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1. MINUTES OF THE 106th MEETING OF THE SPSC HELD ON 26 JUNE AND 27 JUNE 2012

The minutes of SPSC106 were approved (CERN-SPSC-2012-024, SPSC- 106).

2. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FROM RB201

The Chairman reported on the Research Board (RB) meeting, RB201. The following points were presented and, where necessary, discussed:

1) The SPSC congratulated the COMPASS Collaboration for the timely analysis of the 2010 and 2011 muon data, expressed its satisfaction on the progress of the experimental setup for the DVCS run, and mentioned its wish to see spectroscopy results published soon. 2) The observation of the second tau neutrino candidate by OPERA was reported and the Committee expressed its encouragements for further timely analysis of the data. 3) The SPSC expressed its satisfaction for the smooth operation of the ICARUS detector and continuous progress in the reconstruction and analysis methods, and showed first limits on sterile recently obtained by the Collaboration. 4) The status of the review of the short baseline neutrino proposal was summarised and the committee recommended to set-up a joint working group with the accelerator division in order to define and optimise the beam conditions. 5) The SPSC presented the Expression of Interest for a Long Baseline Experiment LAGUNA-LBNO, and summarised the points currently under review. 6) The LOI for measurement of the anti- magnetic moment was presented, as well as the invitation to proceed towards a Technical Design Report of the experiment, including optimisation of the insertion of the set-up within the AD complex. 7) The SPSC reminded the recommendation of SPSC102 inviting to make all efforts to provide physics data to the Fixed Target experiments in 2014.

The Research Board noted points 1), 2), 3), 5) and 7), and endorsed points 4) and 6).

MATTERS ARRISING

Following the European Strategy Workshop in Cracow, the Scientific Policy Committee has scheduled a special meeting on November 27th, for which the SPSC is requested to report on the status of its review of the short and long baseline neutrino projects.

3. STATUS OF ACCELERATORS

S. Maury summarised the operation and performance of the injector accelerators and presented possible scenarios of the restart of the injectors for proton and ion beams to the North Area after the shutdown 2013/2014 (LS1). Both LINAC2 and the PS-Booster are operating with high efficiency and are delivering proton beams as requested from the experiments and beam tests. Also the PS is operating smoothly and the new PS power supply (POPS) is working fine. During the last two weeks the intensity of the PS beam for CNGS is increased with respect to what was reached in the months before. At the AD the total uptime for the experiments over the 2012 run is 95%, which together with the improved beam quality (more than 3*107 antiprotons per cycle) and high beam stability gives excellent conditions for the experiments. In parallel to the physics beam time, tests and preparations for ELENA and LS1 are carried out. The SPS delivers beams to the North Area, to CNGS, to the irradiation facility HiRadMat and to the LHC with high efficiency. Short interruptions were caused by perturbations of a 18kV power cell and a water leak. The LINAC3 and LEIR start-up for the heavy ion run and July/August 2012 ion beams were sent to the PS and SPS. LINAC3 and LEIR stopped operation afterwards and resumed operation middle of October 2012. Because of the delays for the NA61 experiment caused by problems with its magnet, see report by L. Gatignon, the ion programme of the NA61 experiment is shifted to take place in parallel to the LHC proton-ion run. Fragmented ion beams at 13*A GeV/c, 20*A GeV and 30*A GeV are scheduled from 3 December until 17 December 2012 and from 7 January until 11 February 2012. Concerning the restart of the injector accelerators after LS1, the following possible scenario was presented and discussed. During LS1 for the SPS and the North Area, the replacement of cables in the splitter area and in the Long Straight Section 1 (LSS1), which suffered from harsh radiation, is mandatory. The proposal is made to complete the replacement of the cables in the LSS1 area during the shutdown to be in time for the cold checkout of the SPS in summer 2014 and to have the preparation of the replacement in the splitter area until the commissioning of the SPS with beam starts. This scenario allows a proton run of the North Area from End of October until early December 2014. After this proton run, the replacement of the cables in the splitter area could be completed. For scheduling and technical reasons the run with ions for NA61 can take place early 2015 only. Preparations of the injectors for other ion species than argon can only take place after LS1, which implies that a run with xenon ions for NA61 can take place in 2015 or later. The Committee supports the efforts to aim for a restart of the injector accelerators for a first period of proton beam to the experimental areas in the second half of 2014. The SPSC recommends to aim for a period of argon ion running before the start of the 2015 proton run and supports the optimisation of the replacement work of the irradiated cables in the SPS splitter area to allow the 2015 proton run to start as early as possible. The Committee also recommends to further investigate the possibility of delivering high intensity beam to the COMPASS experiment at the end of 2014 without delaying the overall accelerator schedule.

