Antiprotons for imaging and therapy

Abstract

Antiprotons are presently produced and stored at CERN and Fermilab at a rate of about 10 7 p/s. Efforts are underway to develop transportable storage devices, ‘bottles’, which would store as much as 10 12 antiprotons for months, or years and make the antiprotons available anywhere. A workshop held last year at the RAND Corporation assessed the science and technology of antimatter and the enabling tools. The biomedical potential of antiprotons was discussed and appears to be promising at current antimatter collection capabilities. Two applications have been studied using computer simulations: direct 3-D d E/d x imaging and the treatment of tumors with antiprotons. We discuss antiprotonic imaging and make comparisons with X-ray CT scans. The potential of antiprotons for monitoring precise delivery of radiation as well as treatment will also be discussed.