J-PARC Project Newsletter No.93, January 2024 dispatch
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J-PARC Project Newsletter
No.93, January 2024
Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex under joint operation by the
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and the Japan Atomic
Energy Agency (JAEA)
http://j-parc.jp/index-e.html
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HEADLINES AND CONTENTS
1. [Overview]
- MID-TERM EVALUATION BY MEXT OF THE ENTIRE J-PARC
- BEAM OPERATION RESTARTED AFTER APPLYING SAFETY MEASURES TO AVOID RECURRENCE OF THE FIRE
- MR/NU ACHIEVED CONTINUOUS OPERATION AT THE INITIAL DESIGN POWER OF 760KW
- PROF. ICHIKAWA (TOHOKU U.) RECEIVES THE NISHINA MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR ADVANCING NEUTRINO OSCILLATIONS WITH THE T2K EXPERIMENT
- J-PARC'S PUBLIC LECTURE 2023 "THE 'MUONS FOR THE FUTURE: SEEING THE INVISIBLE!" WAS HELD
2. [Accelerator Division]
BEAMS WITH A POWER OF 760 kW, A NEW RECORD AT THE MR, REACHED THE NEUTRINO FACILITY FOR BEAM USER OPERATION
3. [Particle and Nuclear Physics Division]
BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESSES FOR THE BEAM AND THE NEAR DETECTOR(ND).
STATUS OF THE JSNS2 / JSNS2-II (SEARCH FOR STERILE NEUTRINOS AT J-PARC MLF, E56 / E82).
WORKSHOP ON "COMPLEMENTARITY OF J-PARC AND HEAVY ION COLLISION EXPERIMENTS".
STATUS OF THE COHERENT MUON TO ELECTRON TRANSITION (COMET).
STATUS OF THE MUON g-2/ ELECTRIC DIPOLE MOMENT (EDM) (E34).
4. [Materials and Life Science Division]
USER PROGRAM STARTED WITH A 12 DAYS DELAY AND LESS BEAM POWER.
PROPOSALS FOR 2024A PERIOD WERE RECEIVED.
TRAINING SCHOOL ON SAMPLE ENVIRONMENT AND WORKSHOP ON NEUTRON IMAGING WERE HELD.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION WITH LEADING MUON FACILITIES.
5. [Nuclear Transmutation Division]
PLANS FOR NUCLEON ENGINEERING FACILITY WERE LISTED IN THE PROPOSAL OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL OF JAPAN.
6. [Safety Division]
AN EMERGENCY DRILL HELD ASSUMING A FIRE ACCIDENT.
FACILITY INSPECTION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED.
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1. [Overview] by Takashi KOBAYASHI
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MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE ENTIRE J-PARC BY MEXT
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A major review on the entire J-PARC operation, covering both JAEA and KEK sides, is being held under MEXT. The first review meeting was held on Nov. 2nd, and the 4th, and last meeting will be held on Dec. 25th. All the materials discussed in the meetings can be found at
https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/gijyutu/gijyutu2/112/index.html (only in Japanese)
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BEAM OPERATION RESTARTED AFTER APPLYING SAFETY MEASURES TO AVOID RECURRENCE OF THE FIRE AND SUMMER MAINTENANCE PERIOD
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On Nov. 21, beam delivery to the neutrino facility started as scheduled. Also on Dec. 3rd, user beam started to be delivered to MLF. During the summer maintenance period, in addition to the yearly maintenance, a number of countermeasures have been taken to avoid recurrence of the fires, including a safety check of all power devices in J-PARC. For the hadron experimental facility, work of the countermeasures is still continuing and restart of the beam to the HD facility is expected to be around the spring of 2024 after safety confirmation.
