1. Itzhak Tserruya Weizmann Institute of Science
PAC on Particle Physics
46th Meeting
Report to Scientific Council
JINR, February 23, 2017
Itzhak Tserruya
Weizmann Institute of Science

2. 46th PAC-PP agenda January 16-17, 2017
Highlights of 46th PAC-PP meeting:
Update Reports on NICA, MPD and
Reports on the 2016 Nuclotron runs
Reports from ALICE, ATLAS and CMS
New projects and projects seeking continuation

3. Report on the Nuclotron-NICA project
A. Sidorin
The PAC is very pleased with the successful commissioning of the linear accelerator of heavy ions HILac and the preparations for the construction of the Booster and of the beam line.
The PAC appreciates the significant progress achieved in the Nuclotron operation during the 52nd and 53rd runs.
Nuclotron to beam line:
26 elements of magnetic optics:
→ 8 dipole magnets
→ 18 quadruple lenses
Building 205
Nuclotron
~160 m

4. 12C beam accelerated up to design energy
HILac commissioning
Plans
2017:
Preparation for Booster construction
Start of experiment
Two Nuclotron runs
February – March
SPI - polarized d (p), laser
source Li, C
November – December
KRION source, Kr, Ar
2018:
Booster assembly and commissioning
3.2 MeV/u, Au31+, 10 mA
October 2016 –
12C beam accelerated up to design energy
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

5. Nuclotron beam use
E. Strokovsky
The PAC is pleased to note that a beam of polarized deuterons was accelerated during the 53rd Nuclotron run for the first time after a hiatus of 15 years and was delivered to the experiments with a polarization up to 60% and an intensity up to 7·108 ions.
The PAC also notes that the latest run had a record duration of 1412 hours of stable operation.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

6. Run 52
Run 53
Planned  (In fact run stopped on due to unexpected machine problem.)
Time requested by users: 768 h
Time scheduled for users: 456 h
Time delivered to users: 120h
Primarily a technical run with the following goals:
Production of polarized deuteron beam in the multi-GeV range
Start physics program with polarized nucleon and deuteron beams
Detector R&D and calibrations MPD, FAZA, HyperNIS)
First two goals achieved
With the new source of polarized ions
With the new injection system:
SPI  RFQ  LU-20  Nuclotron
Planned  Record Run duration ~1400 h
~ 78% for users and machine development
Users received ~90% or more of their
planned beam time.
Polarized deuteron beam with intensity up to ~7x108 /s and polarization up to 60%
Main goals:
Physics with polarized deuteron beams (ALPOM-2 and DSS experiments).
Detector R&D MPD

7. Infrastructure Developments
N. Agapov
The PAC notes with satisfaction the significant progress in upgrading the NICA complex infrastructure:
the progress in the modernization of electrical systems and heating facilities
the progress in the civil construction work of the collider building

8. Infrastructure Developments
N. Agapov
The PAC notes with satisfaction the significant progress in upgrading the NICA complex infrastructure:
the progress in the modernization of electrical systems and heating facilities
the progress in the civil construction work of the collider building
the official start of the assembly and testing line for superconducting magnets
November 28, 2016: Official ceremony of launching the assembling and testing line of SC magnets for NICA and FAIR.
Production tasks:
40 dipole magnets for NICA Booster
48 quadrupole magnets with multipole correctors for NICA Booster
80 dipole magnets for NICA Collider
86 quadrupole magnets with multipole correctors for NICA Collider
175 quadrupole magnets with multipole correctors for FAIR SIS100
Total 429 magnets

9. NICA Center
Several architectural solutions are currently being discussed.
Here are two examples of proposed solutions.

10. MPD
Vadim Kolesnikov
The PAC appreciates the ongoing efforts for the preparation of the technical design reports for the different subsystems foreseen in Stage 1 as well as the progress in the preparations for mass production of detector elements.
The PAC congratulates the MPD management for the progress in attracting new outside collaborators and encourages further efforts in this direction.
A meeting of the MPD DAC and the MPD team was held on January 17, 2017:
Main objective: Continuation of the detailed review process of current versions of the different detector subsystems TDRs. In particular the TDRs of the FHCAL (Forward Hadron Calorimeter), ECAL (Electron Calorimeter), TOF (Time Of Flight) and FFD (Fast Forward Detector) were reviewed.
One of the main outcomes: the TDR for the TOF detector is getting very close to the level where it can get green light.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

11. Magnet TPC Detailed action plan for MPD magnet yoke
Forging production
Detailed action plan for MPD magnet yoke
manufacturing & test is ready
Magnet
TPC
TDR: well advanced
Assembling tooling: In progress
RoC & Padplanes: Successful prototype production and testing
FEE: Tests of SAMPA chips ongoing
Service systems (gas, cooling): In production
TPC Integration: In progress
Clean Room: Close to completion

12. TOF mass production FFD 44 ps time resolution achieved
TDR well advanced
44 ps time resolution achieved
with deuteron beam in Dec. 2016
Materials already bought for assembling of 50 MRPC (5 mod):
Rest of materials to be purchased in 2017
Production rate: :
1 detector per day (1 module/2 weeks).
~ 1 year and 2 months to produce the entire TOF system

13.
Mikhail Kapishin
The PAC is pleased to note the commissioning of the internal GEM-tracker and congratulates the team for the first successful run with a set-up that included all subsystems in which significant statistics was collected to address various methodological and detector issues.
The PAC is concerned by the half-a-year delay in the project realization that resulted from the low availability of beam test and the lengthy internal tendering procedures.
configuration in technical run December, 2016
Good performance of DC, TOF and ZDC subsystems
Measure inelastic reactions d + target  X with deuteron beam of T = 4 GeV/u on targets (CH2, C, Cu and Pb) in magnetic field of 0.75 T

14. Recommendations on new projects
Recommendations on projects approved for completion in 2016 and proposed for continuation
COMET experiment at JPARC, aiming at the search for muon-to-electron conversion.
The JINR participants have made important technical contributions (construction of a straw tube detector and supply and test of scintillating crystals for the COMET calorimeter).
The PAC approved the continuation of this project for three years until the end of 2019, and encourages the team to take active roles in physics analyses.
Recommendations on new projects
NA64 experiment at CERN
The proposed contribution of JINR to NA64, an interesting project with high scientific potential, is the delivery and operation of a straw-tube tracking detector, with modest but adequate resources requested for the next three years.
The PAC approved of the project for three years until the end of 2019.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

15. JINR participation in the COMPASS experiment
Two proposals on JINR’s participation in the COMPASS experiment were presented to the PAC:
- “COMPASS-II” presented by A. Nagaytsev
- “Hadron physics in the COMPASS experiment: status and proposal on
organizational matter” presented by A. Guskov.
The PAC appreciates the important role of JINR in COMPASS in data taking and detector maintenance as well as in physics analyses.
However, the PAC considers it unjustified to have two different JINR groups participating in the same experiment.
The PAC recommends that the two JINR groups resubmit one single proposal not later than the next PAC meeting, outlining the JINR strategy and goals for the next three years of the COMPASS II experiment and providing justification for the requested resources.
In the meantime the Laboratory directors should provide to the groups the minimal support that will allow them to continue fulfilling their obligations in COMPASS.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

16. Reports of the LHC experiments
The PAC heard with interest the new results obtained by the JINR groups in the ALICE, ATLAS, and CMS experiments, as reported by E. Rogochaya, A. Soloshenko, and V. Aleksakhin, respectively.
The PAC appreciates the new interesting results on:
femtoscopic kaon correlations and the results obtained during the module testing of the electromagnetic calorimeter PHOS in the ALICE experiment
the search for pentaquarks in Λb-decays in the ATLAS experiment,
the study of muon pair production in the CMS experiment.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

17. Scientific Reports The PAC heard two reports:
“JINR neutrino programme. Daya Bay and JUNO: precision measurements with reactor neutrinos” presented by M. Gonchar
“Electromagnetic and gravitational effects for spin dynamics in accelerators” presented by A. Silenko,
and thanked both speakers for their presentations.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

18. Presentations by young scientists
The PAC reviewed 26 poster presentations in particle physics by young scientists from DLNP, VBLHEP and LIT Laboratories
The PAC is very pleased with the large number of posters presented and by their overall very good quality.
The PAC selected the poster “Multimedia exhibition «Main facilities at JINR»” presented by N. Sidorov and the poster “Charmonium-like states at COMPASS” presented by A. Gridin to be reported at this session of the Scientific Council.
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

19. Next PAC-PP Meeting – January 16-17, 2017
The next meeting of the PAC-PP will be held on June 26-27, 2017
The following items are proposed to be included in the agenda:
Follow-up on the to-do-list from this PAC meeting
Consideration of new projects
Reports and recommendations on the projects to be completed in 2017
Status report on the Nuclotron-NICA project
Status reports on the MPD project including simulation results
Status report on infrastructure issues including Nuclotron
Report from the Coordinator of the Nuclotron experimental programme
Report on the project including simulation results
Posters from young physicists
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017

20. Thank you!
Itzhak Tserruya
121st SC JINR, February 23, 2017