------------------------------------------------------------- Summary of the LHCb Collaboration Board Meeting (CERN, December 2nd 1999) ------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes taken by F. Harris Present: B.Adeva (Santiago de Compostela), T.Bowcock (Liverpool), C.Brew (RAL), G.Carboni (Rome "Tor Vergata"), C.Coca (Bucharest), R.Dzhelyadin (IHEP Surpukhov), L.Garrido (Barcelona), A.Golutvin (ITEP, Moscow), E.Guschin (INR Moscow), A.Halley (Glasgow), N.Harnew * (Oxford), F.Harris (Oxford), H-J.Hilke * (CERN), B.Jean-Marie (LAL Orsay), B.Koene (NIKHEF), A.Lai (Cagliari), R.Le Gac (CPPM Marseille), B.Marechal (Rio de Janeiro), C.Matteuzzi (Milano), F.Muheim (Edinburgh), P.Perret (Clemont-Ferrand), G.Polok (Cracow), M.Sannino (Genoa), M.Schmelling (MPI Heidelberg), O.Schneider (Lausanne), A.Schopper (CERN), C.Shepherd-Themistocleous (Cambridge) M.Szczekowski (Warsaw), I.Videau * (LAL Orsay), A.Vorobyov (Gatchina), D.Websdale (Imperial College, London). * non-voting members [28 institutes represented] The meeting was chaired by N.Harnew. Apologies: ---------- N. Harnew transmitted the apologies of : O.Bouianov (Espoo-Vantaa), B.Cox (Virginia), C.Jiang (Beijing), V.Lindenstruth (IHEP Heidelberg), T.Nakada (CERN), V.Pugatch (KINR), Bernard Spaan (Dresden); and E.Aslanides (CPPM Marseille), A.Bay (Lausanne), R.Forty (CERN), V.Gibson (Cambridge), R.Miquel (Barcelona) J.Morris (RAL), B.Saitta (Cagliari) sent other representatives. Agenda ------ 1) Approval of the agenda 2) Minutes of last meeting - Approval of minutes - Matters arising 3) Collaboration issues - LHCb Associate Membership - Future admissions policy New collaborators : - University of Bristol - University of Firenze - University of Zurich - Others 4) Feedback from referees, LHCC and matters arising 5) Financial and manpower matters - Report from the RRB 6) Report from the Management on Technical Issues : - Choice of photodetector for the RICH detectors. 7) Matters arising from the Plenary Meeting 8) Ratification of LHCb constitution 9) LHCb conference talks 10) Any other business - Year 2000 meeting outside CERN - CB Secretary - Tracking task force convener 1) Approval of the agenda ------------------------- The agenda was approved. 2) Minutes of the last meeting ------------------------------ Approval of minutes : --------------------- The minutes of the September 16 and 17th meetings were approved without correction. Matters arising : ----------------- The matters arising which were not covered in other items of the agenda : o Draft guidelines for internal sub-system reviews To maintain flexibility, the CB agreed that internal review guidelines should not be formally specified in writing. o An acceptance letter has been sent to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). o Editorial Policy This will be posted on WWW as agreed at the last meeting. 3) Collaboration issues ----------------------- LHCb Tendering and Associate Membership --------------------------------------- H-J.Hilke introduced a first discussion of the possibility of institutes having LHCb ``Associate Membership''. H-J.Hilke said that there were two implications when proposing this class of membership. One was financial, the other was the question of voting rights. From the financial point of view it was noted that tenders for detector equipment will always be invited from member states. However, tenders should go to non-member states only if they are making a financial contribution to the collaboration, but not otherwise. There was a consensus on this philosophy. On the issue of voting rights, H-J.Hilke suggested the possibility of an ``Associate Member'' having right of attendance at a CB meeting, but no voting rights. The status of Associate Member would be given to representatives of those institutes who were making no financial contribution to the experiment, and who had not signed the MoU. During the discussion, some concern was raised for the proposal, e.g. what would define the boundary of Associate Membership status. The management will prepare a proposal, and raise this issue again at the next CB meeting. In the meanwhile CB members should discuss this matter with their institute colleagues. Future admissions policy ------------------------ H-J.Hilke expressed the opinion that in the future we should consider giving more explicit guidance to potential new institutes regarding their areas of responsibility, prior to accepting them into the collaboration. Much work has already gone into LHCb projects, and some have consequently reached well defined maturity. We must thus respect the interests of the institutes who had achieved this progress, and guide new institutes into areas which required fresh resources. This proposal was unanimously agreed by the CB. Application of University of Bristol ------------------------------------ N.Harnew reported that a letter of application had been received from Nick Brook on behalf of the University of Bristol group, UK, to join LHCb. There was unanimous support from the CB for the application, and it was agreed that the usual letter of acceptance be sent. Application of University of Firenze ------------------------------------ N.Harnew reported that a letter of application had been received from M.Calvetti and G.Passaleva on behalf of the University of Firenze group, Italy, to join