accelerating-news-arc.web.cern.ch - issue 20

Louvre accelerator gets an upgrade

Jennifer Toes — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 16:08:46 +0000

Louvre accelerator gets an upgrade
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

New AGLAE multi-detector with 5 SDD PIXE detectors,1 HPGe PIGE detector, optical fiber for IBIL. The annular PIPS E/RBS detector is located inside the beamline, around the beam. (Image: © C2RMF – AGLAE V. Fournier)

Whilst the Parisian Louvre museum may be known as home to some of the world’s most revered and priceless art and antiquities, in the field of high energy physics it is in close proximity to one of premiere sites of the use of accelerators for culture heritage.

The Accélérateur Grand Louvre d'Analyse Elémentaire (AGLAE) is part of the French Ministry of Culture’s Centre for Research and Restoration of Museums of France (C2RMF). The accelerator serves more than 1200 French museums and assists in multiple national and international research projects.

Researchers at C2RMF are able to study objects using ion beam, proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE), proton induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) analyses and ion beam induced luminescence (IBIL).

AGLAE’s unique position allows its beamtime to be entirely dedicated to cultural heritage work and can be used to answer questions on the provenance, composition, authentication and degradation of objects made of stone, metals, glass, and ceramics.

In effort to increase the capability of the AGLAE facilities, an upgrade of the accelerator is ongoing. The “New AGLAE” will include a multi-detector system and will allow for systematic imaging and the automation of the beamline.

New particle analysis techniques will minimise the risk of damage to test subject – a crucial concern in cultural heritage studies.

“The New AGLAE project is part of the development, upgrading and optimization of the beamline since its settlement in the Louvre premises in 1988 for its specific applications to art objects with their proper constraints,” says Claire Pacheco, leader of the AGLAE research group.

Five silicon drift detectors (SDDs) have replaced the former two Si(Li), which will provide bigger solid angles, enabling the study of more fragile materials.

The area of interest on the object is scanned combining a vertical magnetic deflection of the beam up to 500µm and a horizontal mechanical translation of the target. The ListMode acquisition, coupled with the scanning of the area previously described, enables systematic chemical imaging.

Increasing the hours of beamtime is crucial to meeting the growing domain of work completed with the AGLAE. A more constant, automated beamline would not only allow further study of the museum collection, but would also provide access to the increasing number of project proposals submitted to the C2RMF.

As such, a call for bids to upgrade the beamline was opened in 2014 and later awarded to Thales.

The Thales proposal aims to provide control of the Terminal Voltage via a digital system which is to be integrated directly into the industrial automated machine. In addition, the alpha zone will house two 90° and two 45° magnets, and a quadrupole triplet enabling the beam to be more stable in energy and position. Finally, a customised human-machine interface (HMI) will be installed for operation and maintenance of the machine.

The installation and testing of the New AGLAE is due to be completed and ready for users by July 2017. A call for proposals is open twice a year and European user groups can be financially supported by the European Commission through the IPERION CH programme.

Commenting on the future of the facility, Claire Pacheco says: “We are looking forward to welcoming the French and European users at the New AGLAE facility and to showing them its new capabilities.”

Claire Pacheco presented a seminar organised by the CERN Knowledge Transfer (KT) Department in January 2017.

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issue 20

Accelerator education goes further

Panagiotis Charitos — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 09:40:39 +0000

Accelerator Education goes further
by Sabrina El Yacoubi (CERN) & Graeme Burt (University of Lancaster/The Cockcroft Institute)

Participants at accelerator workshop (Image: QUASAR Group)

“Knowledge belongs to mankind, not to scientists,” said Fabiola Giannotti, CERN Director General at the 2017 World Economic Forum. Nowadays the scientific community better understands the need for public engagement. Demonstrating their work to the public through education, outreach, policy and many other activities is one of their main responsibilities alongside their scientific duties.

Similarly to many other institutes and universities, CERN and the Cockcroft Institute have strengthened their education and outreach activities by providing two new educational programs for different audiences.

The Cockcroft Institute is launching an exciting new education program of lectures on accelerator science and technology, to be delivered via webcast and video archives. This will provide a new free resource for the worldwide accelerator community, as a supplement to existing accelerators schools.

The program provides both a general introduction to the subject for non-technical audiences in addition to education on more advanced topics serving as a quick refresher for experienced staff were a traditional accelerator school may not be available. All course videos and slides are free to view, and the usage is strongly encouraged to anyone in our community. The resource shall also act as an inspiration for other institutions to consider similar training initiatives.

The Cockcroft Institute is a UK-based collaboration between Daresbury Laboratory and several UK universities (Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Strathclyde) to provide training for the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers required to develop and optimise future accelerator facilities and light sources. The institute has been very successful in its efforts by initiating a large number of international training networks, such as DITANET, oPAC, OMA and AVA, as well as through the provision of an in-house lecture series for the institute’s postgraduate students. The latter includes a comprehensive set of training courses which provides all PhD students at the institute with a broad education in accelerator science outside of their own specific discipline. An online provision was also added to accommodate the large numbers of students based at overseas laboratories for at least part of their PhD work.

The lectures are primarily delivered by academic staff and accelerator experts from the stakeholder universities and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Some external lecturers also complement the program where the in-house experts did not have the right expertise. This online resource now also benefits the wider accelerator community and thus closes an existing training gap identified by a number of studies, such as the EU-funded TIARA project. More information and all course material can be found on the Cockroft Institute’s website, and you can also follow the institute on Facebook and Twitter to receive the latest news about new lectures and short courses.

