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STAR Newsletter #92

May 2002
Star Home Page
Editor: Howard Matis

Contents

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

Spokesman's Column (Tim Hallman)

First I would like to comment, for those people who weren't able to attend the Analysis Meeting at LBNL last week, things are shaping up nicely for Quark Matter '02. Its not possible to detail the physics shown at the meeting in this brief message, but in summary, the production is going extremely well, and the ongoing analysis work promises new, important physics results from all our working groups by the time of QM02. That is provided of course we keep up the good work, and can take care of the embedding, and systematics studies which need to be completed before the meeting.

Since it will be difficult to make substantive changes to talks during the Collaboration in Nantes, there will be a deadline (TBD) in late June or early July for all QM Talks to be posted for review by the Collaboration prior to the Collaboration meeting. The date for the deadline will be announced after it has been discussed with the Physics Working Group Convenors and the Physics Analysis Coordinator.

The Trigger Workshop was also very productive, and those who attended received a lot of information about the technical operation of the trigger, as well as new physics interests in the Collaboration. A particular conclusion from the meeting is that we will have greatly enhanced trigger capability in the coming run; also, -- that a great deal of the science we hope to accomplish in the coming run relies fundamentally on information from the electromagnetic calorimeter, both offline and in the trigger.

The Forward Pi Zero detector will also be very important; in addition to providing new physics capability, it is needed to tune the spin rotators for RHIC if there is a polarized proton run this year. As both these detectors are key to our trigger for the upcoming run there will be some follow up discussions from the meeting to insure the plan for these detectors is clear and achievable. For the Pi Zero Detector, resources, time, and, people will be a challenge, so we need to examine this closely to see what can be accomplished.

On Friday of the Analysis Meeting the Physics Working Group Convenors met to review the abstracts for contributed talks at QM02, and resolve overlaps. The great number of abstracts received underscores the wealth of physics being pursued in STAR. For those talks recommended to be merged, the agreed upon approach in the Collaboration will be to forward the names of all authors to the STAR Talks Committee to consider who should be asked to speak. This is a relatively small percentage of the STAR QM02 abstracts, so the QM02 organizers will have considerable work to do choosing between the many interesting contributed talks that are proposed for presentation.

The next major meeting on STAR's agenda is the Future Physics Workshop at Bar Harbor, Maine 17-20 June. On Sunday night after the Analysis meeting, the Upgrades Steering Committee chaired by Tom Ludlam met to discuss preparations for the workshop. This meeting will be very important for examining physics drivers and instrumentation that may lie in STAR's future, and members of the Collaboration are encouraged to attend if possible. The meeting will feature focused discussions on high pt hadrons and jets, heavy quarkonia, and soft physics, as well as discussions of the future outlook for trigger and DAQ, and the limitations of the existing TPC.

In a little longer perspective, STAR is looking forward to its next Collaboration meeting in Nantes. A preliminary schedule for the meeting will be distributed in email next week. The meeting runs from 11-16 July, with the first day (11th) being reserved for a junior members workshop, and the second likely being devoted to parallel sessions for the physics working groups. July 14th is Bastille day, and it should be fun to be present in Nantes during this French national celebration.

On Monday evening, May 6th, the first meeting of the STAR Advisory Board took place. A number of topics were discussed, including the operation of the Board, and the process for appointing new physics working group convenors. The minutes of the meeting will be distributed in an email to the Collaboration. In the future, general discussion at Board meetings will be open to the membership of the Collaboration, with the understanding that the Board may move to go into executive session during such discussions if that is felt to be appropriate.

Finally, I would like to mention that various parts of the Photon Multiplicity Detector are beginning to show up at BNL, and we look forward to the successful installation and commissioning of that detector later this year. The shutdown activities are moving ahead as planned, and work is continuing on the construction of the endcap and barrel electromagnetic calorimeters. On May 15th, the MRPC Time of Flight Proposal will be submitted for review by the STAR Collaboration. This proposal will be reviewed by a sub-panel of the STAR Advisory Board (including both members and non-members of the Board) which will be charged with making a recommendation to the Board in late June, after the Upgrades Workshop in Bar Harbor. Later this month a STAR delegation including myself, Jay Marx, and Huan Huang will visit China to discuss potential Chinese contribution to the TOF barrel project, as well as Chinese participation in STAR scientific program in general.

Overall, this was a very productive month for STAR due to the hard work of many. Since the last newsletter, six papers have been released by their respective God Parent Committees. Two are in final revision, 1 is about to be submitted to PRL, and 3 are presently before the Collaboration for review. I look forward to continued progress in the coming weeks as we continue to publish important results and to prepare for QM02 and the next run.

Many thanks to all who are working hard to move STAR forward--!

