Located in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil is home to one of the largest particle accelerators in the world: the Sirius Synchrotron. This engineering and scientific marvel has a circumference of 518 meters and covers an area of 68,000 square meters.
Sirius, named after the brightest star in the night sky, was inaugurated in 2018. It is the largest and most complex research infrastructure ever built in Brazil, costing R$ 1.8 billion. This cutting-edge facility promises to enable high-quality research, putting Brazil at the forefront of global science.
What Is a Particle Accelerator?
A particle accelerator like Sirius reveals the atomic structures of materials. Classified as a fourth-generation synchrotron, Sirius ranks among the most advanced accelerators globally, competing with similar facilities in Sweden and France.
Sirius operates differently from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. Instead of creating high-energy particle collisions to study atomic nuclei, Sirius accelerates electrons near the speed of light. These electrons move in a single direction with a fixed energy of 3 giga-electron volts (GeV), compared to the LHC’s 7,000 GeV.
How Sirius Works
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In particle accelerators, energy is measured in electron-volts. To visualize the energy of the electrons in Sirius, it’s like applying the power of 1 billion 3-volt batteries to a single electron. These electrons travel through two accelerators before entering the main storage ring, which has a circumference of 518.4 meters.
Powerful magnets, called dipoles, guide the electrons as they curve through the accelerator. As the dipoles activate, electrons emit synchrotron radiation—an intense light that spans visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, and X-rays. These X-rays are crucial for studying atoms, the primary focus of researchers.
Advanced Technology: Undulators and Synchrotron Light
Sirius also features “undulators,” magnets that cause electrons to zigzag, amplifying the synchrotron light by 10,000 times compared to Brazil’s first synchrotron light source, UVX, which Sirius replaced. According to Antonio José Roque da Silva, director-general of the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Sirius’ higher intensity allows researchers to capture data much faster, comparing the difference to taking a photo with low light versus filming with bright illumination.
Sirius vs LHC: What Are the Differences?
Although both Sirius and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are particle accelerators, they operate in fundamentally different ways and serve distinct scientific purposes.
In the LHC, located in Switzerland, proton beams are accelerated in opposite directions along a 27 km ring, with the goal of causing high-energy collisions. Researchers study these collisions to investigate subatomic particles and uncover fundamental properties of matter, shedding light on the origins of the universe.
Sirius, on the other hand, is a 4th-generation synchrotron light source in Campinas, Brazil. Unlike the LHC, electrons in Sirius are accelerated in a single direction, without colliding. These electrons must circulate steadily at 99.9% of the speed of light to generate synchrotron light. This light allows scientists to analyze the structure of various materials at atomic and molecular levels. While the LHC ring spans 27 km, Sirius operates in a smaller 500-meter ring, where electrons travel through the tunnel 600,000 times per second to produce this powerful light.
Research Capabilities
Sirius is designed with 38 research lines, each capable of hosting multiple experiments. Some tunnels are up to 145 meters long and house highly sensitive equipment that controls energy and captures diffracted light from samples.
Each research line undergoes technical and scientific testing. During technical commissioning, equipment is tested without experiments, while scientific commissioning involves researchers testing their studies using the synchrotron. By early 2021, five lines were expected to begin technical commissioning, with 14 lines ready by 2022.
Scientific Impact and National Pride
The National Laboratory of Bioenergy (LNBR) at CNPEM has already conducted studies on sugarcane biomass enzymes using Sirius, aiming to advance renewable energy research. Seven of Sirius’ 38 research lines are dedicated to molecular biology, with research spanning from human cells and oil well rocks to renewable energy technologies, industrial machinery, and even cosmic radiation detectors.
Sirius represents a significant achievement for Brazil, showcasing the country’s dedication to advancing science and technology. It stands as a symbol of national pride, offering groundbreaking research opportunities that will contribute to both Brazilian and global scientific communities.
