CLIC here for the future
CERN is leading the way in research into anti-matter, thanks to the very high energy levels reached by its particle accelerator. But beyond the current experiments, it’s preparing for the future with the Compact Linear Collider project (CLIC), and is inviting EPFL to take part.
On Wednesday 2 February, a delegation from EPFL visited CERN, and was invited to collaborate on this project. The winter pause of the installations enabled them to discover underground experiments that are usually subjected to radiation when running.
EPFL is participating in particular in the LHCb experiment on the largest of the accelerators, whose ring has a circumference of over 27 kilometers. The objective of this experiment is to measure the differences between b-type quarks and b-type antiquarks, in order to determine whether there is a difference between the physics applying to matter and that applying to anti-matter. The point is more particularly to find out if both are subjected to gravity in the same way, and perhaps also to understand why matter won the day, enabling the universe to exist.
So EPFL has contributed to the development of VELO (the Vertex Locator) which measures to the closest hundredth of a millimeter the distance between the collision points of the particles – where quarks and antiquarks are created – and the place where their disintegration occurs. This is quite an achievement, since the ultra-sensitive detectors are located a few centimeters from a beam of particles whose energy is equivalent to that of an A380 Airbus flying at 800 km/h!
CERN is already putting in place a study on the future of research into particle physics, thanks to the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) project. The conception of this innovative particle accelerator will be based on a straight tunnel, 48 kilometers long, rather than the form of a ring, as at present. This approach will avoid the energy losses experienced during synchrotron radiation of the particles when they move thru the curves. However, the challenge remains enormous, since in the end the project will require the acceleration of packets of particles by submitting them to an electric field of 100 million volts at every meter.
The energy required would be phenomenal if this voltage were permanently maintained along all 48 kilometers. It would require the equivalent of several dozen nuclear power stations to enable just this experiment! This is why the electrical energy will only be supplied when the particles are passing thru, in order to reduce the energy consumption to around "only" 300 mW, which is a little more than the level used in CERN at present.
But many challenges still remain to be faced, and Professor Jean-Pierre Delahaye is calling on EPFL to organize the various collaborations. “We are interested in getting help in the technical and academic fields, but also for the supervision of experiments”, he concludes . Those doctoral students and researchers who may be interested should contact Professor Leonid Rivkin of the Particle Accelerator Physics Laboratory, who has worked with Professor Delahaye.
Links:
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/fr/LHC/LHCb-fr.html
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/fr/Research/CLIC-fr.html
http://personnes.epfl.ch/leonid.rivkin