Proposals for experiments are made at CERN and have to go through the correct channels in order to be approved. One of the last steps in the process is to submit the proposal to an appropriate CERN Scientific Committee. The committees will discuss the proposal and then pass on their recommendations to the Research Board (previously the Nuclear Physics Research Committee) for the final decision. Proposals approved become part of the CERN experimental programme. [1]
In 1960, John Adams, the Director General, created three committees to manage experiments for each bubble chamber experimental technique used at CERN. [2] These replaced the previous Advisory and Bubble Chamber committees. [3] At the end of the bubble chamber period, the system was again changed and based on machine, rather than experimental technique. The committees were changed and merged in order to accommodate to this. [4] [1] [5] Since then, the committees have changed based on the creation and decommissioning of facilities and accelerators. [1]
Title | Current Chair | Date Established | Description | Links |
---|---|---|---|---|
ISOLDE and Neutron Time-of-Flight Experiments Committee (INTC) [6] | Marek Pfutzner | August 1999 | Evaluates experiment proposals for the ISOLDE facility and n_TOF facility. Initially referred to as ISTC, but changed to INTC in 2000. | Database |
Large Hadron Collider Committee (LHCC) [7] | Frank Simon | March 1992 | Evaluates experiment proposals for LHC, and reviews the World LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) and detector R&D projects. | Database |
Research Board (RB) [8] | Fabiola Gianotti (CERN Director General) | 1976 | Makes decisions on recommendations made by all CERN Experimental Committees. Also decides on accelerator schedules and "Recognised Experiments" requests. | Database |
Super Proton Synchrotron and Proton Synchrotron Committee (SPSC) - 2nd Period [9] | Jordan Nash | 1989 | Review requests from experimental teams considering the accelerator availability and physics interest. | Database |
Title | Date Established | Date Ended | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Advisory Committee (AC) | June 1957 | 1960 | Advised the Director-General on the utilisation of the accelerators by Member State visiting teams. Taken over by three new experimental committees. |
Detector Research and Development Committee (DRDC) | July 1990 | January 1995 | Evaluated all proposals for detector R&D. Taken over by LHCC and SPSC. |
Electronic Experiments Committee (EEC) [10] | March 1961 | 1976 | Examined proposals for experiments concerning electronics at the Proton Synchrotron (PS). Often referred to as Physics I Committee (PH-I-COM). Merged with TCC to become PSC. |
Emulsion Experiment Committee (EmC) [10] | 1961 | 1976 | Examined proposals for experiments concerning emulsion experiments. Merged with NSC to form PH-III-COM, which then become the SCC. |
ISOLDE Committee (ISC) | 1991 | 1999 | Reviewed proposals for ISOLDE experiments. Become the ISTC (INTC). |
Intersecting Storage Rings Committee (ISRC) | 1968 | January 1984 | Evaluated proposals for experiments using the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR). Disassembled after the ISR were closed down. |
Large Electron Position Committee (LEPC) | 1982 | November 2000 | Reviewed proposals for experiments at the LEP accelerator. Disassembled after LEP was decommissioned. |
Nuclear Physics Research Committee (NPRC) [10] | 1961 | 1976 | Took recommendations from the committees and decided on the experimental programmes for the facilities. Regularly reviewed the current experiments. Replaced by the RB. |
Nuclear Structure Committee (NSC) | 1964 | 1966 | Decided on proposals for nuclear structure research experiments and provided coordination for nuclear structure groups using the Synchro-Cyclotron (SC). Merged with the EmC to form the PH-III-COM. |
Proton Synchrotron Committee (PSC) [11] [12] | 1976 | 1978 | Examined experimental proposals using the PS. Merged with the SCC to form the PSCC. |
Proton Synchrotron and Synchro-Cyclotron Committee (PSCC) | 1978 | 1990 | Reviewed experimental proposals concerning the PS and SC. Split into the ISC, LEAR and SPSC when the SC shut down. |
Synchro-Cyclotron Committee (SCC)) [11] [12] | 1976 | 1977 | Renamed from the PH-III-COM. Evaluated experimental proposals for the SC. Merged with PSC to form the PSCC. |
Super Proton Synchrotron Committee (SPSC) - 1st Period | 1973 | 1990 | Evaluated experimental proposals regarding use of the Super Proton Synchrotron. Transferred to the SPSLC. |
Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR) Committee (SPSLC) | 1990 | 1997 | Examined experiment requests based on the availability of the accelerators and the physics interest of the proposals. Reverted to previous name (SPSC) when LEAR was decommissioned. |
Track Chamber Committee (TPC) [10] | 1961 | 1976 | Examined proposals for experiments concerning track chamber experiments. Commonly known as PH-II-COM. Merged with EEC to become the PSC. |
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Geneva, on the France–Switzerland border. It comprises 23 member states. Israel, admitted in 2013, is the only non-European full member. CERN is an official United Nations General Assembly observer.
Gargamelle was a heavy liquid bubble chamber detector in operation at CERN between 1970 and 1979. It was designed to detect neutrinos and antineutrinos, which were produced with a beam from the Proton Synchrotron (PS) between 1970 and 1976, before the detector was moved to the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). In 1979 an irreparable crack was discovered in the bubble chamber, and the detector was decommissioned. It is currently part of the "Microcosm" exhibition at CERN, open to the public.
Paul Hermann Scherrer was a Swiss physicist. Born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, he studied at Göttingen, Germany, before becoming a lecturer there. Later, Scherrer became head of the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich.
A wire chamber or multi-wire proportional chamber is a type of proportional counter that detects charged particles and photons and can give positional information on their trajectory, by tracking the trails of gaseous ionization.
The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, in Dubna, Moscow Oblast, Russia, is an international research center for nuclear sciences, with 5500 staff members including 1200 researchers holding over 1000 Ph.Ds from eighteen countries. Most scientists are scientists of Russian Federation.
The Underground Area 2 (UA2) experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider — a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) — at CERN. The experiment ran from 1981 until 1990, and its main objective was to discover the W and Z bosons. UA2, together with the UA1 experiment, succeeded in discovering these particles in 1983, leading to the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer. The UA2 experiment also observed the first evidence for jet production in hadron collisions in 1981, and was involved in the searches of the top quark and of supersymmetric particles. Pierre Darriulat was the spokesperson of UA2 from 1981 to 1986, followed by Luigi Di Lella from 1986 to 1990.
High-energy nuclear physics studies the behavior of nuclear matter in energy regimes typical of high-energy physics. The primary focus of this field is the study of heavy-ion collisions, as compared to lighter atoms in other particle accelerators. At sufficient collision energies, these types of collisions are theorized to produce the quark–gluon plasma. In peripheral nuclear collisions at high energies one expects to obtain information on the electromagnetic production of leptons and mesons that are not accessible in electron–positron colliders due to their much smaller luminosities.
The ISOLDE Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, is an on-line isotope separator facility located at the centre of the CERN accelerator complex on the Franco-Swiss border. Created in 1964, the ISOLDE facility started delivering radioactive ion beams (RIBs) to users in 1967. Originally located at the Synchro-Cyclotron (SC) accelerator, the facility has been upgraded several times most notably in 1992 when the whole facility was moved to be connected to CERN's ProtonSynchroton Booster (PSB). ISOLDE is currently the longest-running facility in operation at CERN, with continuous developments of the facility and its experiments keeping ISOLDE at the forefront of science with RIBs. ISOLDE benefits a wide range of physics communities with applications covering nuclear, atomic, molecular and solid-state physics, but also biophysics and astrophysics, as well as high-precision experiments looking for physics beyond the Standard Model. The facility is operated by the ISOLDE Collaboration, comprising CERN and sixteen (mostly) European countries. As of 2019, close to 1000 experimentalists around the world are coming to ISOLDE to perform typically 50 different experiments per year.
The Proton Synchrotron is a particle accelerator at CERN. It is CERN's first synchrotron, beginning its operation in 1959. For a brief period the PS was the world's highest energy particle accelerator. It has since served as a pre-accelerator for the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) and the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), and is currently part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator complex. In addition to protons, PS has accelerated alpha particles, oxygen and sulfur nuclei, electrons, positrons, and antiprotons.
George Ernest Kalmus, CBE, FRS is a noted British particle physicist.
Rolf Hagedorn was a German theoretical physicist who worked at CERN. He is known for the idea that hadronic matter has a "melting point". The Hagedorn temperature is named in his honor.
The NA49 experiment was a particle physics experiment that investigated the properties of quark–gluon plasma. The experiment's synonym was Ions/TPC-Hadrons. It took place in the North Area of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN from 1991-2002.
Carlo Franzinetti was an Italian experimental physicist.
Magda Galula Ericson (born 1929) is a French-Algerian physicist of Tunisian origin. Her experimental pioneering PhD work changed the understanding of critical phenomena near the Curie point and later in her career she has become known for her theoretical development of the Ericson-Ericson Lorentz-Lorenz correction.
Horst Artur Wenninger was a German physicist who spent most of his career at CERN, later for the FAIR project.
The Synchro-Cyclotron, or Synchrocyclotron (SC), built in 1957, was CERN’s first accelerator. It was 15.7 metres (52 ft) in circumference and provided beams for CERN's first experiments in particle and nuclear physics. It accelerated particles to energies up to 600 MeV. The foundation stone of CERN was laid at the site of the Synchrocyclotron by the first Director-General of CERN, Felix Bloch. After its remarkably long 33 years of service time, the SC was decommissioned in 1990. Nowadays it accepts visitors as an exhibition area in CERN.
The 81 cm Saclay Bubble Chamber was a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber built at Saclay, in collaboration with the École Polytechnique (Orsay), to study particle physics. The team led by Bernard Gregory completed the construction of the chamber in 1960 and later it was moved to CERN and installed at the Proton Synchrotron (PS).
André Lagarrigue (1924 – 14 January 1975) was a French particle physicist. Being the initiator of the Gargamelle experiment at CERN, his work was of paramount importance in the discovery of neutral currents — the first experimental indication of the existence of the Z0 boson. This major discovery was a step towards verification of the electroweak theory, today a pillar of the Standard Model.
Emanuele Quercigh is an Italian particle physicist who works since 1964 at CERN, most known for the discovery of quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quercigh moved as a child to Friuli with his mother and his younger brother after the early death of his father. Quercigh studied physics at the University of Milan in Italy, where he became assistant of professor Giuseppe Occhialini in 1959.
Torleif Erik Oskar Ericson, born November 2, 1930 in Lund, is a Swedish nuclear theoretical physicist. He is known for 'Ericson fluctuations' and the 'Ericson-Ericson Lorentz-Lorenz effect'. His research has nurtured the link between nuclear and particle physics.