4. STATUS OF EXPERIMENTAL AREAS

L. Gatignon reported on the operation of the experimental facilities at the PS (East Area), AD and SPS (North Area and CNGS). The East Area operated smoothly and served a multitude of users (CLOUD, DIRAC, IRRAD, PEBS, CLAS12, OPERA, VHMPID, TOF, ITS, ALICE and several CMS, PANDA, ACORDE and PHOS groups). All AD experiments successfully took beam. The commissioning of the new ATRAP apparatus is advancing. The ASACUS experiment ended the 2012 programme for the CUSP trap and is for the remaining 2012 run focusing on spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium. The ACE experiment took data during one week in June and profited from a three days run period in September 2012. A new procedure has been implemented in the AD operation, which allows a very fast switch from nominal 100 MeV/c operation to the 500 MeV/c cycle which is required for the ACE experiment. From this new switch all experiments profit and there have been no stability problems in the AD performance. The ALPHA experiment successfully commissioned the new separate antiproton trap of the new apparatus. The setup and commissioning of the main trap will follow in the next weeks. The setup of the AEGIS experiment is progressing well. Antiprotons have been successfully trapped in June, all remaining equipment including the main 5T magnet were installed during the summer. The apparatus is ready for being setup with beam and to move towards antihydrogen production in November 2012. At the SPS North Area two vacuum problems in the transfer line from the SPS to the North Area caused serious problems and in total about one week of beam time was lost. One leak was found on a collimator protecting the splitter magnets, the second one was found on a bellow. A preliminary fix for the leak at the collimator has been made, however the collimator will be replaced during LS1. The bellow causing the second leak has been replaced successfully. The COMPASS experiment had a successful run with regular alternation of and muon beams. On 17 September 2012 the experiment started its preparation for the DVCS run. The preparations were successfully made and the experiment is back into full physics data taking now. The NA61 experiment suffered from problems with the experiments magnet, a controls problem and a helium leak. Both problems were fixed however the NA61 experiment was ready for data taking only end of September 2012. As a consequence the heavy ion beam to the North Area is delayed until December 2012 and were send to the other experiments instead and beams were served to a large number of physics experiments and beam tests. The preparations for the NA62 Technical Run are progressing very well and everything is on schedule to send beam to the experiment from 29 October 2012 onwards. The CNGS beam line is operating very well and the proton beam intensity was raised early October from 1.5*1013 protons per extraction to 1.9*1013 protons. An integrated number of 4*1018 protons on target (p.o.t.) is expected for the entire 2012/2013 run. Since the CNGS start-up, 17.3*1019 p.o.t. have been delivered, until the end of this run a total of 18.2*1019 p.o.t. are expected to be reached.

5. PS, SPS AND AD SCHEDULES

H. Breuker presented an update of the 2012 PS, AD and SPS users schedules. For the experiments and facilities at the PS - the East Area, the – the proton run was extended up to 17 December 2012. The end of the proton run for the North Area is foreseen for 3 December 2012, from this date until 17 December 2012 it is scheduled to send ions to the North Area for the NA61 experiment. Starting 14 January 2013, ions will be accelerated and sent to the North Area up to 11 February 2013, allowing the NA61 experiment to continue the measurements using fragmented ion beams.

