The CO-OP Guide (1991)

You are at D0, the newest and most advanced experiment at Fermilab. Its goal is to find the 'top quark', nicknamed 'truth'. theoretically one of the six fundamental building blocks of matter. Combinations of the six quarks are said to make up electrons, protons and neutrons. Your group at D0 is the cryogenic division. Its goal is to provide and maintain a cryogenic system which ultimately supplies and controls the liquid argon used in the giant cryostats for the experiment. The high purity liquid argon is needed to keep the detector modules inside the cryostats cold, so that they will operate properly. Your job at D0 is to be a co-op for the research and development group of the cryogenics division. Your goals are dependent on the needs of the cryo group. D0 is where you will spend most of your time. The co-op office is located on what is known as the 3rd floor, but is actually on the ground floor. The floor directly above the 3rd floor is the 5th floor, which contains your immediate superiors and the D0 secretary. The 6th and top floor is above that, and contains the D0 secretary for official and important business. On the other side of the D0 assembly building is the cryo control room. This is where the cryogenic piping system is remotely monitored and controlled. Other important sites at D0 include the trailer city on the north parking lot, which has the D0 secretary who handles all the payroll matters (among other duties), and the portakamp in the south parking lot. Besides D0, which is named for its location on the particle accelerator ring. the most important place is Wilson Hall. That is the large building shaped like a big Atact symbol. It contains various important people such as the safety group. the personnel department (which you have already encountered. being hired), the minor stock room, the cafeteria, the Fermi library. Ramsey Auditorium. etc. Behind Wilson Hall is the Booster Ring, which accelerates particles before they are injected into the main ring. Inside the booster ring are the East and West Booster towers, which contain cryogenic support groups. The D0 cryo group offices used to be in the West Booster Portakamps. Away from Wilson Hall, there are various buildings strewn about the Fermilab property that have important functional uses to D0. One such example is Lab A. This is where the now unused bubble chamber resides. which was used to take pictures of particle motion. Many of our group is from the bubble chamber, and occasionally stories from the 'bubble chamber days' can be heard as someone waxes nostalgic. Lab A has a machine shop and many technicians. All three of the cryostats used in the D0 experiment went through Lab A for preparation and installation work. Lab A is located directly up the road from the front of Wilson Hall (north-east). Its unmistakable dark geodesic dome makes it easy to find. The Feynman Computer building, located east and just a little bit north of Wilson Hall, houses the computer repair people. If any of the computers used in our group crash and burn, we must take them to the third floor of Feynman to be fixed or exchanged. On one side is the Prep department, which handles the VAX mainframe computers, and on the other is personal computer repair, which handles Fermi Macs and IBMs. Directly north of Wilson Hall is Site 38. This site is the location of many important Fermilab facilities, such as the Fermi fire department, the carpenter's shop, the Fermi gas pumps, the main stock room, and shipping and receiving. Lastly, but perhaps most significantly, is the Fermilab Village. In addition to the machine shops, the cut shop, welding facilities, and the garishly painted physicist dorms, there are such things as a gym, a pool and other facilities to take the edge off a weary mind. The village is located just north off Batavia road on the east side of Fermilab. The village barn is the first and most notable building as one approaches.