A neutron star

In an experimental facility in Germany, in about eight years from now, scientists hope to create matter so tightly compressed that it mimics the insides of dead stars — called neutron stars — and venture into unexplored realms.

Inside the device, electrically charged atoms accelerated to unimaginably high speeds will collide with target atoms, each collision producing hordes of tiny sub atomic particles. The particles will vanish in trillionths of seconds, but through their fleeting antics, physicists hope to leap closer to their decades-long goal of fathoming matter at its most fundamental level.

Physicists Subhasis Chattopadhyay at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) in Calcutta is among Indian scientists hoping to help build and conduct studies in the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), a new generation particle accelerator in Darmstadt, a 11th century German town that has emerged as a magnet for physicists.

At an Indo-EU science conference last week, the Indian government signalled its intention to join the FAIR programme. Scientists from the VECC and other Indian institutions will build hardware for the accelerator and join in the analysis of experiments. India’s contribution will be a detector designed to look for signals of sub atomic particles called J-psi and rho-omega.

“These are among the few particles whose behaviour will allow us to explore fundamental particles in unprecedented detail,” said Chattopadhyay. While it’s been decades since physicists developed a theory to explain the zoo of myriad sub atomic particles in terms of smaller fundamental particles called quarks and gluons, the theory hasn’t been completely verified through experiments.

The theory says, ordinarily, quarks do not exist as isolated particles. Instead, they are imprisoned with fellow-quarks inside protons and neutrons. But the atom-atom collisions in FAIR will compress atoms to high densities comparable to those inside neutron stars and momentarily create a quark-gluon plasma — a state of matter where quarks and gluons exist in the free state.

“We’ve got mathematics that predicts how a quark-gluon plasma will behave, but no concrete experimental evidence to prove that the mathematics is absolutely correct,” said Chattopadhyay. “At FAIR, we’ll be looking for the smoking gun.” As the quark-gluon plasma vanishes, it’ll eject sub atomic particles that are expected to possess tell-tale information about the plasma.

Top scientists believe the project will also inspire Indian students to gravitate towards research careers.

“Young people are excited by exotic science such as neutron stars or the fundamental questions about the universe,” said Bikash Sinha, director of the VECC. “A role in FAIR will allow us to participate in such areas.”

The heart of FAIR is a double-ringed accelerator with a circumference of about one kilometre in which particles will be guided into high-speed, head-on collisions. Germany has pledged 75 per cent of the anticipated 1 billion Euros bill for FAIR, while the rest will come from partners in Europe and elsewhere. India plans to contribute about three per cent of the cost through hardware.

Physicists also point out that while FAIR is primarily intended to probe theoretical physics, it may have technology spin-offs in areas ranging from nuclear fusion to space travel.