The STAR collaboration had appointed Dr. John Harris (Yale) as spokesperson in 1991. Elections for the office started from 2002.
According to STAR bylaws, the council representatives elects the STAR spokesperson for a three years term. The spokespersons statements will be presented here.
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The spokesperson elections related statements were available starting from 2002. In the 2002 election, three candidates came forward. Their statements follows.
Dr. Tim Hallman was elected as spokesperson for a three year term, succeeding to Dr. John Harris.
JIM THOMAS - Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Experience: Twenty five years of experience in scientific research, teaching, R&D, and R&D management. Broad background in the scientific disciplines. Scientific group leader. Experienced manager of R&D proposals and funding. Experienced manager of large and small scale science and engineering projects. Co-Convenor of the STAR Parity discussion group. Ex-Chair of the RHIC and AGS Users Executive Committee.
Statement: We have three major scientific challenges ahead of us. The search for the Quark Gluon Plasma, the full exploitation of the RHIC spin program, and upgrading the detector to meet the challenges of the future.
I am impressed by our published data. We have observed dense matter, it appears to thermalize rapidly, it flows, and it is rich in gluons. But we have not observed any data that suggests a simple first order jump in entropy. It is not like we expected in the early days of the program. We have observed unusual phenomena and they require new ideas to explain them. I believe that we are looking at a new state of matter but that we haven’t characterized it yet. If there is a phase transition, it is subtle and probably not first order. This means we should look for correlated signals and we must learn to interpret them. We will need high statistics, we will need to cover a wide range of beam-beam combinations, and cover a wide range of beam energies. I am committed to the pursuit of this program and to stimulate, support, and encourage our best and brightest colleagues to analyze the data.
The spin program has just begun and I strongly support the full exploitation of the spin program. STAR has unique capabilities with the detectors full azimuthal coverage, the ability to measure small x, and the EEMC to study W physics. We can and will do an excellent job studying the gluon’s contribution to the spin of the proton and the structure function of the nucleus.
The third and final challenge is to upgrade STAR. We need to nurture and guide the upgrade plan to ensure that it survives the various DOE long range planning exercises and later to ensure that it is properly funded. The current upgrade plan is excellent but we should also stay flexible and be prepared to amend the plan if we discover new physics in the current program.
Leadership Questions: The Spokesperson leads the collaboration. His/Her primary responsibility is to develop and lead the scientific program. In consultation with the Council, (if it comes to pass) the Executive Board, and the collaboration, I will work to define the scientific priorities for STAR and then work with RHIC management and the STAR operations group to ensure that these goals are achieved. I will encourage rapid and timely publications but also ensure that each institution and each individual gets a fair share of the credit for their work. I believe that the Spokesperson and the Council should work together to increase funding for the STAR institutions and the field of Nuclear Physics, in general. And I am committed to work to increase the visibility of STAR at BNL, at conferences, and in the community.
Supporting our people is especially important. I feel that STAR should put special emphasis on helping people who are making career transitions. Often this is a young person moving to a new job or moving up into a new position at his or her home institution. We need to identify these people and give them preference for talks and principle authorship and support their efforts to serve on national and international committees.
Enhancing the productivity of the collaboration is important. Part of the Spokesperson’s job is to recognize that different institutions and collaborators have different strengths. Often, these strengths are complementary and careful balancing of these strengths will ensure productivity. The Spokesperson also has the ability to lobby for national resources and the opportunity to distribute national resources to the institutions. I will do this in a way that enhances the scientific output of the entire collaboration.
The creation of an Executive Board is an excellent idea if it can be formulated properly. I will work with the Council to finish the discussion about the EB. My belief is that the Council is for the discussion of institutional issues, the Executive Board is for establishing and managing broad scientific goals, and the physics working group leaders are for managing and executing specific scientific programs.
Finally, I was asked to comment on the selection of deputies. This is a complex issue. I will work with the council to select scientists who complement my interests and skills in order to form a team that reflects the full scientific diversity of the STAR collaboration.
Education, Service, and Career History: Ph.D. in Physics, Yale University, 1982. Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology, 1982. Robert Andrews Millikan Fellow, Caltech, 1983-1985. Member of the Research Faculty, Caltech, 1986-88. Physicist, LLNL, 1989-1991. Group Leader for Heavy Ion Physics, LLNL, 1992-1996. Staff Scientist, LBL, 1997-present. Member of the STAR Collaboration and Deputy Project Director in 1997. Co-Convenor of the STAR Parity discussion group, 1999-present. Member and Chairman of the RHIC & AGS Users Group, BNL, 1998-present. NASA/JPL Flight Readiness Review panel, 1988. Principle Investigator for the Caltech/LLNL studies of Non-Newtonian gravity, 1988-1992. Member and Chairman of the lab wide LDRD program at LLNL, 1990-92. Member of PHENIX Executive Council, 1994-96. Member of the organizing committee, Quark Matter 95. Reviewer for the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1999-2001. DNP Committee for APS Nominations, 2001-present. Organized and chaired many workshops and meetings on heavy ion physics. Over 80 professional publications, 30 invited talks, 20 publications for the public. BBC-TV program “Defying Gravity”, 1989. Coach/Mentor to the Port Jefferson High School Robotics team, 2001-present.
Honors: A.W. Wright Fellowship, 1980-82. R.A. Millikan Fellowship, 1983-85. Outstanding Publication Award, 1990. Physics Distinguished Achievement award, 1993.
John Harris - Candidates’ Statement
1. The candidate’s qualifications to become Spokesperson.
I am a recognized expert in heavy ion physics with a broad view of the field, STAR’s place in it, and the direction in which STAR should be heading. I have successfully led STAR as spokesman from the development of an initial concept, through design, approval, construction, commissioning, and extraction of first physics results. Although I have been spokesman for a long time, and people do ask why I would want to continue, my mission is not yet complete. I wish to lead STAR for one more term, to complete the first phase of the physics plan set forth at its inception. In addition to having a physics vision, the spokesperson must bring together diverse opinions and interests, and lead the collaboration to make decisions that optimize its physics capabilities in the broadest sense. I hope within the next couple of years to bring STAR to a mature detector and collaboration, which operates smoothly and produces valuable physics in a collegial environment.
2. The candidate’s vision for STAR and considerations about what are the most serious challenges facing STAR in the near term (~1 year) and longer term (~5 years).
