Service Tasks
HIGH PRIORITY
BSMD Calibration Studies
Description: The calibration coefficients for the BSMD were derived from old test beam studies. They are set so that the energy of an SMD cluster should be equal to the energy of the tower above it. One way to check this is to select low-energy electrons and plot SMD energy vs. tower energy. Initial studies could be accomplished on a month timescale.
Assigned to: Willie Leight (MIT)
Status: In Progress.
BPRS Calibration Studies
Description: We have no offline calibration coefficients for the preshower. While the absolute energy scale is not overly important, we need to verify that the channels are well-calibrated relative to each other
Assigned to: Rory Clarke (TAMU)
Status: In Progress -- see link
Neutral Pion Tower Calibration Algorithm
Description: Current BTOW calibrations rely on the TPC to a combination MIP/electron-based analysis. A calibration using neutral pions would be complementary and possibly more precise.
Assigned to: Alan Hoffman (MIT)
Status: In Progress.
Trigger Simulator
Description: The goal here is to extend the existing BEMC trigger simulator to support "exact" trigger simulation using the logic that we actually use online, to include L2 triggers, and to integrate this simulator with ones provided by other subdetectors.
Assigned to: Jan Balewski (IUCF -- Endcap and L2), Renee Fatemi (UK -- BEMC), and Adam Kocoloski (MIT -- BEMC)
Status: In Progress
Control Room Software Maintenance
Description: We'll hopefully be replacing most of the BEMC Control Room computing hardware before Run 8, and we'll need someone to check that everything still works as before. Additionally, we need to fix the code that auto-uploads DB tables (should be an easy fix), and we should work on uploading BSMD pedestal tables that include separate values for CAP == 124 and 125.
Assigned to: ???
Online BTOW Status Table Generation Using L2
Description: L2 can accumulate sufficient statistics in real time to allow us to record BTOW status tables without waiting for fastOffline or full production. "Real-time" status tables in the DB will allow for better fastOffline QA and could decrease the amount of time needed to analyze the data.
Assigned to: ???
NORMAL PRIORITY
STAR DB Browser Maintenance
Description: Not really BEMC-specific, but Dmitri Arkhipkin is looking for a maintainer for the
STAR DB Browser, which is a very useful tool for people working on the BEMC.
Assigned to: ???
Database-Driven BEMC Mapping
Description: We use the StEmcDecoder class to generate time-dependent mapping tables on-the-fly. I'd like to investigate using a DB to store this information. First step would be to decide on a schema (i.e. is each tower a single row, or do we do the old trick of storing an entire mapping as a blob?). Next we would populate the DB with tables that cover all the possible StEmcDecoder configurations (~20 or so). It may be that we never use this DB for more than browsing the mapping; even so, it could still prove to be a useful tool. On the other hand, we may decide to use it instead of the decoder for some uses. Minimal MySQL knowledge would be helpful, but not required.
Assigned to: ???
Run 7 BTOW Calibration
Description: Begin with MIP + electron calibration procedure used in previous years and investigate refinements. Typically a couple months of work.
Assigned to: Matthew Walker (MIT)
Status: Waiting on Production.
Run 7 BTOW Status
Description: Track tower status and upload DB tables for offline analysis. Timescale of ~1 month plus occasional updates, corrections. A set of tables are currently in the DB, but these ignore hot towers.
Assigned to: ???
Run 7 BSMD Status
Description: Track SMD status and upload DB tables for offline analysis. Timescale of ~1 month plus occasional updates, corrections.
Assigned to: ???
Run 7 BPRS Status
Description: Adapt the existing BTOW status code for the preshower and use it to generate DB tables for offline analysis.
Assigned to: Matt Cervantes (TAMU)
Status: In Progress
COMPLETE
BPRS Mapping Update
Description: The BPRS mapping needs to be fixed to take into account the tower swaps we discovered in Run 5, plus any other problems that might turn up with the increased acceptance and statistics we have now.
Assigned to: Rory Clarke (TAMU)
Status: Complete -- mapping checked into CVS to fix Run 6 and Run 7 data at analysis level (StEmcADCtoEMaker).
Single-Pass Embedding with Calorimeters
Description: BEMC embedding is typically done as an afterburner on the regular embedding. This has the advantage of allowing multiple configurations to be run without needing to redo the full TPC embedding, but we should also support the standard embedding mode of a single BFC chain.
Assigned to: Wei-Ming Zhang (KSU)
Status: Complete
Run 6 BTOW Calibration
Description: Perform MIP + electron calibration using Run 6 data. Investigate electron-only and pi0-based calibrations.
Assigned to: Adam Kocoloski (MIT)
Status: Complete -- see
Run 6 BTOW Calibration
Run 6 BTOW Status
Description: Track tower status and upload DB tables for offline analysis. Timescale of ~1 month plus occasional updates, corrections.
Assigned to: David Staszak (UCLA)
Status: Complete -- (link goes here)
Run 6 BSMD Status
Description: Develop standard code to track SMD status and upload DB tables for offline analysis. Investigate possibility of SMD status codes for individual capacitors
Assigned to: Priscilla Kurnadi (UCLA)
Status: Complete -- (link goes here)
Of course, many others have contributed to the calibrations and physics program of the BEMC over the years. You know who you are. Thanks!
--Adam Kocoloski