Pierre
Auger Project
Progress
Report
Summary (photo album)
Some of the thorniest operations problems in both hardware and software in the Fluorescence Detector systems have been solved. However the system still requires more work before it is fully reliable. Failure of the power line to Los Morados caused that fluorescence building and the associated array sectors to be off for a number of weeks in December and January. The line is again operational. A major repair and upgrade is underway which should make the line more reliable. The Loma Amarilla fluorescence building construction is moving along nicely. The foundation work will be completed soon.
There are 1100 detector stations deployed in the field and 900 are taking data. The dearth of accessible tank positions in the North-East sectors of the array has brought deployment nearly to a halt. As with the fluorescence detectors, a number of operations problems are under investigation. Almost all of the components required to finish the surface detector stations are now funded or in the pipeline.
The first production version of the DPA (version
2.0) has
been released. This version is intended
for large scale data and
The funding outlook for the Auger Project has had its ups and downs. We are now in a cautiously optimistic phase although the access to land for the last of the array remains a big uncertainty.
There are some changes in the management structure. Beatriz Garcia has asked to step down from
the position of Co-Task Leader for the Education and Outreach Task. Beatriz had the particular assignment of
overseeing the
At the same time we are adding a new Monitoring Task under the leadership of Cyril Lauchaud. This group will develop a range of monitoring tools to improve performance and the quality of data.
The construction of the
WBS 1.1 Fluorescence Detector (Jonny
Kleinfeller –
Karlesruhe)
There have been some mayor changes
at FD, which should improve operation of the system.
It won't be the "Swiss Watch" yet, but it will be a cure to
the frustration of the shift operators.
The buildings are now equipped with a surge protector, this
should reduce
trips of the differential switches (followed by trips to
the buildings)
and damage to electronics equipment (again trips to the buildings) due
to power
cuts.
The power lines to Los Leones and Los Morados are currently
being refurbished and equipped with lightening protection.
The high voltage system has been upgraded by a team from
A further upgrade will be necessary this year, to guaranty
this stability
for the 15 year operation of the experiment.
The hardware of the FS curtains has been upgraded. I don't expect
any more
problems with the curtains in future operations.
The control electronics of the shutters has been unified in preparation
of the
modifications on the Brazilian shutters in March 2006.
The MirrorPCs of all telescopes have been modified to eliminate
the
famous FireWire Bug.
From the experience with 3 telescopes running at Coihueco with
this
modification since November 2005, we expect that the most
frequent
component of the FireWire Bug is eliminated. The system will be
thoroughly tested in the coming shift. Now we have a chance to
debug
hardware and software for other bugs.
There is too little progress at Loma Amarilla to give an estimate
when
the building will be ready, for now we have to assume the
contract date,
which is end of September 2006.
If this is going to be the case, completion of installations by
the end
of 2006 will be very tight.
All 18 telescopes have corrector ring lenses
installed.
W BS 1.1.3 Fluorescence Detector Calibration
(Jeff Brack
– University of Colorado-Boulder)
An independent check of the FD absolute
calibration, as
measured with the usual drum technique, has been made for cameras at
Los Leones
and Coihueco using remote laser shots at 337 nm. While there are
some differences,
the results are within the uncertainties of the two techniques and
greatly
increase our confidence in the overall calibration of the fluorescence
detectors. A gap note has been submitted on the laser shot
calibration.
Results of a measurement of the relative response of Los Leones Bay 4
at 5
wavelengths between 300 and 400 nm are being prepared for a gap
note. The
measurement was made before the meeting in November, 2005. A
xenon
flasher and notch filters were used as the drum light source. The
QE of
the drum calibration PMT over this range of wavelengths has been
measured
in
At present, progress is being made on upgrading the standard 375 nm LED
drum
light source to a higher intensity LED at 380 nm. It is planned
that this
light source will be used in early March at all 18 operational bays.
More
multi-wavelength measurements are also planned for this trip.
A multi-wavelength LED light source is being prepared at CU, with help
from
LSU, as the permanent multi-wavelength calibration setup, replacing the
xenon
flasher/notch filter arrangement used for the first results
above. It
should be ready for use by September of 2006.
WBS 1.1.3.3 Fluorescence Detector Atmospheric
Monitoring
(Stefan Westerhoff –
LIDAR (reported by Marcos Santander and Jorge Rodriguez)
During the past shift, a new 3 kVA UPS with 2 three-phase motors and one Variable Frequency Drive to control them was installed in the Coihueco Lidar. This new hardware allows the operation of the telescope and the cover even in the case of a power outage. This issue is of extreme importance to ensure a safe remote operation. New software running on the
Lidar PC communicates with the UPS through a serial port and starts the automatic closing procedure in the occurrence of an outage longer than 10 minutes.
In Los Morados, Ruben installed the optical fibers from the FD to the Lidar container. This will allow us to start operating Morados in the near future.
