accelerating-news-arc.web.cern.ch - issue 18

ARIES approved by European Commission

Jennifer Toes — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 10:04:03 +0000

ARIES approved by European Commission
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

The ARIES project has been approved by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and will receive €10M in EU funding as requested in its proposal.

The full title of the project is Accelerator Research and Innovation for European Science and Society. It will serve as the spiritual successor to the EuCARD-2 Integrating Activity project, which is due to end in April 2017. The start date for ARIES is yet to be agreed upon, but is foreseen for May 2017, to allow a smooth transition between the two projects.

The total budget of the project will be €24.8M over the four-year study period, which includes the EU contribution and €14.8 M from the involved beneficiaries. The overall evaluation score of ARIES was 14.5 out of 15. This is the highest score compared with previous EU funded accelerator R&D projects such as CARE, EuCARD and EuCARD-2.

ARIES aims to develop novel concepts and improve existing accelerator technologies; to provide access to top-class accelerator research and test infrastructures to European researchers and industry; to further integrate the European accelerator community; and to develop a joint strategy towards sustainable accelerator S&T.

ARIES will bring together 41 beneficiaries from 18 different European countries, one International European Interest Organization (CERN) and one European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS). The beneficiaries are based in the following 18 countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The evaluators of the project highlighted the clarity of the project’s innovation strategy, the integration such a large variety of partners, the extent of the Transnational Access programme, the intended creation of an e-learning course, the proof-of-concept fund, and the development of compact accelerators as particular areas of interest within the proposal.

During its grant preparation, the Project Coordinator, Maurizio Vretenar (CERN), will agree on a start date for the project with the European Commission and a kick-off meeting for all project collaborators will be arranged.

ARIES

EuCARD-2

European Commission

proposal

Carlos Moedas on the Republic of Letters

Jennifer Toes — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:51:03 +0000

Commissioner Carlos Moedas on the new "Republic of Letters"
by Panos Charitos (CERN)

Speaking in the opening ceremony of Euroscience Open Forum 2016, Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation offered his vision of science and the role of the commission in policies and programmes. In his inspiring talk he explained the principles that should guide research and emphasized the need for scientists to engage more with citizens in solving research challenges.

In the new “Republic of Letters” science plays a key role in advancing our fundamental knowledge about nature but also in answering to some of the most pressing problems that Europe is facing in the light of the 21st century. However, to realise this new “Republic of Letters” scientists have to regain the trust of citizens and engage them throughout their research. Toward this direction, Cssr Moedas emphasized the need for open access with open data been deemed the “default mode” for the next set of Horizon 2020 calls.

By continuing investing in research, Europe can strengthen its place in the global research area, continue leading innovation and secure its global competitiveness. The development of science and technology is necessary for a sustainable development and guarantees a brighter future for our societies. In an inspiring speech, given at the EuroScience Open Forum conference in July 2016, Carlos Moedas described the rise of the new Republic of Letters:

If you were a European intellectual during the Enlightenment, the chances are you were a citizen of the Republic of Letters, a community of scholars and literary figures that included the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Goethe and Voltaire.

In Voltaire's correspondence alone, there were nearly 19,000 letters. Voltaire wrote most often to his contemporaries in France, but he also wrote to many others in Germany, Italy, Russia and Switzerland. Across Europe, as universities began publishing academic journals, as royal societies provided patronage to the natural sciences, and as new ideas spread from the salons of the nobles to the coffee houses of the bourgeois, the blueprint for modern science was formed.

Within the Republic of Letters, natural philosophers shared and critiqued each other's ideas. They sent articles and pamphlets to one another and worked towards the expansion of their community, by introducing each other and increasing their networks of correspondence. This was a community that transcended national borders, that experimented and debated across disciplines, and that pursued progress and societal advancement by means of rationalism.

But, though open-minded and meritocratic for the times, the Republic of Letters was a small and privileged community that few people had the means to access. The public was excited by the scientific discoveries of the age, but could play no active role in the process. The Republic of Letters was open science for the few.

