How does a Particle Accelerator Work?
The particles that are used in particle accelerators are charged particles, particles with electrical charges. Charged particles can be moved and directed by magnetic fields. Basically, a particle accelerator is a series of very powerful electromagnets. By turning these magnets on and off in sequence, scientists can accelerate charged particles to significant fractions of the speed of light. Then at some point, these particles are shot into some kind of target. The target can be some stationary wall or it can be another particle that is moving in the opposite direction. The scientists then study the particles that are created by these collisions. In early particle accelerators, the magnets were arranged in straight lines. More modern accelerators arrange them in rings. The linear accelerators have a limited distance over which they can accelerate particles. This imposes a limit on the speed to which you can accelerate the particle. The ring arrangement means that you can keep the parti
What happens when matter and antimatter collide? How do physicists detect particles that emerge from proton-antiproton collisions? At Baylor, you’ll have the opportunity to analyze actual data from particle collisions or to create software that is useful for the operation of one of the huge particle detectors. This project is especially well suited to students who are skilled with computers and have some experience with C++ or java. Fermilab information available here. The Collider Detector at Fermilab experiment information available here. Experimental Non-equilibrium Dynamics – Jeffrey S. Olafsen Dr. Olafsen’s research interests focus primarily on macroscopic systems driven far from equilibrium. However, a dynamic balance between energy input and dissipation allows the systems to be observed in their steady-state. Developing a treatment for the statistical behavior of multi-particle systems driven far from equilibrium is the primary goal of the research. We approach this goal primari
A particle accelerator is a physics device which uses electric fields to accelerate charged particles to immense speeds, sometimes significant fractions of the speed of light. Common particles that can be found within particle accelerators include protons and electrons, the building blocks of the atom. A particle accelerator is used to observe the behavior of small particles at high velocities and energies, as well as for more everyday purposes such as generating a specific sort of electromagnetic radiation. Particle accelerators are often used to smash particles against each other at very high speeds, revealing their more fundamental components. The x-ray generator and television set are both common examples of particle accelerators, with the same basic design as their larger cousins used in high-energy physics experiments. A particle accelerator falls into one of two categories: circular or linear. In a circular particle accelerator, particles are accelerated in a continuous circular
I know it has something to do with huge magnets, but how can they make two atoms line up correctly and hit each other at such incredible velocities? Also how do they ensure that there are no other atoms besides the ones the are colliding inside the track? — Ryan, Tucson, AZ Jeez, if you’re going to slam only two particles together at a time, you’re going to be the absolute worst accelerator physicist ever. A particle accelerator isn’t the delicate instrument you imagine–it’s more akin to a fire hose. The idea is to aim billions and billions of particles at billions and billions of other particles, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. The more particles you have in the beam, and the more tightly bundled the particles are, the better chance you have that you’ll get a collision that produces exciting new particles. The first step in operating a particle accelerator is coming up with some particles to accelerate. You can get electrons from a device called an electron gun, which boil
