| Angelika Drees, drees@bnl.gov, 344-4732, pager 4300 | Last updated: |
Fri May 25: Beam is delivered
to E931 as of 7:30 pm yesterday, May 23. We had no significant interruptions
last night until this morning 8:30 when a vacuum pump failed in the
C-line switchyard. Since about 11:00 am we're on and off due to a C-line
power supply failure. At this point we are working on it and should have
beam back later this afternoon. This (Memorial Day!) weekend including
next tuesday we have running for E949 and E931 scheduled. Next wednesday
we plan another maintenance day (7:00-14:00) including the usual suspects
(see below). If you need any access, please contact Ray Zaharatos.
Tue May 28: Last friday,
after assorted power problems and the (partial?) power dip we came back
on around 18:00. At 23:00 a power line failure for the C3-line caused the
E931 He target to warm up. Cooling down after the repair took approximately
2.5 days and they started taking beam again late monday evening.
Therefore their running time is extended until Jun 10, 8:00 am for compensation.
E949 took data all weekend. Although there were no other significant interruptions
we had continuous problems with C-line magnet power supplies (CQ6/7, CP464),
the AGS main magnetic field drifting and once with the vacuum valves in
LESB III. Beam was extracted from the AGS with 65-70 Tp. There is
a maintenance day planned tomorrow (7:00 - 13:00).
Thu May 30: Beam was back
at 16:00 after yesterdays maintenance. Startup was delayed because of a
BTA quad failure. Intensities were close to 70 Tp until last night when
sporadic problems with LINAC extraction occurred (probably after a power
dip). Intensity is stable again since 7:00 am and AGS efficiency
was about 70%. There were no significant interruptions today.
Tue June 4: Since yesterday
there were no significant interruptions. E949 and E931 are taking data.
LESB II separator voltages were improved during the last conditioning period
to +/- 265 kV and +\- 220 kV. It was lowered today to +\- 180 kV
on the latter one. We'll try to work it up on monday (no guarantee!). Sep.
1 in LESB III is stable at its reduced setpoint. The next maintenance is
planned for Wed., Jun 05. --
The LESB-III #1 separator has what
appears to be a busted vaccum window, and will require at least 1/2
a day to repair, according to Tom Russo. While we wait for his full assessment,
SNS tests are running in the LINAC.
Thu June 13: Summary of
the past week: AGS was off for the LESB III separator 1 vacuum repair for
2 days, Jun 04 and Jun 05. There were no further significant interruptions
for the remaining 4 days and the AGS delivered 70-75 Tp protons to E949
with ~ 8Tp to E931 until Jun 09, 24:00. The PRAD test on monday and the
bunch merging study for E951 on tuesday were both successful. Most parts
of the program for the PRAD test, such as Multi-pulse extraction,
two different
intensities and variable pulse spacing, worked. During the
bunch merging study single bunch intensities of up to 10 Tp could be achieved
(where < 7 Tp were the record so far and the ultimate goal is 17 Tp).
While the AGS was shut off after those studies the LINAC continued to run
with polarized protons and for a fault study. After opening the HEBT line
tomorrow, there will be one more SNS laser/wire study on sunday (see below).
From sunday, Jun 16, 24:00, all CA-D machines including LINAC will be in
scheduled shutdown and the work on the BAF begins.
Thu May 09: Beam after the
access yesterday was back by 12:15 :) with about 40-50 Tp. Full intensity
(65 Tp) was back 2 hours later. We are running since then without significant
interruptions :) for E949 and E958.
Fri May 10: Since yesterday
morning the separator #1 in LESB III (E949) has problems with the positive
plate. The voltage had to be reduced to a total of 250 kV (from 350 kV).
We inspected it and it looks like an internal problem. It cannot be fixed
before the end of the program. Since we turned beam back on last
night it appears stable at it's reduced voltage and we continue the program
with > 65 Tp for E949 and E958 (Crystal Ball). This morning we lost
a few hours due to a LINAC RFQ problem. However, the third week of the
extension is now still questionable and not yet confirmed.The cryo group
started purging the He-target for the E931 experiment and will start cooling
on monday. The target will be ready by Friday next week, May 17.
Mon May 13: There were no significant problems
over the weekend and we ran with > 90% efficiency and up to 70 Tp extracted
intensity. Separator 1 is still limping along with +150 kV/-100 kV.
Tue May 14: SEB continues
with up to 70 Tp and only minor interruptions (< 15 min.). Separators
are at reduced voltages. The E931 target will be ready early morning Sat
May 18. C target temperature is getting closer to the limit, we might have
to lengthen the spill and reduce the particle momentum.
Thu May 16: Yesterdays access took 1.5 h longer
than scheduled. Separators were conditioned, including LESB II with E931
set points. Sep 1 in LESB III turned out be a bit higher (300 kV vs. 250
kV). LINAC ran for SNS for some hours. However, it was not before 6:30
pm that we had beam back. A problem with the F5 extraction septum supply
kept us of for most of the time :(.
Crystal Ball (E958) got an extension of 5 days until
May 22 (see schedule below). E931 start up moves accordingly. E931 will
run for 2 weeks, i.e. until Jun 05. This assumes a continuation of the
E949 till Jun 07 (at least) and excludes proton radiography and bunch merging
studies on the Jun 01/02 weekend.
Fri May 17: Last night we
had problems with LESB II vacuum and Crystal Ball was off for almost 10
h. The problem was hard to diagnose. Thanks to Tom Russo and his crew and
E949 who agreed to two accesses to this area we could fix the same night
(thanks!). E949 lost about 2 1/2 hours because of it. Another 2 hours
were lost due to a LINAC problem. This afternoon we were/are running
for KOPIO (parasitically). This supposedly is the last time for them this
run and they could do all tests they had on their list. Right now
we are extracting beam with up to 65 Tp and deliver to E949 and E958. To
keep running is the plan for the weekend and early next week until wednesday
morning when we scheduled another maintenance day.
Mon May 20: AGS was running
with approx. 62 Tp without significant interruptions over the weekend for
E949 and E958. We are planing a maintenance day on wednesday, May 22 for
separator conditioning (etc.), switch-over from C6->C8 and F3 kicker repair.
The later needs to be confirmed. If the kicker repair is on, we'll go off
on midnight and allow cool down for about 8 h before the repair work begins.
Startup with beam is then scheduled for early afternoon, 2:00 pm.
Tue May 22: Due to a vacuum/pump
failure in LESB III the AGS went off around 6:00 am this morning. In order
to work on this problem, several hours of cool down are necessary and an
ALARA committee meets now to address it. Since we were off anyway, we changed
gears and we'll do the maintenance items which were originally on the list
for tomorrow (see below). An optimistic guess for beam is 6:00 pm today.
There will be no other maintenance this week. Crystal Ball got additional
time to compensate for the loss while avoiding the night for the switch-over
to E931. Therefore we'll start E931 on thursday, May 23.
Thu May 24: Beam is back
since 6:00 pm on tuesday and had no further interruptions. As of this morning,
the E958/Crystal Ball experiment is finished. The switch-over to E931 is
almost done and they are setting up their detectors. Separators in LESB
II were conditioned today and are waiting for the finishing touch with
magnets on (needs to be done by experiment). There were 2 hours down time
today due to a water leak in LESB II.
Thu Apr. 25: Separator conditioning
was done yesterday, Apr. 24. AGS was open from 9:00-11:30, beam was back
by 12:30. While the luminescence monitor installation was finished in the
AGS, the Westinghouse was inspected and LINAC ran for SNS laser/wire monitor
for 3 h. When coming back from the access period a not yet understood booster
RF timing problem caused a slightly worse transmission efficiency. However,
intensities are in the order of 60 Tp anyway. Last night we had smooth
operation with both Experiments, E949 and E913/927 taking beam. E913/927
did shut off around 6:30 am until further notice to analyze their data
and work on their detector. They will come back on within a few days. This
morning, Apr. 25, we went off around 9:00 am due to a Westinghouse
controls problem. At this point we are still off and trouble shooting the
problem.
Fri Apr. 26: AGS was running
well over night and today with intensities above 60 Tp . This afternoon
shortly after 16:00 we got a problem with the extraction bump power supply
such that about 25 Tp were lost at transition each cycle. The power supply
appears to be shorted and we are currently working on it. Estimate for
beam is around 7:00 pm tonight. LESB III & II separators are still
operated at reduced voltages and E949 is taking data. E913/927 continues
working on their DAQ and the drift chamber electronics, most likely over
the weekend. They might resume data taking early next week.
