Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs March 23, 2011

Jefferson Lab Weekly Briefs
March 23, 2011

12 GeV Upgrade

Assembly of the first 12 GeV cryomodule continues. Assembly of the second cavity string has been completed; four cavities are ready for the third string. All beam transport quadrupole magnets have been approved for assembly into girders, including the QP magnet pairs to be used in arc 10; the girders with single QP magnets in arc 10 have been completed. The contract for the septum dipole magnets has been terminated and will be re-bid. The resultant schedule delay is not expected to impact installation milestones. The first high-voltage power supplies for the klystrons have arrived and been installed in zone SL24. The vendor for the warm compressor skids for the Central Helium Liquefier expansion has completed mounting the motors and compressors. All vacuum pump power supplies have been received. Feedthru-antenna assemblies for the beam position monitors are arriving.

Physics

Hall A techs fixed the quadrupole power supply on Tuesday; the 480-Volt power input had been wired with reversed phase, which because of how timing is derived from it effectively limited the efficiency and prevented full-power operation. Once this was fixed and the Q-weak target was cold, the short-range correlations experiment ran with its high-density target in production kinematics. Some timing problems were discovered and fixed on the BigBite spectrometer on Friday night. The experiment was in good data-taking mode until late Saturday night, when the accelerator could no longer deliver beam because of power supply problems. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to fix the accelerator, with no beam on target. As of Monday morning, these repairs were ongoing.

APS Award for Early Career Physicists
Established by APS's Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) and endowed by the Henry Primakoff Lecture Fund, the Henry Primakoff Award for Early-Career Particle Physics will recognize promising young physicists. Nominations are due April 1.

2012 APS Fellowship Submissions
APS members are eligible for nomination and election to APS Fellowship. Each nomination is evaluated by the fellowship committee of the appropriate APS division, topical group or forum. Check your unit for exact deadlines. Most nominations close April 1.

Accelerator

Last week, the CEBAF accelerator delivered beam to both Halls A and C with 55.2 percent beam availability. Hall C reported that beam quality was much improved as a result of the optics work the previous week. Hall B was down for installation of the HDice experiment. On Tuesday, beam delivery was halted for 12 minutes for a tornado drill. On Saturday evening, the arc 2A box supply failed, which interrupted beam delivery. While the experts were troubleshooting the arc 2A box supply, the accelerator underwent beam studies and maintenance.

Free-Electron Laser

The FEL group successfully transported and measured the flux of vacuum ultraviolet photons in User Lab 1 and is setting up to measure the bandwidth of the output at ~10 electron-volts. Staffers operated the FEL accelerator for several shifts in support of irradiation experiments.

Computational and Theoretical Physics

The current constraints from lattice QCD on the existence of the H-dibaryon are discussed in a new brief report <arXiv:1103.2821>. The new work considers the constraints on the H-dibaryon imposed by simple chiral extrapolations of existing data. The extrapolation to the physical pion mass allows for either a bound H-dibaryon or a near-threshold scattering state, and further calculations are required to clarify this situation.

JLab Calendar of Events

March 28: Safety Shoe vendor onsite
March 29: Science Series Lecture - DNA: The Strand That Connects Us All
April 8-9: QCD Evolution Workshop
April 11-15: DIS2011
April 19: Science Series Lecture - The Science of Chocolate
April 20: JLab's Annual Region II Teacher Night

Environment, Safety, Health and Quality

Keep children, pets safe from poisons
National Poison Prevention Week is March 20-26, and it’s the perfect time to make sure your pets are safe from poisonous substances found at home. Here are some tips:

  • Chocolate, coffee, alcohol, grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, onions, onion powder, yeast dough and other foods that are harmless to humans can be deadly to animals in more than small amounts. Make sure children and guests know not to give these to animals.
  • Xylitol, a sweetener often used in toothpaste, gum and mints, is harmful to animals, as are many common medications and vitamins. Store these products out of animals’ reach and where they can’t be knocked down.
  • Countless hazards lurk outdoors, including antifreeze, fertilizers, poisonous plants, mushrooms (which can pop up overnight) and cocoa mulch. Protect your animals from these and other dangers by controlling the sources when they are outside.

