particle accelerator
Subatomic speed machine
A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged subatomic particles to extremely high speeds, often approaching the speed of light.
Scientists use these devices to study fundamental physics by smashing particles together and observing what emerges from the collisions.
The largest is CERN's Large Hadron Collider, a ring-shaped tunnel spanning 27 kilometers beneath the Swiss-French border.
Smaller accelerators have practical applications in medicine, particularly for cancer radiation therapy, and in industrial manufacturing.
Positive nuclear particle
- electronNegative subatomic particle
- neutronUncharged nuclear particle
- positronElectron's antimatter counterpart
- muonFleeting charged lepton
neutrino · hadron · lepton · quark · gluon · boson · fermion · meson
Circular charged-particle accelerator
- cyclotronSpiral-path particle accelerator
- linacStraight-path particle accelerator
- magnetronMicrowave-generating vacuum tube
- cavityEmpty space within
vacuum · chamber · injector · detector · magnet · superconducting · cryogenic · radiofrequency
European nuclear research organization
- LHCMassive subatomic collision facility
- SLACLinear particle accelerator facility
- BrookhavenFederal physics research center
- PSIForce per area unit
Distribution in many directions
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- interactionReciprocal action between parties
- cross-sectionView through interior
luminosity · event · vertex · jet · shower · fragmentation · elastic · inelastic
Medical radiation for cancer
- cancer treatmentMedical intervention for malignancy
- medical imagingCreating pictures inside bodies
- materials scienceStudy of engineered substances
- crystallographyStudy of atomic lattices
Particle physics detection vessel
- cloud chamberRadiation visualization apparatus
- calorimeterInstrument measuring heat transfer
- spectrometerMeasures electromagnetic radiation properties
- trackerOne who follows trails
trigger · readout · reconstruction · signal · background · data acquisition
proton
Positive nuclear particle
- electronNegative subatomic particle
- neutronUncharged nuclear particle
- positronElectron's antimatter counterpart
muon · neutrino · hadron · lepton · quark · gluon · boson · fermion · meson · baryon
synchrotron
Circular charged-particle accelerator
- cyclotronSpiral-path particle accelerator
- linacStraight-path particle accelerator
- magnetronMicrowave-generating vacuum tube
cavity · vacuum · chamber · injector · detector · magnet · superconducting · cryogenic · radiofrequency · target
CERN
European nuclear research organization
- LHCMassive subatomic collision facility
- SLACLinear particle accelerator facility
- BrookhavenFederal physics research center
scattering
Distribution in many directions
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- interactionReciprocal action between parties
cross-section · luminosity · event · vertex · jet · shower · fragmentation · elastic · inelastic
radiotherapy
Medical radiation for cancer
- cancer treatmentMedical intervention for malignancy
- medical imagingCreating pictures inside bodies
- materials scienceStudy of engineered substances
bubble chamber
Particle physics detection vessel
- cloud chamberRadiation visualization apparatus
- calorimeterInstrument measuring heat transfer
- spectrometerMeasures electromagnetic radiation properties
tracker · trigger · readout · reconstruction · signal · background · data acquisition
- high energygamma rays, cosmic rays, synchrotron, neutrinos, quarks
- Big ScienceCERN, Large Hadron Collider, LHC, synchrotron, collider
- Physics Devicesaccelerometer, ammeter, barometer, calorimeter, gyroscope
- radiation sourcessun, uranium, plutonium, radium, radon
- particle physicsquark, quarks, lepton, leptons, boson
- Particle Beamselectron beam, proton beam, cyclotron, synchrotron, cathode ray
particle acceleratordetector
Device that senses
microscope · atomic clock · cloud chamber · bubble chamber · calorimeter
particle acceleratortelescope
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
radio telescope · space telescope · observatory · Hubble Space Telescope · James Webb Space Telescope
particle acceleratorelectron microscope
Instrument magnifying via charged particles
accelerate, particle, particles, accelerating, acceleration, accelerated, accelerator, particulate, accelerators