Users Group: Board of Directors Minutes
Minutes of the meeting on June 17, 2004
BOD Members Present:
Paul Stoler (Chair), Gordon Cates (Chair Elect),
David Armstrong, John Arrington (New Member),
Jian-Ping Chen, Ron Gilman, Sabine Jeschonnek (Outgoing Member),
Cynthia Keppel (New Member), Pete Markowitz (Outgoing Member), Clara Purdue,
Maurizio Ungaro (Outgoing Member), Mark Pitt (Outgoing Member),
Julie Roche (New Member), Marc Vanderhaeghen (New Member), David Lawrence (Outgoing Member).
Jefferson Lab Representatives Present:
Christoph Leemann, Larry Cardman, Allison Lung, Dennis Skopik, Andrew Hutton, Kees de Jager, Volker Burkert, Steve Wood.
The meeting began at 6:00 PM. Minutes were taken by John Arrington.
Introduction of New Members - Paul Stoler
New board members John Arrington, Cynthia Keppel, Marc Vanderhaeghen, and Julie Roche were welcomed. John is taking over "Quality of Life" (formerly Mark Pitt), Cynthia is responsible for "Space Issues" (formerly Pete Markowitz), Marc is in charge of "Experimentalist/Theory Liaison" (formerly Sabine Jeschonnek), Julie takes over "Postdoc issues" (formerly David Lawrence), and Peter Monaghan will inherit "Graduate student issues" from Maurizio Ungaro.
Overview - Christoph Leemann
*A. Thomas has begun his work as Chief Scientist and Theory Group Leader and is now at Jefferson Lab.
*Funding for the CEBAF center upgrade disappeared in March 2004, but was subsequently restored earlier this week. The contracts for the construction have been signed.
*Science and Technology Review - Comments from the committee were generally positive, with special emphasis on the impressive recovery from Hurricane Isabel, improvements in accelerator operations, and the plans for expansion of the theory group. There were also some concerns - pace of Hall B N* analysis, Hall A septum, and poor communication with users (specifically regarding space issues at the lab)
12 GeV Upgrade:
*CD0 for the 12 GeV upgrade has been signed. We need to act (and work) assuming that the project will proceed on the fastest possible timetable.
*Allison Lung is the new interrum Project Director for the 12 GeV upgrade.
*Encourages the lab, staff, and users to speak with one voice in support of the upgrade, as well as the overall Office of Science 20 year program.
Chief Scientist Report: Anthony Thomas
Introduces self. JLab has a good, broad physics program, but that we need better exposure beyond JLab (e.g. DNP meetings) and beyond Nuclear Physics.
Accelerator Operations: Andrew Hutton
Overall, the machine is running better since the hurricane. The complete shutdown allowed for the first maintenance in 10 years for some equipment. In addition, more careful setup of the machine, and significant amount of interaction and communication between accelerator and experiments with special beam requirements made both accelerator and the experiments much happier. The goal is to do more "accelerator checkout" in the future.
The negative impact of the hurricane was on the maximum beam energy, which is limited by the rate of trips (10 per hour considered maximum acceptable). Before the hurricane, the trip rate was 10 per hour at 5.75 GeV (although the Hall C Delta E2/M1 was restricted to 5.5 even before the hurricane). Now it is 10/hour at 5.5 GeV, and projected to be 15/hour at 5.75 GeV. This is after some improvements earlier in the year: better cavity optimization software, removal of 2-3 klystrons that were the cause of many trips.
The Plan over the next year or two is to improve the situation by focusing on three areas. (1) Reducing the time for trip recovery. The goal is to have the beam back within the thermal time constant of the targets. This would lead to reduced beam loss due to trips and reduced impact on the cryotargets. (2) The second 12 GeV prototype should arrive next spring and could be installed in the summer. With the new module, expect 10 trips/hour at 5.75 GeV, 15 trips/hour at 6.0 GeV. (3) Want to remove and refurbish the worst cryomodules and replace bad windows, which should allow for reliable running at 6 GeV (Goal is July 2006).
The other area of significant improvement is the delivery of parity quality beam. The new superlattice photo-cathode has yielded high polarization and higher quantum yield. The accelerator is already close to meeting all of the requirements for the parity program over the next five years.
12 GeV Upgrade Status: Allison Lung
Allison showed a strawman schedule for preparation between now and the CD-1 review, and there is a great deal of work that needs to be done over the next year (and over the next few months). The two main deadlines are the DOE review of the science program, which JLab will try to combine with an augmented PAC27 in January 2005, and the CD-1 ``Lehman'' review, which is expected to be summer 2005. Before PAC27, there has to be a final version of the physics and equipment sections of the CDR, including cost estimates and schedules. Before CD-1, there has to be a final version of the full CDR, as well as internal and DOE reviews of the physics, hall equipment, and accelerator upgrade, and a final strategy for the requests.
The goal for PAC27 is to have a review of new physics topics that are not included in the pCDR, but which we want to have in the final CDR. The desire is to then augment the PAC with additional reviewers and have a simultaneous DOE review of the full 12 GeV physics program. Larry is considering having this review in place of the usual January PAC, i.e. no new 6 GeV proposals.
Allison presented several things that the Users' Group can do to help the 12 GeV upgrade:
- Determine what R&D is required in FY05 to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the proposed equipment. This must be determined in the next 2-3 weeks.