In parallel, CERN is trying to reach the whole population of the organization and beyond with a large spectrum of courses and training. The CERN Accelerator School, established in 1983, holds trainings every year at one of the CERN member states on particle accelerators and colliders with the aim of transmitting and sharing knowledge. Complementary to this school, a yearly lecture series on “Introduction to Particle Accelerators” (AXEL) is held for technicians who are operating accelerators and whose work is closely linked to them. The lectures are also open to technicians, engineers, and physicists interested in this.

However, CERN has gone further with education and outreach by hosting a new lecture titled “Accelerators explained for everyone – without Maths”. At the origin of this lecture, Rende Steerenberg, Head of the Operations Group within the Beam Department, understood the need of setting up a lecture open to everyone without any prior knowledge of accelerators.

The objective is to widen the audience and to give a general overview of the CERN accelerator complex. It is open to everybody willing to gain a basic knowledge on how to share the beam between the LHC and all the other experiments, the LHC cycle, injection and extraction of particles, guiding particle around an accelerator, accelerating particles, Energy, basic beam diagnostic tools and performance limitations. Without diving into mathematical formulas and concepts, Rende Steerenberg reaches the public by choosing images, comparisons and equivalent to our daily lives to increase public understanding of basic scientific facts and concepts.

Example slide featuring a diagram of the CERN acceleration complex (Credit: CERN)

Five lectures have been given so far, and few others are planned for 2017. They are open to all personnel at CERN and will be given in French and English. More information here.

In the current climate, education and training are crucial aspects of most research and development projects to help ensure the future generations of scientists are well prepared. Indeed, the TIARA project conducted a series of surveys and produced a document containing suggestions for how to improve accelerator education and training based on their results. These suggestions included actions such as the development of training lectures or the provision of scholarships and accelerator schools.

In a similar vein, the ARIES project, due to begin in May 2017, includes a task dedicated to outreach, education and training. ARIES will develop an e-learning course aimed at undergraduate students to deliver an introduction to accelerator science, engineering and technology.

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A partnership for global access to radiation therapy

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 17:01:23 +0000

A partnership-mentorship approach for global access to radiation therapy
by Virginia Greco (CERN)

An electron linac for conventional treatments with X rays and electrons. Photo from the Clinic of Génolier (Credit: Max Brice, CERN)

On November 2016, CERN hosted a Workshop on Design Characteristics of a Novel Linear Accelerator for Challenging Environments, organized by Norman Coleman and David Pistenmaa from the International Cancer Experts Corps (ICEC) in collaboration with Manjit Dosanjh, from CERN.

The participation to the event was by invitation only and reserved to about 70 internationally-recognized experts in various fields correlated to radiotherapy for cancer treatment. They met to define a strategy for increasing access to radiotherapy to a larger number of people and to discuss possible solutions for geographical areas that present economic and technological challenges as well as a quickly changing political situation.

The idea of designing affordable equipment and developing sustainable infrastructures for delivering radiation treatment for cancer in countries that lack resources and expertise is a core mission of ICEC. Established in 2013 as a non-governmental organization, ICEC has set itself as an international sustainable mentoring network of cancer professionals, whose aim is to establish partnership projects in low- and medium-income countries, as well as in isolated indigenous communities of all countries, oriented at facilitating access to radiotherapy and improving the quality of the treatment offered.

This will be achieved by encouraging and supporting initiatives of local groups, providing mentorship and training, and guiding them through a number of steps to be completed in order to be recognized as high standard cancer care centres.

Leading experts coming from key international organisations, research institutes, universities, medical hospitals, companies producing equipment for conventional x-ray and particle therapy took the stage in turns at the workshop to share their knowledge and expertise and to discuss needs, goals and possible solutions. The key topics of discussion were the technology to be employed, sustainability, and training.

An essential step that ICEC and collaborating experts have to accomplish is designing a linear accelerator and associated instrumentation needed to deliver radiotherapy that would have to be operated in places where general infrastructures are poor of lacking, power outages and water supply fluctuations can occur and whose climatic conditions might be harsh.

The ideal facility should have a modular structure, in order to be easily shipped, assembled in-situ, upgraded and repaired. In order to be easily operated, the equipment also needs to have an intuitive and accessible interface, as a smartphone, even though it is highly technologically advanced.

A critical issue that was also discussed at the meeting at CERN was the treatment system sustainability after its installation. Specialized technical staff is required to maintain the equipment and promptly repair it, if needed, relying on availability of standard spare parts and replacement procedures that will be developed in order to make maintenance as easy as possible.

Difficulties of displacement and communication are also to be taken into account. As a consequence, these centres have to be designed modelled on the philosophy of a space station, where astronauts have spare components available and can easily replace faulty parts as pieces of lego, with remote guidance.

The participants to the workshop agreed that training is fundamental to make this ambitious project possible. ICEC’s strategy consists of setting up a team of mentors to guide local groups throughout the various phases of the programme. In this way, each centre located in a region with cancer treatment disparities and insufficient resources that is aiming at implementing radiotherapy would be associated with a centre in a resource-rich country and eventually become a reference centre for other local groups willing to undertake a similar path.

