The subatomic dragstrip

Frank, Dallas, TX — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:30:07 GMT

A minor quibble: The Indianapolis Racetrack is closer to oval-shaped than round. It has two "straightaways" although only one of those is truly straight. A typical particle accelerator, as I understand it, is truly round.

[ALAN ADDS: Oops No. 1 ... Yes, I knew when I wrote that sentence that an "Indy racetrack" is oval instead of round, but I was thinking I would try a bit of literary license (the tunnels at the LHC, for example, do not form a perfect circle, but run in segments with curves and straight stretches). Frank's message tipped me off that I should be more careful about using my license. As a result, I've corrected the item to remove the reference to Indy racing.]

The subatomic dragstrip

steve smyth — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:45:10 GMT

maybe Usain Bolt can race the particles along the jogging trail...great promo!
maybe his brother Lightnin', eh?
new link from my name...check it out...gotta find a way through until these great gadgets come online!

The subatomic dragstrip

Paul, New York — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:46:15 GMT

Wow, you have a klystron in your microwave oven? Everyone else has a magnetron in theirs.

[ALAN ADDS: Oops No. 2 ... Our Advantium oven is pretty cool, but it's not that cool. I've corrected the item to avoid saying that we have a klystron in our kitchen.]

The subatomic dragstrip

Tim Rommes, Washington, UT — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:11:50 GMT

Alan,
Is that pixel resolution of 1 A or the ability to see features that size? Asked another way, will you be able to see that their is something 1 A across as a grainy image or will it be clear? (except for the fact that that's an optical question)

[ALAN ADDS: Tim, I think that based on your analogy, a feature spanning 1 angstrom would appear as a single "pixel," though I'm glad to be corrected on this point (as I have been on other points, see above). The wavelength range for the LCLS will be 1.5 to 15 angstroms, but SLAC generally says the observations can go down to the range of 1 angstrom. Maybe there is something analogous to interferometry or multiple imaging that can improve resolution ... I didn't ask about the details. This page provides a glossary listing for angstroms as well as femtoseconds:]

http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/glossary.html

The subatomic dragstrip

Scott, Jacksonville FL — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:15:45 GMT

A ten gigawatt laser? Chris Knight...Mitch Taylor...Eat your heart out.

The subatomic dragstrip

EarthScientist — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:40:03 GMT

Okay Boys, These Colliders are the mind-[game] of a bunch of pseudo-science idiots. Have they produced anything, except a debt load, the answer is no, and they won't, and sometimes when something lights up for them, it is a hyperdimensional matter, with HD protocolers laughing their asses off that the pocket protector idiots can be hustled so easy.

This Old Papa here has a Doctorate in Hyperdimensional Physics and just groans and groans at the Twilight Zone paradigm that has been installed here. Tsk,Tsk,Tsk, and no one ever asks for a repair, as the loop has been looped for a long, long time.

The subatomic dragstrip

Tom Jones — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:49:22 GMT

How much longer can the copper sections in the Linac last @ SLAC?

The subatomic dragstrip

Eric, Salinas, CA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:00:40 GMT

It's too bad that the SLAC is being closed down after such a great run giving us great science. I sure am looking forward to seeing the LHC get up and running properly next spring. Too bad we had our own large ITER project cancelled because of some congressional cheapskates.

As for what we get out of this kind of research let's never forget that the team at the LHC came up with the "www" internet scheme and then gave it away. Now that's something useful that so many can take advantage of!

We need some real science coming back to the White House and only Obama will do that. So sad that our country is falling behind the rest of the world in scientific research. We're way behind on mag-lev trains and fusion power generators and we should be way ahead.

The subatomic dragstrip

IHateEarthScientist — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:32:57 GMT

EarthScientist, what the heck are you getting on about? Yeah, they have produced useful results. You do like using your computer, don't you? You wouldn't have one nearly so nice without their research, as the scientists and engineers push the physical limits in their quest to make good on Moore's Law. I presume you like cell phones and television too. Now think about how pervasive electronics in general are in your life. Your car, microwave, cell phone, elevators, mp3 players, airplanes, the control systems for the power plants that provide your electricity, hospital records, financial records, the Internet, traffic lights, communications infrastructure, control systems for the very water you drink! Without the use of electronics, agriculture in the US would be far less efficient, therefore food prices would be much higher.

The subatomic dragstrip

Theron, Reno, NV — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:45:32 GMT

Please dismiss anything written by someone who tells you they have a "doctorate" in anything. People who justify their position in such a manner, in my experience working at a university, rarely know much if anything beyond their particular field of research. Oh yes, and by the way, how many useful results have come from hyperdimensional physics? While I believe many of the THEORIES are on track, the common concensus is that we will never be able to prove them in experiments (i.e. pseudo science) because there is no way to build instruments to measure them (excluding math equations which produce results that work in other math equations). Please produce 1 gram of hyperdimensional matter now to show how cost effective your funding is. I believe we have some generational jealousy occuring between fields of study.

The subatomic dragstrip

Rae R. — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:07:01 GMT

Frank in Dallas wrote: "A typical particle accelerator, as I understand it, is truly round."