Mon Apr. 29: AGS ran without
significant interruptions over the weekend. Intensities were around
65 Tp. E949 took data and by saturday early afternoon Crystal Ball resumed
data taking as well. They will - based on current funding - run for one
more week. Intensities delivered to C3 target are around 8 Tp. Wednesday
we'll have another 4-5 h separator conditioning period.
Wed May 1: Yesterday afternoon
we had problems with AGS RF stations and intensities were poor or limited
to < 65 Tp respectively. The RF crew worked on this and 2 other stations
during this mornings maintenance. During the evening we went off because
of a LINAC failure and experimental access (E913). This morning at
3:15 we went off when a BtA magnet and booster RF failed. There was
no more beam before we started the maintenance period. Separator
conditioning and Westinghouse inspection was done together with AGS RF
work and BtA magnet work, which all together took a bit longer than anticipated.
LINAC ran for SNS. Beam was back shortly after 1:30 pm. Since then MCR
is struggling to restore SEB due to ongoing problems with BtA and AGS extraction.
LESB II is off since Crystal Ball is using a lead target instead.
Fri May 3: From Wednesday
night 20:00 we were back in business and were delivering 60-65 Tp on C-target.
We had one interruption from 7:00-9:00 am this morning when we had to compensate
for acceleration losses in the AGS. We are delivering beam right now, intensity
is ~65 Tp. The plan for the weekend is running E949 and E927. Both experiments
are taking data, LESB II is still off and replaced by a lead degrader.
It is planned to turn the separators back on some time tomorrow afternoon.
In addition, I have good news today :). The run for the Crystal Ball experiment,
namely E958, got extended by DOE for 1.5 weeks and will now end together
with E949, on May 17 (current funding)!
Tue May 07: We had smooth running over the weekend,
no significant interruptions. Extracted intensity was around 65 Tp with
about 8 Tp on C3 target. E927 ended Monday, 24:00 and E958 started Tuesday,
00:00. Both experiments are taking data, E949 had 141 (168) hours with
beam past week! Tomorrow morning we'll have separator conditioning
and Westinghouse maintenance combined with an AGS access (see below).
Tue Apr 09: Last week we had smooth SEB running
with intensities around 70 Tp. The program was paused Sat, Apr 6, 8:00
am, to switch to Si beams for the NASA run. The switch over to 600 MeV
Si beam was completed by midnight Apr 8. Beam is delivered to the A3 line
since 8:30 am Apr 09. Biology run with samples started not before 5:00
pm this afternoon.
Wed Apr 10: The NASA run
is progressing smoothly. 600 MeV Si beam was delivered without interruptions
to the A3 cave all night and this morning. We are still running 600 MeV
Si beam and will do so until tomorrow morning when we switch to 1 GeV Si
beams.
Mon Apr 15: It took about
5 h to switch from 600 MeV Si to 1.1 GeV Si Thursday morning. Friday we
switched to 1 GeV Fe beam and that's what we run since then. Saturday we
had a 12 h interruption due to a TtB vacuum problem. The accumulated delays
are about 48 h or 2 days. The anticipated end of the NASA program
is therefore some time Wednesday afternoon.
The separator conditioning didn't
make as much progress as we were hoping for. Over the weekend, the negative
plate could be brought up to 120 kV so far but has a high sparking rate.
Tue Apr 16: NASA accumulated
another 8 h of delay over night until this morning when we went off because
of a water flow problem in an AGS magnet power supply. This added 3 more
hours. Therefore the anticipated end of the NASA program will be some time
tomorrow afternoon (moved from 5:00 am). Exact timing might slide! Please
check updated schedule below.
Separator conditioning/feedthru
replacement didn't get us to a higher working point. The highest
voltage reached was 140 kV but unstable. For the upcoming weeks only asymmetric
setpoints at +300 kV and -100 kV are realistic. Though the cause is yet
unknown it might be a stand-off failure again.
Fri Apr. 19: NASA was finished
10:00 am Wednesday, Apr. 17. LINAC ran for SNS laser/wire for about
8 h during the day. The test was only partially successful since DAQ problems
could not be resolved and some more LINAC time is needed in the upcoming
weeks. Booster access started am and AGS access early afternoon. The Fe20+
test in the booster was done by 23:00 the same day and did well: high charge
state Fe beam got circualated and was accelerated successfully :). Thursday
was spent on testing Westinghouse and setup for SEB. After some C-line
lock and interlock problems during thursday evening hours, we're back to
SEB running mode since 00:00 today, Apr. 19. Separator #1 is set
to +250 kV and -100 kV and could - so far - not be improved further.
However, weekly conditioning of about 4 h will be on the schedule for the
next 4 weeks. Westinghouse was operated with a reduced duty cycle (6 s
instead of 5.4 s) due to the high outside temperatures. This will be set
back today, after an AGS access to fix a gap short problem in the KL cavity.
The current estimate for beam is 17:30.
Mon Apr. 22: SEB program
was running all weekend with some interruptions in the C6 beam line.
The LESB II separators were not stable with the required magnetic field
and their voltage had to be reduced and new magnet settings needed to be
found. Sunday we had a problem with the remote control of the C6 collimators
which is fixed by now. However, by Saturday around noon the extracted intensity
from the AGS was above 60 Tp :) and is now peaking at almost 70 Tp
again. E949 is taking data with a reduced kaon/pion rate due to the reduced
separator voltage. E913 took some calibration/setup data and is currently
working on their drift chamber electronics.
Tue Apr. 23: Today we had
pretty smooth and stable operation with approx. 65 Tp extracted intensity
and 8 Tp on the C3 target. LESB II separators are running at a reduced
voltage and under hard vacuum while Crystal Ball is running with 700 MeV
particles. LESB III sep. 1 is still operated at 350 kV . Both experiments
are taking beam.
Fri Mar 22: This week the
extracted intensity went up from about 55 Tp to 62 Tp. We are currently
about 58 Tp with about 8 Tp on C3 target. Tuesday we did separator conditioning,
Westinghouse maintenance and AGS RF repair. During that time the BLIP vacuum
leak could be fixed and BLIP is running again since Wednesday this week.
Quad pumping and phase feedforward was implemented in the booster RF later
on Tuesday and is ON since then. There was no usefull beam before 22:30.
Optimization is still in progress but beyond the point to be disruptive.
Wednesday early morning E949 fixed their DAQ problem. Trigger rejection
and deadtime were improved but is still in progress. Since Wednesay afternoon
the AGS transverse damper is being used. Thursday we had the first successful
(parasitic!) test beam down to the d-line for the K0PI0 experiment. Today
we encountered a problem with dipoles in the d-line and we are still working
on it. Therefore, K0PI0 test beam is postponed to Monday next week.
E931 had a problem with their liquid He-target for some time friday afternoon
which is fixed now. For now both experiments are *happily* taking data.
The plan for the weekend is physics running.
Tue Apr 02 0900: Sat Mar
30 we suffered lost time due to a serious power dip in the early morning,
and only recovered beam operations late in the evening. Early Sun Mar 31
a vacuum problem developed in the J5 section of the AGS that degraded beam
intensity to 50 Tp, then precluded beam operation altogether. High levels
of radiation in that area (presumably due to vacuum problems and scraping
beam) delayed repair until Mon Apr 1. A new seal was installed at J6 updstream
and vacuum was restored at 1900, and late Mon Apr 1 AGS operations returned
to 60+ Tp levels. We are currently running at 65+ Tp. :)
SEB progress Mar 03 - Mar 18 :
Mon Mar 04:The separator
progress is promising. HV was turned up to 115 kV today and the separator
continues to behave reasonably well. Tom Russo is going on with conditioning
throughout the week. Therefore BAF shielding should be back in place tomorrow
afternoon. By Wednesday morning both, booster and AGS, should be secured
for beam. There will be no beam on the C-target before Friday. Wednesday
will be spent on reviving booster & AGS equipment and Thursday on setup
with some low intensity beam (see schedule below). LINAC will start delivering
protons to BLIP on Tuesday, Mar 05. MCR shifts will start tomorrow, Mar
05.
