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Friday, December 7, 2007 |
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CMS Tracker workshop connects people, ideas
CMS collaborators could see data from their experiment in a few months, but that doesn't mean planning is over. Collaborators from around the globe are taking a proactive approach and are already laying foundations for the experiment's next phase. An estimated 80 collaborators joined together to strategize at the CMS SLHC Tracker Upgrade workshop on Nov. 27 and 28 to discuss a tracker upgrade they hope to implement 10 years after experiment start up. The workshop was held at Fermilab, which gave a chance for more U.S. participation than typically possible. The tracker, which is the inner-most layer of the detector, contains silicon sensors that allow scientists to track and measure the momentum of charged particles. An upgrade of the LHC, Super LHC, would increase the beam luminosity by an order of magnitude, producing a higher level of radiation as well as much higher particle density. The tracker components and technology would have to be upgraded to operate in the new environment. The catch is making the technological advances fit in within the confines of the current detector. "We wanted to focus on crystallizing the ideas that were floating around," said Purdue University-based Daniela Bortoletto, workshop co-organizer and US-CMS SLHC upgrade coordinator. A large portion of the workshop, according to CERN's Marcello Mannelli, deputy project manager for the CMS tracker, was to focus the discussion on upgrade work so the collaboration can put together a proposal of the detector layout. While collaborators did flesh out old ideas and generate interesting new ones, the workshop ended up being just as much about the people as the science. CMS workshops often end up in Europe in the middle of the week, limiting participation by U.S. collaborators. Simon Kwan, Fermilab-based CMS Forward Pixel maintenance and operation manager and workshop co-organizer, attended a few of those workshops at CERN and said he felt the limited U.S. presence was creating a knowledge gap between collaborators on both sides of the ocean. "In order for the upgrade to be a success, the U.S., and in particular Fermilab, has to play a really important role. One-third of the CMS collaboration is in the U.S.," Kwan said. The workshop helped to consolidate Fermilab and the United States' working relationship with other collaborators, said Geoff Hall, CMS deputy program manager for the CMS tracker upgrade. "We collaborate closely with the U.S. groups all the time, but meeting the members face to face is not something we can do every day," Hall said. Kwan hopes to capitalize on the enthusiasm from the workshop and organize scientists into groups to tackle other priority topics. He and Bortoletto also hope to organize another workshop on the design of the inner tracker system. -- Rhianna Wisniewski |