By the 19th century, the abundance of new areas of scientific exploration required an overall term for 'men of science' and the word 'scientist' emerged. The industrial revolution and urbanisation had brought science into the public consciousness. National governments were funding science. School children were mastering the rudiments of physics, chemistry and biology in schools and books on science became bestsellers among increasingly literate populations.

Science was now discussed in the laboratory and the lecture hall. Science had succeeded in reaching the professional classes, who could marvel at great exhibitions in their leisure time. So the 19th century enabled more people to take part in science, but, for the most part, science was still closed to ordinary people.

The 20th century, was about nations. Individual nations conquered Everest, achieved space flight and navigated to the poles. Science was defined by one nation's sprint to the finish line after the other and scientific institutions and their funding were organised accordingly. Science was a matter of national pride and national security. More people were attending university than ever before and broadcasting had brought science into people's living rooms. But still, the public remained an audience to be instructed, rather than an active participant in the scientific debate.

In the 21st century, science can no longer be distant to the public. It requires public support to succeed. I think of it in terms of a triangle between the public, scientists and data, with the public firmly at the centre.

It is my view that we are entering a new era of global and open science. This will return us to some of the founding principles of science. So the 21st century is not about one nation's sprint to the finish line.

As I said, in the 18th century the Republic of Letters was open science for the few. The 21st century will become the Republic of Letters for the many. Rather than being an elite activity, concentrated in a few countries in Europe, 21st century science will involve tens of thousands of scientists working collaboratively across the globe.

Equally as important, the relationship with the general public will define science. Because, unlike in the past, each of us now commands more information in our pockets than any scientist could ever read in their lifetime. This information overload requires public trust in scientists to determine fact from fiction. Trust that will be built on the integrity and objectivity of scientists, and that will depend on good communication. Therefore, the persistent historical division between the "intellectual" and the "non-intellectual", which I described earlier, is one that every scientist and every politician should be worried about.

Though globalisation provides the international integration that makes it possible for countries to work together on global challenges, such as climate change and migration, in its current form it has fallen short of benefitting the majority of people.

A scientist can explain how renewable energy can help to combat climate change, but how does that help someone who cannot afford to heat their home? A politician can explain the net benefits of migration, but how does that help someone who cannot get a doctor's appointment?

The current lack of public and political engagement in fact-based decision-making even has people asking, have we have entered a "post-factual" era of democracy? One in which the public identifies with populist rhetoric and decisions are made based on fears and assumptions, because people feel science and politics have left them behind.

So what do we do about this? How do we build trust? How can we be clear and transparent? How do we ensure progress in this triangle of the public, scientists and data? I believe many of the answers lie in open science. Open access to data needs trust and transparency. Public acceptance requires research integrity and citizen science brings scientists closer to people.

Let's start with open access to data and research integrity.

The future of our knowledge economy will rely on public access to data, so that 1) the European public can take part in the scientific debate and 2) the public can directly access scientific evidence on the issues they care about.

You have to show how data can change lives. Recently in San Francisco, with the help of data in a deep learning system, the system detected cancer in more cases than cancer experts.

But with greater availability of scientific data, comes the need to ensure the integrity of what is being shared. The public needs to know that research results are not falsified, fabricated or plagiarised.

This is why we're putting more focus on research integrity in Horizon 2020 model grant agreements. And today, I can announce that the grant agreements for Horizon 2020 have been updated. They will include clearer rules on Research integrity, making sure that all researchers and research institutions know their obligations.

Citizen science.

We also need to find ways for the European public to take part in the processes behind scientific discovery 1) to help decide the priorities for public research funding and 2) so the European scientific community can crowdsource solutions with the volume and diversity to provide new insights.

Take, for example, the potential of gaming to help scientists multiply the number of brains working on a single problem at any given time.

Five years ago, gamers famously resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Scientists had been working on the problem for over a decade. By using an online puzzle game, gamers solved the structure in just three weeks.

So, to ensure Europe leads the way on open science, I can announce that, from today, the Commission has made open data the default for all Horizon 2020 projects. Moreover, we have now approved the next set of calls under Horizon 2020. Fifty calls, worth around 8.5 billion euro in 2017, in areas ranging from food security, to smart cities, to understanding migration.