Fri Mar 08: Separator progress
is good (the plates are currently at +/- 250 kV) , although nominal gap
voltage is not yet reached. Conditioning to final +/- 300 kV will still
go on for a few more days while we start tuning beam for high intensity
in the AGS and have full beam on the C-target ("full" means as much as
we can at the time). Separator conditioning should not interrupt the program
any more (cross fingers!!) but for the time being the beam is not yet fully
separated.
Mon Mar 11: The AGS was
quickly recovered from the shutdown state of the past weeks and extracted
beam intensity approached 50TP per pulse by Sunday :). Failure time was
due to a power dip from inclement weather Sunday morning. BLIP was off
from sunday morning because of a vacuum leak. Separator 1 in LESB III was
at +/- 500 kV over the weekend and will remain so for a few more days while
voltage is increased in small steps only. Today was spent on asymmetrical
conditioning of both, LESB III and II separators (after an increase of
the sparking rate within the past 24 hours in sep. 1). No beam was delivered
to E949 and E931 during this process. Vacuum was investigating the vacuum
leak in the BLIP line and found a leaking bellow.
Wed Mar 13: AGS extracts
intensities around 50 Tp while delivering 7 Tp down to the C' target :).
Besides some minor problems with the AGS VHF and a VME controls problem
things are going well. We continue working on increasing the intensities.
KOPIO test beam shifts need to be re-evaluated. So far BLIP is off because
of the vacuum problem, repair is only possible in case of some other maior
hardware failure. E931 still takes data with their Cu-target, the He target
will be moved into place tomorrow.
Thu Mar 14: Last night (Wed/Thu)
AGS extracted beam intensity went up to almost 60 Tp at which point the
C-target temperature limit was reached. This morning the AGS MMPS cycle
was changed to 2.4 second flattop inside of a 5.4 second rep-period.
This improvement will take the duty factor up from 34 % to 40 % and will
allow the intensity to go up to 65-70 TP on C-target (in 2.2 seconds)
before hitting the temperature limit (which was also increased).
Most parts of the afternoon were spent on fixing a problem with the gap
shorts in the IJ cavity and we were off from 13:00-17:00. Separators are
still running fine (at +/- 250 kV) and spark rate is low.
Fri Mar 15: Extracated beam
intensities with the extended spill length are pretty much the same or
slightly higher (avg.: 56-57 Tp) as they were before (avg.: 54-55 Tp).
MCR continues working on improving intensities. BLIP is pending the leak
repair. So far separators are still doing well. Since Tom Russo anticipates
to run the separator HV above +/- 250 kV next week, a later than
monday conditioning period is desirable (to get thru the following weekend).
Therefore the conditioning shift is moved from monday to wednesday next
week.
Mon Mar 18: Extracted beam
intensity over the weekend and today was around 55 Tp with a 5.4 s Westinghouse
cycle (2.2 s flattop). We check out 2 more cycles tomorrow (while separator
conditioning is going on).
SEB progress Feb. 15 - Mar 01:
Fri Feb. 15: The separator
vacuum improved a bit faster than expected. Right now the HV sits at +/-
50 kV (which is *nothing* compared to the final value). Tom Russo is prepared
to get in tomorrow and sunday to work on conditioning over the weekend.
By sunday night we'll know more. LIPA work on the substations will be finished
by sunday morning 9:00 am, then booster MMPS will be ready for turn on.
We'll probably start sunday during the day to bring booster/AGS components
back to life.
Tue Feb. 19: Forget all
I said so far. The feedthru's are fine but the separator doesn't
work and needs to be pulled out. Shielding was removed over the weekend
Feb. 17/18 (President's day) and the separator is ready to be moved. Depending
on the result of an additional survey (which dictates when we can start
working on the separator). The delay is estimated to be approximately another
3 weeks (preliminary) . Better plans can only be made once the separator
was opened and we know how to fix it. The AGS complex will be shut down
for this time.
Wed Feb. 20: A standoff
on the negative plate in LE3 has tracked and fractured inside the separator.
It was very difficult to see even with the end flange off. Right now the
separator is being moved to 919b. Tomorrow, once the RWP for the actual
repair work is filed, work on the separator can begin. All standoffs have
to be investigated before we decide to replace just one or all of them.
Spare standoffs are available. At this point we anticipate about 1 1/2
weeks for the repair work.
Tue Feb. 26: Tom Russo and
his crew are ahead of the schedule :) (estimating first beam for Mar 10):
the separator is repaired - as far as they can tell - and back in 912 on
top of the shielding. A first vacuum test is done tonight. If the tank
holds the vacuum, it will be brought back into the pit tomorrow where it
will be re-assembled and re-installed. If everything goes well we could
start conditioning with HV as early as monday 03/04. There is no guarantee
though that it will hold +/- 300 kV. Therefore there will be no beam on
the C-target before it is shown to hold the design voltage.
Fri Mar 01: Tom Russo, Dan
Lehn and their crew continue to work hard. The complete system - pipes
and separator tank - is now vacuum tight. The roof shielding work started
around noon today and should be finished by this evening. Heat was turned
on in the separator over night. Vacuum still looks reasonably good. Tomorrow
the HV cables will be routed and connected. Sunday we'll spent on (perhaps)
low HV and heat conditioning while from monday on we'll continue with HV
conditioning. First beam down the c-line is anticipated for Friday next
week (so far). By Tuesday night we should know whether the repaired separator
is doing better than before. Shielding in the booster stub tunnel has to
be in place by the end of Tuesday next week. Wednesday we'll start to revive
the machines and Thursday I hope we'll have some low intensity in booster
and AGS to begin setup with beam.
During the past week, AGS extracted beam intensity had
been increased up to 30 Tp. Thursday, Jan 31, LESB III separator #1 failed.
The separator feed-thru is going to be repaired. Therefore there will be
no beam in the AGS today, Feb. 01. At the same time we'll work on
LtB bending magnet water flows (which failed last night) and check AGS
for ground faults. From sometime tonight on "unseparated" beam can be delivered
to E949 until separator is heated and conditioned. The conditioning process
takes a few days.
We had semi-separated beam over
the weekend and monday once the feed-thru's were replaced . Intensity was
around 25 Tp. The VHF station which failed over the weekend was repaired
today, monday, around 16:00. We got up to almost 50 Tp while still trying
to condition sep#1 by thursday afternoon.
Thursday afternoon we decided to
give up on conditioning separator #1 which would not get beyond 150 kV
at which E949 cannot take data efficiently. Booster/AGS was turned off
to allow cool down over night. Friday morning we started investigating
the separator problem. By now, friday afternoon, it looks like most definitive
that we have to get the separator to a shop and take it apart. This implies
a down time of 2 weeks followed by one more week of conditioning with beam.
During that time, LINAC will run at reduced energy of 139 MeV until Feb.
19. The tested newly assembled feedthrough did well in the test tank today,
wednesday 02/13 :). Linac mod 6 failed and will be off for at least
1 day to repair. Thursday: Both feedthru's did well in the test tank and
are installed in the separator. HVoltage transmission system is
complete, temperature increased
to about 70%, pressure is around some 10^-5 (wanted: < 210^-6). LINAC
mod 6 is being worked on, we expect beam in the LINAC by tomorrow evening.
Separator commissioning will start on saturday morning. Preferred feeder
switch back will happen first thing monday morning. LINAC mod 6 still has
some vacuum problems. We expect to be ready for beam tomorrow morning 9:00
am.
RHIC today: we
did it!! At around 15:00 we had finally - after some struggle earlier with
beam permits and snakes - 0.5 Tp beams with the ultimate lifetime in the
machine, unsqueezed to beta*=10m at IR2, scraped to an emittance of 5-7
pi mm mrad and with a polarization of above 25% per ring !! The Roman Pots
are inserted since 16:30 and right now the PP2PP experiment is taking data
with this store and will hopefully continue doing so until 6:00 am tomorrow
morning when we end this EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL RHIC run. (well, I know,
we didn't get *everything* done, but after all, we achieved quite something).
I'm proud I could be part of it.
Planed Activities other than production:
(: PARTY! :)
Join us next tuesday, Jan 29, at 4:00 pm in the 911 lobby
Activities past week:
date
time activity
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed Jan 16 6:00-14:00 beam studies
- done
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fri Jan 18 1h CONTROLLED
access: install PHENIX photon converter, other areas
- pending store dump between 8:00 and 12:00 - done
(+1h)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat Jan 19 4h
PP2PP 3m beta* test run - pending store dump, ~ 12:00 am - done
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun Jan 20 4h
polarimeter calibration run - pending store dump, morning - done
(+2h)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mon Jan 21 2h CONTROLLED
access:take out PHENIX photon converter
access to IR8, IP4, IR12, PP2PP (?)
