The High Intensity Gamma Source for CERN: Physics Highlights and Technical Challenges

by Mieczyslaw Krasny (Directeur de Recherche, LPNHE, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris)

Thursday 19 Nov 2015, 14:15 → 15:30 Europe/Zurich

30/7-018 - Kjell Johnsen Auditorium (CERN)

The ongoing discussions on the future CERN scientific program reflect the vision of its mission to be the particle-physics energy-frontier centre. They are focussed mainly on CERNs very high energy collider projects: FCC and CLIC. What, if the present and the future LHC hints for new physics at the FCC/CLIC energy scales will turn out to be not strong enough to assure the funding of the new, high-cost, energy frontier collider, ...or if its R&D and construction time will be longer than the life-time of the ongoing LHC research program? Should we not consider, already now, complementary research proposals broadening the use of the already existing CERN accelerator infrastructure to new research and technological application domains?

In this seminar an example of such a research proposal will be discussed. Its departure point is a new concept of the High Intensity Gamma Source which could be realized at CERN by mastering the storage of partially stripped ion beams and by profiting from the recent progress in laser technologies. The increase of the intensity limit of the present gamma sources by at least 6-7 orders of magnitude, in the energy domain which is inaccessible for the FEL based technologies, could provide new and fascinating research opportunities in the domains of:

• particle physics (studies of the basic symmetries of the universe, dark matter searches, precision-support measurements for the LHC),
• nuclear physics (confinement phenomena, link between the quark-gluon and nucleonic degrees of freedom, photo- fission research program),
• accelerator physics (beam cooling techniques, low emittance hadronic beams, high intensity photon beams, plasma wakefield acceleration, high intensity polarized positron and muon sources, secondary beams of radioactive ions and neutrons),
• atomic physics (electronic and muonic atoms)
• applied physics (AdS, transmutation of nuclear waste, fusion research, medical applications).

The principal goal of the seminar for the EN, TE and BE audience is to expose the technical challenges of this initiative, both on the path towards a proof of principle of the proposed scheme and on the path towards its practical realization.

 

 

 

ATS Seminars Organisers: H. Burkhardt (BE), M. Modena (TE), T. Stora (EN)

Coffee / tea will be served after the seminar in room 30/7-012

 

 

 

CERN_HIGS_November_2015.pdf