Table Of Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Basic Working Principle 2
3. Linear Accelerator 3
4. Circular Accelerator 5
5. Applications of Particle Accelerators 9
6. Large Hadron Collider 11
7. Public Safety Concerns 13
8. References 14
1. Introduction
1.1. Historical Overview
The development of charged particle accelerators and its underlying principles has its basis on the
theoretical and experimental progress in fundamental physical phenomena. While active particle
accelerator experimentation started seriously only in the twentieth century, it depended on the basic
physical understanding of electromagnetic phenomena as investigated both theoretically and
experimentally mainly during the nineteenth and beginning twentieth century.
In 1932, Lawrence and Livingston accelerated the first proton beam from 1.2 MeV cyclotron
employing weak focusing. Their work marked a significant breakthrough in particle acceleration and
led to the development of numerous advanced accelerators in the following decades. The
synchrotron, invented by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1949 accelerates particles using
rapidly varying magnetic fields. In the 1950s, the linear accelerator (LINAC) and the proton
synchrotron, which accelerates protons to high energies were invented.
Research and development in accelerator physics blossomed significantly during the 1950s
supported by the development of high-power radio frequency sources and the increased availability
of government funding for accelerator projects. Parallel with the progress in accelerator technology,
we also observe advances in theoretical understanding, documented in an increasing number of
publications.
1.2. Particle Accelerators
Particle accelerators are scientific devices designed to propel charged particles, such as electrons,
protons, and ions, to high speeds, often close to the speed of light. These accelerators come in
various forms, including linear accelerators (LINACS), cyclotrons, and synchrotrons, each
employing different techniques to achieve the desired energy levels. All are based on the interaction
of the electric charge with static and dynamic electromagnetic fields and it is the technical
realization of these interactions that leads to the different types of particle accelerators.
Electromagnetic fields are used over most of the available frequency range from static electric fields
to AC magnetic fields in betatrons oscillating at 50 or 60 Hz, to radio frequency fields in the MHz to
GHz range and ideas are being explored to use laser beams to generate high field particle
acceleration.
Particle accelerators are crucial for a wide range of applications, from fundamental research in
particle physics, where they help explore the basic building blocks of matter, to practical uses in
medicine, such as cancer treatment through radiation therapy, and industry, including materials
testing and semiconductor production.
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2. Basic Working Principle
2.1. Fundamental Concepts
At the core of particle acceleration are Newton’s laws of motion and electromagnetic theory. The
acceleration of particles is achieved by applying electric fields to impart kinetic energy. According
to Newton’s second law, a force applied to a particle results in acceleration. In particle accelerators,
electric fields are used to generate this force.
The Lorentz force law, which describes the force exerted on a charged particle moving through an
electric and magnetic field, is crucial. The force F on a particle with charge q moving with velocity v
in a magnetic field B is given by F=q(v×B). This force not only accelerates the particle but also
changes its direction, allowing for precise control over the particle’s trajectory.
2.2. Key components
A particle source generates the particles to be accelerated. For instance, in a proton accelerator, a
source might ionize hydrogen atoms to produce protons. The particles are accelerated using
electromagnetic fields created by oscillating radiofrequency (RF) cavities or other mechanisms.
In linear accelerators (LINACS), particles travel in a straight line, whereas in circular accelerators
(like synchrotrons), they travel in a loop. Here magnetic fields are used to bend the path of the
particles and keep them on a circular or spiral trajectory. The primary method for generating
magnetic fields in particle accelerators is through the use of electromagnets. These electromagnets
consist of coils of wire wound around a core material, typically made of ferromagnetic material such
as iron or a specialized magnetic alloy. When an electric current passes through the wire, it generates
a magnetic field according to Ampère’s law.
In some advanced accelerators, superconducting magnets are used. These magnets are made from
materials that exhibit zero electrical resistance when cooled below a critical temperature, allowing
them to carry large currents and produce very strong magnetic fields without generating excessive
heat. Superconducting magnets are crucial for high-energy accelerators like the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC), where extremely strong magnetic fields are needed to keep particles on their precise
circular paths. The accelerator operates in a vacuum to prevent particles from interacting with air
molecules, which could cause them to lose energy or scatter.
2.3. Beam Dynamics
Accelerator physics relates primarily to the interaction of charged particles with electromagnetic
fields. Detailed knowledge of the functionality of this interaction allows the design of accelerators
meeting specific goals and the prediction of charged particle beam behavior in those accelerators.
