Users Group: News
Posting of the DRAFT schedule for the remainder of 6 GeV running - a message from Larry Cardman
The DRAFT schedule for the remainder of 6 GeV running (between now and the final shutdown for the transition to 12 GeV) has been posted on the JLab website at: http://www.jlab.org/div_dept/physics_division/experiments/schedule.html. A summary version of the schedule has also been posted at http://www.jlab.org/div_dept/physics_division/experiments/schedule.html.
We encourage all users to review the schedule and to discuss it with colleagues and JLab staff involved in its development. There will be two open, public discussions of the schedule: the first following a seminar presenting the schedule that will be held at 1 PM on Thursday, September 18, and the second at the January PAC meeting. There will also be discussions at various hall weekly and collaboration meetings. Your comments and thoughts about the schedule between now and early January and at the PAC meeting are welcome. Any written comments we receive will be shared with the Scheduling Committee and included in the information the PAC receives about the schedule for their deliberations in January.
The incoming JLab director, Hugh Montgomery, requested that we post the schedule now for your review and consideration. Prior to "finalizing" the draft schedule early in 2009, he will seek advice of the PAC and others. Specifically, Mont has indicated that his charge to the January 2009 PAC will request its comments on the 6 GeV running plan (in addition to recommendations on the 12 GeV proposals that will be the main focus of the PAC). A day will be set aside at the PAC meeting for this review, and will include both public and executive sessions. Mont will participate in both the public and executive session PAC discussions of the schedule. Following the PAC meeting, the laboratory will issue a revised DRAFT schedule that incorporates its response to that discussion and any further internal review we deem appropriate.
Once the "final draft" schedule has been issued, it will be subject to periodic revision depending on the details of laboratory funding and technical issues that may arise in the interim. We will post updates each year once a final budget for the year has been issued, and may post additional updates as our understanding of likely budget scenarios evolves. We will make every effort to have the issued schedules "firm" for at least the following six months, as has been tradition, but may be forced by budget developments to make adjustments. We will include to the extent possible guidance about potential budget consequences on the remaining program. The "style" of that guidance will be similar to what was done in the latest schedule release indicating the vulnerability of the April/May 2009 running.
Realizing this schedule fully will require that many things "fall right." The core requirement will be overall laboratory operations funding at a level consistent with the 30 weeks/year average needed and with the hall operations and equipment construction necessary to complete it. This corresponds roughly to the lab receiving the President's Budget request level of funding in FY09 and cost of living increases in subsequent years. It will also require that technical developments continue as foreseen for the accelerator itself – notably the restoration of 6 GeV maximum beam energy capability and the improvement in the polarized beam stability to the level needed by both the Hall A and Q_Weak experiments. Finally, a few of the planned experiments require major equipment developments where funding is not yet currently fully identified. These include the apparatus needed for: the g_2 ^p measurement (E08-027) and for the DVCS experiments on the proton (E07-007) and neutron (E08-025) that are planned for Hall A; the two photon exchange experiment (E07-005) in Hall B; and the N* searches on polarized neutrons using the planned HDIce target (E06-101). In addition, both equipment modification and significant technical developments must take place before the DVCS and SIDIS measurements on the neutron (E08-015 and -021) can be mounted in Hall B. We will work with the proponents of these experiments to identify the needed funding. An extended version of this memo, which provides an outline of how the schedule was developed and the biggest picture issues, is posted at: http://www.jlab.org/div_dept/physics_division/experiments/schedule.html
Larry Cardman
for the Nuclear Physics Experiment Scheduling Committee