DRAGON minutes of Tuesday, February 4th 2003

Present: JDA, SE, DH, DG, DFOT, LB, CN, AB (scribe), CW, AL, AO

1) Corrections to previous minutes 

     - Section 3, Status Reports, first line, the word "and" after "MD2" should be replaced with the word "are". 
     - Section 3, Status Reports, line 11, include the word "not" between "be" and "needed".

2) Mini status reports 

     - Power Supply. DH reported that all but the A/C power was hooked up last week for the new dipole power
       supplies. Water is still needed to be hooked up and control systems installed and these should take a couple of
       weeks. 
     - ED power supplies need to be commissioned up to at least 160 kV for LB C12(alpha,gamma) exp.      
       This should occur in the next few days. 
     - CCD. DFOT reported that the software keeps crashing everyday. Port locks up on USB. PM            
       should look into the problem.
     - DFOT is working on the dry pumping system. An additional buffer tank will be installed on the
       backup line to minimize operation of the expensive pump.
     - New Faraday Cup. Progressing. Not a top priority job.
     - New Beam Position Monitor. Working on cabling. Couple of days before finishing.
     - DAQ. AO has made no progress.
     - Web Page. CN is looking into doing an online Forum. It might change communication within the group. AO
       would like categories (Software, Minutes, Conference procedure, etc). Forum   helps make better presentations.
       Forum approved.

3) Plans for stable beam (continued) 

     - 12C, 13C, 16O, 20Ne, and 21Ne beam will be requested. 
     - Availability depends on OLIS power supply repair. 
     - Hopes for mid Feb, 12C beam (2+).
     - Dragon will have beam after Bob has finished tuning; DTL never run at the high values needed                   
       for this beam up until now so new tunes needed.
     - LB was asked to provide a detailed 12C run plan (charge states, energies?).
     - LB suggested run carbon in 20keV/u steps. Start at 4+, 1.07MeV.
     - JDA wants a 13C beam for a week.
     - No overnights planed for stable beam time.
     - SE suggested that we need to measure energy losses whenever energy chaanged. This was    
       strongly supported and hopefully will be followed during runs in the future. 
     - DH wants a C, O, or Ne beam (in a high charge state) for optics.              
     - W  need to submit a request for stable beams to JMP.

4) Gamma array efficiency (above 4Mev) 

     - DG has located some papers in literature on energy calibrating germanium detector above 4 MeV. 
     - JDA suggested making a beta source.
     - DG may use old sodium iodine tables for calibrating the present source? Considerable discussion ensued(JDA,
       DH, AO) whether they are good enough. DH has another method using 16O. To do both methods should take a
       month.

5) 15O(a,g): Where are we? 

     - Alan Shotter not convinced that Hendrik Schatz made a strong case for 15O(a,g). 
     - Continuing with the study of oxygen. Need director's support.
     - Starrfield's calculations are the only known ones that indicate nova breakout in hot CNO?
     - Next? Invite Starrfield to help with and to discuss the physics?
     - Higher resonances might be important in X-ray bursts. Are higher resonances needed for  
       understanding mechanism of xray bursts?
     - AL said that Dragon measures higher resonances directly but Tuda measures them indirectly.  
       Therefore, there is more motivation for Dragon to measure higher lying resonances to test 
       the comparison between direct and indirect methods
     - Need to convince TRIUMF to assist with the development of the O beam. Need money and 
        manpower. Is the physics motivation there? Continue with small cyclotron method?

6) AOB 

     - SE is showing a journalist from Ottawa around Dragon today.