DRAFT Minutes of the
FGST/GLAST International Finance Committee Meeting
31 October 2009
The International Finance Committee met in Washington DC.
In Attendance:
Members:
Chair – David MacFarlane
France – IN2P3: Stavros Katsanevas
France – CEA: Pierre-Olivier Lagage
Italy – ASI: Elisabetta Cavazutti
Italy – INFN: Francesco Ronga; Guido Barbiellini
Japan – Hiroshima: Takashi Ohsugi; Yasushi Fukazawa
Sweden – KTH: Per Carlson
USA – DOE: Kathy Turner
USA – Stanford: Peter Michelson
Staff:
NASA: Jaya Bajpayee
SLAC: Rafael Alva, Rob Cameron, Richard Dubois, Nicola Omedei, Linda Price, Harvey Lynch
Stanford: Nancy Christiansen; Tom Langenstein
UCSC: Steve Ritz
Minutes 31 October 2009
Opening – D. MacFarlane
David welcomed the committee and expressed much satisfaction with the performance of the FGST LAT collaboration’s performance.
The minutes of the meeting of 28 February 2009 were approved without change.
Mission Status – J. McEnery
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/mission_ifc_v2.pdf
Operations continue to be very smooth, and we are managing some issues to maintain smooth operations. Up-time is very high. See p. 2 of presentation for specifics.
Data taking is mostly in survey mode, but there have been some pointing mode operation to observe gamma ray bursts. Since July 2008 a total of 350 gamma ray bursts have been detected.
The data became public on 25 August 2009, and there is much interest.
FGST data analysis continues with much enthusiasm, and there have been and there will be more workshops to promote this work.
There has been much interest in the press releases; see p. 12 et seq. for examples.
First Year Science Highlights and Collaboration Status – P. Michelson
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/Fermi%20LAT%20Collaboration%20Status_PM.pdf
The current membership and participation of the FGST collaboration is shown on p. 4 of the presentation. In particular, there are 117 full members, 108 affiliated scientists, and 62 postdocs.
There are 8 science analysis group, and the list of their coordinators is shown on p. 5. These are very active and productive. As part of the normal rotation, Nicola Omedei will step down as the Analysis Coordinator, and Seth Digel will become the new Coordinator. Nicola has done a fine job.
The past year has been extraordinarily productive from the standpoint of physics production, publications, and press coverage. A brief overview is shown on p. 7 of the presentation, with more details given on subsequent pages.
There has been great synergy among the FGST instruments (LAT and GBM) as well as external optical instruments.
There will be only small changes in the FGST collaboration in “Year 2”, i.e. after the data go public. The collaboration is vibrant and enthusiastic.
David MacFarlane asked what the decision process was for extending the mission beyond the nominal five years. Peter responded that NASA would make a decision in 2012, but he did not know the time frame for DOE.
LAT Analysis Coordinator’s Report – N. Omodei
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/091131_IFC_v0[1].ppt
This has been an extremely successful year, and we are obtaining high quality science results from the LAT. The eight science groups and their coordinators are shown on p. 3 of the presentation.
The physics output is extraordinarily rich. With only three months of data, FGST identified 206 gamma ray sources, of which only 60 were previously identified by EGRET. The first year catalog of sources goes well beyond this; see p. 16 et seq. Catalogs of pulsars and active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been made. Understanding of the diffuse gamma ray background is growing.
A list of publications having major impact is shown on p. 45.
ISOC Status – R. Cameron
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/Cameron-ISOC-IFC2009oct31-v4.ppt
After more than 500 days in orbit, the LAT has demonstrated that it is very stable and well-behaved. There were very few problems with detector sub-systems. The LAT up-time for physics has been 98.9%.
There have been only a few interruptions to routine data-taking since the previous IFC meeting. Several improvements have been made to LAT FSW to eliminate reboots and speed up recoveries and re-initializations
The ISOC operations staff have promptly and efficiently identified and responded to LAT operational issues. Several improvements to problem monitoring and handling have been made.
ISOC has met or exceeded requirements for processing and delivery of LAT data. It has maintained timely delivery of data to the LAT collaboration and FSSC and supported the release of the first year data through the FSSC
Collaboration Computing – R. Dubois
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/IFC200910-SAS-v00[1].pdf
Page 2 of the presentation summarizes the hardware situation. For example, there are 1200 cores available at SLAC and 600 at Lyon.
Tape costs per TBy are much lower than before, and this changes the plan for FGST storage, We can now afford to keep a copy of everything on tape.
A summary of computing resources needed, past and projected, is shown on p. 11.
The Pipeline 2 is running well at Lyon, and simulation is running on the Grid in Italy.
Action Items from February 2009 meeting
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/Budget%20and%20action%20items.pdf
1. We now have some full members from Germany and Spain. We propose that the US “adopt” these full members for the purpose of the OCF to simplify matters.
2. There is no change in the overhead structure; it remains at 13%.
OCF Budget – P. Michelson
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/doc/11_09/Budget%20and%20action%20items.pdf
Peter reviewed the CY 2009 budget and presented a proposed budget for CY 2010. The 2010 budget is a little lower than the 2009 budget; the IFC took note of this fact;
Page 6 of the presentation shows the OCF contributions proposed for 2010.
The CY 2010 budget was approved.
A proposal was made during the discussion for Lyon and Bologna computing contributions be treated as in-kind contributions to the OCF. Such a proposal needs to be more precisely defined before the IFC can take an action. Paper work is in process.
Round Table – All
Kathy: We have FY 2010 budget numbers, and they are slightly above the 2009 numbers. FGST has strong support. DOE will coordinate with NASA on the extension of the mission beyond the nominal 5 years.
Per: The Oskar Klein Center has been created and has good support. We expect to bring 3 new postdocs.
Pierre: The CEA is delighted by the FGST results. We expect to support FGST for the years to come. There may be some changes within CEA that increase the retirement age from 65 years to 70, and that may have the result of reducing the number of young people.
Takashi: There is good support in Japan for FGST. We have a new administration, and there may be some changes.
Stavros: Funding for IN2P3 is approximately constant. We are “flabbergasted” by the spectacular FGST results! We shall put 2 postdocs into FGST.
Francesco: The overall INFN budget is decreasing, but the FGST budget is protected. Support should be secure for 5 years. There is a potential problem with the FGST data becoming public, because that is something new for INFN.
Jaya: We do not have a FY 2010 budget, but NASA does not contribute to the IFC, so that has no direct effect now.
Elisabetta: ASI funding is assured. There will be a new head of ASI. More people will become interested in FGST as the result of the data becoming public.
David: The FGST science is very exciting, and it has a very high priority with SLAC. We expect support to continue. The overall FY 2010 budget is approximately constant in dollars, but FGST and the ISOC budgets will be protected. SLAC is in the process of restructuring, and there are resulting changes in the “business model”, as costs are shared across the various funding agencies. We expect changes in the scientific computing model.
Stavros and Francesco: There was a request from IN2P3 and INFN to make computing contributions from Lyon and Bologna part of in-kind contributions to the OCF. A specific proposal must be developed and brought to the IFC for the next meeting.
Next Meeting – All
The next meeting is expected be held in Paris on Sunday, March 21st, 2010, in conjunction with the planned Collaboration meeting. Backup dates of March 13 or March 14 were also discussed. The final date will be confirmed by email within one month.
The final date was subsequently defined to be Saturday March 20, 2010 in Paris.