6. DISCUSSION OF THE OPEN SESSION

6.1 CAST

The SPSC is pleased with the large number of results on axion searches presented by the CAST collaboration. The Committee is looking forward to their publication after the completion of the analysis. The Committee congratulates the CAST collaboration for the achievements in the extensive detector development and the reduction of the background levels, which will extend the CAST search sensitivity for axions and will allow the experiment to search also for new exotic particles. The SPSC recommends that the experiment is given the possibility of data taking in 2013 to make further progress on the axion search programme.

6.2 OSQAR

The SPSC acknowledges the efforts of the OSQAR collaboration to perform a competitive axion regeneration measurement and to work towards preparing a measurement of the vacuum magnetic birefringence effect. The SPSC encourages the OSQAR collaboration to explore all possible solutions to overcome the limitation caused by the rapidly degrading laser system in view of a possible data taking period in 2013.

6.3 NA63

The SPSC notes with satisfaction the progress achieved by the NA63 experiment and congratulates the collaboration for the prompt publication of the results obtained from the 2011 data. The Committee is looking forward to the final analysis of the data recorded in 2012 to study the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect and structured target resonances. The Committee acknowledges the plans of the collaboration for the near future and is looking forward to the detailed proposal for the continuation of the data taking beyond 2013.

6.4 UA9

The SPSC congratulates the UA9 Collaboration for the good progress made in crystal-assisted collimation at the SPS, both with proton and lead ion beams, and for the timely publication of results. The Committee encourages the Collaboration to proceed with detailed planning and hardware preparations for the LHC test.

6.5 NA61 (SHINE)

The Committee notes with satisfaction that NA61 has made good progress on the publication of the results of the 2007 data. The Committee notes with satisfaction that preliminary results have been presented on the analysis on cosmic-ray related data and on multiplicity fluctuations in proton-on-proton data which serves as reference for future ion-on-ion measurements and is looking forward to further results. The SPSC congratulates the NA61 Collaboration for the efficient data taking of the -on-beryllium data in 2011 and encourages a timely analysis of the data. The Committee also encourages the experiment and CERN to explore all options to consolidate the magnets of the experiments to ensure that no beam time allocated to NA61 is lost due to technical problems. The SPSC welcomes the interest of American groups for measurements relevant to the US neutrino programmes and is looking forward to a proposal.

7. FOLLOW-UP ON EXPERIMENTS AND PROPOSALS

7.1 CNGS2 (ICARUS)

The SPSC congratulates the Collaboration for the publication of physics results on the time-of-flight measurement, sterile neutrino search and on the new approach of 3D event reconstruction for the liquid argon TPC.

7.3 P347 (ICARUS/NESSY)

The SPSC acknowledges the formation of a joined working group between the collaboration and the CERN beam and infrastructure divisions. The Committee is looking forward to SBL beam and infrastructure design in the SPS North Area.

7.4 E007 (LBNO)

The Committee acknowledges the reception of first answers to referee questions and will continue to review the LBNO Expression of Interest.

7.5 E008 (CHIC)

The SPSC received an Expression of Interest for an experiment to study charm production with proton and heavy ion beams, SPSC-E-008. The Committee will further review the project.

8. DOCUMENTS RECEIVED

 UA9 report for 2012, CERN-SPSC-2012-033; SPSC-SR-109;  OSQAR Annual Report, CERN-SPSC-2012-032; SPSC-SR-108;  Expression of Interest for an experiment to study charm production with proton and heavy ion, CERN-SPSC-2012-031; SPSC-EOI-008;  Status and further Analysis Plans of the NA49 Collaboration, CERN-SPSC-2012-030; SPSC-M-780;  Report from the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS, CERN-SPSC-2012-029; SPSC-SR-107;  Status report of the CAST Experiment & Running in 2013-2014, CERN-SPSC-2012-028; SPSC-SR-106;  Status and plans for 2013, CERN NA63, CERN-SPSC-2012-027; SPSC-SR-105;  Status and plans of the NA49 pp/pA group, CERN-SPSC-2012-026; SPSC-M-779;  Minutes of the 106th Meeting of the SPSC held on Tuesday and Wednesday, 26 and 27 June 2012, CERN-SPSC-2012-024; SPSC-106;

CERN Document Server (CDS): http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search?sc=1&p=SPSC+2012