Key Access

I am back in the east hall of the Hera ring, looking after the Hermes experiment. Things have changed since I was here in November. The polarised target, which was my special bit of apparatus, was removed and replaced by a new detector.

The most obvious things here are the gaps. The new detector has gone into the place of the old polarised target, but it isn't as big. There are now places you can walk where you used to have to climb or crawl. There are gaps in the array of electronics, too, whole racks are missing. The odd thing is that nobody pushed the remaining things together, they just left the holes as they were, as a kind of reminder of what used to be.

One thing that hasn't changed is the chance for a key access. The experiment and accelerator are enclosed behind concrete blocks, and you can't get into the experiment when the accelerator is running because of the high radiation levels. If there is a short break then it is possible to go inside and try to mend the odd broken cable. To do this you have to talk to some guy in the accelerator control room, and say who you are. The sound system is really bad, though, so the guy just makes his best guess as to what you might be called. Of course you can help by giving some context: "Nass wie feucht" or "Vogel wie Tweet Tweet" [1]. Then you are allowed to take a key, and pass through the gate. Today we went in and reattached one cable, and swapped two others round.

[1] I have a collaborator whose name translates as "Wet", and one whose name translates as "Bird". For such circumstances it is easy to pass on the correct name.