Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in controlling muon beams, bringing the possibility of a powerful new type of particle accelerator closer to reality. A team of researchers from Imperial College London has discovered a method to increase the density and location of muons in a beam, making them easier to control and collide in a particle accelerator. Current particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland use protons, electrons, or ions to study the universe’s secrets.
However, a muon-based collider would allow for the study of collisions at much higher energies while being more compact and cost-effective. Dr. Paul Bogdan Jurj, a researcher from the Imperial College Department of Physics and the study’s lead author, said, “Our proof-of-principle is great news for the international particle physics community, who are making plans for the next generation of higher-energy accelerators.
Muon collider technology advancements
It is a significant development towards realizing a muon collider, which could fit into existing sites, such as Fermilab in the United States, with growing enthusiasm for the technology.
The experiments were carried out at the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) muon beamline at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ISIS Neutron and Muon Beam facility at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK. The researchers used magnetic lenses and energy-absorbing materials to “cool” the muon beams, causing the muons to move toward the center of the beam.
Although the muon-marshaling experiments were successful, the researchers say several steps are still needed to implement their work into building an actual muon-based supercollider. However, they believe that breaking through the muon-marshaling problem has opened the door to creating such a facility. Professor Ken Long from the Department of Physics at Imperial, the MICE Collaboration spokesperson, explained, “The clear positive result shown by our new analysis gives us the confidence to go ahead with larger prototype accelerators that put the technique into practice.
The team is now focused on developing the muon cooling system for a possible Muon Collider at CERN. Dr.
Chris Rogers, a scientist based at STFC’s ISIS facility in Oxfordshire and the leader of the MICE analysis team, said, “It is now imperative that we scale up to the next step, the Muon Cooling Demonstrator, to deliver the muon collider as soon as possible.
This breakthrough in muon beam control is a significant step towards developing a muon collider, which could revolutionize the field of particle physics and provide unprecedented insights into the subatomic world.
