Undergraduate Research at RHIC

Last week on August 8 and 9, students from ten summer programs at Brookhaven presented the results of their research in poster sessions and symposia. The programs, directed by Kenneth White, the manager of Brookhaven’s Office of Educational Programs, include the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program in which eighty-four undergraduate students in the majoring in the sciences and engineering from all over the United States come to Brookhaven to work with staff members.  Projects on topics touching RHIC and AGS were directed by scientists and engineers in the Physics and Collider-Accelerator departments.

 

Student

College or University

Mentor

Topic

Jonathan Beck SUNY Binghamton Ted D’Ottavio Auto-ADL (Automatic Generation of MEDM Displays Depicting Collider-Accelerator Components
Alishia Ferrell

Florida A&M University

Carol Scarlett

The Effects of Magnetized Oxygen on a Photo Beam

Joseph Heard

Community College of Philadelphia

Carol Scarlett

The Effects of Magnetized Oxygen on a Photo Beam

Jordan Heim

Purdue University

Mary Bishai

Characterization of Photomultlier Tubes for the Detection of Anti-neutrinos

Eric Jones

Stony Brook University

William Morse

Designing the Gamma Calorimeters for the Future International Linear Collider

David Katz

Alfred State College

Seth Nemesure

Table Tools for the Collider-Accelerator Department

Grace King

University of California at Los Angeles

Wu Zhang

High Order Network Analysis in Power and Pulsed Power of the AGS Main Magnet System

Jonathan Langdon

Stony Brook University

Les Bland

Designing an LED Based calibration System for the FMS

Jennifer Mabanta

St. Joseph’s College

Michael Sivertz

Determining the Components of an Iron Beam at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

Shawn Perez

Stony Brook University

Les Bland

Construction of a Monitoring System for the Solenoid Tracker at RHIC (STAR) Forward Meson Spectrometer (FMS)

John Sinsheimer

The Ohio State University

Craig Woody

Scintillation in CF4 Gas Due to the Passage of Highly Ionizing Particles

Ilya Sukhanov

Stony Brook University

Edward Kistenev

A Networked Control/Data Acquisition System

Julia Tilles

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Kin Yip

Soil Activation in the Alternating Gradient Synchtrotron and Booster

Jeffrey Tyler

Northeastern University

Don Lynch

Updating and Creating New Documentation for the PHENIX Gas Distribution System

Undergraduate students in the 2007 Summer Science Undergraduates Laboratory Internship (SULI) program.

Abstracts of the oral presentations are reproduced below. 

Designing the Gamma Calorimeters for the Future International Linear Collider

ERIC JONES
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11790

WILLIAM MORSE
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

The electron-positron beams of the future International Linear Collider (ILC) must be monitored by utilizing feedback measurements of the bunch characteristics in order to keep them properly aligned for the optimum resulting luminosity once they collide.  The Gamma Calorimeter (GamCal) is one of the proposed calorimeter designs to be placed in the very-forward region of the ILC that will be used to gather information about the beam interactions in order to maintain this alignment.  It will measure the energy of photons produced by so-called beamstrahlung, a process which results from the intensification of the electromagnetic fields of the bunches as they pass through each other; however, their energy will not be measured directly.  The beamstrahlung photons will first be converted into electron-positron pairs by directing them into a 10-5 m thick diamond foil, and then the positrons will be magnetically deflected into a detector grid that will measure their energy.  In order to obtain a quantitiy proportional to the luminosity, this information will then be combined with information from the Beam Calorimeter (BeamCal), which will detect the pair particles produced in the collisions.  We have used Daniel Schulte’s simulation program, the Generator of Unwanted Interactions for Numerical Experiment Analysis Program, Interfaced with Geometry and Tracking (GEANT) (GUINEA-PIG), in order to understand the effects of changing important collison parameters such as the beam offset, the incoming beam angles, and the bunch lengths on the produced pair particles and beamstrahlung photons.  The resulting data was analyzed using the program Physics Analysis Workstation (PAW) and Excel.  The photon energy and angular distributions will be used to optimize the detector placement in the GamCal, while other output data shall be used to determine if the luminosity can be optimized without data from the BeamCal during preliminary runs of the beams.  We shall also determine how well the converting foil will survive when the beams fail to interact, as the electron-positron beams are intense enough to punch holes through the foil, and these holes will decrease the acceptance of our detector.  What we understand now are the number and energy acceptances for nominal bunch parameters with varying offsets and incoming angles, and that the foil should remain reliable to about 1% error.

A Systematic Study of the Effect of Magnetized Oxygen on a Photon Beam

RACHAEL MILLINGS
Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY 11784

CAROL Y. SCARLETT
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

When light is propagated through a ramped magnetic field into a photoreceiver in the presence of air, there exists a possibility that the observed laser beam deviation is due to the paramagnetic behavior of gaseous oxygen in the air. If the signal observed is not negligible, then the deviation cannot be used as a shunt for beam deviation due to light propagated in a vacuum. The purpose of this systematic study is to determine the significance of gaseous oxygen's magnetic susceptibility relative to the observed beam deviation. A photon beam from a 514 nm HeNe laser generator was propagated through a defocusing lens and a focusing lens to focus the beam; two mirrors were then used to reflect the beam through a quadrupole magnet and into a photoreceiver. As an alternating electric current of 10 amperes was directed through the magnet, the amount of light entering the photoreceiver was measured using a data acquisition system to interface with the photoreceiver and a computer. After the data was converted into text files, a programming language, FORTRAN, was used to write a code that analyzed the data by the method of fast Fourier transforms. On a graph of the amplitude of the light as a function of time, a signal was observed at the same frequency as that at which the current in the magnet was alternating, as expected. Upon further analysis, it was determined that the size of the signal was negligible when compared to the sensitivity of the photoreceiver, thus demonstrating the relative insignificance of oxygen's magnetic susceptibility to the beam deviation and the viability of the light propagation through air as a shunt for the light propagation through a vacuum. This systematic study is part of a larger experiment researching the space-time curvature of light passing through a magnetic field in a vacuum as a possible validation of physical theory which postulates the existence of gravity in the absence of mass.

