BREMSSTRAHLUNG RADIATION &

THE MATTER ANTIMATTER SYMMETRY

Team : JT/High Pawns

LGS JT Senior Boys Branch
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Why CERN BL4S
Always intrigued by the existence of anti-matter, we have been curious about the very
nature of the matter counterpart. Studying the cornerstones of the field being depend-
ent on the basic symmetries of nature prompted us to go on to test their validity. How-
ever, due to the unavailability of the critical equipment as well as the complexity in-
volved made us opt for a rather simpler experiment, which though still constitutes the
basis of much of the modern physics. We have a chance to become the first team from
Pakistan to perform a self-designed experiment at the foremost laboratory in the
world which will not only inspire the youth but will also be instrumental in fostering a
much-needed culture of scientific research in the country. The chance to visit DESY is
therefore too valuable for us to pass up upon.

Our Experiment
The experiment is aimed to test the validity of symmetry between matter and anti-
matter by comparing the spectrum of the Bremsstrahlung radiation produced by both
the electron and positron beam after their collision with a fixed copper target.

Theory
Matter is everything that has mass and occupies space. Antimatter is the same as mat-
ter in every way, looks the same, behaves the same, except its particles have electrical
charges opposite to that of matter.

When a charged particle comes under the influence of a nuclear field of a metal atom, it
accelerates or decelerates and then scatters. The process generates the bremsstrah-
lung photons. In case of large decelerations X-ray photons may be emitted. The impact
of the energetic particles on the solid target generally produces a continuous radiation
called the bremsstrahlung spectrum. Not all of the energy of the particle is emitted as X
-ray photons. The majority is transferred to thermal energy in the target metal.

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Experimental Setup

Fig. 1.
Method
Phase 1:
The electron/positron beamline will be employed and the particles (electron/
positron) will be passed through the timepix detector (Medipix mode). It'll measure
the quantity of electrons being used. The specific particle will then be made to hit the
copper plate, as they do, they'll significantly lose energy, some of which will be con-
verted to Bremsstrahlung radiation among other forms such as heat.
The closer the charged particle gets to the nu-
cleus, the stronger the interaction is and the
greater the deceleration is, and therefore the E1
greater the power of the resulting individual
electromagnetic wave. Since there is a wide
range of distances for the charged particle and
nucleus to interact, that's a wide range of ener-
gies that can be emitted, and hence the continu-
ous distribution in Figure 4.
NOTE: The highest possible x-ray energy that E2

can be emitted will be equal to the difference of

the kinetic energy of the incoming and out going
electron/positron. Fig. 1. Experimental setup Fig. 2.

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Phase 2:
Some electrons/positron will penetrate through the copper plate and move along with
photons. After the copper plate, a bending magnet will be placed to deflect the charged
particles so that only photons reach another lead crystal calorimeter placed after
bending magnet.

Fig. 3.

Phase 3:
Radiation spectrum of photons emitted by both the *An expected graph of radiation spectrum
beams will be measured. A timepix detector will be for both the beams
placed to count the number of photons. The first scin-
tillator will trigger the data acquisition. As the photons
produced will move in all directions, placing calorime-
ters in a semi-circle will allow us to detect each photon
and measure its energy. By doing this measurement
over a long period of time and binning our data, we’ll
collect a distribution pattern of photons which will be
our bremsstrahlung spectrum.
Fig. 4. Radiation Spectrum

Fig. 5.Phase 3

Final Stage:
These recordings i.e. the bremsstrahlung spectrum and will be compared, for beam
intensities ranging from 1 - 6 GeV, for both the electrons and positrons beams to draw
appropriate conclusion.

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Results & Conclusions:
If the spectrum of the emitted radiations from both the beams correspond, they follow
the symmetry. On the other hand any violation of this symmetry would imply that the
laws of physics are not the same for matter and antimatter particles. This may help in
explaining why the universe appears to be made entirely of matter.

Precautions:
• Factor for background radiation.
• Having a uniform metal plate, and focusing both the beams at the same spot so
that the deceleration arising is equal.
• A second scintillator is placed after the magnets that will detect the electrons or
positrons that are not deflected by the magnets.

Sub-Experiment
Since the energy of the beam is greater than 1MeV only X-rays will be produced as a
result of the collisions.
We will like to better understand the properties of x-rays involved in the applications
such as the Phase Contrast Imaging, which we came across during our research for the
competition, and found it extremely fascinating, which if properly used could help us
discover the vastly untapped gas and oil reserves in the country by differentiating
their density from the surrounding Earth, but this is only possible when we have suffi-
cient knowledge of the physics behind it, which we aim to achieve by testing:
 Changes in the intensity of the radiation as it passes through materials of differ-
ent densities.
 The amount of refraction that results as it passes through materials of different
densities.

After BL4S
The opportunity to visit DESY is indeed incredible, and we hope to continue our jour-
ney beyond the competition. Acting as a catalyst it would not only improve our under-
standing of the field towards helping us further our quest in the desire to test the va-
lidity of the various symmetries but also a hands on experience with the professionals
at the highest possible level of scientific research would help us better understand the
physics behind, and in turn create the future applications, as is seen in our sub-stage
plan. This would, as we want, change the view of Pakistan seen as lagging behind in
terms of the scientific research, and being the first team to represent the country will
inspire the youth in looking at the world beyond.
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Acknowledgement
• Dr. Sameed Muhamed, PhD Physics & Researcher at CERN.
• Mr. Khalil Akhtar, MSc Physics (Team Coach)

References
• https://physicsworld.com/a/photonic-technologies-inspire-x-ray-innovation/
• https://humanityplus.wordpress.com/2017/06/27/antimatter
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung

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