Vision:
Over the next five years, we need to complete our initial physics mission (survey of high density matter at RHIC) and be on our way to understanding the spin of the proton. We must continue to make changes in course to address ever-changing conditions, and actively establish and work on longer-term physics and detector developments for STAR. To accomplish our initial physics mission we must: 1) map out the soft physics regime through systematic studies over Ös and a variety of colliding systems (pp, pA, AA); 2) perform a thorough study of the high pT single-particle physics regime, utilizing various colliding nuclear systems (including pp and pA) for control of geometry; and 3) initiate and be well into All measurements in our spin physics program. This will only be accomplished over the next five years time. In order to address changing conditions, we must optimize our triggering capabilities, and increase our data rate and analysis capabilities. This will allow us to minimize an increasing variance among experiments regarding RHIC operating parameters (systems and energies). With regard to longer-term developments, we must immediately undertake a process to identify and agree upon STAR’s long-term physics goals (for 5 – 10 years from now) and how to accomplish them in terms of detector upgrades.
Challenges:
We are presently producing exciting new physics in STAR. However, we are in a difficult and complicated "growing stage", much akin to one’s adolescence. We have begun to reap the rich physics fruits of our extensive labors, and are trying to plant, nurture, and ensure new and future physics harvests in a rapidly evolving environment. More specifically, we are currently doing many diverse things: 1) extensive physics analyses, 2) writing papers, 3) operating the STAR detector under continually changing conditions (collider and new detectors), 4) installing and understanding new detectors, 5) developing new online/reconstruction/analysis software to integrate new detectors and extract physics from them, 6) developing short-term upgrades to improve data rate, analysis, and physics capabilities, and 7) developing a long-term physics plan for STAR which also requires considerable detector R&D.
Our first challenge and always of highest priority is to continue to identify clearly our physics goals as the “physics picture” at RHIC develops, and to do everything possible to ensure that we can accomplish them. This involves balancing conflicting needs within STAR, prioritization of STAR resources, and significant work to ensure that RHIC running fulfills the needs of our physics program. We must get the software into shape and stable for future reconstruction, simulations, and analysis. We must upgrade our data rates throughout to meet the demands of our physics program. Finally but perhaps most urgently, we must define and agree upon our long-term physics vision (for 5 - 10 years from now), and the detector approach to accomplish it.
3. The major issues facing the Collaboration that the Spokesperson would intend to address.
The spokesperson working in concert with the Council should strive to address the following major issues. Manpower issues: We have yet to identify sufficient collaboration manpower resources to meet all of the challenges (above) that face us. To address this, we must get more people involved in all aspects of STAR, formally define and monitor manpower contributions (“service work”), revisit authorship requirements and associate it to a minimum effort on STAR, and readdress the approach to scheduling shifts on the experiment. Sociological issues: In every large group or collaboration of intelligent people working towards a common overall goal, there are differing needs and priorities that result in differences of opinion on matters of seemingly great importance. We continue to have vigorous, healthy discussions on software implementation, beam use proposals, triggers, run plans, analyses, physics paper drafts, and other issues of priority, to name a few. It is an ongoing challenge to ensure that such discussions continue in STAR in a atmosphere of mutual respect, where everyone’s opinions can be heard and evaluated objectively. To address this, we must strive to maintain open discussion, consideration of issues, and decision-making in a collegial atmosphere. Other sociological issues: We must continue to pay close attention to our need to develop the careers of students and young physicists, and groom the next generation of leaders in STAR. We must seek new ways to promote young people to leadership positions, professional positions, talks, and ensure appropriate credit and recognition. We should include non-Council members on the Talks Committee. Physics issues: More guidance will be needed on how to best present our physics results in publication. We have begun to consult with the Physics Working Group Convenors at an early stage of each paper to try and bring about a more coherent and effective approach in our publications. We will need to monitor and optimize our paper-writing and review process within STAR as it evolves. To establish a long-term physics vision for the collaboration and a commensurate detector plan with R&D, we must have a Spring Workshop on the future physics and detectors of STAR. In preparation for this Workshop, members of the collaboration must be challenged to develop their own future physics views including supporting physics argumentation and simulations.
4. Comments about the role of the Spokesperson.
The role of spokesperson in a broad sense is to lead STAR to accomplish its physics goals. The spokesperson represents the collaboration to the general public, to RHIC and the other collaborations, and at the highest levels of BNL, DOE, and the NSF. The spokesperson must assimilate the many issues of the day in STAR, set priorities, and address the critical issues in a timely and effective manner. The spokesperson must have a broad view of the collaboration in order to establish committees and choose appropriate committee members to evaluate and decide on important issues in STAR (physics, technical, and otherwise). An effective spokesperson is hands-on and must interface actively with collaborators at many levels. No level of formal policies or rules can anticipate the many special cases that arise for the spokesperson. Above all, the spokesperson must have the confidence of the collaboration, to make decisions that are urgent or when a consensus cannot be reached, and must work closely and effectively with the Council and the collaboration to best accomplish STAR’s goals.
5. Any comments related to the structure or role of STAR management (e.g. deputies or other positions in the management team) including a potential STAR Council "Executive Board".
The recent changes in STAR management were made to better address the issues and challenges stated above. I believe in promoting young people, and that the members of STAR management will be successful in addressing the issues of STAR. The management team is a well-known commodity. Regarding what is better termed an "Advisory Committee," from the outset I have consistently supported the concept of an appropriately chosen group advisory to the Spokesman, and I hope to be able to formally inaugurate this committee soon.
Dear STAR Council Members and STAR Collaborators,
The capabilities and scientific program of RHIC are evolving rapidly, presenting important new challenges that STAR must meet to be successful in the future. Soon we will be challenged to answer the question, as definitively as possible, what scientific evidence there is from STAR for the creation of the quark-gluon plasma. To continue to be fully productive as the luminosity of RHIC increases and spin physics and proton-nucleus running become more prominent, we will need to quickly develop a plan to evolve our trigger, DAQ, and analysis production capabilities. Shortly we will be challenged to assess and prioritize new scientific measurements that will extend STAR's physics reach significantly in the next 5 years, even as we strive to analyze and publish quality science from data already in hand. To meet these, as well as other important challenges, strong scientific leadership will be required to utilize the full intellectual "horse power" of the collaboration.
Specifically, if elected as STAR Spokesperson, I envision a number of topical workshops and regularly scheduled open physics meetings to draw upon the strength of the full collaboration to:
i) develop a strategic plan regarding the measurements that will provide the strongest possible insight by STAR into the search for the quark gluon plasma and the spin structure of the proton
ii) provide a critical assessment of the corresponding beam use requirements and provide justification based on compelling fundamental scientific arguments that will allow us to successfully compete with our colleagues before the BNL Program Advisory Committee
iii)develop a detailed plan (including prioritization) for the implementation of physics triggers in advance of the next running period
iv) develop a critical assessment and prioritization of future scientific measurements (and corresponding upgrades) that will extend STAR's scientific reach in the next 5 years.
