University of Mississippi physicists with the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) publish results in Nature.
“Demonstration of cooling by the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment” was published in Nature on February 5, 2020. For the first time scientists have observed muon ionization cooling – a major step in being able to create the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. Until now, the question has been whether it’s possible to “squeeze” a beam of muons sufficiently to achieve the luminosity needed to study new physics. The new research, published in Nature on Feb. 5, shows that it is possible. The results of the experiment, carried out using the MICE muon beamline at the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, clearly show that ionization cooling works and can be used to channel muons into a tiny volume, thus providing a beam for a new type of particle accelerator.
For more details please follow these links from Fermilab, and in Scientific American and Science News.