Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs July 18, 2012

Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs
July 18, 2012

12 GeV Upgrade

Detector construction for the Hall C Super High Momentum Spectrometer continues, with preparations started to aluminize and overcoat the mirror blanks for the heavy-gas Cerenkov counter. Winding of the third coil for the Q1 quadrupole magnet is complete. Soldering of the copper stabilizer to the superconducting SSC cable for the Q2, Q3 and dipole magnets continues, with the second major shipment of soldered production conductor having arrived at the magnet vendor. Production winding tooling for the dipole magnet is arriving at the vendor and being assembled. The sections of the support structure have arrived at JLab and are stored pending their move to Hall C after removal of Q-weak and the Short Orbit Spectrometer is complete. The first sections of the several hundred tons of Q2, Q3 and dipole magnet steel yokes have been cast and readied for final machining.

Long Shutdown

In the Long Shutdown labwide coordination effort, an essential tool is the integrated schedule. The integrated schedule, implemented by the Project Management Group in the P6 scheduling software, includes all activities that are relevant to the LSD, and allows for the planning and tracking of the work and manpower resources. Updating the schedule is an essential exercise: at the end of each month, the accelerator, the halls, the FEL, Facilities Management and Logistics and all parties that have scope of work in the LSD report their monthly progress. Those reports are collected and analyzed by Project Management and Integrated Planning and the LSD Team. The progressed schedule allows lab leadership to check on the LSD overall status. The progress collected at the end of June is positive and did not show any major problem so far in schedule or resources.

Free-Electron Laser

The FEL team continued its efforts to set up beam for the DarkLight experiment, successfully achieving 99.999 percent transmission through the 2 millimeter aperture for 100 kilowatts of continuous wave beam. The team also took some very interesting beam images with five orders of magnitude dynamic range for visualization of the beam halo.

Center for Theoretical and Computational Physics

A first systematic study of the effects of the input scale in global determinations of parton distribution functions (PDFs) is presented in a new paper. Although in principle the results should not depend on these choices, in practice a relevant dependence develops as a consequence of what is called procedural bias. This uncertainty should be considered in addition to other theoretical and experimental errors, and a practical procedure for its estimation is proposed. This is of relevance for future extractions of PDFs as well as predictions for present and future measurements in JLab experiments.

Engineering

The new Document Repository and E-Sign process, an electronic signature and archival system for engineering documents (i.e. drawings, specifications, calculations, etc.), was launched July 1. Initial feedback has been very positive. As with all new systems, JLab employees continue to identify items that did not surface during testing. If you find issues or have other comments about the system, forward to Bridget Paul.

JLab Calendar of Events

July 18-20: 5th International Workshop on Thin Films and New Ideas for Pushing the Limits of RF Superconductivity
July 23: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
Aug. 3: JLab 2012 Summer Interns Poster Session
Aug. 6: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
Aug. 6-10: 7th International Workshop on Chiral Dynamics
Aug. 20: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
Aug. 22: Colloquium and Public Lecture
Sept. 3: Labor Day holiday, JLab closed

Environment, Safety, Health and Quality

Hot Cars Not Safe for Kids
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Safe Kids Worldwide have partnered to prevent child deaths from heat stroke. Temperatures inside parked cars can rise rapidly, as much as 20 degrees in just 10 minutes. In 2011, 33 kids died from heatstroke in the U.S. when they were left unattended in vehicles, and heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related deaths for kids under 14. Here are some quick tips from the NHTSA to prevent heatstroke incidents from occurring:

  • Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle;
  • Make a habit of looking in the vehicle – front and back – before locking the door and walking away;
  • Ask your childcare provider to call if the child does not show up for care as expected;
  • Add reminders that a child is in the vehicle, such as writing a note or using a stuffed animal placed in the driver's view to indicate a child is in the car seat; and,
  • Teach children a vehicle is not a play area and store keys out of a child's reach.

Announcement

Last Chance to Apply for Voluntary Separation Program
The deadline for applications for the Voluntary Separation Program is Thursday, July 19. Employees who are eligible and wish to participate must complete their applications by tomorrow to be considered for the program. To review the severance calculator, fill out the application, and/or review the All-Staff presentation slides, visit the program web page.

Governor's School Mentorship Program
Science Education is looking for amazing people to volunteer to be a Governor’s School Mentor for the 2012 - 2013 academic school year. Several students have been selected by the Governor’s School to work at JLab and now we need mentors and projects. The mentorship will begin in early September 2012 and concludes at the end of May 2013. The students will work an average of five hours per week, for a total of 35 hours per quarter (9 weeks). Science Education will take care of all training and orientation. If you would like to volunteer or have questions, contact Brita R. Hampton, x7633.

JLab Community Invited to Intern Poster Session on Aug. 3
The JLab community is invited to attend the 2012 Summer Interns Poster Session planned for Friday, Aug. 3, 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the CEBAF Center lobby. More than 35 participants of this year's High School Summer Honors Internship Program, the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program and the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program will be on hand with posters they developed based on their work or research projects. The students are eager to explain and discuss their work and questions by members of the lab community are encouraged.

Kickball, Anyone?
This popular sport has expanded beyond the elementary school playground and is now available through several leagues in Hampton Roads. If you're interested in playing on a JLab-sponsored team, contact Casey Heck, by Friday, July 27. Games would be played on Wednesday evenings in Hampton.

Tracking Thomas at JLab
Little Thomas is visiting all corners of the JLab campus. If you can identify his location this week, email Kandice Carter with your guess. Guesses are accepted through Friday.

Congratulations this week go to Casey Heck, who was the first to correctly identify the location for July 11. Honorable mentions go to David Anderson and Harry Fanning, with a late entry from Leo Ketchum. Check out the Tracking Thomas webpage for a better view of his last location and this week's new mystery photo.