Professionals in oncology, radiotherapy and radiobiology, medical physicists as well as nurses and ancillary staff, will have to be identified in order to ensure assistance to remote locations. After completion of regular academic training, the personnel of the remote centre would be mentored and trained by ICEC’s experts through face-to-face lectures, periodic on-site visits and consultations via video-connection. This would ensure that, at a later stage, they would be able in turn to train future employees.

At the end of two intense days of debate and exchange of ideas, the participants have got a more precise picture of needs, limits and priorities, as well as a lot of input for further reflection. As a follow up, working groups will be established to address different aspects of the problem and the date for another global meeting fixed. An editorial board will write a report of the workshop, which will also be submitted for publication to medical journals.

The report emerging from the workshop will be published in various media and journals in order to highlight the initiative and obtain further momentum.

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Progress in the interaction region magnets of HL-LHC

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 14:06:40 +0000

Progress in the interaction region magnets of HL-LHC
by Ezio Todesco (CERN)

During the past months, significant advancements have been done in the development of the interaction region magnets for HL-LHC.

In KEK, Japan, the short model of the separation dipole D1, that showed insufficient quench performance after the first test, has been disassembled. Significant movements of the coils (up to few mm) were observed in the heads, and a clear evidence of a lack of prestress in the straight part was found. The new assembly took place during winter, and a prestress increase in the straight part of about 35 MPa has been achieved. The magnet was tested in February, reaching nominal current after 2 quenches and ultimate after 5 quenches (see Figure 1). “The magnet performance is now in line with the project requirements – says T. Nakamoto, in charge of the D1 project – we will have a warm-up and cool-down to prove the magnet memory in the next weeks”. The short model design is being updated in some features of the iron yoke, and to account for an unexpected contribution to field quality from the coil heads in the strong regime of saturation. A second model will be built in the second part of 2017, and tested in 2018.

Figure 1: Training of MBXFS1 in KEK: quenches (markers), nominal and ultimate current (solid lines) and short sample limit (dotted line). (Credit: HL-LHC WP3 collaboration)

In the US, the first 4-m-long coil has been tested in a mirror configuration, reaching 85% of short sample limit (see Figure 2). “This is the new world record for coil length in Nb₃Sn accelerator magnets – says G. Ambrosio, in charge of the US contribution for the triplet - and paves the way to the assembly and test of the first 4-m-long quadrupole, to be done in the second part of the year”. At the same time at CERN the first 7.15-m-long dummy coils are being produced to validate the assembly procedures (see Figure 3).

Figure 2: Training of mirror 4-m-long coil in BNL: quenches (markers), 70% and 80% of short sample (solid lines) and short sample limit (dotted line). (Credit: HL-LHC WP3 collaboration)

Figure 3: Winding of the first 7.15-m-long dummy coil of the triplet quadrupole at building 180 (CERN)

Furthermore, in CIEMAT, Madrid, the prototype for the nested orbit correctors is entering the construction phase. The concept of double collaring has been validated on a mechanical model with the final design of the collars and a dummy coil made of aluminum (see Figure 4). This is an important step of the validation of the mechanical concept of this magnet, where a mechanical lock between the horizontal and vertical dipoles is required to control the large torque. In particular, the second collaring of the outer dipole on the inner one is critical. “Both collaring operations were in line with our expectations, and we managed to insert pins without any criticality – said F. Toral from CIEMAT, in charge of the Spanish contribution for the orbit correctors – we saw some asymmetries that need more investigations, but given the complexity of the design, this is a very encouraging first step towards construction”.

Figure 4: Double collaring of the nested corrector in CIEMAT

Finally, in LASA, Milano the activity on the high order corrector prototypes is at full speed. After the successful test of the sextupole, the first decapole coil in a single coil configuration has been tested successfully. The coil reached twice the ultimate current with negligible training, thus proving the assembly procedures and tooling concepts. LASA is working in parallel on two magnets: besides the first decapole coil, eigth octupole coils have been completed and will be assembled in the first prototype, and tested in April.

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ADS research workshop held at CERN

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 13:48:44 +0000

ADS research workshop held at CERN
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

Visualisation of the European Spallation Source (ESS), a neutron source driven by a linear accelerator (Image: ESS)

In February 2017, over 70 high-energy physicists visited CERN to attend and present at a workshop on the “Status of Accelerator Driven Systems Research and Technology Development”.

Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) refer to the use of particle accelerators in combination with subcritical nuclear reactor cores to allow fission to be sustained through the production of neutrons by spallation.

ADS have a variety of applications, ranging from the transmutation of nuclear waste, to energy generation and production of isotopes for use in cancer treatments.

The workshop, organised by WP4 of the EuCARD-2 project, focused on the following ADS-related topics: international ADS programmes, socio-economic impact of ADS, accelerator operation in ADS, coupling experiments, and future challenges for ADS research and development.

“The workshop has gathered a wide and active community, whose interest is demonstrated by the many programs that are on-going in the world. Accelerator technologies in ADS can provide important contributions to society,” said Marcello Losasso, member of the Scientific Programme Committee.

He continued: “The old cyclotron/linac opposition led to interesting discussions during the workshop. In particular, cyclotron technology was assessed as a worthwhile route of investigation for industrial applications of ADS.”

In fact, all current ADS projects across the world are based on linear machines, and therefore researchers already have benchmarks concerning their cost, time to market and technical characteristics.

