So this is a real trawl through obscure 70's rock bands. Last time Wishbone Ash, this time Uriah Heep. So what's catching Joe public's imagination most - physics or 70's rock. Well neither I think, even my daughter has stopped commenting.
Anyhow what have I been up to since the last post at the end of October. Well there's been a LHCb software week (yes another!) & a LHCb collaboration week. Software week was aimed again at readiness of the software for start of simulation production for the Data Challenge in 2006, so-called DC06. The aims of DC06 are two fold. One is to produce simulated data of LHCb for physics studies in order to produce a "physics book" outlining analyses for the 1st year of LHC data taking. The 2nd is to stress test the computing model that appear in the Techical Design Report, to check everything we want to do we will be able to do when the real data comes along. It's all really scarey with 2006 just around the corner there's not that long left to get ready for data taking when the LHC turns on. The start of the production phhase seems delayed by 6-8 weeks not too bad and on a par with previous data challenges, so had been planned for.
The collaboration meeting was the usual busy time, with many evening meetings. Saying that it was one less than the Barcelona - I got Tuesday off this this time. We are already preparing the manpower estimates to deliver the computing project in 2007. These have to be approved by the collaboration at the March collaboratrion meeting and given for assessment by the CERN Resource Review board in April. Thes things are like the Titanic - slow to stop & start rather than unstable and disastrous. The CERN RRB won't approve the figure until the October meeting in 2006. Just in time to start preparing the figures for 2008.
It's also time to start & prepare the rolling grant application for Bristol. This has to be submitted at the beginning of March to PPARC, the research council. this maps out the research funds needed upto 2011. So it's a pretty big deal. The submission is then perr reviewed over spring and the result towards autumn if all goes well. To complicate things the UK has introduced the concept of full economic costing. In the past you bid for the money for equipment and posts and there was a national flat rate percentage overehead that was meant to cost the infrasturcture & estate needs of the University in hosting the research group. Academic salaries were never paid by the research council but by the university through other funding lines. All change now everything needs an audit trail and academic research time is to be paid for through the research councils. There is still an estates & indirect costs estimated by the university but is no longer a national rate. So it's all change. To give Bristol their due they do seem to have got a pretty good tool in help preparing the financial bid in place via a web page. Anyhow to discuss all these changes & what need to be done (and more can't be done) for this grant round there was a UK group leaders in Birmingham. So off I trogged to represent Bristol - very useful. It was also my excuse to be back in the UK to see Heep in Bristol!
So Anatoly was finally allowed into the UK and has now started at Bristol. So the trip back to the UK also gave me opportunity to discuss things with him. Having negotiated all the paperwork for getting into Britain we now have to start all over again in order to allow the Swiss to let him so he can go to CERN. Letters from CERN to the Swiss embassy in London, the LHCb secretariat have seen it all before and are extremely helpful and efficient.
Christmas is approaching and it doesn't even feel festive, even though a large, illuminate Christmas tree has appeared at the bottom of the road I live on. Last year it was February before it was removed - I naively there was something about twelth night. But what do I know ... The kiosk at CERN seems to have been decked out for a month before but step things up for December. The restaurant is all decked out with a festive feel. I don't get back to the UK until December 21st, leaving the poor suffering wife to cope with all the preparation herself; it's the in-laws visiting this year. We did have a present buying evening though over a video chat - isn't Amazon wonderful. The Bristol group are not having a Christmas bash this year, but have delayed it until the New Year - fair enough. I won't be able to make that either I bet. I'm due to fly back to CERN on the 5th January.
Last week was a brief sortie to London for a PPARC project perr review meeting. The major item was to review a bid to provide the processing software for a large ESA mission. It's always interesting to compare & contrast how the Astronomer do things with how Particle Physicist do things. There's different mindsets - both of the plus & negative points. This review meeting was held at the Royal Institute in central London just off Oxford Street. Oxford Street was all decked out with its Christmas lights, could have done with some of the warmth at the Royal Institute as it was freezing. I guess PPARC hires the rooms at a reduced rate, if they don't they should ask for a refund! The oter two items were regarding Particle Physics: one to look at neutrino mixing at a reactor experiment in the US, near the Argonne National Lab & Fermilab; the other to look at R&D to remove the amount of cable for any future LHC upgrade. It's a major cost in dead material, cooling & power loss using the current power supply schemes for tracking detectors. The volume of cables just won't fit into the space come upgrade time!
So next week is a LHCb internal review meeting in Marseille, followed by a talk to the LCG France in Lyon. According to the agenda my talk will be in English but questions can be in French. Should prove interesting given my lousy lingusitic skills.