Several minor changes have been introduced in the Lidar web page. A satellite image provided by the Argentinians Weather Information Office that covers the complete Auger array and its surroundings is now available on the Lidar website and refreshes automatically every hour
(http://lidar.auger.org.ar/play/clouds.php ). The image has the FD sites labelled on it and provides simple but useful weather information for the FD and Lidar operators. The start page of the website displays astronomical information for the day (moon phase, twilights and length of the FD run). A wiki page is now available for the Lidar at http://lidar.auger.org.ar/wiki and
is being filled with information relevant for the operation of the Lidar.
Each scan plot is now made of two plots integrated: the first covering the low range (from 0 to 7 km) and the second from 0 to 15 km.
WBS 1.2
Fluorescence Detector digital electronics
and readout systems (incl. FD monitoring) (Matthias Kleifges – FZK-IPE)
News in
the case of “FireWire bug”:
We found a
procedure to provoke a hang-up of the FireWire communication between FE
and
MirrorPC (MPC), which is the most severe problem in the FD DAQ with
negative
impact on FD operation. Further investigations in November proofed a
conflict
on the PCI bus between the LAN and the FW card. We tested other type of
LAN
plug-in cards, but all tested types showed sooner or later the same
problem.
During the January shift we run successfully 5 MPC, which were
configured to
used the built-in (motherboard) LAN interface. After this successful
test N.
Kunka is now on site implement this configuration in the complete FD
system.
The built-in LAN can not boot LINUX through Ethernet, but by means of
an
additional CF memory card and a new default bios configuration we can
solve
this problem. We are confident that the “FW bug” will disappear with
the next
shift.
Progress
in Slow Control software (report by
Kai Daumiler):
·
General
system maintenance on site (system updates, backups etc.).
· Tests of upgraded control software on site (bug-fixes, additional hardware checks, the configuration of the HV-modules is now more flexible to deal with faulty channels etc.).
·
Installation
and test of the OPC-XML gateway software developed in
·
Installation
of the new OS independent SCS user interface. It is based on a central
web
server (also developed in
·
Enhancement
of the web-interfaces to access SCS logs and HV-data already stored in
a
MySQL-database.
SCS
Hardware
·
Maintenance
of all installed systems, e.g. exchange of some error-prone Profibus
components.
·
Upgrade
of the installed shutter electronics to the standard version in Los
Leones and
Coihueco. This is the preparation of the anticipated replacement of
Brazilian
shutters with FZK design in the near future.
Recent
DAQ/ software improvements (Mathes, Kopmann):
·
The
FDEventLib was changed to be compatible with newer Root revision.
·
The
FDHwLib was adapted to 64-bit systems and for the used by the KATRIN
experiment
where the front-end electronics is readout be MAC computers.
·
A
bug in the configuration file for the electronic test pulser was found
and
solved.
·
The
newest version of the GPS server uses a timetable to correct GPS times
for leap
seconds (there was one at the end of 2005). A bug in the start-up
configuration
was fixed.
·
The
communication with the CalibrationPC was changed to messages in text
format.
·
The
analysis packages for calibration data was extended by S. Menshikov.
There are
now routines for the relative time calibration and the analysis of
afterpulses
for data with the LCU. Also the ratio of virtual channel to normal
channel is
recalibrated.
Recent
changes in the firmware and hardware (Tcherniakhovski):
·
The
firmware of the GPS clock was changed to provide trigger pulses with 1
kHz for
the Lidar operation. The transition to the higher rate will be
implemented on
site in March 06.
·
New
revision SIB5.1 solves a bug at the initialisation phase of the
communication
between MPC and FE.
·
New
revision 3.3 fixes a possible problem in the management of memory pages
of the
SLT.
·
Latest
FLT revision 5.1 supports the generation and readout of the
multiplicity
signal. This signal is the basis for the anticipated new TLT algorithm.
·
We
have started design work for the new generation of electronics to be
used for
Auger North. The prototype of this design is used for enhancements in
Auger
South (3 extra telescopes). We are in contact with our Italian
colleagues to
define the interface to e.g. the analog board or the HV/LV systems,
which is
under their responsibility.
New
concept for FD monitoring: (Kopmann, Mathes, K. Daumiller, Kleifges)
During a meeting in Frascati a new concept to monitor FD
parameters was
developed. The concept is based on a MySQL data base on each EyePC,
which is
filled with data by the currently active processes and immediately
replicates
itself to a data base at CDAS. The shifter or expert can display all
information of the CDAS data base with a GUI. The FZK group has done
the
following activities to implement the new concept:
·
Tests
how SCS information can be filled online into a MySQL-database
(currently the
database is filled by parsing logfiles with one day delay in
·
Change
the structure of an already existing database to prepare for the
integration
into the new FD-Monitoring scheme.