- after first store dump in the afternoon - done
(+1h)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue Jan 22 4h
beam studies: cancelled, instead: deceleration ramps 11:00-19:00 (done)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan 23
production - done
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thu Jan 24 00:00-24:00 10m beta* low
emittance/intensity run for PP2PP - done (+6h ?)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RHIC summary of the last 2 weeks:The
weekend Jan 5&6: was productive, we did more tune
feedback studies (3 more successful ramps in blue), 200 MHz commissioning,
injection tuning and polarimeter timing. As a result the beam intensity
could be increased significantly and we had some good production stores
during which we reached this years luminosity goal of 1.0-1.5 1030
cm-2 s-1 :)! Monday Jan
7 we tried a first down ramp (beam lasted < 5 s) and worked
on polarization in RHIC at the expense of intensity resulting in
lower intensity stores last night. Tuesday Jan
8 was spent on more 200 MHz commissioning and ramp tuning with
one ramp where tune feedback worked in both rings - but beam got lost a
second before flattop.
200 MHz will not be used
for the rest of the run. Wednesday Jan
9 morning a RHIC access was granted during which the STAR magnet
polarity was switched. It will be kept off during ramps for the rest of
the run. Wed afternoon we had a booster vacuum problem. Once this
was fixed we worked on ramping efficiencies and beam intensities. Ramp
tuning later in the afternoon got us to above 3 Tp
protons per ring for the last 2 stores (both pretty long). Luminosity was
above 1 10^30 cm^-2 s^1 for most part of the stores :). The yellow polarimeter
switched to another target this afternoon. 200 MHz cavities are not used.
Thursday
we had stores until 13:00 and tried injection steering for PHOBOS and orbit
corrections in the afternoon. The stores after this had lots of backgrounds,
some had to be dumped because of to high background in PHOBOS which seemed
to be related to polarization measurements in blue at injection. Polarization
measurements were then skipped. While having a problem with the booster
extraction we had controlled accesses friday
morning in various areas (IR12, IR2, IR6). They were smooth, we didn't
loose any sweeps and everybody was out before the booster could be
fixed. Around 16:00 we started working with beam in RHIC at injection and
will have production stores hopefully soon.
Saturday and Sunday
we had beam stored and cogged for about 35 h (out of 48)! Luminosity
was typically around or above 1*10^30 cm^-2 s^-1 :).Various injector problems
could hide behind RHIC stores. Polarization in RHIC was mostly around 20%
at the beginning of a store but dropping towards the end. Yellow
intensity was up to 4 Tp, Blue typically below Yellow but above 3 Tp. While
Yellow lifetime was stable, blue lifetime was dropping throughout most
stores.
Monday
morning, chromaticity was adjusted at flattop in Blue to help the lifetime.
We tried 2 downramps, one w/o tune feedback (beam lasted 15 s), one with
(beam lasted almost all the way down!). Operator error (not beam losses)
caused a QLI. At this point we are filled and ready to ramp again. The
plan for today and tomorrow is as much production running as possible.
Tuesdaywe
had stores over night with quite good (~ 20%) polarization in both rings.
In the morning we were off for some time due to a FEC failure in a power
supply crate.
In the afternoon we lost one
store (with 23/26 % pol.!) while ramping the PHOBOS magnet (probably related
to the polarity switch). We had one more bad ramps before we had stored
beam again. During the night a vernier scan and a 20 minute scraping test
was done.
Wednesday we
had 2 stores over night until 6:00 am when beam study time started. Around
15:00 we had the first ramp. The store was lost after about 25 minutes
due to a snake quench :(. Recovery time is about 1 h. Due to another QLI
and RF cavity trips there was no more store before midnight. Thursday
started with a very long store from 1:00 am to about 10:30 am this morning.
Polarization at the end was above 10 % in both rings. Intensities started
around 4 Tp for both rings, blue dropped to around 3-2.5 Tp and settled
there while yellow (!) dropped to about 1.6 Tp at the end. Store ended
with a spontaneous QLI, not related to any activity. During the afternoon/early
evening some hours were spent to work on the PHOBOS magnet compensation.
LINAC and source problems kept us of for some time too.
Friday started
with a long store which was used at the end to finish the PHOBOS magnet
compensation and to try another deceleration ramp which failed. The following
experimental access was extended due to problems with the PHENIX DAQ. A
BtA magnet failure kept us off more most parts of the afternoon and we
tried another deceleration with only 1 beam in the machine (blue). Saturday
we had multiple stores over night. Around 13:30, just before the PP2PP
run, we tried another deceleration (beam survived for about 60 s without
significant losses before it got lost over the next 30 s). The PP2PP run
with 6x6 was done without problems, beam was scraped at flattop to 1.2
10^11 total protons per ring. The plan for tonight until tomorrow morning,
when the pol. calibration run starts, is production. Production continues
tomorrow afternoon until monday. Sunday morning
a 6h polarimeter calibration run was done. We had more physics stores thru
the rest of the day. During the night 2 more vernier scans were done
followed by a background study for the PHENIX MuID detector. The spin pattern
was changed on friday, now including 0 pol. bunches. However, the source
control wasn't up to speed yet and a 0-bit was not yet implemented. This
happened today after the calibration run. We'll continue with production
stores until tomorrow early afternoon, when we'll have a 2 h exp. access.
There will be more attempts to decelerate at the end of stores.
Monday Jan 21 we had
stores over night and an experimental access from 14:30-17:30. One more
deceleration attempt failed. From 22:00-1:00 we had a problem with the
polarized source. Tuesday Jan 22: After the power supply was swapped
in the polarized source we had one more store from 3:00-11:00 which was
ended by a spontaneous QLI. The time from 11:00-19:00 will be spent on
deceleration commissioning. Deceleration did not succeed. We should spent
the night and tomorrow on production runs. Wednesday Jan 23: Deceleration
study ended without success (although some progress). The night we had
2 more production stores (using collimators for halo scraping) until 5:30
when we got problems with a QLI PLC. That kept us off until 11:00. Since
11:20 we have another production store.
Westinghouse:
No more maintenance until the end of the pp run.
Tue, Oct. 16, AGS extraction intensity:
New calibration is used for all
numbers. All displays are updated and use the new factors as well.
At this point there is no RHIC
experiment maintenance scheduled. Ring
Access is requested (but not yet scheduled)
for aprox. 2 hours of work on the AC dipole (IP4) and the beam beam counters
in IP12.
| The Plan for physics/MD: | This is what happened (besides physics): | |||||
| Date | Time | Notes | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue Oct 9 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 10:30-11:30
11:30-21:00 |
access (STAR tour)
AGS extraction bump problems |
||
| Wed Oct 10 | 00:01-4:00
8:00-24:00 |
RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running,
Exp. & RHIC & AGS maintenance period |
2:00-5:30 | problems with RHIC ramp | ||
| Thu Oct 11 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC maintenance
AGS setup for higher intensities, SEB |
- | LTB problem | ||
| Fri Oct 12 | 00:00-8:00
15:30-24:00 |
sweeping RHIC, getting ready for beam
RHIC physics, SEB |
00:00-3:00
3:00-10:00 10:00-15:30 16:00-24:00 |
sweeping RHIC
BTA transfer problems setup with beam cryo problem |
||
| Sat Oct 13 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | all day | problems with ramps, blow-up | ||
| Sun Oct 14 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Mon Oct 15 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Tue Oct 16 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 9:00-13:00
13:30-15:00 |
cryo problems
cryo problems |
||
RHIC,
Fri Oct 12, 2001 16:00:
Sweeping was done about 3:00 am
this morning and followed by problems in the BTA transfer line. RHIC setup
with beams at injection started around 10:00 am this morning. Right now
we have a production fill with 55x55 bunches and use it for IR steering.