This is not the case for high power cyclotrons, whose data are limited and not often as up-to-date.

Further presentations were made on the ADS programmes across Europe and in China, Japan, the United States and Ukraine. The international ADS efforts include a wide range of R&D into applications such as: nuclear waste elimination, energy production, neutron spallation sources, and the production of isotopes and high intensity beams for fundamental research.

International cooperation was stressed for the further development of ADS, which may present a challenge due to conflicting national goals in ADS R&D.

The critical aspects of accelerators for use in ADS were also discussed, touching on their technical requirements, economic feasibility and licensing issues. Ultimately, the ADS projects currently existing and in development across the world seem to suggest they are technically feasible. However, the industrial deployment of the technology depends on many interlinked factors as the licensability and cost.

Presentations on coupling experiments demonstrated that zero power facilities offer good flexibility and simplicity of execution, and are therefore of critical importance to gather validation measurements and facilitate the licensing processes. Benchmarking can also be improved by using multiple approaches to gather parametric measurements.

In addition, speakers detailed a new design for a high power target and reported on the new spallation target prototypes and sources.

Of course, as with any emerging field, new and innovative research and development is crucial. As such, the workshop also featured talks on new projects and approaches for the future.

This included CYCLADS, a recently submitted EU FET-OPEN project (not-yet approved) whose consortium, coordinated by CERN, includes major industrial and academic European partners such as iThEC, PSI, AIMA-Dev, HNI, ENEA, N-21, ASG. The aim of the project is to establish the conceptual design of an innovative high-power, compact and cost-effective cyclotron to be used for the transmutation of nuclear waste. The project should be able to provide fresh economical data and new technical opportunities on the benefits of cyclotrons as an option for an ADS.

The workshop closed with summary reports from the Session Chairmen highlighting the current status and future challenges of ADS around the world.

Acceleration Driven Systems

Interview with Professor John Womersley

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 13:29:05 +0000

Interview with Prof. John Womersley, Director of ESS
by Panos Charitos (CERN)

Professor John Womersley (Image: ESS)

Accelerating News Editor in Chief, Panos Charitos, sat down with Director General of the European Spallation Source (ESS) Professor John Womersley to discuss his experience at ESS and the future of European infrastructures and projects.

PC: Which are the main challenges in your new mandate as Director General of ESS?

JW: The European Spallation Source (ESS) is one of the world’s largest scientific facilities and as such presents many interesting challenges. Scientists, staff, partner institutions and countries across Europe have come together to build what will be the world's leading neutron source for research on materials and life sciences. ESS will provide up to 100 times brighter neutron beams than existing facilities today and this calls for the development of state-of-the-art technologies.

The limitations of reactor technology have long been known and there is a consensus that accelerator driven spallation sources are the next step forward. With an improved source there is also the need for ESS to develop increasingly sophisticated instruments and detectors.

All these developments are taking place in a green-field site in Lund, Sweden and everything has to be built from scratch. ESS is not part of an existing laboratory so we now have to develop the infrastructures and also recruit the staff that will operate the neutron source once it is running.

Visualisation of the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund (Image: ESS)

ESS is receiving in-kind contributions from almost 100 different partner institutes and suppliers from around Europe. The large amount of in-kind contributions also poses a significant integration challenge that adds to the complexity of the project. Over the past year, instrument design has advanced rapidly, with scope-setting, engineering, and the establishment of each instrument’s budget and schedule.

One way to think of the challenge is that it is like putting the ATLAS or CMS detectors together and integrating the different subdetectors that are designed and build by different international teams of physicists. This also presents us with a great opportunity to build a truly international laboratory on a site that is very hospitable and very welcoming to researchers and partners from all over the world.

PC: What are the main advantages of ESS that attract new members?

JW: There are important material science communities in many countries across Europe. Let me note that material science is important as it addresses many of the big challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century, including energy sustainability, health-care, and climate challenge. Further developments require new materials with unique properties and neutron scattering is an excellent way to explore and monitor the properties of these materials at molecular and atomic level, thus allowing for the development of new materials.

(Credit: ESS)

ESS will go way beyond what is currently available in terms of the neutron flux and instrumentation capability. ESS builds on an existing vision in Europe that dates at least 50 years but is a facility that offers vastly expanding capabilities.

PC: What do you bring from your previous experience as CEO of STFC in this challenging role?

JW. I think that my background in particle physics gave me an invaluable experience in building large-scale projects and managing them in a collaborative way; lot of different laboratories coordinate to build different pieces of instrumentation and integrate them in a single project. In my view, the particle physics community has an excellent track record of delivering collaborative projects on time and on budget.

Moreover, from my role in STFC comes an appreciation of the multi and inter-disciplinary aspects that are common in ESS. One could think ESS as applying cutting-edge accelerator technologies (using superconducting RF cavities conceived for future particle physics accelerators) but using them to address challenges in engineering and biophysics and healthcare. Under my leadership, STFC has developed a very good track record for making the case for Big Science to all the involved stakeholder groups.

Last but not least, through the years I always kept an eye on science communication and advocacy which is very important for ESS but also for other laboratories around the world. Stakeholders in large-scale scientific projects need to be continually reminded of their value and importance.

PC: Why do you think is important to continue investing in large-scale research infrastructures?

JW. I think there are many reasons. First of all the open questions in science, whether it is fundamental physics, astronomy or engineering, require that we develop new instruments and push further back existing technologies.

