NEWSletter Issue 13 Highlights • Measurements of 3D electrostatic fields • Particle Colliders – Accelerating Innovation • AVA presented at IPAC’19 • Upcoming Events
• Partner News • Positions Vacancies
June 2019
Dear friends of low energy antimatter and ion physics, Curiosity-driven research requires innovation in terms or research techniques and technology. In antimatter research, these innovations have been linked to beam handling and storage techniques, novel sensor and beam diagnostics techniques, as well as numerical tools that allowed scientists to better model their experiments for a very long time. Looking back at what other applications these innovations have enabled, there is a very clear history of developments that originally targeted fundamental research and later had massive impact on society as a whole. This includes the world wide web, originally developed for particle physics experiments; ion beam therapy using the same accelerator technologies that find application in large scale research facilities like CERN and FAIR; machine learning techniques originally developed for the analysis of experiment data and then used for medical applications, modelling traffic flow in cities or helping internet sites optimize their search algorithms. Looking at all these examples, I am convinced that fundamental research is ideal (and required) for the continuous production of frontier technologies in ever more rapidly evolving markets. This week we will shine a light on how R&D into particle accelerators has benefited – and will benefit – science and society. A large scale Symposium in Liverpool showcases several flagship applications of accelerators, including antimatter research, that have helped advanced knowledge and enabled numerous innovations. It is very easy to participate in the event by registering for free and joining the livestreamed talks. Please join us and send your comments and questions via Twitter @livuniphysics #AccSciSoc.
Prof. Carsten P. Welsch, Coordinator
Page 2 of 10 Research News PRL paper describes realistic 3D modelling of electrostatic elements in low energy machines
Photograph of the experimental setup.
The transport and manipulation of very low energy antiproton and ion beams relies on the use of electrostatic elements, as magnets are no longer efficient at keV beam energies. It is important to precisely know the field distribution in these elements to optimize beam transport and maximize experimental outputs. Thus far, accelerator designers had to rely on 3D field simulations to take effects like manufacturing tolerances or the effects from misalignment into account as no sensor was available to precisely measure the 3D electrostatic field distribution. In an article just published in Physical Review Letters, AVA Fellow Volodymyr Rodin and coworkers describe a new method to precisely map the electrostatic field in an arbitrary 3D volume with a microsensor. In a collaboration between
researchers from Vienna, CERN and the University of Liverpool/Cockcroft Institute the sensor was extensively tested to characterize an electrostatic quadrupole from one of the ELENA beam transfer lines. Experimental results have shown that remarkable spatial resolution can be achieved for fields with sufficiently low curvature. Measurements have also confirmed that electrostatic elements behave largely like numerical simulations predict. A precise field measurement technique as now presented offers an interesting opportunity to relax manufacturing requirements. It offers a powerful method to mitigate any effects from tolerances by e.g. sorting electrostatic elements or even active compensation of unwanted effects.
A. Kainz et al., Noninvasive 3D field mapping of complex static electric fields, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 244801 (2019). https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.244801
Page 3 of 10 Network News Particle Colliders – Accelerating Innovation
The Symposium took place at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool.
AVA Fellows based at University of Liverpool participated in the organization of an international Symposium on Particle Colliders Accelerating Innovation which was held on 22 March 2019 at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre. The event showcased the science and technology opportunities related to the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study, a potential successor to the Large Hadron Collider and attracted nearly 1,000 delegates.
leading researchers are now available to watch via the event website. In parallel to the industry exhibition, hands-on demonstrations engaged hundreds of high school students in the technologies behind FCC.
The Symposium featured several keynote talks, an industry exhibition, a careers fair for University of Liverpool students, an industry-academia coinnovation workshop, as well as hands-on activities for high school children from England’s North-West to explain accelerator science.
The event in Liverpool was live-streamed to institutions across Europe and the talks from
Exhibition Hall at ACC Liverpool.
Page 4 of 10 More than a dozen different activities, each one offered several times in parallel, were available to the high school students. This included the Plasmatron, an interactive game explaining the physics behind plasma accelerators, salad bowl accelerators showing how high voltages can be generated, the augmented reality accelerator acceleratAR that turns paper cubes into components of a particle accelerator, and cryoexperiments that turned flowers into glass-like objects…which were then smashed into pieces by the children, as can be seen below. LHC interactive tunnel.
