The Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator
During the past several years, there has been tremendous progress on the development of the RF system and accelerating structures for a Next Linear Collider (NLC). Developments include high-power klystrons, RF pulse compression systems and damped/detuned accelerator structures to reduce wakefields. In order to integrate these separate development efforts into an actual X-band accelerator capable of accelerating the electron beams necessary for an NLC, we are building an NLC Test Accelerator (NLCTA). The goal of the NLCTA is to bring together all elements of the entire accelerating system by constructing and reliably operating an engineered model of a high-gradient linac suitable for the NLC. The NLCTA will serve as a testbed as the design of the NLC evolves. In addition to testing the RF acceleration system, the NLCTA is designed to address many questions related to the dynamics of the beam during acceleration. In this paper, we will report on the status of the design, component development, and construction of the NLC Test Accelerator.<<ETX>>

title: 50 MW X-BAND RF SYSTEM FOR A PHOTOINJECTOR TEST STATION AT LLNL
abstract: In support of X-band photoinjector development efforts at LLNL, a 50 MW test station is being constructed to investigate structure and photocathode optimization for future upgrades. A SLAC XL-4 klystron capable of generating 50 MW, 1.5 microsecond pulses will be the high power RF source for the system. Timing of the laser pulse on the photocathode with the applied RF field places very stringent requirements on phase jitter and drift. To achieve these requirements, the klystron will be powered by a state of the art, solid-state, high voltage modulator. The 50 MW will be divided between the photoinjector and a traveling wave accelerator section. A high power phase shifter is located between the photoinjector and accelerator section to adjust the phasing of the electron bunches with respect to the accelerating field. A variable attenuator is included on the input of the photoinjector. The distribution system including the various x-band components is being designed and constructed. In this paper, we will present the design, layout, and status of the RF system.

title: Modeling and design of an X-band rf photoinjector
abstract: A design for an X-band rf photoinjector that was developed jointly by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is presented. The photoinjector is based around a 5.59 cell rf gun that has state-of-the-art features including: elliptical contoured irises; improved mode separation; an optimized initial half cell length; a racetrack input coupler; and coupling that balances pulsed heating with cavity fill time. Radio-frequency and beam dynamics modeling have been done using a combination of codes including PARMELA, HFSS, IMPACT-T, ASTRA, and the ACE3P suite of codes developed at SLAC. The impact of lower gradient operation, magnet misalignment, solenoid multipole errors, beam offset, mode beating, wakefields, and beam line symmetry have been analyzed and are described. Fabrication and testing plans at both LLNL and SLAC are discussed.

title: RF POWER SOURCES FOR LINEAR COLLIDERS
abstract: The next generation of linear colliders requires peak power sources of over 200 MW per meter at frequencies above 10 GHz at pulse widths of less than 100 nsec. Several power sources are under active development, including a conventional klystron with rf pulse compression, a relativistic klystron (RK) and a crossed-field amplifier. Power from one of these has energized a 0.5 meter two- section High Gradient Accelerator (HGA) and accelerated a beam at over 80 MeV meter. Results of tests with these experimental devices are presented here.

title: Measurements of Ultimate Accelerating Gradients in the SLAC Disk-Loaded Structure
abstract: The work reported here describes measurements made to study the maximum attainable accelerating gradients in a conventional SLAC disk-loaded accelerator section of the constant-gradient type running at 2856 MHz. The objective was to reach an accelerating gradient of at least 100 MV/m. The accelerating gradient at which the SLAC disk-loaded waveguide runs routinely is approx. 9 MV/m (36 MW tubes without SLED) and approx. 12 MV/m with SLED I (2.5 ..mu..sec pulse). To reach 100 MV/m in a conventional 3 m constant-gradient section, one would need a klystron with a peak power output of 900 MW. since such a tube is not available, we decided to use a short standing-wave section in which the resonant fields would be allowed to build up. The design criteria for this section, the fabrication, matching and tuning, the experimental set-up and the results are described below.