For all projects funded by these calls, we will expect the data generated to be open access.

In addition, I am currently working with colleagues in the Commission on our proposed revisions to EU copyright law. The aim is to introduce a research exception in copyright that will apply across all Member States, and which will provide a predictable legal framework for Text and Data Mining.

The trends towards open science and open data are not something we can stop, So we should lead change, rather than adapt to it later.

Of course, talking about Horizon 2020 here in the UK, I know that there is a great deal of uncertainty about what the future holds. I have heard concerns about British organisations being dropped from EU projects. There are concerns about staff from other EU member states still being able to work in British research institutions.

I wish I could give you all the answers, but for now I can make two clear statements: First, for as long as the UK is a member of the European Union, EU law continues to apply and the UK retains all rights and obligations of a Member State. This of course includes the full eligibility for funding under Horizon 2020. Second, Horizon 2020 projects will continue to be evaluated based on merit and not on nationality. So I urge the European scientific community to continue to choose their project partners on the basis of excellence.

I would like to conclude with this message: By continuing to allow the gap between public perception and scientific ambition to increase, we risk, at best, apathy and, at worst, complete distrust at a crucial juncture.

Europe should not only be part of a Global Research Area that embraces open science, we should lead the way to this new Global Research Area.

Following the agreement by EU science ministers in May, Europe is the first region of the world to make open access the norm for all scientific publications, and now the largest research funding programme in the world to introduce open data as a default for all projects.

So let's create a new Republic of Letters: one that is inclusive, one that values its people as much as progress and one that restores trust and confidence in science.”

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Plasma Accelerator Consortium met in Pisa

Panagiotis Charitos — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 10:25:41 +0000

Plasma Accelerator Consortium met in Pisa

by Prof. Carsten Welsch (University of Liverpool)

EuPRAXIA and EuroNNAc members gather for the meeting in Pisa, Italy (Image courtesy of EuPRAXIA)

Particle accelerator experts from around the world joined experts from the laser and novel accelerator communities to discuss the design of an innovative European plasma accelerator within the framework of the EuPRAXIA and EuroNNAc projects.

The workshop took place between June 29th and July 1st at the Area della Ricerca in Pisa, Italy and was hosted by the Istituto Nazionale di Ottica – CNR.

The local organiser, Leo Gizzi said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to see the vibrant discussions amongst participants. The definition of the key parameters of such an international facility with global reach and impact is one of the most exciting things a researcher can be part of. The event gave us the opportunity to reflect on the state-of-the-art and at the same time outline the R&D programme required to reach our goals by the end of the design study.”

The design and science cases of advanced plasma accelerators are subject of intense studies around the world. Progress in proof-of-principle experiments has led to the expectation that ground-breaking applications of plasma accelerators will become available in the next few years.

Ralph Assmann gives a speech to attendees at Pisa meeting (Image courtesy of EuPRAXIA)

More than 120 delegates discussed the parameters and technical specifications required at the interfaces between lasers and plasmas, plasmas and particle beams, as well as particle beams and other applications such as Free Electron Lasers, High Energy Physics detectors and ultra-compact X ray devices. Discussions also covered the specific requirements in beam diagnostics, laser technology and underpinning simulation codes.

The aim of the meeting was to collect the input from all interested parties in order to define a full parameter set that will be used as the core of a conceptual design for a European plasma accelerator with industry beam quality that shall now be developed by the project partners until the end of 2019. Targeted workshops will now be organised by each of the EuPRAXIA work packages in order to build up on the Pisa discussions and further refine all parameters.

All presentations and further information can be found on the workshop’s indico page. For more information about EuPRAXIA, please refer to the project website.

Higher energies for ISOLDE's ion beams

Panagiotis Charitos — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 11:05:36 +0000

Higher energies for ISOLDE's radioactive ion beams
By Athena Papageorgiou Koufidou (CERN)

HIE-ISOLDE cryomodule with five copper RF cavities and one solenoid magnet assembled at the SM18 clean room. (Image: Maximilien Brice, CERN)

On 28 September, the members of the ISOLDE collaboration and major stakeholders came together in a well-deserved celebration. The first phase of the facility’s high energy and intensity upgrade (HIE-ISOLDE) is now complete and a promising future is in sight as experiments started on 9 September.

