Antimatter

ANTIMATTER INTRODUCTION
Antimatter rockets are what the majority of people think about when
talking of rockets for the future. This is hardly surprising as it is such an
attractive word for the writers of science fiction.
It is, however, not only interesting in the realm of science fiction.
Make no mistake; antimatter is real. mall amounts, in the order of nanograms,
are produced at special facilities every year. It is also the most e!pensive
substance of "arth; in #$$$ the estimated cost for # gram of antimatter was
about %&'.( trillion.
The reason it is so attractive for propulsion is the energy density that
it possesses. )onsider that the ideal energy density for chemical reactions is #
! #*
+
,#*-+. /0kg, for nuclear fission it is 1 ! #*
#2
,#*-#2. /0kg and for nuclear
fusion it is 2 ! #*
#3
,#*-#3. /0kg, but for the matter4antimatter annihilation it is
$ ! #*
#&
,#*-#&. /0kg. This is #*
#*
,#* billion. times that of conventional
chemical propellants.
This represents the highest energy release per unit mass of any known
reaction in physics. The reason for this is that the annihilation is the complete
conversion of matter into energy governed by "instein5s famous e6uation
"7mc
'
, rather than just the part conversion that occurs in fission and fusion.
#
Antimatter
WHAT IS ANTIMATTER?
Antimatter is e!actly what you might think it is 44 the opposite of
normal matter, of which the majority of our universe is made. 8ntil just
recently, the presence of antimatter in our universe was considered to be only
theoretical. In #$'1, 9ritish physicist Paul A.M. Dirac revised "instein5s
famous e6uation E=mc
2
. :irac said that "instein didn5t consider that the ;m;
in the e6uation 44 mass 44 could have negative properties as well as positive.
:irac5s e6uation ," 7 < or 4 mc
'
. allowed for the e!istence of anti4particles in
our universe. cientists have since proven that several anti4particles e!ist.
These anti4particles are, literally, mirror images of normal matter.
"ach anti4particle has the same mass as its corresponding particle, but the
electrical charges are reversed. =ere are some antimatter discoveries of the
'*th century>
?ositrons 4 "lectrons with a positive instead of negative charge.
:iscovered by )arl Anderson in #$2', positrons were the first evidence
that antimatter e!isted.
Anti4protons 4 ?rotons that have a negative instead of the usual positive
charge. In #$((, researchers at the 9erkeley 9evatron produced an
antiproton.
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Antimatter
Anti4atoms 4 ?airing together positrons and antiprotons, scientists at
)"@A, the "uropean BrganiCation for Auclear @esearch, created the
first anti4atom. Aine anti4hydrogen atoms were created, each lasting
only 3* nanoseconds. As of #$$1, )"@A researchers were pushing the
production of anti4hydrogen atoms to ',*** per hour.
Particle Annihilatin
Dhen antimatter comes into contact with normal matter, these e6ual
but opposite particles collide to produce an e!plosion emitting pure radiation,
which travels out of the point of the e!plosion at the speed of light. 9oth
particles that created the e!plosion are completely annihilated, leaving behind
other subatomic particles. The e!plosion that occurs when antimatter and
matter interact transfers the entire mass of both objects into energy. cientists
believe that this energy is more powerful than any that can be generated by
other propulsion methods.
The problem with developing antimatter propulsion is that there is a
lack of antimatter e!isting in the universe. If there were e6ual amounts of
matter and antimatter, we would likely see these reactions around us. ince
antimatter doesn5t e!ist around us, we don5t see the light that would result from
it colliding with matter.
It is possible that particles outnumbered anti4particles at the time of
the 9ig 9ang. As stated above, the collision of particles and anti4particles
destroys both. And because there may have been more particles in the universe
to start with, those are all that5s left. There may be no naturally4e!isting anti4
particles in our universe today. =owever, scientists discovered a possible
deposit of antimatter near the center of the gala!y in #$++. If that does e!ist, it
would mean that antimatter e!ists naturally, and the need to make our own
antimatter would be eliminated.
