About the unit test on Friday

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What is TRIUMF

TRIUMF is a world class particle accelerator facility here in Vancouver, at UBC!

A particle accelerator is an extremely high-tech machine that accelerates particles to close to the speed of light for a number of different purposes

CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

You may have heard of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland

It is the world’s largest particle accelerator that functions in colliding particles at close to the speed of light in order to try and unlock secrets about the Big Bang.

CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

TRIUMF is similar to the CERN LHC, but different!

TRIUMF does not accelerate electrons, they accelerate protons (hydrogen atoms with their electrons stripped off)

The beam lines do not form a ring because they do not smash their accelerated protons together (TRIUMF is not a collider)

Projects at TRIUMF

There are three main projects at TRIUMF that have many different applications:

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1. Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC)

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• Centre for Molecular and Materials Science programs

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• Proton Treatment Facility

1. Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC)

• Use the particle accelerator to make rare isotopes

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• Isotope = Atom with an irregular number of neutrons

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• One project called DRAGON use isotopes to study how atoms are formed when stars explode (Supernova)

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2) Centre for Molecular and Material Science

• Use the particle accelerator to test materials

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• For example one project tests how computer chips and electronic circuits react to different levels of radiation

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• They can mimic space radiation to test computer chips used in spaceships or the International Space Station

3) Proton Treatment Facility

• Use the accelerator to shoot protons at tumors in peoples eyes to treat eye cancer

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• Use the accelerator to generate isotopes (atoms with an irregular number of neutrons) used for medical imaging

The TRIUMF Cyclotron

A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates particles by shooting them around in a spiral

The particles get faster and faster with every rotation around the cyclotron

TRIUMF has the largest cyclotron in the world

The TRIUMF Cyclotron

The cyclotron accelerates protons to 520 MeV (million electron volts)

520 MeV = 75% speed of light!!

It takes 0.3 milliseconds for protons to accelerate to this speed

The TRIUMF Cyclotron

The particle starts at the centre, and it accelerates due to pulses of electrical current as it spirals towards the outer edge

Once it reaches maximum speed at the outside edge, it is shot into a pipe called a “beam line”

Beam lines lead the particles to their experimental destination

TRIUMF Beam Line Map

1. Where the protons are made

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• Cyclotron: where particles are accelerated

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• The particles are sent to one of the Beam Lines depending on what they are being used for

TRIUMF Beam Line Map

Isotopes for medical imaging

Summary

TRIUMF is a world class particle accelerator at UBC with the largest cyclotron in the world

A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates particles by shooting them around in a spiral using pulses of electrical

current

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The accelerated particles (protons) are used for a variety of purposes at TRIUMF

Summary

Protons moving at 75% the speed of light (520 MeV) are used for:

1. Testing out materials (ex: radiation tolerance for space equipment)

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• Producing isotopes for a number of projects including DRAGON (studying atom formation in supernovae)

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• Medical treatments and imaging (eye cancer treatment and medical imaging)

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This is our last official lesson together

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