Accelerator Update for October 15, 2008 - October 17, 2008

Wednesday Oct 15

The day shift began with Operations monitoring the Tevatron (TeV) store 6492 (126.86E30) and the Recycler stash (119.5E10), with the Antiproton Source (Pbar) stacking (23.0E10), with the Linac, Booster, and the Main Injector (MI) operating normally, with the MiniBooNE and NuMI experiments taking beam, and with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) and D-Zero (D0) using the colliding beams.

Booster experts began tuning the beam for improved intensity and efficiency at 8:26 AM.

Operations began turning on Switchyard (SY) and the Meson area power supplies at 8:26 AM.

At 8:36 AM, a MI RF station (MIRF4) tripped off and caused the NuMI beam permit to also trip. Everything reset.

Operations reported at 8:59 AM that they had received permission to send beam to the new MTest experiment T977 – MINERvA. The purpose of the experiment is to calibrate a smaller version of their detector that will measure the neutrino cross-section and energy interactions for upcoming neutrino oscillation experiments such as NOνA.

At 9:46 AM, a Booster kicker (B:MP03) tripped off for the first of four times in about an hour. It reset. After the last trip, experts installed diagnostics to help troubleshoot the problem.

At 9:59 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 10:46 AM, KRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations established beam to the SY dump at 11:05 AM.

At 11:15 AM, KRF4 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:16 AM, a Booster kicker (B:MP03) tripped off for the first of two times in one minute. It reset.

At 12:04 PM, MIRF7 tripped off. It reset.

At 12:06 PM, Operations reported that CDF had put its silicon detector into standby earlier due to beam in the abort gap. Operators investigated and found that there was a problem. Operations contacted TeV experts who later adjusted the Tevatron Electron Lens (TEL1) to clean the gap.

At 12:16 PM, MIRF7 tripped off for the first of three times in 14 minutes. It reset.

Operations reported the Meson experts established beam to the Meson MT6 experimental area at 1:54 PM.

At 2:07 PM, the Booster kicker (MP03) tripped off again. It reset.

At 2:16 PM, LRF3 tripped off. It reset.

CDF turned on their silicon detector at 2:30 PM.

At 2:43 PM, LRF3 tripped off again. Operators loaded an energy conservation time line into the Time Line Generator while Linac experts worked on the station.

Operations reported at 4:05 PM that the Recycler had stashed antiprotons seven times during the day shift.

Operations terminated store 6492 at 8:58 PM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 9:09 PM.

At 10:26 PM, Operations reported that two of the last three transfers of antiprotons from the Recycler to MI failed to inject into MI. The fourth transfer also did not go in. Operators and experts investigated.

Recycler experts reported at 11:23 PM that they found an intermittent problem with the Recycler counterwave (C453 card).

At 11:33 PM, Operations reported that while changing out the Recycler C453 card, the crate glitched and the stash was lost (200E10).

Operations reported at 11:56 PM that the Recycler had stashed six times during the evening shift.

Thursday Oct 16

The midnight shift began with Pbar stacking (18.4E10), and with the MiniBooNE and NuMI experiments taking beam.

Operations reported at 1:11 AM that operators had sent reverse protons successfully to the Recycler several times to test the 453 card and the Recycler kicker at MI-30.

At 1:28 AM, Operations reported that MiniBooNE was tripping off repeatedly. An operator lowered the experiment’s intensity.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 2:55 AM.

Operations established store 6494 at 4:19 AM with an initial luminosity of 87.55E30.

At 5:22 AM, MIRF7 tripped off. It reset.

Operations established beam to the MTest experiment at 7:01 AM.

Operations reported at 7:58 AM that the Recycler had stashed six times during the midnight shift.

A MI expert reported at 9:55 AM that he was taking multiwire data from the MI-8 beam line at the 825 and 830 locations.

Water group experts reported at 9:56 AM that they were starting to clean strainers on the Linac Klystron LCW water skids.

Booster experts reported at 10:04 AM that they were tuning to increase intensity.

At 11:02 AM, BRF9 tripped off for the first of three times in six minutes. It reset.

At 11:13 AM, MIRF1 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:42 AM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:44 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 12:22 PM, BRF9 tripped off for the first of five times in 18 minutes. It reset. After the last trip an RF expert investigated.

At 1:37 PM, a Booster vacuum pump (B:IPRF17) tripped off. It reset.

At 2:35 PM, KRF1 tripped off. It reset.

TeV experts began an end-of-store beam-beam compensation study at 3:26 PM. Both CDF and D0 had put their silicon detectors into standby for the duration of the study.

Operations reported at 4:01 PM that the Recycler had stashed seven times during the day shift.

At 6:56 PM, the NuMI beam permit tripped off due to a power supply’s output (QD108) drifting out of tolerance for the first of two times in about 90 minutes. Everything reset.

The TeV beam-beam compensation and TEL2 study ended at 7:04 PM.

Operations terminated store 6494 at 7:14 PM.

At 7:31 PM, BRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations began a 30-minute TeV quadrupole magnet study at 7:43 PM.

At 8:23 PM, KRF6 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through a wet squeeze at 8:26 PM.

At 8:54 PM, BRF15 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through another wet squeeze at 9:25 PM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 9:49 PM.

Operations established store 6497 at 11:42 PM with an initial luminosity of 292.38E30.

Operations reported at midnight that the Recycler had stashed four times during the evening shift.

Friday Oct 17

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 6497 (254.26E30) and the stash (13.3E10), with Pbar stacking (76.7E10), and with MiniBooNE and NuMI taking beam.

The water group reported at 12:11 AM that they were making up water for the MI LCW system.

At 1:18 AM, LRF3 tripped off. It reset.

At 5:10 AM, KRF6 tripped off. It reset.

Operations established beam to MTest at 6:05 AM.

Operations reported at 7:58 AM that the Recycler had stashed two times during the midnight shift.

At 8:02 AM, the NuMI beam permit tripped off due to a power supply’s output (QD108) drifting out of tolerance. Everything reset.

The Plans for Friday and the Weekend

The plans for today and the weekend are to stack, stash, and store.

Accelerator Update Archive

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