2
Antimatter
PRODUCTION O! ANTIMATTER
There is technology available to create antimatter through the use of
high4energy particle colliders, also called ;atom smashers.; Atom smashers,
like )"@A, are large tunnels lined with powerful super magnets that circle
around to propel atoms at near4light speeds. Dhen an atom is sent through this
accelerator, it slams into a target, creating particles. ome of these particles are
antiparticles that are separated out by the magnetic field. These high4energy
particle accelerators only produce one or two picograms of antiprotons each
year. A picogram is a trillionth of a gram. All of the antiprotons produced at
)"@A in one year would be enough to light a #**4watt electric light bulb for
three seconds.

Atm "ma"her
Anti#rtn Deceleratr $AD%
The Antiproton :ecelerator is a very special machine compared to
what already e!ists at )"@A and other laboratories around the world. o far,
an ;anti#article &actr'; consisted of a chain of several accelerators, each one
performing one of the steps needed to produce antiparticles. The )"@A
antiproton comple! is a very good e!ample of this.
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Antimatter
At the end of the +*5s )"@A built an antiproton source called the
Anti#rtn Accumulatr ,AA.. Its task was to produce and accumulate high4
energy antiprotons to feed into the ? in order to transform it into a ;proton4
antiproton collider;. As soon as antiprotons became available, physicists
realiCed how much could be learned by using them at low energy, so )"@A
decided to build a new machine> (EAR, the () Ener*' Anti#rtn Rin*.
Antiprotons accumulated in the AA were e!tracted, decelerated in the PS and
then injected into (EAR for further deceleration. In #$1& a second ring, the
Anti#rtn Cllectr ,AC., was built around the e!isting AA in order to
improve the antiproton production rate by a factor of #*.
The A) is now being transformed into the AD, which will perform all
the tasks that the A), AA, ? and E"A@ used to do with antiprotons, i.e.
produce, collect, cool, decelerate and eventually e!tract them to the
e!periments.
What +e" the AD cn"i"t &?
The A: ring is an appro!imate circle with a circumference of #11 m.
It consists of a vacuum pipe surrounded by a long se6uence of vacuum pumps,
magnets, radio4fre6uency cavities, high voltage instruments and electronic
circuits. "ach of these pieces has its specific function>
4 Antiprotons circulate inside the vacuum pipe in order to avoid contact with
normal matter ,like air molecules., and annihilate. The vacuum must be
optimal, therefore several vacuum pumps, which e!tract air, are placed
around the pipe.
4 Magnets as well are placed all around. There are two types of magnets> the
dipoles ,which have a Aorth and a outh pole, like the well4known
horseshoe magnet. serve to change the direction of movement and make
sure the particles stay within their circular track. They are also called
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Antimatter
;bending magnets;. Fuadrupoles ,which have four poles. are used as
5lenses5. These ;focusing magnets; make sure that the siCe of the beam is
smaller than the siCe of the vacuum pipe.
4 Magnetic fields can change the direction and siCe of the beam, but not its
energy. To do this you need an electric field> this is provided by radio4
fre6uency cavities that produce high voltages in synchronicity with the
rotation of particles around the ring.
4 everal other instruments are needed to perform more specific tasks> two
cooling systems ;s6ueeCe; the beam in siCe and energy; one injection and
one ejection system let the beam in and out of the machine.
H) +e" the AD )r, ?
Antiparticles have to be created from energy ,remember> " 7 mc
'
..
This energy is obtained with protons that have been previously accelerated in
the ?. These protons are smashed into a block of metal, called a target. De
use )opper or Iridium targets mainly because they are easy to cool. Then, the
abrupt stopping of such energetic particles releases a huge amount of energy
into a small volume, heating it up to such temperatures that matter4antimatter
particles are spontaneously created. In about one collision out of a million, an
antiproton4proton pair is formed. 9ut given the fact that about #* trillion
protons hit the target ,about once per minute., this still makes a good #*
million antiprotons heading towards the A:.
The newly created antiprotons behave like a bunch of wild kids; they
are produced almost at the speed of light, but not all of them have e!actly the
same energy ,this is called ;energy spread;.. Moreover, they run randomly in
all directions, also trying to break out 5sideways5 ,;transverse oscillations;..
9ending and focusing magnets make sure they stay on the right track, in the
middle of the vacuum pipe, while they begin to race around in the ring.
