| With many accelerator projects on the horizon, Fermilab is encouraging
university groups to get involved in accelerator projects such as those
with the Fermilab Booster, in order to create a better balance between
detector physics and accelerator physics. Currently, for example, each
large collider experiment at Fermilab has about 600 scientists, while
the Accelerator Division has about 150 scientists.
In the past, particle physics detectors have typically been of
equal or greater complexity than the accelerators at which they have
operated, but that's changing. "It's very valuable for experimenters to
understand accelerators and their potential problems," said Eric Prebys
of Fermilab's Accelerator Division who works on the Booster. "Working
on the accelerators is also a different environment than working on the
detectors, and some people are attracted to that."
Because Booster performance plays a critical role in the
success of the MiniBooNE and NuMI/MINOS experiments, physicists and
universities from these groups have offered a great deal of help to the
Booster. "MiniBooNE collaborators contributed early on to the
development of ramping corrector magnets in the Booster," Prebys said.
"Both collaborations have also helped by contributing their machine
shops to build components for copper RF cavities, which universities
built at a fraction of the price Fermilab would have paid to build the
cavities on its own." Other more speculative projects include Columbia
University's assistance in developing a robot capable of going into
high radiation areas.
Graduate students have also contributed to the Booster through the
Fermilab Accelerator PhD program. Xiaobiao Huang, from the University
of Indiana, has been working on precision modeling of the Booster, and
Bob Zwaska, from the University of Texas at Austin has been working on
the synchronization of the Booster with the Main Injector.
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