If we want to progress in science we need scientific infrastructures that offer new capabilities beyond our present horizon. This means investing resources in new and large-scale research facilities. It takes a lot of time to design and build them while they require both human and financial resources which is why we need to build big collaborations to achieve in these efforts.

Particle physics has been working this way for many decades while other fields like biomedical research are now starting to form large collaborative activities and becoming accustomed to this new way of doing fundamental research.

To make these large-scale research infrastructures sustainable I think it is important to recognize some of the risks and challenges linked to the size of these big projects. First of all, there is typically a long time from concept to realization and thus we should ensure that students and post-doctoral researchers have plenty of working opportunities during the different stages of a project. Secondly, it is crucial to ensure that scientists develop news skills and learn to work in large collaborative schemes. Especially younger scientists who can easily feel lost in a big collaboration. It is important to keep all the collaborators motivated about a project and also give them space to develop new skills that may help them in their career paths.

Another important point about large-scale research infrastructures is that they offer a physical space to meet and interact with your colleagues. Though we leave in an internet-connected world with many opportunities for instantaneous communication, it is much more fruitful if you can share solutions in a collaborative way that included both physical meeting and digital communication.

All in all, it is important to continue investing in large-scale research infrastructures since they are clusters of innovation, incubators of collaboration and the way to make progress towards tackling the biggest scientific challenges.

PC: How important is to identify the stakeholders in large-scale projects from an early stage and what’s the role of ESFRI?

JW: It is absolutely critical to understand the stakeholder environment, since these big scientific projects require investments beyond what a single funding agency or research laboratory can do.

Typically they require some form of national decision making either at a level of a funding agency or some form of governmental agency. In that sense, scientists need to be connected with the decision makers who have been entrusted with those high level of budget. Decision makers are often not scientists or they can come from a different discipline making it harder to communicate your scientific case. On top of that they always need to compare different research priorities before allocating the available budget. This is why is important to be very strong in communicating not only the hard scientific case but also the benefits that stem from fundamental research.

This has been one of the main challenges for ESFRI. We tried to bring together representatives of governments around the table and set a roadmap process to identify the main research challenges in different research areas. The goal was to commonly set priorities for the European research area and progress them more efficiently.

In ESFRI, we have tried to address not just the scientific relevance of a given project but also its readiness meaning the project maturity. Our aim was twofold: to educate governments and funding agencies about the scientific priorities but also educate scientists about what funding agencies would like to see; in particular the need to have a very clear project plan. Scientists should identify sources of funding, but also evaluate the impact that research has in their own field along with its interdisciplinary impact and the socio-economic benefits that stem from fundamental research.

ESFRI is not a funding agency with its own budget but offers a certain level of advocacy presenting to governments the future scientific opportunities and investments. At the same time we provided feedback to the scientific community (especially in cases where we thought that a project is not mature enough). I hope that our work contributed to make ESFRI a rigorous body from which both the scientific community and also funding agencies could benefit.

PC: Do you think that more and more scientists have to prove the practical application of their research?

JW: This is a discussion that has gone on for many years and I remember that even when I studied physics as an undergraduate there was much debate about applied versus pure research. Today I think that this discussion has moved on in a positive direction. In my view there is no strict distinction between research carried out to answer fundamental questions and research carried out to answer some practical and perhaps pressing problems. These are different aspects of research that reflect different timescales.

Scientists should make a constant effort to communicate the basic questions of their research. It is unreasonable to expect decision makers and the public to provide funding without discussing your research and the possible outputs. From my experience, the public and the politicians are willing to understand the value of research including the training opportunities for young people.

All of these broader aspects need to be included. Let me add that scientists working in "purer" research shouldn’t be worried because of a difficulty to discuss very abstract or very technical issues. On the contrary, it should be seen as a big opportunity for some of the ongoing exciting research projects to talk about the impact that their results have had including their socio-economic benefits. We have a wide range of impact and stories of applications coming from HEP. Applications to aerospace technology – one can easily comprehend its financial benefits - to research of understanding fundamental mechanisms of biology and all the way up to gravitational waves that may never be applied but the technology developed and the interested in science that was created have high value.

The discovery of the Higgs boson has made thousands of newspaper stories and generated a high level of interest about science, inspiring possibly millions of people around the world to visit a science museum or watch a documentary. That's a major socioeconomic impact.

All in all, it is important to be enthusiastic about communicating our research to different stakeholders including the public, fellow scientists and journalists. This broader engagement of stakeholders is the way to think instead of trapping ourselves in the false choice between basic and applied research. In times of economic difficulty we need to invest more in education, training and innovation because this is how our economy can improve and lead to a brighter future.

PC: How do you see the transformation of the European research area?

JW: ESS offers a European scale solution to a problem pointed out by hundreds of scientists in national research communities. Many countries are decommissioning research reactors that supported research with neutron beams and so by pulling resources into a single new project the scale and capabilities of this project can be much larger. However each of these countries need to learn and adopt new ways of working based on international collaboration. If you like it is a shift from quantity to quality, a shift from having many competing research centres to invest in building a research centre that is better and diverse in nature. We need to learn to share resources and collaborate more. This is happening nowadays across Europe and is a major shift common across many research areas.

