Excerpts from the Paper by Carsten P. Welsch, Physics Department, University of Liverpool and Cockcroft Institute, Liverpool, UK
Curiosity-driven fundamental research has driven revolutionary transformations of society, such as the rapid growth of computer-based intelligence and the discovery of the genetic basis of life. Albert Einstein’s famous theory of relativity is now used every day as part of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and built into mobile phones and car navigation systems.
Fundamental research not only radically alters our understanding of the world around us, it also leads to new tools and techniques that transform society, such as the World Wide Web, originally developed by particle physicists at CERN to foster scientific collaboration. Cutting edge research requires the sharpest minds and needs them to work together on some of the hardest challenges. The outcomes of these collaborative studies then often have an earth-shattering impact on our everyday lives.
The path from exploratory fundamental research to society applications is, however, not direct nor is it predictable. Sometimes, new technologies enable even more fundamental discoveries, e.g. quantum mechanics, and these in turn are the basics for applications such as quantum computing which has huge potential to revolutionize the way we use computers altogether.
To use the full potential of human intellect and innovation, it is important to find a good balance between finding solutions to short-term problems and at the same time enabling real transformational studies that usually come from serendipitous discoveries [2].
Unfortunately, decreasing funding for research, combined with economic and political uncertainty, has led to a focus on short-term goals that often help address current problems. However, these risks miss the huge transformational discoveries that historically, almost always, arise from fundamental research.
Particle accelerators have been one of the driving forces behind scientific discoveries and, in turn, ground-breaking innovations. The need for higher-energy beams for fundamental research as compared to those found from natural radioactive sources has been the major motivation for advances in particle accelerators.
Already in 1927, Lord Ernest Rutherford demanded a “copious supply” of projectiles with higher energies, as natural α and β particles would provide. When he opened his High Tension Laboratory, he stated that “we require an apparatus to give us a potential of the order of 10 million volts which can be safely accommodated in a reasonably sized room and operated by a few kilowatts of power. We require an exhausted tube capable of withstanding this voltage.” John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton picked up this specific challenge and invented the high-voltage generator that is now named after them.
Almost 100 years later, accelerators are still at the core of scientific discovery and enable research groups from around the world to work together on some of the biggest scientific challenges. The LHC has enabled the discovery of the Higgs Boson—the last missing piece in the Standard Model of Particle Physics—and scientists are currently planning to build an even better microscope to understand the building bricks of our universe even better. This will have to be done in a truly global effort, where generations of researchers work across disciplinary and country borders. “Science knows no borders”, said former CERN Director General Rolf Dieter Heuer in a recently produced film about the Future Circular Collider study [3].
2 Accelerating Society
Curiosity-driven research requires and drives innovation in the research techniques and technologies underpinning scientific studies. High(er) power magnets required for controlling the movement of ever-higher energy particle beams for example, readily find application in MRI scanners in hospitals or can help find honey launderers [4]. Innovations resulting from fundamental science studies usually also find application in other areas that benefit society in various ways. Particle accelerators are no exception to this.
Passengers at London’s Heathrow Airport got some good news recently when it was announced that—thanks to the airport’s new computerized tomography (CT) scanners—they will soon be able to stop separating out the liquids and gels in their hand luggage as they go through security. The new scanners produce high-resolution, three-dimensional X-ray images in real time, making it easier to detect explosives quickly, without the need for a separate screening process. This has been achieved, in part, by improvements to the accelerators that provide the electron beams for the scanners [5] and the image processing techniques. A clear example of progress that was made possible through advancement in technologies and tools which originally targeted fundamental research.
Another example of technology transfer in accelerator science relates to cancer treatment using proton and ion beams. This technique takes advantages from the so-called “Bragg peak”—the fact that protons when going through matter (i.e. a patient’s body) do not pass all the way through the body. Instead, they stop sharply at a specific depth determined by their energy. By modulating the beam’s energy and direction, one can deliver a specific treatment dose over a 3D tumour volume while sparing healthy surrounding tissue. An international R&D effort has focused on the development of novel beam and patient imaging techniques, studies into enhanced biological and physical simulation models using Monte Carlo codes, and research into facility design and optimization to ensure optimum patient treatment along with maximum efficiency [6]. Collaborative research within the Optimization of Medical Accelerators (OMA) project for example has helped improve cancer treatment using ion beams. Future studies will now look into making this technology more accessible and more abundant in number. Scientists and engineers will be working hard on reducing the entry costs for users in medical imaging, cancer treatment, security and materials science [2].
3 Training the Next Generation
Cutting-edge fundamental science requires our best scientific minds to calculate, observe, and invent together in a way that leads to the next innovation. This attracts scientists and engineers at an early stage and allows for high quality training that is increasingly cross-sector, interdisciplinary and international. International links, research and knowledge exchange are all aspects that help enhance the education level of society—which in turn lets the economy prosper.
The design, construction, commissioning, operation and subsequent operation of accelerator-based research infrastructures requires researchers from many different disciplines including physics, engineering and computer sciences to work closely together. Despite the need for skilled experts in this area, there are very universities in the world that offer structured courses on accelerator physics as part of their curriculum and often researchers have to be re-trained ‘on the job’ after their graduation to PhD in one of the above areas.
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