UK experts support new facility to explore building blocks of the Universe

UK support will ensure that a significant new international accelerator and detector facility will have elements designed and built by experts from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).?

Introducing the Electron-Ion Collider??

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is an accelerator and detector facility that will be built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory near New York in the United States.??

?It is being created to explore the workings of quarks, elementary particles which can't be broken down further and gluons which, as the name suggests, ‘glue’ quarks together to form protons and neutrons. The basic interactions between these particles have been known since the 1970s, but the complex internal structures of protons and neutrons are less well understood.??

?This new facility will revolutionise our understanding of the 'strong nuclear force’ that holds quarks together, carried by the gluons, which is one of the four fundamental forces of nature and accounts for more than 99% of the visible mass of the Universe.?

?The EIC is the first machine of its kind. It will collide electrons with either protons or ions, probing the structure of the protons and ions. When the two beams on the 3.8 km collider hit, they will produce new particles which will be observed by particle detectors. Uniquely, both beams will be polarised, further improving the measurement precision.??

?The UK experts behind the EIC??

To ensure success, the EIC is working with international experts in their fields to deliver this unique facility. STFC and a number of universities are delivering work on behalf of the UK in various work packages focused both on the vital detectors and the accelerator itself.??

Identifying particles at the point of collision will be important in identifying quarks and gluons?

Monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) are image sensors which convert visible light into an electronic image, thus allowing particle tracking at this interaction point to take place.??

A big advantage of MAPS is that they operate with relatively low power consumption even at high speeds. On top of this, they are hardy sensors which are resistant to radiation damage. All of these elements together are why MAPS have been identified as having the best capability for the EIC’s particle tracking needs.??

?STFC, alongside work leads The University of Birmingham and the universities of Brunel, Lancaster and Liverpool, will be delivering this particular project. STFC’s Sensor Design Group is looking at how data from the MAPS can be read by researchers.??

?Detection and precise tracking of scattered electrons??

The EIC requires a sensitive detector which is capable of various measurements on the charged particles produced by the beam collisions. It will need to measure the energy produced, the position of the particles and the time they arrived.??

The good news is that there is already a detector at CERN which fits the bill: Timepix.??

Timepix is a small chip which, when combined with a semi-conductor sensor, creates a detector which is capable of measuring individual particles. In practice, this means that researchers will be able to extract information about the quarks within the particles.??

?STFC’s Nuclear Physics team are working with the University of Glasgow and CERN’s Timepix4 collaboration to design and build bespoke data readout electronics and data acquisition prototype using the current third generation of Timepix chips which are in use at CERN. The next generation prototype will be then used for the construction of the final device.? ?

Precise measurement of particle collisions??

In acceleration terms, luminosity refers to the collisions of particles. So we are always looking for greater luminosity because the more they collide, the more data we have available to research. However, we must be able to measure the collisions. The plan for EIC is to use a vertex detector - a tracking detector very close to the beam to measure exactly where particles decay.?

The initial design studies are underway, and the detector design being considered by the UK working group, which includes both particle physicists and technology experts from STFC, is derived from a design originally developed for the ALICE experiment at CERN.??

Ultra-thin sensors made of silicon will be bent around the beam pipe, making it hard for particles to pass by without being detected.???

Fabrication of a superconducting radio frequency accelerator module??

STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory is known for having some of the world’s best accelerator development facilities, having worked on projects including the CERN high luminosity upgrade and the European Spallation Source. New cryomodules used to reach and maintain good beam quality and high luminosity at the EIC will be built in the state-of-the-art facilities in the Liverpool City Region.?

?What will the EIC mean for me???

?The EIC will exceed the capabilities of all previous electron-proton/ion experiments in terms of its range of energy, high luminosity, dual-polarised beams, and the ability to probe quarks and gluons with heavy nuclei.?

As well as the physics breakthroughs, including revolutionising our understanding of the 'strong nuclear force’ that holds quarks together, this new technology also will drive long-term innovations in a wide range of sectors including security, energy and heath. People across the world will feel the benefits of the EIC without necessarily knowing that is where it came from. ?

The UK government recently confirmed nearly ￡59 million funding from the Infrastructure Fund to go towards the work. It is hoped that the EIC will be completed and operational in the 2030s.??

?If you want to know more about the project, visit the EIC website here.?

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