sPHENIX is a new detector at RHIC.

[David Morrison <morrison AT bnl.gov>]

Dear Collaborators,

We are reaching a stage in the construction of the sPHENIX EMCAL that we
will be producing fully assembled sectors here at BNL that will need
testing.  This will involve electrical and mechanical tests, testing of
the cooling system, and testing and calibration of the SiPMs using the
internal test pulse and LED systems along with cosmic rays.  It will
involve helping to set up a database with this information and
performing some analysis of the data.  This is an ideal opportunity for
graduate students and postdocs working on sPHENIX to get involved "hands
on" with a detector at an early stage and learn how it works. 
 
We have no students or postdocs working with us here at BNL at this
time.  The students and postdocs at UIUC are working hard to produce the
blocks for the detector and can't be here to help with the sector
testing at BNL.  Our colleagues in China are fully occupied making
blocks for the large rapidity section of the detector and can't be part
of the sector testing at BNL either.  We're appealing to all of our
collaborators in sPHENIX to send people here to BNL to help!  It's a
great opportunity!

The first pre-production sector (Sector 0) is now essentially complete
and will soon be undergoing its final testing.  We expect to have more
sectors completed and ready for testing very soon. Therefore, it's an
ideal time for people to get involved with these tests.  The production
of the sectors will continue until the fall of 2021, so there is plenty
of time to join in later as well.  There will also be more testing and
commissioning of the detector after the sectors are installed, so there
is again ample opportunity for joining in the future.

Again, we feel that this is an excellent opportunity for members of our
collaboration, including students, postdocs (and faculty as well), to
join in and help us build, test and commission the EMCAL, and then
continue on to do physics analysis with the data from it once sPHENIX
starts running.

Here's a photo album (shot today) to give you a sense of the scale and
multiplicity of EMCal components that are starting to be found here at
BNL in great abundance:

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMLvuD6teJJU3y6h7Z9eWD4vWQeqmh0IOIsTdBM

If you would like to find out more about how to contribute, please
contact Craig Woody (woody AT bnl.gov)!

Cheers,
Dave and Gunther

-- 
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