STAR Council (Jay Marx)

At the meeting of the STAR Council in February 2002 the topic of working committees of the STAR Council was discussed. It was agreed that Council committees would be established to enable the Council to more effectively carry out its responsibilities and that Council committees should have balanced membership from the Council, taking account of the institutional diversity of the STAR Collaboration and including US and non-US institutions, universities and laboratories.

After considerable consultation with the Council, the Council Deputy Chair and the Spokesman and his deputies, I am pleased to inform you of the establishment of two Council committees:

The membership and the formal charter for each is given below:

Publications & Talks Committee (PTC)

Membership

Carl Gagliardi (Chair)
Volker Eckardt
Huan Haung
Mercedes Noriega
Gary Westfall

Charter

This committee will consist of at least 3 STAR Council members.

The charge of this committee is to periodically review and evaluate STAR’s policies (written and "tradition") related to written publications. It will also review policies related to talks at scientific conferences. Based on its findings, it is charged with making recommendations to the Council for changes, modifications, and clarification of these polices as required. STAR policies in this area should be reviewed at least once per year.

In addition, the Publication and Talks Committee (PTC) will monitor the implementation of STAR’s publication and talks policies and report to the Council at least once per year on the effectiveness of these policies. As part of this responsibility, the PTC will review demographic data provided by the STAR Talks Committee concerning the selection of speakers and report to the Council whether the goal of achieving an equitable, appropriate distribution of talks among STAR institutions and personnel is being met.

In addition to setting policy and monitoring its implementation, the Publication and Talks Committee (PTC) will be responsible for receiving and adjudicating appeals on exemption requests and cases of authorship eligibility that the Spokesperson feels should not be accepted. It will also consider cases in which individual STAR Collaborators appear to have knowingly acted outside of STAR policy concerning talks and publications. It will investigate the facts surrounding such incidents, and make a recommendation as to what, if any, action should be taken.

Service Work & Collaboration Resources Committee (SWRC)

Membership

Jerry Hoffman (Chair)
Mike Cherney
Tom Humanic
Igor Savin
Kai Schweda
Jay Marx (ex-officio)

Charter

This committee will consist of at least 4 STAR Council members. The Council Chair will be an ex-officio member.

This committee will review STAR policies and definitions related to categories of service work and contributed resources by collaborators and collaborating institutions and recommend changes, modifications, and clarifications to these policies as required. STAR Policies and definitions in this area should be reviewed at least once per year.

The committee will also monitor the implementation of STAR’s policies related to service work and contributed resources and will report to the Council at least once per year on the effectiveness of these policies in achieving STAR’s goals.

As part of their responsibility, based on a list of specific service tasks provided by the Spokesperson, the members of this committee will proactively canvass their fellow Council members to ascertain where potential matches may be made between these services tasks and contributed resources. When a potential match is identified, the Spokesperson will be notified, so that he can confirm with the appropriate subsystem leader, convenor, etc., that the match is appropriate. The Spokesperson may at any time, act independently of the SWRC to address a critical need within STAR. In such cases, he will inform the Chair of the SWRC of any arrangements made, so that the information can be recorded and tracked correctly.

The office of the Spokesperson will undertake to maintain a comprehensive database including information on specific service tasks and those performing them. At least twice per year, along with the Spokesperson, the SWRC will review these data to ascertain whether such service tasks are being assigned and institutional commitments are being met. Based on this assessment, the SWRC will report to the Council on the effectiveness of this activity, and will recommend improvements that may be necessary. The results of this assessment will also be provided to the Talks Committee by the SWRC for use in developing an appropriate, equitable distribution of Talks.

STAR Operations (Ralph Brown)

