Strategic Plan for a Scientific Software Innovation Institute (S2I2) for High Energy Physics

The quest to understand the fundamental building blocks of nature and their interactions is one of the oldest and most ambitious of human scientific endeavors. Facilities such as CERNs Large Hadron Collider (LHC) represent a huge step forward in this quest. The discovery of the Higgs boson, the observation of exceedingly rare decays of B mesons, and stringent constraints on many viable theories of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) demonstrate the great scientific value of the LHC physics program. The next phase of this global scientific project will be the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) which will collect data starting circa 2026 and continue into the 2030s. The primary science goal is to search for physics beyond the SM and, should it be discovered, to study its details and implications. During the HL-LHC era, the ATLAS and CMS experiments will record circa 10 times as much data from 100 times as many collisions as in LHC Run 1. The NSF and the DOE are planning large investments in detector upgrades so the HL-LHC can operate in this high-rate environment. A commensurate investment in R&D for the software for acquiring, managing, processing and analyzing HL-LHC data will be critical to maximize the return-on-investment in the upgraded accelerator and detectors. The strategic plan presented in this report is the result of a conceptualization process carried out to explore how a potential Scientific Software Innovation Institute (S2I2) for High Energy Physics (HEP) can play a key role in meeting HL-LHC challenges.

The Gemini Observatory Fast Turnaround Program

Geminis Fast Turnaround program is intended to greatly decrease the time from having an idea to acquiring the supporting data. The scheme will offer monthly proposal submission opportunities, and proposals will be reviewed by the principal investigators or co-investigators of other proposals submitted during the same round. Here, we set out the design of the system and outline the plan for its implementation, leading to the launch of a pilot program at Gemini North in January 2015.

Review of scientific topics for Millimetron space observatory

This paper describes outstanding issues in astrophysics and cosmology that can be solved by astronomical observations in a broad spectral range from far infrared to millimeter wavelengths. The discussed problems related to the formation of stars and planets, galaxies and the interstellar medium, studies of black holes and the development of the cosmological model can be addressed by the planned space observatory Millimetron (the Spectr-M project) equipped with a cooled 10-m mirror. Millimetron can operate both as a single-dish telescope and as a part of a space-ground interferometer with very long baseline.

MAROON-X: A Radial Velocity Spectrograph for the Gemini Observatory

MAROON-X is a red-optical, high precision radial velocity spectrograph currently nearing completion and undergoing extensive performance testing at the University of Chicago. The instrument is scheduled to be installed at Gemini North in the first quarter of 2019. MAROON-X will be the only RV spectrograph on a large telescope with full access by the entire US community. In these proceedings we discuss the latest addition of the red wavelength arm and the two science grade detector systems, as well as the design and construction of the telescope front end. We also present results from ongoing RV stability tests in the lab. First results indicate that MAROON-X can be calibrated at the sub-m/s level, and perhaps even much better than that using a simultaneous reference approach.

Scientific Verification of the High Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a TeV gamma-ray and cosmic-ray detector currently under construction at an altitude of 4100 m close to volcano Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The HAWC observatory is an extensive air-shower array comprised of 300 optically-isolated water Cherenkov detectors (WCDs). Each WCD contains $sim$200,000 liters of filtered water and four upward-facing photomultiplier tubes. In Fall 2014, when the HAWC observatory will reach an area of 22,000 m$^{2}$, the sensitivity will be 15 times higher than its predecessor Milagro. Since September 2012, more than 30 WCDs have been instrumented and taking data. This first commissioning phase has been crucial for the verification of the data acquisition and event reconstruction algorithms. Moreover, with the increasing number of instrumented WCDs, it is important to verify the data taken with different configuration geometries. In this work we present a comparison between Monte Carlo simulation and data recorded by the experiment during 24 hours of live time between 14 and 15 April of 2013 when 29 WCDs were active.