Award Abstract #0612805
U.S. CMS Operations at the LHC
NSF Org: |
PHY
Division of Physics
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Initial Amendment Date: |
January 26, 2007 |
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Latest Amendment Date: |
February 6, 2008 |
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Award Number: |
0612805 |
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Award Instrument: |
Cooperative Agreement |
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Program Manager: |
Morris Pripstein
PHY Division of Physics
MPS Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences
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Start Date: |
January 1, 2007 |
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Expires: |
December 31, 2011 (Estimated) |
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Awarded Amount to Date: |
$15999999 |
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Investigator(s): |
Robert Cousins cousins@physics.ucla.edu (Principal Investigator)
Daniel Marlow (Co-Principal Investigator)
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Sponsor: |
University of California-Los Angeles
11000 Kinross Avenue
LOS ANGELES, CA 90095 310/794-0102
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NSF Program(s): |
CMS - OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
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Field Application(s): |
0000099 Other Applications NEC
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Program Reference Code(s): |
OTHR,0000
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Program Element Code(s): |
012F
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ABSTRACT
The goal of CMS Experiment is to realize the physics discoveries made possible by the U.S. investment
of the NSF and the DOE in building the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) at CERN. This is a multi-year program to maintain and operate the U.S.-supplied systems
of the CMS detector and to maintain and continue to strengthen the software, computing and collaborative
infrastructure of U.S. universities working on the CMS experiment.
Intellectual Merit: The LHC will open a new regime in particle physics up to and beyond the TeV
energy scale, made accessible for the first time by a combination of high luminosity of 1034cm 2s 1 and
the proton-proton center of mass energy of 14 TeV. The unprecedented energy range and luminosity of
this new particle accelerator, combined with the special capabilities of the CMS experiment for particle
detection and measurement, are expected to lead to discoveries of new elementary particles and novel
behaviors of the fundamental forces. Such discoveries could have revolutionary effects on our
understanding of the unification of forces, the origin and stability of matter, the ultimate underpinnings of
the observable universe, and the nature of space-time itself. The LHC, which is now being constructed by
a global collaboration of thousands of physicists and engineers, will commence operation in 2007 with a
scientific program that will continue for many years.
U.S. physicists, who constitute approximately 30% of collaborating CMS physicists from 38 countries,
are mostly based at U.S. universities. This fact underlies the basis of our proposal, namely that in order to
exploit fully the ambitious and rich scientific program at the LHC, researchers at U.S. universities,
including graduate students excited by the prospects of major discoveries, must have the resources
required for full participation in all phases of the scientific program during the LHC operational period.
This enabling effort provides for crucial university infrastructure beyond that available from each
agency's core high energy physics programs, while building on the proven successes of the U.S. CMS
Construction Project. There are two main categories, Detector Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and
Software and Computing (S&C). Also included in M&O are detector upgrade research and development
(R&D), and education and outreach (E&O), both critical parts of the long-term exploitation of the CMS
detector.
The Broader Impact of the LHC research includes advances in technology in several areas, support for
university scientific infrastructure, and the opportunity to attract students and the general public to
exciting frontier science. Numerous outreach and education possibilities exist that are already being
implemented in programs such as QuarkNet. Extensive computer networks are being built as
collaborative tools for the LHC, and they can also be used to share the excitement of discovery with noncollaborators. The CMS detector contains a variety of subsystems with numerous technological
challenges in areas such as radiation hardness of materials and circuits, precision measurement of ionizing
radiation, precision alignment, large high-density crystal growing, high-density inter-connecting of
electrical signals, large high-magnetic field volumes, and many aspects of computing and data transfer.
CMS institutions, often working with industry, have made or implemented innovations in these areas and
R&D continues as part of this program. As a result of the international nature of LHC research, many of
these advances are developed and shared with collaborators from other countries to mutual benefit,
including less developed countries in Latin America and elsewhere.
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