In addition, I plan to be personally involved, at a detailed level, in trying to insure adequate effort on science analyses (including e.g. the ultra-peripheral program), on construction projects which are ongoing, and on service tasks requiring manpower. It is particularly important that the construction, installation, and commissioning of the barrel and endcap electromagnetic calorimeters proceed according to plan, and that sufficient effort is devoted to understanding the response of those detectors in order to exploit the rare probes, high pt measurements, and spin physics measurements they will provide.
As both the STAR Spokesman and the BNL STAR Group Leader I will be in a unique position to effectively advance STAR's physics/resource interests, and to closely follow issues of importance to STAR. I will work diligently to develop a close communication with each STAR institution in order to understand, support, and facilitate its scientific and technical goals. I will work proactively to insure the equitable distribution of talks, and that young scientists in particular receive the visibility and recognition so important for their careers. Most of all I will work diligently to insure that the environment in STAR is one in which the diversity of intellectual interests is fully represented, and in which the Collaboration membership feels excited, engaged, and empowered to participate fully in the present and future scientific program.
To achieve this, I will work in full partnership with the STAR Council to select deputies and establish a management team that provides outstanding science leadership, that is representative of the Collaboration as well as the entire spectrum of physics interests in STAR, that is balanced in its approach embracing the full diversity of views and opinions in the Collaboration, and that works proactively through workshops and open meetings to be inclusive and involve the Collaboration fully in reaching important decisions and plans affecting the governance and scientific program of STAR. I will employ an open management style, similar to that proven effective in establishing and managing the operations groups for STAR. In particular, I will seek, through self assessment and dialog to further improve the process for producing science in STAR, and to maximize the scientific and technical productivity of STAR while maintaining quality assurance and intellectual freedom for those who carry out the analysis.
These goals are indeed challenging, and to help achieve them I will actively seek the advice and counsel of the STAR Council, and the STAR Executive Board once it has been established, as well as soliciting direct feedback from the general Collaboration membership.
I bring to this task ten years of dedicated effort working closely with the Collaboration membership toward the success of STAR. In addition, I bring extensive experience in science leadership as a member of the STAR management team, as Interim STAR Spokesperson for a period of one year, as the leader of the BNL STAR group which includes 35 scientists, engineers, and professionals, as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, and as the Chairman of the Program Advisory Committee for Particle Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Most importantly, I bring a deep and abiding appreciation of the importance of the STAR scientific program and of the responsibilities of the STAR Spokesperson in insuring its success. My commitment to this task will be complete; I will work to meet this challenge with every ounce of energy that I have, and will make it my personal responsibility to understand deeply all issues impacting the success of the STAR program, vigorously and continuously fighting for those things important for STAR's success. A particular focus will be insuring the broad dissemination of STAR scientific results outside of the Collaboration and the visibility of STAR scientists. My commitment to this task will transcend institution and career, and my willingness and ability to fight for the things important for the success of STAR will not be influenced by those considerations.
In this moment we have a unique opportunity to make an important contribution to our fundamental understanding of nature, and to justify the trust that has been placed in us to use the precious resources we have been allocated to search for truth and understanding in the best interest of mankind. As Spokesperson of STAR I will work tirelessly to make STAR everything that it can be, and to insure the STAR scientific program is a success we can all be proud of well into the future. I ask for your support for election to the position of STAR Spokesperson.
In 2005, Dr. Timothy Hallman was running unopposed in the February Spokesperson Election. His statement is available as a sub-document.
Dear STAR Collaborators,
I am seeking your support for re-election to a second term as Spokesperson of STAR.
Together, in the last three years we have produced landmark scientific results, seen scores of students complete their Ph.D., recorded and analyzed a record number of events, and added important new capability to our detector. It has not always been easy, but together we have met the challenges which faced us and made STAR a great success. This has been due to the talent and unswerving dedication of the members of the Collaboration who answered the call every time they were asked. Looking back over this period, one of the most important things I would like to say in this message is thank you very, very much. It has been an honor to be your Spokesperson during this time.
As successful as we have been, the planned start-up of the LHC and the rapid evolution of the RHIC scientific program portend even greater challenges we must meet to be successful in the future.
For example, to verify the existence of the quark gluon plasma and study its properties, as well as to extend our spin physics measurements to 500 GeV, essential new capability must be added to our detector. To maintain the vitality of the STAR program during the era of the LHC, this must be accomplished in a timely way, utilizing all the resources that may be available to us-- including running time. Establishing a realistic plan to accomplish our upgrade goals and to ensure timely construction of the major components is one of the main challenges we face in the coming year and one reason why I am seeking a second term as Spokesperson. A great deal of work has already been done in this direction, but the challenge of establishing a true, integrated blueprint that takes available resources into account, and of beginning to build according to this plan remains a task that is still before us. If re-elected, this will be a priority of the next administration.
A related challenge will be to optimize our use of RHIC beams, not only to target measurements that will give the greatest insight as to the nature of the new matter we have produced in heavy ion collisions and to gain timely access to the spin structure of the proton, but to accomplish both as efficiently as possible, conserving precious resources that will be needed for constructing the upgrades. Among other things this means we will need to continue to evolve our trigger, DAQ, and analysis production capabilities. In addition, we will need to discuss and strategize carefully about how to proceed, making difficult decisions as necessary to secure the best possible future for STAR.
Finally we must ?grow? the next generation of leaders of STAR who will utilize this new capability and carry the STAR program forward in the future.
If re-elected as Spokesperson, I will work as hard as possible to see that, together, we meet these important goals. I will be personally involved in trying to ensure adequate resources on construction projects which are planned or ongoing; to push for continued strong effort on science analyses across the full spectrum of STAR interests, utilizing the full capability of our detector (including its new additions ? the BEMC, EEMC, SSD, and PMD); and to ensure continued quality operation of the STAR detector.
I will work proactively to promote the equitable distribution of talks, and that young scientists in particular receive the visibility and recognition so important for their careers. Most of all I will work diligently to ensure that the environment in STAR continues to be one in which the diversity of intellectual interests is fully represented, and in which the Collaboration membership feels excited, engaged, and empowered to participate fully.
To achieve this, I will establish a management team that strives to provide outstanding science leadership, that is representative of the Collaboration as well as the entire spectrum of physics interests in STAR, that is balanced in its approach and embraces the full diversity of views and opinions in the Collaboration. I will employ an open management style and will seek, through self assessment and dialog to further improve the process for producing science in STAR, and to maximize the scientific and technical productivity of STAR while maintaining quality assurance and intellectual freedom for those who carry out scientific analyses.
