Researchers At CERN Transport Antiprotons By Truck In World-First Experiment (physicsworld.com)
- Reference: 0181105288
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/26/065258/researchers-at-cern-transport-antiprotons-by-truck-in-world-first-experiment
- Source link: https://physicsworld.com/a/researchers-at-cern-transport-antiprotons-by-truck-in-world-first-experiment/
> Researchers at the CERN particle-physics lab have [1]successfully transported antiprotons in a lorry across the lab's main site . The feat, the first of its kind, follows a similar test with protons in 2024. CERN [2]says the achievement is "a huge leap" towards being able to transport antimatter between labs across Europe. [...] To do so, in 2020 the BASE team began developing a device, known as BASE-STEP (for Baryon-Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment-Symmetry Tests in Experiments with Portable Antiprotons), to store and transport antiprotons. It works by trapping particles in a Penning trap composed of gold-plated cylindrical electrode stacks made from oxygen-free copper that is surrounded by a superconducting magnet bore operated at cryogenic temperatures.
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> The device, which also contains a carbon-steel vacuum chamber to shield the particles from stray magnetic fields, is then mounted on an aluminium frame. This allows it to be transported using standard forklifts and cranes and withstand the bumps and vibrations of transport. In 2024, BASE researchers used the device to transport a cloud of about 105 trapped protons across CERN's Meyrin campus for four hours. After that feat, the researchers began to adjust BASE-STEP to handle antiprotons and yesterday the team successfully transported a trap containing a cloud of 92 antiprotons around the campus for 30 minutes, traveling up to 42 km/h.
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> With further improvements and tests, the team now hope to transport the antiprotons further afield. The first destination on the team's list is the Heinrich Heine University (HHU) in Dusseldorf, Germany, which would take about eight hours. "This means we'd have to keep the trap's superconducting magnet at a temperature below 8.2 K for that long," says BASE-STEP's leader Christian Smorra. "So, in addition to the liquid helium , we'd need to have a generator to power a cryocooler on the truck. We are currently investigating this possibility." If possible to transport to HHU, physicists would then use the particles to search for charge-parity-time violations in protons and antiprotons with a precision at least 100 times higher than currently possible at CERN.
[1] https://physicsworld.com/a/researchers-at-cern-transport-antiprotons-by-truck-in-world-first-experiment/
[2] https://home.cern/news/press-release/experiments/base-experiment-cern-succeeds-transporting-antimatter
Failed test? (Score:2)
What does a failed test look like? If containment fails and 92 protons interact with matter, I would imagine you wind up with a flash of energy as the antiprotons and their proton cousins mutually destruct. It's been a fair amount of time (and bottles of wine) since my last physics class. How much energy are we talking about? I am guessing it's not a significant energy release in terms of there being any real risk to anyone/anything nearby.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, flash of radiation according to e=mc^2.
Re: Failed test? (Score:4, Informative)
Around 2e-8 Joules.
Re: (Score:2)
You would see nothing. 92 pairs is an extremely small number of particles. Even if a small fraction of the energy were converted into visible light (e.g., through secondary interactions with surrounding matter), the total number of visible photons produced would be far below the threshold required for the human eye to perceive a flash.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah...I figured it was less Star Trek antimatter-containment-pod and more like counting how many fruit flies survived shipment.
Aaaflac! (Score:3)
"Sorry, but we don't have an insurance code to cover 'sub-atomic vaporization chain-reaction'."
Re: (Score:3)
Do I need to be that guy that mentions Aflac isn't that type of insurer...but certainly Lloyds of London will be willing to write a policy. They'll insure darned near anything.
Re: (Score:2)
One proton vs Antiproton explosion releases 1,877 MeV (mega-electronvolts). All the antimatter they transfered would not give off 200,000 MeV
1 foot pound of energy contains more than 8 trillion MeV
So basically, it could be happening inside your body and you would never notice it.
Re: (Score:2)
It is happening inside my body, and I definitely notice it.
Re: (Score:2)
> How much energy are we talking about?
I don't know if it's still strictly true, but they used to say that all of the antimatter that has ever been produced by humans has had enough combined energy to warm up a cup of coffee.
Soon on Amazon (Score:2)
I wonder if it is available with overnight shipping.
Re: (Score:2)
Porch pirates. They steal the box, open it up and go 'poof'.
Next (Score:2)
Can we create some science-based anti-morons, and transport them to DC?
