prior to the meeting.
As always, proposals will be judged on the quality of the physics,
technical feasibility, and the ability of the group to carry out the
proposed measurements.
The ground rules for this PAC will be somewhat different than has been
the case in the past. The PAC will be given guidance on the maximum
amount of beam time it should recommend for approval for each hall.
<bold>Experiment Backlog
</bold>As you know, the backlog of approved experiments at Jefferson
Lab is large -- between six and seven years for our present schedule
with our present overall operating efficiency (~50%). We have
requested from DOE a $3M increment to the laboratory's operating budget
to address both the accelerator efficiency and experimental support
issues. We estimate this would increase the physics throughput of the
laboratory by about 25%. A second $3M/year would permit us to increase
throughput by about an additional 25%, further reducing the backlog.
However, it is not yet known if we will receive this funding, and, in
any event, we must take some action in the interim to begin to address
the backlog.
The Users Group Board of Directors (UGBoD) has recommended that the
backlog be reduced from its present 6-7 years to between 3 and 4 years.
One obvious step toward this goal, which was recommended by both the
PAC and the UGBoD, is to provide guidance to the PAC on the total
amount of beam time for proposals they recommend for approval. We
currently operate each of the three halls for about six months of 24
hour/day, 7 day/week beam delivery (corresponding to three months of
beam at 100% efficient operation) per year. Therefore, if each
(biannual) PAC approved three months of running per hall (or 1-1/2
months of 100% efficient operation) then the backlog would be in
equilibrium. All future PACs will receive guidance that no more than
this equilibrium level of beam time be recommended for approval. This
guidance will not be so rigid as to preclude PAC consideration and
recommendation of important new experiments and/or programs that cannot
be accommodated within the nominal beam time limits, but any such
exceptions will have to present a compelling scientific case.
<bold>Jeopardy
</bold>The laboratory also has a 3-year jeopardy rule that will
eventually provide a
second mechanism for keeping the backlog roughly constant. Jeopardy
doesn't begin until three years after a hall has begun taking data (PAC
15 for Hall C, Summer 2000 for Hall A, and Winter 2000 for Hall B) or
three years after the proposal was approved, whichever is later. We are
working with the PAC and UGBoD on how best to implement jeopardy, and a
later memo will provide all users with information on the subject. In
addition, the spokespersons of all approved experiments will be
provided with information on when their experiments will need to be
updated for the PAC as part of the jeopardy process. However, it is
already clear that the 3-year rule will result in a significant number
of proposals being reviewed in each hall at the first PAC after
jeopardy is active.
To begin the process of cutting back on the backlog before improved
operations and jeopardy become effective, we will ask PAC14 to restrict
its recommendations to about two thirds of the beam time that would
maintain the backlog at equilibrium. This will correspond to a
guideline of about 2 months of running per hall (i.e. about 1 month of
data-taking at 100% efficiency per hall). As a result, if a typical
number of new proposals are received by PAC14, approval will be harder
than it has been in the past. The intent of this new procedure (and
the limit we are setting) is to require new experiment proposals to
face the PAC-recommendation process with the same constraints as will
be experienced by many older proposals when those proposals must
undergo a jeopardy review.
<bold>Guidelines for New Proposals, Updates and Letters-of-Intent
</bold>o <underline>New Proposals</underline>
New proposals requiring beam energies up to 6 GeV will be reviewed by
PAC14.
o <underline>Experiments with Similar Physics Goals</underline>
On your proposal cover sheet indicate any existing approved,
conditionally approved, or deferred experiments that have physics goals
similar to those in your proposal. In the text of your proposal,
compare and contrast your proposal with respect to these proposals and
experiments already considered or under consideration by previous PACs.
Note, there are one page summaries for most proposals at the URL given
at the end of this letter. Contact User Liaison (see below) for copies
of proposals submitted to previous PACs.