The interplay between particles and fields is called beam dynamics.
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3. Linear Accelerator
No fundamental advantage or disadvantage can be claimed for one or the other class of accelerators.
It is mostly the particular application and sometimes the available technology that determines the
choice between both classes. Both types have been invented and developed throughout the twentieth
century, and continue to be improved and optimized as associated technologies advance. We will
now concentrate on linear accelerators and then move on to the discussion on circular accelerators.
In linear accelerators the particles are accelerated by definition along a straight path by either
electrostatic fields or microwave fields.
3.1. Charged Particles in Electric Fields
In accelerator physics all forces on charged particles originate from electromagnetic fields. For
particle acceleration we consider only the electric-field term of the Lorentz force. The nature of the
electric field can be static, pulsed, generated by a time varying magnetic field or a microwave field.
Both the electric and magnetic fields are connected by Maxwell’s equations. Such fields are
generated by appropriate sources hooked up to an accelerating section which, in the case of electro-
static fields, consists of just two electrodes with the particle source at the potential of one electrode
and a hole in the centre of the other electrode to let the accelerated particles pass through. Special
resonant cavities are used as accelerating sections with two holes on the axis of the cavity to let the
beam pass through.
3.2. Electrostatic Accelerators
In electrostatic accelerators the potential difference between two electrodes is used for particle
acceleration as shown in the Fig.3.1. The most simple such arrangement has been used now for
almost two centuries in glow discharge tubes for fundamental research on the nature of plasmas, as
light sources or as objects of aesthetic interest due to colourful phenomena in such tubes. In another,
more modern application electrons are accelerated in an x-ray tube by high electrostatic fields and
produce after striking a metal target intense x-rays used in medicine and industry.
cathode anode
electron beam
high voltage
Fig. 3.1 Principle of electrostatic accelerators
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The two main types of electrostatic accelerator are the Cockcroft–Walton accelerator, which uses a
diode-capacitor voltage multiplier to produce high voltage, and the Van de Graaff accelerator, which
uses a moving fabric belt to carry charge to the high voltage electrode.
3.3 Acceleration by RF Fields
Linear high-energy accelerators use a linear array of plates (or drift tubes) to which an alternating
high-energy field is applied. As the particles approach a plate, they are accelerated towards it by an
opposite polarity charge applied to the plate. As they pass through a hole in the plate, the polarity is
switched so that the plate now repels them and they are now accelerated by it towards the next plate.
Normally a stream of "bunches" of particles are accelerated, so a carefully controlled AC voltage is
applied to each plate to continuously repeat this process for each bunch.
As the particles approach the speed of light the switching rate of the electric fields becomes so high
that they operate at radio frequencies, and so microwave cavities are used in higher energy machines
instead of simple plates.
3.4. Applications of LINAC
Linear accelerators are also widely used in medicine, for radiotherapy and radiosurgery. Medical
grade LINACS accelerate electrons using a klystron and a complex bending magnet arrangement
which produces a beam of energy 6–30 MeV. The electrons can be used directly or they can be
collided with a target to produce a beam of X-rays. The reliability, flexibility and accuracy of the
radiation beam produced has largely supplanted the older use of cobalt-60 therapy as a treatment
tool.
High-energy electron beams generated by LINACs are used to treat cancer by targeting and
destroying cancerous cells. The ability to precisely control the energy and direction of the electron
beam makes LINACs an essential tool in modern oncology.
3.5. SLAC
The Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC), located in California, USA, was founded in 1962. It is the
longest LINAC in the world, measuring 3 km in length. SLAC was originally an electron–positron
collider but is now an X-ray Free-electron laser. The main accelerator was an RF linear accelerator
that accelerated electrons and positrons up to 50 GeV.
Today SLAC research centers on a broad program in atomic and solid-state physics, chemistry,
biology, and medicine using X-rays from synchrotron radiation and a free-electron laser as well as
experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics, astroparticle physics, and
cosmology. The laboratory is under the programmatic direction of the United States Department of
Energy Office of Science.
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4. Circular Accelerator
Parallel with the development of electrostatic and linear rf accelerators the potential of circular
accelerators was recognized and a number of ideas for such accelerators have been developed over
the years. Technical limitations for linear accelerators encountered in the early 1920s to produce
high-power rf waves stimulated the search for alternative accelerating methods or ideas for
accelerators that would use whatever little rf fields could be produced as efficiently as possible.
