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Discover CERN, the world-renowned scientific laboratory by Lake Geneva, known for groundbreaking discoveries like the World Wide Web and the Large Hadron Collider. Learn about the unprecedented global collaborations and student opportunities available at this cutting-edge scientific enterprise. Explore facts about the Large Hadron Collider, South Africa's participation in CERN projects, and the potential impact of SA as a gateway to CERN for the continent. Find out how the SA-CERN program facilitates research coordination and resource allocation, and how constructing the PhD pipeline is crucial for innovation and academic excellence in South Africa. Stay informed about the current state of PhD production profiles and the vital role of PhDs in driving innovation in the National System of Innovation.
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WHAT IS CERN ? CERN site:Next to Lake Geneva • Premier scientific laboratory in the World: Known for groundbreaking scientific discoveries and innovations like the world wide web. • Houses largest and most complex scientific machine ever built (- the Large Hadron Collider), which will enter into production in less than six months from the time of this talk. • Has over the last fifty years; fostered global scientific collaborations and knowledge transfer on scales that are unprecedented in all of science. • This talk describes the contribution and student training opportunities for the SA research community in this – the largest scientific enterprise since the Moon project. 1 Talk presented at DST: 20 March 2009
The LHC Accelerator • LHC Facts: • 27 km • Depth varies from 50 to 175 m • Energy : 450 GeV to 7 TeV • >1200 superconducting magnets, max 8,36 Teslas ! • 24 Km of cryostats at 1,9 °K • 100T Liquid Helium Recycled daily • 60T Liquid Nitrogen daily
ALICE Control Room LHC Control Room V0 hits on 10.9.2008, shortly after 9 am SPD hits on 10.9.2008, shortly after 9 am First beam 10thSeptember 2008
UCT group 2004 Tromsø Bergen Dubna Heidelberg Cape Town Participation of SA in CERN • Cape Town in ALICE: currently 6 senior staff + several students • UCT joined 2001, became UCT-CERN research center in 2003 • iThemba Labs joined in2008 • Projects • Dimuon Arm: algorithms for online High Level Trigger (dHLT, commissioned in 2008) • Grid Computing: Computing Cluster integrated into ALICE GRID • Physics: Dimuon studies (acceptance, efficiency); W production in pp; .. • HLT data challenge: Nov. 2004 • Online test on ‘Grid’ ! • Test latency tolerance • Run stable for > 15 hours • Rate limited by bandwidth • IEEE Trans.Nucl.Sci.55:703,2008.
The SA-CERN Program • SA CERN started as a consortium of researchers who had long standing research program with CERN • Modeled along the Australian, Indian and Brazilian programs. • Allows for central point of coordination and resource allocation. • Agreement was that iTL would act as a neutral institutional hosts for the SA-CERN program:
High-level Engagement • Regular short/medium visits at CERN • Inter. Workshop on dimuon physics SA, 2004 • VIP visits • Minister Mangena(S&T), June 005 • Dr Mjwara (DG DST), July 2007 • M. Shuttleworth, Feb. 2007 SA team in ALICE, 2007 Minister M. Mangena, June 2005
SA could be a potential Gateway to allow access for the continent to CERN
Constructing the PhD pipeline • One important NRF strategic objective - PhD as driver (also post-docs and academic expertise) • Foundation for everything we want to achieve in the National System of Innovation • How does our PhD’s pipeline measure up?