A mile-long underground particle accelerator in California has become cooler than most of the universe.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory say the particle accelerator colliding with electrons on Earth has reached a temperature lower than in outer space. Live Science writes about it.
The researchers cooled the liquid helium to minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit using an X-ray laser used on free electrons from a linac coherent light source (LCLS).
So they thought it was just two Kelvin above absolute zero – the lowest possible temperature at which particles stop moving. Such a cold environment is critical for the accelerator, because at low temperatures the machine becomes superconductive. Thus, it can pass electrons by itself with almost zero energy loss.
“Even the empty regions of space are not as cold because they are still filled with cosmic microwave background radiation, a residue from shortly after the Big Bang, with a constant temperature of minus 454 F,” the say the scientists.
The LCLS-II is now ready to start accelerating electrons at speeds of one million pulses per second, according to SLAC Accelerators Director Andrew Burrill. This is a world record.
“That’s four orders of magnitude more pulses per second than its predecessor, the LCLS, which means in just a few hours we’ll be sending more X-rays to users than the LCLS did in last 10 years, ”Burrill added.
Scientists also say that lower temperatures can be achieved using very special cooling systems that can reach a fraction of a level above absolute zero when all movement stops.
Remember, according to the World Meteorological Organization, last year was one of the seven warmest years on record.
Earth’s temperature at its highest in 3 million years – UN
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Source: korrespondent
