Fermilab Prepares for its Future

by Kurt Riesselmann

"WHAT WE SEE IS A REVOLUTION"

Bob Kephart chaired the Proton Driver working group of the Long Range Planning Committee. He presented the preliminary results of the group in front of several hundred scientists in Fermilab's Ramsey Auditorium on March 11. - Photo by Reidar Hahn

It was an historic moment when several hundred physicists gathered in Fermilab's Ramsey Auditorium on March 11 to consider their response to a revolution. They had come to listen to strategies and recommendations. They asked questions and discussed answers. They weighed the merits of different time lines and the tools to be used. At times emotions were high, as were the stakes: the future scientific program of Fermilab.

In the last five years the worldwide physics community has found signs of revolutionary changes in our understanding of nature. Particle physicists have found that neutrinos have mass and oscillate, causing a huge crack in the 30-year-old "holy grail" of particle theory: the Standard Model of particles and interactions, which predicted massless neutrinos. The mechanism responsible for the masses of all particles is soon expected to make its appearance. Astrophysicists have discovered that 95 percent of the universe is made of dark matter and dark energy, stuff invisible to the naked eye—and physicists so far can only speculate about its origin.These and other observations indicate that there is much more to learn.

Hugh Montgomery, chair of the Fermilab Long Range Planning Committee

"What we see is a revolution," said Associate Director Hugh Montgomery addressing the crowd. "The Standard Model we feel is beginning to give way to something new. The Tevatron, and certainly the Large Hadron Collider, will pull back the curtain on the origin of mass and electroweak symmetry breaking."

Montgomery chaired the 15-member Fermilab Long Range Planning Committee that has been studying Fermilab's future beyond the LHC, which will begin operations at the European laboratory CERN in 2007. The LRPC, which began its work in the fall of 2003, has been charged by Fermilab Director Michael Witherell "to develop in detail a few realistically achievable options for the Fermilab program in the next decade under each possible outcome for the Linear Collider. The goal in developing each option should be to optimize the opportunities available at Fermilab in this period for high energy physicists to answer the most important questions in our field."

Steve Holmes, deputy chair of the Fermilab LRPC and convenor of the Linear Collider working group, at the LRPC presentation in Ramsey Auditorium

Fermilab is well suited to be a major player in advancing the revolution. While conducting Collider Run II at the Tevatron, Fermilab has been building the NuMI neutrino beam line and installing the MINOS neutrino detectors. Two months ago, the Office of Science of the Department of Energy gave Fermilab the first approval, Critical Decision Zero, of the BTeV experiment. Fermilab will also have a central role in an active U.S. research program at the LHC, participating in both the CMS experiment and the development of the LHC accelerator upgrades. In addition, Fermilab is involved in several smaller-scale projects in astrophysics. Altogether, the Laboratory is guaranteed a vibrant research program throughout the end of this decade.

But what will Fermilab be doing in the year 2015? Since it takes years to plan and construct largescale science facilities, it is not too soon to ask the question. The physics revolution is provides plenty of research opportunities, but choosing—and funding—the right path is difficult.

"There are two visions of where the lab can be in 2015," said Associate Director Steve Holmes, deputy chair of the LRPC. "Either there'll be a Linear Collider within 20 miles of the lab, and it would be a big part of the lab's program; or the Linear Collider will not be near, and we would become a world center of excellence in neutrino physics with a high-luminosity proton program. The question is: Given that, what do we do now? The two facilities represent vastly different scales."

R&D for a Linear Collider at the Large Vacuum Furnace in Technical Division building IB4. Shekhar Mishra (right) leads the LC R&D effort at Fermilab, with Technical Division head Bob Kephart (second from right). Tug Arkan (left) and Harry Carter are the lead engineers on x-band LC R&D. - Photo by Reidar Hahn

The LRPC formed 10 working groups to study the two scenarios and the future scientific program that would accompany these efforts. The subcommittees brought in experts, both from inside the lab and outside, to lay out the issues. After developing a thorough understanding of the issues, the working groups drafted "protorecommendations," which they discussed with scientists from across the lab in a series of open sessions, each drawing more than 100 scientists, with Fermilab's directors listening to the discussions. In January 2004, the LRPC gathered for a 2-day retreat to develop a plan on how Fermilab should proceed in the near future to achieve its long-term goals. Since then the committee has worked on finalizing its report.

"The committee has served as a discussion group to go out and get the information," said Princeton University physicist Peter Meyers, a collaborator on the MiniBooNE experiment and member of the LRPC. "It was our charge to hash out the arguments that will shape Fermilab's future. However, obviously, this committee does not make the final decision."

The meeting on March 11 was the last open session before the committee publishes its final report in May. The key recommendations, presented by Montgomery at the meeting, are in place: