Challenges in Accelerating and Colliding Polarized Beams (455th Brookhaven Lecture)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Collider-Accelerator Dept.
At the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), scientists are investigating not only the primordial properties of the universe but also another fundamental question of particle physics: the property of "spin." A particle's spin comes from its intrinsic angular momentum and is a basic property such as charge or mass. Many existing and future high energy and nuclear physics experiments rely on accessing spin. These experiments require using beams of polarized particles, which have their spins all pointing in one direction. When used as a probe of matter, beams of polarized particles reveal details of fundamental interactions not accessible with unpolarized particles. Experiments using polarized beams also need accelerators capable of accelerating and colliding such beams while preserving polarization. Achieving this, as in so many extraordinary feats that make science discoveries possible, is easier said than done.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 1004903
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-83230-2010-CP; TRN: US1104179
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Brookhaven Lecture Series: 1960 - Present, Upton, NY (United States), 17 Feb 2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hotter, Denser, Faster, Smaller...and Nearly Perfect: What's the Matter at RHIC? (410th Brookhaven Lecture)
RHIC: The World's First High-Energy, Polarized-Proton Collider (423rd Brookhaven Lecture)