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Frank, Thanks for the note. Will you be here on July 1? Peter On Jun 24, 2009, at 3:54 AM, Frank Taylor wrote: > Dear All, > > The paper is interesting - unfortunately I accepted a social > engagement at > 8:00 PM Geneva time (2:00 PM EDT) so I will not be able to call in. > My apologies. > > 1. LHC > > The latest from the LHC - from CERN LHC web site but no real news > about > the schedule. ATLAS has decided to start 24 hr shifts in September > rather > than August. There will be a seminar 02-Jul-09 by Myers which should > be > interesting (and jam-packed). ATLAS has recommissioned the magnets > and all > is fine. We're running cosmics in 'combined' mode (nearly all > subsystems > operating - except TGC endcap trigger chambers don't have operating > gas > and CSCs where the ROD firmware is being upgraded). > > From Web: > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Sector 4-5 is being warmed to room temperature. The sector was > previously > warmed to 80 Kelvin in order to perform a test on the copper > component of > the busbars at non-superconducting temperatures (See previous update). > > One of the LHCs electrical interconnections being repaired. > > During the test at 80 Kelvin one busbar with potentially high > resistance > was found. The sector is now being warmed to room temperature in > order to > perform a more accurate test on all the copper busbars. By comparing > the > results of the two tests (80 and 300 Kelvin), the accuracy of the > 80-Kelvin test can be verified to help interpret data taken from the > other > cold sectors. > > In Sector 1-2 the repairs have been completed to all the electrical > interconnections and the last W bellow has been closed. After final > electrical checks and insulation vacuum checks the sector will be > ready to > start the cool down process. > > The beam lines in Sector 6-7 have been closed. The sector has been > tested > with the RF ball, which showed no problems with the interconnections. > (More details on RF ball testing available here). Repair work on the > electrical interconnections is still ongoing. > > The LHCs anti-clockwise beam transfer system was tested on 6 and 7 > June. > Particle bunches were sent from the SPS through the transfer line > toward > the LHC where it intersects just before the LHCb cavern. > > The beam was sent down the 2.8km transfer line and stopped just before > reaching the LHC tunnel with a beam stopper (known as a TED) - 4m of > graphite that is physically placed in the path of the beam line to > prevent > the beam from taking the last step into the LHC. > > A seminar on the status of the LHC will be given by Steve Myers on 2 > July. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > 2. Micromegas: > > We're writing an R&D proposal for upgrades of muon system which has a > draft budget for micromegas at ~ $500k. Vinnie is planning to come to > Harvard next Tuesday 30-Jun-09 to talk to Huth, Oliver, et al. about > micromegas (mostly electronics). Vinnie agreed to come to MIT on > Wednesday > morning 01-Jul-09 to discuss the R&D prospects with you if you would > like > him to. At the moment the plan is very rough and various groups are > offering to get involved by focusing on specific things. For us, > perhaps > it's the behavior in B-field, large scale construction and > pattern-recognition. > > The electronics readout is a big issue with the large channel count. > At > the moment Vinnie is assembling a group from BNL, Arizona and perhaps > Harvard to work on this. We could be involved in testing but I don't > see > us doing much on the front end ASIC design. For DMTPC you need to > extract > direction information from the readout. > > One of the longer term R&D projects being pushed by Michigan is to use > plasma screen technology to make the amplification gap in a > micromega-like > chamber. The claim is a more simple readout and cheap anode > fabrication > but the development is quite primitive at the moment. > > Sorry for the long email - apologies for not being able to call in. > > Any news about a DoE visit? > > Best regards, > > Frank > > Frank E. Taylor > > CERN MIT > ATLAS Collaboration Bldg. 26 - Rm 569 > 188-3-015 77 Mass. Ave. > Route de Meyrin 385, CH-1211 Geneva 23 Cambridge, MA 02139 > Switzerland USA > Office: +41-22-767-6373 Office: 617-253-7249 > FAX: +41-22-767-8350 FAX: 617-258-6923 > > CELL: 857-891-8579 (USA & Europe) CERN CELL +41 76 487 3563 > email: [log in to unmask] > web: http://www2.lns.mit.edu/~fet/atlas_mit.html > > On Tue, 23 Jun 2009, Ray F. Cowan wrote: > >> Hi Everyone, >> >> This week we meet at **2 PM Eastern**, Thursday, June 25, for our >> weekly LQS >> meeting. Dial-in is 510-665-5437, passcode 7336. The time change >> is for >> this week only to accomodate Peter's monthly Energy task force >> meeting. >> >> We'll take round-table reports first. Peter suggested this dark >> matter >> paper for our discussion this week: http://arXiv.org/pdf/0803.4196 >> >> "The WIMPless Miracle: Dark Matter Particles without Weak-scale >> Masses >> or Weak Interactions" >> >> The meeting agenda and the paper can be found at >> http://dmtpc.mit.edu/MaKaC/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=178 >> >> Hope you can join in. >> >> Thanks much, >> --Ray >> >>