Producing cold electron beams to increase collision rates at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Accelerated ion beams heat up. As the particles that make up the beam move around and scatter off of one another, some speed up while others slow down, leading to a wide spread in their velocities. This spreading of velocities heats and enlarges the beam, which creates a challenge for physicists trying to get the particles to collide. So physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a nuclear physics research facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, are exploring ways to cool the beams and keep their particles tightly packed.

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