Subject: Video meeting minutes, March 16, 2000
From: Kate Scholberg (schol@budoe.bu.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 17 2000 - 16:54:23 EST
Video meeting minutes, March 16, 2000
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It was a pretty short meeting today.
-- News from experiments:
* Super-K: another threshold lowering is happening at the end
of the month.
* MACRO: a new run coordinator (Sioli) will be responsible for
downtime coordination.
* SNO: steady progress with the data-taking and supernova monitoring.
The May collaboration meeting is a goal for sending alarms to the network.
* LVD: there will be 1 kton active mass by the end of the month.
They are also working on an interface for the timing calibration
test system and the detector (e.g. LED system).
* AMANDA: 6 new strings were added. Andrea Silvestri has
completed his diploma thesis on supernova detection. The Mainz
collaborators have completed a triangulation study. These documents
can be made available to SNEWS members.
We have a new SNEWS representative for LIGO, a Caltech postdoc
named Szabolcs Marka, who called in from Livingston by speaker phone.
He'll report on the status of LIGO at the next meeting.
-- SNEWS work: not too much to report. The gsboom server
is up and running, and the LVD people have upgraded their client
to the new version which will talk to both servers. I will upgrade
the MACRO and Super-K clients within the month.
-- Leif Robinson reported that they have upgraded the amateur astronomer
website to include finder charts: if SNEWS sends S&T an error box, amateurs
will be able to download from the S&T website the corresponding star catalog
information. This will make use of the latest Hipparcos data (the "Tycho 1",
and "Tycho 2" catalogs), including stars down to 11.5 magnitude.
They are also still working on the amateur test; this summer may be
a good time.
-- I had an email conversation with Guy Jonkmans, who is interested
in doing a survey of existing early supernova light TOO proposals
for major observatories, which could be a useful thing.
-- Mark V. has been in touch with the ROTSE people (who have made early GRB
observations using very wide field telescopes with automated pointing); he'll
report more next time.
-- A SNEWS proposal to DOE has been submitted, requesting funding
mostly for a traveling time calibration system, as well as a few other
things (total about $45K). We will hear in a few months. LVD people
will be submitting a parallel proposal.
-- I have written up a note listing agenda items that need to be decided on
and/or blessed by the advisory board (concerning automation, privacy and
downtime coordination.) Clarence reported that Art is willing to organize an
advisory board phone conference some time before the next meeting.
-- Proposed date for the next video meeting is May 12. This time, we will
attempt to change the time, and try to formally rotate the bad times between
the different continents, so that the same people aren't always stuck with
the worst time.
-- Walter Fulgione also proposed that we have a face-to-face meeting
at Neutrino 2000.
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