PS/SPS User Meeting

Thursday 5 Oct 2023, 10:30 → 11:51 Europe/Zurich

874/1-011 (CERN)

Eva Barbara Holzer (CERN), Martin R. Jaekel (CERN)

minutes_of_the_ps_sps_user_meeting_20231005.pdf

PS-SPS Users Meeting for Week 40 held on October 5th, 2023

The agenda for this meeting is based upon user schedule 2.1.0, please cf. here. Please note the current injector schedule which contains information about MDs, Technical stops, etc. and can be found here.

Next user meeting:
For week 41 on Thursday October 12th, 2023 10:30 CEST
Meeting room: 874/1-011 (CERN)

Previous EATM meeting from September 26th 2023:
indico.cern.ch/event/1329739/

News from the PS & SPS Physics Coordinator (E.B. Holzer, M. Jaekel)

News from the Facilities Operations Meeting (FOM) (M.Jäkel)

Check the Page 1 on the machine vistars for most up-to-date information of the beam availability:
https://op-webtools.web.cern.ch/vistar/vistars.php?usr=SPS1
https://op-webtools.web.cern.ch/vistar/vistars.php?usr=CPS

Now, during the LHC ion commissioning period more last-minute changes can happen than usually during the run.

During the rest of the run: Dedicated LHC filling with ions trains in the SPS. The fillings might last around 1 hour and repeat about every 5 hours.

• PS EA duty cycle is much reduced during the LHC filling periods --> If you require more cycles to finish your measurements - you can ask for some compensation during the other periods --> to be discussed at the user meeting.
• SPS NA --> no beam during dedicated LHC filling
• Pb source refill most likely on October 12th - about 10 hours without ion beams, plus some ramping up and optimisation required

Injector Schedule

• AWAKE run 4 in Wk 41, starting on Sunday

Preview of MDs:

Please note that during this periode the MDs migth change on short notice if problems occure in the SPS/LHC.

Dedicated MD (8-18h) moved to week 43. Can happen between Monday and Wednesday. LHC driven. Not later than Wednesday. Date to be confirmed.

Wk 40: Long parallel MD (8h-18h) on Thursday.
Short MDs on Monday and Tuesday.

Wk 41 : No long parallel MD

Wk 42 : Long parallel MDs (8h-18h) scheduled for Thursday. Investigating if this can be combined with Monday LHC MD. TBC.

Dedicated Linac4 and PSB high intensity in week 44

Intensity split and wobbling

• Sharing between T2 and T4 (ion run)
  • T2: 220E8 (was 160E8 in 2022)
  • T4: 225E8
• Supercycle (2022, ions & AWAKE in parallel):
  • SFTION1 -> AWAKE -> AWAKE -> AWAKE -> MD1.
  • SC length: 50.4 s
• 2023 while dedicated NA ions (57.6 sec, 48BP)
  • SFTION1 -> MD1 -> SFTION1 -> MD1

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PS Machine Report (Ewen Maclean)

• good availability over last week (98.1%)
• Low intensity (1e11) parasitic ntof sent Wed night. Low intensity ntof doesn’t survive cycle in case EAST doesn’t request beam.
• Increase of bunch intensity of EAST_T8 from 60e10 to 80e10 p approved. First attempts going in now. Need clarification on how to prioritize in case of reaching east total threshold.
• Initial settup of oxygen cycle begun
• 1 hour beam-stop on Tuesday performed for repair of cavitiy 51 gap relay
• continuing issues with bad pulses on SMH16, but TT2 BPM issue resolved.

SPS Machine Report (Giulia)

• spill improvements on Monday, slope added to T2 transfer momentum
  • best ion spill ever :)
• Thursday, long parallel MD: SFTION1 in parallel to MD5 (LHCION1-like)… 95s supercycle, possibly a first
• Friday:
  • morning: verify AWK beam in view of Run 4 start (1-2h)
  • 14h00-18h00: short parallel MD
• Sunday: AWK Run 4 start
  • SFTION1 + AWAKE + AWAKE + AWAKE + MD1
• (source refill foreseen for 12 October)

Safety / Radiation Protection (Please Add Your Name Here)

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n_ToF (M. Bacak)

Physics programme according to planning:

• EAR1: modifications in beamline upstream 2nd collimator done >> transmission test measurement Part II
• EAR2: 26Al telescope setup finished and swapped to new silicon annular detector setup. Broken vacuum window on detector chamber yesterday afternoon. Probably detector damage - inspection today.
• NEAR: diamond with double readout AC & DC

Proton beam average intensity excellent. 10e10 ppb variant on some EAST cycles since yesterday afternoon for diamond detector.

East Area Beam Status (J. Bernhard)

East area overall: Issue with hall interior lighting due to unannounced maintenance works.
T09: For OREO, the same configuration as for Techno CLS is going to be used. Wednesday evening the proton beam was found to be off by almost 3 cm on the T9 target in the vertical plane, leading to very low beam rate in T9. The autosteering was unable to steer the beam back due to the large offset. After manual steering, the situation got better. It is not clear what caused this big jump.
T10: Good operation.
T11: No issues. Reminder that if the T10/T11 target is requested to be changed, please contact both Laurie and Maarten to discuss first as this will impact CLOUD.

East Area Users Tour de Table

T8 Main: IRRAD/CHARM (F. Ravotti / S. Fiore)

Good week, issue with IRRAD-BPM signals solved on Thursday 28/9 morning (faulty LEMO connector). Weekly intensity level close to the target value (~1.9e16 p/w, see plot below). Beam alignment and center on both X- and Y-axis was very good (e.g. number of spills centered within +/- 2mm): >97%.

During the access on Wednesday, in IRRAD we exchanged the dosimetry and completed “short” LHCb/EP-DT (optical fibers, calorimerty cristal samples, mirror samples, etc.) and ATLAS (heat-shirking tube) experiments. The cryostat and long-term experiments in Zone 3 continue. In CHARM, we removed TE/MPE (WIC) and BE/CEM/EDL setups, installed TE/MPE (QPS) and TE/EPC (power converter) setups, the last users for the main irradiation rack 2023.

Waiting green-light to test the high-intensity EAST_T8 spills (80E10 pps extracted) during the last two weeks of the proton run. Clarifications about the max intensity possible to deliver to EAST destination is ongoing.

The first Wednesday of the ion period (18/10) there will be the need to access EA1 (in the morning on the shadow of the EA2 access) to install a measurement device on the last beam-stopper and we would require other two short access slots (~40min ventilation time included) during the afternoon. Is this compatible with the user run in the other test-beam lines ?

T9 Outgoing Main: ALICE PHOS (Mikhail Ippolitov)

We started warming up system on 03 October afternoon. All equipment was move from experimental zone 04.10 morning. During test calorimeter was scanned with electrons in energy range 0.25-10 GeV. Energy resolution curves and time resolution were measured for 3 different photodetectors. We have got time resolution ~180 ps at 1 GeV deposited in crystal energy. Prototype of 32 channels front-end card was tested successfully. Grate thank you to East-Area team for help during installation and deinstallation and Dipanwita for clear explanations and help with beam tuning.
.

T9 Main: OREO (S. Mangiacavalli & S. Carsi)

• We have installed our setup in the morning
• The intensity was very low: the primary beam was way out of the target
• Very big thanks to Dipanwita that solved the problem in the evening
• Plans for the week:
  • Calibration of the electromagnetic calorimeter
  • Goniometer scans to find the crystal axis
  • Long run statistics with electrons and secondary mixed hadrons
• Preliminary results of our crystal samples:
• 

T9 Incoming Main: ALICE FOCAL - Week 41 (Ganesh Tambave)

Please refer to the uploaded slides in the agenda.

