Voyage of the Stars

As time went by, the new super-large particle collider finally completed the straightness test. Its head is composed of a comprehensive particle generator. The so-called comprehensive particle generator, as the name suggests, can generate any type of particles, well, particles that humans can make in the laboratory.

So, it is a comprehensive particle collider.

For particle colliders, the most well-known ones are hadron colliders, such as proton colliders, antiproton colliders, and proton-antiproton colliders. This type of collider is mainly used to study the properties and interactions of elementary particles.

Then there are lepton colliders, such as electron-positron colliders, which can also be used for lepton collision experiments. Heavy ion collisions, such as lead particle collision experiments, can also be done by this collider.

Each type of ion collision experiment corresponds to a scientific research direction. For example, the heavy ion collision experiment is to study the extreme energy and temperature conditions in the early state of the universe and study the physical behavior under such conditions.

There is also neutron collision. This type of particle collision mainly studies the spin and magnetic moment of neutrons. This is an important applied technology in nuclear physics research, especially in the field of nuclear reactions and nuclear decay. Neutron-antineutron collision is a study of the interaction between neutrons and antineutrons, as well as their physical behavior under high energy and high density conditions. This type of research helps humans better understand the properties of nuclear matter and the evolution of the universe.

That is, the nuclear physics process at all stages of the universe.

Don't think that you don't need to study nuclear after mastering the ultimate reaction of nuclear fusion, heavy nuclear reaction. There may be different reaction conditions for nuclear reactions in the early universe and today's nuclear reactions. Behind these phenomena are all manifestations of the laws of cosmic physics.

This new particle collider is currently the most important scientific tool for humans. At the beginning of its design, humans must of course try to make it a multifunctional collider as much as possible, otherwise there will be one type of particle collision result data missing at the end of the experiment, and there will be no place to cry.

This new particle collider has a name that doesn't sound like the name. Scientists call it an astronomical particle collider. The name is very down-to-earth, and people can roughly understand what it is at a glance. This naming method has continued to this day since humans set foot on the starry sky. The previous English abbreviation naming method such as HLGR and SGHUOB has long been eliminated. After all, compared with the abbreviation naming method, the Chinese name makes it easier for people to understand its existence.

Today is the first day that the astronomical particle collider is put into use. It will usher in its first collision experiment, the neutron collision experiment, which is an experimental project approved thousands of years ago.

The so-called particle collision, as the name suggests, is the process of accelerating particles and violently colliding at the target. After the experiment begins, the astronomical particle collider will generate a charged particle beam from the particle generator device at the head end, and then shoot it into the middle part, which is the acceleration system. The particle collision experiment does not just launch a particle, but a beam of particle flow. The reason is that the particles are too small, resulting in a small probability of particle collision. The collision probability can only be increased by increasing the number of particles.

The acceleration system of this astronomical particle accelerator is the same as that of a general accelerator. It is composed of a series of electric and magnetic field accelerations. It can accelerate charged particles to a high-energy state. This system is the largest component of the entire astronomical particle accelerator. It is 6674 astronomical units in length, and most of it is an acceleration structure.

It is also inlaid with a part of the magnet system, which is mainly used to focus and deflect charged particles so that they can accurately hit the target.

As for why it is accelerated charged particles instead of directly accelerating neutrons, it is naturally because neutrons are neutral particles without charge and cannot be accelerated by electric fields.

Yes, neutrons are neutral particles, they are not charged, and the acceleration system of this particle accelerator is aimed at charged particles. At first glance, it seems that it cannot conduct neutron collision experiments. After all, the principles of physics do not allow it, and electric fields cannot accelerate neutron beams.

But it does not stump scientists at all.

Because as early as the Earth era, humans have mastered the method of accelerating neutrons. It is true that neutrons are not charged, but they can be accelerated by indirect methods. The first method is to use an accelerator to accelerate a proton beam, and then let the proton beam bombard the target material to produce high-energy neutrons, thereby causing the neutrons to collide.

However, scientists have calculated that the high-energy neutrons produced by this indirect method are not enough to reach the energy level required by the grand unified theory, so they can only find another way.

The second method is the indirect acceleration method, that is, to indirectly accelerate neutrons by bombarding neutrons with accelerated electrons or photons, so that they become high-energy neutrons and then collide. This method is the same as the first method. Because of the indirect transmission, a lot of energy is lost, so that the obtained high-energy neutrons cannot meet the collision energy level requirements.

The third method is the decay method, that is, to use certain decays to produce high-speed neutrons. Obviously, this method cannot meet the experimental requirements.

Therefore, the method used by this astronomical particle collider is the method of charged particles driving neutron acceleration, that is, first accelerate charged particles, such as deuterons, and after the particle flow reaches an extremely high speed, separate the protons in the deuterons through a certain specific electromagnetic field, thereby obtaining a high-energy neutron beam.

The separation device is set in the second half of the acceleration process. When the detector finds that the acceleration speed of the high-energy particle flow reaches the experimental requirements, the separation device will be activated, thus ensuring that the high-energy neutron beam meets the experimental requirements.

In order to accelerate the ion beam more efficiently, the acceleration system is partly in a vacuum environment. The separation system is connected to the second half of the acceleration system, and then the collision zone. The structure of the collision zone is very complex, because it contains a lot of functional equipment, such as cloud chamber, target material, primary particle detector system, secondary particle detection system, diversion probe, etc. All high-tech equipment are concentrated here.

If you look at this astronomical particle collider from outer space, you will see that its appearance is like a long corridor lying in the dark universe. During the preparation period, various indicator lights inside it kept flashing like fireflies, and its appearance was pitch black except for the two ends. Only when the lights of the engineering ships coming and going shone on it could you see its silvery body.

It seems like a corridor leading to the netherworld, a passage leading to the other side of the light, and a road of hope to the sky. Every beam of particle flow will be a move to carry human hope into the acceleration sprint, regardless of the result of entering the netherworld or entering the road to the sky.