1. Collaboration News ALICE Status
28th ALICE RRB
Collaboration News
ALICE Status
The ‘November revolution’ e a
CERN-RRB
21 Apr 2010
28th ALICE RRB J. Schukraft

2. Once upon a time, 19 years ago..
Then, on
November 23rd 2009,
somebody pressed
the
‘fast forward’
button..
attended by over 60 physicists
experimental areas will be finalized by end ‘91
start of physics operation foreseen for 1998
.. should it slip, we stretch the construction schedule ..
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

3. The LHC (and everything else) accelerates ..
..after concentrated preparations..
.. and tense anticipation..
Monday, 23rd November, ~15:30
in the ALICE Control Room
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

4. some anxious minutes waiting for collisions..
~ 16:35
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

5. The first ‘event’ pops up in the ACR
~ 16:41
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

6. Relief and jubilation.. ~ 16:42 Collisions in ALICE !!
.. and some celebration..
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

7. ‘First Physics’ in the making
~ 18:00
After years of looking at simulated data, there was no holding back:
First physics results examined,
ca 1 hour after data taking finished (284 events !)..
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

8. Physics exploitation of ALICE has started for good !
Phase 1: rediscovering the standard model
(QCD in the case of ALICE)
submitted to EPJC 28 Nov 2009
The average number of charged particles
created perpendicular to the beam
in pp collisions at 900 GeV is:
dN/dh = 3.10 ± 0.13 (stat) ± 0.22 (syst)
» p
Physics exploitation of ALICE
has started for good !
This is the first (and easiest) of
many numbers we need to (re)measure to
get confidence in our detectors, tune the
simulations, study background, ....
Phase 2 is still a long way to go..
last time measured at the ISR for pp
National Geographic News (4 Dec.)
‘….a machine called ALICE....
found that a (!) proton-proton collision
recorded on November 23
created the precise ratio
of matter and antimatter particles
predicted from theory..’
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

9. A few days later… HMPID TRD track Cherenkov Ring TPC track
TPC, TRD, TOF, HMPID
HMPID
Cherenkov Ring
TRD track
TPC track
On 6th December, ‘stable beams’
were declared & we could switch on
all ALICE detectors for the first time..
Muon Spectrometer
ITS
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

10. preliminary calibration & alignment !
.. ‘lots’ of data..
TPC
No vertex cut !
ITS
‘Good pp interactions’: (rate few Hz)
- 300 k : √s = 900 GeV
- 30 k : √s = 2.36 TeV
velocity v/c
TOF
Protons
Kaons
Pions
all plots:
preliminary calibration & alignment !
TRD
Electrons
Pions
ALICE special: Particle Identification
(very important for heavy ion physics later in 2010)
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
15/2/2006 LHCC Status Report J. Schukraft
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

11. Tracking works beautifully
Beam spot at 2.36 TeV
TPC pt spectrum
Preliminary
preliminary alignment !
SPD Vertex resolution versus # tracks
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

12. The Particle Zoo Revisited:
PDG: MeV
K0s ® pp
PDG: MeV
L ® pp
… National Geographic was sort of correct..
PDG: MeV
L ® pp
F ® K+K-
PDG: MeV
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

13. More Particles.. p0 ® gg ® e+e- e+e- p0 ® gg X ® Lp ® pp p
1 < pt < 1.5 GeV
PHOS (9 m2)
X ® Lp ® pp p
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

14. A taste of things to come..
p/p ratio
to study Baryon Transport via
di-quark stopping or gluon junctions
NB: National Geographics was right, after all !
p- HBT correlation function
to study space-time evolution
(also reference for heavy ion data)
Data
Monte Carlo (no HBT correlations)
TOF PID spectra
to study particle production
<pt> versus multiplicity
to tune Monte Carlo programs
(and watch for surprises ?)
<pt> in 0.3 to 4 GeV
‘raw’ plots: no/incomplete correction for efficiency, acceptance, resolution, background, …
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
12/3/2010 Yale J. Schukraft

15. Finally… Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree Work in progress..
dN/dh at 2.36 TeV
statistical error negligible
final systematic error under evaluation
(still 7% for the time being)
LHC
Ös = 900 GeV
LHC
Ös = 2.36 TeV
Plots as shown on 18 Dec ‘LHC’ jamboree
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

16. Getting to know ALICE: Weight
‘out-of-the-box’
total ~ 8%X/X0
Gamma ray tomography
g-ray image of ALICE
photon conversion vertices
next iteration
IFC glue joints
pre-preg
IFC: 3x0.1mm -> 2x0.25 mm (0.51%->0.74%X0)
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