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Antimatter
At each turn, the strong electric fields inside the radio4fre6uency
cavities begin to decelerate the antiprotons. 8nfortunately, this deceleration
increases the siCe of their transverse oscillations> if nothing is done to cure
that, all antiprotons are lost when they eventually collide with the vacuum
pipe. To avoid that, two methods have been invented> 5stochastic5 and 5electron
cooling5. tochastic ,or 5random5. cooling works best at high speeds ,around
the speed of light, c., and electron cooling works better at low speed ,still fast,
but only #*42* G of c.. Their goal is to decrease energy spread and transverse
oscillations of the antiproton beam.
Hinally, when the antiparticles speed is down to about #*G of the
speed of light, the antiprotons s6ueeCed group ,called a ;bunch;. is ready to be
ejected. Bne ;deceleration cycle; is over> it has lasted about one minute.
A strong 5kicker5 magnet is fired in less than a millionth of a second,
and at the ne!t turn, all antiprotons are following a new path, which leads them
into the beam pipes of the e!traction line. There, additional dipole and
6uadrupole magnets steer the beam into one of the three e!periments.
The AD e-#eriment"
Three e!periments are installed in the Antiproton :ecelerator5s
e!perimental hall>
ASACUSA.Atomic pectroscopy and )ollisions using low Antiprotons
ATHENA.Antihydrogen ?roduction and ?recision "!periments and
ATRAP.)old Antihydrogen for ?recise Easer pectroscopy.
AT="AA and AT@A?5s goal is to produce antihydrogen in traps, by
combining antiprotons delivered by the A: with positrons emitted by a
radioactive source.
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Antimatter
Antihydrogen atoms were first observed at )"@A in #$$(, and later
,#$$+. at Hermilab. In both cases they were produced in flight, that means they
moved at nearly the speed of light, i.e. much too fast to allow precise
measurements on any of their proprietiesI They made uni6ue electrical signals
in detectors that destroyed them almost immediately after they formed. Aow
the idea is to produce slow antihydrogen atoms and store them into ;traps;,
allowing e!tremely accurate comparisons of the properties of hydrogen and
antihydrogen.
AA)8A, on the other hand, will synthesiCe ;e!otic; atoms, in
which an electron is replaced by an antiproton. ?recise laser spectroscopy of
these e!otic atoms is e!pected to reveal lots of information on the behavior of
atomic systems.
1
Antimatter
STORA/E
Antiparticles have either a positive or a negative electrical charge, so
they can be stored in what we call a trap which has the appropriate
configuration of electrical and magnetic fields to keep them confined in a
small place. Bf course, this has to be done in good vacuum to avoid collisions
with matter particles. Antiatoms are electrically neutral, but they have
magnetic proprieties that can be used to keep them in ;magnetic bottles;.
Prta0le tra#
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Antimatter
APP(ICATION O! ANTIMATTER
PET Scan
?article physicists regularly use collisions between electrons and their
antiparticles, positrons, to investigate matter and fundamental forces at high
energies. Dhen electron and positron meet, they annihilate, turning into energy
which, at high energies, can rematerialiCe as new particles and antiparticles.
This is what happens at machines such as the Earge "lectron ?ositron ,E"?.
collider at )"@A.
At low energies, however, the electron4positron annihilations can be
put to different uses, for e!ample to reveal the workings of the brain in the
techni6ue called P"itrn Emi""in Tm*ra#h' $PET%. In ?"T, the
positrons come from the decay of radioactive nuclei incorporated in a special
fluid injected into the patient. The positrons then annihilate with electrons in
nearby atoms. As the electron and positron are almost at rest when they
annihilate, there is not enough annihilation energy to make even the lightest
particle and antiparticle ,the electron and the positron., so the energy emerges
as two gamma rays, which shoot off in opposite directions to conserve
momentum.
#*
Antimatter
!UTURE O! ANTIMATTER
Antimatter a" a #r#ul"in "'"tem
This is not some incredible new technology that will power us
throughout the gala!y. At the most basic level the antimatter rocket is still a
Aewtonian rocket, governed by the three laws of motion and it still conforms
to "instein5s theory of special relativity, in other words it cannot e!ceed the
speed of light.
till if we are enable to develop such a propulsion system in the
future it will surely render any other Aewtonian rocket obsolete overnight, the
system has the highest predicted efficiency, specific impulse and probably the
highest thrust to weight ratio. There does seem to be a serious amount of
disagreement over this last point, the general feeling seems to be that the thrust
to weight will at least comparable to today5s very powerful chemical rockets.
