Muons are getting a transfer on.
In a step towards new sorts of particle physics experiments, scientists cooled after which accelerated a beam of muons. The subatomic particles, heavy cousins of electrons, may very well be accelerated and slammed collectively at future particle colliders in hopes of unlocking physics secrets and techniques. However first, scientists have to determine tips on how to give muons a pace increase.
Counterintuitively, meaning first slowing muons down. Muons in particle beams initially go each which approach. To make a beam appropriate for experiments, the particles have to be first slowed after which reaccelerated, all in the identical path. This slowing, or cooling, was first demonstrated in 2020 (SN: 2/5/20).
Now, scientists haven’t solely cooled muons but additionally accelerated them in an experiment on the Japan Proton Accelerator Analysis Advanced, or J-PARC, in Tokai. The muons reached a pace of about 4 p.c the pace of sunshine, or roughly 12,000 kilometers per second, researchers report October 15 at arXiv.org.
The scientists first despatched the muons into an aerogel, a light-weight materials that slowed the muons and created muonium, an atomlike mixture of a positively charged muon and a negatively charged electron. Subsequent, a laser stripped away the electrons, abandoning cooled muons that electromagnetic fields then accelerated.
Muon colliders may generate increased power collisions than machines that smash protons, that are themselves made up of smaller particles referred to as quarks. Every proton’s power is divvied up amongst its quarks, that means solely a part of the power goes into the collision. Muons haven’t any smaller bits inside. They usually’re preferable to electrons, which lose power as they circle an accelerator. Muons aren’t as affected by that problem due to their bigger mass.
Along with colliders, muon beams are helpful for experiments akin to measuring the particles’ magnetic properties, a topic that has confounded physicists (SN: 8/10/23).
