sPHENIX is a new detector at RHIC.

[David Morrison <morrison AT bnl.gov>]

Dear collaborators,

Thanks to Veronica Canoa Roman we have minutes from last Friday's
general meeting!

Cheers,
Dave and Gunther

sPHENIX BIWEEKLY MEETING
MINUTES: Friday, June 30th 2017

sPHENIX collaboration news: Gunther Roland
————————————————————

* sPhenix autor list
ACTION: everyone must check that name is well spelt ASAP

* The date of a DOE CD-1 review is likely to move.  At this point,
however, it's still scheduled for November 2017.

* sPhenix CDR
q(Jaime): Which is the status of the document?
a(John): Detector sections are OK, introduction to physics need
improvement. This will be completed with the analysis notes.
q: Does we need to complete it by the director review in August?
a(John): We prefer to leave the document open until CD-1, that will
happen further in the future

* sPhenix and DOE medium energy program: it was suggested not to use
medium energy funding to sPhenix
ASKED TO US: Prepare short document: focus on the detector. Needed to
educate DOE NP about the importance of the spin program
c(Jaime): Be careful: The spin is a longitudinal program. Some physics
will be completed also by STAR upgrade.
HOMEWORK: Further discussion on how to present this note successfully
and soon (in one or two weeks)
c(Nils): In the original proposal, we have looked at the forward region
not the central. They are asking for central program. We need more time
to think about it.
c: The time scale is not specified
c(Gunther) In CD0 there was no spin physics program
c(Dave) Medium energy can not fund the barrel
c(Gunther) We need to clarify an strategy
ACTION: Conveners will meet to discuss about this note

* Review in the MIE budget
Guidance is to go from (current) $37M to ~$32M


Juniors' EC election
————————-
* Thanks to Sarah for serving this last year!
* Candidates : Veronica Canoa, Carlos Perez and Haiwang Yu
* Voting ends July 10th
ACTION: Juniors should subscribe to mailing list before July 7th if they
want to vote


sPhenix Project update: Edward O’Brian
——————————————————-
* DOE moved CD-1 approval to 2018
* In the hardware part, the magnet is ready to be tested!
* Director’s review will be August 2-4
There was a rehearsal. Positive comments. There is a to-do list
Most important the cost excess $2.7M
ACTION: Look for additional funding from NSF and international contributions
q: Can we start constructing with a promise of money? a: Yes
c(Gunther): Talked last week with Edmundo Garcia-Solis (Nuclear
Experiment Funding Officer at NSF): many possibilities of funding, very
positive. “We need to sleep well and wait”.
c(Gunther): Objective of today was to make everybody be aware of what is
happening.
ACTION: Someone (Brian volunteered?) needs to write down a proposal.


Open HF mesons : Dr. Xin Dong
——————————————-
* Fist simulation note for HF is done. It will be sent today to the
collaboration
* Open Bottom Production -> go to lower pt is critical
* Simulation approach: Full Geant simulation+fast MC
* There was a lot of discussion about how the background is taking into
account. Currently Hijing is used for this. Need revising.
ACTION: Send the note


On 6/26/17 7:15 PM, Gunther M Roland wrote:
> 
> Friends,
> 
> Among many other interesting updates, this week's general meeting will 
> feature two particularly important topics for discussion. To allow input 
> from the as many collaborators as possible, we want to provide advance 
> notice of these topics. 
> 1) sPHENIX support (or lack thereof) from the DOE-NP medium energy program
> Several sPHENIX groups funded by the DOE-NP ME have been denied funding for 
> sPHENIX participation. This obviously is a serious issue. We have spoken 
> with the RHIC ALD, who in turn discussed with DOE-NP AD Tim Hallman. We'll 
> report on these discussions, which unsurprisingly resulted in more homework 
> for the collaboration and in particular the cold QCD enthusiasts.
> 2) Budget discussion at the Director's Review
> As discussed on several occasions, the latest projections show a cost for 
> the baseline detector outside of the $29M-$35M range. For the August 2-4 
> Director's Review, which will go ahead as planned, the project will need to 
> present a plausible scenario within the allowed range (not to exceed the 
> middle of the range at ~$32M). While we have not been asked to repeat last 
> year's budget exercise, we need to provide one (or multiple) such 
> scenario(s) addressing the current shortfall. We had a discussion between 
> ALD, deputy ALD, sPHENIX project manager and co-spokespeople, which 
> suggests that mutually agreeable scenarios exist. Finalizing the strategy 
> for the review obviously requires careful consideration by the 
> collaboration. 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Gunther and Dave
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 

-- 
David Morrison  Brookhaven National Laboratory  phone: 631-344-5840
                Physics Department, Bldg 510 C    fax: 631-344-3253
                          Upton, NY 11973-5000  email: dave AT bnl.gov