[Moller] MOLLER MIE proposal submitted

[Krishna Kumar]

Dear MOLLER collaborator:

I am pleased to inform you that the MOLLER MIE proposal was submitted last week by JLab director Mont to DoE NP Director Tim Hallman. The final version can be found at this location for the next couple of weeks:
https://userweb.jlab.org/~riordan/DOE_Moller.pdf

It will be moved in the meantime to the MOLLER DocDB. 

Thanks to everyone who participated in getting this completed. This document contains the collective wisdom of the original MOLLER proposal, the 2010 update, as well as recent developments in the relevant technical successes of Qweak, various simulations, the hybrid toroid design and detector mechanical design. 

An important new section is section 7, which contains the list of R&D topics. This is a comprehensive list of issues that we ought to worry about in the next 12-18 months. I will discuss with senior collaborators the appropriate timing of a collaboration meeting to discuss these issues and assign manpower to the highest priority topics. Tentatively, I am thinking about Dec 2-3 or Dec 9-10 or perhaps in mid-January. 

It would be great if you all looked at section 7 as well as the appropriate appendices and figured out how you would like to contribute to the large number of technical tasks on hand to develop this project. 

In terms of potential DoE funding, my understanding on how things proceed is as follows: the NP office must first agree to consider this proposal for the CD-process. This is what we have just requested. This is by no means guaranteed, though we have the strong support of the PAC, the Director's review report and JLab management. Assuming they do, we are hoping that they will initiate a physics review no later than Spring 2012. This will allow us to achieve CD-0 sometime next year. The earliest that one can receive project engineering, design and construction funding would be in FY14. Depending on DoE long term planning, the timing of various CD-n reviews will become apparent. It is at that point that it will become apparent how/what to obtain for auxiliary funding (NSF, foreign, various university MIE's etc).

The period between now and a few months before CD-2 is when the experimental design takes shape. It is very difficult to change anything beyond CD-2, after which the project will basically be an unstoppable freight train (which is good and bad!). I say this to emphasize the need for physicists to get involved in design NOW. 

Any funding that is required in the meantime is so-called pre-R&D funding and must come through a special request by JLab in its annual budget. We have targeted 400K$ in FY12 and 13 for this purpose, but this is by no means guaranteed. The more we are organized, the better our position to fight for such funding over the next couple of years. 

If DoE agrees to review us and we do well in such a physics review, then the above-mentioned scenario is realistic. We are basically ready for such a review now, so we do not have that worry. The earlier the better, as far as we are concerned. I will keep you informed of further developments.

Cheers, 
KK

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