%--the poster is one beamer frame, so we have to start with:
\begin{frame}[t]
	%--to seperate the poster in columns we can use the columns environment
	\begin{columns}[t] % the [t] options aligns the columns content at the top
		\begin{column}{0.28\paperwidth}% the right size for a 3-column layout
			%--abstract block--------------------------------------------------------
			\begin{alertblock}{Introduction}
				Charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) has attracted much attention
				from experimentalists and theorists in particle physics. The CLFV rates
				are predicted to be in the order of of O($10^{-54}$) in the Standard
				Model. 
				
				Therefore, any observation of CLFV processes would be an
				unambiguous signal for physics beyond the Standard Model. The COMET is
				an experiment that aims to search for a CLFV process of
				muon-to-electron conversion in the presence of a nucleus, \muec. Using
				the J-PARC proton beam and the pion capture by a solenoidal
				field, COMET expects to have a sensitivity a factor of 10,000 times
				that of the current limit. The COMET experiment has taken a phased
				approach in which the COMET Phase-I (first phase) will start its
				construction in 2013 and initial data taking in around 2016. Some more
				details of COMET Phase-I and its related issues will be presented.
			\end{alertblock}

			\begin{alertblock}{Staging approach of the COMET}
				The proposed J-PARC mid-term plan includes the construction of the
				COMET beamline. This will provide the proton beamline for COMET and
				part of the muon beamline in the south area of the J-PARC Hadron
				Experimental Hall. We consider a staged approach for COMET: “COMET
				Phase-I” and “COMET Phase-II”.

				For the COMET Phase-I, we will construct the first 90 degrees of the
				muon beamline so that a muon beam can be extracted to the experimental
				area. Then, we will:

				1) make a direct measurement of the proton beam extinction and other
				potential back- ground sources for the COMET Phase-II ex- periment,
				using the actual COMET beamline, and

				2) carry out a search for e conversion with a singe-event
				sensitivity (S.E.S.) of 3 1015, which is better than achieved
				by SINDRUM-II.
				After these measurements, the muon transport will be extended up
				to 180 degrees for the COMET Phase-II. We will start the e
				conversion search with S.E.S. of 3 1017 sensitivity with an
				electron spectrometer and detectors
				\begin{figure}[h!]
					\begin{center}
						\includegraphics[width=0.95\onecolwid]{figs/cometfull}
					\end{center}
					\caption{Schematic lay out of the COMET Phase I and COMET
					Phase II}
					\label{fig:cometscheme}
				\end{figure}
				\begin{figure}[h!]
					\begin{center}
						\includegraphics[width=0.95\onecolwid]{figs/cometphase1}
					\end{center}
					\caption{Schematic lay out of the COMET Phase I and COMET
					Phase II}
					\label{fig:cometp1}
				\end{figure}

