Participating in ILC accelerator R&D at a university
Many of the technical challenges to be resolved in designing the ILC
require a working knowledge of classical mechanics and electrodynamics.
Because of this, many research projects are well suited to the participation of young students,
as well as established physicists looking to broaden their horizons.
This has been our experience at the University of Illinois, where (undergraduate) students
work as scientists and find solutions to problems that have stumped PhD-level physicists.
The work can be a great deal of fun.
The rhythms of the academic year play a significant role in determining the rate of progress made by a university group. Sometimes this is not well understood by our colleagues at national laboratories, with whom we discuss the possibility of collaboration. It is important for us to choose our projects carefully: they should not be overly open-ended. We will want to be able to make measurable progress during a summer of hard work since this is the most productive time for a university group.
• Click here for detailed information about "sub work-package" projects that you might consider pursuing.
• Click here for information about projects proposed in previous years through LCRD and UCLC.
• Click here for progress reports written in 2007 for funded accelerator R&D efforts.
• Click here for presentations concerning Fermilab's NML (New Muon lab) test accelerator facility. (Some earlier material is posted here.)
Finding suitable projects
Many university groups have expressed an interest in developing an ILC activity at their home institutions.[1] In previous years the process of identifying an appropriate project, writing a suitable proposal, and shepherding it through the review process was sometimes awkward and inefficient. We expect that this is changing now thanks to the work of the GDE's (Global Design Effort's) WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) leaders who have been generating lists of prioritized R&D projects.
Consider partnering with a group at a national laboratory that is already working on the ILC. This will tend to steer you towards high priority projects, increasing the chances that you'll receive funding. The labs are also good sources of ideas for useful projects that you will not have thought to propose on your own.
Be aggressive. The WBS leaders of the Americas Regional Team (ART) can, if pressed, provide you with a great deal of useful information.
R&D areas
The GDE has organized the areas of work into the categories listed in the following table. There can be surprises. For example, some of the interesting investigations concerning SCRF cavities have very little to do with the high-field behavior of cryogenic devices.
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| x.2: Global systems | John Carwardine (ANL), Ray Larsen (SLAC) |
| x.3: Electron sources | Axel Brachmann (SLAC), Matt Poelker (JLab) |
| x.4: Positron sources | John Sheppard (SLAC), Jeff Gronberg (LLNL) |
| x.5: Damping rings | Alan Jackson (LBNL), Mark Palmer (Cornell) |
| x.6: Ring to Main Linac | Nikolay Solyak (Fermilab) |
| x.7: Main Linacs: Optics, beam dynamics, instrumentation | Nikolay Solyak (Fermilab) |
| x.8: Main Linacs: RF systems | Chris Adolphsen (SLAC), Sergei Nagaitsev (Fermilab) |
| x.9: Main Linacs: Cavities and Cryomodules | Shekhar Mishra (Fermilab), Hasan Padamsee (Cornell), Charles Reece (JLab), Mike Kelly (ANL) |
| x.10: Beam delivery system | Andrei Seryi (SLAC), Brett Parker (BNL) |
| x.11: Conventional facilities | Vic Kuchler (Fermilab), Fred Asiri (SLAC) |
Click here for detailed information about some of the "sub work-package" projects that need attention.
Seeking funding for projects
Here are some of the possible channels through which funding might flow.
- Enter into a subcontracting arrangement with a national laboratory to perform work of
mutual interest. Some support could flow from the lab to your university, while some might come from resources controlled by the GDE.
- Submit an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Energy, perhaps adding an ILC project as a task in a DOE umbrella grant that you share with your colleagues.
- Join in an NSF consortium proposal that will be submitted in November 2007. The University of Illinois will act as the proposal's managing university with other roups participating as subcontractors. UIUC will charge indirect costs on the first $25k of each subcontractor's award. Contact me for more information.
Getting started
Please use the template found here to generate a short description of the work you'd like to take on. Send it to the appropriate WBS leader, with a copy to me.
[1]See Engagement by U.S. University Groups With International Linear Collider R&D Projects, a report for the Vice Chancellor for Research at UIUC (203 kB pdf).