Particle accelerators are best known for colliding matter to probe its make-up, but they are also used for measuring the chemical structure of drugs, treating cancers, and manufacturing silicon microchips.
The analysis was led by Imperial College London researchers, as part of the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment collaboration, and findings are published today inFirst author of the study Dr Paul Bogdan Jurj, from the Department of Physics at Imperial, said:"Our proof-of-principle is great news for the international particle physics community, who are making plans for the next-generation of higher-energy accelerators.
Muon colliders would be more compact and therefore cheaper, reaching effective energies as high as those proposed by the 100km proton collider in a much smaller space. However, technology development is needed to ensure the muons can be collided frequently enough.The major challenge has been getting the muons to congregate in a small enough space, so that when they are accelerated they form a concentrated beam.
The experiment was carried out using the MICE muon beamline at the Science and Technology Facilities Council ISIS Neutron and Muon Beam facility at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK. The team are now working with the International Muon Collider Collaboration to build the next stage of demonstrations.