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| 1.
Tandem Van de
Graaff
-
The
Tandem uses static electricity to accelerate atoms removing some of their
electrons, which are in a cloud around the nucleus. What remains is
a charged atom called an ion. A partial lack of electrons gives each ion a
strong positive charge. The Tandem gives billions of these ions a boost of
energy, sending them on their way towards the Booster. 2a. Tandem-to-Booster line (TTB) - From the Tandem, the bunches of ions enter the Tandem-to-Booster beamline, which carries them through a vacuum via a magnetic field to the Booster. At this point, they're traveling at about 5% the speed of light.
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2b.
Linear Accelerator
(Linac). In addition to heavy ions, some experiments at RHIC use colliding
beams of protons. For these experiments, energetic protons are supplied by
the 200-million electron volt (MeV) Linac. Protons from the Linac are
transferred to the Booster.
3. The Booster synchrotron The Booster synchrotron is a powerful and compact circular accelerator that provides the ions more energy, by having them “surf ride” on the downhill slope of radio frequency electromagnetic waves. The ions are propelled forward at higher and higher speeds, getting closer and closer to the speed of light. The Booster then feeds the beam into the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). 4. As ions enter the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) from the Booster, they are traveling at about 37% the speed of light. As they whirl around the AGS and are accelerated as in the Booster, the ions get even more energy -- until they are traveling at 99.7% the speed of light. |
4.
(cont.) Light travels at
186,000 miles per second, the natural speed limit in the universe.
Einstein created his theory of special relativity to describe the bizarre
behavior of objects traveling this fast. Hence, the
"relativistic" part of RHIC's name.
5. ATR. When the ion beam is traveling at top speed in the AGS, it is taken down another beam line called the AGS-To-RHIC (ATR) transfer line. At the end of this line, there is a “fork in the road”, where a switching magnet sends the ion bunches down one of two beam lines. Bunches are directed either left to the clockwise RHIC ring or right to travel counter-clockwise in the second RHIC ring. From here on, the counter-rotating beams are accelerated, as in the Booster and AGS, and then circulate in RHIC where they will be collided into one another at as many as six interaction points. |