THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406240497
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: NEWPORT NEWS
The object of the collective attention is the $551 million Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, which sometime next week will take a major step toward full operation.
{REST} Engineers plan to introduce a high-energy beam of electrons into the second of two racetrack-like straightaways, part of the CEBAF underground accelerator track nearly a mile in circumference. The first straightaway passed muster in February.
Since mid-May, some 300 engineers, scientists, technicians, maintenance workers and others have been working a three-shift schedule to iron out wrinkles in the operation of the complex facility, the only one of its kind in the world.
``We're having some infant mortality,'' said Charles Sinclair, who oversees CEBAF accelerator operations. ``We're turning on a large amount of one-of-a-kind things that haven't been turned on all at once. It's complicated. Not everything works right the first time.''
Although designers planned for hot Virginia summers, the same heat and humidity plaguing Hampton Roads humans is affecting the temperature-sensitive gear at the heart of the CEBAF complex. Every piece of equipment must be calibrated within an exact temperature range. Too hot or, in the case of computer sensors, too cold, and experiments are mucked up or can't be done.
``Pray for cold,'' said Andrew Hutton, a CEBAF deputy director who's overseeing integration of the accelerator systems. ``I keep looking at the weather and saying `eeecchhh!' We started slowing up with warmer weather.''
CEBAF's unique technology makes use of radio waves and supercold liquid helium to speed a hair-thin beam of electrons around the accelerator track. Magnets steer and focus the beam. Scientists will ram it into a variety of liquids, then study the subatomic debris the collision generates.
Experimenters' ultimate goal is to better understand how all matter is put and stays together. They will focus on the behavior of subatomic particles called quarks, thought by most scientists to be the basic building blocks of the universe.
``I've worked on a lot of accelerators. CEBAF is as spiffy as they get,'' Sinclair said.
``Scientists will be able to do spectacular things here. It's going to be great science.''
Experiments are scheduled for this fall, though the facility won't be fully operational until the fall of 1996.
{KEYWORDS} CONTINIOUS ELECTRON BEAM ACCELERTOR FACILITY
by CNB