Reality → Energy → Particles → Accelerators
Particle accelerators
The main types of accelerators that advanced particle physics are:
- Cyclotrons. Charged particles (protons
or ions) are accelerated by high-frequency alternating voltage applied to a vacuum chamber between the poles of a strong magnet that
produces a homogeneous field (two D-shaped opposing poles, Lawrence’s patent of 1932).
Cyclotrons typically operate in the MeV-range at particle speeds a few percent of the speed of light. They are still being used in some hospitals for
radio therapy with protons or isotopes.
- Synchrotrons. In particle physics, these more powerful machines replaced the cyclotrons.
Electric fields (accelerating) and magnetic fields (bending) keep particles moving synchronously in a vacuum torus. Power of accelerated particles is in the
GeV-range, with particle speeds close to the speed of light. relativistic speed. The world’s largest, most powerful, and latest accelerator, the
Large Hadron Collider (
LHC), is a synchrotron. The 27 km long, 100 m below surface circular accelerator is the flagship of the European research lab
CERN. The LHC is primarily a proton-proton collider with 2 parallel beams that run in opposite direction and
cross at 4 points for collisions at up to 13 TeV energy (6.5 TeV for each of the two colliding protons) [1] . A
still larger Future Circular Collider is under consideration as a follow-on project.
- Linear accelerators. The LHC is designed to handle protons and heavy nuclei, but is at a disadvantage in handling light elementary particles, such
as electrons and positrons (the circular motion causes synchrotron radiation (Bremsstrahlung),
i.e. losses that are inversely proportional to particle masss). A future linear accelerator has therefore been proposed to study
high-energy electron-positron collisions [2] .
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