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ACHIEVED CONTINUOUS BEAM OPERATION OF MR AND NU AT 760KW
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On Dec. 25, 2023, the MR/NU facility achieved a continuous operation at 760kW beam power which surpassed the initial design goal of 750kW. For further details, kindly refer to our official website.
https://j-parc.jp/c/en/press-release/2024/01/17001276.html
https://j-parc.jp/c/en/press-release/2024/01/17001274.html
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PROF. ICHIKAWA (TOHOKU U.) RECEIVES THE NISHINA MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR ADVANCING NEUTRINO OSCILLATIONS WITH THE T2K EXPERIMENT
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The FY2023 Nishina Memorial Prize, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of physics in Japan, was given to Prof. Atsuko Ichikawa (Tohoku U.) for her contribution to "Constraining CP violating phase σ in neutrino oscillations" with the T2K experiment.
https://www.nishina-mf.or.jp/project_en/kinen_en/
https://www.nishina-mf.or.jp/news/event/2023/12/10/2023ceremony/
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J-PARC'S PUBLIC LECTURE 2023 "THE 'MUONS FOR THE FUTURE: SEEING THE INVISIBLE!" WAS HELD
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J-PARC's Public Lecture 2023 titled "The 'Muons for the Future: Seeing the Invisible!" took place in the Tokai Village on November 25. It was jointly hosted by the J-PARC Center, the Tokai Village, and the Tokai Village Board of Education. It showcased talks by Dr. Izumi Umegaki on muon-based battery research, local museum curators highlighting a student project using cosmic ray muons to observe ancient tombs, and Prof. Tomoki Nakamura discussing the analysis and findings of stones retrieved from the Ryugu asteroid via the Hayabusa 2 probe, using muon beam technology at J-PARC. In total, 240 attendees participated on-site and online. Talks can be watched anytime on YouTube.
https://j-parc.jp/symposium/lecture2023/
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2. [Accelerator Division] by Michikazu KINSHO
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BEAMS WITH A POWER OF 760 kW, A NEW RECORD AT THE MR, REACHED THE NEUTRINO FACILITY FOR BEAM USER OPERATION
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A new operation run started in November after the summer shutdown. Accelerator studies were carried out at the linac and the 3 GeV Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS) before beam user operation. The main purposes of the studies were to start up the machine, reproduce the accelerator parameters, confirm the performance of some new components installed during the summer shutdown, and survey new parameters for lower beam loss, etc. The studies of linac and RCS were performed until November 18th.
The studies were also performed at the Main Ring synchrotron (MR) with a 1.36-second cycle which was a new repetition rate from November 19th. After finishing the fine-tuning and passing the radiation inspection of the neutrino experimental facility, the beam user operation started on December 5th at a beam power of approximately 710 kW, which was the new record in the MR beam operation. Moreover, on December 25th, MR beams with the beam power of approximately 760 kW, which exceeds the initial design value of 750 kW, reached the neutrino experimental facility. We expect that this achievement will bring about a new dimension to accelerator science as well as neutrino science. For further details, kindly refer to our official website. https://j-parc.jp/c/en/press-release/2024/01/17001276.html
Beam user operation of the Materials and Life Science Facility (MLF) was postponed from November 21st to December 3rd due to the delay of the summer maintenance work. The beam user operation for the MLF with approximately 660 kW (capable peak power: 740 kW) could be continued with a high availability of more than 90%. The beam power had been limited at the request of the neutron production target team.
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3. [Particle and Nuclear Physics Division]
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BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESSES FOR THE BEAM AND THE NEAR DETECTOR (by Yoshiaki FUJII)
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On November 22nd, we re-started beam operation of the neutrino experiment facility. The start-up went smoothly and 610kW continuous operation was established on November 28th. Operation inspection by the overseeing authority was successfully done on December 4th. We received the certificate for 1.3MW operation on December 5th, and we officially moved to the beam operation for experiments.
Using the results from the position survey of the equipment carried out this summer, validation of the new beam optics is nicely in progress. With these improvements, 710kW stable operation has been established on December 15th. Furthermore, at the end of the December run, a continuous operation of the neutrino beam has been successfully achieved at 760kW, which is greater than the initial design beam power. For further details, kindly refer to our official website. https://j-parc.jp/c/en/press-release/2024/01/17001274.html
New detectors to measure neutrino interactions with higher precision were installed in the near detector hall located 280 m downstream of the T2K target. The newly installed detectors consist of a SuperFGD, which detects tracks around a neutrino interaction point inside the detector, a High-Angle TPC, which measures the momentum of particles emitted at a large-angle direction, and a Time-of-Flight system, which can detect incoming or outgoing particles and identify particles. First beam data taking with the new detectors started and neutrino event candidates were successfully observed.