Having received input and discussed the proposed change in the STAR FY02 shutdown plan with subsystem managers, we recommend that STAR Operations adopt the following plan for the remainder of this shutdown period.
  1. Complete the installation of 32 BEMC modules on the East side of the detector by early April (4/12).
  2. Roll the STAR Detector into the WAH and connect AC power and MCW/TPC water (4/15-17). During the week of 4/15 the MCW system will be shutdown to upgrade the heat exchanger. MCW system will be back online by 4/22.
  3. Begin repair of the East Pole Tip Carriage, which was not part of the original plan. The carriage with pole tip weighs 200-tons and so this repair requires the East pole tip be installed in the magnet and the carriage disassembled in the WAH. We would then gain access to the lower carriage roller base plate and realign the truck rollers. The carriage will then be reassembled, tested, and the pole tip then removed from the magnet. I estimate that this will take from 2-3 weeks to complete, during this time there will be no access to the detector from the East side (4/18-5/3).
  4. In parallel with item-3 above, we can begin the modification to the RICH utilities in the WAH (gas/liquid/cables/racks) from the West wall.
  5. The PMD structural support is expected to arrive at BNL early June by boat from India. The STAR detector will remain in the WAH until the PMD support arrives and is rigged into the WAH, or until mid-June. Then the STAR detector will be rolled-out into the AB. Installation of the PMD support will begin as soon as the STAR detector is removed from the WAH. This allows the PMD installation effort to begin as soon as they arrive and may eliminate any rigging conflicts with the EEMC installation.
  6. With the STAR detector back in the AB, we will complete the East installation of the four BEMC modules delivered in May. We will then move to the West side and start fiber installation of the West side modules.
  7. In parallel with the West BEMC effort we will install the RICH detector on the Northeast side, prior to installation of the SVT/SSD. Utilities installation on the detector can be performed in parallel with the SVT/SSD installation.
  8. Work on the installation of the SVT/SSD on the cone, and insertion of the cone on the East side is a continuous effort and must wait until after roll-in of the STAR detector for the delivery of the lower EEMC into the WAH. The SVT/SSD installation must begin no later than August 1st, prior to which the EEMC must be delivered and rigged into the WAH.
  9. When the lower EEMC arrives at BNL we will stop our BEMC installation efforts on the West side and roll the STAR detector into the WAH. We will then rig the lower EEMC into the WAH and immediately roll the STAR detector back out into the AB. This roll-in is planned to start June 14th, but could possibly be delayed as late as the end of July at which time SVT/SSD installation must begin.
  10. With the STAR detector in the AB we are back on schedule with the West BEMC and in parallel installing the SVT/SSD on the East side, the PMD and lower EEMC in the WAH.

This change in the plan allows us to take advantage of the 1.5 months gained in the schedule and repair the East Pole Tip Carriage. It also advances the installation of the RICH utilities modification in the WAH, and possibly eliminates rigging conflicts between the PMD and EEMC in the WAH. This option may reduce our concern about delays in the delivery of the lower EEMC and allow us to maintain our installation efforts at STAR until they arrive. I will modify and post a new project schedule on the Operations web site soon.

Detectors and Subsystems

FTPC (from Volker Eckardt)

No contribution this month.

Slow Controls (from Mike Cherney)

Four students gave presentations on work that has been completed.

EMC (from Alexandre Suaide)

No contribution this month.

TPC (from Blair Stringfellow)

In March and April Leonid Kotchenda and his crew (Peter Kravtsov and Viktor Trofimov) have rebuilt the TPC gas system. All the wiring was replaced, new patch panels were installed, as well as new solid state relay boards. In addition, they have implemented a new microprocessor based alarm box and commercial (National Instruments SCXI) data acquisition boards. The system just completed a one week test run (with 50% Ar and 50% N2 simulating P10) in the WAH and it ran well. Pictures and documentation can be found at http://www-rnc.lbl.gov/~pkravt/gas/ .

Level 3 Trigger (from the commissioning contingent)

No contribution this month.

Endcap EMC (from Will Jacobs)

The strongback fixture required for Endcap assembly, shipping and mounting has been delivered and is at BNL for load testing and certification. The lower 1/2 hub and backplate are expected from the vendor next week, so that assembly of the mechanical structure with radiators can proceed at IUCF by mid-May.

The first prototype MAPMT box has been delivered from TAMU and stuffed with tubes. These tubes were tested at KSU in housings made at LHE/Dubna. It is to be used with electronics "kludged" from the pEEMC for readout tests of the Endcap mock stackup at IUCF (30 degree active sector of towers and SMD) with sources and a cosmic ray tracking stand during May.

Work on defining installation utilities and services configuration on the west wall and back of the STAR poletip is progressing. Orders have been let for power supplies, racks, crates etc.

RICH

No contribution this month.

TOFp - (Bill Llope and F. Geurts )

No contribution this month.

Period Coordinator Reports

Physics Working Groups - (See the protected area)

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.

Go to this month's articles

People

Announcements and Notes

Employment Opportunities

Postdoctoral Research Scientist (Purdue University)

A position is available with the experimental high energy nuclear physics group at Purdue University to perform research with the STAR experiment at RHIC. The successful candidate will be expected to carry out a significant analysis using STAR data. Experience of data analysis in a large high-energy or nuclear physics experiment and expertise with software development using C and C++ in a research environment are desirable. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in physics or a related field. A two-year appointment is anticipated, renewable for a third year upon mutual agreement. The successful candidate is expected to start in the summer of 2002. Applicants should send resume, a list of publications, and arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent to Prof. Fuqiang Wang, Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, or E-mail: FQWang@physics.purdue.edu. Purdue University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Postdoc/Junior Faculty Position (Creighton University)

The Creighton University RHIC physics group anticipates at least one opening at the postdoc or junior faculty level. Interested persons should contact Michael Cherney (mcherney@creighton.edu) or Janet Seger (jseger@creighton.edu). The formal announcement should appear in a subsequent newsletter.

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