RHIC Physicists Nab New Record for Heaviest Antimatter

Newly discovered antihelium-4 could be heaviest stable antinucleus detectable for decades to come

		IMAGE: This graph plots particle counts by mass, showing ordinary helium nuclei (He-3 and He-4) in orange, and their antimatter counterparts (antihelium-3 and antihelium-4) in blue. The plot illustrates that the

UPTON, NY -- Members of the international STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider -- a particle accelerator used to recreate and study conditions of the early universe at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory -- have detected the antimatter partner of the helium nucleus: antihelium-4. This new particle, also known as the anti-alpha, is the heaviest antinucleus ever detected, topping a discovery announced by the same collaboration just last year*.

The new record will likely stand far longer, the scientists say, because the next weightier antimatter nucleus that does not undergo radioactive decay is predicted to be a million times more rare - and out of reach of today's technology.

"This discovery highlights the extraordinary capabilities of RHIC to investigate fundamental questions about the nature of matter, antimatter, and the early universe," said William F. Brinkman, Director of the DOE Office of Science.

Steven Vigdor, Brookhaven's Associate Lab Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics, who leads the RHIC program, said, "Barring a new breakthrough in accelerator technology, or the discovery of a completely new production mechanism, it is likely that antihelium-4 will remain the heaviest stable antimatter nucleus observed for the foreseeable future."

The STAR physicists describe the discovery in a paper in Nature, published online April 24, 2011.

The ability to create and study antimatter in conditions similar to those of the early universe is no small matter: One of the great mysteries of physics is why our universe appears to be made entirely of ordinary matter when matter and antimatter are understood to have been created in equal amounts at the time of the Big Bang.

At RHIC, head-on collisions of gold ions moving at nearly the speed of light simulate conditions just after the Big Bang. In these atomic smashups, quarks and antiquarks likewise emerge with approximately equal abundance. A major fraction of the stable antimatter produced in RHIC collisions leaves a clear signal in the STAR detector before annihilating with ordinary matter in the outer part of the experimental apparatus.

By sifting through data for half a trillion charged particles emitted from almost one billion collisions, the STAR collaboration has detected 18 examples of the unique "signature" of the antihelium-4 nucleus. Consisting of two antiprotons and two antineutrons in a stable bound state that does not undergo radioactive decay, the antihelium-4 nucleus has a negative electric charge that is twice that of an electron, while its mass is very close to four times that of a proton. Data plots show that the newly discovered anti-alphas are very cleanly separated from the lighter isotopes, and are at the expected mass.

		IMAGE: This rendering shows antihelium-4 (anti-alpha) emerging from a collision in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The scientists also measured the antihelium-4 production rate in nuclear interactions, and found that it is consistent with expectations based on a statistical coalescence of antiquarks from the soup of quarks and antiquarks generated in RHIC collisions. But the fact that 12 antiquarks combine to build such a complex antinucleus in a way that bears out these predictions is really quite remarkable considering it all takes place in the midst of rapidly expanding matter created at trillions of degrees and surviving for only ten trillionths of a trillionth of a second.

Knowing the production rate of these antinuclei is important to a wide range of scientific disciplines, including searches for new phenomena in the cosmos. For example, it ties in with the scientific goals of an experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which will be delivered to the International Space Station via one of the last space shuttle missions, currently scheduled for launch in late April 2011. This experiment will search for antimatter in space.

"If AMS were to find evidence for the existence of bulk antimatter elsewhere in the cosmos, the new measurement from the STAR experiment would provide the quantitative background rate for comparison," said Hank Crawford, a STAR collaborator from the University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory. "An observation of antihelium-4 by the AMS experiment could indicate the existence of large quantities of antimatter somehow segregated from the matter in our universe," he said.

In 2010, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European laboratory for nuclear and particle physics research, began its own collisions of heavy nuclei at energies more than an order of magnitude higher than at RHIC. Experiments there also have the capability to study production of antinuclei, and it will be interesting to see what those experiments find at higher energies.

"The discovery of the antihelium-4 nucleus also has special synergy with a major scientific anniversary: the 100th anniversary of Ernest Rutherford's seminal gold foil experiments, in which he used ordinary-matter helium-4 (alpha) particles to probe the structure of matter," said Brookhaven physicist Aihong Tang, a member of the STAR collaboration and a lead author on the Nature paper. "These experiments, conducted in 1911, established the very existence of atomic nuclei for the first time, and marked the dawn of our modern understanding of atoms."

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The STAR collaboration is composed of 54 institutions from 12 countries. Research at RHIC is funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and by various national and international collaborating institutions, with support from many funding agencies (see: http://www.bnl.gov/rhic/funding.asp) Measurement capabilities vital to antihelium-4 identification were added to the STAR experiment in 2009 with the installation of a large time-of-flight detector. This device was constructed jointly by U.S. and Chinese institutions and was funded jointly by DOE's Office of Science and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China's Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The antihelium-4 discovery is being announced simultaneously in the U.S. and in China.

Related Links

* 2010 Antimatter discovery at RHIC: http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=1075

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Contact: Kendra Snyder
ksnyder@bnl.gov
631-344-8191
DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory

Tecnalia develops a system for heat collection from asphalt pavements

Tecnalia, through its Construction Unit, is participating in the Pavener project, aimed at developing a system for collecting the solar energy absorbed by asphalt paved surfaces. The two-year project is being led by the Campezo Group. The Group is focusing on quality control and research project development through its Research and Quality Control Laboratory, and presently this is one of its key projects.