(accelerating gradient) of the permanent magnets into particle kinetic energy. Multiple-stage construction along with Newton cradles demonstrated natural laws of momentum conservation and beam acceleration. Another experiment was demonstrating slowing down of free falling of a magnetic ball inside copper pipe caused by Eddy currents. Cryo-experiments turned flowers into glass-like objects.
The entire hall was full of physics! AVA Fellows Bianca, Milena, Volodymyr and Bruno - had the lead on one demonstration each. Milena introduced particle detectors using a homemade cloud chamber, whilst Bruno guided the students through CERN’s interactive LHC tunnel which came for the very first time to the UK. A true centre-piece of the hands-on physics fair, the LHC tunnel allowed children to play ‘proton football’ and smash particles at high energies. If energy and direction were well chosen, they could even create a Higgs particle!
“More than hundred of children were curious about how that works and tenths of them initialised a chain of improvised accelerators themselves. We demonstrated interesting physics effects, using magnetic flux detectors. This idea caused many “Wow!”-s and raised curiosity among school teachers and children “, Volodymyr described. “Many pupils were curious about how pasta made its way into a Physics Symposium. It intrigued them and they were happy to listen to how I related pasta to the Standard model of particle physics”, described Bianca who introduced the concept of different particles via something close to her Italian roots – PASTA in different shapes and colours.
For more information see the event website Volodymyr demonstrated a simple way for accelerating macroscopic size projectiles utilizing Gauss rifle principle – converting attractive force
Page 5 of 10 AVA presented at IPAC’19 and beam life time studies of low energy ion and antiproton beams, as well as efficient integration and performance optimization of cryogenic detectors in ELENA and associated trap experiments. A dedicated industry stand showcased the AVA project along with the many projects coordinated or participated by the University of Liverpool: OMA, LIV.DAT, EuPRAXIA and EuroCirCol, as well as the spin-out company D-Beam, specialized in advanced beam diagnostics.
The world’s largest conference on particle accelerators (IPAC’19) took place this year in the Australian city of Melbourne, from 19 to 24 of May. Over 1,000 delegates from five continents gathered in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre to hear about the latest advances in accelerator science through and intense programme of talks and poster sessions together with an industry exhibition. Project Coordinator Prof Carsten Welsch presented research results within AVA on the performance of ultra-thin diamond membranes, electron cooling
New Fellow joins AVA The AVA network welcomes new Fellow Yeqiang Wei who will work at CIVIDEC in Austria.
Yeqiang Wei received his bachelor degree in June, 2014 from Suzhou University
Yeqiang Wei
majoring in electronic information engineering. In June 2017 he received his master degree from Anhui University with the major of electromagnetic field and microwave technology. After graduation, he has been working as an electronic engineer and his work mainly focused on the design of RF devices including RF cavities and high power combiners. Yeqiang joined AVA as a Marie Curie research fellow in June 2019. He will be investigating the application of a diamond membrane detector for antimatter research at CIVIDEC Instrumentation GmbH in cooperation with Vienna University of Technology. He will be studying the interaction mechanisms of antimatter with matter and designing an ultra-thin, vacuum compatible diamond membrane detector and the related front-end electronics for antimatter research.
Page 6 of 10 Upcoming AVA Events
Symposium on Accelerators for Science and Society, 28 June 2019 Particle accelerators have numerous applications across many fields including fundamental research, medicine, electronics, environment and energy. The AVA network, together with partners from the OMA and LIV.DAT projects, are delighted to host an International Symposium on Accelerators for Science and Society on 28th June 2019, at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre near the famous Albert Docks.
Science who will all present results of their research and share their fascination for science through hands-on demonstrations.
In this special event, scientists and educators from all across Europe present highlights and advances in accelerator research and the enormous impact these tools have had on science and society. They will give a unique insight into current research programmes and also outline the exciting plans for the future. They will be joined by Fellows from the European networks OMA and AVA, as well as researchers from the LIV.DAT centre for Big Data
All presentations can be followed for free by web live-stream. Tune in! Register your interest today!
3rd AVA Topical Workshop: Machine-Experiment Interface, October 2019 We are delighted to announce a two-day workshop on 'Machine-Experiment Interface' with a focus on efficient diagnostics integration in an accelerator and how the readout from monitors can be linked to lattice design codes via online control systems. The event will be hosted by COSYLAB, Ljubljana, Slovenia on 10-11 October 2019. The workshop will combine talks by research leaders, with opportunities for early stage researchers to present their work and panel discussions.
