Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies.publishedVersio

AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space

Abstract: We propose in this White Paper a concept for a space experiment using cold atoms to search for ultra-light dark matter, and to detect gravitational waves in the frequency range between the most sensitive ranges of LISA and the terrestrial LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA/INDIGO experiments. This interdisciplinary experiment, called Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration (AEDGE), will also complement other planned searches for dark matter, and exploit synergies with other gravitational wave detectors. We give examples of the extended range of sensitivity to ultra-light dark matter offered by AEDGE, and how its gravitational-wave measurements could explore the assembly of super-massive black holes, first-order phase transitions in the early universe and cosmic strings. AEDGE will be based upon technologies now being developed for terrestrial experiments using cold atoms, and will benefit from the space experience obtained with, e.g., LISA and cold atom experiments in microgravity. KCL-PH-TH/2019-65, CERN-TH-2019-12

Laser-Ablated Beryllium Ions for Cold Antihydrogen in ALPHA

One of the best ways to study antimatter is to investigate antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron. Antihydrogen atoms do not exist naturally and must be synthesized in the lab by merging carefully-prepared plasmas of positrons and antiprotons. If the atoms are created in a magnetic trap like the one used by the ALPHA experiment at CERN, then a fraction of the coldest atoms remain trapped, while the rest escape and annihilate on the trap walls. The trapped atoms may then be probed using microwaves or lasers to make high-precision comparisons with hydrogen. Increasing the trapping rate would allow us to perform precision measurements on antihydrogen in a shorter period of time and with better systematics. Particle simulations indicate that by sympathetically cooling positrons using laser-cooled beryllium ions, we have the ability to improve the antihydrogen trapping rate by up to two orders of magnitude. This thesis describes the effort to design and qualify a beryllium ion source that is compatible with the extreme environment of the ALPHA trapping apparatus. To produce the ions, pulsed laser ablation of a beryllium target is investigated and the ion plume is characterized. By carefully choosing the laser parameters, a plume with a suitable number of ions and kinetic energy distribution can be created for subsequent trapping and laser-cooling in a Penning trap. This thesis reports the successful demonstration of the ion source, in particular its compatibility with the requirements of the ALPHA experiment. The ion source has been installed into the main apparatus at ALPHA and is expected to be commissioned early next year

PMMU #27 - Lessons learned in project auditing – the auditor’s viewpoint

SummaryThe speaker will share his experience as auditor of projects, and the lessons he has learned from them.&nbsp;&nbsp;About the speakerStanislas ZUIN is a certified internal auditor (CIA) and a certified fraud examiner (CFE). He holds master degrees in both economics and economic crime investigation, as well as a certificate in development studies. Throughout his career he has worked as a private banking financial analyst, a corporate finance executive, and CFO for both privately-owned and listed industrial companies.He later founded his own consulting firm in economic crime investigation, before being&nbsp;elected from 2006 to 2018 as magistrate at the Court of auditors of Geneva, Switzerland. As magistrate he has managed numerous compliance and performance audits as well as fraud investigations and evaluation of public policies.&nbsp;He has served four years as the President of the Court and is a frequent lecturer at Universities in the fields of public finance, investigation and audit.He currently leads its own consultancy company in the field of audit and governance, together with responsibilities as Board Vice President of Geneva International Airport, in charge of Audit &amp; Finance committee, as Board Treasurer and Chair of Audit committee of GARDP Foundation and as Board Member of the Geneva federation for cooperation and developmentEvent organised by the CERN's&nbsp;community of practice dedicated to project management, systems engineering and program management.To be kept informed, subscribe to the community of practice mailing list: [email protected]</p

HL-LHC Beam Gas Fluorescence Studies for Transverse Profile Measurement

In a gas jet monitor, a supersonic gas curtain is injected into the beam pipe and interacts with the charged particle beam. The monitor exploits fluorescence induced by beam-gas interactions, thus providing a minimally invasive transverse profile measurement. Such a monitor is being developed as part of the High Luminosity LHC upgrade at CERN. As a preliminary study, the fluorescence cross section of relevant gases must be measured for protons at 450 GeV and 6.8 TeV (i.e. the LHC injection and flat top energies). In these measurements, neon, or alternatively nitrogen gas, will be injected into the LHC vacuum pipe by a regulated gas valve to create an extended pressure bump. This work presents the optical detection system that was installed in 2022 in the LHC to measure luminescence cross-section and horizontal beam profile. Preliminary measurements of background light and first signals are presented in this paper

Gas Jet-Based Fluorescence Profile Monitor for Low Energy Electrons and High Energy Protons at LHC

The ever-developing accelerator capabilities of increasing beam intensity, e.g. for High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), demand novel non-invasive beam diagnostics. As a part of the HL-LHC project a Beam Gas Curtain monitor (BGC), a gas jet-based fluorescence transverse profile monitor, is being developed. The BGC uses a supersonic gas jet sheet that traverses the beam at 45° and visualizes a two-dimensional beam-induced fluorescent image. The principle of observing photons created by fluorescence makes the monitor insensitive to present electric or magnetic fields. Therefore, the monitor is well suited for high-intensity beams such as low-energy electron beam of Hollow Electron Lens (HEL), and HL-LHC proton beam, either as a profile or an overlap monitor. This talk will focus on the first gas jet measured transverse profile of the 7keV hollow electron beam. The measurements were carried out at the Electron Beam Test Stand at CERN testing up to 5A beam for HEL. A comparison with Optical Transition Radiation measurements shows consistency with the BGC results. The BGC installation of January 2023 at LHC is shown, including past results from distributed gas fluorescence tests