2. STAR Project Summary
Excerpted from the STAR Monthly Report for September 1997.
Project Management Summary and Highlights
The TPC was loaded on its rented "lowboy" flatbed trailer on October 23. Final shipping preparations continued until the 29th when it made the approximate 60 mile journey to Travis Air Force Base (AFB). This aspect of the trip went slowly but uneventfully - just like the rest of the trip cross-country to BNL (but you'll have to wait for the November report to hear the rest of the details!)The Magnet's last remaining contracts are progressing satisfactorily. The pole tip supports, hydraulic systems, and power supplies are all nearing completion. The pole tip supports and power supplies are scheduled to arrive at BNL in December. The supports and rectifiers are behind schedule, but only by a few weeks (i.e. mid-January).
The System Test has nearly completed its transition back to an electronics testbed from its role in the TPC Cosmic Ray Test. FEE progress is being delayed due to a lack of final Safety Committee approval. This will hopefully occur toward the end of November when the committee meets next with STAR. Trigger had a Pre-Production Review of the CTB Mechanical in October. This was fruitful and resulted in a short list of action items which will lead quickly to production approval. The Collaboration held a review of Computing in October. The report is expected soon.
In Conventional Systems, the larger South electronics platform is being assembled in the Wide Angle Hall. The North platform will be erected during November. The RFQ for the rack heat exchangers went out and the quotes came back within budget expectations. The electronics racks should go out in November. There is visible progress on the big water system for STAR. The A/C power and covered pad for gas storage contracts are both in place.
The major installation activity this month has been on the EMC support hangers. They are going in very quickly (well ahead of schedule!); more than 2/3 of them are already installed.
TPC Summary and Highlights
The TPC has been successfully moved from Berkeley Lab to Travis AFB. A host of tasks were completed in a very short time to make this move and the subsequent cross-country travel possible. The TPC was moved to Travis AFB on October 29 where it is awaiting its scheduled November 5 flight to New York. The temperature of the unit is being maintained at 75 F,+/- 8 F, via a chiller powered by a portable generator. The request for a US Air Force mission to fly the C-5C from Travis AFB in California to Gabreski Airport on Long Island has gone through several changes. A new mission, originating in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a new higher priority (from 3 to 1B) has been secured. The contract for truck transport from Gabreski to BNL has been awarded to J.F. Lomma Trucking and Rigging Company. The gas system and test system electronics were also crated and shipped successfully to BNL via conventional means.
Magnet Summary and Highlights
Fabrication of the pole tip supports at Ranor continues. It has been noted that Ranor is concerned about the delivery of castings, which could ultimately impact final delivery. Problems with the software control of the magnet hydraulics system have been resolved, and delivery of the system should be in early November.
Electronics Summary and Highlights
Systems Test
With the successful completion of the cosmic ray test on September 20th, the cosmic test was turned back into the system test, to be used mainly for electronics development. Except for mini-DAQ, all of it was made operational in October. The reconstituted setup was used to test MWPC anode wire readout electronics prototypes.
Front End Electronics (FEE)
The RHIC Experimental Safety committee has yet to give FEE written approval for their design. The final readout board layout can not proceed without approval. The committee's lack of feedback is beginning to delay FEE progress and cost and schedule are being impacted.Chip testing continues at Brookhaven. The STAR Amplifier/Shaper chip (SAS) testing is going well. However, the yield on the Switched Capacitor Array chip (SCA/ADC) is somewhat lower than expected. This is being investigated.
The SCA comparator current has been adopted, and the existing boards have been modified to the new standard. Future production will incorporate the changed resistors. The Power supply chassis and cable production was completed at LBNL.
Data Acquisition (DAQ)
DAQ has begun debugging the CHER-2 prototype receiver card. The SUNNY-2 prototype PCB is being produced. Efforts are underway to begin the tests required for meeting the proof-of-principle milestone.
Trigger
The CTB Mechanical Pre-Production Review took place this month and production is now ready to begin at Rice. One minor modification to the prototypes will completely separate the electrical harness with a mating plate on the end of each tray through which all electrical connections are made. The Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC) has been successfully tested, and final design documents will now be prepared.In software, the investigation of the cosmic ray background for the peripheral collisions program continued. 100k cosmic ray events have been generated through GSTAR and G2T for analysis.
Slow Controls
The Slow Controls hardware and software for the TPC Cosmic Ray test was shipped to BNL this month. A copy of the HDLC link has also been made available for use in the TPC system test room at LBNL.A preliminary requirements document addressing the SC interface to on-line has been drafted.