Dhat this means is that only #** milligrams ,#0#* gram. of antimatter would
be needed to match the total propulsive energy of the pace huttle ,all those
huge tanks of fuelI..This fact has led to the interesting observation that future
advanced spacecraft, such as the antimatter rocket, will not be designed around
their propellant tank like conventional craft. Instead the craft will be designed
around the reactors ,for nuclear craft. or around the systems and chambers to
cause annihilation ,for antimatter craft.. @adiation shielding will also become
a key component of spacecraft design.
##
Antimatter
Antimatter #r#ul"in "'"tem"
Bnce we have produced and stored the antimatter we can use it in
propulsion by releasing it into a chamber and allowing it to annihilate with
normal matter which produces its tremendous energy in the form of energetic
sub4atomic particles. There are actually two choices for propulsion. Dell
electron4positron annihilation produces high energy gamma rays which are
impossible to control, hence useless for propulsion, and on top of this are
potentially very dangerous. Dhereas the proton4antiproton annihilation
produces charged particles ,mostly pions moving at velocities close to that of
light. that can be directed with magnetic fields, ma!imiCing propellant mass.
The fact that there is this mass left over after the annihilation means that the
full conversion of mass to energy has not occurred as it does in the electron4
positron annihilation, therefore slightly less energy has been produced.
This energy, however, still far e!ceeds any other method and the
resulting particles allow this energy to be harnessed by directing it with
magnetic forces. In other words the perfect reaction does not produce perfect
propulsive result. Another important advantage for antimatter rockets over
nuclear rockets is that heavy reactors are not re6uired, the reaction is
spontaneous. There are four main designs for an antimatter rocket, they are
listed here in increasing specific impulse>
Solid Core 4 Annihilation occurs inside a solid4core heat e!changer, the
reaction superheats hydrogen propellant that is e!pelled through a noCCle.
=igh efficiency and high thrust, but due to the materials the specific
impulse is only #***secs at best.
Gas Core 4 Annihilation occurs in the hydrogen propellant. The charged
pions are controlled in magnetic fields and superheat the hydrogen; there
is some loss in the form of gamma rays that cannot be controlled. specific
impulse of '(**secs.
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Antimatter
Plasma Core 4 Annihilation of larger
amounts of antimatter in hydrogen
to produce a hot plasma. ?lasma
contained in magnetic fields, again
some loss in form of gamma
radiation, the plasma is e!pelled to
produce thrust. There are no material constraints here so higher
specific impulse is possible ,anywhere from (,*** to #**,***secs..
Beam Core 4 :irect one to one annihilation, magnetic fields focus the
energetic charged pions that are used directly as the e!hausted
propellant mass. These pions travel close to speed of light so the
specific impulse could be greater than #*,***,***secs.
The spacecraft will have to be designed to be very long as the
annihilation products travel close to the speed of light.
1urne' time
"stimates for travel times to Mars for an advanced antimatter rocket
using the beam core approach are anywhere from '3 hours to ' weeks, it is
probable that it will be somewhere in between. )ompare this to the space
shuttle using its conventional chemical propulsion when a trip to Mars would
take between # and ' years.
Antimatter S#acecra&t
#2
Antimatter
ANTIMATTER DETONATION
Bver $$.$G of the mass of neutral antimatter is accounted for by
antiprotons and antineutrons. Their annihilation with protons and neutrons is a
complicated process. A proton4antiproton pair can annihilate into a number of
charged and neutral relativistic pions. Aeutral pions, in turn, decay almost
immediately into gamma rays; charged pions travel a few tens of meters and
then decay further into muons and neutrinos. Hinally, the muons decay into
electrons and more neutrinos. Most of the energy ,about &*G. is thus carried
away by neutrinos, which have almost no interaction with matter and thus
escape into outer space.