- Help promote high levels of funding for the Office of Science. Begin discussing the 12 GeV upgrade with university presidents, provosts, and department chairs. Start making the sales pitch for the upgrade and how it will benefit your university now, so that when the time is right they can send letters showing their support for the project.
- Determine what the 12 GeV upgrade can do to bolster your nuclear physics program. Can JLab help by providing letters in support of joint or replacement faculty positions or by sending people to talk at your university to show the bright future of nuclear physics with the 12 GeV upgrade.
- Actively engage foreign and NSF-funded collaborators in planning for the 12 GeV. Without funds from outside sources (non-DOE funds), the current cost envelope will not allow the full upgrade as proposed in the pCDR.
CDR/PAC27 Issues: Larry Cardman
Several things are required for the CDR. A new editorial board must be formed to make the final physics portion of the CDR. Larry asked the Users' Group To suggest additional names for the editorial board, as well as ideas for new working groups for any new physics that we wish to see in the CDR. People with new physics topics need to start working right away, and work with the editorial board to include these topics in the CDR. Any new physics topics will be reviewed by PAC27 before being officially included in the CDR.
There are still several positions related to the upgrade that need to be filled, and Larry again asked for User input. In particular, names for a project manager in charge of experimental equipment for all of the halls (the position John Domingo held for the original JLab construction).
Discussed broad plans for groups planning to work on equipment for the 12 GeV upgrade. The idea is to generally follow the procedure from the initial JLab construction. A future PAC will take proposals for 12 GeV experiments that use and include support for the upgraded equipment. This will provide approved experiments for groups requesting funds for equipment.
Hall A Report: Kees de Jager
The second septum magnet was delivered in August, with the understanding that it would need modifications. On December 15th, both septa were on the pivot and superconducting, though both the septum and the left Q3 had vacuum problems. In late January, the Q3 leak became worse and running ended. Between January and mid April, the Q3 leak and the left septum were fixed, and the cryotargets were installed (replacing the waterfall targets). The septa ran well for the pentaquark search and the hypernuclear measurement. Currently running HAPPEX, but due to the long target (20 cm LH2), the right septum trips at 35 microAmps. Will warm up the right septum after HAPPEX to fix a known problem. Indications are the the left septum is OK up to 55-60 microAmps, so the hope is that the right septum will give the same after the fix. While this is below the desired 80 microAmps for HAPPEX running, the improved polarization from the superlattice cathode yields a 30% improvement in the figure of merit, making up the loss due to running at 60 microAmps. HAPPEX-He should match their statistics goals in two weeks, with good parity quality beam and good systematics.
Hall B Report: Volker Burkert
The eg2 experiments (quark propagation in nuclei and rho color transparency) ran at 4 and 5 GeV from December 15-March 6. A three-day test run for the cascade pentaquark search was completed, followed by the G10, high statistics Theta+ search. The tagger calibration was improved, using the PrimEx pair spectrometer and silicon strip detectors. A second pentaquark experiment, G11, is under way now using a new start counter. PrimEx will be the next experiment after the summer down. HyCal is fully assembled and being tested with cosmic rays. There was also a test run with the BoNuS prototype detector at TUNL earlier this year.
Hall C Report: Steve Wood
A series of five standard equipment experiments ran in spring of 2003. The G0 forward angle engineering run started late 2003, and the engineering and physics run are now completed. The hall will lock up tomorrow for a series of three standard equipment experiments which will run until the end of the year. In the meantime, preparation for HKS installation next year is under way. The experiment runs with the ENGE and HKS spectrometers, no standard equipment. Almost all of the pieces are on site. GEp-III is on pace for installation in fall 2003, and will have a short test run later in June. The G0 backward angle running is anticipated for 2006.
Area Reports:
Ongoing experiments: J-P. Chen
Feedback from the running experiments has been generally positive. The simultaneous running of G0 and Hypernuclear worked well. Three specific issues were raised. The trip rate is high, and has a noticeable impact, especially on parity measurements. G0 would like more facility development time devoted to beam studies. The Hall B pentaquark experiment noted that it is hard to come back after a long down time, and found scheduling startup for Friday afternoon led to problems.
Quality of life: M. Pitt
Cyber-security issues led to the early removal of the Residence Facility computers. The thin clients that will replace them were supposed to be able to give Linux or Windows, but it appears that this may not be possible. Expect this to be resolved by the end of July.
Computer issues: R. Gilman
The upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise edition seems to be going well, with minimal complaints. Users can upgrade non-JLab machines which are located on site, and be automatically updated along with the JLab machines. Problems found during a recent cyber-security review led to the requirement that all passwords be updated, as was discussed in recent emails to everyone with JLab accounts.
Experimentalist/Theory Liaison (and video streaming): S. Jeschonnek
The main news is the addition of a chief scientist and two new theorists. People are generally happy with the theory group, but would like to see more calculations related to JLab experiments.
Videotaping and streaming: There is a dedicated video server and server software is being purchased. Currently looking into the best ways to do things (e.g. connecting to laptops?)
Student issues: M. Ungaro
Currently, many offices in trailer city are also being used for storage (electronics, personal belongings, etc.). There is concern that this will not be possible with the cubicles proposed for the CEBAF center upgrade.