The main challenge in delivering this change is that it happens without a European budget for research infrastructures. H2020 has a significant budget overall, but only a small fraction of it goes to research infrastructures. Regarding ESS, about 1% has come from the EU budget - the rest comes from member states. So we need to create these collaborative projects by bringing together national funding. This is part of the way ERA is structured and is also a strength. It means that governments make a strong decision to be part of these projects and they don’t feel that their funding will be lost or that they have lost oversight of how it is used.

Presently, there are big questions as the 9th framework programme is designed, whether research infrastructures will take a bigger role. I hope they do as they are major investments. I do welcome the funding within H2020 for activities like design studies for future research infrastructure but more is needed in my opinion.

PC: What do you think about the present landscape and the future of high-energy physics?

JW: I think there are three very attractive features of today's landscape that we need to remember and communicate. We just discovered the Higgs particle and we need to study it in detail and further understand it. We have a machine in the LHC that can be upgraded substantially and will give us the tool needed to study the Higgs boson with better statistics and higher precision.

Moreover, astroparticle searches for dark matter will be complemented by collider searches. We are more and more convinced about the existence of dark matter as we accumulate more cosmological and astrophysical results, but we still have no idea what it actually is.

Finally, neutrino oscillations are a constant and very tangible reminder that there is physics beyond the standard model. Nature has been kind enough to give us three flavours of them with large mixing angles so the next generation of long baseline experiments will be able to further explore the nature of neutrinos, their mass hierarchy and probe CP violation.

The one thing which is missing is a credible plan for a new collider. So it is appropriate to explore future opportunities like a Future Circular Collider at CERN. Going sufficiently beyond the current energy scales opens great opportunities for the field. That’s how particle physics worked for many decades. In the past it has been the case with many large exploratory projects in other areas which similarly didn’t have a guarantee of new discoveries but offered deeper insights to scientific theories and opened new prospects. We need to communicate clearly the opportunities presented by a large-scale research infrastructure while also explaining that part of any technological R&D is to ensure the affordable construction and sustainable operation of such an infrastructure.

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Accelerators for testing energy efficiency

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 13:11:24 +0000

Accelerators for testing energy efficiency
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

3D Photo Composition of the Planned FAIR Facility at GSI (Image: FAIR/Jan Schäfer)

Researchers at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany have presented preliminary results for the integration of accelerator facilities into Virtual Power Plant (VPP) networks within the scope of the EuCARD-2 project.

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are networks that aim to optimise the production, storage and use of energy. They are comprised of renewable producers such a wind turbines and solar panels, storage facilities such as battery stations, and both public and industrial users. The networks aim to ensure better availability and reliability for consumers.

Dr Jens Stadlmann, Vice Machine Coordinator of SIS18 at GSI, said: “Accelerators are large and variable power consumers which makes them eligible candidates for VPP.”

The GSI team analysed the energy consumption of the accelerator complex and found a 3-6 MW difference between operation and shutdown. This meant the shutdown of the equipment could be scheduled during times of high-energy demand by identifying switchable loads.

The FAIR Facility

In an effort to consider the feasibility for future accelerator complexes, the GSI team studied the SIS100, the main synchrotron of the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR).

The FAIR synchrotron will be able to work in very flexible cycles with three different modes of operation: Cycles A, B and C. Cycles A and B are regular modes of operation, which have similar dynamic loads and safety margins but Cycle C has much higher dynamic loss and is not planned as a regular mode of operation.

Experiments could schedule operation cycles with high dynamic loss around times of low energy demand. Next, power providers could make use of the whole facility as part of a VPP scenario by actively switching accelerator facilities to a low energy consuming cycle when general power demand is high.

Challenges for accelerators in VPP networks

Potential energy management schedules for accelerators must be considered carefully, as researchers may be expected to wait significant periods for the facility to be switched back to high-energy operation. Longer operating times may be required to compensate, which has its own impact on energy consumption and staff and operating costs.

In addition, the operation of the cryogenic system during low-energy may present a technical challenge for facility operators.

The SIS100 magnets are cooled by a two-phase helium system, whereby liquid helium extracts heat from the magnets and is evaporated back into a gas before being transported back to the surface of the facility.

If an accelerator facility is switched to low-energy operation, the level of cooling must be adjusted accordingly. At a lower energy magnets will produce less heat, so not all of the liquefied helium can be evaporated.

To recoup all of the deployed helium, facilities may need to install heaters or a method of pumping the liquid back into the feed box. Using heaters means the energy consumption of the cryo plant will stay relatively constant for all modes of accelerator operation. Significant changes must be made at the cryosystem to realise lower energy consumption during cycles of low dynamic load.

Next steps for accelerators and VPPs

Allowing power suppliers to switch accelerator facilities from high to low energy during times of high energy demand adds a layer of complexity and risk to facility operation.

Before accelerators may be fully integrated into VPP networks the cryogenic systems require further development, safety measures must be assessed and the facility must comply with additional regulations from the power network operators.

The longer operating times needed to compensate users for a loss of beam time may result in similar or higher energy consumption, and the costs for the manpower and operation of these facilities may also be higher.

Trialling for the expansion of VPP networks with accelerator facilities may allow researchers and power suppliers to identify potential obstacles to further use, which in turn may present future avenues of research and development.

“The technical and organisational obstacles which have to be overcome to qualify a complex machine like an accelerator for a VPP seem to be transferable to other scenarios und thus be of general interest for society,” said Dr Stadlmann.