I bring to this task the experience of the last three years as Spokesperson, and a strong desire to ensure that the next three are just as vital and even more productive. Most importantly, I bring a deep and abiding appreciation of the importance of the STAR scientific program and of the responsibilities of the
STAR Spokesperson in helping to ensure its success. My commitment to this task will be complete; I will work to meet this challenge with every ounce of energy that I have, and will make it my personal responsibility to understand deeply all issues impacting the STAR program, vigorously and continuously fighting for those things important for its success. As in the last three years, my commitment to this task will transcend institution and career, and my willingness and ability to fight for the things important for the success of STAR will not be influenced by those considerations.
In summary, as Spokesperson of STAR I will work tirelessly to make STAR everything that it can be, to establish a realistic blueprint to achieve the next generation of STAR upgrades, and to insure the STAR scientific program is a success we can all be proud of well into the future. I ask for your support for re-election to the position of STAR Spokesperson.
I have decided to run for STAR spokesperson in February. Although I might not have time to visit your institute in person, I would like to present to you my motivation for getting into the race at this late stage and my plans for STAR regarding certain issues that I think need serious attention for the future.
I have been in STAR from its inception. I was one of the contributors to the original STAR proposal in 1991, and I have held many senior positions in STAR over the years. Since 1992 I have been the project leader for the Silicon Vertex Tracker, I was a physics working group convenor for almost five years (from 2002 until last year) and I was briefly the STAR deputy spokesperson in 2001/2002. My present appointment as the chair of the RHIC Users Executive Committee has helped me to establish a good rapport with BNL management and the DoE and NSF funding agents. I have many contacts at the APS, the Office of Management & Budgets (OMB), the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), and the DoE Office of Science.
My main motivation to run for spokesperson is based on the fact that I believe that STAR, and in general the RHIC program, needs senior leaders with management experience at this point in order to establish the basis for a program that could last until 2020 or beyond. RHIC is in somewhat of a crisis, which slowly built up over the past few years, and which is now enhanced through the imminent turn-on of the LHC, the stiff competition by other Nuclear Science fields in the NSAC Long Range Plan (the JLab upgrade, the FRIB accelerator and the DUSEL program were prioritized higher than the mid-term RHIC plan), and even within BNL the expansion of NSLS (NSLS-II) and the new Center for Nanomaterials (CFN). In order to not only stay competitive but provide a solid vision for the extension of our heavy ion and spin programs towards the anticipated construction of eRHIC, we need to initiate a much more focused discussion within the collaboration, motivate our young professors and research scientists to take on responsibilities in this discussion, and promote them into future leaders in the field. In addition, we need to initiate a dialogue with the eRHIC community and PHENIX on ideas for a joint ep/eA/AA program during the eRHIC era. It is my firm belief that a dedicated heavy ion program, which is only possible at RHIC, is sufficiently interesting to support a large scale effort even beyond 2020, likely based on a new common (STAR/PHENIX) heavy ion detector. Even if this last part of the plan cannot be realized, we need to establish a program that goes well beyond the low energy scan and the presently envisioned upgrade program to take advantage of the significantly higher luminosities which will allow access to important rare processes. This will require the vision and active involvement of our bright young physicists in STAR.
We are well prepared for the energy scan. We have a good physics plan and a strong detector upgrade program. In particular the ToF is well underway and I share the collaboration’s excitement about the low energy runs. Therefore, I think the immediate future is well covered in STAR but we need to think beyond this short term milestone.
In the UEC, I have recently initiated the drafting of flyers for OMB/OSTP to show that RHIC has a viable program during the LHC running, which is based on five key components:
This means that besides flexibility in the machine components (colliding species, luminosity, energy scan) we also are at collision energies where several unique features of the QCD phase diagram (critical point, sQGP) can be studied in detail. Most of these features are likely not accessible at the LHC. Plus, the spin program adds a distinct component to our program, which can only be superseded by a new electron-ion collider.
It is important to promote this program at all levels of the funding chain (collaboration, BNL, NSAC, DoE/NSF, OMB/OSTP, appropriation committees), and it is equally important to demonstrate within the community STAR’s leadership in the relevant physics measurements. Both require a strong, experienced leader who is willing to make decisions for the greater good of the collaboration. In this context part of my decision to run for spokesperson is based on the outside perception that STAR, for the second time in a row, seemed not to be able to open this process to a larger group of candidates. I think this is widely viewed as a certain level of disinterest by a large part of the collaboration in becoming involved in the day to day operation of the experiment. It is also viewed as an indicator that the migration of our scientists from RHIC to LHC might have begun. I view my candidacy as a collegial approach to broaden the field of candidates and to show that more ‘weathered’ STAR members are still very engaged and interested in taking on major responsibilities. My recent involvement in the R2D proposal and preparations for ALICE has taught me how unique the RHIC program is, and how we can build a strong and lasting future for relativistic heavy ion and spin physics at BNL. I am confident that I can be a good spokesperson, and I am confident that my candidacy will be positively viewed outside the collaboration, and I hope also inside the collaboration. Many have stated that the recent PHENIX election was a positive example for the proper process, and I hope with my candidacy we can achieve a similar positive vibe and an actual interest in our election, inside and outside of the collaboration. This would be beneficial for the whole RHIC community.
In the following pages I will layout a detailed physics and upgrade plan. Then I will address certain administrative issues that need to be defined in order for a new management to be effective.
I think STAR needs a very detailed vision for the future that goes beyond the low energy runs scheduled in 2009-2011. We need to make sure that this dedicated heavy ion facility stays competitive with the LHC heavy ion program until at least 2020 or the inception of eRHIC at BNL. I personally support a heavy ion program during the eRHIC era and will fight for it, and I think STAR should be the leading force behind such a long term future plan. Our facility will always be the only dedicated relativistic heavy ion machine in the world and it should be supported by all present STAR institutions throughout the LHC era. I do not agree with an often heard prognosis that the RHIC heavy ion program will be completed by 2013. I believe that 2013 has the ability to be a new beginning for RHIC. Upcoming findings related to medium properties (e.g. quantitative determination of state variables such as viscosity, energy loss transport coefficients) and hadronization properties (e.g. hadro-chemistry in recombination and fragmentation processes) could make us the premier QCD laboratory to study matter evolution in the early universe, which affects not only nuclear and high energy physics but also cosmology and fundamental theory, such as string theory and lattice QCD.
Based on todays knowledge I propose a three phase plan until 2020.
