When subatomic science gets wack, physicists get ILL
By Clay Dillow Posted 09.23.2011 at 11:00 am 10 Comments

Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France Marek Ślusarczyk via Wikimedia

European researchers working at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, have trapped the largest number of neutrons ever held in place at one time. But while they’ve smashed the previous record (also held by the ILL), it’s still not quite enough, the lead researcher tells BBC. Still, the new approach that got researchers this far may be able to trap far greater numbers of neutrons with a little finessing.

Neutrons may seem like the boring cousin to the more active and interesting protons and electrons that make up atoms, but neutrons hold some mysteries that could shed light on the Big Bang and the formation of the cosmos (life, the universe, everything, etc.). They can also mysteriously become other subatomic particles, like protons, electrons, and electron antineutrinos--a pretty neat trick of physics. But it’s precisely because they have no electric charge that they are notoriously difficult to manipulate.

Related Articles

Big Science: Spallation Neutron Source, a Movie Camera for Molecules
Scientists Spot Subatomic Particles Underground: Geoneutrinos May Help Drive Earth's Internal Heat
LHC To Shift Gears This Month And Create Mini Big Bangs

Tags

Science, Clay Dillow, energy, ILL, institut laue–langevin, neutrons, particle physics, physics, subatomic particles
And because they are difficult to trap and manipulate, they are also very difficult to study. Knowing how they pull off this transformation to other subatomic particles would tell physicists quite a bit about neutrons, their role in the Big Bang and the Standard Model, and how the universe came to be.

But experiments thus far have lacked the kind of precision necessary to make accurate assessments, chiefly because when measuring neutrons physicists are trying to hit a moving target. But no more. At the ILL--the single highest-intensity neutron source on the planet--researchers have corralled neutrons at a density of 55 particles per cubic centimeter, a full five times more than they were previously able to bottle up.

They did so by using superfluid helium-4 to chill the neutrons down to -450 degrees--roughly nine degrees above absolute zero. At that temperature everything slows down, bringing even elusive subatomic particles like neutrons under enough control to hit the 55-per-cubic-centimeter mark.

Still, that’s not enough to get the kind of statistical precision researchers need to do the kind of science the researchers want to carry out. To answer the really big questions about the universe, they need even higher densities and higher sample sizes. But with some fine tuning they might be able to reach 1,000 neutrons per cubic centimeter, the lead researcher told BBC.

[BBC]

10 Comments

Link to this comment
Lost4468
09/23/11 at 1:08 pm

thank god 4 this amazin universe and let us all pray 2 the holy father that cern can do this proprly and bring gods amazing creation closer 2 us

Link to this comment
CodeZero
09/23/11 at 1:24 pm

*FACEPALM*

Playing Devil's Advocate since 1978

"The only constant in the universe is change"
-Heraclitus of Ephesus 535 BC - 475 BC

Link to this comment
Midoman
09/23/11 at 2:02 pm

ahh the ingredients of everything on earth. The complexity of this is unfathomable...These elements must be soo unstable

and as I say so often LOL to anyone bringing god into this

Link to this comment
mp
09/23/11 at 2:23 pm

The amount of helium to cool this must be large. I wonder if there is any danger to the local community if it suddenly escaped.

If the helium suddenly escaped or the contain bottle of the Neutrons failed, could the Neutrons react to anything and make any type of explosion, radiation burst or hurt the community?

Is it ok if the local scientist working with the containment bottle for the neutrons broke it and yelled, GOD dang it?

Link to this comment
jamesbrett12
09/23/11 at 2:24 pm

CodeZero you legend. "FACEPALM" indeed.

Link to this comment
SkipM
09/23/11 at 3:04 pm

Hummm. I still have a question for you bright people.

Lets see Neutrons, Protons and electrons are particles (for us laymen atoms and molecules) that are produced and thrown out as "light" (some we see, some we don't) They have very small weight, but weight none the less. I understand that small objects can be hurled further than a heavy object and at a faster speed (ie baseball vs shot put) But the object, no matter how small or how much energy behind it will eventually stop. So stars and other mysterious things like black holes have been producing and throwing out the small particles for ions.
My question is this: Could these small particles accumulate and be that "dark matter" we know exists but cant see. (Do fish know the live in a solid state of liquid?) I say that is dark matter. And because of the vastness of space and the smallness of these particles it is invisible to us because we "live in it". If we could see atoms and molecules, water would look totally different to us. If we could see neutrons, protons and electrons maybe space would look different to us also.

Link to this comment
Lost4468
09/23/11 at 3:17 pm

@SkipM Neutrons, Protons and Electrons aren't light, photons within a specific wavelength are light. And things only have weight if they have mass and are in a gravitational field. If you fire a neutron/star/galaxy in space it will continue forever regardless of its mass, there is nothing to slow it down so it will simply continue going in the direction you sent it uninterrupted. The particles couldn't accumulate to be dark matter as dark matter has totally different characteristics. And if you could see atoms and molecules, you wouldn't be able to see water except for a thin layer in front of you. We only see photons and their characteristics (e.g. color). We only see when photons hit our eye, we can't see them far away.

Link to this comment
mp
09/23/11 at 3:28 pm

SkipM- How do us human’s contemplated and study of things we are not aware of and have no effect on us directly? Vision is made of perseption and understanding from our own point of view. There have been some occasions I have dived into a pool of water, not seeing the bottom. So we adventurous humans do explore.

Link to this comment
cxgwegwe
09/24/11 at 10:05 pm

＊╭╮　╭╮　　╭╮
　││　││　　│└╮
╭┴┴─┴Ⅲ╮～└─╯
│　﹋　﹋　│　　　╭─────────╮
│　∩　∩　│　╭╮
│　　▽　　│Ｏ╰╯╰─────────╯

╰─ｍ∞ｍ─╯

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

http://fff.to/VtR

Link to this comment
mp
09/25/11 at 10:52 pm

Scientist is trapping the most neutrons ever in a bottle. Unknowing to the scientist and the people of this small quiet little town a BLACK HOLE is developing below the Institute Laue-Langevin, deep underground. Braaaa, ha hahaaa.



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:

Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif
bmxmag-ps