Our universe is known to have continuously been expanding since its birth through the Big Bang that occurred approximately 15 billion years ago. The present-day substances were formed as the universe cooled in the expansion process. The existent study of the universe tells us that quarks were formed at ultra high temperatures in the very initial stage of the birth, followed by the formation of nucleons and then atoms. Nevertheless, it is thought that various heavy atoms including uranium were created by the final-stage explosion caused by the lifespan termination of stars composed of light atoms.
The fundamental elements of composition and basic principles of nature can be explored by tracing back the evolutionary process of the universe. In other words, the making of a high energy-concentrated state by using a high-powered accelerator is rightfully the execution of a reversal of the evolutionary process, that is to say, tracing back the universe wherein humans exist. To this end, it is necessary to have a huge particle accelerator with high energy. The European Union, Japan and the US are continuously building particle accelerators to satisfy human curiosity about the universe.
In an experiment using a high-powered accelerator, a violation of the postulated CP symmetry of the laws of physics, a CP violation, was proven to be true. This is a key to finding an answer as to why there are many protons and neutrons and no semi-protons or semi-neutrons in the universe created by the Big Bang. In addition, a neutrino experiment has found out whether a neutrino has a weight. As the estimated weight of the entire universe changes depending on the preciseness of its size, the answer as to how the universe will be evolving can be found. Also, the study of the quark, including the discovery of the pentaquark, can be said as the beginning of a new study clearing up the questions as to the restriction mechanism of the deep binding power of nucleons or the mechanism of mass origin that creates a big mass at the binding moment.
Looking into the interior
The nucleus of an atom is composed of 300 protons and neutrons at most, and their structure and qualities are quite diverse. And contrary to expectations most of them are extremes that have not been created and discovered.
In the nucleus of an atom with many or few neutrons new qualities are discovered in almost all cases of a discovery. The experiment to confirm an element creation scenario of the universe through the creation of an unknown nucleus of an atom and the search for its qualities is performed by accelerating RI beams in a heavy ion accelerator. Presently, various projects are underway in regions centered in Europe, Japan, and Canada to construct an accelerator and discover new substances. Such an RI beam accelerator has been unveiling new qualities of the atomic nucleus pulled away far from a stability zone. In the meantime, a heavy ion accelerator disclosed the shapes and qualities of an excited atomic nucleus at a high-energy state. In April this year, the U235 beam was successfully accelerated by RIKEN in Japan.
In the planet earth, there are only 84 stable elements from hydrogen to uranium. Even if the elements that exist as long-lived radionuclides are included, the number does not exceed 92. And yet, there are an uncountable number of substances that have been created from this small number of elements, and substances with new atomic structure or qualities and functions have been continuously discovered. In the latter half of the 20th century in particular, experiment techniques, interpretation methods, or theories explaining thermal, electrical, or magnetic traits and the atomic arrangements or the relationships of electronic states have been conducted at a fast speed. Furthermore, substances with new qualities and functions have been developed through the artificial alteration of atomic arrangements. Such scientific progress in substances and materials has accelerated advancements in the fields of information and communication and nanotechnologies, bringing about big changes in the modern society.
In addition, the advancement of bioscience based on the discovery of genes has been startling, and the study of various substances that are created inside living organisms is contributing to finding causes of illnesses and to developing their treatments. Among such developments, proteins with bio-functions have been discovered, and active efforts are made to develop new medicines through the interpretation of the three dimensional atomic arrangements of the proteins. In the development of a substance with new functions there is a need for the high-precision fixing of atomic arrangement and electronic state of a substance and the quantity and chemical state of a tiny composition element.
And in some cases there is also a need to measure the changes made by the passing of time or the temperature, pressure, and magnetic dependence. Since the traits or functions of a substance differ in terms of the surface, interface, and bulk of a substance, measurements are also made with respect to the surface and interface. Moreover, the amount of impure atoms or molecules absorbed onto the surface or the planar structure and flatness of the surface in addition to changes in the atomic arrangement on the interface are the most important indices that determine the quality of materials for nanoscopic devices.
In today's research of substances, the widely used methods are the absorption of radiation, separation, diffraction, scattering and polarization measurement of light, from terahertz waves to X-rays, or neutrons in addition to the imaging technique using an electronic or tunnel microscope.
Also, there are many measuring ways based on only the light and neutrons. These methods include the measurement under the extreme conditions of high temperature and high pressure and the time series measurement.
Yet, if an accelerator is used to generate X-rays or neutrons it is possible to have a high-precision measurement compared with any X-ray source or nuclear reactor as more than three luminances can be obtained. Therefore, an accelerator is the most important state of the art research facility in the research and development of modern science and technology.