The overall structure of energy output from an antimatter bomb is
highly dependent on the amount of regular matter in the area surrounding the
bomb. If the bomb is shielded by sufficient amounts of matter, the gamma rays
are absorbed and the pions slow down before decaying. ?art of the kinetic
energy is thus transferred to the surrounding atoms, which heat up. In the event
of an antimatter detonation in the open atmosphere, most of the energy will
ultimately be carried away by the neutrinos, and the remainder by #*4#** MeJ
gamma rays. The neutrinos would pass through the earth without being
attenuated, while gamma rays are relatively weakly absorbed by matter> they
lose roughly half of their energy per (**4#*** m of air, compared to only
'* cm of concrete. The e!plosion would not cause much physical damage
because its energy would be evenly dispersed over large area, although the
gamma rays may harm people standing nearby. Thus even if the impossible
problem of producing enough antimatter were solved, the antimatter bomb
would not be as practical or destructive as a conventional nuclear weapon.
#3
Antimatter
ANTIMATTER IN NATURE
About #( billion years ago, matter and antimatter were created in a
gigantic 9ig 9ang in e6ual amounts, at least according to today5s best theory. It
is therefore surprising that our "arth, the solar system, and our gala!y ,the
Milky Day. do not contain any antimatter.
To e!plain this absence, scientists have come out with two
possibilities> either antimatter completely disappeared during the history of
universe, or matter and antimatter have been separated from each other to form
different regions of the universe.
In the second case, we would be located in a region where only
matter e!ists ,or rather what we call 5matter5., but some antimatter coming
from an 5anti5 region outside our gala!y could still have a chance to reach us.
This antimatter would be in the form of anti4nuclei ,like anti4=elium, anti4
)arbon, etc... as opposed to lighter antiparticles ,such as antiprotons. which
are also created in high energy collisions between ordinary matter. To search
for this e!tragalactic antimatter, the best way is to place a particle detector in
space.
AMS
A worldwide collaboration of physicists, lead by Aobel priCe laureate
?rof. amuel Ting of MIT, decided to build the 5Al#ha Ma*netic
S#ectrmeter5, or AM. AM is a high4energy particle detector, which will try
to detect the passage of such very small amounts of antimatter, while orbiting
at an altitude of a few hundred kilometers above the atmosphere.
#(
Antimatter
ome of the main challenges of the project are very technical> having
to be carried on the S#ace Shuttle, each component of the apparatus has to be
miniaturiCed as much as possible to keep the total volume to a ma!imum of #*
cubic meters and the weight to a ma!imum of 2 tons ,a typical high energy
apparatus at E"? with the similar detecting principles is about #*** cubic
meters in volume and #** tons in weight.. "ven more important is the power
consumption> AM should not need more than ' kD ,kilowatts. of electricity,
provided by the solar panels of the pace tation. And 'kD is less than what a
kitchen oven needsI
AMS234
A first simpler version of the e!periment, AMS234, traveled on the
pace huttle :iscovery for a ten4day mission in #$$1. The apparatus
consisted of a &4layer 5silicon microstrip track detector5 surrounded by a
permanent magnet and a few other systems.
Silicn micr"tri#" can localiCe the passage of charged particles with
a precision of a few hundredth of a millimeter ,less than a human hair.. The
magnet produced a magnetic field where incoming particles were deflected in
opposite directions. Auclei are thus identified by measuring both their mass
#&
Antimatter
and charge. :uring the #* days that AM was in space, not a single
antinucleus was seen among the 2 million nuclei that traversed the e!periment.
In '**3, a new version of the e!periment, called AMS232, will be installed on
the Internatinal S#ace Statin. AM4*' will again be searching for any
e!tragalactic antimatter, but this time with more sensitivity, over a longer time
period and in a wider energy range.
The new apparatus will be e6uipped with a superconducting magnet,
providing a much higher magnetic field, and an enhanced silicon tracker, able
to record billions of tracks of matter ,and antimatterK. particles. Bther
detectors have also been added to the design to better identify and measure
incoming particles and nuclei. AM4*' will be installed on the long arm of the
I and e!posed to cosmic rays for three years.
This very moment, a few modules of I are already orbiting over
our heads. Dith the e!perimental data collected during this second mission,
AM hopes to find the last traces of big4bang antimatter, if there are any leftI
AMS232
#+
Antimatter
PRO5(EMS
Pr0lem" in Pr+uctin
De would need at least several milligrams of antimatter to fuel a
beam core antimatter engine in local operations and several kilograms for
interstellar travel to Alpha )enturi. Liven that currently #4#* nanograms of
antiprotons are produced a year at Hermilab ,)hicago. and )"@A ,Leneva., a
beamed core engine is not feasible in the near future.