Circular accelerators are based on the use of magnetic fields to guide the charged particles along a
closed orbit. The acceleration in all circular accelerators but the betatron is effected in one or few
accelerating cavities which are traversed by the particle beam many times during their orbiting
motion. This greatly simplifies the rf system compared to the large number of energy sources and
accelerating sections required in a linear accelerator. While this approach seemed at first like the
perfect solution to produce high energy particle beams, its progress soon became limited for the
acceleration of electrons by copious production of synchrotron radiation.
The simplicity of circular accelerators and the absence of significant synchrotron radiation for
protons and heavier particles like ions has made circular accelerators the most successful and
affordable principle to reach the highest possible proton energies for fundamental research in high
energy physics. Protons are being accelerated into the TeV range in the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
4.1. Betatron
The first “circular electron accelerator” has been invented and developed a hundred years ago in the
form of an electrical current transformer. Here we find the electrons in the wire of a secondary coil
accelerated by an electro motive force generated by a time varying magnetic flux through the area
enclosed by the secondary coil. This idea was picked up independently by several researchers.
Wideroe finally recognized the importance of a fixed orbit radius and formulated the Wideroe ½ -
condition, which is a necessary although not sufficient condition for the successful operation of a
beam transformer or betatron as it was later called, because it functions optimally only for the
acceleration of beta rays or electrons.
The betatron makes use of the transformer principle, where the secondary coil is replaced by an
electron beam circulating in a closed doughnut shaped vacuum chamber. A time-varying magnetic
field is enclosed by the electron orbit and the electrons gain an energy in each turn which is equal to
the electro-motive force generated by the varying magnetic field. The principle arrangement of the
basic components of a betatron are shown in Fig. 4.1.
Betatrons were historically employed in particle physics experiments to provide high-energy beams
of electrons—up to about 300 MeV. If the electron beam is directed at a metal plate, the betatron can
be used as a source of energetic x-rays, which may be used in industrial and medical applications
(historically in radiation oncology).
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return yoke excitation coil
vacuum chamber
Fig. 4.1 The principle of acceleration in a betatron (schematic)
4.2. Weak Focusing
The Wideroe ½ -condition is a necessary condition to obtain a stable particle orbit at a fixed radius
R. This stability condition, however, is not sufficient for particles to survive the accelerating process.
Any particle starting out with, for example, a slight vertical slope would, during the acceleration
process, follow a continuously spiraling path until it hits the top or bottom wall of the vacuum
chamber and gets lost. Constructing and testing the first, although unsuccessful, beam transformer,
Wideroe recognized the need for beam focusing, a need which has become a fundamental part of all
future particle accelerator designs.
First theories on beam stability and focusing have been pursued by Walton and later by Steenbeck,
who formulated a stability condition for weak focusing and applied it to the design of the first
successful construction and operation of a betatron in 1935 at the Siemens Schuckert Company in
Berlin reaching an energy of 1.9 MeV although at a very low intensity measurable only with a
Geiger counter. The focusing problems in a betatron were finally solved in a detailed orbit analysis
by Kerst and Serber.
4.3. Acceleration by RF fields
Most types of circular particle accelerators utilize compact accelerating cavities, which are excited
by rf sources. Particles traverse this cavity periodically and gain energy from the electromagnetic
fields in each passage. The bending magnet field serves only as a beam guidance system to allow the
repeated passage of the particle beam through the cavity. Technically, this type of accelerator seem
to be very different from the principle of the betatron. Fundamentally, however, there is no
difference. We still rely on the transformer principle, which in the case of the betatron looks very
much like the familiar transformers at low frequencies, while accelerating cavities are transformer
realizations for very high frequencies. Electric fields are generated in both cases by time varying
magnetic fields.
Since the cavity fields are oscillating, acceleration is not possible at all times and for multiple
accelerations we must meet specific synchronicity condition between the motion of particles and the
field oscillation. The time it takes the particles to travel along a full orbit must be an integer multiple
of the oscillation period for the radio frequency field. This synchronization depends on the particle
velocity, path length, magnetic fields employed, and on the rf frequency.
