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Nov. 14, 2020
A new collaboration, MADMAX, will seize the chance to use a CERN magnet named Morpurgo to test their dark-matter prototype
Image above: The Morpurgo magnet, located in the North Area on the Prévessin site, will provide a magnetic field of up to 1,6 Tesla for the MADMAX prototype (Image: CERN).
MADMAX is preparing for a stopover at CERN from 2022. Mel Gibson, his artillery and quest for revenge will not be there, but instead a handful of physicists armed with an aged magnet will be searching for dark matter in CERN’s North Area (not to be confused with a post-apocalyptic wasteland).
Indeed, the MADMAX collaboration (MAgnetized Disks and Mirror Axion eXperiment, external to CERN), humbly proposes to identify the nature of dark matter and to solve the enigma of the absence of so-called charge-parity (CP) symmetry violation in the strong sector, while detecting a particle that has eluded physicists for decades: axions.
To do so, the collaboration has developed a brand-new concept using a booster composed of dielectric disks and mirrors. The booster acts as a resonator to amplify the photon flux that axions would produce under a magnetic field, if these axions exist. In order to validate the concept, a prototype needs to be tested under a magnetic field before the launch of the experiment, planned to be located at DESY in Germany.
Although such a magnetic field is difficult to obtain, the collaboration can rely on CERN's assistance. On 16 September, CERN's Research Board agreed that the MADMAX prototype could use an old magnet previously used by the ATLAS experiment. The “Morpurgo” magnet is located in the North Area and generates a field of up to 1.6 Tesla. It is one of the first superconducting magnets to be used at CERN. More than 40 years after the NA3 (North Area 3) experiment first used it in 1978, this sturdy magnet still tests ATLAS subdetectors. MADMAX physicists will jump in to mount and test their prototype during the inter-beam period, when ATLAS is not using the magnet. A solution that suits everyone: for MADMAX, a magnet that meets the prototype's criteria is provided free of charge, and for ATLAS, the space around the magnet is reorganised and optimised, which is necessary for the installation of the prototype.
The recycling and repurposing of equipment is common at CERN, in the spirit of pragmatism and sustainability. With successive generations of equipment, state-of-the-art accelerators go on to become injectors for their successors, and old magnets are reused for new experiments. This is the case, for example, with the CAST experiment, which uses an old LHC dipole prototype in its search for, once again, axions.
However, allowing external researchers to use CERN equipment, as in the case of MADMAX, is far from trivial. According to Pascal Pralavorio, the MADMAX contact person at CERN, this helps to develop new ideas: "Today, particle physicists are searching for new physics in many different directions, which naturally leads to experiments based on novel concepts. To validate them, we must make the most of the equipment that’s already available, and that is what MADMAX and CERN are doing with the Morpurgo magnet.”
CERN's endeavours to benefit science around the world have long been visible whether through collaborations, prototyping, donating equipment and more, and this is set to continue. Although we don’t need another hero, we wish the MADMAX researchers well in their quest for axions.
Note:
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.
The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.
Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 23 Member States.
Related links:
MADMAX collaboration: https://madmax.mpp.mpg.de/
Charge-parity (CP) symmetry violation: https://home.cern/science/physics/matter-antimatter-asymmetry-problem
CAST experiment: https://home.cern/science/experiments/cast
For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: https://home.cern/
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: CERN/By Thomas Hortala.
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