T10 Outgoing Main: ALICE ITS3 (Paolo Martinengo)

Measurement completed, excellent beam conditions
Nothing special to report

T10 Main: ALICE RICH (Nicola Mazziotta)

Set-up completed on afternoon on Oct 4, and data taking started in the evening.

T11 Main: CLOUD (Eva Sommer)

CLOUD is running smoothly. Some minor hickups with the gas system but going well overall.

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AWAKE (Giovanni Zevi Della Porta)

(Uploaded after the meeting)

Preparing for beam on Sunday. Tight schedule due to installation delays, but we should make it.

North Area Beam Status

Beamlines H2, H4, H6, H8 (J. Bernhard)

H2: Smooth operation. Ion comissioning started on Thursday, beam ready for checks already from Friday.
H4: Smooth operation, ion comissioning completed on Friday.
H6: End of proton beam operation. Beamline off.
H8: Smooth operation, ion commissioning completed on Sunday. An additional target (200mm polyethylene) was installed as a secondary target in the XCON.042.130, to possibly provide more efficient ion fragmentation.

Beamlines P42-K12 and M2 (J. Bernhard)

M2: End of proton beam operation, beamline off.
P42/K12: End of proton beam operation, beamlines off.

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North Area Users Tour de Table

Beamlines P42-K12 and M2

Finished activities for 2023.

H2

H2 Main: NA61 SHINE (Piotr Podlaski)

• We got the beam ~2AM on Sunday (Friday-Sunday night)
• Since then we were performing many setup and commisioning activities
• SPS extraction work by Operators on Monday - VERY good results, spill structure is now optimal for us. Many thanks!
• We started physics data taking Wednesday evening, continuing since then
• I saw couple of LHC filling supercycles with SFTION
• Many thanks to all who helped us!

H4

H4 Outgoing Main: CMS HGCAL (Please Add Your Name Here)

H4 Main: PAN (Daniil Sukhonos, UNIGE)

We finished debugging our setup and took yesterday the synchronus runs with all subdetectors. The beam is a bit too wide in vertical dimension (> 5 cm long) and too narrow in horizontal (~4-6 mm). A deeper charge distribution study is needed.

Ion beam profiles recorded by PAN silicon strip detectors (single cluster cut set in every detector).

H4 Incoming Main: RE44 HERD - Week 41 (Leonardo Di Venere)

Some of the equipment was already installed in previous weeks. We installed the remaining subdetectors on Monday October 3. No particular issues to report and thanks to Laura for security support!
Setup:

Beam was good, Nikos prepared three files (320 GeV/Z, 330 GeV/Z, 340 GeV/Z) and helped us reducing the intensity on the 330 GeV/Z beam, thanks! Our plan is to study response of the HERD subdetectors to high Z particles and measure charge resolution.
This is the beam composition detected by a scintillator tile with a trigger threshold of about Z=2.5. However, we see a large halo, we are investigating and ask Nikos for help if we need.

When PAN moves out next week, we will need an extension of the beam pipe. We will get in touch with Michael Lazzaroni.

We are in touch with Michael for a storage area of our equipment at the end of the beam test

H6

Finished activities for 2023.

H6 Outgoing Main: ATLAS ITK PIXEL (Please Add Your Name Here)

H6 Outgoing Parallel: ATLAS BCM PRIME (Please Add Your Name Here)

H6 Outgoing Parallel: CMS MTD (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8

H8 Outgoing Main: CMS MTD (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8 Outgoing Parallel: STI (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8 Outgoing Parallel: LHCb (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8 Main: VLAST (Jingjing Zang)

1. Lift and install detector on Monday morning, start data taking on Monday evening.
2. Take A/Z=2., 2.2, 2.4 and 2.54 data. The beam quality is great. Many thanks to Maarten for the beam files.
3. 2D charge distribution with ANC_Si - ACD bar and ACD Tile - ACD Bar shown in following figs. Found several faulties in our electronics, trying to fix them.
4. Plan to accumulate more statistics of high Z ions. So far so good.
   