Phase 1 (2008-2012)
At the heart of phase 1 lies the energy scan for heavy ion collisions, the extended search for initial conditions based on dA collisions, and the extension of the measurement of the gluon contribution to the proton spin in the polarized pp collisions. The results from the dA measurements might be in direct competition with early results from the LHC on low-x physics, but the energy scan and the spin program are unique. STAR is well prepared for phase 1. The ToF upgrade is coming along and will be completed prior to the energy scan. The forward detector upgrade for this part of the spin and dA program has already been completed. More importantly, the collaboration is excited about this phase and needs little encouragement. During the last weeks I have often heard that ‘we will do these low energy measurements and then we’ll move on to the LHC’. Clearly this should not be the strategy and we need to change the perception that this will be the last big measurement at RHIC. Part of my strategy will be to re-invigorate the upgrades program by suggesting additional detector upgrades, in particular in the calorimeter sector, in the next few years. An expanded group of active scientists interested in the future will also re-visit the question of a new common detector for STAR and PHENIX for phase 3 and/or the eRHIC era. The energy scan, the upgrades and the spin program should also enable us to expand the collaboration by attracting new groups at a time where it might be unavoidable that some groups will migrate to the LHC. I will actively pursue the recruitment of new scientists into STAR.
In terms of significant physics output from phase 1, I expect that flow and fluctuation measurements will hopefully determine unambiguously the existence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. Many particle identified measurements, both for stable particles and resonances, will benefit from the resolution and 2p coverage of the ToF. As an example, I expect that we will resolve the issue of a phase transition behavior at lower energies which is presently based on the SPS K/p measurements. Complementing the largely experimental nature of the scan, a strong focus must be placed on the theory side. The larger goal of our experimental collaboration is to make crisp, unambiguous scientific statements. In order for our field to leave a permanent mark in this regard, it is clear that a more systematic theoretical effort must be mounted. As spokesperson, I will push the theory community to extract meaningful, numerical quantities, with error bars, from our data. I will further argue to the funding agencies to increase support for the theoretical community, because the lack of an upgraded theory effort might well be the greatest threat to our field’s overall scientific legacy.
Regarding the spin program I expect a final conclusive measurement on the gluon contribution to the proton spin based on the longitudinal polarized proton program in different x-regions accessible through the higher energy proton run (500 GeV). The transverse polarized protons should also yield first results on transversity, Sivers, and Collins functions. As of yet, transversity remains the only unmeasured spin structure function. The previous statements regarding the dire need for solid theory support apply here as well, and again an effort needs to be made by all experimental groups to link their work closely to theoretical approaches to constrain the wide range of models presently available. During this phase I also intend to convene a dedicated group of spin advisors to link the spin physics of all three phases of this plan to the laboratory’s eRHIC project.
Phase 2 (2012-2016)
One issue that might be pushed into phase 2, simply because STAR and the DoE did not come to terms with our upgrade plans on an appropriate time scale, is the physics that a new vertex detector can bring us. I was leading the effort for the first generation vertex detector in STAR, which was built to enhance the physics in the strangeness sector. The SVT was an upgrade which was completed in year-2. The TPC was very successful early on in strangeness measurements, and based on the lack of identifiable physics and the rather complex issues of calibration and alignment, it was exceedingly difficult for us to establish the SVT as a viable physics detector after the TPC had already begun to successfully take data. Even a perfectly performing SVT would provide only incremental increases in efficiency to the strangeness program. Given this, people put their effort into extracting ready physics from the TPC, rather than into directions which would have made the SVT an integral part of STAR’s tracking. It is hard to characterize as unreasonable the cost-to-benefit reasoning behind the decision to focus on TPC-only analyses given the rather unexpected capabilities of the TPC. Only recently, with the help of a dedicated effort by the BNL software group and the implementation of a new integrated tracking algorithm, were we able to get the SVT established. We are still trying to extract exciting physics, now in the charm sector.
I have learned a lot of useful lessons in this very successful construction project, but in some sense failed physics project, which I intend to apply in my support for the 2nd generation HFT/IST/SSD vertexing detectors. With an order of magnitude superior resolution compared to the SVT the detector should be well suited for charm and bottom reconstruction and it is at the heart of our present mid term upgrades. Together with the enhanced particle identification capabilities of the ToF we can expect a program which goes beyond the basic D-meson questions. In particular, if charmed baryons and B-meson become available. Besides addressing heavy quark energy loss and flow, we will also be able to study more speculative hadronization ideas, such as the binding of heavy quarks into rare charm-strange baryons and mesons in an oversaturated strange phase
In addition the enhanced particle identification capabilities of TOF and HFT, together with the enhanced data mining capabilities of DAQ-1000 and better trigger algorithms should enable us to make definitive measurements of the hadronization process and the collectivity of the medium over a large momentum range, at least up to 10 GeV/c.
With these measurements of identified single, two-particle and many-particle spectra we will be able to determine the equation of state and state variables, such as temperature, pressure, and volume, as well as medium properties such as speed of sound, viscosity, diffusion coefficients, energy loss, transport coefficients in a less ambiguous fashion. I personally think that this could well become the ‘golden era’ of RHIC because the determination of the medium properties and the hadronization mechanism out of this medium will allow us to distinguish quantitatively the properties of the QCD medium and the QCD vacuum. Hadro-chemistry in the medium will be a key component of these studies, and resonances in the hard component might even give us access to the question of chiral symmetry restoration. In addition the heavy quark spectra, all the way up to the Y states, will give us access to the initial temperature and the evolution of the system as a function of time. More exotic topics, such as CP violation in the strong sector as well as the formation of exotic partonic states (pentaquarks, glueballs, bound states above Tc), will be also addressed with the superior PID capabilities.
In the spin sector I believe that phase 2 needs to address the question of the angular momentum component to the proton spin. Transversity measurements will come into their own in this time, and the forward upgrade with the FGT will be completed and will enable us to do W physics. The intrinsic handedness of the W-boson allows the separate measurement of quark and anti-quark polarization, which will hopefully lead to the first isolated anti-quark polarization measurement ever. In addition accurate single beam helicity measurements might be enabled through increased luminosity and the upgrade detectors. These measurements violate parity and might give access to physics beyond the standard model, such as evidence for a possible quark substructure and for supersymmetric particles.
Phase 3 (2016-2020)
I believe that this phase will be governed by rare process physics in the heavy ion sector. We need to arrive at a running mode where we run heavy ions in the same fashion than we run polarized protons right now, i.e. certain rare heavy ion measurements will only be achievable when several years of running are chained together. This might be particularly valuable for the rare heavy quark program, and a correlated jet program at very high momentum. In order to have a more detailed understanding of our plans for this phase, I plan to convene a committee of young active STAR members and a series of interested theorists.