HL-LHC project stimulates new collaboration

Panagiotis Charitos — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 13:04:27 +0000

HL-LHC project stimulates new collaboration
by Carsten Welsch (University of Liverpool)

View from the LHC tunnel (Credit: CERN)

A new multi-million-pound project between CERN, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and six other UK institutions has been launched to contribute to the upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. The world’s highest energy particle collider shall be upgraded to the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) in the 2020s through international collaboration.

The challenges of this project are best tackled with input from the project partners from around the world. Several partnerships have already been established with the HL-LHC project and there is room for more potential partnerships in the future. It has now been announced that the UK will make contributions in four areas across the new HL-LHC-UK project among other contributions from UK universities¹.

The full exploitation of the LHC is the highest priority in the European Strategy for Particle Physics, adopted by the CERN Council and integrated into the ESFRI Roadmap. The full HL-LHC project funding was approved by the CERN Council in June 2016. To extend its discovery potential, the LHC will need a major upgrade around 2025 to increase its luminosity (rate of collisions) by a factor of 10 beyond the original design value (from 300 to 3,000 fb-1). This will enable scientists to look for new, very rare fundamental particles, and to measure known particles such as the Higgs boson with unprecedented accuracy.

Upgrading the LHC calls for technology breakthroughs in areas already under study, and requires about 10 years of research to implement. HL-LHC relies on a number of key innovative technologies, representing exceptional technological challenges. Led by experts from the Cockcroft Institute, the HL-LHC-UK project has now been established to address these challenges.

Within HL-LHC-UK, the partner institutions will perform cutting-edge research and deliver hardware for the LHC upgrade in four areas: 1) proton beam collimation to remove stray halo protons, 2) the development and test of transverse deflecting cavities (“crab cavities”), 3) new methods to diagnose the stored beams including gas jet-based beam profile monitors and, 4) novel beam position monitors, as well as sophisticated cold powering technology needed for the cryogenic systems.

Lucio Rossi, Head of the High-Luminosity LHC project, commented: “In order to make the project a success we have to innovate in many fields, developing cutting-edge technologies for magnets, the optics of the accelerator, superconducting radiofrequency cavities, and superconducting links. We are very excited for the UK to be making key contributions and using their expertise to help deliver this upgrade.”

The HL-LHC-UK project comprises the University of Manchester (Cockcroft Institute), Lancaster University (Cockcroft Institute), the University of Liverpool (Cockcroft Institute), the University of Huddersfield (International Institute of Accelerator Applications), Royal Holloway University of London (John Adams Institute), the University of Southampton and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The spokesperson is Rob Appleby (Manchester) and the project manager is Graeme Burt (Lancaster).

More information about the High Luminosity LHC project, its technology and design as well as the challenges ahead can be found in the recently released open access HiLumi LHC book “The High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider. The New Machine for Illuminating the Mysteries of the Universe”.

1. UK is currently also contributing with the technology for surface modification of metals in a collaboration between CERN, the University of Dundee and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

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Laser technology take the LHC to the next level

Livia Lapadatescu — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 16:05:54 +0000

Laser technology to help take the LHC to the next level
by Panos Charitos (CERN)

Jointly developed by researchers from the University of Dundee and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the technology – which is known as LESS (Laser Engineered Surface Structures) – could increase the range of experiments possible on the LHC by helping to clear the so-called “electron cloud”: a cloud of negative particles which can degrade the performance of the primary proton beams that circulate in the accelerator.

Laser-engineered surface structures (Image credit: STFC Daresbury Laboratory)

Removing this electron cloud will expand the range of experiments that the LHC, the world’s largest particle collider, can carry out. Professor Amin Abdolvand, chair of functional materials and photonics at Dundee University said: “Large particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider suffer from a fundamental limitation known as the ‘electron cloud’.

“This cloud of negative particles under certain conditions may degrade the performance of the primary proton beams that circulate in the accelerator, which is central to its core experiments.

“Current efforts to limit these effects involve applying composite metal or amorphous carbon coatings to the inner surfaces of the LHC vacuum chambers. These are expensive and time consuming processes that are implemented under vacuum.”

Tests have shown that it is possible to reformulate the surface of the metals in the LHC vacuum chambers to a design that under a microscope resembles the type of sound padding seen in music studios. The surface can trap electrons, keeping the chambers clear of the cloud.

The image shows the metal before the laser treatment (top) and afterwards (bottom) where one can see the characteristic pattern that resembles the type of sound padding (Image credit: Dundee University)

Future upgrades of the LHC that will double the intensity of the beams – thus resulting in a denser electron cloud – and studies for future circular high-intensity and high-energy colliders, could profit from this technique. The LESS method, which uses lasers to manipulate the surface of metals, could effectively reduce the electron cloud allowing for more powerful beams.

Professor Lucio Rossi, project leader of the High Luminosity LHC, said: “If successful, this method will allow us to remove fundamental limitations of the LHC and reach the parameters which are needed for the high luminosity upgrade in an easier and less expensive way. “This will boost the experimental program by increasing the number of collisions in the LHC by a factor over the present machine configuration.”

Michael Benedikt, head of the Future Circular Collider Study at CERN, said: “The LESS solution could be easily integrated in the design of future high-intensity proton accelerators; the method is scalable from small samples to kilometre-long beam lines.”