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STATUS OF THE JSNS2 / JSNS2-II (SEARCH FOR STERILE NEUTRINOS AT J-PARC MLF, E56 / E82) (by Takasumi MARUYAMA)
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The JSNS2 (E56) / JSNS2-II (E82) collaboration searches for neutrino oscillation with a short distance by sterile neutrinos at J-PARC MLF. For JSNS2, the fifth long physics run from Dec-2023 to June-2024 using a single near detector located on the third floor of MLF began from 7-Dec in 2023. The available beam power was 650 kW. For JSNS2-II, a new far detector is under construction. The safety issues regarding the installation of its acrylic tank were discussed in a J-PARC wide special safety committee on Dec-2023, and the installation is planned to be performed in Feb-2024. JSNS2-II aims to start data taking within 2024.
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WORKSHOP ON "COMPLEMENTARITY OF J-PARC AND HEAVY ION COLLISION EXPERIMENTS" (by Yuhei MORINO)
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On October 27-28th, a workshop on "Complementarity of J-PARC and heavy ion collisions experiments" was held as an in-person and online hybrid scheme. The local venue was the KEK Tokai-1 Building. There were 60 people registered and about 35 on-site participants. The aims of this workshop were to have open discussions on the complementarity development of nuclear physics studied at J-PARC and in high-energy heavy ion collision experiments. Discussions for heavy ion collision experiments at J-PARC as part of its future plan and exchanges of both fields were also the purposes of this workshop. At this time, four sessions such as "hyper-nuclei", "exotic hadrons", "nuclear medium effects" and "from low energy to high energy" were prepared, since these themes were closely related to studies being held in the J-PARC hadron halls. In addition to introducing their own research, new ideas were also proposed, and there were heated discussions among the attendees, resulting in a successful conclusion.
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STATUS OF THE COHERENT MUON TO ELECTRON TRANSITION (COMET) (by Satoshi MIHARA)
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The COMET experiment aims to search for the lepton-flavor violating muon reaction, mu-e conversion, with a sensitivity better than 10-14 in Phase I. The COMET group carried out an engineering run, called Phase alpha, to measure the behavior of the proton beam and of the secondary particles in February and March 2023. Its first result was already presented at summer conferences. For conducting further detailed data analysis, the main detector used in Phase alpha, the range counter, was irradiated with pion/muon/electron beams provided at Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.
In parallel to this activity, facility construction continues. The capture solenoid magnet used to collect pions and transport them to the beam transport magnet is assembled at the manufacturer, to be installed in the COMET experiment area in the summer 2024. Experiment area preparation starts in January 2024.
The COMET group had an online collaboration meeting in November. More than 50 members joined to discuss the status of facility and detector construction, analysis tool development as well as simulation study, and schedule toward the start of physics data acquisition.
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STATUS OF THE MUON g-2/ ELECTRIC DIPOLE MOMENT (EDM) (E34) (by Tsutomu MIBE)
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The E34 collaboration aims for precision measurements of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and its electric dipole moment. The engineering design of the H-line experimental bldg. is in progress. The laser room as well as the platform for the RF power supplies are being constructed. The collaboration continued to work on the development of experimental components. An evaluation of muon source at the MLF S2 area is in progress. A workshop on muon acceleration and future collider with muon was organized at KEK Tsukuba campus (https://www2.kek.jp/ipns/en/news/5140/). Possibilities to utilize a low emittance positive muon source in a future collider were discussed. The collaboration is holding the 27th collaboration meeting at Niigata University in a hybrid style from December 13 to 15.
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4. [Materials and Life Science Division]
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Neutron Source; USER PROGRAM STARTED WITH a 12 DAYS DELAY AND LESS BEAM POWER (by Katsuhiro HAGA)
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There were two major maintenance works in October. One was the maintenance of the laser Doppler vibrometer used for monitoring the vibration of the mercury target vessel induced by pressure waves in mercury during beam operation. The other was the replacement of the proton beam window, used from 2020 to 2023, by remote handling operation. Both works were successfully completed, and the neutron source system got ready for the beam operation.