Overall this phase is likely dominated by a shift towards an increase in spin and pA measurements in preparation for eRHIC. Certainly the three main parts of our existing spin program (transverse spin, gluon polarization, anti-quark polarization) will likely be continued in the eRHIC program, but there are also new exciting measurements we need to think about such as deep virtual Compton scattering to measure generalized parton distribution functions, measuring the spin structure of the virtual photon, and measuring spin structure differences between protons and neutrons. The physics case for an eA program at eRHIC was recently summarized in a very comprehensive white paper by the EIC collaboration, and one of our own, Thomas Ullrich, is a driving force in this effort, so I would certainly rely on him in advising us on the preparatory steps to take towards an eA program.
At the same time we need to define an AA program for the eRHIC era, based on AA physics that has not been achieved yet. I was one of the main proponents of a new detector (R2D) for this phase of RHIC, and I still think that our community needs to come together behind a strong physics program to push for a new joint (PHENIX/STAR) device that would allow us to do AA physics at RHIC even in the eRHIC era. The original R2D detector concept was based on hermeticity, greater momentum PID capabilities (out to 20 GeV/c) and superior electro-magnetic and hadronic calorimetry. I am convinced that with the presently available detectors a direct photon program, a complete heavy meson program and a complete jet fragmentation program in heavy ion collisions will always be limited. A new detector could enable our community to achieve these topics without the luminosity and runtime limitations of the LHC and without the distributed detector capabilities at the LHC. There is an interesting program for us even beyond 2020 and we need to study and explore its possibilities.
A spokesperson has to be present at BNL and I will commit to spend at least ¾ of my time at BNL. I will relocate to Long Island for my spokesperson tenure, and I am negotiating the proper teaching relief agreement with my university.
A spokesperson needs to have a good rapport with STAR operations and I commit to work with Bill Christie and his crew in the most collegial manner. I know many members of the STAR operations crew from my previous projects at BNL, and I appreciate their devotion and competence. Bill Christie has done a tremendous job after Ralph Brown’s departure, but more resources have to be found in order to support the operations group, in particular regarding detector maintenance and operation.
A spokesperson needs to work actively with the STAR Council and he/she needs to enable the participation of the council in key decisions. Our council has not been given the chance to more actively contribute to the daily operations and the problems of the collaboration. Not only do we need to work together on these issues, but the spokesperson needs to utilize the advisory board as the necessary middle layer. I will review the functions of the advisory board and pledge to work with them in a more pro-active way, and I will also try to complement them by a group of active young scientists directly from the physics working groups.
A spokesperson needs to assure the quality of the collaboration’s scientific output. It is my opinion that our output although prolific, lacks a certain scientific weight. We write too many small papers that carry too little physics impact. I will try to consolidate analyses, and I will make the PWGC and GPC committees more pro-active. Too many papers seem rubber stamped and scientific conflicts are not resolved but rather avoided. I plan to have better and more binding guidance by the PWGC on a proposed paper’s target journal. I will insist on a STAR note containing all analysis details prior to submission of a paper to the GPC. I will impose strict timelines on each step of the submission process, which can only be delayed by the STAR management in the case of scientific conflicts. I will add a layer of experienced experts for speedy conflict resolution and I will personally be pro-active in a.) resolving conflicts and b.) assuring quality control. I will also attempt to enforce a code of conduct that people should follow in a scientific discourse. There is too little scientific discussion at our meetings. Too often we get distracted with collaboration business at these meetings. I will change the modes for collaboration and analysis meetings in order to put more emphasis on science again. I am very optimistic that many of the present scientific issues in our collaboration can be resolved through a more pro-active and decisive leadership.
A spokesperson needs to know how to delegate and I plan to have a strong and active administration including the younger generation of active scientists. For example the following is a listing of recently named tenure-track assistant professors at U.S. institutions in our collaboration (Barannikova, Caines, Calderon, Fatemi, Markert, Mioduszewski, Surrow, Xie). I will call on these individuals, plus the laboratory research scientists of the same generation, to form a layer of scientists that will be involved in the decision making process. I personally think that our physics working group convenors are one of the strongest committees in STAR and I will expand their responsibilities. I will institute additional quality control measures for physics papers and I will enhance the guidance that young primary authors will get for publishing their papers. I will fight for each member of this collaboration to be able to present their work to the larger community, at national and international conferences. Finally, I will rely on a strong physics analysis coordinator and three deputy spokespersons to pull our administration together. Having three deputies permanently will require a change in the by-laws, but it is my opinion that the multitude of tasks for the management requires such a change. The deputies will have specific tasks relating to a.) bridge the gap between the spin and heavy ion program, b.) unify regional interests, c.) coordinate service work and detector maintenance.
A spokesperson needs to give special emphasis to the future. I will pledge to revamp our upgrade program in order to get more of the collaboration involved, and I pledge to hold the collaboration to commitments regarding service work and detector maintenance. I plan to find a backup for every ‘indispensable’ person in the collaboration (e.g. TPC or DAQ operators).
A spokesperson needs to be able to represent its collaboration and its field in the community and in the greater public. I think we are the superior collaboration at RHIC and I will pledge to represent us forcefully towards PHENIX, BNL management, NSAC, the DoE, NSF, and other government offices.
A spokesperson needs to know how to be decisive when necessary and I pledge to tackle certain key issues, besides the aforementioned quality assurance and scientific discussion rules, which I will briefly list in the following section.
One priority in my plans for the collaboration is to bring factions within the collaboration together. My administration will reflect an attempt to integrate the foreign institutions more, and to have a common basis and representation for the heavy ion and spin scientists in STAR. In addition, for too long STAR has been hampered by a fractionalization within the U.S. heavy ion institutions. I think this led to a certain dominance of PHENIX in the field, which does not necessarily have to be the case. I think STAR is the better detector, and now we have the chance to step up and also be the better collaboration. A healthy, active and successful STAR collaboration is absolutely crucial for the survival of relativistic heavy ion physics in the national laboratories and universities in the U.S.
We will draft more detailed Memoranda of Understanding with all institutions which include commitments to shift scheduling, service work and detector maintenance as well as detector operations. We will work on a system that will avoid single point failures such as the TPC without Blair Stringfellow or the DAQ without Jeff Landgraf, by involving the Council early on in the managerial operations process of all hardware and software components in STAR. We will create a more active and committed collaboration which can only be achieved through an active and involved council. The shift sign-up needs to be restructured in order to avoid problems such as the ones occurring during this holiday season. My administration will be very pro-active in getting this done within the first year of our term.