If you suspect your animal has been poisoned, call your veterinarian or the Animal Poison Control Center hotline at (888) 426-4435. Be prepared to tell the Center what the pet ate or drank and about how much. Source: PETA

Computing and Networking Infrastructure

MIS Applications Outage (Maximo/Requisitions/Work Requests)
At 5 p.m. on Friday, March 25, MIS will temporarily remove from service the Maximo, Requisitions and Work Request applications for a software upgrade. These applications will not be available until Monday, March 28. If you have any questions or comments, contact Dana Cochran, x7244.

Network Outage in CEBAF Center
The CNI group is planning a 30-45 minute network outage at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, in the A and B wings of CEBAF Center. The outage will allow an upgrade of network equipment. If you need more information, contact the IT Division Helpdesk.

Announcements

Last Chance to Enter JLab 2011 T-shirt Contest
To allow more time for those creative juices to flow, the Jefferson Activities Group is extending the deadline for entries for the JLab 2011 T-shirt contest to Wednesday, March 30. Visit the JAG website link above for entry requirements. The winning design will be unveiled at JLab's annual Run-A-Round, and the winning designer(s) will receive a free T-shirt and recognition. View past winning T-shirt designs.

Don't Talk to Oprah Until You Call Public Affairs
What do you do if a journalist or other media representative calls you to ask a question about JLab or your work? What do you do if you are invited to participate in a radio, TV or other news program? The answers to these and other business-related issues can be found in the lab’s Administrative Manual. The manual spells out procedures by which the lab operates, including procedures for finance, property management, procurement, outreach programs and more. As to the questions posed above, if you are contacted by a representative of the media, the policy states that you are to contact Public Affairs prior to releasing any information. Public Affairs will then work with you and/or the media organization in determining an appropriate response or course of action.

Interested in Golf?
Come out and join the JLab Golf League. The league will start play April 4, and play will continue through September. Team members play Monday evenings at Newport News Golf Club, starting around 4:30 p.m. No experience is necessary. If you are interested and would like more information, ask one of the people already in the Golf League or call Danny Machie, x7501, or Mike Zarecky, x7609. Check out additional details and see who is already in the Golf League at the Golf League webpage.

Sling a Softball with JLab Co-workers
The JLab coed softball team is gearing up for the 2011 spring/summer season. The team plays in the York County Coed Industrial League on Friday nights, April through July. A practice is scheduled for Friday, March 25. To express an interest in joining the team or for more information, email Kandice Carter as soon as possible.

In Need of Excess Furniture
Personnel working for the 12 GeV project are in need of used furniture. Reuse of furniture is a "green" way to save money. Take a moment to assess your area to determine if you have any excess furniture available. The project currently needs the following items: six computer desks (workstation or office desk); two flat tables (conference or work table ); and 10 office chairs (standard office or stationary chair). If you have any excess furniture, contact the Property Office at x7688 or place a work order using the Work Request System.

Briefs Do Have a Style - and It's Changing!
The JLab Weekly Briefs, OnTarget newsletter and other communications from Public Affairs are generally written in Associated Press style. This style of writing is used by most major newspapers to ensure consistency. A new version of the AP Stylebook has just been issued, and there are a few changes. For instance, "e-mail" is now email, and cellphones and smartphones have a new spelling. Expect to see these changes in future communications.

Tracking Thomas at JLab
The lab's bust of Thomas Jefferson has been touring the site. Each week, a new picture of Thomas will be unveiled when the Briefs go out on Wednesdays. If you can identify his location, email Kandice Carter with your guess. The first correct response will receive special recognition on this page and in the JLab Weekly Briefs. Guesses are accepted through Fridays.

Congratulations to Stephanie Vermeire, who was the first person to identify the correct March 16 location. Honorable mentions go out to Rob Mahurin, Lori Zukerman, Tina Menefee, Jacqueline Bacon and Karl Slifer. Check out the Tracking Thomas webpage for a better view of his last location and this week's new mystery photo.