Antimatter Factories Research Articles

Design and characterization of an antiproton deceleration beamline for the PUMA experiment

We report on the design and characterization of an antiproton deceleration beamline, based on a pulsed drift tube, for the PUMA experiment at the Antimatter Factory at CERN. The design has been tailored to high-voltage (100kV) and ultra-high vacuum (below 10−10mbar) conditions. A first operation achieved decelerating antiprotons from an initial energy of 100keV down to (3898±3)eV, marking the initial stage in trapping antiprotons for the PUMA experiment. Employing a high-voltage ramping scheme, the pressure remains below 2×10−10mbar upstream of the pulsed drift tube for 75% of the cycle time. The beamline reached a transmission of (55±3)% for antiprotons decelerated to 4keV. The beam is focused on a position sensitive detector to a spot with horizontal and vertical standard deviations of σhoriz=(3.0±0.1)mm and σvert=(3.8±0.2)mm, respectively. This spot size is within the acceptance of the PUMA Penning trap.

Antimatter and Its Application-Collecting Antimatter and Storage It as Energy Source

As antimatter and its potential to use as an energy source is discovered by modern scientists, there are few reviews to introduce the history and applications of antimatter which is the aim of the paper. This paper provides a brief introduction to how antimatter was discovered and some possible applications of antimatter in the future. In this paper, the physics of antimatter and the creation, storage and using ways of antimatter will be described. After that, I will summarize the feasibility of utilizing the energy from the annihilation of antimatter-matter. And some possibilities of applications based on this energy, like antimatter ships and antimatter factories, will be discussed.

MiniCERNBot Educational Platform: Antimatter Factory Mock-up Missions for Problem-Solving STEM Learning.

Mechatronics and robotics appeared particularly effective in students’ education, allowing them to create non-traditional solutions in STEM disciplines, which have a direct impact and interaction with the world surrounding them. This paper presents the current state of the MiniCERNBot Educational Robotic platform for high-school and university students. The robot provides a comprehensive educative system with tutorials and tasks tuned for different ages on 3D design, mechanical assembly, control, programming, planning, and operation. The system is inspired to existing robotic systems and typical robotic interventions performed at CERN, and includes an education mock-up that follows the example of a previous real operation performed in CERN’s Antimatter Factory. The paper describes the learning paths where the MiniCERNBot platform can be used by students, at different ages and disciplines. In addition, it describes the software and hardware architecture, presenting results on modularity and network performance during education exercises. In summary, the objective of the study is improving the way STEM educational and dissemination activities at CERN Robotics Lab are performed, as well as their possible synergies with other education institutions, such as High-Schools and Universities, improving the learning collaborative process and inspiring students interested in technical studies. To this end, a new educational robotic platform has been designed, inspired on real scientific operations, which allows the students practice multidisciplinary STEM skills in a collaborative problem-solving way, while increasing their motivation and comprehension of the research activities.

Optical trapping of antihydrogen towards an atomic anti-clock

The Anti-Matter Factory at CERN is gearing up, commissioning of the Extra Low ENergy Antiprotons (ELENA) ring is ongoing and the first anti-protons are foreseen to circulate in the decelerator very soon. The unprecedented flux of low energy antiprotons delivered by ELENA will open a new era for precision tests with antimatter including laser and microwave spectroscopy and tests of its gravitational behaviour. Here we propose a scheme to load the ultra cold anti-hydrogen atoms that will be produced by the GBAR experiment in an optical lattice tuned at the magic wavelength of the 1S-2S transition in order to measure this interval at a level comparable or even better than its matter counter part. This will provide the most sensitive test of CPT symmetry parametrised in the framework of the Standard Model Extension.

Converting the Literature of a Scientific Field to Open Access through Global Collaboration: The Experience of SCOAP3 in Particle Physics

Gigantic particle accelerators, incredibly complex detectors, an antimatter factory and the discovery of the Higgs boson—this is part of what makes CERN famous. Only a few know that CERN also hosts the world largest Open Access initiative: SCOAP3. The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics started operation in 2014 and has since supported the publication of 20,000 Open Access articles in the field of particle physics, at no direct cost, nor burden, for individual authors worldwide. SCOAP3 is made possible by a 3000-institute strong partnership, where libraries re-direct funds previously used for subscriptions to ‘flip’ articles to ‘Gold Open Access’. With its recent expansion, the initiative now covers about 90% of the journal literature of the field. This article describes the economic principles of SCOAP3, the collaborative approach of the partnership, and finally summarizes financial results after four years of successful operation.

FROM THE ANTIMATTER FACTORY

The Yale ReviewVolume 104, Issue 3 p. 37-37 POETRY FROM THE ANTIMATTER FACTORY Gwyneth Lewis, Gwyneth LewisSearch for more papers by this author Gwyneth Lewis, Gwyneth LewisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 June 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/yrev.13096AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume104, Issue3July 2016Pages 37-37 RelatedInformation

Particle acceleration and non-thermal emission in Pulsar Wind Nebulae from relativistic MHD simulations

Pulsar wind nebulae are among the most powerful particle accelerators in the Galaxy with acceleration efficiencies that reach up to 30% and maximum particle energies in the PeV range. In recent years relativistic axisymmetric MHD models have proven to be excellent tools for describing the physics of such objects, and particularly successful at explaining their high energy morphology, down to very fine details. Nevertheless, some important aspects of the physics of PWNe are still obscure: the mechanism(s) responsible for the acceleration of particles of all energies is (are) still unclear, and the origin of the lowest energy (radio emitting) particles is most mysterious. The correct interpretation of the origin of radio emitting particles is of fundamental importance, as this holds information about the amount of pair production in the pulsar magnetosphere, and hence on the role of pulsars as antimatter factories. On the other hand, the long lifetimes of these particles against synchrotron losses, allows them to travel far from their injection location, making their acceleration site difficult to constrain. As far as the highest energy (X and gamma-ray emitting) particles are concerned, their acceleration is commonly believed to occur at the pulsar wind termination shock. But since the upstream flow is thought to have non-uniform properties along the shock surface, important constraints on the acceleration mechanism(s) could come from exact knowledge of the location and flow properties where particles are being accelerated. We investigate in detail both topics by means of 2D numerical MHD simulations. Different assumptions on the origin of radio particles and more generally on the injection sites of all particles are considered, and the corresponding emission properties are computed. We discuss the physical constraints that can be inferred from comparison of the synthetic emission properties against multiwavelength observations of the PWN class prototype, the Crab Nebula.

On the magnetohydrodynamic modelling of the Crab nebula radio emission

In recent years, it has become a well-established paradigm that many aspects of the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) can be fully accounted for within a relativistic MHD description. Numerical simulations have proven extremely successful in reproducing the X-ray morphology of the Crab Nebula, down to very fine detail. Radio emission, instead, is currently one of the most obscure aspects of the physics of these objects, and one that holds important information about pulsar properties and their role as antimatter factories. Here we address the question of radio emission morphology and integrated spectrum from the Crab Nebula, by using for the first time an axisymmetric dynamical model with parameters chosen to best reproduce its X-ray morphology. Based on our findings we discuss constraints on the origin of the radio emitting particles.

Black holes as antimatter factories

We consider accretion of matter onto a low mass black hole surrounded by ionized medium. We show that, because of the higher mobility of protons than electrons, the black hole would acquire positive electric charge. If the black hole's mass is about or below 1020 g, the electric field at the horizon can reach the critical value which leads to vacuum instability and electron-positron pair production by the Schwinger mechanism. Since the positrons are ejected by the emergent electric field, while electrons are back-captured, the black hole operates as an antimatter factory which effectively converts protons into positrons.