The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) being built at Brookhaven National Laboratory in partnership with Jefferson Lab will maintain U.S. leadership and open new frontiers in nuclear physics. The former Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) tunnel will be reconfigured to support the machine. >>>
The EIC is a transformational and unique accelerator that will enable studies of nuclear matter with unprecedented precision. It will collide intense beams of spin-polarized electrons with intense beams of both nucleons and unpolarized nuclei from deuterium to uranium.
Scientists will use the EIC to address fundamental open questions in physics, such as the origin of mass and spin of protons and neutrons, and to study the particles and gluons that bind all the observable mater in the world around us.
The EIC will consist of magnets operating at super-conducting temperatures as well as room temperature, or normal conducting. The Electron Storage Ring and the Rapid Cycling Synchrotron will require thousands of NC magnets to transport and store the electron beam before colliding in the interaction regions.
The EIC cryogenics system will consist of the existing cryogenic refrigeration plant (i.e., central plant), and three satellite plants located near their associated loads at IR04 (RCS/injector ring), IR06 and IR10.
Beyond sparking scientific discoveries in a new frontier of fundamental physics, the Electron-Ion Collider promises breakthroughs in healthcare, such as diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Details of Jefferson Lab's scope across several systems for the Accelerator Storage Rings Subproject 1, including infrastructure, cryomodules, conducting magnets, and more.
The EIC superconducting radiofrequency accelerator system will support the rapid cycling synchrotron. The superconducting cavity will provide 20 megavolts, or a bit more voltage per pass than 2.2 million 9-volt batteries.
Scientists will track particles produced by colliding beams using a complex detector that acts like a giant microscope. The detector will capture high-energy scattered particles and low-energy debris as a means to understanding how the matter we all are made of is bound together.
