Research report 2008 - Max Planck Institute for Physics

Why We need new types of particle accelerators

Authors
Caldwell, Allen
Departments

Experimentelle Hochenergiephysik (Prof. Caldwell) (Prof. Dr. Allen Caldwell)
MPI für Physik, München

Summary
Completely new technologies are needed to go beyond the energies of present day particle accelerators. Two new concepts are currently being worked out at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. The first of these concepts makes use of plasma wakefields. Plasmas can support extremely high electric fields, and would therefore allow for much more compact accelerators. The second possibility investigated is to accelerate muons, a heavier version of the electron. The muon combines the advantages of both electrons (point-like nature) and protons (heavy).

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