Page 7 of 10 Partner News Professor Klaus Blaum (MPI) was awarded his 2nd ERC Advanced Grant
Prof Dr Klaus Blaum from the MPI For Nuclear Physics, supervisor of AVA Fellow Markus Wiesinger, secured his second funding (2.5M EUR/5 years) from the European Research Council (ERC) for his project entitled "FunI." The four fundamental interactions and their symmetries, the fundamental constants as well as the properties of elementary particles such as their masses determine the basic structure of the Universe and form the basis for the Standard Model of particle physics.
Exciting Opportunity for Stahl Electronics Stahl-Electronics is being considered by the European Space Agency (ESA) for supplying essential electronic components for space probe missions to the south pole of Earth's moon. This region is appealing for harvesting recently discovered water resources for a future moon base or for other manned space missions. Temperatures in moon craters can go down to -240 °C which requires specialised electronics to operate in such cold environments. Stahl-Electronics develops devices for harsh and hostile ambient conditions that are similar to the cold electronics related to the AVA project.
After receiving an ERC Advanced Grant in 2011 for the determination of fundamental constants such as the mass of the electron and the proton, Klaus Blaum is now devoting himself to fundamental interactions in his new ERC Advanced Grant called "FunI." Among other things, experiments with stored highly charged ions are planned for mandatory tests of quantum electrodynamics and special relativity, the latter via an improved verification of the equivalence of mass and energy, E=mc2. In order to significantly improve the current boundaries, FunI also targets technical innovation, such as sympathetic cooling of individual ions. The ERC awards Advanced Grants to established scientists who have already made significant contributions to their field of expertise for groundbreaking, new and risky projects. The funds are very competitive; the latest round of tenders had 222 applicants and a success rate of 10.8%. This is a significant achievement for Klaus Blaum and his research group. Congratulations!
Page 8 of 10
Position Vacancies PhD position in antimatter physics at CERN with the ALPHA antihydrogen collaboration. The foreseen start date is 1st October 2019. Application deadline: 30th June 2019 Details here : https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/physics-epsrc-phd-antimatterphysics-2019.php
Postdoctal research associate in physics The Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool is seeking a postdoctoral research associate in sensor and diagnostic technologies. You will work with industry partners to identify technical requirements and apply the sensor and detector technologies research and knowledge that have been developed across the nuclear, particle and accelerator clusters in the Department of Physics. By performing applied R&D, the post holder will develop innovative solutions for major challenges and problems facing industry. The ability to communicate effectively within a large multi-national collaboration is essential. Apply now!
Page 9 of 10 News from FAIR International group of experts presents final report on the FAIR project A team of high-level external experts was headed by the British physicist Lyndon Evans, who is an expert in the field of particle accelerators and was project leader for the construction of the large particle accelerator LHC at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The committee, which consisted of particle accelerator experts, scientists, and construction project managers, has been assessing the project since November 2018 by means of accurate detail work, partly in subgroups focusing on specific aspects. The report of the committee of experts has confirmed that the scientific program of FAIR is outstanding at the global level. The group of experts rated the FAIR project as a top international science project for decades, offering world class opportunities and outstanding potential for groundbreaking discoveries. The full report is available online.
Visualization of the future FAIR accelerator facility.
Page 10 of 10 AVA Events 24th - 27th June 2019
Advanced Researcher Skills and Technology Transfer Workshops, Liverpool, UK
28th June 2019
Symposium: Accelerators for Science and Society, ACC Liverpool, UK
9th – 10th October 2019
3rd Topical Workshop on Machine-Experiment Interface, Cosylab, Slovenia
March 2020
2nd AVA School on Precision Studies, Prague, Czech Republic
September 2020
EXA/AVA Conference, Vienna, Austria
Other Events 1st – 3rd July 2019
ENLIGHT Annual Meeting and Training, Caen, France
4th – 6th September 2019
International Conference on Medical Accelerators and Particle Therapy, CNA, Seville, Spain
Notice Board This newsletter will be published on a quarterly basis. Help us keep it interesting by providing your news and updates. DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS: 15th September 2019
www.ava-project.eu Project Coordinator Prof Carsten P. Welsch carsten.welsch@cockcroft.ac.uk
Project Manager Dr Zuzana Oriou zuzana.oriou@cockcroft.ac.uk
Newsletter Editor Alexandra Welsch alexandra.welsch@cockcroft.ac.uk
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721559.