I think most big scale accelerators are typically round but if you consider the use of linear accelerators used in hospitals to treat certain types of cancer, they outnumber the circular accelerators by far.

The subatomic dragstrip

R. Russ, Menlo Park, CA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:21:08 GMT

Earth Scientist casually opines "Okay Boys, These Colliders are the mind-[game] of a bunch of pseudo-science idiots. Have they produced anything, except a debt load, the answer is no...."

I'd argue that the individuals living longer due to Stage 1 drug research (such as the protease inhibitors) would argue differently. Environmental remediation strategies for identified Super Fund sites, research into safe disposal of nuclear wastes, protein folding studies related to genomics, nano-particle research related to fuel cell for future clean vehicles are ALL areas of research DIRECTLY benefitting from the science place at laboratories such as SLAC.

It's an injustice to suggest that facilities of this type are only for and specifically related to areas of study that do not translate into real world benefits.

The subatomic dragstrip

James M. Essig, Fairfax, Virginia — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:33:29 GMT

This coherent x-ray light source is amazing. A number of possible applications for this techology are imaginable.

First; the ability to, in some way, image the electronic shell structure of atoms might be possible with wavelenghts of one Angstrom. This level of resolution can shed light on or perhaps image in some manner, the bonds between atoms in materials ranging from biological samples to short and intense bonds between tightly bound atoms such as can exist with the element of carbon. Good examples of such bonds are triple bonds which involve high degrees of chemical bonding energy.

A study of the way atoms bond from an observational perspective might somehow lead to materials with tighter or stronger bonds than those that exist within pure diamond, the hardest known ordinary substance.

Second; the technology might have defensive application in terms of space-based missile defense. A beam of x-rays that can burn through any known materials would have potential applications when deployed in space to zap incomming missles, regardless of how well they are shielded. The cost of such space based hardware would be very high, but cheaper access to Earth orbit will eventually permit such battle-stations to be built. With the pleriferation of nuclear armed states and nuclear capable missles, such a technology could be very important.

Third; the production of gamma rays by the same mechanisms that x-rays are produced could conceivably provide 0.01 to 0.001 femtosecond snap shots of atomic electron shell structure and perhaps even snap-shots of the structure of the atomic nucleous as well.

The production of concentrated ionizing electromagnetic radiation, such as the 1 Angstrom X-rays, can offer a fundamental new window into the field of high energy physics research including high energy particle physics. This opportuinity will only improve as EM energy beam pulse power as well as the photon energy level increases. A 10 GigaWatt to 100 Gigawatt plus highly focused gamma ray beam or hard gamma ray beam would be awesome. Perhaps the International Linear Collider that will accelerate electrons to about 1 TeV could produce such a beam of gamma rays.

The subatomic dragstrip

Tim Rommes, Washington, UT — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:54:04 GMT

James M. Essig,
I've been pondering the question of electron shell imaging all day. I suspect they'll be able to show some electron sharing in molecules. Unless shells are far more distinct than I think they are I doubt they'll be able to get anything. I wonder if they'll even be able to document atomic size. Even with 100 times better resolution the electron cloud is (probably) so indistinct that it can't be measured. The idea of a unit based on gamma rays is intriguing.

The subatomic dragstrip

James M. Essig, Fairfax, Virginia — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:11:26 GMT

Hi Tim;

Thanks for the above comments.

I have been interested in the artificial production of gamma rays for quite some time. It will be interesting if at some future time, artificial sources of hard gamma rays with energies of one TeV or greater can be produced in tightly focused beams. The idea of using such high energy gamma rays to interact directly with baryons or other fermions is also of interest to me.

The subatomic dragstrip

Tim Rommes, Washington, UT — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:08:38 GMT

James,
That sounds like a weapon ("communications device" in CIA speak). We can't develop it for that. We have to develop it so we can get a snapshot deep inside the atom. Then we weaponise it. Er, communicate with it.

The subatomic dragstrip

James M. Essig, Fairfax, Virginia — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:34:44 GMT

Hi Tim;

I am curious as to what new physics we can discover in the event that we are at some point, able to build 1+ TeV photon sources wherein these photons would be used to collide with the various simple, or supposedly simple, and composite fermions we have discovered. A new window might be offered to experimentalists for doing ulta high energy physics at the 10 TeV range plus. Such photon experiments in both the center of mass frames and laboratory frams could well uncover some new physics.

Part of my interest in nuclear physics and particle physics no doubt had at least some of its origins from the fact that my departed father was a U.S. Navy officer within the Naval Reactors Division of the Naval Sea Systems Command, and who later worked as a Civil Service employee upon retiring from the Navy, also for Naval Reactors/DOE. My father during his academic life had accumulated numerous physics, engineering, and mathematics text and reference books. I remember as a 10 year old boy looking through these books and being drawn to the complicated equations, tables, and charts contained within even though I could only under stand a few symbols such as C for the speed of light, and nothing else. I guess this love for the complexity of symbolic mathematics and mathematical physics represents more of the artist in me rather than a strictly analytical side.

Regards;

Jim