The Effects of Magnetized Oxygen on a Photo Beam

ALISHIA FERRELL
Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307

JOESPH HEARD
Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19130

RACHAEL MILLINGS
Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY 11784

CAROL Y. SCARLETT
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

A systematic study of the effects of oxygen oscillation on a laser beam propagating through an electromagnetic field (EMF) was deemed necessary due to the physical set up of the main experiment concerning space time curvature.  The control or “shunt” measurements for the main experiment were made by propagating the laser outside of a vacuum chamber along side a super conducting magnet.  However, this caused the beam to travel  extremely close to the lead wires.  This raised the question, “Was the oxygen movement being created by EMF deviating the laser beam enough to corrupt the control data”.  In order to see if the oxygen was significantly changing the data a systematic study had to be done. To perform this systematic study a 514 nm helium neon laser generator, several focusing and defocussing optical lenses, a quad cell photo-receiver, and a quadrapole magnet capable of oscillating its current were used.   After doing a number of calibrations on the photo receiver we were able to ramp an electromagnetic field on and off using a quadrapole on the averages of the events given. Data was collected for a short period of time from the DAQBOOK software. With these numbers a FORTRAN program was created using Fourier analysis, which showed that the Oxygen levels were so minute that they did not get detected at a high level.  We concluded that by doing this systematic study that Oxygen does not affect our data in a way that it is visible in our data analysis.

Designing an LED Based Calibration System for the FMS

JONATHAN LANGDON
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11790

LES BLAND
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

The Forward Meson Spectrometer (FMS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s STAR Experiment is composed of lead glass cells which are used to detect photons produced in high energy collisions of gold nuclei or protons. In past iterations of the FMS, panels of fiber optics were used to provide light from light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a calibration signal. This test signal could be observed as an event distribution within the data, far removed from other physical events. For the FMS, the goal is to create a more comprehensive and adaptable LED testing system. Unlike previous iterations, the goal is provide variable light sources to cell clusters allowing for patterns of light to be used instead of simply pulses of light. This would provide a means for proofing the functionality of the FMS’s triggering system. To accomplish this, a type of microchip, known as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), will be installed to control the LED output. FPGAs are also known as programmable logic chips, since one can use a computer to define its behavior after it has been implemented.  Making use of an FPGA development kit in conjunction with an “integrated software environment” (ISE), known as Xilinx ISE Webpack, a functioning system for controlling the light panels has been developed. However, in addition to the hardware aspect, it has also been necessary to develop graphical interface tools for loading light pattern instructions in real time. This was accomplished by way of Microsoft’s “Visual Basic.NET 2005 Express” interactive development environment (IDE). The final product, known as the “Light Panel Control System,” is the product of by directional development, starting from the computer out to the development board and from the FPGA back.

Determining the Components of an Iron Beam at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

JENNIFER MABANTA
St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue, NY 11772

MICHAEL SIVERTZ
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

Before extended space missions can occur, protective measures must be put in place for astronauts since prolonged exposure to radiation fields can have adverse effects.  The purpose of the research done at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is to gain a better understanding of the cosmic rays in space and develop the most efficient countermeasure for the voyagers. Proton and heavy-ion beams from the BNL Booster accelerator are directed along a beam line to NSRL.  By mimicking cosmic rays with the beam, the lab provides a controlled area in which to study the effects of the rays. The most harmful of the rays is iron, and the least destructive and most abundant is hydrogen.  Of particular interest to NASA is the process of fragmentation, or the way in which heavy ions, like iron, break up into lighter less dangerous ions, such as protons.  In order to study this process of fragmentation, it is necessary to measure the components within the beam.  To achieve this, a scintillator detector is placed within the beam.  However, the response of this scintillator is not linear and in order to study the different components of the beam the response function of the scintillator must be determined.  Once this response function is determined each element within the heavy iron beam is more apparent.  In order to create the best fit, it is important that the fewest number of parameters are used while still keeping the value of chi squared at a minimum.  A second order polynomial was found to be adequate to fit the response of the scintillator.  A comparison of the scintillator response function before and after unfolding will be presented.  

Soil Activation from Alternating Gradient Synchrotron and Booster

JULIA TILLES
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003

KIN YIP
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973

Radioactive “hot spots,” primarily in the form of neutrons, are produced in the soil from the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) and its Booster counterpart at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).  In keeping with BNL’s efforts to acknowledge the environmental effects of the lab’s operations, the radiation levels resulting from hot spots will be put on record. A simulation of the beam particle geometry is performed with respect to the surrounding environment.  Focus was put on the present beam dump of AGS and the past beam dump of the Booster, where excess beam particles are collected and hot spots occur.  A Monte Carlo simulation program, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, called MCNPX (Monte Carlo Neutral Particles X-tended) is used. The end result is the compilation of several two-dimensional plots. Each plot overlays the simulated radiation levels upon the blueprint of the respective site and plane.  The information gathered will go on file for public access.