Fri Oct. 12, AGS extraction intensity:
SEB was running yesterday until about 2:30 am this morning to prepare
for RHIC filling. D and C line SECs were calibrated but new calibration
is not yet active. The numbers from this night are:
At this point there is no RHIC
experiment maintenance scheduled. Ring
Access is requested (but not yet scheduled)
for aprox. 2 hours of work on the AC dipole (IP4) and the beam beam counters
in IP12.
| The Plan for physics/MD: | This is what happened (besides physics): | |||||
| Date | Time | Notes | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue Oct 9 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 10:30-11:30
11:30-21:00 |
access (STAR tour)
AGS extraction bump problems |
||
| Wed Oct 10 | 00:01-4:00
8:00-24:00 |
RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running,
Exp. & RHIC & AGS maintenance period |
2:00-5:30 | problems with RHIC ramp | ||
| Thu Oct 11 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC maintenance
AGS setup for higher intensities, SEB |
- | - | ||
| Fri Oct 12 | 00:00-8:00
15:30-24:00 |
sweeping RHIC, getting ready for beam
RHIC physics, SEB |
00:00-3:00
3:00-10:00 10:00-15:30 |
sweeping RHIC
BTA transfer problems setup with beam |
||
| Sat Oct 13 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Sun Oct 14 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Mon Oct 15 | 00:01-8:00
?-24:00 morning |
RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running
3-4 hours work on PLL tune feedback |
- | - | ||
| Tue Oct 16 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | |||
At this point there is no RHIC experiment maintenance scheduled. Ring Access is requested (but not yet scheduled) for aprox. 2 hours of work on the AC dipole (IP4) and the beam beam counters in IP12.
| The Plan for physics/MD: | This is what happened (besides physics): | |||||
| Date | Time | Notes | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue Oct 9 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 10:30-11:30
11:30-21:00 |
access (STAR tour)
AGS extraction bump problems |
||
| Wed Oct 10 | 00:01-4:00
8:00-24:00 |
RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running,
Exp. & RHIC & AGS maintenance period |
2:00-5:30 | problems with RHIC ramp | ||
| Thu Oct 11 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC maintenance
AGS setup for higher intensities, SEB |
- | LTB problem | ||
| Fri Oct 12 | 00:00-8:00
15:30-24:00 |
sweeping RHIC, getting ready for beam
RHIC physics, SEB |
00:00-3:00
3:00-10:00 10:00-15:30 16:00-24:00 |
sweeping RHIC
BTA transfer problems setup with beam cryo problem |
||
| Sat Oct 13 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | all day | problems with ramps, blow-up | ||
| Sun Oct 14 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Mon Oct 15 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | - | - | ||
| Tue Oct 16 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 9:00-13:00
13:30-15:00 |
cryo problems
cryo problems |
||
Mon Oct. 8, AGS extraction intensity:
total:
27 Tp, limited by NM032 chipmunk (tgt. bld. N catwalk)
D-line:
19 Tp, chipmunk limit should be removed.
C-line:
5 Tp
C3-line:
1.5 Tp
D-line should have > 17 Tp and
SEB C3-line should get 4 Tp, C-line accordingly less.
Dedicated beam time requests coming up:
The next RHIC experiment maintenance
is scheduled to start Wed Oct. 10, 4:00 am for SEB to allow 4 h of AGS
cool down while Au can still be injected into RHIC until approx. 6:00 am
when LoTo should start. Maintenance period ends Thu Oct. 11. We're heading
for sweeping RHIC late afternoon/evening Thursday where ever possible.
AGS should run during Thursday.
| The Plan for physics/MD: | This is what happened (besides physics): | |||||
| Date | Time | Notes | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed Oct 3 | 00:01-6:00,
14:00-24:00 |
RHIC physics, SEB 24/21.5 GeV/c running,
8 h machine development |
00:01-05:00
6:00-14:00 |
controls problems
RHIC beam studies/development |
||
| Thu Oct 4 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB running,
some end of store work |
10:00-11:30
12:00 -2:00
|
end of store work: crossing angle at
IP 10, rebucketing, 120 bunches 3 beta*=2m squeeze ramps lead flow problem at 10/11 o'clock |
||
| Fri Oct 5 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 17:00-18:00 | 3 more beta-squeeze test ramps | ||
| Sat Oct 6 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 8:00-23:00 | work on beta squeeze ramps | ||
| Sun Oct 7 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running | 8:00-15:00 | IR steering for beta*=2m,
orbit corrections at storage |
||
| Mon Oct 8 | 00:01-24:00 | RHIC physics, SEB 21.5 GeV/c running,
some hours of beta squeeze work |
12:30-16:00 | improvement of beam liftetime,
exp. access / QLI (power dip) |
||
| Tue Oct 9 |
RHIC, Sun Oct 7 2001 12:30:
Sun Oct 7, AGS extraction intensity:
Dedicated beam time requests coming up:
SEB beamline momentum has been reduced to 21.5 GeV/c as of Wed Sep 19, with an AGS cycle time of 4.63 seconds and spill length of xx secs. Total AGS extraction intensity is limited to 15 Tp/cycle by Westinghouse invert filter issues. These are being addressed by experts and we should be moving to 20-25 Tp/cycle within the next few days. Servo and spill stability are also being developed as beam is available. The next RHIC experiment maintenance is likely late day Fri Sep 28 for PHENIX photon converter removal; SEB will run at this time and there will be no Linac/Booster/AGS maintenance. Happy Salute The Sun Day, National One-Hit Wonder Day,
and National Food Service Workers Day!
RHIC abort kicker misfirings are being diagnosed as they occur; the event of early Sat Sep 22 was attributed to a misfire of yellow module 3. Since that misfiring, thyrotron voltages have been reduced on all modules, and early this morning the misfiring yellow module 3 thyrotron was replaced; the pulled unit will be evaluated on a test bench. PHOBOS has returned to taking data during RHIC stores as of this weekend. SEB beamline momentum has been reduced to 21.5 GeV/c as of Wed Sep 19, with an AGS cycle time of 4.63 seconds and spill length of xx secs. Total AGS extraction intensity is limited to 15 Tp/cycle by Westinghouse invert filter issues. These are being addressed by experts and we should be moving to 20-25 Tp/cycle within the next few days. Servo and spill stability are also being developed as beam is available. The scheduled maintenance for 0600-0900 PHENIX photon converter installation went well this morning; STAR, RHIC instrumentation, RHIC abort, and RHIC power supply accesses also occurred at that time. There was no SEB running at that time due to the Booster F3 failure; this was repaired later in the day. The next scheduled maintenance is likely early day Fri Sep 28 for PHENIX photon converter removal. Happy Fidelity Day, Festival of the Latest Novelties,
and Buy Nothing Day!
The SEB LESBII separator cable problem has been repaired as of Mon Sep 17. SEB beamline momentum is still at 24 GeV/c; momentum reduction from 24 to 21 GeV/c and spill lengthening is now planned for later today, perhaps during RHIC maintenance. There is currently a scheduled maintenance for PHENIX photon converter installation or field reversal today, Tue Sep 18, from 1100-1400. Shanah Tovah! Happy Kasteilet, National Chocolate Day,
and National Play-Doh Day!
There is still a cabling problem with the SEB LESBII separator; a replacement cable is being prepared and will be ready on Mon Sep 17, and repair will not require program downtime. C-line experiments will continue to run this weekend. SEB beamline momentum will stay at 24 GeV/c this weekend, when we will focus on intensity development in the AGS after L10 repair. momentum reduction from 24 to 21 GeV/c and spill lengthening is now planned for Mon Sep 17 as well. RHIC 200 MHz RF development will continue at 0600 on Mon Sep 17, with the intent of semi-operational sequencing of RHIC storage RF by the end of the day. Activites of Thu Sep 13 demonstrated a noise production cut-in in the cavity feedback loops at high voltage (greater than approximately 0.75 MV); a 6-bunch store with cavities at lower voltage demonstrated substantial vertex improvement at all experiments on Thu Sep 13 as well. There is currently a scheduled maintenance for PHENIX photon converter installation on Tue Sep 18 from 1200-1500, after possible RF development in the morning. Happy Formation of the Earth Day, National Anthem Day,
and National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day!