Pr0lem" in Stra*e
The ?enning trap has been developed, it is a portable antiproton trap
which is capable of storing #*
#*
,#*-#*. antiprotons for one week using the
superposition of electric and magnetic fields. The ne!t stage is an
improvement to #*
#'
,#*-#'. antiproton storage. Hor complete antimatter
propulsion it is thought that #*
'*
,#*-'*. anti4protons will need to be stored.
#1
Antimatter
!A67S A5OUT ANTIMATTER
8 What can antimatter 0e u"e+ &r?
There are several different uses for antimatter, the main one being for
medical diagnostics where positrons are used to help identify different diseases
with the ?ositron "mission Tomography ,or ?"T scan.. Hor other uses, we are
still in the first phases of development and it5s difficult to foresee what will
happen in the ne!t ten years.
8 Can )e u"e antimatter t #r#el a car r a "#ace"hi#?
In principle, yes, but in practice it is very difficult. Mou all know that
the tar Trek paceship "nterprise flies around powered by antimatter. 9ut in
reality, making antimatter is so difficult that it is hard to foresee it ever being
used as a propellant fuel. In order to propel a matter spacecraft weighing
several tons up to the speed of light, you would need an e6ual amount of
antimatter and, using the present technology, it would take millions and
millions of years to produce a sufficient amount. =owever, if you had a gram
of antimatter, you could drive your car for about #**.*** years.
8 What +e" antimatter l, li,e?
Matter and antimatter are identical. Eooking at an object means
seeing the photons coming from that object; however, photons come from both
matter and antimatter. If there were a distant gala!y made out of antimatter,
you couldn5t distinguish it from a matter gala!y just by seeing the light from it.
#$
Antimatter
8 H) can 'u 0e " "ure there i" nt antimatter arun+?
If there was antimatter here, around us, it would annihilate with
matter and we would see light coming out. 9ut we don5t...About the possibility
of antimatter in space ,antistars or antigala!ies., theorist have reasons to
believe that the 8niverse is all made of matter. 9ut we are not #**G sure, and
that5s way there are e!periments, like AM, which are going to look for it.
8 I& the nl' +i&&erence 0et)een a #article an+ it" anti#article i" the
char*e9 h) + 'u +i"tin*ui"h a neutrn &rm an antineutrn ?
Aeutrons are made of 6uarks, and antineutrons are made of
anti6uarks. Fuarks and anti6uarks have opposite charges, even though they
sum up to Cero in both cases. And a very good way to recogniCe them is to put
a neutron close to an antineutron and see how they immediately annihilate.
8 What a0ut anti#htn"?
?hotons have Cero charge and do not contain inside objects that are
charged, so a photon can not be distinguished from an antiphoton. ?hoton and
antiphotons are the same thing, i.e. the photon is its own antiparticle.
8 H) + "un+ )a:e" #r#a*ate in antimatter?
If there is a difference between matter and antimatter, it is very very
tiny, that5s why we are doing e!periments here at )"@A to investigate it. They
are so similar that sound waves, that are vibrations of matter or antimatter,
would be identical. An antimatter piano would sound e!actly as a matter one.
'*
Antimatter
8 H) +e" the *ra:itatinal &iel+ act n antimatter?
The gravitational force depends from the energy of an object, and
since matter and antimatter have both positive energy, gravitation acts on them
in the same way. This means that an object made of matter and one made of
antimatter would both stand on the floor, the latter one not flying off the sky.
'#
Antimatter
CONC(USION
:ue to the highest energy release per unit mass of any known reaction
,we can say that antimatter will be a future energy source but first need a
reliable method of producing large amount of it.
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Antimatter
/(OSSAR;
Clin*. 9y analogy with the kinetic theory of gases where heat is e6uivalent
to disorder, the term NcoolingO designates the reduction of beamPs transverse
dimensions and energy spread. :ifferent techni6ues can be used to this effect.
"lectron cooling, more effective at low energy, uses an electron beam merged
with the antiproton beam, and acts as a heat e!changer between the two beams.