The system involves collecting solar energy accumulated in pavements by circulating a fluid through pipes installed below the surface. This method works similarly to a solar collector incorporated into the pavement. The system can be implemented below any paved surface exposed to solar radiation, such as roads, pavements, car parks, airport landing runways and aprons, etc. Asphalted paved surfaces can heat up 70 degrees in days of strong sunlight, and given the large paved surface area available, there is a great potential for the recovery of this energy.

Multiple applications

The system can be designed for multiple applications, the most novel of these being its use as a solar collector, with great potential in the building sector. Incorporating concepts such as heat storage and heat pumps into the developed system, the accumulated solar energy may be used in low-temperature applications such as the air-conditioning of buildings, sports and leisure centres, swimming pools, and hot water supply. Another potential application of the system is its use for maintaining the temperature of the asphalt above freezing levels in winter, thus preventing the formation of ice on the roads. Apart from the benefits to road safety, this would reduce the amount of salt needed to be used to prevent frost.

The system would reduce consumption of fossil fuels, as well as greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, as a renewable source of energy is exploited. Moreover, the maintenance required for roads is reduced, as road surface temperature can be maintained stable both in winter and in summer, thus reducing the appearance of cracks and grooves in the paved surfaces. An additional advantage of the system is the reduction of the urban heat island effect, as excess heat is extracted from the paved surfaces.

Simulation tasks

The Construction Unit at Tecnalia is researching into the thermal and mechanical properties of the system through experimental simulations and measurements, with the goal of optimising the system configuration depending on the application. Structural stability and thermal behaviour are the key aspects to consider in the development of the system.

The performance of the system will be further studied after the construction of a prototype installation.

Bing Energy relocates to partner with FSU on high-tech fuel cells

		IMAGE: This is Professor Jim P. Zheng of Florida State University. Click here for more information.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott today announced that Bing Energy Inc. of Chino, Calif., has selected Tallahassee as the new site of the company's world headquarters. The company, in collaboration with Professor Jim P. Zheng of The Florida State University, is planning to turn revolutionary nanotechnology pioneered at FSU into a better, faster, more economical and commercially viable fuel cell. The move is expected to create at least 244 jobs paying an average wage of $41,655 in Florida.
"I am proud to welcome Bing Energy and thank them for recognizing that Florida is the best state in the nation," Scott said. "As governor, I am continuing to make it the best place to do business. This is only the beginning. Just as Bing Energy was convinced to bring jobs here, I am talking to companies across the nation. I am letting them know that our reduction in the business tax burden, commitment to job creation, and Florida's world-class work force mean we are open for business."
Bing Energy, a manufacturer of state-of-the-art components for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, will begin production in March 2011 and serve the domestic and international energy markets.
"We know that, with the continuing support of Gov. Scott, the Legislature and the people of Florida, our institutions of higher learning will continue to foster innovation, and jobs will continue to cluster around those innovations," said Florida State University President Eric J. Barron. "The breakthrough research by Drs. Wang and Zheng and the company's decision to come to Florida confirm that the investment made in their work by our state and the federal government has realized its commercial potential. Bing Energy represents the future, and Florida State is proud to be a part of it."

		IMAGE: This is President Barron (foreground) and Florida Governor Rick Scott (background).

Bing is moving its global headquarters to Tallahassee to work in partnership with Zheng, who has pioneered a fuel cell that incorporates a thin membrane composed of carbon nanotubes, reducing the need for expensive platinum components that, until now, have made fuel cells too expensive to be widely marketed. Zheng's technology is based on pioneering research and development of buckypaper conducted at Florida State's High-Performance Materials Institute. The institute's director, Professor Ben Wang, is the assistant vice president for research at Florida State.
Bing Energy's innovation promises to produce a fuel cell that is more efficient, more durable and significantly less expensive – benefits that could transform the transportation and power generation sectors.
Joining Scott and Barron in celebrating Bing Energy's move to Tallahassee were Bing Energy CFO Dean Minardi, Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, and representatives from the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County Inc.
"We all know the world's existing energy-use pattern is unsustainable," Minardi said. "A commercially viable fuel cell will transform the way we drive, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. It will transform the way we deliver energy to neighborhoods, ensuring reliability and eliminating the risk of brownouts."
Bing Energy's move to Florida is tied to a $1.9 million award the company recently received from the Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. The award is a Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund in support of job creation. The local Tallahassee and Leon County governments are also supporting Bing Energy by each providing a 10 percent match on the QTI Award.
Gov. Scott has stated that creating jobs is his top priority. As governor, he has announced plans to create 700,000 jobs over the next seven years by implementing accountability budgeting, reducing government spending, enacting regulatory reform, focusing on job growth and retention, investing in world class state universities, reducing property taxes and phasing out the business income tax.
Local officials expressed delight that Tallahassee was chosen by Bing Energy as its relocation site.
"Our organization identified tax incentives and work-force training programs that gave Tallahassee the edge over other communities under consideration," said Kim Williams, chairman of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/ Leon County Inc. "This is a perfect example of why connecting industry, education and government is so important. In this case, these connections helped us to retain our talent, as well as our university technologies and commercialization within our community."
Tallahassee Mayor John Marks spoke of the importance of creating jobs in his community and "retaining one of our greatest assets, our work-force talent. The city of Tallahassee is committed to doing our part to help this promising company establish its roots in our community."
Marks' comments were echoed by John Dailey, chairman of the Leon County Commission.
"The county is committed to working with our public and private sectors, especially our universities, to help businesses locate in our community," Dailey said.

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Additional information on the Bing Energy-FSU licensing agreement is available at http://www.fsu.com/News/FSU-signs-licensing-agreement-with-technology-company-Bing-Energy.