This month at the LHC

The newest episode of LHC News focuses on the machine's quench protection system.

Late last year the Large Hadron Collider collided its first protons at a record-breaking energies. On December 16, the collider shut down so teams could prepare the machine to run at even higher energies in 2010. So what are the scientists, engineers and technicians at CERN doing during this approximately two-month-long "technical stop?"

The goal of the many activities taking place during the technical stop is to prepare the LHC to accelerate beams to an energy of 3.5 TeV. The three main tasks are replacement of about 4000 connectors in the quench detection system; testing components of the new quench protection system to bring it to full functionality; and maintenance for the CMS experiment.

The LHC's superconducting magnets are kept at the very low temperature of 1.9 K in order to carry the high currents needed to bend fast-moving particles. At a beam energy of 3.5 TeV, 6000 amps of current will flow through the LHC's main bending magnets, the dipoles. A quench occurs when part of the superconducting cable within a magnet heats up and can no longer conduct electricity without resistance. The first line of defense against quenches is detection using a complex electronics system that monitors the magnets and surrounding technology.

One main task for the technical stop is the replacement of some connectors in the new quench detection system's 250 km of high-voltage cable. The connectors, initially installed in 2009, are being replaced after it was discovered that they were easily damaged if cables were bent.

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-- Daisy Yuhas

Revised laboratory manual available online

A revised version of PFX , the document describing procedures for researchers at Fermilab, is now available online.

The new version of the document addresses the needs of a wider set of researchers, including those associated with off-site projects. Accordingly, the task force that updated the document changed the document's name from Procedures for Experimenters to Procedures for Researchers.

The Web-based document includes useful links and replaces a printed version more than a decade old.

The task force responsible for the update included people from around the laboratory: Jeff Appel (chair), Paul Allcorn, David Baird, Kathryn Duerr, Camille Ginsburg, Hank Glass, Boaz Klima, Amanda Petersen, Stephen Pordes, Mike Rhoades, Wayne Schmitt, Romesh Sood and Marcia Teckenbrock. Many others contributed to the effort as well.

Researchers and service providers are invited to send suggestions and corrections to PFX@fnal.gov in order to ensure it stays useful and up-to-date.

Flu Update

Though the H1N1 flu virus appears to have completed its first pass through the U.S., public health officials think a subsequent wave could begin. They urge individuals to obtain the H1N1 vaccination to protect their health through any secondary wave.

Many locations offer the H1N1 vaccination. Private clinics charge a nominal fee to cover the staff time involved in storing, tracking and administering the vaccine. Most health plans will cover that charge. The Fermilab Medical Office will not offer the H1N1 vaccine.

Infection from seasonal flu strains has not been a serious issue thus far. However, the season will not peak until next month.

Please keep up the good work in terms hand washing, cough containment and staying home when ill.

Cornell University library engages more institutions in supporting arXiv

From Cornell University Library, Jan. 21, 2010

In a move to expand support for sustaining arXiv, Cornell University Library is broadening the funding base for the online scientific repository. Nearly 600,000 e-prints - research articles published online in physics, mathematics, statistics, computer science and related disciplines - now reside in arXiv, which is an open information source for hundreds of thousands of scientific researchers.

arXiv will remain free for readers and submitters, but the Library has established a voluntary, collaborative business model to engage institutions that benefit most from arXiv.

"Keeping an open-access resource like arXiv sustainable means not only covering its costs, but also continuing to enhance its value, and that kind of financial commitment is beyond a single institution's resources," said Oya Rieger, Associate University Librarian for Information Technologies. "If a case can be made for any repository being community-supported, arXiv has to be at the top of the list."

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