March 30 Newsletter
From APEXwiki
Dear APEX Collaboration members,
- The main news item this week is that Associate Director Larry Cardman has officially approved our June Test Run Plan.
- In his approval letter to us, he formulated the following conditions of the Run:
- "The results of a detailed simulation of the radiation impact of the test run over the proposed excitation range of the septum magnets are presented and approved.
- The detailed design of the target set-up is reviewed and approved by Dave Meekins and Ed Folts.
- Planning for the target configuration to be used must optimize the slack in the scheduled transition from the PREx experiment and the upcoming DVCS experiment. It should also minimize the incremental work for the Target group and the Hall A technical staff, both of which have too much on their plates.
- A detailed simulation is provided of the magnetic field integral along the beam line down stream of the target with the proposed magnetic shielding.
- Dependent on the progress of the PREX experiment and a possible delay in the start-up of commissioning for the Qweak experiment, the start date of the APEX test run may be delayed by a week or more. The run must end in time for the installation of the DVCS experiment to be completed in time for its scheduled September 6 start. The combination of these two constraints may shorten the time available for the APEX test run."
- We will address the conditions we have control over during the next few weeks.
- Note that we have moved the APEX website to JLab: http://hallaweb.jlab.org/experiment/APEX/index.html
Below is a summary of recent activity and current priorities for the sub-groups.
(See also previous newsletter)
Contents |
Status Report and Priority Activities for the Coming Week
Detector Preparation and Installation
Group: Bogdan Wojtsekhowsi (leader), Jack Segal, Doug Higinbotham, Albert Shahinyan
For the detectors, the VDC cables for both arms have been produced. The DC power for VDC electronics has been ordered. The preparation of S2m detector for HRS-R has started. The DC wiring diagram for the VDC was prepared, and the plan for installation of new A/D cards was checked.
For next week, the group will test the S0 counters. They will also prepare the cables maps for the calorimeters and new patch panels.
Target
Group: Kenneth Moffeit (leader), Dieter Walz, Clive Field, Marco Oriunno, John Jaros, Takashi Maruyama, Allen Odian, Dave Meekins, Bogdan Wojtsekhowski, Alan Gavalya, Ed Folts
On March 22-23, Marco Oriunno visited JLab to further develop the target design with the JLab members of the APEX target group. All essential details of the design have been settled. There will be a meeting March 30 at SLAC to finalize all aspects and begin the procurement process.
Target delivery by mid-May is still expected. The target design will be presented at the next collaboration meeting.
Optics
Group: Vincent Sulkosky (leader), Jin Huang, Doug Higinbotham, John LeRose, Tim Holmstrom
The optics group is developing procedures and a preliminary run plan for optics optimization and software for monitoring of the beam, optics, and target.
Septa and Beam Line
Group: John LeRose (leader), Paul Brindza, Ed Folts, Jack Segal
For the beam line, the corrector has been assembled and tested. The test magnetic shield was produced and installed (and removed) on the beam line.
Next week, the beam line configuration will be finalized and a request will be sent to RadCon.
VDC Analysis
Group: Ole Hansen (leader), Jin Huang, Michael Paolone, Guy Ron
The development of the necessary software and tools to analyze high rate VDC data are in progress.
Analysis Tools
Group: Ishay Pomerantz (leader), Eli Piasetzky, Ran Shneor, Mathew Graham, Eric Jensen, Victor Maxwell, Sergey Abrahamyan, Sharon Beck
As preparations for the June Test Run proceed, the development of appropriate analysis and calibration tools will become a major priority and effort. For APEX it is absolutely essential that we analyze the data in real time while the experiment is running. To do this, all the tools need to be ready and tested on previously available data, well in advance of the Test Run. Also, it will be crucial to have a large number, if not all, of the analysis team members on site during the running of the experiment, so that the detector can be calibrated quickly.
Sergey has put some information on the APEX wiki: http://ntoro.stanford.edu/APEX/wiki/index.php/Detector_Analysis_Tools
Members of the Analysis Team are encouraged to follow the instructions under "Analysis Tools, How To" and look at the README file.
Additional Remarks
You may have heard that, in addition to APEX, two other experiments at JLab to search for A's are being discussed. One of these is supposed to run in Hall B while the other would use the JLab FEL. In order to review the experiments proposed for A' searches, and to further inform a decision at the laboratory on which experiments to pursue in detail, a workshop on A' Physics at JLab is being planned for sometime in August or September 2010. We will inform you of the details once they have been finalized.
Finally, we encourage everyone to provide us with feedback and suggestions as we prepare for the Test Run this June.
Thank you and kind regards,
Rouven, Philip, Natalia, and Bogdan (APEX spokespeople)
