NSF DUSEL planning meeting

Date: Nov 3, 2007

Location: Washington, DC. The National Academy auditorium and the M-street Renaissance hotel.

Purpose: Coordinate R&D funding request for the DUSEL. Create white papers for the initial suite of experiments.

Agenda and slides

Saturday
10:15 Stuart Raby Proton Decay
10:35 Jogesh Pati Physics Issues of High Priority that can be probed at DUSEL
10:45 Gina Rameika Neutrino Beam from FNAL to DUSEL and Project-X
11:15 Renato Potenza R&D planning in Italy and Catania
11:25 Bonnie Fleming A large liquid argon detector in Homestake
11:35 David Cline A large liquid argon detector and Homestake and discussion
12:05 Mike Snow NNbar experiment at DUSEL
12:20 Yuri Kamyshkov NNbar Oscillation planning in Homestake
14:30 Mark Laurenti Homestake cavern excavation and coring study plan; Version 2 (white background)
Mark Laurenti Preliminary timeline of cavern excavation plan and cost
15:00 Discussion 1 for large cavern group.
15:00 Discussion 2 for NNbar group
Sunday
8:30-9.15 Finalization of white papers.
Meeting summary: The most important thing in this meeting was the cost and schedule information from both the large detector and the NNbar groups. We also worked on the scientific priority for these experiments, and it was found to be very high.

Mark Laurenti presented work on the cavern excavation plan and preliminary cost. This is one way of doing this construction. Obviously there are other ways that could be faster. The plan will have to be subject to a review process, nevertheless one thing is clear: the group needs to get started on the coring and site investigation for Homestake. This is part of the plan presented by Mark. The discussion focussed on writing the white paper that will focus on the site investigation. The white paper will be written in the form of a proposal. When, how, where it is presented will be discussed later.

The NNbar group presented a cost and schedule estimate as well. The discussion revolved around the main unknown in that group: the regulation and local public reaction regarding their neutron source. It was proposed that they ask for money and time to resolve the questions regarding the source. In addition, there needs to be a process (a committee) to advise and review the NNbar group on both regulatory and scientific matters.

Milind Diwan
Last modified: Fri Mar 14 13:10:35 EDT 2008