International Collaboration in Training the Next Generation of Accelerator Scientists and Engineers

William Barletta

Particle accelerators are engines of discovery in fundamental physics, biology, and chemistry. They have broad diagnostic and therapeutic use in commerce, medicine and national security that form a global, multi-billion dollar per year industry. Given the scarcity of formal, university-based educational opportunities, there is a growing need to provide a continuing, well organized source of knowledge on accelerators to early career physicists and engineers, as well as to scientists looking for career shifts, to educate and train them in in advanced areas of particle accelerator science and technology. A global perspective on accelerator education can be found in [1].

Schools on accelerator physics have existed in the U.S. (US Particle Accelerator School) and Europe (CERN Accelerator School) since 1981.  The sessions of the Joint International Accelerator School (JAS) complements those schools by providing in-depth courses and seminars in specialized areas. Furthermore, Joint International School enhances the collaboration among the CERN, KEK, Japan and Russia Accelerator Schools by working together on an advanced topical course, alternating between the U.S., Western Europe, Japan and Russia. These joint schools foster collaborations among the accelerator communities of the four regions in scholarly work, both writing and teaching. During the school program, participants are encouraged to discuss their technical challenges with internationally well-known experts and scientists.  The school environment provides a positive atmosphere for learning.

The 2014 Joint School, Frontiers of Accelerator Technology: Beam Loss and Accelerator Protection, to be held in Newport Beach, California is being organized by the U.S. Particle Accelerator School (with central office located at Fermilab), the CERN Accelerator School (headquartered at CERN), the KEK Accelerator School (located at the KEK National Laboratory) and the Russia Accelerator School (in Novosibirsk, Russia).  It will be held November 6 – 13, 2014 in Newport Beach CA. 

This year’s session is intended for a broad range of individuals with professional interests in accelerator physics and technology, ranging from physicists and engineers involved in accelerator construction projects to graduate students, post-docs and experimentalists working in accelerator-based sciences using high power particle beams.  The lectures will be structured into the following general categories in order of presentation:
  1. Beam dynamics and beam losses (circulating accelerator, linear accelerator) 
  2. Introduction to risk management of complex systems  (e.g. particle accelerators) – include case studies
  3. Beam material interaction, heating, activation
  4. Indirect damage (not due to direct beam losses) 
  5. Beam induced damage mechanisms and their calculation
  6. Detection of equipment failures before beam loss
  7. Beam instrumentation for machine protection 
  8. Beam Cleaning and collimation 
  9. Machine Protection
  10. Hardware systems with large stored energy
  11. Practical design principles for protection and safety systems
  12. Controls and machine protection
  13. Operation in presence of dangerous beams 

Each day will conclude with an evening discussion session that focuses on case studies of accelerators that deliver high power beams. Approximately 100 participants are expected, including 80 students and 20 lecturers. 

The first joint school was held at Santa Margherita di Pula, Sardinia (January-February 1985) with the subject of Nonlinear Dynamics; the second in South Padre Island, Texas (October 1986) on New Accelerator Methods and Techniques; the third at Anacapri, Italy (October 1988) on Accelerator Instrumentation and Diagnostics; the fourth on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (November 1990) on the subject of Beam Intensity Limitations; and the fifth in Benalmadena, Spain (October-November 1992) on Factories with e+e- Rings.  The sixth was on the island of Maui, Hawaii (November 1994) on the subject Frontiers of Accelerator Technology, the seventh was in Hayama and Tsukuba Japan (September 1996) on Radio-Frequency Engineering for Particle Accelerators, the eighth in Montreux and Geneva, Switzerland (May 1998) on Beam Measurements and the ninth international school was held in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia (July 2000) on High Quality Beams, the tenth international school was held in Long Beach, CA (2002) on Frontiers of Linac Technology. The 11th session, Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Lasers, was held at the Majorana Centre, Erice, Sicily in 2011.

Consistent with the protocols of the Joint International Schools, each region supports the costs of lecturers and a limited number of student scholarships from the respective regions. Management of the JAS is divided equally among the three partners. As a goal, instructors are provided from each region and students would be half from the non-host regions, and half from the host region. Each region provides for the local support of limited number of scholarship students. Further details on the JAS 2014 program, including applications for participation and requests for financial aid can be found on the USPAS website and the CAS website.

Reference. [1] “Educating and Training Accelerator Scientists and Technologists for Tomorrow,” W.A. Barletta, S. Chattopadhyay, A. Seryi, Reviews of Accelerator Science and Technology, Vol. 5 (2012) 313–331

William Barletta, a past chair of the FIP is Director of the US Particle Accelerator School and a member of the faculty of the Departments of Physics at MIT, UCLA and Ljubljana.

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