17. Getting to know ALICE: Shape
Data MC
Impact parameter DCA
pT = 1 – 1.5 GeV/c
s=181 mm
after
alignment
before
SPD
Data MC
pT = 1 – 1.5 GeV/c
alignment with cosmics only
cosmics + pp ( = 0 and π) 17
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

18. PID (or 6 ways to measure Kaons)
ALICE - Work in Progress
ALICE - Work in Progress
K ® mn
ALICE
Work in Progress
# 6:
HMPID Cherenkov p K
K0s ® pp
ALICE - Work in Progress
Results shown on 17 Febr LHCC
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

19. Getting quantitative 3.09 ± 0.05 ± ? Systematic error of 2-3% !
Published in EPJC
Systematic error of 2-3% !
NSD 2.36 TeV
NSD 900 GeV
INEL 900 GeV
ALICE preliminary
4.43 ± 0.01 ± 0.16
3.58 ± 0.01 ± 0.12
3.02 ± 0.01 ± 0.07
ALICE EPJC (2010)
3.51 ± 0.15 ± 0.25
3.10 ± 0.13 ± 0.22
CMS JHEP 02 (2010) 041
4.47 ± 0.04 ± 0.16
3.48 ± 0.02 ± 0.13
UA5 Z. Phys. C33 1 (1986)
3.43 ± 0.05 ± ?
3.09 ± 0.05 ± ?
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

20. Life starts to get interesting..
Increase .9 to 2.3 TeV (%)
NSD
ALICE preliminary*
23.7 ± %
CMS
28.4 ± 1.4 ± 2.6 %
Pythia D6T (109)
18.7 %
Pythia ATLAS CSC (306)
18.3 %
Pythia Perugia-0 (320)
18.5 %
Phojet
14.5 %
QGSM
19 %
Tail grows faster !
Larger increase of multiplicity at
mid-rapidity than in MC generators
Is History repeating itself (with a difference in sign ?) Not quite as exciting yet, but we will get there, eventually..
Good news for the Heavy Ion program:
More charged particles will create
a denser and hotter system !
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

21. More Particle Appearances
K* ® Kp
February 2010
Work in progress
h ® gg ® e+e- e+e-
X(ssd) ® Lp ® pp p
April 2010
W(sss) ® LK ® pp K
April 2010
1964 BNL bubble chamber
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

22. (Anti)Nuclei
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

23. Physics Analysis Papers published Papers submitted
‘First Physics’, EPJC 65 (2010) 111
Papers submitted
Detailed analysis of charged particle multiplicity (0.9 & 2.36 TeV) EPJC, 18.4
First look at multiplicity at 7 TeV
Papers almost ready (900 GeV Data)
Charged particle pT
Identified particles pT (π, K, p)
Strangeness production (K0, Λ, Ξ, Φ)
Baryon-antibaryon asymmetry
Bose-Einstein correlations
Other ongoing Analysis
π0 spectra, event structure, azimuthal correlations, -φ correlations, high multiplicity events, ………
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

24. Events of all kinds K ® pm decays X ® Lp ® pp p
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

25. High Multiplicity Event
Still, not too bad for pp (50 charged tracks in TPC)
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

26. Some extreme Cosmic Event
‘Muon Bundle’: 220 high momentum muons from cosmic shower
(ACORDE cosmic trigger)
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

27. Acknowlegments We would be nowhere.. without the (mostly)
unwavering and generous support
(financial and otherwise)
of our Funding Agencies !
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

28. Collaboration News New Institutes Change of status Ongoing Discussions
Frankfurt Institute of Computer Science (Germany) HLT
change of Institute of HLT project leader
Chicago State University (NSF, USA) Physics, EMCAL,Trigger
U Texas Austin (DOE USA) Physics, EMCAL
Change of status
HUST Wuhan (China): PHOS electronics
has problems to get funded for M&O;
main contribution and interest is in technology/hardware
has asked to change status from ‘full’ to ‘associate’ member (with the corresponding consequences for CB representation & authorship rights)
Ongoing Discussions
Comsats/Pinstech (Pakistan) : ‘associate members status’, Physics, Computing
has been dormant, but now activities restarted with Comsats
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

29. Collaboration News Appointments
Run Coordinator 2010: C. Garabatos (GSI)
Editorial Board Chair: P. Kuijer (NIKHEF) until end 2010
Conference Committee chair: P. Giubellino (Torino) until end 2010
Elections: Spokesperson & CB-chair reach term limit end 2010
Spokesperson elect: P. Giubellino (Torino), starting for 3 year term
CB chair election in July
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