Furthermore the present structure of the physics working groups is not optimal to achieve quality physics output. Generally, I think the PWG topics were well chosen and are still largely appropriate, but we might consider, in deliberations with the convenors, some tweaking. Possibly strangeness and heavy flavor could be merged, flow could have its own group so could resonances, the ebye vs estruct issue has to be revisited, the spin program might need more than one group, and we need to have a hard look at the smaller PWGs and their viability in the future. But the biggest problem we are facing is the distribution of students and topics across the groups. In particular the spectra group is overcrowded with students that belong in other groups. I believe that in such an environment the scientific quality cannot be assured because the group is too big, not all issues can be discussed sufficiently in meetings and phone conferences, and the convenors are simply overwhelmed. I will impose a minimum requirement that convenors from the actual expert group (e.g. heavy flavor convenors for a charm analysis) will sign off on the work before it goes to a GPC. I will also require that primary authors planning to write a paper or give a presentation have to attend the expert group’s phone conference regularly to keep both groups informed. Both groups will have to sign off on conference abstracts and will help decide on speakers in case of a conflict. In general, we will find ways in accordance with the convenors to convince young scientists that it is in their best interest to work in the group that has expert convenors and young colleagues working on similar analyses. In general we need to give more guidance to our young scientists so that the quality of their work and their papers improve.
Our young people are our strongest asset and not only am I very encouraged by the graduate students from U.S. institutions but also by the foreign physics contributions, in particular from China and India. I will commit to giving these young people an environment in which they can flourish and have a chance for a future career in our field. In addition, five of the last six assistant professors hired in STAR institutions were women, and I am very glad that we started a trend which seems to catch on in other collaborations as well. During my tenure as chair the UEC will highlight this issue in a dedicated panel discussion on career opportunities for women and other minorities at this year’s users meeting.
STAR is a healthy and strong collaboration which can be improved in certain areas: the quality of its science output, a more focused vision for the future, a better scientific discourse, more collegiality, and a more collaborative effort overall.
In my opinion, having a decisive and experienced STAR spokesperson is crucial not only for STAR itself but also for the future of the field as a whole. Over the past two decades I have gathered extensive experience in managing large groups of scientists, in dealing with funding agencies and laboratory management, and in dealing collegially but also competitively with other collaborations in our field. My main objective will be to serve every member of this collaboration, to fight for them and the collaboration as a whole at every level of contact with the greater community and government entities. I need your help though, and I look forward to hearing your suggestions, concerns, grievances, even prior to the election. Many of us need to become more active to keep our physics interesting and alive, and I challenge you to help me to improve our collaboration. I hope I can count on your support.
I believe the next three to six years are crucial for the survival of our field in the United States and therefore also the continued existence and operation of the RHIC facility for our foreign users. STAR needs a decisive and experienced leader to represent our strong physics program to the greater public, politicians, NSAC, the DoE and BNL, and to guide the collaboration towards the future. I have extensive managing experience in STAR and beyond STAR. And I believe that I have the necessary physics background to represent not only STAR but the whole RHIC community. I want to be the spokesperson because I believe my complete resume is needed to guide STAR, and potentially our whole field, through the financial and scientific challenges that are ahead of us. I believe strongly in the power of the office and I will use it to enhance the reputation of STAR and RHIC and to improve STAR’s scientific output.
There are three major goals within STAR that I will address in the following order. First and foremost we need to maintain and enhance our commitment to operating the STAR detector. We need, as a collaboration, to make sure that all subsystem are supported by a group of detector experts. I will actively challenge the Council on this point. We need to make sure that we are prepared when our detectors start to show aging effects, and we need to think long term and be prepared for a physics program that will last another decade or longer. Part of this operations pledge will be infra-structure groups, such as the software and operations groups. We have to make sure that sub-systems are committed to working with the infra-structure groups. We have to maintain the software core group and we have to enhance resources for the operations group to be better prepared for future detector and maintenance challenges.
My second priority will be the improvement of our scientific output through enhanced quality control, more active involvement of the collaboration in the paper writing process, and a more active engagement of the theory community by the STAR collaboration. I am planning to re-structure the physics working groups, in consultation with the active leaders and the working group convenors in STAR, and I am planning to add more documentation and review steps to the paper writing process. At the same time I pledge to keep tight timelines during the process. I will much more aggressively engage the international and theory communities to make sure that our results are represented properly and that our people get the chance to be heard. I will make collaboration and analysis meetings more scientific by branching out more non-related issues such as upgrades and software into specialized meetings. I will encourage scientific discourse and engage in scientific conflict resolution in a very pro-active way. And I will attempt to reverse the fractionalization of the heavy ion community in STAR.
Finally I believe that shaping an effective short- and long-term upgrade program in the next three years is absolutely crucial. Both the heavy ion energy scan and the 500 GeV pp runs are part of the new five-year BUR straw-man and I think they need less attention than the question of physics beyond 2012. Our upgrade program has suffered from not being focused and pushed recently, and I will make it a priority to bring spin and heavy ion people together to shape a vision, for the hardware and physics sectors, that addresses the physics from 2012-2020. We cannot effort to have our upgrades effort fall further behind PHENIX's effort. We need to be more structured in our proposals and negotiations with the DoE and BNL when it comes to future projects.
These are my three main priorities for the next three years.
I will layout the main physics accomplishments in plots during my presentation, but I think it is quite obvious that we have some 'golden' results and some 'unique' results.
Under golden results I would list
Under unique results I would list
We have contributed in a major way to the 'perfect liquid' story, and I welcome our critical assessment of this story through more detailed measurements. And I am looking forward to adding more to this list as soon as results such as the three-particle correlations mature to a point where they can be interpreted unambiguously.
The approach here has to be twofold. We need to better interact with BNL and DoE to push our upgrades through. And we need to better engage the collaboration through the Council to make these upgrades larger group efforts. There is a lot of physics interest in the ToF, across the collaboration, but efforts such as the HFT, IST, FGT are often single group efforts and have found little response from the collaboration. The physics scope needs to be expanded, possible hardware contributions by collaborators not yet involved need to be identified. We also need a closer collaboration between heavy ion and spin groups to go forward. Everybody needs to realize that the single detector (i.e. TPC) analyses in STAR have largely been done, and the time has come, as a collaboration, to adopt the integrated detector approach for future physics analyses. I think heavy ion physics has to progress more into the forward direction, and the AA physicists need to review what an EEMC, a FGT, or a FMS can do for them. This will strengthen the forward upgrades. The central upgrade could also use more spin participation, and it needs to arrive at a common 'central upgrade theme' for its hardware instead of three separate HFT, IST, SSD approaches. I will review the effectiveness of our upgrade management in the first six months of my term and I will propose changes if necessary. The spokesperson needs to become more decisive to show BNL and DoE that the collaboration is serious about its future. That also means pushing new ideas (e.g. improved calorimeters, enhanced PID) to the forefront of the scientific discourse in the collaboration.