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4.4. Cyclotron
For protons energies much less than the rest energy of 938 MeV are of great interest. This was
recognized in 1930 by Lawrence and Edlefsen in the process of inventing the principle of the
cyclotron and the first such device was built by Lawrence and Livingston in 1932.
The cyclotron principle employs a uniform magnetic field and an RF cavity that extends over the
whole aperture of the magnet. The accelerating cavity has basically the form of a pill box cut in two
halves, where the accelerating fields are generated between those halves and are placed between the
poles of the magnet. Because of the form of the half pill boxes, these cavities are often called the D’s
of a cyclotron. The particle orbits occur mostly in the field free interior of the D’s and traverse the
accelerating gaps between the two D’s twice per revolution. Due to the increasing energy, the
particle trajectories spiral to larger and larger radii. The travel time within the D’s is adjusted by the
choice of the magnetic field such that it is equal to half the radio frequency period. The principle of
the cyclotron is basically the application of the Wideroe linac in a coiled up version to save space
and rf equipment. Fundamentally, however, the use of field free tubes or D’s with increasing path
length between accelerating gaps is the same.
The principle of the cyclotron is limited to nonrelativistic particles. Protons are sufficiently
nonrelativistic up to kinetic energies of about 20–25MeV or about 2.5 % of the rest energy. As the
particles become relativistic the revolution frequency becomes smaller and the particles get out of
synchronism with the radio frequency f.
Fig. 4.2 A cyclotron
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4.5. Synchrotron
To reach still higher energies, with relativistic mass approaching or exceeding the rest mass of the
particles (for protons, billions of electron volts or GeV), it is necessary to use a synchrotron. This is
an accelerator in which the particles are accelerated in a ring of constant radius. An immediate
advantage over cyclotrons is that the magnetic field need only be present over the actual region of
the particle orbits, which is much narrower than that of the ring.
However, since the particle momentum increases during acceleration, it is necessary to turn up the
magnetic field B in proportion to maintain constant curvature of the orbit. In consequence,
synchrotrons cannot accelerate particles continuously, as cyclotrons can, but must operate cyclically,
supplying particles in bunches, which are delivered to a target or an external beam in beam "spills"
typically every few seconds.
Since high energy synchrotrons do most of their work on particles that are already traveling at nearly
the speed of light c, the time to complete one orbit of the ring is nearly constant, as is the frequency
of the RF cavity resonators used to drive the acceleration.
In modern synchrotrons, the beam aperture is small and the magnetic field does not cover the entire
area of the particle orbit as it does for a cyclotron, so several necessary functions can be separated.
Instead of one huge magnet, one has a line of hundreds of bending magnets, enclosing (or enclosed
by) vacuum connecting pipes. The design of synchrotrons was revolutionized in the early 1950s
with the discovery of the strong focusing concept. The focusing of the beam is handled
independently by specialized quadrupole magnets, while the acceleration itself is accomplished in
separate RF sections, rather similar to short linear accelerators. Also, there is no necessity that cyclic
machines be circular, but rather the beam pipe may have straight sections between magnets where
beams may collide, be cooled, etc. This has developed into an entire separate subject, called "beam
physics" or "beam optics".
Fig. 4.3 A synchrotron
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5. Applications of Particle Accelerators
Beams of high-energy particles are useful for fundamental and applied research in the sciences and
also in many technical and industrial fields unrelated to fundamental research.[11] There are
approximately 30,000 accelerators worldwide; of these, only about 1% are research machines with
energies above 1 GeV, while about 44% are for radiotherapy, 41% for ion implantation, 9% for
industrial processing and research, and 4% for biomedical and other low-energy research.
Rolf Widerøe, Gustav Ising, Leó Szilárd, Max Steenbeck, and Ernest Lawrence are considered
pioneers of this field, having conceived and built the first operational linear particle accelerator, the
betatron, as well as the cyclotron. Because the target of the particle beams of early accelerators was
usually the atoms of a piece of matter, with the goal being to create collisions with their nuclei in
order to investigate nuclear structure, accelerators were commonly referred to as atom smashers in
the 20th century. The term persists despite the fact that many modern accelerators create collisions
between two subatomic particles, rather than a particle and an atomic nucleus.
5.1. Particle Physics
Physicists investigating the fundamental nature of matter, space, and time focus on the simplest
interactions at very high energies. These interactions often involve particles with energies in the
range of many GeV and include fundamental particles like leptons (e.g., electrons and positrons) and
quarks, as well as photons and gluons.
