The path to high-energy electron-positron colliders: from Wideroe's betatron to Touschek's AdA and to LEP

Pancheri, Giulia; Bonolis, Luisa

doi:10.48550/arxiv.1710.09003

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…He thus experienced the initial phase of particle physics with accelerators, the transition from cosmic rays to more systematic studies with artificial beams of particles as one can see from Touschek's published works between 1948 and 1951. 7 At that time he collaborated with Walter Thirring on the article A covariant formulation of the Block-Nordsieck method [12]. They both shared a growing interest in quantum electrodynamics which was becoming a hot topic and led Touschek to a friendship with the well-known Italian physicist Bruno Ferretti, who was in UK around 1948, and who eventually became the intermediary for Touschek's transfer to Italy.…”

Section: In Glasgow (1947-1952): the Making Of A Theoretical Physicistmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bruno Touschek (1921–1978). The Path to Electron-Positron Collisions

Bonolis

2023

Springer Proceedings in Physics

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The 100th anniversary of Bruno Touschek’s birth also marks 60 years since the first beams of electrons and positrons circulated in AdA, the first ever matter-antimatter collider, built in Frascati National Laboratories following Touschek’s visionary proposal of February 1960. Touschek’s path to such idea is briefly outlined, beginning with his early years as a student—first in Vienna and later in Germany—through his first experiences with Rolf Widerøe’s betatron and the electron synchrotron accelerator in Glasgow after the war, along with his relationships with the fathers of modern physics in Europe, to his arrival in Italy, where crucial reflections during the 1950s led him to the profound belief that matter-antimatter annihilations should become a primary goal for future physics. Based on these premises, Touschek and his collaborators dared to take on the challenge of realizing what at the time seemed an “unthinkable idea”: keep beams of electrons and positron circulating for hours in the vacuum chamber of a storage ring and making them collide.

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Section: In Glasgow (1947-1952): the Making Of A Theoretical Physicistmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arnold Sommerfeld's papers, Archives Deutsches Museum, Munich 6. On this period of Touschek's life see[7][8][9].…”

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confidence: 99%

Bruno Touschek (1921–1978). The Path to Electron-Positron Collisions

Bonolis

2023

Springer Proceedings in Physics

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“…Two of the observations were made using electron-positron colliders, demonstrating the potential of the new machines. We try to give a brief account of the crucial events before the November revolution [55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. The advantages of the center-of-mass collision scheme were well known in the mid-1950s [51], and by the end of the decade the idea of a particle collider was technically mature to be considered seriously.…”

Section: Historical Notementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the listeners was Bruno Touschek, who during the discussion reportedly asked the question [59]: "Why not try electrons against positrons?" Touschek's vision was "that electronpositron annihilations-reactions proceeding through a state of well-defined quantum numbers-would be the pathway to new physics" [60]. For the collider concept the particle and antiparticle beams with opposite charges and the equal masses are particularly simple and appealing since they can be stored in one single ring, while the electron-electron collider requires two separate rings.…”

Section: Historical Notementioning

confidence: 99%