title: MANIFOLD DAMPING OF WAKEFIELDS IN HIGH PHASE ADVANCE LINACS FOR THE NLC
abstract: Earlier RDDS (Rounded Damped Detuned Structures) , designed, fabricated and tested at SLAC, in collaboration with KEK, have been shown to damp wakefields successfully. However, electrical breakdown has been found to occur in these structures and this makes them inoperable at the desired gradient. Recent results  indicate that lowering the group velocity of the accelerating mode reduces electrical breakdown events. In order to preserve the filling time of each structure a high synchronous phase advance (150 degrees as opposed to 120 used in previous NLC designs) has been chosen. Here, damping of the wakefield is analyzed. Manifold damping and interleaving of structure cell frequencies is discussed. These wakefields impose alignment tolerances on the cells and on the structure as a whole. Tolerance calculations are performed and these are compared with analytic estimations.

title: Beam loading compensation in the NLCTA
abstract: In the design of the Next Linear Collider (NLC), multibunch operation is employed to improve efficiency at the cost of substantial beam loading. The RF pulse that powers the accelerator structures will be shaped to compensate for the effect of the transient loading along the bunch train. This scheme has been implemented in the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA), a facility built to test the key accelerator technology of the NLC. In this paper we describe the compensation method, the techniques used to measure the energy variation along the bunch train, and results from tests with NLC-like beam currents.

title: Non-Fermi liquid behavior due to U(1) gauge field in two dimensions
abstract: We study the damping rate of massless Dirac fermions due to the U ( 1 ) gauge field in ( 2 + 1 ) -dimensional quantum electrodynamics. In the absence of a Maxwell term for the gauge field, the fermion damping rate Im Σ ( ω , T ) is found to diverge in both perturbative and self-consistent results. In the presence of a Maxwell term, there is still divergence in the perturbative results for Im Σ ( ω , T ) . Once the Maxwell term is included into the self-consistent equations for fermion self-energy and vacuum polarization functions, the fermion damping rate is free of divergence and exhibits non-Fermi liquid behavior: Im Σ ( ω , T ) ∝ max ( ω , T ) .

title: The 2009 outburst from the new X-ray transient and black-hole candidate XTE J1652-453
abstract: We analyse the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift observations of the 2009 outburst from a newly discovered transient and black hole candidate XTE J1652-453. The behaviour of the source was observed by RXTE to be a sequence of spectral states that are typical of black-hole X-ray binaries. During the first seven observations, it is determined that the source remains in a high/soft state. This is determined from the spectrum that is dominated by a soft thermal component, which contributes an average of similar to 85 per cent to the X-ray flux at 2-20 keV, and from the hardness similar to 0.1 showing up in the hardness-intensity diagram. For the last 20 observations, the spectral state is classified as low/hard, according to an average hardness of similar to 0.8 and a balance between the thermal and the non-thermal components; a power-law component takes >= 80 per cent of the total 2-20 keV flux. Located in between is an intermediate state that the source might have experienced. The usual relationship between the rms and hardness is also present in the hardness-rms diagram. Throughout the outburst, no quasi-periodic oscillations are found in XTE J1652-453.

title: FABRICATION TECHNOLOGIES OF THE HIGH GRADIENT ACCELERATOR STRUCTURES AT 100MV/m RANGE
abstract: A CERN-SLAC-KEK collaboration on high gradient X-band structure research has been established in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the CLIC baseline design for the main linac stably operating at more than 100 MV/m loaded accelerating gradient. Several prototype CLIC structures were successfully fabricated and high power tested. They operated at 105 MV/m with a breakdown rate that meets the CLIC linear collider specifications of < 5 x 10{sup -7}/pulse/m. This paper summarizes the fabrication technologies including the mechanical design, precision machining, chemical cleaning, diffusion bonding as well as vacuum baking and all related assembly technologies. Also, the tolerances control, tuning and RF characterization will be discussed.

title: Performance of CMS hadron calorimeter timing and synchronization using test beam, cosmic ray, and LHC beam data
abstract: This paper discusses the design and performance of the time measurement technique and of the synchronization systems of the CMS hadron calorimeter. Time measurement performance results are presented from test beam data taken in the years 2004 and 2006. For hadronic showers of energy greater than 100 GeV, the timing resolution is measured to be about 1.2 ns. Time synchronization and out-of-time background rejection results are presented from the Cosmic Run At Four Tesla and LHC beam runs taken in the Autumn of 2008. The inter-channel synchronization is measured to be within ±2 ns.