I think a closer collaboration between heavy ion and spin groups, in hardware and physics analysis, has to be fostered. Working groups need to be re-structured to account for the evolution of the physics communities after almost 10 years of RHIC. We need to be more represented at the international level, suggest more STAR people for talks, and integrate them in international advisory committees and entities such as NSAC, PAC's, DoE etc. And there needs to be more of a physics discussion. Key active physicists in STAR are presently underutilized. We need to find out why and hopefully change it. We also should lead RHIC by having a clear vision of our relevance in the time of LHC running.
This question was partially answered in questions 2,4,5 but to be very specific in operations we need to eradicate 'single point failures' through actively challenging the collaboration by challenging its council members to supply detector experts. We need to enhance the strengths of the operations group (e.g. find a Ralph Brown replacement, hand picked by the operations leader) and of the software group (e.g. react to specific concerns or suggestions by the software leader). Clearly data processing in the time of higher and higher luminosities is a central issue, but we have good leaders in this area. We just need to work with them and listen to them.
The physics analysis output has to be improved. There is a lot of output but it has to be better quality controlled, it has to be more current in certain instances, and it needs to be more combined into larger and more overarching papers.
Differing opinions on a subject should not be suppressed but openly discussed. The spokesperson should be personally engaged in conflict resolution, but papers of sub-groups of the collaboration should also be encouraged when there is no resolution and results are just lingering although they might be very relevant. It is disheartening to me that a limited coverage detector such as PHENIX was able to claim certain physics topics such as fluctuations and particle correlations over a detector, such as STAR, that was specifically constructed for these kinds of physics analyses. I will spend considerable time early in my administration to address the conflicts that led to this problem in our scientific output.
I would ask the Council to support a third deputy. I would review the functions of the advisory board and streamline them to fit my administration. I would delegate very specific topics to my deputies. I would add a 'physics council' to give me advice on ongoing and future physics projects. This council might get involved in the paper process if this is viewed positively by the STAR council and the convenors. Physics working groups will get re-structured and we will pass a set of rules to give primary authors more guidance on how to interact with the structures in STAR.
First and foremost I will make the structure transparent to the collaboration and keep the collaboration informed through bi-weekly spokesperson briefings to the whole collaboration.
I am presently the chair of the Users Executive Committee until June 08. I think I can handle this additional responsibility, but I will discuss it with the UEC and the STAR Council if I get elected. The SVT project has been concluded so I hold presently no other position in STAR. I was admitted to ALICE recently, but I will revoke my ALICE membership if elected to STAR spokesperson.
I am also negotiating teaching relief with my university for the time of my tenure. I am planning to re-locate to Long Island, and in most weeks plan to spend one day at Wayne and four days at BNL.
Overall I am planning to devote myself 100% to the present and future of STAR and I am looking forward to it.
WSU is funded through an umbrella grant that covers the efforts of all four senior professors (Cormier, Pruneau, Voloshin, Bellwied). The money is equally shared and therefore it is often difficult to label the group's resources in terms of specific assignments. WSU was responsible for successfully building the STAR SVT and EMC detectors, but it has not very successfully contributed to either operation because of limited resources. The recently submitted DoE proposal asks for increased funding, but it was also predicated on a timed phase-out out of STAR in favor of an ALICE involvement. This phase-out was supposed to be completed by 2011. Tom Cormier is and will remain the project leader of the ALICE-EMC.
If elected, we would adjust the phase-out plan and end up with two equally strong groups at WSU, one in STAR, led by myself, and one in ALICE, led by Tom Cormier.
Profs. Pruneau and Voloshin would share their resources evenly over STAR and ALICE. If elected, I hope to accomplish a similar arrangement with other large groups such as Yale and LBNL. All my postdocs and students will be assigned to STAR exclusively in the future, and I will commit to funding a detector expert for STAR through WSU funds, pending the approval of our present DoE proposal.
Our European groups have always contributed considerably to our physics output, and many of the new senior hires in Europe are actually STAR alumns, but we have to be realistic that these groups will have to participate increasingly in the LHC. I expect the groups to be honest in their assessments towards us, but I also hope that certain groups involved in the upgrades (e.g. the French and Czech groups) can commit to a longer STAR participation and I will actively pursue them and make it as attractive as possible for them to stay involved.
The Brazilian groups are very involved in both hardware and analysis issues. They presently hold two convenor positions, and in the case of Sao Paulo et al. I just hope to maintain the present level of commitment, knowing that also this group is eyeing ALICE.
The Russian block of groups have a long history in the calorimeter and spin program and I will, with the help of Tim, assess their future involvement in the first six months of my tenure and then report to council and collaboration.
The Indian groups have committed to maintain the PMD and also their physics involvement through heavy ion energy scan. All groups are also involved in ALICE with a PMD, but here I really hope we can foster an arrangement that would keep a subgroup of the Indian groups involved in STAR forward physics beyond 2012. I will try to foster a collaboration between heavy ion and spin people to look at forward physics and plan to have the Indian groups very much involved in this project. In the past these groups were very successful in providing talented young scientists to STAR and I hope this will continue.
The Chinese groups are the key contributors to the TOF upgrade, and they have committed a large number of young, talented scientists to STAR. Many analyses in STAR are presently backed by Chinese students, and with Nu Xu, Huan Huang, Fuqiang Wang, and Zhangbu Xu we have very active senior leaders in the U.S. to help us integrate the Chinese students better into STAR. I am convinced that STAR can provide a very good environment for the students to further their career, and I am convinced that the Chinese groups are committed to the future of STAR.
Generally I am not satisfied with the level of communication and the shift commitment of most of the foreign groups. Language and time zone barriers make good and steady communication naturally difficult, but both sides need to be more pro-active to make this happen. I was involved in too many 'bad' phone conferences to ignore this issue. I was thinking about diverting STAR funds to keep the communication at a highest level, i.e. pay for good video and audio links in foreign countries. I also think a major portion of our discretionary funds needs to go to travel support for specific foreign individuals. We have a good history there and I plan to adopt many of Tim's plans. In return I expect the groups to be considerably active in the maintenance and operation of the detector. Shift requirements have to be taken seriously, and groups have to obtain the necessary visas well ahead of time knowing that a beam time is imminent. I will sort through collaboration lists together with the Council chair or a designated person and try to put a face behind every name, and also gauge everybody's STAR involvement.
Besides myself I will devote a deputy to the issue of relations to foreign groups, and I will also keep the collaboration informed on our progress regarding the effectiveness of our relations to the foreign groups.
In summary, the involvement level of a large part of the foreign institutions needs to be improved and guaranteed in a time of LHC running. The foreign institutions are a big part and potentially a big asset of STAR, and we need to integrate them better.
Election materials for STAR spokesperson election in May 2017