			\end{alertblock}

		\end{column}
		%===rightcolumn=================================================================
		% here the the middle and right column are put into one big column, this allows
		% to change between 2 and 3 column style
		\begin{column}{0.60\paperwidth} %thats the big right column
			\begin{block}{The new measurement of charged particles emission
				from muon capture}
				\begin{itemize}
					\item A joint collaboration between COMET and Mu2e
					\item Goals of the experiment:
						\begin{itemize}
							\item[$\bullet$] measure \textcolor{red}{rate and energy
								spectra} of the charged
								particles (p, d, $\alpha$) emitted after muon capture on
								some targets: 
								\begin{itemize}
									\item [-] Al: default target of COMET and Mu2e
									\item [-] Ti: possible target for future $\mu-e$
										conversion experiments
									\item [-] Si: active target, for cross-checking against
										previous experiment, and studying the energy loss of
										charged particles inside the targets
								\end{itemize}
							\item[$\bullet$] required precision: \textcolor{red}{5\%} 
								for both the rate and the
								energy spectra in  the range from 2.5 $-$ 12 MeV
						\end{itemize}
					\item Will be conducted at TRIUMF (Canada) and PSI
						(Switzerland).  
				\end{itemize}
			\end{block}
			\vskip1ex
			% Methods
			\begin{block}{Methods}
				\begin{figure}[]
					\includegraphics[width=0.95\twocolwid]{figs/setupa}
					\caption{Experimental setup: schematic view (left) and image (right)}
					\label{fig:setup}
				\end{figure}
				\begin{minipage}[t]{\onecolwid}
					\begin{itemize}
						\item Low momentum muon beam: to ensure a high rate of stopped
							muons, and a well determined range of muons in the targets. A
							cloud muon of 30 $-$ 34 MeV/c from a surface muon channel is
							optimal.
						\item The charged particles are measured by dE/dx method
							by two pairs of silicon detectors. Active area of each silicon
							detector is 5$\times$5 cm$^2$, the dE detectors are 65 $\mu m$
							thick, and the E detectors are 1500 $\mu m$ thick.
					\end{itemize}
				\end{minipage} % Do not put another blank line after this line because
				%that will mess up the alignment of the two minipages
				\begin{minipage}[t]{\onecolwid} 
					\begin{itemize}
						\item Muon normalization: muonic X-ray measurement by a germanium
							detector.
						\item Correction for energy loss of charged particles in the
							targets: using a response function obtained from the use of the
							active silicon target, where the energy loss can be measured. A
							waveform digitizer will be used to readout signals from the
							active target.
					\end{itemize}
				\end{minipage}
			\end{block}
			\vskip2ex
			%===two right columns===========================================================
			% we have to give the total width for the column wich is equal to the sum of
			% two colums and the space between them, this is needed to make shure the two
			% cols take all the space of the 'mother' column 
			\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=0.60\paperwidth]
				% and then we put in two normal sized columns
				\begin{column}{0.28\paperwidth}
					%--the Left block-----------------------------------------------------------
					\begin{block}{Calculations}
						\begin{itemize}
							\item Using Geant4, with assumptions:
								\begin{itemize}
									\item [$\bullet$] Muon momentum 30 MeV/c, momentum spread 5\%.
									\item [$\bullet$] Muon intensity: 10$^4$ muons/sec. 
									\item [$\bullet$] Proton emission rate is 0.15 per muon capture,
										the same value as that is being used in COMET designing
										calculations
									\item [$\bullet$] Energy resolution (FWHM) of silicon detectors
										are: 140 keV for the 65 $\mu m$-thick detectors, and 40 keV for
										the 140 $\mu m$-thick detectors.
									\item [$\bullet$] Thickness of the beam counter scintillator: 0.5 mm
								\end{itemize}
							\item Simulation results of particle identification and rate
								estimation is shown in Figure \ref{fig:dEdx} and Table
								\ref{tb:rates}.
						\end{itemize}
						\vskip2ex
						\begin{figure}[]
							\includegraphics[width=0.95\onecolwid]{figs/dEdx}
							\caption{Particle identification with two silicon detectors}
							\label{fig:dEdx}
						\end{figure}
					\end{block}
				\end{column}
				%--the Right block--------------------------------------------------------------
				\begin{column}{\onecolwid}
					\begin{alertblock}{Proton beam}
					\end{alertblock}
					\vskip2ex
					\begin{block}{Plan}
						\begin{itemize}
							\item July 2012: submitted the proposal to TRIUMF as experiment
								S1371, requested 36 shifts (3 weeks) beam time
							\item September 2012: the proposal was accepted with high priority
							\item Late November 2012: beam test
							\item Early 2013: physics run, 36 shifts
							\item A proposal will be submitted to PSI
						\end{itemize}
					\end{block}
					\vskip2ex
					\begin{block}{References}
						\small{\begin{thebibliography}{99}
								%\bibitem{cdr} The COMET Collaboration, ``Conceptual Design Report for
								%Experimental Search for Lepton Flavor Violating $\mu^--e^-$ 
								%Conversion at
								%Sensitivity of $10^{-16}$ with a Slow-Extracted Bunched Proton Beam
								%(COMET)'', KEK-2009-10 
								\bibitem{loi} The COMET Collaboration, ``Letter of Intent for Phase-I
									of the COMET Experiment at J-PARC'', J-PARC-2012-3
								\bibitem{sidata}  S. E. Sobottka and E. L. Wills, ``Energy Spectrum
									of Charged Particles Emitted Following Muon Capture in Si$^{28}$'',
									Phys. Rev. Lett.  \textbf{20} (1968) 596-598.
							\end{thebibliography}}
						\end{block}
					\end{column}
				\end{columns}
				%--wide text without block------------------------------------------------------
				%Those pictures where drawn with the TikZ package, which is a perfect tool if
				%you want to draw pictures or plot functions or data directly in \LaTeX. To
				%get an impression of the possibilities of this package have a look at its
				%manual \cite{pgf}. It is even possible to wonderfull frames around posters.
				%\vskip2ex
				\vskip3ex
				%--Conclusion block-------------------------------------------------------------
				%   \begin{alertblock}{Conclusion}
				%    As you can see it is possible to make your poster very colorfull. But in 
				%    most cases this will this will overload your poster. If you don't change 
				%    the color settings you will get the default look, which consits of some
				%    shades of the jacobs blue and some decent green highlights. These colors 
				%    where chosen carefully to keep a consistent look of the poster. The 
				%    \emph{cpbgposter} style is installed our office computers, so you should be
				%    able to compile this example out of the box with pdflatex. If you want to
				%    work on your computer make sure that you have a recent TeX distribution 
				%    (TeXlive 2008, Miktex) and download the beamerthemecpbgposter.sty file from
				%    our teamwork page and put it in your local TeX directory.
				%
				%    If you have any questions, critics, ideas or if you just want to praise the
				%    awesome dude who created this insanely great poster style then don't
				%    hastitate to write an email to \emph{j.liebers@jacobs-university.de}
				%% guess what this command is god for!
				%    \makeruleinbox
				%% it works, but causes some underfull/overfull \hbox warnings
				%    \begin{center}
				%     {\huge\vskip-1ex
				%     {\color{nred}H}{\color{norange}a}{\color{nyellow}p}
				%     {\color{ngreen}p}{\color{dblue}y}\\
				%     \TeX'ing!}
				%    \end{center}
				%   \end{alertblock}
				\end{column}
			\end{columns}
		\end{frame}