Context:
Recently, India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) stared the construction phase for contributions to Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) project.
Proton Improvement Plan (PIP-II) Project:
- Built with significant contributions from international partners.
- International Collaborators – Institutions from India, France, Italy, Poland and UK
- It will power the world’s most high-energy neutrino beam to the underconstruction Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF).
- It provides Indian scientists and engineers the training, technical insight and know-how for the development of their domestic particle accelerator program and future projects.
Particle Accelerators:
- A device that produces a beam of fast-moving, electrically charged atomic or subatomic particles
- It propels charged particles (Protons, Atomic Nuclei, Electrons etc.) at high speeds, close to the speed of light.
- 4 principal components of accelerator –
- Source for producing particles
- Composite device to speed them up
- Metallic tubes in vacuum to allow free movement
- Electromagnets to steer the beam particles.
Some Large Particle Accelerators:
- Large Hadron Collider (LHC) –
- Most powerful accelerator
- Location – CERN (Geneva)
- Significant achievements – Discovery of Higgs Boson, previously unknown hadrons etc.
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) –
- Home to most intense hard x-ray source in the world
- Location – France
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC) –
- Longest linear particle accelerator in the world
- Location – USA
- Significant achievements – discovery of quark and tau leptons.
Significance of Particle Accelerators:
- Fundamental research – Studies on colliding sub-nuclear particles near speed of light, New particles and forces, origins of universe etc.
- Health – Sterilizing medical equipment and synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis and its therapy.
- Environment – Trace and detect chemical elements in air, water or soil.
- Industry – Improving materials durability
Read more about: Particle Accelerator
Source: Fermilab
Previous Year Question
“The experiment will employ a trio of spacecraft flying in formation in the shape of an equilateral triangle that has sides one million kilometres long, with lasers shining between the craft.” The experiment in question refers to
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) Voyager-2
(b) New Horizons
(c) LISA Pathfinder
(d) Evolved LISA
Answer: (d)