SEB was dominated by F6 septum problems over most of the night, though these problems were resolved early this morning. After RHIC RF studies, The intent is to return to physics operation as quickly as is possible, including both RHIC collision stores and SEB beam. SEB beamline momentum will stay at 24 GeV/c this evening at the request of E930 so they can complete kaon beam tuning; momentum reduction from 24 to 21 GeV/c and spill lengthening will likely afternoon or evening Fri Sep 14. BRAHMS is currently running with a 0.9 mrad crossing angle; good store ZDC coincidence rates now start between 600 and 800 Hz. There is a scheduled maintenance period on Fri Sep 14 for several repair items: AGS L10 RF cavity gap-shorting relay repair is scheduled to start prep at 0600, and PHENIX HV control mainframe repair is scheduled to start at 0800. This maintenance is expected to complete, with return to RHIC and SEB physics, by mid-afternoon on Friday. Other minor maintenance will also be ongoing, and experiments are being consulted for open work items. Happy Defy Superstition Day, Faulty Day, and Positive
Thinking Day!
SEB was dominated by F6 septum problems over most of the night, though these problems were resolved early this morning. After RHIC RF studies, The intent is to return to physics operation as quickly as is possible, including both RHIC collision stores and SEB beam. SEB beamline energy reduction from 24 GeV/c to 21 GeV/c and spill lengthening will likely occur this afternoon or evening. BRAHMS is currently running with a 0.9 mrad crossing angle; good store ZDC coincidence rates now start between 600 and 800 Hz. There is a scheduled maintenance period on Fri Sep 14 for several repair items: AGS L10 RF cavity gap-shorting relay repair is scheduled to start prep at 0600, and PHENIX HV control mainframe repair is scheduled to start at 0800. This maintenance is expected to complete, with return to RHIC and SEB physics, by mid-afternoon on Friday. Other minor maintenance will also be ongoing, and experiments are being consulted for open work items. Happy Defy Superstition Day, Faulty Day, and Positive
Thinking Day!
RHIC 200 MHz development will resume from 0600-1200 Thu Sep 11 -- the objective for this work is to rephase all storage cavities in both rings at storage energy. There is a scheduled maintenance period on Fri Sep 14 for several repair items: AGS L10 RF cavity gap-shorting relay repair is scheduled to start prep at 0600, and PHENIX HV control mainframe repair is scheduled to start at 0800. This maintenance is expected to complete, with return to RHIC and SEB physics, by mid-afternoon on Friday. Other minor maintenance will also be ongoing, and experiments are being consulted for open work items. Happy Defender's Day, Respect for the Aged Day, and National
Chocolate Milkshake Day!
Nationwide air traffic has been grounded, so all users and lab employees should be aware that lack of air travel will impact movement of mail shipments as well as personnel. The long-term impact and schedule of this grounding is unclear at this time. There will be a Time Meeting in Snyder Seminar Hall this afternoon at 1:30 as normally scheduled, unless the lab is officially declared closed before then. We will meet at the normal 9 AM meeting tomorrow morning to review the situation, and currently plan to return to physics operations of the complex tomorrow at mid-day, pending further directives from DOE or lab management. Stay tuned for further information.
Near-term plans continue to focus on RHIC production stores, RHIC 200 MHz storage RF development, and SEB setup/running. Mode switching between RHIC Au and SEB p beam is now routine in 10-20 minutes; SEB beam to E930, E931, and E949 is running at 24 GeV/u, though L10 RF gap-shorting relay work is required for a shift in the AGS before intensities can be substantially increased. This work will be scheduled when RHIC is back to stable operations, and a reduction of SEB momentum to 21 GeV/u is planned for this evening or tomorrow to lengthen the SEB spill and maximize kaon flux. Happy Hot Dog Day, Old-Timer's Day, and National Wienerschnitzel
Day!
Near-term plans continue to focus on RHIC production stores, RHIC 200 MHz storage RF development, and SEB setup/running. Mode switching between RHIC Au and SEB p beam is now routine in 10-20 minutes; SEB beam to E930, E931, and E949 is running at 24 GeV/u, though L10 RF gap-shorting relay work is required for a shift in the AGS before intensities can be substantially increased. This work will be scheduled when RHIC is back to stable operations, and a reduction of SEB momentum to 21 GeV/u is planned for Mon Sep 10 or Tue Sep 11 to lengthen the spill for E930 in the D line. Happy Granddad's Day, Neither Snow Nor Rain Day, Kielbasa
Festival, and Festival of Durga (Goddess of Energy)!
Near-term plans focus on RHIC production stores, RHIC 200 MHz storage RF development, and SEB setup. Earlier this morning operations and experts performed a mode switch to h=6 SEB and achieved proton extraction to switchyard though bug fixes to AGS main magnet software and more extraction and switchyard setup is necessary before SEB beam is available for experiments. This an operational SEB mode switching are operational priorities before the long Labor Day weekend. Happy According To Hoyle Day, More Herbs Less Salt Day,
and National Whisky Sour Day! Happy Birthday to John Locke, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jack Butler Yeats, Ingrid Bergman, and Richard Gere!
The scheduled maintenance was successful during the day yesterday; STAR completed their planned EMCal work, PHENIX installed muID shielding, and BRAHMS restored high voltage to one of their drift chambers. During that maintenance, the 2 o'clock DX magnets were ramped to full field without problems; we will likely reduce the crossing angle at BRAHMS from 1.8 mrad to 0.9-1.0 mrad tonight or tomorrow to improve their diamond length. The machine will continue to operate at the reduced 4.73 K ring temperature, down from 4.89 to improve DX quench margin. SEB setup successfully injected and accelerated h=6 proton beam in the AGS, with peak flattop intensities of a 2-3 Tp. p/Au switching was performed twice, with the second p->Au switch taking only 15-20 minutes, with few manual tuning requirements. Upon consistent production of 6+-hour stores in RHIC, setup will continue with extraction and switchyard tuning; this is anticipated for early next week, possibly Sun Aug 26 or Mon Aug 27. BLIP is back online after a target failure on Wed Aug 22. Happy Schaferlauf, Bartholomew Fair, and National Peach
Pie Day! Happy Birthday to Steve Gutenberg, Jorge Luis Borges, Marlee Matalin
and Cal Ripkin Jr!
Physics ramps were restored as of 2200
last evening, though the first store was voted down after a few hours due
to low ZDC rates. The second ramp at 0140 lasted 6.5 hours until it was
dumped just after 0800 this morning; this is significantly longer than
any ramp has survived without interlocks over the past week. Maximal ZDC
rates were only 130-150 Hz at start of store, so we will return to ramp
and physics tuning after the maintenance period later tonight. Happy
Festival of Fire, Permanent Press Day, and National Spongecake Day! Happy
Birthday to Mark Russell, Barbara Eden, Edgar Lee Masters, Keith Moon,
River Phoenix, and Gene Kelly!
There is still a scheduled maintenance period during the day tomorrow, Thu Aug 23 0800-1800 as originally scheduled. Work scheduled in this period includes RHIC power supply maintenance, RHIC snake power supply work, and RHIC experimental work (including STAR EMC and other work, BRAHMS broken-wire drift chamber pull, and PHENIX work). During this period, we will also be working on mode-switchable SEB setup, with the end-maintennce objective of AGS acceleration and extraction setup with 15-minute mode switching. Happy Be An Angel Day, Americas Cup Day, and National
Pecan Torte Day! Happy Birthday to Ray Bradbury, Dorothy Parker, Claude
Debussy, John Lee Hooker, Honor Blackman, and Carl Yaztremski!
There is still a scheduled maintenance period during the day tomorrow, Thu Aug 23 0800-1800, although this maintenance may be shortened if substantial work can be accomplished during today's RHIC power supply repairs. Work scheduled in this period includes RHIC power supply maintenance, RHIC snake power supply work, and RHIC experimental work (including STAR EMC and other work, BRAHMS broken-wire drift chamber pull, and PHENIX work). During this period, we will also be working on mode-switchable SEB setup, with the end-maintennce objective of AGS acceleration and extraction setup with 15-minute mode switching. Happy Be An Angel Day, Americas Cup Day, and National
Pecan Torte Day! Happy Birthday to Ray Bradbury, Dorothy Parker, Claude
Debussy, John Lee Hooker, Honor Blackman, and Carl Yaztremski!