Computing Summary and Highlights
The collaboration Computing Review, held Oct 20-22 at BNL, was the principal focus of computing activity in October. A report is expected from the review committee soon. Most of the TPC reconstruction and analysis software was upgraded to SL97a. Estimates for STAR computing needs have begun to converge in the Computing Requirements Task Force and a long report detailing the considerations behind these estimates is in advanced preparation. Objectivity, selected as the basis for the event store, was ported to STAF. A first version of the on-line computing system requirements document was completed; everyone with a vested interest in on-line computing is asked to review it and give feedback.STAR Collaboration Meeting, January 5th-10th, 1998. Location LBNL. For further information, please contact John Harris at Yale.
STAR Offline Software Tutorial, January 9th - 12th, LBNL. For further information please contact Lanny Ray, U.T. Austin.
Greetings from Long Island. The weather here in November was seasonable, starting the month with daytime high temperatures in the low 60 F range and ending the month with highs in the low to mid 40 F range. The majority of the leaves fell from the deciduous trees during November (I've still got a lot of them to rake in my yard).
The arrival of the Time Projection Chamber here at BNL on November 6th made this a banner month for the STAR project. The Air Force C5C transport plane took off from Travis Air Force Base in California late on the night of November 5th (~10 pm). A few of us from BNL went out to Gabreski field (West Hampton) very early on November the 6th to watch the huge transport plane land. It was quite a sight to see the plane appear on the horizon, take a long turn around the field, and then lumber in for the landing. It taxied over to a secluded area of the field where we were escorted out to meet them. The entire nose section of the plane was opened and tilted up to open the front of the fuselage as a cylinder. Huge doors opened at the rear of the plane and a ramp was lowered to open the back of the fuselage. Finally, the landing gear was slowly retracted up into the body of the plane so that the fuselage was lowered down very close to the ground for unloading. At this point we were allowed to wander around and through the plane for the hour and a half or so it took to pull the trailer that was carrying the TPC out of the plane. The event was covered/recorded by still and video photographers from LBNL, BNL, and some of the regional newspapers and TV stations. I stayed at the airport until about 12:30 in the afternoon, at which time the Police escort had arrived and the convoy was starting the road trip to BNL.
Assuming that the plane was going to arrive a few hours earlier than it eventually did, a reception had been arranged and announced to various parts of the lab and the local media to start at 3:00 pm at the STAR assembly building (AB). The reception got going on schedule with quite a crowd of people showing up to see the TPC. There were a few TV news crews set up with their Video cameras and reporters, taking turns interviewing John Harris about STAR and the TPC. The ring road was lined with the parked cars of all of the guests, and the prevailing question was "where was the TPC and would it arrive in time". At this point, about 30 minutes into the reception, the TPC convoy made it to the STAR Assembly building.
I don't think that one could have staged a more dramatic arrival. The eight to ten Police motorcycles, with all of their lights flashing, pulled in and parked in a formation. The flashing lights of the police cars, escort vehicles, and various lab security vehicles were scattered along the ring road from the Collider center to the STAR site. The crowd of people at the reception came out and lined the handrails up by the STAR counting house. People and cars were lined along the ring road overlooking the Assembly building, and all watched as the trailer was backed up to and then into the STAR AB.
At this point the crowd, including the police, the truckers, people from DOE, people from various parts of the lab, people from the other RHIC experiments, and assorted STAR personnel gathered in the AB to listen to a series of short speeches. Stairs had been setup so that the speakers were standing up in the opening of the STAR magnet, with the TPC 30 feet or so away. The speakers, consisting of various members of RHIC management, STAR management, and the DOE, all lauded the occasion. I have to admit that I'm far from an unbiased observer in all of this, but I think that everybody in attendence was excited by the occasion.
Finally, it seems that regardless of which country of the world one lives in, and which, if any, spiritual beliefs one follows, just about everyone celebrates for some occasion in the month of December. I'd like to send my best wishes to all for this holiday season.
The duration of the appointment is two years with possibility of renewel for a third year. Applications should be sent to:
3. Notice of Meetings:
STAR Internal review of the Online Requirements Document. December 10 at BNL. For further information please contact Dick Jared, LBNL.
4. Christies Corner
5. Comings and goings at STAR
None reported this month.
6. Employment opportunities
The University of Washington Nuclear Physics Laboratory will consider applicants for a postdoctoral position in ultrarelativistic heavy ion physics. This person would participate in research at CERN with the NA49 collaboration and at RHIC ith the STAR collaboration. The UW research program emphasizes a variety of approaches to multiparticle correlation analysis and e vent-by-event physics leading to discovery and study of the quark-gluon plasma. The UW is also a leader in TPC tracking software. This research program relies on very powerful local and regional computation facilities.
7. New STAR NOTES since the last Newsletter