STAR Newsletter #76 November 2000
	Star Home Page				Editor: Howard Matis

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Contents

1. Spokesman's Column
2. STAR Operations
3. Detectors and Subsystems
4. Period Coordinators Report
5. Physics Working Groups (protected area)
6. People: Comings and Goings
7. Announcments
8. Employment Opportunities

Spokesman's Column (John Harris)

The STAR Beam Use Proposal for the 2001 RHIC Run has been submitted to Brookhaven Laboratory. The final version can be found at on the STAR Organization Webpage (STAR homepage -> organization): The proposal will be presented at the BNL Program Advisory Committee Meeting on November 30 - December 1.

At the last STAR Council Meeting (August 2000) the Council discussed a draft of the report from the STAR Graduate Student Thesis Committee. That committee consists of Rene Bellwied, Jean-Pierre Coffin, Jerry Hoffman, Huan Huang, Tom Humanic, Declan Keane (chair), and Jack Sandweiss. I would like to thank the committee for their diligent work. They have put together a revised draft of their report. The report will be discussed in the Council, so it is important for collaboration members to provide input to the Council. The Council discussion will take place until December 5, at which time a vote will be called on adoption of the report as STAR policy.

I would like to update you on the ongoing STAR Long Range Plan activities. Their were three presentations by members of STAR at the recent Workshop on Heavy Ion Physics for the Next Decade, BNL, October 27 - 28. The agenda can be found on the web. These talks were:

John Harris "Timelines for Completing the STAR Baseline Program"

Tim Hallman "Future Plans for STAR"

Peter Jacobs "Plan for pA Measurements for STAR"

and can be found under "organization" from the STAR home page.

I wish to remind you of the STAR Analysis Workshop to be held at LBNL on 15 - 19 November. The agenda has been sent out to all collaborators and theorists attending the Saturday workshop, and can be found with other information on the web. I look forward to the interesting presentations and exciting discussions, and to seeing everyone there.

STAR Operations (Ralph Brown)

As of November 11, I am happy to announce that the STAR Operations shutdown plan is on schedule with the following critical tasks:

Installation on the East side of 24 West BEMC modules in locations # 46-60 and 1-9 is complete. There was some minor damage during the relocation of two modules to a cartridge bearing which we replaced with a spare bearing. For the week of 11/13 we will remove the installation fixture from the east side, modify and replace the cable tray in the detector, and connect all cables to TPC/CTB. We will begin the removal of cables and tray on the west side and installation of BEMC fixture the week of 11/27/00. This will delay the West BEMC fiber installation until the week of 12/4/00. This was due to a loss of AC Power this week at the STAR Facilities (see FTPC Installation).

The West FTPC and its utilities have been installed as per schedule. The two weeks of testing that was to start this week will begin next week. This was due to shutdown and maintenance this week of AC power substations that supply power to our facilities. Once this testing is complete we will remove the FTPC and installation fixture the week of 11/27/00. The East FTPC is in the AB clean room and is being prepared for installation and testing that should begin the week of 12/4/00.

Modified chilled water for the north platform has been installed. This will supply chilled water to the SVT, FTPC, and BEMC SMD electronics. The FTPC cooling rack has been installed on the north platform and connected to chilled water. We continue to work on the installation of the BEMC SMD chilled water manifolds on the West side of the detector which should be completed in early December.

Start of the installation of EAST side MWPC grounding wedges this week will be delayed for at least a week until resources from LBL arrive at BNL.

Detectors and Subsystems

FTPC (from Volker Eckardt)

FTPC: The most important activity last month was the preparation and the installation of the West-FTPC into the detector. After all utilities, cables and powers supplies were in place we passed the ORR with some minor comments on October 30. Now the system test can begin early November.

EMC Endcap (from Will Jacobs)

Following the Endcap Procurement Readiness Review in late July, a number of orders have been put out for construction materials and engineering efforts have been stepped up to produce the final drawings for letting fabrication contracts with vendors. Examples of material and component orders made to date include scintillator and fiber orders from Kuraray (including the agreements as to the Endcap required QA/C), tower PMT's from ETL and SMD (plus preshower) MAPMT's from Hamamatsu, all negotiated in bulk quantities and to Endcap requirements.

The ANL group this past month has successfully completed the extrusion of the triangular scintillator strips needed for SMD construction. Engineering drawings are complete for procurement of the materials required for construction of a full size (e.g., half Endcap) radiator laminate test piece, including a precision gluing jig and assembly table. Successful tests of prototype 12 and 8 fiber connectors and vendor contacts now permit placing the order for the custom connector molding and initial test run of parts.

With the final Endcap engineering design have come the successful filling of several ECN's before the STAR operations group, relating to detector depth on the front and integration volume off the back of the west poletip; several more ECN relating to eta = 1 and eta = 2 integration space will soon be pending. In addition, a detailed study of the effects of the Endcap installation on the STAR magnetic field has shown no problems at the level of the STAR requirements (SN0246).

Work to setup the fabrication production lines continues: the radiator laminates, and particularly the megatile fabrication and QA/C at IUCF, SMD at ANL, fibers at MSU and mechanical components, CW bases and assemblies at Dubna. The Endcap calibration laser is on order and work is progressing on "leaky fiber" development in a lab inherited from the laser driven target at the IUCF Cooler. Some Endcap pre-installation, involving drilling of mounting holes in the STAR magnet pole tip, is scheduled for the present RHIC shutdown.

Period Coordinator Reports

Physics Working Groups

This section contains summaries of the status of the physics working groups. These articles are in a protected area for STAR collaboration members only. This link uses the standard STAR account and password for physics results. If you do not have this information, please contact your council representative.

People

	Coming Going

Announcements

Will Jacobs (Indiana University)

Jan Balewski has been appointed to a staff position at IUCF with responsibilities in STAR Endcap EMC and STAR spin software. Jan will help coordinate efforts at IUCF and collaborating institutions toward simulations and analysis software development relevant to the STAR spin physics program. He will also serve as a liaison between the STAR Endcap Calorimeter project and overall STAR analysis, simulations and software infrastructure coordinators. In these roles Jan will work closely with the Spin Physics PWG conveners, Endcap Scientific coordinator and the coordinator of the Barrel EMC software development.

Employment Opportunities

Argonne National Laboratory: Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Experimental Nuclear/Particle Physics

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral fellow position in the HEP Division at Argonne National Laboratory to start in winter or spring 2001. The major research focus will be the determination of the gluon spin distribution in the proton within the RHIC spin program at the STAR detector. Argonne physicists are collaborating on the construction of the STAR endcap electromagnetic calorimeter, which will play a vital role in measuring the gluon spin. Half of the calorimeter is planned to be installed in summer 2002, with the remainder in summer 2003. The primary responsibilities will involve the construction and testing of a scintillator strip shower maximum detector for the endcap calorimeter. Participation in ongoing experimental programs involving spin is also expected.

This is a two-year appointment with the possibility of renewal for a third year. Interested candidates should have obtained a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear or high energy physics within the last three years. Applicants are requested to send a list of publications, curriculum vitae, and the names of four references no later than January 15, 2001 to H. Spinka, High Energy Physics Division, Building 362, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439.

Wayne State University: Postdoctoral Position

A post doctoral position is immediately available at Wayne State University for a person to take substantial responsibility for EMC test beam activities and to participate in the first operation of the EMC as a component of STAR. Individuals with detector or instrumentation interests particularly former calorimeter experience are encouraged to apply. Opportunities exist to work in a number of physics areas generally related to the STAR high Pt program. For more information contact: Tom Cormier at cormier@physics.wayne.edu