Earlier today there was a significant failure in the Siemens building. GE personnel are on their way, and we are mobilizing personnel to switch the AGS ring back to the Westinghouse supply as soon as possible. If all goes well, we expect to return to Au beam in RHIC sometime late tonight or during the day Sat Aug 4. Damage from the Siemens failure needs to be assessed to evaluate the impact to the AGS SEB program, and meetings are planned for Mon Aug 6 to discuss alternatives, though full restoration of the RHIC program takes the highest priority. Over the past day, we have had several successful 56-bunch ramps and 100 GeV/u collisions, with ZDC coincidence rates above 100 Hz in some experiments and modest (1-2x10^8 Au ions) beam intensities. Several hours were spent during the day yesterday on intrabeam scattering and collimation studies in both rings. Today and tonight will be spent moving to the Westinghouse motor generator and restoring beam to the AGS. Depending on the success of beam restoration, the remainder of the weekend will be spent in RHIC beam restoration and 56-bunch luminosity production. Long-term plans concentrate on 200 MHz storage RF development during the days and luminosity production ramps over evenings and nights. Proton SEB development plans will be reviewed and discussed on Mon Aug 6. Linac will be delivering beam to BLIP through the weekend, but will still be down Mon Aug 6 and Tue Aug 7 for SEB preparation maintenance. Happy Feast of Caligo, National Watermelon Day, and Anniversary
of First Golf on the Moon! Happy Birthday to Martin Sheen, Tony Bennett,
Ann Klein, Ernie Pyle, and Clifford D. Simak!
Over the past day, we have had several successful 56-bunch ramps and 100 GeV/u collisions, with ZDC coincidence rates above 100 Hz in some experiments and modest (1-2x10^8 Au ions) beam intensities. Several hours were spent during the day yesterday on intrabeam scattering and collimation studies in both rings. Today from 08:00 to 17:00 will be spent developing 200 MHz storage RF (6 bunches, some ramp tuning), and Saturday from 08:00 to 12:00 will be spent working on orbit correction and ramp loss correction near transition with 6-bunch acceleration ramps. The remainder of the weekend will be spent in 56-bunch luminosity production. Long-term plans concentrate on 200 MHz storage RF development during the days and luminosity production ramps over evenings and nights, with a return to proton SEB development on Wed Aug 8. Linac will be delivering beam to BLIP through the weekend, but will be down Mon Aug 6 and Tue Aug 7 for maintenance. The return to proton SEB development on Wed Aug 8 will focus on AGS mode switching, including ramping and extraction; this activity is dependent on hiding an F10 short repair behind a RHIC store before that time. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 10, depending on how RHIC development proceeds. Happy Feast of Caligo, National Watermelon Day, and Anniversary
of First Golf on the Moon! Happy Birthday to Martin Sheen, Tony Bennett,
Ann Klein, Ernie Pyle, and Clifford D. Simak!
Over the past 24 hours, we have delivered events to experiments approximately 70% of the time! The yellow orbit was improved and beam steering at all experiments were performed during the day shift yesterday, and 56 bunches were injected (but not accelerated) into each ring in the evening. Our immediate beam plans will focus on maintenance recovery, gammaT and ramp tuning for transmission, and tests of 56-bunch injection and acceleration. We intend to move to routine 56-bunch stores overnight during production within the next few days, and day development activities will mostly concentrate on 6-bunch ramping and 200 MHz RF commissioning. Other Machine Physics studies are currently scheduled from 1000 to 1400 Thu Aug 2. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. status. Happy National Night Out, Laughter Day, and Rounds Resounding
Day! Happy Birthday to Giancarlo Giannini, Herman Melville, Robert Cray,
Dom DeLuise, Jerry Garcia, and Juliet Capulet!
Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. The MP6 to MP7 switchover is scheduled for AM Mon Jul 30 and should take approximately 2 hours; specific timing will be determined by RHIC status. Happy First Assembly Day, Dragon Day, and Festival of
the Polymorphously Perverse! Happy Birthday to Dag Hammarskjold, Rasputin,
Peter Jennings, Wil Wheaton, and Ken Burns!
From yesterday, RHIC RF work included accelerating cavity driver amplifier replacement (2 hours); the afternoon was spent conditioning the two accelerating cavities that require conditioning. RHIC power supply work included y8-q7 diagnosis/repair, bi8-qf3 repair, yi3-sxd repair, QPA KLOC tightening and maintenance, main power supply development, and other miscellaneous items. Preparations for HEP proton operation and mode switching in the linac, Booster, and AGS included AGS tunnel access for proton instrumentation setup. Mode switching made it to the point of spiraling beam in the AGS; further progress depends on testing of new mode-switchable Booster/AGS synchro equipment. Recovery of Au beam in Booster and AGS was straightforward on Thu afternoon. When several consistent ramps have occurred and experiments agree, we will move to 56 bunches to evaluate ramps with higher intensity. This will demand close contact with experiments, and with the cryo control room in the event of a ramping or high-energy quench link interlock; real magnet quenches are possible with this much beam in RHIC. AGS/RHIC synchro and phase detector issues related to RHIC fills have been resolved. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. Happy Gilroy Garlic Festival, Take Your Plants For A Walk
Day, and National Blunt Object Day! Happy Birthday to Keenan Wynn, Peggy
Fleming, Leo Durocher, Confucius, and Bugs Bunny!
From yesterday, RHIC RF work included accelerating cavity driver amplifier replacement (2 hours); the afternoon was spent conditioning the two accelerating cavities that require conditioning. RHIC power supply work included y8-q7 diagnosis/repair, bi8-qf3 repair, yi3-sxd repair, QPA KLOC tightening and maintenance, main power supply development, and other miscellaneous items. Preparations for HEP proton operation and mode switching in the linac, Booster, and AGS included AGS tunnel access for proton instrumentation setup. Mode switching made it to the point of spiraling beam in the AGS; further progress depends on testing of new mode-switchable Booster/AGS synchro equipment. Recovery of Au beam in Booster and AGS was straightforward on Thu afternoon. When several consistent ramps have occurred and experiments agree, we will move to 56 bunches to evaluate ramps with higher intensity. This will demand close contact with experiments, and with the cryo control room in the event of a ramping or high-energy quench link interlock; real magnet quenches are possible with this much beam in RHIC. AGS/RHIC synchro and phase detector issues related to RHIC fills have been resolved. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. Happy Gilroy Garlic Festival, Take Your Plants For A Walk
Day, and National Blunt Object Day! Happy Birthday to Keenan Wynn, Peggy
Fleming, Leo Durocher, Confucius, and Bugs Bunny!
RHIC RF work includes accelerating cavity driver amplifier replacement (2 hours); the afternoon will be spent conditioning the two accelerating cavities that require conditioning. RHIC power supply work includes y8-q7 diagnosis/repair, bi8-qf3 repair, yi3-sxd repair, QPA KLOC tightening and maintenance, main power supply development, and other miscellaneous items. Power supply and ramping recovery will be highly weather-dependent. Preparations for HEP proton operation and mode switching in the linac, Booster, and AGS include AGS tunnel access for proton instrumentation setup. Dry mode switching activities will be coordinated with this setup; if weather and beam setup permit, some proton beam delivery to Booster and AGS will be attempted later this afternoon. When several consistent ramps have occurred and experiments agree, we will move to 56 bunches to evaluate ramps with higher intensity. This will demand close contact with experiments, and with the cryo control room in the event of a ramping or high-energy quench link interlock; real magnet quenches are possible with this much beam in RHIC. AGS/RHIC synchro and phase detector issues related to RHIC fills have been resolved. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. Happy All Or Nothing Day, Curacaco Day, and National Coffee
Milkshake Day! Happy Birthday to Carl Jung, Stanley Kubrick, Blake Edwards,
Mick Jagger, George Clinton, Donald Vorhees, Dorothy Hamill, and Bert from
Sesame Street!
When several consistent ramps have occurred and experiments agree, we will move to 56 bunches to evaluate ramps with higher intensity. This will demand close contact with experiments, and with the cryo control room in the event of a ramping or high-energy quench link interlock; real magnet quenches are possible with this much beam in RHIC. Yesterday's maintenance period allowed the power supply group to diagnose and fix the main yellow quad DCCT problem, QPA PLC code, and problems with quench protection trips during transition from flat-bottom to ramping. Regulation issues for many power supplies were corrected, and gammaT power supplies were repaired. Further quench protection tuning will be desireable early next week. The RF RHIC/AGS synchro work was not successful for four bunch extraction; if/when we ramp 56 bunches, we will fill at the rate of 3 AGS bunches per cycle. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is now scheduled for c. Aug 8, depending on how RHIC startup proceeds. Happy Ugly Truck Contest Day, National Lollipop Day, and
Chess Day, and Happy Birthday to Edmund Hillary, Diana Rigg, Carlos Santana,
Nelson Doubleday, Theda Bara, and Donna Dixon!
