INTC Minutes
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CERN-INTC-2013-018 INTC-044 July 22, 2013 ISOLDE AND NEUTRON TIME-OF-FLIGHT EXPERIMENTS COMMITTEE Minutes of the 44th meeting of the INTC held on Wednesday, June 26, and Thursday, June 27, 2013 OPEN SESSION Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 11:00 in the Council Chamber. The chairman of the INTC, Klaus Blaum, opened the meeting, presented all members of the committee and announced the agenda. ISOLDE Technical Report The ISOLDE Technical Coordinator, Richard Catherall, made a summary of the works going on during the Long Shutdown period (LS1). The civil engineering in the ISOLDE hall (wall and new trench cutting) was described as well as the status of new buildings 198 and 199 for the HIE-ISOLDE services and the idea of a new building 508. The most important points concerning the ISOLDE machine were listed, which included the upgrade of robots in the target area, extension of the RILIS room, RFQ cooler alignment, and the EBIS upgrade. New developments in the targets and ion sources were also presented. Finally, the Medicis project was briefly introduced. Following the favourable safety review completed recently, the ground works will start in the beginning of July. It was announced that the HIE-ISOLDE workshop will be held on 28th - 29th November 2013 just after the ISOLDE workshop. ISOLDE Physics Report On behalf of the ISOLDE Physics Coordinator, Magdalena Kowalska, Marek Pfützner presented the summary of the year 2012, the current shift balance, and briefly listed research activities at ISOLDE between the last INTC meeting in October/November and the end of physics programme on December 17, 2012. The status of the shifts after the end of 2012 is the CERN-INTC-2013-018 / INTC-044 22/11/2013 following. Among low energy IS experiments, there are 364.5 pending shifts, while in the REX experiment category there are 216.5 shifts left. In addition, the previous INTC meeting has approved 429 shifts for HIE-ISOLDE experiments. The experimental programme at ISOLDE is expected to resume in June 2014 with low-energy physics and will end on December 15, 2014. Protons will be delivered again in April 2015. The dates are still preliminary. The new building 508 will replace buildings 115, 507, and 601. The work has already started. During the LS1 period, the entrance to the ISOLDE hall is from the side of Route Democrite. HIE-ISOLDE Status Report The HIE-ISOLDE Project Leader, Yacine Kadi, presented the status of the project. Walter Venturini Delsolaro was nominated as the Deputy Project Leader. The budget for the period 2013-2016 has been defined and allocated to the different work package owners. The cost-to- completion at 2013 increased by 2.2 MCHF to 38.7 MCHF, due to additional costs for the infrastructure and general services which have been included in the Mid Term Plan (MTP2013) and approved by the CERN Council in June 2013. To mitigate a possible delay and to reduce the costs, the decision has been taken to re-use the old ALEPH cryogenic plant instead of buying a new one. The procurement of all components is progressing according to the plan. The crucial breakthrough has been achieved in the construction of the prototype superconducting RF cavities. In June, for the first time the performance of the cavity surpassed the HIE-ISOLDE specification of 6 MV/m at 10 W. Among the encountered problems was the accidental damage of a test cryostat, recovered by adapting an old unit, and the failure of a prototype Diagnostic Box during the tests. The re-design of the mechanical part of the DB will be necessary. Status of n_TOF Experimental Area 2 (EAR2) project The report was presented by the Spokesperson of the n_TOF Collaboration, Enrico Chiaveri. The EAR2 is based on the new neutron beam line, coming vertically from the neutron spallation target. It is expected that it will provide a neutron fluence larger than at EAR1 by a factor of about 20. The construction started in May 2013 and it is planned to be completed in April 2014. Various aspects of the project, including simulations, civil engineering, and radiation protection issues were discussed. Main components of the new beam line such as the target region, collimators, permanent magnet, experimental area, and the beam dump were presented in more detail. Most of the equipment is in the construction phase and the project is proceeding according to the schedule. On the next INTC meeting in October 2013 the proposals for commissioning of the EAR2 together with proposals for the EAR1 will be presented. The first proposals for the EAR2 will be presented in the February 2014 INTC session. Analysis of n_TOF experiments in 2012, status report The summary of experiments performed in 2012 was presented by Carlos Guerrero, the n-TOF Run and Analysis Coordinator. Fission cross section