Search for the "Abnormal Nuclear State" Heavy, A > 200, Ion Acceleration in the AGS

Abstract

Recent theoretical work speculates on the existence of abnormal states of matter which could possibly be created as a result of collisions of superenergetic heavy nuclei. For this reason the possibility of acceleration of heavy ions with mass number A > 200 to kinetic energies of 1 < Tn < 10 GeV/nucleon has been studied and found to be feasible without modification of the AGS vacuum and rf systems by using a fast cycling synchrotron as a booster ring. This booster is required in order to obtain the fully stripped ion state, since partially stripped heavy ion acceleration in a slow rise time accelerator is impractical because of extreme vacuum requirements. The fast cycling feature of the booster is essential in reducing transmission losses associated with electron capture or loss during acceleration and beneficial in increasing the final beam intensity.