Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory on Monday broke ground for a new main injector that scientists say will significantly expand research capabilities.
The injector is a $217 million oval-shaped ring in which particles will be accelerated and then transferred into another lower ring, where they will smash into each other. The subatomic debris from the collision could help solve essential puzzles about the universe.
The debris from such collisions is so tiny that it must be detected electronically and analyzed using computers.
The injector will allow scientists to stage about five times more collisions a year, compared with the capabilities of the old ring, which had been in use for about 20 years.
Fermilab’s new main injector will help keep the United States internationally competitive in the field of high-energy physics, Lach said.
The lab’s accelerator, called the Tevatron, is the highest-energy accelerator in the world. It could lose that standing to the Superconducting Super Collider, which was scheduled to be built in Texas around the year 2000 and would have 20 times more available energy than Fermilab. But the Super Collider’s fate remains uncertain because of federal budget concerns.
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Fermilab supporters say the lab still would fill an important niche in the research world even if the Super Collider were built.
“There’s still lots of interesting physics that we can do at this energy range with the main injector,” Lach said.
The new main injector will be 10 feet wide, 8 feet high and about 27 feet below ground. It will take about four years to build.
In Fermilab’s accelerator complex, one ring is situated on top of another. The new main injector will replace the top ring and remove a bottleneck, affecting proton movement into the Tevatron, or the lower ring.
Securing funds for the injector has been a fitful process that always is in need of a push from legislators, even though some funding has been included in the last three federal budgets.
Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) included a pitch for Fermilab funds in her recent meeting with President Clinton, Lach said. Moseley-Braun, Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) were on hand for Monday’s groundbreaking, which included a presentation by John Peoples, the lab’s director.
Fermilab employs about 2,300 people.