Since isolated quarks are not available for experiments due to colour confinement, researchers study
the simplest available interactions. This typically involves leptons interacting with each other and
with nucleons (which are made of quarks and gluons). To explore quark interactions, scientists use
collisions of nucleons, which at high energies can be seen as interactions between the quarks and
gluons inside them.
Particle physicists use machines to create beams of electrons, positrons, protons, and antiprotons.
These beams collide with each other or with simple nuclei (like hydrogen or deuterium) at very high
energies, usually hundreds of GeV or more.
The largest and highest-energy particle accelerator used for elementary particle physics is the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, operating since 2009.
5.2. Nuclear Physics
Nuclear physicists and cosmologists may use beams of bare atomic nuclei, stripped of electrons, to
investigate the structure, interactions, and properties of the nuclei themselves, and of condensed
matter at extremely high temperatures and densities, such as might have occurred in the first
moments of the Big Bang. These investigations often involve collisions of heavy nuclei – of atoms
like iron or gold – at energies of several GeV per nucleon. The largest such particle accelerator is the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
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5.3. Isotope Production
Particle accelerators can also produce proton beams, which can produce proton-rich medical or
research isotopes as opposed to the neutron-rich ones made in fission reactors; however, recent work
has shown how to make 99Mo, usually made in reactors, by accelerating isotopes of hydrogen,
although this method still requires a reactor to produce tritium. An example of this type of machine
is LANSCE at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
5.4. Synchrotron radiation
Electrons moving through a magnetic field produce bright and coherent photon beams known as
synchrotron radiation, useful in fields like atomic structure, chemistry, condensed matter physics,
biology, and technology. Worldwide, numerous synchrotron light sources exist, such as SSRL and
APS in the U.S., and MAX IV and ESRF in Europe. Free-electron lasers (FELs) are advanced light
sources that use synchrotron radiation to generate shorter, more coherent pulses, with the ability to
produce the brightest X-ray beams. Notable FELs include LCLS in the U.S. and European XFEL in
Germany. FELs are also used for terahertz light production, with examples like FELIX in the
Netherlands and TELBE in Germany. This has led to a high demand for electron accelerators with
moderate energy, high intensity, and excellent beam quality to support these advanced light sources.
5.5. Low-energy machines and particle therapy
Everyday particle accelerators include cathode ray tubes in TVs and X-ray generators. These are
low-energy devices with a pair of electrodes and a DC voltage of a few thousand volts. In an X-ray
generator, one electrode serves as the target. Another low-energy accelerator, called an ion
implanter, is used in making integrated circuits.
In medicine, accelerated beams of nuclei are used as particle therapy to treat cancer.
For higher energies, DC accelerators can achieve speeds that induce nuclear reactions. Examples
include Cockcroft–Walton generators, which use voltage multipliers to convert AC to high voltage
DC, and Van de Graaff generators, which rely on static electricity carried by belts.
5.6. Radiation sterilization of medical devices
Electron beam processing is commonly used for sterilization. Electron beams are an on-off
technology that provide a much higher dose rate than gamma or X-rays emitted by radioisotopes
like 60Co or 137Cs. Due to the higher dose rate, less exposure time is required and polymer
degradation is reduced. Because electrons carry a charge, electron beams are less penetrating than
both gamma and X-rays.
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6. Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider.[1][2] It
was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in
collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories across more
than 100 countries. It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometers in circumference and as deep as 175 metres
beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva.
The first collisions were achieved in 2010 at an energy of 3.5 teraelectronvolts (TeV) per beam,
about four times the previous world record. The discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC was
announced in 2012. Between 2013 and 2015, the LHC was shut down and upgraded; after those
upgrades it reached 6.5 TeV per beam (13.0 TeV total collision energy). At the end of 2018, it was
shut down for maintenance and further upgrades, reopening over three years later in April 2022.
The collider has four crossing points where the accelerated particles collide. Nine detectors, each
designed to detect different phenomena, are positioned around the crossing points. The LHC
primarily collides proton beams, but it can also accelerate beams of heavy ions, such as in lead–lead
collisions and proton–lead collisions.
Fig. 6.1 Large Hadron Collider
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6.1. Purpose
The LHC's goal is to allow physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics,
including measuring the properties of the Higgs boson, searching for the large family of new
particles predicted by supersymmetric theories, and studying other unresolved questions in particle
physics.