In the case of stochastic cooling, an error signal generated in a monitor is fed
back, via a collector, to the beam sample which created it, eventually centering
the samplePs characteristics towards the average value, after a large number of
passages through the apparatus.
Mun. an elementary particle having a mass '*$ times that of the electron, a
negative electric charge, and mean lifetime of '.'#*
4&
seconds.
Neutrin. An electrically neutral particle that is often emitted in the process of
radioactive decay of nuclei. Aeutrinos are difficult to detect, and their
e!istence was postulated twenty years before the first one was actually
discovered in the laboratory. Millions of neutrinos produces by nuclear
reactions in the sun pass through your body every second without disturbing
any atom.
Pin. it is produced either in a neutral form with a mass '&3 times that of an
electron and a mean lifetime of 1.3#*
4+
seconds or in a positively or
negatively charged form with a mass '+2 times that of an electron and a mean
life time of '.&#*
41
seconds.
6uar,". ubatomic particles which possess a fractional electric charge, and of
which protons, neutrons etc. are believed to be composed.
'2
Antimatter
Ra+i2!re<uenc' r R!. The alternating voltage that provide ,or takes.
energy to ,or from. the beam to accelerate ,or decelerate. it.
S#eci&ic im#ul"e. It is an important parameter in spacecraft propulsion. It is
the thrust produced per unit weight flow rate of the propellant. The unit is in
seconds.
S'nchrtrn. Modern circular accelerator, where the particles are guided by
dipole magnets, focused by 6uadrupole magnets, and accelerated by @H
electric fields.
e=. The electron4Jolt ,eJ. is the energy unit which corresponds to the
acceleration of a particle having the charge of the electron through a voltage
difference of one volt.
(EAR. )"@APs Eow "nergy Antiproton @ing, where the first nine atoms of
anti4 hydrogen were observed.
PS. )"@APs ?roton ynchrotron, which accelerated protons to its nominal
energy of '( LeJ for the first time in #$($, it has been upgraded to also
accelerate heavy ions, leptons ,electrons and positrons., and antiprotons. Its
now at the heart of )"@APs accelerator comple!.
(EP. )"@APs #** LeJ Earge "lectron4?ositron collider, started in #$1$, and
due to stop at the end of '***. Its collision energy has now been upgraded to
'*' LeJ.
'3
Antimatter
RE!ERENCE
Hundamentals of )ompressible Hlow with Aircraft Q @ocket
propulsion by . M. Mahiya
http>00livefromcern.web.cern.ch
http>00public.web.cern.ch
'(
Antimatter
A5STRACT
Antimatter is e!actly what you might think it is 44 the opposite of
normal matter, of which the majority of our universe is made. 8ntil just
recently, the presence of antimatter in our universe was considered to be only
theoretical. In #$'1, 9ritish physicist Paul A.M. Dirac revised "instein5s
famous e6uation E=mc
2
. :irac said that "instein didn5t consider that the ;m;
in the e6uation 44 mass 44 could have negative properties as well as positive.
:irac5s e6uation ," 7 < or 4 mc
'
. allowed for the e!istence of anti4particles in
our universe. cientists have since proven that several anti4particles e!ist.
Dhen antimatter comes into contact with normal matter, these e6ual
but opposite particles collide to produce an e!plosion emitting pure radiation,
which travels out of the point of the e!plosion at the speed of light. 9oth
particles that created the e!plosion are completely annihilated, leaving behind
other subatomic particles. The e!plosion that occurs when antimatter and
matter interact transfers the entire mass of both objects into energy. cientists
believe that this energy is more powerful than any that can be generated by
other propulsion methods.
'&
Antimatter
CONTENTS
AATIMATT"@ IAT@B:8)TIBA #
D=AT I AATIMATT"@K '
?@B:8)TIBA BH AATIMATT"@ 3
TB@AL" $
A??EI)ATIBA BH AATIMATT"@ #*
H8T8@" BH AATIMATT"@ ##
AATIMATT"@ :"TBAATIBA #3
AATIMATT"@ IA AAT8@" #(
?@B9E"M #1
HAFP A9B8T AATIMATT"@ #$
)BA)E8IBA ''
LEBA@M '2
@"H"@"A)" '(
'+
Antimatter
'1