THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230501
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 63 lines
The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility moved a big step closer toward completion Tuesday when it unveiled six wire chambers built by Old Dominion University to track nuclear particles.
The chambers comprise the crucial portion of Hall B, which will be the last of the lab's three experiment rooms when it goes on line about a year and a half from now. Composed mainly of wire, the six chambers will form the focal point for experiments tracking the path of subatomic particles.
The partnership behind the production of the chambers marks the largest project any single university has undertaken toward the completion of the Jefferson Labs, formerly known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, or CEBAF, in Newport News.
``Without the leadership of the universities, the laboratory will not succeed,'' said Dr. Nathan Isgur, head of the theory group. ``Without this partnership between the labs and the universities, these areas of science could not go forward.''
The lab houses a continuous electron beam, which speeds around a track and shoots at a target in the 14-foot-wide sphere formed by the wire chambers. Scientists will study the subatomic particles - electrons, protons, neutrons - dispersed from the collision. The wires in the drift chambers act as sensors that track where the debris lands so researchers can record vital information: its charge, its size, the particle's path, the mass.
Staff from the Jefferson Labs and Old Dominion jointly designed the chambers, but members of Old Dominion's physics department built them, a project spanning four and a half years. Total cost for the chambers reached about $1 million.
The chambers are critical for the detection of outgoing fragments, said the lab's director, Hermann Grunder.
Although the two other experiment halls will be operational by the end of the year, the lab needs Hall B to accommodate all the demand for experiment space, he said. Nearly 600 researchers have already received approval for experiments at the lab. Three experiments have been completed already, with three more scheduled for completion by the end of the year, Grunder said.
Old Dominion has benefited tremendously from its partnership with the lab, which began in 1990, said James L. Cox, chairman of the physics department. The department has grown from two faculty members in 1992 to 11 full-time faculty, he said. The National Science Foundation recognized two faculty members from Old Dominion for back-to-back Young Investigators Awards in 1993 and 1994, an honor shared only with Harvard and Cornell universities.
Many at Old Dominion hope its partnership with the Jefferson labs, like its joint ventures with NASA Langley Research Center and Wallops Island, will heighten public awareness of the university and its work.
Call it the halo effect, said Old Dominion President James V. Koch. He pointed to the oceanography program and the aerospace engineering department as areas where the university already had been recognized nationally. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
BETH BERGMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
The lab houses a continuous electron beam, which speeds around a
track and shoots at a target in the 14-foot-wide sphere formed by
six wire chambers. Scientists will study the subatomic particles
dispersed from the collision. Pictured are representatives from Old
Dominion University and the lab.
KEYWORDS: CEBAF by CNB