H8 Incoming Main: NA60+ (E. Scomparin)

• People arriving at CERN
• This year’s setup consists of a DESY table with a telescope of ALPIDE Si sensors, on the Pb beam axis, and a second table, off-axis, with MWPC and GEM prototypes
• We will use a 5 mm Pb target
• The program includes detector studies AND studies of the beam optics in view of the future NA60+ experiment
• The beam will be low-intensity (103

-104

• /spill) for most of the time. A short high-intensity test is foreseen, in agreement with beam physicists and radioprotection group

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Parasitic Users

M2 Outgoing: MUONE (Please Add Your Name Here)

H6 Outgoing: ATLAS AFP TOF (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8 Outgoing: TOTEM PPS (F. Garcia)

The data taken for a Diamonds detector package was finished and yesterday was dismounted and feed on eslot in the Roman Pot station.

The plan is for the next week to install one Silicon Pixel detector packages for test in the Roman Pot station.
Therefore we need to know what is the status for access to PPE168 during next week. The plan is to have some long access for installation and for the tets so if the area can be in free access will be great.

H8 Outgoing: STRAW TRACKER RD (Please Add Your Name Here)

H8 Outgoing: CMS RPC (João)

• We are done with our measurements at H8, everything was removed and the data seems very good. Analysis is ongoing and can be presented soon. Thank you.

T10: EIC DRICH (Please Add Your Name Here)

H4: RE44 HERD (L. Di Venere)

See above. Nothing else to report.

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AoB

Minutes by the respective speakers, edited by E. B. Holzer, M. Jaekel, and M. Schwinzerl

10:30 → 10:36 News from the PS & SPS Physics Coordinator

Speaker: Eva Barbara Holzer (CERN)

10:36 → 10:39 PS machine report

Members of be-dep-ps-coordinators can upload material.

Speakers: Alexander Huschauer (CERN), Alexandre Lasheen (CERN), Benoit Salvant (CERN), Bettina Mikulec (CERN), Denis Gerard Cotte (CERN), Matthew Alexander Fraser (CERN), Ruben Garcia Alia (CERN)

20231005_PS_week40.pdf

10:39 → 10:42 SPS machine report

Speakers: Arthur Spierer (CERN), Carlo Zannini (CERN), Francesco Maria Velotti (CERN), Giulia Papotti (CERN), Kevin Shing Bruce Li (CERN), Michael Schenk (CERN), Stephane Cettour Cave (CERN), Verena Kain (CERN)

10:42 → 10:45 Safety / Radiation Protection

Speakers: Alex Schouten, Evelyne Dho (CERN), James Devine (CERN), Jean-Francois Gruber (CERN), Laura Jayne Rowland (CERN), Letizia Di Giulio (CERN)

10:45 → 10:48 nTOF

Speakers: Alberto Mengoni (ENEA & INFN, Bologna), Michael Bacak (CERN), Nikolaos Patronis (University of Ioannina (GR))

10:48 → 10:51 East Area Beam Status

Speakers: Bastien Rae (CERN), Dipanwita Banerjee (CERN), Johannes Bernhard (CERN), Maarten Van Dijk (CERN), Michael Lazzaroni (CERN), Nikolaos Charitonidis (CERN)

10:51 → 11:12 East Area Users Tour de Table

11:12 → 11:15 AWAKE

Members of the ps-sps-users e-group can upload material

11:15 → 11:21 North Area Beam Status

Speakers: Anna Baratto Roldan (CERN), Bastien Rae (CERN), Dipanwita Banerjee (CERN), Johannes Bernhard (CERN), Michael Lazzaroni (CERN), Nikolaos Charitonidis (CERN)

11:21 → 11:48 North Area Users Tour de Table

11:48 → 11:51 AOB