India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) begins construction phase for contributions to Proton Improvement Plan (PIP-II) project | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) begins construction phase for contributions to Proton Improvement Plan (PIP-II) project

Posted 19 Feb 2024

Updated 22 Mar 2024

2 min read

  • PIP-II is the first particle accelerator on U.S. soil (at Fermilab) to be built with significant contributions from international partners
    • Institutions from India, France, Italy, Poland and UK are part of collaboration. India will contribute $140 million worth components
    • It will power the world’s most high-energy neutrino beam to the underconstruction Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF). 
  • Particle accelerators propel charged particles (Protons, Atomic Nuclei, Electrons etc.) at high speeds, close to the speed of light.
    • Accelerators feature four principal componentsSource for producing particles, Composite device to speed them up, Metallic tubes in vacuum to allow free movement and Electromagnets to steer the beam particles. 
       

Significance of Particle Accelerators:

  • Fundamental research: Colliding sub-nuclear particles near speed of light, allowing search for new particles and forces and understanding origins of universe.
  • Health: Sterilizing medical equipment and synthesizing radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
  • Environment: Detect trace chemical elements in air, water or soil.
  • Industry: Improving durability of materials.

 

  • Some Large Particle Accelerators: 
    • Large Hadron Collider (LHC): Most powerful accelerator, located at CERN in Geneva. Significant achievements - discovery of Higgs Boson, previously unknown hadrons etc.
    • Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC), USA: Longest linear particle accelerator in the world. Significant achievements - discovery of quark and tau leptons.
    • European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF): Located in Grenoble, France, and is home to most intense hard x-ray source in the world.
  • Tags :
  • Large Hadron Collider
  • Proton Improvement Plan
  • particle accelerator
  • Fermilab
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