AN ELECTRON COOLER FOR PORTABLE LOW ENERGY ANTIPROTON RINGS

ANTIMATTER CONTAINS THE HIGHEST RATIO OF ENERGY STORAGE PER UNIT MASS OF ANY SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN. WHEN ANTIMATTER COMES INTO CONTACT WITH NORMAL MATTER IT COMPLETELY ANNIHILATES, WITH ITS MASS CONVERTED INTO ENERGY ACCORDING TO THE FORMULA, E=MC(2). THE ENERGY RELEASED IN THE ANNIHILATION MAY PROVE USEFUL AS A FUTURE SPACE PROPULSION. NEAR TERM APPLICATIONS OF ANTIMATTER INCLUDE MATERIAL DIAGNOSIS AND TESTS OF FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS. AT PRESENT THE HADRONIC FORM OF ANTIMATTER ONLY EXISTS AT MAJOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS LABORATORIES. IN ORDER TO MAKE EXPERIMENTATION WITH ANTIMATTER MORE AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL USER COMMUNITY, A SMALL TRANSPORTABLE SOURCE OF ANTIPROTONS IS REQUIRED. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE CRITICAL COMPONENT OF SUCH A PORTABLE SOURCE, AN ELECTRON COOLER. ELECTRON COOLING OF ANTIPROTONS WILL ALLOW OPERATION OF A SMALL PORTABLE ANTIPROTON STORAGE RING BY ELIMINATING THE BEAM LOSSES CAUSED BY INTRABEAM SCATTERING, MULTIPLE SCATTERING, AND LONG LIFETIME RESONANT BEAM EMITTANCE GROWTH.