·
Implementation
of test cases within the FD DAQ to demonstrate that writing FD data
into the
monitoring SQL DB is feasible
·
The
WBS 2.1
SD (Ingo Allekote – Instituto Balseiro, Peter Mazur - Fermilab)
As of January 31st, 2006, there were 1109 surface
detectors
deployed, of which 1043 were filled with water and 922 were completely
installed with electronics.
During the period December 2005 to January 2006, 32 Rotoplastyc tanks
were
received, 55 were assembled at the assembly building, 52 were deployed
and 7
filled with water.
Rotoplastyc has continued making tanks in
Rotoplas in
Rotoplastyc prepared some small test tanks for us with foam
polyethylene inner
layers. This is a test for possible use in colder climates (i.e., the
Northern
Site.) The test moldings were successful with foam thicknesses of up to
35mm.
Measurements of the foam thermal conductivity done at Fermilab
reproduce the manufacturer’s
specifications.
The low deployment rate in this period is related to the landowner’s
problem.
The
The contract situation of assembly and deployment personnel has been
solved,
all the staff is now hired by FOPAA.
The testing of liners in Malargue is now completed. A few liners were
found to
be stuck together due to intense heat, else no problems were found. The
storage
area at Refine Ortega was reconditioned to avoid the heat problems and
to
optimize storage.
Local personnel in Malargue are now being trained to take over the duty
of
testing, repairing and controlling liners.
One detector was recovered from the field, suspected of having a
leaking liner.
However, inspection of this liner showed no leaks and the tank was
reassembled
and redeployed.
The arrival of the batteries from
WBS 2.2 Surface Detector Electronics (Tiina
Suomijarvi – IPN Orsay)
CdF has shipped all the spare UB components to
Malargue. In
January Bernard Courty and Stephane Colonge spent three weeks on site
to
install a repair bench for the UBs and to train local staff for UB
repairing.
It is planned to move the PMT unit repairing (replacement of the tube
or the
base) to Malargue.
There was gap of about two months in the PMT shipments to Malargue (due to unpaid PMTs). This problem is now resolved. The total number of received PMTs is currently about 4500. The possibility to order about 250 more PMTs from PHOTONIS, to ensure sufficient amount of spares, is currently being discussed.
The deployment of electronics has been stopped to
wait for
the arrival of TPCBs (fabricated now in
the
The current plan for the deployment of electronics is the following (the numbers are from the end of January):
1) There are currently 46 tanks ready for Ekits in the field. 80 additional tanks have water but not batteries and 40 tanks are without water and batteries.
2) 30 Cyclone Ekits will be deployed when the TPCBs currently in transit arrive to Malargue.
3) About 10 Ekits with old PLDs will be deployed, the rest (29 Ekits) will be kept for the moment as spares for maintenance.
In parallel, an intensive maintenance is being
carried out.
Several “experts” from CdF,
Some tanks are down clearly due to lightning (fuses blown in batteries and in the Ekit, GPS antenna broken). Sometimes the gain is shifted and the tank is repaired simply by re-calibrating. There have been some failures of the HV modules and connectors are still an important part of the PMT-unit failures.
In the
last collaboration meeting in
November, an increase of PMT instabilities after the tank id
about 600
was reported. (see plot below from Piera Ghia and Isabelle Lhenry-Yvon).
1)
The
bases are from both fabrications:
2) There has been no change in the VH module. It seems that these PMTs have normal HV and current values.
3) There has been no change in the potting material or in the potting procedure.
4) There has been no change in the PMT installation and cabling which could introduce noise.
5) The increase of the trigger rate is not due to the stabilization effect that can be seen during the first few months.
6) When tanks are visited the muon signal on the scope seems to be OK and the muon histograms are OK. No evident failure is generally detected. Instabilities seem to occur with temperature change.
Further testing and tracing back is needed to understand the increase of instabilities after tank id 600.
WBS 3.0 Comms (Jorge Abraham – UTN)
There are 1045 Kits installed and more then 300 in stock, ready to install.
Total made: 1365 (without problems).
About how the stock is controlled. We need some plastic seals with UV protection (Precintos) that we will buy very soon. The cost is nearly $7 (Pesos) each 100 units.
About the "re-orientation plan", "UV protection programme" on "Quality Control", We are working very hard.
Only 100 / 275 Kits need UV Protection. At 16/02/2006, Antonio and I protected 16 Kits. It was a very hard task.
Only 24 / 100 antennas need re-orientation (Paul C. plan) and near 6 in "Bad Links correction plan" under my control.
I made a control periodic of the SD Radio Signal quality. Many SD were "repaired". The remaining Radio-Links have small problems. At 20/02/2006 the system shows:
Huerquen, Aida, Magale Jr., Palauco, Sofy. with some ARQ (errors). Indro ... to Matias SD line needs some additional tasks: Pasive Repeater Installation in some place to define. (We need some money for the task)
Perfil-indro-coihueco.jpg shows an visual obstruction Indro-Coihueco Tower.