Tomorrow during the day, a shift will be taken for power supply repair work (including QPA software improvements, main power supply transition improvements, 720 Hz transient analysis). During this period, the Yellow 3.1 RF cavity will be reconditioned and assorted known power supply failures will be addressed. The polarized proton source has been on this weekend, setting up and studying beam to the 200 MeV HEBT polarimeter. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 and NP/E930/E931 mode switching for AGS SEB is still scheduled for Aug 1, though this will likely shift as RHIC startup proceeds. Happy National Caviar Day, Railroad Day, and Chrysanthemum
Day, and Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela, John Glenn, Hunter S. Thompson,
Robert Hooke, Horatio Alger, and Joe Torre!
It is important to note that the beam survival from 65 GeV/u to 100 GeV/u looks extremely clean and reproducible. No tuning was required between successful ramps at these different energies. Several maintenance and repair activities occurred over the weekend in conjunction with tuneup, concentrating on yellow abort kicker issues (done), yellow RF 3.1 cavity trips (ongoing), gammaT power supply level tuning (done), fix of ramping software glitches (done), and yellow main dipole power supply repair (done). Ramps and collisions at 65 GeV/u were restored early morning Mon Jul 16, with indications that further tuning of blue gammaT jump supplies is necessary. Because ramp reproducibility remains an issue, there has been no aggressive push towards study of high-intensity ramps at this time. The polarized proton source has been on this weekend, setting up and studying beam to the 200 MeV HEBT polarimeter. Linac/BLIP performed initial startup Mon Jul 16, and BLIP is currently running. Start of HEP/E949 mode switching for AGS SEB is still scheduled for Aug 1. Happy Dodge City Day, Wrong Way Day, Crank Call Day, and
Feast of the Clockless Nowever, and Happy Birthday to Art Linkletter, James
Cagney, Phyllis Diller, Darryl Lamonica, and Peter Schickele!
Several maintenance and repair activities occurred over the weekend in conjunction with tuneup, concentrating on yellow abort kicker issues (done), yellow RF 3.1 cavity trips (ongoing), gammaT power supply level tuning (done), fix of ramping software glitches (done), and yellow main dipole power supply repair (done). Ramps and collisions at 65 GeV/u were restored early morning Mon Jul 16, with indications that further tuning of blue gammaT jump supplies is necessary. Because ramp reproducibility remains an issue, there has been no aggressive push towards study of high-intensity ramps at this time. The polarized proton source has been on this weekend, setting up and studying beam to the 200 MeV HEBT polarimeter. Linac/BLIP are still scheduled for initial startup Mon Jul 16 and full operation on Tue Jul 17. Start of HEP/E949 mode switching for AGS SEB is still scheduled for Aug 1. Happy Atomic Bom Day, International Juggling Day, and
Festival of Convivial Tools, and Happy Birthday to Mary Baker Eddy, Ruben
Blades, Phoebe Cates, Stewart Copeland, Orville Redenbacher, and Shoeless
Joe Jackson!
Several maintenance and repair activities have been ongoing in conjunction with tuneup, concentrating on yellow abort kicker issues (done), yellow RF 3.1 cavity trips (ongoing), gammaT power supply level tuning (done), fix of ramping software glitches (done), and yellow main dipole power supply repair (done). Attempts to ramp beams to 65 GeV/u early Sun Jul 15 were compromised by yellow main dipole problems and gammaT tuning issues. These will be readdressed upon return to ramping overnight tonight. Because ramp reproducibility remains an issue, there has been no aggressive push towards study of high-intensity ramps at this time. The polarized proton source has been on this weekend, setting up and studying beam to the 200 MeV HEBT polarimeter. Linac/BLIP are still scheduled for initial startup Mon Jul 16 and full operation on Tue Jul 17. Start of HEP/E949 mode switching for AGS SEB is still scheduled for Aug 1. Happy St Bonaventure's day, Confuflux, and National Ice
Cream Day, and Happy Birthday to Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Bream, Clement
Moore, Thomas Bullfinch, and Richard Armour!
Beam activities overnight and through the day on Fri Jul 13 will concentrate on ramp tuning with high-intensity beams, learning about machine performance and possible intensity-related instabilities during the acceleration ramps. Some limited testing of development ramps will also be performed when time is available. The next major activity here will be one to two days of tuning on Sat Jul 14 and Fri Jul 15 to develop robust 100 GeV/u ramps for beam. Due to delays in software development and missing perssonel, this activity has how been delayed several days. During this period when beam is available, we will continue ramping with beam to 65 GeV/u or 100 GeV/u as available. Happy Visitation Day, Video Games Day, and Anniversary
of Thor Heyerdahl's trip! Happy birthday to Henry David Thoreau, George
Eastman, Buckminster Fuller, Pablo Neruda, Andrew Wyeth, and Van Cliburn!
The next major activity here will be one to two days of tuning on Thu Jul 12 and Fri Jul 13 to develop robust 100 GeV/u ramps for beam. Due to delays in software development, this activity is not expected to start until late in the day Thursday. Happy Visitation Day, Video Games Day, and Anniversary
of Thor Heyerdahl's trip! Happy birthday to Henry David Thoreau, George
Eastman, Buckminster Fuller, Pablo Neruda, Andrew Wyeth, and Van Cliburn!
Perhaps as early as late today, there will be a 3-5 hour shutdown to give George time for his final gamma=100 ramp tuning measurements; we anticipate ramps to gamma=100 two to three days after this data is acquired. To minimize impact, we are also coordinating this work with HEP proton run preparation work, including linac vacuum checkout, through this morning's meetings. Happy Fashion Day, Call of the Horizon Day, and Festival
of Grand Unified Theories, and Happy Birthday to Tom Hanks, Richard Roundtree,
Kelly McGillis, Franz Boaz, and Nikola Tesla!
In the meantime, crews continue to aggressively work to accelerate beams in both rings since late eve Sun Jul 1. This activity mainly focuses on tunes, chromaticities, and radial steering through the acceleration cycle, with particular focus on orbit/tune problems in the yellow ring just before transition, even with transition crossing supplies off. Beam is being routinely accelerated to gamma=70 in the blue ring; it is being routinely lost at transition energy in the yellow ring. Happy National Fried Chicken Day, Old Albums Are Frisbees
Day, and Nothing Day, and Happy Birthday to Beatrix Potter, John Byrne,
Gene Chandler, Janet Leigh, and the Dalai Lama!
We are now giving power supply personnel a shift (Day Tue Jul 3) to train DX quenches for 100 GeV/u ramps; other maintenance being performed at this time includes PHENIX He bag replacement, RHIC tunemeter repair, radial loop analysis, and continuing work on Yellow gammaT power supplies. We will likely return to beam activities between 1600 and 1800 today, though this may change depending on speed of quench training progress. If the DX training is successful, we will continue ramping activities to gamma=70, and proceed to design energies later in the week. Beam activities are on Dejan Trbojevic's Shift Update page. Happy Stay Out Of The Sun Day, Quiz Day, and Disobedience Day, and Happy Birthday to Samuel de Champlain, Betty Buckley, George M. Cohan, Tom Stoppard, and Thomas Mapother (aka Tom Cruise)! A belated Happy 95th birthday to Hans Bethe!
Activities tonight include quench protection tuning for fast yellow ramps and checkout of the tenth yellow gammaT power supply in the tunnel. We will return to blue beam at approximately 2000, when we will attempt further blue acceleration ramps to evaluate issues of radial steering around transition. Overnight and through the weekend, we will focus on yellow ring injection and instrumentation, and ramping of both rings to gamma=70 to establish collisions. Beam activities are on Dejan Trbojevic's Shift Update page. DX Training has been deferred to the week of July 2, as our current program priority is to establish a beachhead demonstration of collisions at gamma=70. Gamma=70 collisions may occur at any time over the weekend; we expect to spend a limited time (a shift or less) performing timing and hardware checks at this point, then start DX training for design energy operation. Stay tuned! Happy Flower and Camera Day, Peter and Paul Day, and Sacrament
of the Silicon Host, And Happy Birthday to Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Slim
Pickens, Nelson Eddy, Fred Grandy, Pedro Guerrero, and Ruth Warric!
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