30. Disappearance of the trigger group would be a major problem !
Funding..
UK funding crisis (again, after 1999, 2001, 2008):
STFC review end 2009: ALICE (+ most other NP projects) classified as
ALICE support guaranteed only until the end of the current grant (mid 2011)
Impact on ALICE:
1 UK group (Birmingham, 10th biggest group in ALICE since merger with STAR!)
physics: significant role in analysis (strangeness production, cross sections,..)
trigger: sole responsibility for production/commissioning/expert operation
trigger: hardware (electronics) + ‘firmware’ (specialized code) + software (UI)
hardware: production & installation of components is complete
firmware: commissioning ongoing, complete only some time after Pb run
expert operation & intervention & functionality improvements:
required throughout the lifetime of ALICE
Current PPAN projects subject to discussions leading to managed withdrawal
Nuclear Physics AGATA, ALICE at CERN, PANDA. Additional reduction imposed on ongoing projects of £2m. Total Savings of £12m over 5 years
A well commissioned and working trigger is vital for any operation of ALICE
Disappearance of the trigger group would be a major problem !
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

31. Funding Spain Physics, computing EMCAL extension (‘DCAL’)
new director of CIEMAT has announced to withdraw from ALICE by October
discussions ongoing, including the 2nd Spanish group (S. de Compostela)
EMCAL extension (‘DCAL’)
emcal was approved in 2008; available space limited its size
additional space available adjacent to PHOS (~ 40% of emcal)
funding of emcal extension (6 SuperModules):
US DOE: 3.2 SM (agreed, emcal contingency)
Japan: 1.3 SM (funding agreed)
China: 1 SM (funding partially agreed)
France: support structure SM (partially agreed)
construction to be completed for installation in 2012
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

32. ALICE Detector Installation mid 2009
Complete:
ITS, TPC, TOF, HMPID,
FMD, T0, V0, ZDC,
Muon arm, Acorde
PMD , PHOS(3/5), DAQ
Partial installation:
7/18 TRD
4/10 EMCAL
~ 60% HLT
ALICE Status
New (‘post Chamonix’) LHC schedule: Likely configuration until end 2011
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

33. Shutdown Activities 2009/10
Short shutdown: Consolidation and improvements
SPD cooling: reduced cooling flow => only 70% of modules was operational !
cleaning of lines, additional pressure & flow regulators & cooling installed
only slight improvement (86% of modules can be operated)
tests show that reduced flow is due to clogging of lines inside ITS
access & repair will require a very long shutdown (e.g. 2012)
TPC:
complete replacement of HV decoupling capacitors on C side
relocate gating pulsers (now accessible during running)
Muon tracking chambers:
2% of one chamber HV isolated (broken wire)
SSD:
cooling unit with humidity control (reduces leakage current in SINTEF modules)
many other minor interventions…
SPD: new heat exchangers
New ITS ventilation unit
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

34. Detector Status Summary
All systems up & running & taking data !
PMD:
additional air cooling installed, now fully working
PHOS:
at -250C since late 2009
HLT:
1500 CPU cores installed for pp
2500 cores to be added for PbPb (100% cap.)
regular use for DQM, beam position, calibration, …
Online systems (DAQ, DCS, ECS)
deployed automatic detector configuration (ACT)
simpler & more efficient data taking
will reduce need for people on shift !
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

35. Integrated Data taking efficiency
Data Taking Summary
>15 Million
interactions
> 150 k
Muon triggers
Inter. rate
~ 30 – 90 Hz
Integrated Data taking efficiency
since 30.3 ~ 85%
21/4/ th RRB J. Schukraft

36. Offline data taking and processing
Raw Data Registration
Raw Data Processing
Several Passes completed for 900 GeV and 2360 GeV data
Analysis train running weekly: QA, physics working groups organized analysis
> 14 M collision events
Run processing – start immediately after RAW data transferred to CERN MSS
Average – 5 hours per job
At 10 hours, 95% of the run is processed
At 15 hours, 99% of the run is processed
MC production
Several production cycles for 900 GeV and 7 TeV MB pp: 17 Mio events with various generators (Phytia, PHOJET) and conditions from real data taking
(beam position not stable => each fill needs its own MC !!!)

37. Computing resources New LHC schedule: 2010:
1.5×109 pp events (1×109 MB + 0.5×109 rare triggered)
6.4×107 PbPb events (saturating the 1.25GB/s bandwidth)
2011
0.6×109 pp events (0.1×109 MB + 0.5×109 rare triggered)
2012: no data taking
Switched from calendar year to RRB year
2010: June 2010 – March 2011
2011: April 2011 – March 2012
Optimize usage of resources by assigning any task (analysis train, end-user analysis, MC production) to any site category whenever resources are available

38. ALICE is a very happy (and busy) girl right now
Summary
ALICE is a very happy (and busy) girl right now