The offline team has been working through December
and
January on getting the software framework in condition for a first
production
release (version 2.0), which will be sufficiently well equipped and
tested to
begin large scale data and
users to help in exercising the code for various applications over the
course
of a few weeks.
The upcoming release includes a number of new features. For the
detector
description, we have included support for the T2 live time files from
Orsay,
and added methods to retrieve the station ids for crowns associated
with a
particular station, as well as information on whether a station belongs
to a
pair and is on the grid. In addition, a so-called dense array
manager has
been prepared, which allows those running simulations to define
fictitious
stations by position in the plane perpendicular to shower axis.
In this
way one can, for example, place a ring of stations at 1000m to retrieve
"true" S(1000). The framework configuration tools have also been
extended with the goal of making production bookkeeping simpler.
Now, all
configuration files
accessed during a run are concatenated and stored in the same ROOT file
with
the offline event. Further, a configuration override mechanism
has been
finished which allows users to replace any default parameter in any
configuration
file by specifying it in their bootstrap file.
The previously announced validation of the SD reconstruction chain is
mostly
done. Neither major blocker nor obvious inconsistencies were detected.
Several
regression tests have been performed and show results agreeing with
previous
releases. The reconstruction has been improved for particular event
classes.
The validation of the SD simulation chain is also ongoing. Studies have
been
carried out to test the response of single particles injected into the
default
tank simulation. Only small deviations from the expected VEM signal for
vertical muons are present. The number of photo-electrons is
slightly smaller than the measured number, but it is not expected to
have
significant influence on reconstructed quantities.
A server will be provide ASCII data for reconstructed SD and hybrid
events
after the next release has been announced to the collaboration.
In the FD/Hybrid area, work continued on the validation and improvement
of
Offline simulation and reconstruction algorithms. In particular,
pre-release tests on v2.0 were top priority, and outcomes include a
more stable
and reliable HSimulation chain and a new Rayleigh scattering model. The
new
aerosol database was tested, and improvements made to interface
routines, but
there will be a slight delay in its implementation until after the
upcoming
collaboration meeting. A new ProfileReconstructor from
fitting, and for the first time propagates geometrical errors through
to the
final energy and Xmax errors. Finally, the new analysis task
structure is
in place, and task leaders are distributing job lists to the
collaboration in
the hope of receiving offers of help for this important work.
WBS 8.0 Education and
Outreach (Greg Snow –
Press Coverage of the November 2005 Auger Observatory Celebration
The Auger Celebration in Malargüe was described in
the
October-November 2005 bimonthly report. The presence of the media teams
from
collaborating countries paid off in terms of press coverage after the
Celebration. A great many articles about the Observatory and the
Celebration
appeared during the weeks after the Celebration in prominent newspapers
and
magazines, especially in Europe and
Release of Astronomy Book in Braille
Beatriz García reports that an astronomy book “The Constellations of the Zodiac” written in Braille was released on December 16. This work was supported by the Auger Observatory Foundation, UTN-Mendoza, and the special education faculty of the National University of Cuyo. Credit goes to Beatriz, Alejandra Cicero, Pamela Bruno, and a blind professor Mariela Farraldo for their hard work on this project. The photo gallery of this report shows the cover and one of the constellations, Cancer, described in the book.
James
Cronin School
Construction work at the new
Auger Northern Site Outreach
The collaboration is fortunate to have made
contact with two
instructors at Lamar Community College (LCC) who have expressed an
interest in
education and outreach related to the northern hemisphere site in
Colorado.
They are mathematics instructor Rebecca Burke and physical science
instructor
David Northrup. They are both in close contact with other science
teachers in
southeast
WBS 9.0
Observatory Operations – (Julio Rodriguez Martino - INFN)
The last FD shift of 2005, starting in December and ending in January, was somehow complicated. We only had one volunteer, who really had a hard time doing a job usually done by 4 people. I helped him as much as I could. In any case, the weather did not help at all. We had many cloudy and stormy nights, which reduced a lot the data taking time.
The first shift of 2006 was not better, with only two volunteers helped by P. Vitale. This time hardware problems and stops for maintenance also reduced the available time.
There were many power cuts in the line to LL and LM during December and January. This issue will probably be addressed by J. Kleinfeller in his report. This also caused a lot of down time in those telescopes and in the surface detectors connected to them.
A workshop on FD monitoring was held in Rome, in January. During one week we discussed about which variables to monitor and did some programming work to integrate different already existing programs. This will help the shifters and the experts to closely watch the behavior of our detectors. The work will be finished after the March meeting, when we will distribute
the job responsibilities among interested people. A test version of the monitoring system should soon be installed in Malargue.