PIP-II

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Joe Biden met last Thursday to deepen bilateral cooperation between the two countries on cutting-edge scientific infrastructure. As part of the agreement, India will supply components worth $140 million to the U.S. Department of Energy’s plans to upgrade the Fermilab accelerator complex to create the most intense high-energy neutrino beams which would help unravel understanding of the evolution of the universe. This contribution is described in number 10 of the White House statement.

From the Daily Herald, April 14, 2023: On April 13, Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk helped celebrate the opening of the IERC building and the new Proton Improvement Plan-II cryoplant building, saying he was excited about the experiments the PIP-II facilities will enable, including the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

Prototyping is an indispensable step in the development of particle physics experiments like DUNE and projects like PIP-II.

On April 13, Gov. Pritzker and other local legislators joined DOE officials at Fermilab for the “Building Fermilab’s Future” event, which marked the opening of the IERC and PIP-II Cryoplant buildings and the groundbreaking for the Linac Complex.

To build the DUNE neutrino experiment and its associated accelerator upgrade, experts invent customized ways to transport fragile, expensive and highly specialized components.

The 10-meter-long cryomodule, part of the PIP-II particle accelerator project at Fermilab, is now undergoing testing to validate all its components and finalize its design. In a few years, Fermilab and international partners will produce four similar cryomodules that will propel particles in the new linear accelerator.

Construction may now begin on the PIP-II Linac Complex. The tunnel and building will house the new linear particle accelerator that will power the physics programs and neutrino research at Fermilab for the coming decades.

To prepare for the shipment of large, delicate particle accelerator components from the UK to Fermilab, the PIP-II team flew a “dummy load” across the Atlantic Ocean, recording every little bump the dummy experienced. After careful validation of all transportation data, the team will ship a 10-meter-long prototype cryomodule early next year.

From the CERN Courier, November 7, 2022: Fermilab’s Joel Butler and a group of scientists describe the recent ‘Snowmass’ community planning exercise in Seattle, Washington which reveal the great opportunities present in high-energy physics in the coming decades.

A postdoc on the PIP-II project, Wijethunga is working on investigating the presence of an electron cloud in the Fermilab Booster.