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10/11/09
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Computing on demand: the Cloud meets the GRID Collaborators at the Belle/Belle II computing group just completed a series of successful exercises using a combination of Amazon’s Cloud computing resources and the Belle II distributed computing GRID resources. DIRAC, a software package used to link the two distributed computing resources, was developed by the LHCb Collaboration and adapted by the Belle/Belle II team in collaboration with scientists at the LHCb computing group from Barcelona. The cost-effective nature of commercial Cloud computing may benefit all parts of the scientific community. An advanced 2D detector for medical, materials and life sciences One of the Detector Technology Project (DTP) groups at KEK has developed multi-purpose, two-dimensional detector called a gas electron multiplier (GEM) for use in small radiation-related experiments. The GEM’s good time-resolution has also given birth to a new field of radiography, called energy-selective radiography. Read here how GEM can play an important role in neutron science, medical applications, and more. Using neutrons to see waves in a solid In March 2010, construction was mostly completed on a new neutron spectrometer at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC); the new device is the High Resolution Chopper Spectrometer (HRC). The HRC will explore the hidden motion of atoms within solid materials. Read here about how the HRC pushes the boundaries of neutron spectroscopy, and how the state-of-the-art equipment the HRC team developed has made this possible. Understanding the immune response mechanism with protein crystallography Scientists at KEK Photon Factory are exploring protein lifecycles—the production, modification, and transportation of proteins—using synchrotron radiation X-ray crystallography. Here, read a story about a regulatory protein called ubiquitin binding to a helical protein NEMO, and how a better understanding of the protein will help drug designers to control immune response in our body. The TOP counter: a new method for particle identification The newly developed time-of-propagation (TOP) counter is starting to gather attention from the experimental particle physics community. The TOP counter is now of the baseline detector for the barrel particle identification at the next-generation B-Factory experiment, KEK’s Belle II. Read on to learn more about the design of this TOP counter and the international team involved in its development. New network-based DAQ framework may simplify life for scientists The data acquisition system (DAQ) team at KEK’s Detector Technology Project is now offering the particle experiment community a standardized data acquisition system (DAQ) framework of both hardware and software. Learn here about the innovative, network-based readout electronics, and the all-in-one DAQ-Middleware. NOVA: neutron spectroscopy for a better environment The neutron total scattering spectrometer (NOVA) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Complex is about to begin searching for hydrogen storage materials. Learn here about the unique features of the world’s highest intensity wide-angle spectrometer for non-crystalline materials. The legacy of Belle and BaBar On May 18, 2010, the world's two major B Factory collaborations, Belle and BaBar, met in a seminar room to toss a coin. The two have used different sets of notation for more than a decade, but must now pick a consistent notation for their upcoming joint physics book. The book will discuss the detectors, the analysis tools used, the physics results, and the interpretation of these results. Read on for a short history of the two projects, and to find out the results of the coin toss. Hadron spectroscopy: the search for exotic particles One of the five beamlines constructed in the Hadron Facility at the Japan Proton Accelerator Complex (J-PARC) is preparing for the fall run where they plan to explore the physics of exotic hadrons. J-PARC will use a high intensity proton beam to produce the world’s only kaon beam for use in spectroscopic studies of hadrons with heavy quarks. Superstring theory: stringing together all the forces of physics KEK scientists developed the IKKT matrix model that is used to make predictions from the Type IIB superstring theory. Read here about the contributions of KEK’s superstring theorists in the field, and how superstring theory, the possible Theory of Everything, is starting to make predictions that can be tested by experiment. Designing the ultrafast DAQ for Belle II KEK’s Belle experiment has played an important role in particle physics for more than a decade. Researchers are currently hard at work on a planned upgrade. The new detector, the Belle II, will be hundreds of times more powerful than the original. One component which is central to the Belle II detector is the data acquisition system, DAQ. Learn here what four experts at KEK are planning to beat the many gigabytes of data estimated to hit their system every second. |
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