ISOLDE is the oldest facility still in operation at CERN and one of the most successful. It currently occupies a leading position in the field of radioactive ions research, producing the largest range of isotopes worldwide (over 1300 isotopes of more than 70 elements), which are used in multiple fields of physics: nuclear and atomic physics, astrophysics and fundamental interactions. A key element of ISOLDE’s success is the wealth of technical expertise it has accumulated over the decades, especially in the construction of target‑ion source units. The secret to the facility’s longevity, however, is its vibrant international collaboration and its ability to adapt to the changing physics landscape.

An impressive team is behind HIE-ISOLDE, comprising leading physicists, engineers and other experts in accelerator and beam technologies. Another essential ingredient of the workforce are early stage Marie Curie researchers, who acquire valuable skills in the area of advanced accelerator technologies, reflecting the commitment of ISOLDE on training the next generation of experts.

Taking beam energy and intensity to new heights

The production of radioactive ion beams at ISOLDE begins when a high‑energy proton beam from the PS Booster hits the facility’s target, resulting in a wide variety of reaction products. These are ionised in a surface, plasma or laser ion source and separated according to mass, producing the beam of the preferred element. An RFQ cooler and buncher lowers the temperature of the radioactive beam, thus significantly reducing emittances and energy spreads. The beam is then delivered to the low-energy experimental stations or charge‑bred and post‑accelerated at the REX accelerator.

The energy upgrade of the facility entails the construction of a superconducting linear accelerator (HIE-linac) to increase the energy of radioactive ion beams, a high energy beam transfer line to bring the beam to the experiments, as well as new beam diagnostic tools. The intensity upgrade aims to improve the target and ion source, the mass separators and charge breeder.

HIE-linac takes advantage of many cutting‑edge cryogenics and radiofrequency technologies that were originally developed for the LHC. It is equipped with superconducting radiofrequency cavities made of copper coated with niobium and operating at 101.29 MHz. They are cooled by liquid helium at 4.5 K in ultra‑high vacuum conditions. In the first phase of the energy upgrade, two high‑beta cryomodules, each containing five cavities and one superconducting solenoid magnet, were coupled to REX-linac and commissioned, thus increasing energy to 5.5 MeV per nucleon. Two more cryomodules with the same configuration will be added in the second phase, allowing beams to be accelerated to 10 MeV per nucleon; one is currently in the SM18 clean room, awaiting installation in 2017, and the other is scheduled to be assembled and installed in 2018. In the third and final phase, two low-beta cryomodules, containing six cavities and two solenoids each, will be manufactured and installed in replacement of the 7-gap and 9-gap normal conducting structures of REX, allowing beams to be decelerated to 0.3 MeV per nucleon.

The tunnel at HIE-ISOLDE now contains two cryomodules – a unique set up that marks the end of phase one for the HIE-ISOLDE installation. By Spring 2018 the project will have four cryomodules installed and will be able to reach higher energy up to 10 MeV/u. Image credits: Erwin Siesling/CERN.

After post-acceleration in HIE-linac, radioactive ions enter the high‑energy beam transfer line (HEBT), which is specially designed to preserve emittances. Then, the beam is delivered to the different experimental stations through one of two beam lines that have been in operation since 2015. A third one will be installed in early 2017.

The PS Booster upgrade and the operation of Linac 4 after LS2 are expected to increase the primary proton beam intensity at ISOLDE to 6.7 μA, allowing more exotic isotopes to be produced and more precise measurements to be obtained. However, the new experimental conditions create a set of challenges that necessitate ISOLDE’s intensity upgrade. Higher radiation levels limit the lifetime of the target, thus options for new target materials with a focus on radiation resistance are explored, while materials that are presently used undergo extensive radiation tests. The laser ion source (RILIS) has also been upgraded, improving selectivity and developing new ionisation schemes. Finally, the improvement of the mass separators will reduce isobaric contamination.

