Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs November 2, 2011

Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs
November 2, 2011

12 GeV Upgrade

The coils and yoke pieces of the Hall D solenoid are now installed in the hall. All 48 Barrel Calorimeter (BCAL) modules for Hall D have been built at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, and 44 have now arrived at JLab. The first full six-layer package (of four total needed) is being tested for the Forward Drift Chamber. The custom preamplifier ASIC, used for the readout of the Forward and Central Drift Chambers, is being assembled onto the production preamplifier boards. All straws are inserted into the Central Drift Chamber at Carnegie Mellon University, and wire-stringing and electronics hook-up wiring has begun. The main production of 2500 bases for the lead-glass Forward Calorimeter is over one-third complete at Indiana University. Bids are being reviewed for the several hundred FADC-250 modules to be used in pipelined electronics and triggers in all halls.

Physics

There was a proposal to refurbish the Hall B polarized target magnet and use it in Hall A to replace the one that has burned out. Most of the physics goals (except for some higher-Q2 points) can be accomplished with this plan. This proposal has been approved by JLab management, and the goal is to have the target ready for g2p/GEp in Hall A by mid-February. The target work is being done by the polarized target group (Chris Keith). Meanwhile, Hall A is continuing to prepare for running and hopes to have some commissioning time with beam to check the new beamline instrumentation and detector systems. If Hall A can do it before the winter holiday break, it will make the workflow more efficient when the target arrives.

Accelerator

Studies were done in the injector by Q-weak personnel, and installation and alignment of the Polarized Electrons for Polarized Positrons experiment continued. New and refurbished magnet components were installed in the northeast spreader region, completing repairs to damaged components in this area. A 2K Cold Box trip was initiated to support Central Helium Liquefier repairs on Tuesday. Damaged circulators in several radiofrequency zones resulted in water in RF waveguides. RF commissioning of SL25 continued. RF zone 1L04 was found to have a compromised burst disk, which will necessitate warming up the zone to replace it. An A/C unit in the MCC equipment room malfunctioned, resulting in overheating of the archive server; A/C was restored and the archiver is back online. Checks of box supplies continued throughout the week in preparation for planned beam spin up next week.

Engineering

The Survey and Alignment group has been busy:

  • The arc dipoles had their final alignment completed to restore them to pre-shutdown positions;
  • The Hall C Q-weak targets have been initially aligned, and the final alignment will be completed next week;
  • A direct vertical tie along the new tunnel linking the North Linac and Hall D tagger area showed very good agreement with a survey transfer made through the accelerator penetrations;
  • In the CEBAF injector, the PEPPo experiment alignment was completed;
  • The replaced YR magnets in the northeast spreader were aligned to the existing neighboring magnets; and
  • The Hall C elevation survey (to check for uplift) following the removal of the High Resolution Kaon Spectrometer magnet was completed.

JLab Calendar of Events

Nov. 2: JAG Beam Kickoff Tailgate Picnic
Nov. 3: Annual E-Commerce Small Business Vendor Show
Nov. 6: Daylight Saving Time ends
Nov. 7: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
Nov. 16 Colloquium and Public Lecture
Nov. 17: Quark Cafe's Thanksgiving Feast
Nov. 24-25: Thanksgiving holiday; JLab closed

Environment, Safety, Health and Quality

First National Emergency Alert System Test Set for Nov. 9
The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System at approximately 2 p.m. on Nov. 9. The three-minute test will include transmission of a "live" Emergency Action Notification alert code to all EAS participants and a notice to the general public that the EAS has been activated for a national emergency, along with an audible notice that "this is a test." The test will not be carried on NOAA Weather Radios. More information about the nationwide EAS test can be found on the FCC website.

Announcements

JLab Beam Kickoff and Tailgate Party
The Jefferson Activities Group invites staff, students and users to celebrate JLab's successful Six-Month Shutdown and the work underway to resume CEBAF accelerator operations today, 3-5:30 p.m. on the SURA Residence Facility field. The picnic will feature chili, Brunswick stew, nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers and hot cocoa, as well as a craziest fan contest and informal games.

Annual E-Commerce Small Business Vendor Show
The vendor show will take place 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, in CEBAF Center. If you purchase products for use at JLab, come on out to enjoy a continental breakfast and noontime snack as you peruse featured products offered by JLab's vendors to help make your and your colleagues' work safer, faster and easier.


Mobile Mammography Unit Onsite Dec. 7
The Sentara Mobile Mammography Unit will be at JLab on Dec. 7, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mammography detects breast cancer, and The American Cancer Society recommends scheduling your first or baseline mammogram by age 40. It only takes 15 minutes! This service is open to all employees as well as their family members or friends as personal health insurances will be billed. To make an appointment, visit www.sentara.com.

Take Time to Tango
The JLab Tango Club is organizing group tango lessons to be offered at Port Warwick. The lessons are free, and no prior experience is necessary. For more information, send an email with your name, contact information and preferred group lesson time to Alexandre Camsonne, Francois-Xavier Girod or Taisiya Mineeva.

JLab Colloquium and Public Lecture Offered Nov. 16
Marc Kamionkowski, Johns Hopkins University, will present "The Cosmic Microwave Background: Beyond the Power Spectrum" in a colloquium set for Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. in the CEBAF Center auditorium. Kamionkowski will discuss new signatures in the cosmic microwave background.

Mark Your Calendar for Fall Feast and Desserts
The annual Quark Cafe Thanksgiving Feast is set for Thursday, Nov. 17. Also that week, the cafe will accept pie orders daily, Monday-Friday (Nov. 14-18). Pre-ordered pies will be available for pickup on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 22-23. Stay tuned for a detailed feast menu and additional pie ordering information.

JAG Dog Club Collects Food Donations for Peninsula Foodbank
Members of the JAG Dog Training Club are currently collecting food items to support the Peninsula Foodbank. Marked food collection boxes have been placed in the CEBAF Center, VARC and ARC lobbies; no items packaged in glass can be accepted. Voluntary donations of food items will be collected through Friday, Nov. 18. The food will be loaded into a sleigh and delivered by Dan Young and his Samoa dogs at the 15th Annual Mayflower Marathon on Nov. 20.

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 Michael Wilson, Deborah Dowd, Susan Brown, Brita Hampton, Andy Kowalski, Dave Fazenbaker, Karen Bartek, Chandra Gilchrist, Narciso Gomez, Adam Carpenter, DeAnn Maddox,  Jason Willoughby, Jodi Patient, Debra Brand and Saptarshi Mandal, who were the first to correctly identify the Oct. 26 location.

Honorable mentions go to Richard Jacobsen, Stephen Smith, Mike Syptak, Casey Heck, Pashupati Dhakal, Sam Stevens, Michael Haddox-Schatz, Tonya Evans, Stephanie Vermeire, Cindy Eller, Kim Kindrew, Stephen Wood, Michelle Shinn, Ryan Bodenstein, Anusha Liyanage, Rob Mahurin, Karsten Flowers, Lori Zukerman, Harry Fanning, Todd Meier, Dick Owen and Douglas Higinbotham. Check out the Tracking Thomas webpage for a better view of his last location and this week's new mystery photo.