Re: (Score:2)
Several would have to be created, there are not currently enough in existence. I was trying to think up a zinger about Avogadro's number and taking out the foreign 'moles' but I've done enough thinking for the day.
Sounds a lot like Ghostbusters (Score:2)
This made me realize that the movie really glossed over the development and testing of the capture and containment system for the ghosts.
Amazing that we can create such particles.
All copper is "oxygen-free" (Score:2)
> It works by trapping particles in a Penning trap composed of gold-plated cylindrical electrode stacks made from oxygen-free copper that is surrounded by a superconducting magnet bore operated at cryogenic temperatures.
What does that even MEAN, lol?
Copper is a chemical element, atomic number 29 on the periodic table.
Oxygen is also a chemical element, atomic number 8 on the periodic table.
i.e, e,g., therefore, & also: all copper is "oxygen-free." If the article got something so simple as THIS completely wrong, one can easily presume that the REST of the article is incorrect gibberish.
"oXyGEn-fREE cOppER", lmao
Re: (Score:3)
Oxygen free copper has been a thing for quite awhile. I've known about it for at least 20 years. Here is one definition, "Copper is widely used where high electrical or thermal conductivity is required. Pure copper is defined as having a minimum copper content of 99.3%. Copper with oxygen content below 10 ppm is called ‘oxygen-free.’
Re: (Score:2)
It has to do with the refining and production process. Sure all copper is pure, but the reality is that extraction and production into a usable object without introducing unwanted contaminants or trapping air within the produced object is not a simple task. Some contamination is not even a problem for most uses of copper, but not here.
- use brain?
Re: (Score:2)
Any copper that is exposed to oxygen (even briefly) will oxidize. Presumably TFA is talking about ultra-pure copper that has not been contaminated by exposure to air.
Re: (Score:3)
Have you ever seen a shiny new penny versus an old tarnished one? Or the Statue of Liberty? Or an old building with one of those weird green roofs?
They're all copper, with varying amounts of oxygen. Oxygen free copper is expensive copper that's specially made to get rid of as much of the oxygen as possible: [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
> If the article got something so simple as THIS completely wrong, one can easily presume that the REST of the article is incorrect gibberish.
> "oXyGEn-fREE cOppER", lmao
Ind
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen-free_copper
Re: (Score:2)
This post has nothing to do with the Statue of Liberty, lol -- CERN is in Europe , ffs!
Re: (Score:3)
You win this year's Nobel Prize for pedantry.
So according to you, I can't call the water pipes in my house "copper", since 0.05% phosphorus was added to the material to accomodate brazing.
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing stopping you from calling the water pipes in your house "copper-phosphorus pipes" is laziness and poor attention to detail.
By your awesome logic, instead of saying "pass the salt" at the dinner table, it's better to take the lazy route and say "Can you please pass the chloride?" because for some reason it doesn't matter that salt is sodium chloride.
Re: All copper is "oxygen-free" (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m sorry, "water pipes"? What about all the dissolved minerals and gasses in that water? Fix your poor attention to detail, dude.
Re: (Score:2)
> The only thing stopping you from calling the water pipes in your house "copper-phosphorus pipes" is laziness and poor attention to detail.
Have you ever heard a single person, including plumbing professionals, call them "copper-phosphorus pipes"?
No. Because that's not how the English language works. You're the one who is too lazy and ignorant to figure out how people actually communicate in society.
Hint: The systematization your mind wants to apply to everything is not absolute. You need to figure out when to relax the formal logic rules when they start to result in absurd outcomes.
Me2 (Score:2)
anti-protons have a negative electric charge, like electrons, and I can assure you that I also transport a bunch of electrons daily
For security reasons (Score:2)
...I would have used an anti-truck.
Mixed news for Star Trek fans (Score:2)
Mixed news for Star Trek fans:
Good news:
- We have antimatter under control.
Bad news:
- Antimatter lets us travel at truck speed, not FTL speed.
Frankfurt Total Conversion Zone (Score:2)
Feels like this is the setup for a joke that won't pay off for twenty-five years, and the punchline will wipe one-and-a-half European cities off the map.
Re: (Score:3)
> the punchline will wipe one-and-a-half European cities off the map.
It'll be a while before that has a chance of happening. Per TFA, the team at CERN transported 92 anti-protons. Ninety-two. If that many antiprotons annihilated with protons, they would produce an energy of 2.8 x 10^-8 J. Not enough energy to tickle a gnat.