Particle Physics on a Roll

[blueshift]

I have a number of acquaintances who work at particle accelerators and quite often someone asks me what good any of it is doing...Here are a few samples of the past few weeks to give you a hint:



Greenhouse gases:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002050

Eliminating NOx from diesel exhaust:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002094

Kidney stones:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002029

Radiation biology and DNA:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002039

Molecular self assembly:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002040

Development of Molecular Observatory

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002042

Fuel cell efficiency for stop and go traffic:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002043

More global ties in science:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002049

Probing ancient materials:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002051

Flexible electronics and artificial muscles:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002054

T-Cell behavior and organ rejection:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002065

Behavior link of nuclear pores and viruses:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002081

Alzheimer study and toxic molecules:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002084

Linking Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Diabetes and Madcow:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002095

Movement disorders:

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002093

holographing antiferromagnetism (quantum magnetism?):

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002105

[mr obvious]

I didn't look at all of the links but the few I did appear to be focused on X-ray, structural analysis and the like. That's not really what I think of when I hear particle accelerators. I typically think of exotics, such as high energy physics and fundamental particle detection (quark characterization, for example). Thanks for the links.

[blueshift]

I didn't look at all of the links but the few I did appear to be focused on X-ray, structural analysis and the like. That's not really what I think of when I hear particle accelerators. I typically think of exotics, such as high energy physics and fundamental particle detection (quark characterization, for example). Thanks for the links.

Good points but particle physicists are not always looking for things like the Higgs particle. They must be on hand wherever there are beamlines and places like Fermilab, SLAC, and Brookhaven are not the only places that accelerate particles up to relativistic speeds. The following friend of mine is a companion in my astronomy club and works at Argonne. He used to work at Fermilab.
http://www.bio.aps.anl.gov/~dgore/
Check out his history and you will see what most particle physicists do. These guys don't get the headlines because they are in applied science. Here is where Dave works.

http://www.anl.gov/

What follows are examples of the kind of equipment people like Dave must babysit for:
http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTo...UndulatorWigs/

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTo...nents/Booster/

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTo...ponents/Linac/

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/Contents/nd