Many physicists hope that the Large Hadron Collider will help answer some of the fundamental
open questions in physics, which concern the basic laws governing the interactions and forces
among elementary particles and the deep structure of space and time, particularly the interrelation
between quantum mechanics and general relativity.
6.2. Design
The collider tunnel contains two adjacent parallel beamlines (or beam pipes) each containing a
beam, which travel in opposite directions around the ring. The beams intersect at four points around
the ring, which is where the particle collisions take place. Some 1,232 dipole magnets keep the
beams on their circular path, while an additional 392 quadrupole magnets are used to keep the
beams focused, with stronger quadrupole magnets close to the intersection points in order to
maximize the chances of interaction where the two beams cross. Magnets of higher multipole orders
are used to correct smaller imperfections in the field geometry. In total, about 10,000
superconducting magnets are installed, with the dipole magnets having a mass of over 27 tonnes.
About 96 tonnes of superfluid helium-4 is needed to keep the magnets, made of copper-clad
niobium-titanium, at their operating temperature of 1.9 K (−271.25 °C), making the LHC the largest
cryogenic facility in the world at liquid helium temperature. LHC uses 470 tonnes of Nb–Ti
superconductor.
During LHC operations, the CERN site draws roughly 200 MW of electrical power from the
French electrical grid, which, for comparison, is about one-third the energy consumption of the city
of Geneva; the LHC accelerator and detectors draw about 120 MW thereof. Each day of its
operation generates 140 terabytes of data.
When running an energy of 6.5 TeV per proton, once or twice a day, as the protons are accelerated
from 450 GeV to 6.5 TeV, the field of the superconducting dipole magnets is increased from 0.54
to 7.7 teslas (T). The protons each have an energy of 6.5 TeV, giving a total collision energy of
13 TeV. At this energy, the protons have a Lorentz factor of about 6,930 and move at
about 0.999999990 c, or about 3.1 m/s (11 km/h) slower than the speed of light (c). It takes less
than 90 microseconds (μs) for a proton to travel 26.7 km around the main ring. This results in 11,245
revolutions per second for protons whether the particles are at low or high energy in the main ring,
since the speed difference between these energies is beyond the fifth decimal.
Rather than having continuous beams, the protons are bunched together, into up to 2,808 bunches,
with 115 billion protons in each bunch so that interactions between the two beams take place at
discrete intervals, mainly 25 nanoseconds (ns) apart, providing a bunch collision rate of 40 MHz. It
was operated with fewer bunches in the first years. The design luminosity of the LHC is
1034 cm−2s−1, which was first reached in June 2016. By 2017, twice this value was achieved.
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7. Public safety concerns
In the future, if predictions from superstring theory prove correct, there might be a chance of
producing black holes at the highest energy accelerators. This potential has raised public safety
concerns, especially regarding the LHC, which started operating in 2008. Despite various potential
risks, the latest evaluation by the LHC Safety Assessment Group concludes that there is "no
conceivable danger."
Should black holes be created, they are theoretically expected to evaporate very quickly through
Bekenstein–Hawking radiation, although this has not yet been experimentally confirmed. If colliders
can produce black holes, cosmic rays, particularly ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), must
have been generating them for ages without causing harm.
It has been suggested that to conserve energy and momentum, any black holes formed in collisions
between UHECRs and local matter would be moving at relativistic speeds relative to Earth and
should escape into space. In contrast, black holes produced in colliders might move slower than
Earth's escape velocity (11.2 km/s) and could be captured and grow.
However, collisions between UHECRs and dense astronomical objects like white dwarfs and
neutron stars would lead to their rapid destruction, yet these objects are frequently observed.
Thus, if stable micro black holes are produced, they would grow too slowly to have any significant
macroscopic effects within the solar system's natural lifetime.
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References
1. CERN. "The Large Hadron Collider." CERN, 15 June 2021,
[Link]
2. Helmut Wiedemann. “Particle Accelerator Physics Fourth Edition”, 2015
3. Betatrons- MIT, [Rev. 58, 841 (1940)],
[Link]
4. Britannica- Cyclotron,
[Link]
5. Particle accelerator – Wikipedia,
[Link]
6. Synchrotron - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics,
[Link]
7. What is a Linac? | IAEA,
[Link]
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