Four superconducting accelerating cavities have been successfully assembled at KEK’s Superconducting RF Test Facility (STF). From 14 to 22 January, the assembly team of technical staff from DESY and Fermilab visited KEK, and completed cavity-string assembly work in the STF cleanroom, making a wonderful start for S1 global, a crucial system test towards realising the International […]
In memory of Takayuki Matsui
The 4th annual ILC detector workshop was held at KEK from 2 to 4 December. This series of workshops, led by Hitoshi Yamamoto, professor at Tohoku University, are funded by the Creative Scientific Research Program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. This workshop marked the first after the validation of ILC detectors […]
Rises and falls in nanoseconds
ATF succeeded in the fast kicker test
In late October, the fast kickers at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK have successfully kicked the beam bunches in 5.6 nanoseconds. Conditioning these bunches is the job of the damping rings, and the kicker system is one of the crucial technologies which hold the key of the damping ring performance. Takashi Naito at […]
GRACE-ful students
One of the most important subject in future high-energy experiments is to search and investigate the Higgs particle – the last missing piece of the Standard Model. Another important subject is the investigation of physics beyond the Standard Model such as supersymmetry. From 31 August to 3 September, the first “GRACE school”, the school for […]
Start your dream from the Asia Science Camp
A total of 182 high school and university students from 19 Asian countries and regions relished the life-changing opportunity to learn directly from eminent scientists, including seven Nobel laureates in the fields of physics and chemistry: the Asian Science Camp 2009 was held from 2 to 8 August at Tsukuba International Congress Center, Ibaraki, Japan. […]
Canada-Japan collaboration in accelerator science
On 7 July, while the Emperor and Empress of Japan were visiting Canada, Nigel Lockyer, the director of TRIUMF, gave a lecture at the Canada – Japan Particle Accelerator Science Symposium at the Embassy of Canada in Tokyo, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Canada. Today, Canada and Japan are […]
Observe, explore and re-create the universe
“Uchu (宇宙)” is the Japanese word that can be translated as either “universe” or “space.” The Advanced Accelerator Association Promoting Science and Technology (AAA) in Japan has been on tour with their symposium series on “uchu” – observing by telescope, exploring by spacecraft and re-creating by accelerator – and the second event was just held […]
New website open! – One-stop shopping on Asian accelerator information
A new website called Asian Accelerator Plaza (AAP) was officially launched on 27 May, and is aimed to be a comprehensive reference tool for anybody who is interested in Asian accelerator-related activities. This website was developed by collaboration among several Asian accelerator science research institutes, and is being operated in four languages: traditional and simplified […]
ILC technology gets awarded
On 23 March, the 2008 Nishikawa Award Ceremony was held in Tokyo, and awards were given to three ILC scientists: Yoshihisa Iwashita (Kyoto University), Hitoshi Hayano (KEK) and Yujiro Tajima (Toshiba Co., Ltd). Nishikawa Award commemorates a deed of Tetsuji Nishikawa, former KEK Director General, and honours the achievements of highly creative, internationally recognised, R&D […]
Collaboration towards the realisation of the ILC
On 26 February, in the middle of an important Diet discussion (equivalent to members of congress in Japan) on the supplemental bill, the Advanced Accelerator Association Promoting Science and Technology (AAA) held a symposium entitled “Departing from Japan to Universe – Toward the realisation of International Linear Collider (ILC)” in Akasaka, central region of Tokyo […]