sPHENIX is a new detector at RHIC.

[Megan Connors <meganeconnors AT gmail.com>]

Dear all,

We wanted to share some information we received from Abhay (see his message below) today regarding the run plans. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We will plan to discuss this during Friday's general meeting and are trying to schedule a meeting with Abhay when he is back at BNL next week.

Best,

-Megan and Jin

Direct quote from Abhay's message:

I am writing to keep you informed about the emerging RHIC operation plan in CY2025.

 

Planning assumptions are:

• For Run-25 we have 20 weeks (22-2 weeks)
• For Run-26 in the Q1 of FY26, we assume 12 weeks
• Total of 32 weeks.
• Of course, we still don’t know the actual FY25 budget, nor do we know the President’s budget to plan the FY26 more concretely. All this could change once we have the budget numbers. Currently the Continuing Resolution is on until March 14, 2025.

 

Run Plan for Calendar Year 2025:

• Start the RHIC Operations at 4k on March 24, 2025.
• Online PAC meeting early June 2025: will settle the date with John H. soon.
• We will end 1^st part of the Run on June 30, 2025 (14 weeks)
• No beam from July 1 – August 18, 2025 (avoid heat/humidity related inefficiency and it may also give the RHIC Operators and Experimental Shifters some rest.
• 2^nd part of the run from August 19 - December 22, 2025 (18 weeks)

 

We will start with Au-Au operation which was given the highest priority by the PAC with the aim of acquiring 7 nb-1 of data. We will consult with PAC in early June – when we have a good idea of how we are doing (machine and detectors) towards that goal, to request advice on what other collision-combination aims could be achieved during this year’s RHIC operation.

 

The BNL management and DOE NP are Ok with this as a basis of planning – assuming the funding for operation in both FY25 and FY26 realizes.