LHCb. There was unanimous support from the CB for the application, and it was agreed that the usual letter of acceptance be sent. Application of University of Zurich ----------------------------------- N.Harnew reported that a letter of application had been received from Ueli Straumann on behalf of the University of Zurich group, Switzerland, to join LHCb. There was unanimous support from the CB for the application, and it was agreed that the usual letter of acceptance be sent. 4) Feedback from referees, LHCC and matters arising --------------------------------------------------- I.Videau had made a summary during the Plenary meeting. o The October 19th meeting between the Coordinators and the LHCC referees had gone well. o LHCb progress had been well received by the LHCC at its October 20th meeting. There were no major areas of concern. o Dave Cassel (Cornell) is the new LHCb principal referee from the year 2000. o The next LHCC major review of LHCb is on March 7th (a full one day meeting). H-J.Hilke informed the CB that it had been established with the LHCC that the TDRs do not have to come evenly spaced to the LHCC meetings; specifically two TDRs can be submitted to a single meeting. 5) Financial and manpower matters --------------------------------- I.Videau reported. The RRB of October 25th had gone well. France, MPI (Germany), the Netherlands and Spain have signed the IMoU. The UK are expected to sign shortly. Switzerland, MPI (Germany), the Netherlands and Italy have so far contributed to the Common Fund. Although it seems that the fund will be adequate for the year 2000, in particular for early magnet payments, institutes should keep pushing their funding agencies for contributions. 6) Report from the Management on Technical Issues ------------------------------------------------- H.J-Hilke introduced a single recommendation made by the Technical Board and which has been accepted and endorsed by the Management. The recommendation of the pixel HPD as the RICH photodetector was presented to the CB for its endorsement. The pixel HPD will have strict internal milestones over a one year timescale, and the MAPMT will be the backup in case the milestones cannot be met. This recommendation was unanimously ratified by the CB. 7) Matters arising from the Plenary Meeting ------------------------------------------- I.Videau introduced three areas which have emerged as needing urgent extra effort. These are short-term background studies (beampipe, layout of inner trackers), longer term expertise in background calculations (a physicist based at CERN to work in close contact with G.Von Holtey), and test beam data acquisition support. The CB were asked to propose possible candidates to work in these areas. 8) Ratification of LHCb constitution ------------------------------------ N.Harnew distributed the draft constitution, which had also been posted on the web in advance of the meeting. The new version was unanimously ratified without further discussion. 9) LHCb conference talks ------------------------- N.Harnew reported that T.Nakada will update information regarding the status of LHCb conference talks on the WWW, upon his return from China. 10) Any other business ---------------------- Year 2000 meeting outside CERN ------------------------------ N.Harnew raised the issue of the location of the September 2000 meeting, which will be held in an outside institute. It was agreed to have the meeting in Italy; the Italian groups will make a proposal to the next CB meeting. CB Secretary ------------ N.Harnew reported that the position of CB Secretary (an ad-hoc appointment) has been filled by F.Harris since 1998. He has now come to the end of his agreed period. As such, volunteers or nominations are invited in advance of the next CB meeting in February. ____________________________________________________________________________ Summary of Important Dates -------------------------- All meetings are at CERN unless otherwise indicated. Dates of future LHCb weeks and Collaboration Board meetings ------------------------------------------------------------ LHCb weeks 2000 Plenary meeting Collaboration Board Feb 21 - 25 24/25 Feb 24 Feb May 22 - 26 25/26 May 25 May Sep 25-29 2000 (Italy) 28/29 Sep 28 Sep Nov 27 - Dec 1 30 Nov/1 Dec 30 Nov Dates of conveners/referees meetings ------------------------------------ 2000 : 7 Mar (coordinators and referees) LHCC Meetings ------------- 2000 : 26-27 Jan, 8-9 Mar, 17-18 May, 5-6 Jul, 4-5 Oct, 29-30 Nov. RRB meeting ----------- 2000 : 17-18 Apr, 23-24 Oct. ____________________________________________________________________________ The CB attendees for the previous (16/9/99) meeting were as follows: E.Aslanides (CPPM Marseille), T.Bowcock (Liverpool), M.Calvi (Milano), G.Carboni (Rome "Tor Vergata"), R.Dzhelyadin (IHEP Surpukhov), F.Eisele (U.Heidelberg), R.Forty (CERN), V.Gibson (Cambridge), A.Golutvin (ITEP, Moscow), N.Harnew * (Oxford), F.Harris (Oxford), H-J.Hilke * (CERN), B.Jean-Marie (LAL Orsay), C.Jiang (Beijing), B.Koene (FOM/NIKHEF), L.Kravchuk (INR, Moscow), U.Marconi (Bologna), G.Martellotti (Rome "La Sapienza), M.Merk (Utrecht), F.Muheim (Edinburgh), T.Nakada * (CERN), P.Perret (Clemont-Ferrand), J-P.Perroud (Lausanne), M.Schmelling (MPI Heidelberg), M.Szczekowski (Warsaw), I.Videau * (LAL Orsay). * non-voting members [22 institutes represented]