But when the MLF was changed to beam operation mode, the cryogenic hydrogen system got unexpected troubles. Thanks to dedicated works to solve the problems, the cryogenic hydrogen system could be successfully resumed, and the beam operation started on December 3, but the user program was delayed by 12 days.
There was another trouble in the mercury target vessel replaced during this maintenance period. The new mercury target vessel had a new structure in which the bubbler was mounted at a place 200 mm forward compared to the original type to increase the bubble number density in mercury near the forefront wall of the vessel. But it was found that the mercury flow rate and the gas injection flow rate at the bubbler were lower than expected, which forced us to reduce the beam power to 650 kW at MLF. The investigation of the cause is ongoing.
The 8th High Power Targetry Workshop was held at RIKEN Wako campus in Japan from November 6 to 10 hosted jointly by RIKEN and J-PARC. It was postponed several times from 2020 because of COVID-19, but finally it could be held in a face to face manner. More than 100 people attended and made fruitful discussions.
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Neutron Instruments and Science; PROPOSALS FOR 2024A PERIOD WERE RECEIVED. TRAINING SCHOOL ON SAMPLE ENVIRONMENT AND WORKSHOP ON NEUTRON IMAGING WERE HELD. (by Mitsutaka NAKAMURA)
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The proposal round of 2024A has been closed on November 7th. There were 301 applications for neutron experiments, a slight increase compared to the last proposal round. On the other hand, over 20 increments of proposals from abroad were received. Now the review process for the assignment is currently underway. All the operational schedule will be fixed at the MLF Advisory Board meeting being held on February 27th.
The 4th International Training School on Sample Environment at Scattering Facilities has been held in Tokai on 22 - 26 October. The school was hosted by J-PARC and in cooperation with other scattering facilities, to learn about Sample Environment (SE) for neutron and X-ray sciences. The school is designed for early career SE staff, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. Also, the program offers a combination of practical lectures including basic of neutron and X-ray as well as hands-on exercises (high-pressure, SE for soft matter, cryogenics, high-temperature, and so on) to develop basic SE skills. 18participants joined the program.
The NEUWAVE-11, a workshop on neutron wavelength dependent imaging was held in Tokyo on 22 - 26 October. This is a series of yearly workshops for imaging. It opens with a NEUWAVE tradition, the walking discussion in the Tokyo Bay area, followed by the workshop at Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. J-PARC and JRR-3 tours were also scheduled.
Recent press releases from MLF:
BL08 SuperHRPD and BL09 SPICA on Nov. 17
"Shedding Light on Unique Conduction Mechanisms in a New Type of Perovskite Oxyde" https://j-parc.jp/c/en/press-release/2023/11/17001241.html
on Nov. 16
"Machine learning molecular dynamics reveals the structural origin of the first sharp diffraction peak in high-density silica glasses" https://j-parc.jp/c/press-release/2023/11/16001239.html
BL09 SPICA on Oct. 20
Electropositive Metal Doping into Lanthanum Hydride for H- Conducting Solid Electrolyte Use at Room Temperature https://j-parc.jp/c/press-release/2023/10/20001222.html
BL22 RADEN on Oct. 11
3D Water Management in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells toward Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles https://j-parc.jp/c/press-release/2023/10/11001218.html
BL03 iBIX on Sep. 20
Neutron crystallography of a semiquinone radical intermediate of copper amine oxidase reveals a substrate-assisted conformational change of the peptidyl quinone cofactor https://j-parc.jp/c/press-release/2023/09/20001209.html
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Muon Science Facility (MUSE); INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION WITH LEADING MUON FACILITIES (by Naritoshi KAWAMURA)
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MUSE resumed operation on 3/Dec after a delay of about 2 weeks from the original schedule. Every beamline completed its annual maintenance work and started smoothly.
The workshop, BRIDGE2023, which aims to strengthen the collaboration of muon and neutron science between Switzerland and Japan, was held at PSI, Switzerland on 18-20/Oct. This series of workshops was started by KEK and PSI to discuss common issues about the production targets, beamlines, detectors, etc. This time, more than 70 scientists and engineers including 9 MUSE staff enjoyed discussions about the current issues and prospects of both high-intensity proton driver facilities of PSI and J-PARC, and detailed collaborative items were confirmed.
