Page 4/The Battalion/Thursday, July 7, 1988
Extraction of particles milestone
in construction of A&M cyclotron
By Victoria Larroca
Reporter
The superconducting cyclotron at
the Cyclotron Institute at Texas
A&M is one step closer to being fully
operational after pulling the first ex
ternal stream of subatomic particles
from within it.
Dr. Jeff Bronson, a senior scientist
at the Institute, said the extraction is
a major milestone in expansion and
construction that has been going on
for more than five years.
“We are expecting to be able to
begin experiments in mid-July —
about two weeks from now,” Bron
son said. “Right now we are working
on getting the beam out in a con
trolled fashion with the use of lenses
and magnets.”
Currently the energy level of the
extracted beam is only 12 percent of
the possible 2 billion electron volts,
but after tuning the instrument, sci
entists hope to increase this to 50
percent and eventually achieve 100
percent extraction.
“At this point we are making mi
nor improvements -— changing va
riables and adjusting them to im
prove the quality of the beam and
the percent of extraction,” Bronson
said.
A precalculated computer simula
tion is being used to show the scien
tists how the beam should behave
and adjustments are made according
to it.
The new facility has the most ad
vanced heavy-ion particle beam ca-
abilities available to any university-
ased research program in the na
tion and can work with ions ranging
from hydrogen to uranium, Bron
son said.
The actual experiments will begin
after completion and modification
of the approximately 200 foot long
beam line — a complex array of
magnets and lenses that aim the par
ticles at specific experimental tar-
gets.
Scientific advances are expected
in the study of:
• Nuclear matter under extreme
conditions.
• The limits of nuclear stability,
including creation and discovery of
new elements and their stabilities.
• Creation, study and application
of new radioisotopic and ionic spe
cies.
• New methods for characteriz
ing surfaces and interfaces of micro
scopic structures.
• Development of new types of
instrumentation for ion production,
acceleration and detection and neu
tron detection — detection systems
include a “neutron ball” and a “re
coil mass spectrometer.”
The largest improvement of the
new $8 million computer-controlled
cyclotron over the old one is the su
perconducting coils that replaced
the water-cooled copper coils.
“The new K500 cyclotron requires
one third of the overall power of the
K.147 and is 10 times more effi
cient,” Bronson said.
The old cyclotron was left in place
because taking it out would have
been expensive and working around
it is not a problem, Bronson said.
Previous accomplishments using
the old cyclotron include:
• New cancer therapy techniques
using fast neutrons (now a standard
treatment), which has been used to
treat more than 500 patients.
• New method for mass spectom-
etry of large, fragile biological mole
cules evolved from basic research in
nuclear science (now an industrial
product).
• Advanced trace element analy
sis and surface characterization
through use of intense beams of low-
energy highly ionized atoms.
• Improved design for a high res
olution positron emission tomo
graph.
What's Up
Thursday
ATHEISTS, AGNOSTICS AND FREETHINKERS:Will meet at 7 p.m. in 604A8
Rudder Tower.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL:Will meet at 7 p.m. in 504 Rudder Tower. For
more information call Jill Natowitz at 690-0909 or Steve Ridge at 268-3223.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS:Will meet in 026 MSC for a general discussion.For
more information call the Center for Drug Prevention and Education at 845.
0280.
ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS:Will meet at 6 p.m. in 145 MSC. For
more information call the Center for Drug Prevention and Education at 845'
0280.TEXAS A&M RUGBY CLUB:Will meet every Tuesday and Thursdays
p.m. at the Rugby Field across from Zachry. For more information call the
Rugby House at 846-9772.
CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATlONoWill meet at 8:30 p.m. in the Student
Center at St. Mary's Catholic Church. The discussion group will be in Spanish
For more information call Rose Kennebrew at 846-5717.
Items for What's Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDomt
no later than three business days before the desired run date. We only publish
the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Upis
a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions arem
on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. Ilyw
have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315.
Board OKs $83.37 million in prison bonds
AUSTIN (AP) — The state Bond
Review Board approved $83.37 mil
lion in prison bonds Wednesday, two
weeks after the issue was delayed be
cause of a higher-than-expected
construction bid for a 1,000-bed
prison in Snyder.
The bonds are for 1,000-bed, me
dium-security prisons in Marlin and
Woodville and a 2,250-bed maxi-
mum-security prison in Amarillo.
The Marlin and Woodville pris
ons, along with one in Dayton, are
the same as the Snyder unit. Prison
officials had asked for the delay in
bond approval because if bids for
the other three 1,000-bed prisons
are as high as the Snyder bid, an ad
ditional $16.3 million would be
needed to build the four units.
The $83.37 million issue was ap
proved after Jim Lynaugh, prison
director, said officials have found
the additional money.
Of the funds, $11.6 million would
come from bonds that were autho
rized by the Legislature but that
prison officials had thought they
would not need to use. The additio
nal bonds will be considered in the
future by the board.
Of the rest, $3.5 million is money
that had been earmarked in 1983 for
prison psychiatric facilities.
Warped
by Scott McCull*
Problem Pregnancy?
*VVe listen. We core. We fieCp
•Free Pregnancy Tests
•Concerned Counselors
Brazos Valley
Crisis Pregnancy Service
We’re Local!
3620 E. 29th Street
(next to Medley's (Ji/ts)
24 hr. hotline
823-CARE
CASH
for gold, silver,
old coins, diamonds
Full Jewelry Repair
Large Stock of
Diamonds
Gold Chains
TEXAS COIN
EXCHANGE
404 University Dr.
846-8916
$200 $200 $200 $200
URINARY TRACT
INFECTION STUDY
Do you experience fre
quent urination, burning,
stinging or back pain
when you urinate? Pauli
Research will perform
FREE Urinary Tract Infec
tion Testing for those will
ing to participate in a 1
week study. $200 incen
tive for those who qualify.
$200 $200 $200 $200
$100 $100 $100 $100
HEARTBURN STUDY
Wanted: Individuals with
frequently occurring
heartburn to participate
in a 4-week study using
currently available medi
cation. $100 incentive for
those chosen to patici-
pate.
$100 $100 $100 $100
$100 $100 $100 $100
ALLERGY STUDY
Wanted: Individuals
with seasonal allergies
to participate in a short
allergy study. $75 -
$100 incentive for those
chosen to participate.
$100 $100 $100 $100
$100 $100 $100 $100
IRRITABLE BOWEL
SYNDROME STUDY
Wanted: Symptomatic pa
tients with physician diag
nosed Irritable Bowel Syn
drome to participate in a
short study. $100 incen
tive for those chosen to
participate
$100 $100 $100 $100
TEXAS • OKLAHOMA • ARIZONA • NEW MEXICO
ENTIRE STOCK COVERUPS 50% OFF
Our entire stock of cotton and cotton/poly
ester coverups offer new looks, bright colors
and great savings! Shown from left: romper,
orig. 25.00, sale 11.99. Cutaway cropped top,
orig. 34.00, sale 16.99 and walk shorts,
orig. 37.00, sale 15.99. Collection, orig.
10.00-48.00, sale 4.99-23.99. S-M-L. U.S.A./Im
ported. Coverups. Interim markdowns taken.
SAVE 25%-40% ON
ALL 1988* SWIMWEAR
One- and two-pc. metallics, geometries,
stripes, prints and solids by Anne Cole, Pierre
Cardin, Petticord, La Blanca, Jantzen,
Catalina, more. Hurry in for best selection.
Sizes 6-16 in Misses Swimwear; 5-13 in Junior
Swimwear.
*Excludes preview and special purchases.
FOLEY T S
...OF COURSE