HIE-ISOLDE is currently the only next generation radioactive beam facility available in Europe, while SPIRAL-2 and SPES are still under construction,and the most advanced isotope separation on-line (ISOL) facility in the world.

New physics opportunities

HIE-ISOLDE creates a wealth of opportunities for research in many aspects of nuclear physics, astrophysics, as well as solid state physics, because it can produce a wide variety of exotic nuclei at different energies. The upgrade was welcomed by the international nuclear physics community and is in line with the recommendations of the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee. Over thirty experiments have already been approved and are now at the preparation stage.

Nuclear physics

Scientists have been studying the atomic nucleus for more than 100 years, starting with Ernest Rutherford in 1911, yet many open questions remain: What is the nature of nucleonic matter? What happens if we change the energy, momentum, or temperature of the nucleus? Studying radioactive ion beams allows researchers to dig deeper into these questions, as radioactive nuclei often behave differently than stable ones and can reveal certain aspects of nuclear behaviour that their stable counterparts cannot. Accelerating these exotic nuclei to higher energies provides new physics possibilities, matching the innovative theoretical developments of the field. Many of the approved experiments plan to use Coulomb excitation, including studying the physics of super-heavy nuclei, which could reveal the next magic numbers in the very heavy systems. Other experiments will investigate transfer reactions, which may allow physicists to unravel the evolution the structure of the nucleus’s energy levels, also known as its ‘shell structure’.

Nuclear astrophysics

HIE-ISOLDE also paves the way for advances in nuclear astrophysics, a field that explores the abundance of chemical elements in the Universe. Hydrogen and helium, which were produced seconds after the Big Bang, comprise 74% and 24% of ordinary matter in the Universe, while most other elements were created inside stars much later. Astrophysicists have extensively studied how elements up to the iron region are produced, but the processes by which nuclear reactions produced elements with a higher atomic number remain largely a mystery.

Although we know that these heavy elements were created by stellar explosions and nuclear processes in stars, matching specific events to the observed distribution patterns poses a considerable challenge. The higher intensity, reduced emittance and possibility for beam deceleration at HIE-ISOLDE will enable astrophysics experiments to shed light to this problem. Some research teams plan to investigate neutron-rich nuclei that form in the crust of neutron stars, while others will study the proton-capture process that occurs during X-ray bursts or explosions of white dwarves, research the production of chemical elements in the collapsed core of supernovae and address the problem of lithium-7 abundance in the Universe.

Solid state physics

The solid state programme at ISOLDE encompasses materials science, biophysics and biochemistry, complementing nuclear physics research. It would greatly profit from the high purity and intensity ion beams of HIE-ISOLDE, as well as from the modernisation of the facility. Such research can have considerable social benefits as well, because it yields a wide range of applications — from nanomaterials and superconductors to advances in cancer diagnosis and therapy.

A flying start for HIE-ISOLDE

On 9 September, the first exotic beam at HIE-ISOLDE marked the start of operations for the new facility. The experiment investigated charge states of tin isotopes, using transfer reactions and Coulomb excitation of an 110-Sn-26+ beam, post‑accelerated to 4.5 MeV per nucleon. Besides demonstrating the experimental capabilities of the upgraded facility, this successful first run validated the technical choices of the HIE‑ISOLDE team and provided a fitting reward for eight years of rigorous R&D efforts.

Almost half a century after the first ion beams bombarded the ISOLDE target, the facility is thriving and, thanks to the energy and intensity upgrade, continues to create new opportunities for radioactive ions research. The upgrade team and the users are now looking forward to an exciting, intense period.

From biomedical applications to nuclear astrophysics, physicists at CERN’s nuclear physics facility, ISOLDE, are probing the structure of matter. To stay at the cutting edge of technology and science, further development was needed. Now, 8 years since the start of the HIE-ISOLDE project, a new accelerator is in place taking nuclear physics at CERN to higher energies. With physicists setting their sights on even higher energies of 10 MeV in the future, with four times the intensity, they will continue to commission more HIE-ISOLDE accelerating cavities and beamlines in the years to come.

You can find more information about ISOLDE here.

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