(*Front page image credit: Joshua Valcarel)

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Civil engineering for the High-Luminosity LHC

Livia Lapadatescu — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:39:10 +0000

Civil engineering for the High-Luminosity LHC
by Jean Laurent Tavian (CERN), Peter Mattelaer (CERN)

The High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project at CERN will require large infrastructures and services for the powering and the cooling of the high-field superconducting quadrupole magnets constituting the new inner triplets and of the superconducting RF crab-cavities used for the luminosity levelling. These new LHC accelerator components will be integrated at Point 1 and Point 5 of the LHC accelerator where the two large LHC detectors ATLAS and CMS are located (see Figure 1). These new infrastructures and services consist mainly of power transmission, electrical distribution, cooling, ventilation, cryogenics, power converters for superconducting magnets and inductive output tubes for superconducting RF cavities. To house all these new infrastructures and services, civil engineering structures are required including buildings, shaft, caverns and underground galleries.

Figure 1. Underground civil engineering of LHC (Image credit: CERN)

At ground level, the civil engineering consists of five buildings, technical galleries, access roads, concrete slabs and landscaping (See Figures 2 and 3). Per Point, the total surface corresponds to about 20’000 m², including 3’300 m² of buildings. A cluster of three buildings is located at the head of the shaft and will house the helium refrigerator cold-box (SD building), the water-cooling and ventilation units (SU building) as well as the main electrical distribution for high and low voltage (SE building). Two stand-alone buildings complete the inventory and will house the primary-water cooling towers (SF building) and the warm compressor station of the helium refrigerator (SHM building). Buildings housing noisy equipment (SU, SF, SHM) are built with noise-insulated concrete walls and roofs.

Figure 2. Point 1 ground-level civil engineering work (Image credit: CERN)

Figure 3. Point 5 ground-level civil engineering work (Image credit: CERN)

At underground level, the civil engineering work consist of a shaft, a service cavern, galleries, and vertical cores (See Figure 4). The total volume to be excavated corresponds to about 40’000 m³ per Point. The PM shaft (9.7-m diameter, 80-m height) will house a secured access lift and staircase as well as the services required at underground level. The service cavern (US/UW, 16-m diameter, 45-m long) will house cooling and ventilation units, a cryogenic box, an electrical safe room and electrical transformers. The UR gallery (5.8-m diameter, 300-m long) will house the power converters and electrical feed boxes for the superconducting magnets as well as cryogenic and service distribution. Two transversal UA galleries (6.2-m diameter, 50-m long) will house the RF equipment for the powering and controls of the superconducting crab-cavities. At the end of the UA galleries, evacuation galleries (UPR) are required for personnel emergency exits. Two transversal UL galleries (3-m diameter, 40-m long) will house the superconducting links powering the magnets and cryogenic distribution. Finally, the connection of the HL-LHC underground galleries to the LHC tunnel is made via 16 vertical cores (1-m diameter, 7-m long).

Figure 4. Underground civil-engineering work (Courtesy of LAP consortium)

The definition of the civil engineering for the HL-LHC has started in 2015. First integration studies have been performed in collaboration with the CERN SMB (Site Management and Buildings) Department, the equipment groups and the HL-LHC Project Office. In 2016, the completion of a preliminary study has allowed to issue a call for tender for two civil-engineering consultant contracts, which have been adjudicated in June 2016. These consultants are in charge of the preliminary, tender and construction design of the civil engineering works, as well as of the management of the construction including the defect liability. At Point 1 on the Swiss side, the consultant contract was adjudicated to a consortium, called ORIGIN, constituted of 3 companies: SETEC (FR) the consortium leader, CDS Engineers (CH) and Rocksoil (IT). At Point 5 on the French side, the consultant contract was adjudicated to a consortium, called LAP, constituted of 3 companies: Lombardi (CH) the consortium leader, Artelia (FR) and Pini Swiss (CH). In November 2016, the two consultants have completed the preliminary design phase including cost and construction-schedule estimates for the civil engineering work execution.

In parallel with the preliminary design, CERN, with the help of architects, has prepared the building permit applications which have been submitted to the Swiss and French Authorities in October and November 2016. Between 6 to 9 months will be required to get the building permit authorization, that is compatible with the start of the construction works scheduled by mid-2018. CERN has also performed geotechnical investigation in order to better identify the soil constituents. CERN has placed a contract with an independent engineer (Joint venture of ARUP (UK) and Geoconsult (AT)). This independent engineer will perform peer reviews of the consultant designs and will confirm that these designs have been performed with the appropriate skill, care and diligence in accordance with applicable standards. In addition, an adjudicator panel is constituted with lawyers, architects and civil engineers to resolve disputes in-between all parties.

The next important milestone will be the adjudication in March 2018 of the two contracts (one per Point) for the civil-engineering construction works. The tendering process has started with the issue of a market survey in December 2016 including relevant selection criteria requirements. It will be followed by calls for tenders, which will be sent to the qualified companies by June 2017. The main excavation works, producing harmful vibrations for the LHC accelerator performance, must be performed during the second long-shutdown of the LHC accelerator scheduled in 2019-2020. The completion of the civil-engineering with the hand-over of the last building is scheduled by end-2022. The vertical cores connecting the HL-LHC galleries to the LHC tunnel will be burrowed during the first semester of the third long-shutdown of the LHC accelerator, which is expected to start beginning of 2024.

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