measurements for 240Pu and 242Pu, as well as neutron-induced capture and fission reactions on 235U were of importance for nuclear technologies. Of astrophysical relevance were the measurements of the (n, α) reaction on the s- process branching nucleus 59Ni and of the neutron capture cross sections for 25Mg and 93Zr. The (n, α) reactions on 33S and 10B, measured with newly developed Micromegas detector, were motivated by medical applications (neutron capture therapy). Within the basic nuclear physics research spin-dependent level densities in 87Sr were measured and the angular distribution of the fission fragments in the 234U(n, f) and 236U(n, f) reactions were determined. In addition, a few experiments using parasitic beams at the n_TOF beam dump were mentioned. The year 2012 was exceptionally successful for the n_TOF collaboration as illustrated by a few broken records. Maximum number of experiments in a single campaign were performed, the highest integrated beam intensity was achieved, and the largest number of papers was published in this year. Presentation of proposals and related documents In the remaining part of the open session the following documents were presented (the order does not correspond to the sequence of presentations): CERN-INTC-2013-002, INTC-P-319-ADD-1, Addendum to the IS534 experiment - Part I:Beta-delayed fission, laser spectroscopy and shape-coexistence studies with astatine beams; Part II: Delineating the island of deformation in the light gold isotopes by means of laser spectroscopy, by A. Andreyev; CERN-INTC-2013-003, INTC-P-369, Q-values of Mirror Transitions for fundamental interaction studies, by M. Breitenfeldt; CERN-INTC-2013-004, INTC-P-370, Probing intruder configurations in 186,188Pb using Coulomb excitation, by J. Pakarinen; CERN-INTC-2013-006, INTC-P-372, Energy of the 2p1h intruder state in 34Al: an extension of the ”island of inversion”?, by P. Ascher; CERN-INTC-2013-007, INTC-P-373, High-resolution laser spectroscopy of nickel isotopes, by B. Cheal; CERN-INTC-2013-009, INTC-P-374, Beta decay of the N=Z, rp-process waiting points: 64Ge, 68Se and the N=Z+2: 66Ge, 70Se for accurate stellar weak-decay rates, by E. Nacher; CERN-INTC-2013-010, INTC-P-375, Study of the stability of the gallium isotopes beyond the N = 50 neutron shell closure, by T. Cocolios; CERN-INTC-2013-012, INTC-P-377, 18N: a challenge to the shell model and a part of the flow path to r-process element production in Type II supernovae, by W. Catford; CERN-INTC-2013-013, INTC-O-017, VITO – Versatile Ion-polarized Techniques On-line at ISOLDE (former ASPIC UHV beamline), M. Stachura; CERN-INTC-2013-014, INTC-P-378, Laser Spectroscopy of Tin and Cadmium: Across N = 82 and Closing in on N = 50, by D. Yordanov; CERN-INTC-2013-015, INTC-P-379, Study of shell evolution around the doubly magic 208Pb via a multinucleon transfer reaction with an unstable beam, by J. J. Valiente-Dobon; CERN-INTC-2013-016, INTC-P-380, Beta-delayed 1- and 2-proton decay of 35Ca, by J. Giovinazzo CLOSED SESSION Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 9:00 h, room 60-6-015 Present: B. Blank, K. Blaum (chair),M. Block, M.G. Borge, W. Catford, R. Catherall, E. Chiaveri, G. De Angelis, J. Dobaczewski, C. Guerrero, Y. Kadi, E. McGlynn, A. Navin. (via internet connection), M. Pfützner (secretary), D. Ridikas, T. Stora, H. Wilkens Apologies: J. Vaagen, Z. Salman 1. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN The Chairman opened the meeting and welcomed all participants, especially the new members of the INTC. The procedural matters were shortly discussed. 2. MINUTES OF THE LAST INTC MEETING The minutes of the 43rd INTC meeting held on October 31 - November 1, 2012 were approved without amendments. 3. STATUS OF ISOLDE AND HIE-ISOLDE The technical and physics reports on ISOLDE were discussed. The committee congratulated all physics groups and the technical support group for the very successful year 2012. The excellent physics results achieved were applauded. The chairman informed on his recent presentation of the ISOLDE and n_TOF activities at the CERN Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) which was very well received, with extraordinary positive feedback. The Director General appreciated the commendable performance of ISOLDE and declared the continued support of the CERN management. The engagement of the whole ISOLDE group in the work going on during the long shutdown was highly appreciated. The progress of the constructions and upgrades was considered and the hope was expressed that the facility will be ready to resume the low-energy physics programme in June 2014. The status report on the HIE-ISOLDE was summarized. The successful efforts to keep the project on the track were recognized. Special congratulations were due for the breakthrough in the performance of superconducting cavities.