Note: spokespersons for the experiments and proposals you have listed
will receive copies of your proposal prior to the PAC meeting. They
will be allowed to submit written comments to the TAC that will then be
passed on to the PAC with a copy provided to you. If you fail to
identify a previously approved proposal with similar physics goals, the
spokesperson for the previously approved proposal may request that
final approval of your proposal be contingent on review of the issues
raised by a subsequent PAC.
o <underline>Experiment Summary</underline>
A summary of all approved and conditionally approved experiments can
be
found online at http://www.jlab.org/exp_prog/PACpage/. Previous PAC
reports can be found online at
http://www.jlab.org/exp_prog/PACpage/pac.html.
o <underline>Beam Time</underline>
The beam time request should be provided in some detail. Do not request
any contingency time as the scheduling process includes this time. The
beam requirements and time request, on your attached forms, should
include all of the time for the following activities:
-- setup & installation
-- alignment, calibration, check out and testing without beam
-- commissioning with beam
-- physics measurements - list all currents, energies, targets,
and angles (Halls A and C)
-- angle, spectrometer, target, and configuration changes
-- de-installation
o <underline>Updates</underline>
If your collaboration has an approved experiment, a conditionally
approved experiment, or a deferred proposal and you would like to
modify the physics goals, significantly change your running conditions,
receive reconsideration of your scientific rating, or achieve full
approval for a conditionally approved or deferred experiment, please
submit an update.
Note: The PAC may or may not choose to hear an oral presentation for
updates depending on the scope of the proposed changes.
o <underline>Deferred Experiments</underline>
Deferred experiments must be updated within one year or they will be
removed from future consideration.
o <underline>Rejected Proposals</underline>
A proposal based on a previously rejected proposal is considered a
`new' proposal. Further, this `new' proposal must include substantive
changes that fully address the issues raised by the PAC that rejected
it for it to be considered by the new PAC.
o <underline>Letters-of-Intent</underline>
Letters-of-intent may be submitted to solicit the evaluation by the PAC
of a new line of research before investing the large effort required to
prepare a full proposal. In general, the letters-of-intent will
involve either a major new experimental apparatus or extension of
present beam properties.
Letters-of-intent will be made public after receiving PAC appraisal in
the same manner as full proposals. This means that the research
program
contained in them would enter the public domain; therefore, the
letters-of-intent mechanism cannot be viewed as a means of "staking
out
territory." Rather, it provides experimenters with feedback at an
early
stage on the PAC's views on the scientific and technical merit of an
idea which the experimenters intend to develop into a full proposal.
<bold>Due Date New Proposals, Updates and Letters-of-Intent
</bold>Proposals, Updates, and Letters-of-Intent are due to User
Liaison by close of business <bold>Thursday, June 4, 1998</bold>.
Jefferson Lab
User Liaison Office, MS 12B
12000 Jefferson Avenue
Newport News, Virginia
users@jlab.org
<bold>Submissions
</bold>All submissions can be mailed or submitted
electronically.<italic>Faxes will not be accepted. </italic>If you
would like to experiment with submitting your proposal electronically
in either HTML, PDF or postscript format, please contact User Liaison
by May 29, 1998. We will test our ability to locally acquire and print
a draft of your proposal. If successful, you may submit your proposal
electronically by 3:00 p.m. on the due date stated above.
All proposals and updates to be considered by PAC14 must also include
a completed:
-- Cover Sheet
-- Lab Resources Requirements List
-- Hazard Identification Checklist
-- Beam Time and Requirements List
These sheets are available at
http://www.jlab.org/exp_prog/PACpage/PACinfo.html or via
anonymous ftp at ftp.jlab.org in pub/pac/attachments in PDF and
postscript formats.
<bold>Procedures for Experiments
</bold>Procedures for experiments are provided at
http://www.jlab.org/user_resources/PFX/. The procedures include the
submission and re-submission of proposals, the PAC's scientific
ratings
and recommendations of Approval, Conditional Approval, Deferral or
Rejection, the Directors award of beam-time, the experiment preparation
and scheduling processes, the associated Environment, Health and Safety
reviews, the running of the experiments, the allocation of
computational resources, and the publication of results including
presentations at conferences.
<bold>Reference Material Hard Copies
</bold>If you would like any of the materials on the Web sent to you
in
hardcopy, please contact User Liaison via phone (757-269-7586), fax
(757-269-7003) or e-mail (users@jlab.org).
This call can also be found online at
http://www.jlab.org/exp_prog/PACpage/PAC14.html.
I look forward to seeing you at Jefferson Lab.
Sincerely,
Karen Hokansson
User Liaison Manager
</fontfamily>
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab)
User Liaison, MS 12B
12000 Jefferson Avenue
Newport News, VA 23606
Ph: 757-269-5111; Fax: 757-269-7003
E-mail: kchok@jlab.org