Picture: Stefan Ritt, PSI ( https://indico.psi.ch/event/14832/)
The conference, ICANS XXIV, was held in Dongguan China on 29/Oct-3/Nov. This historic conference series originally aimed to discuss advanced neutron sources. This time, sessions related to muon instruments were included for the first time. Most of the leading muon facilities in the world co-exist with neutron facilities, and thus this could be a good opportunity for mutual understanding. Subsequently, a workshop was also held in Dongguang to celebrate the funding for the muon facility, MELODY, on the CSNS site, discussing the muon facilities and a variety of muon sciences. On behalf of the muon section of MLF, the section leader and the sub-leader attended these meetings.
The 8th symposium of "Integration of Arts and Sciences" was held in Ueno Tokyo on 2-3/Nov, discussing the non-destructive elemental analysis of cultural artifacts by negative-muon beams and also studies using other quantum beams like synchrotron radiation and neutrons.
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5. [Nuclear Transmutation Division]by HAYANORI TAKEI
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PLANS FOR NUCLEON ENGINEERING FACILITY WERE LISTED IN THE PROPOSAL OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL OF JAPAN
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On September 25, the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) formulated the "Future academic promotion initiative (2023)," which consists of 19 "grand visions" for the science promotion for the next 20 to 30 years and "medium- to long-term research strategies for science" that are necessary from the perspective of realizing the grand vision (https://www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/kohyo-25-t353-3.html, only in Japanese). The proposal "Nucleon engineering society opened up by high-energy and -intensity proton beam (Proposal No.143)," of which Director Kobayashi was the proposer, was listed as one of the items of the grand vision "Elucidation of the extreme world using quantum beams and contribution to human society." This proposal, which is indeed an advanced plan of the J-PARC Transmutation Experimental Facility, aims to meet the versatile needs of an experimental facility mainly for engineering applications of protons and secondary neutrons, that is, nucleons. Four specific needs are envisioned: (1) materials irradiation, (2) semiconductor soft-error testing, (3) RI production, and (4) proton beam applications, and the experimental facility is expected to contribute to carbon neutrality, etc. We hope that the experimental facility plan will move forward significantly as this proposal has been taken up by the SCJ.
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6. [Safety Division]
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AN EMERGENCY DRILL WAS HELD ASSUMING A FIRE ACCIDENT
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On Oct. 10th, an emergency drill was performed at the Neutrino Experimental Facility. It assumed that a fire broke out in the electrical room and the power to the exhaust system of the radiation-controlled areas had to be cut off for firefighting. The purpose of the drill was to confirm the following, 1. Initial response to a fire outbreak, 2. Rapid establishment of the command post, 3. Procedure required for shutting down the exhaust system, 4. Information exchange between the fire location and the command post, 5. Communication between the command post, JAEA Nuclear Science Research Institute (NSRI) local headquarter, and KEK director via TV conference system.
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FACILITY INSPECTION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED
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The facility inspection of the Neutrino Experimental Facility was conducted by the Radiation Management Institute, Inc. on Dec. 4th. The items inspected were the shielding structure for the intensity upgrade of the primary proton beam from 750 kW to 1.3 MW, and the measurement of radiation dose rates at the facility. The certificate of compliance was issued on Dec. 5th.
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7. [Editorial Note]
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Past issues are available from the link below.
http://j-parc.jp/c/en/topics/project-newsletter/index.html
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┃ Editorial Board:
┃ Hidetomo OGURI (Chair) : oguri.hidetomo[at]jaea.go.jp
┃ Katsuhiro SHINTO: shinto.katsuhiro[at]jaea.go.jp
┃ Kyoichiro OZAWA: ozawa[at]post.kek.jp
┃ Kyoko AIZAWA: akyouko[at]post.j-parc.jp
┃ Hayanori TAKEI: takei.hayanori[at]jaea.go.jp
┃ Jean-Michel POUTISSOU (English Editor): jmp[at]triumf.ca
┃ Chiaki SHIRAISHI (Secretary): shiraishi.chiaki[at]jaea.go.jp
┃ * Please replace "(at)" with "@" when you enter an email address.
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