By Peter Weiss
Particle-accelerator specialists are forever trying to squeeze speeding particles into denser beams. That means more particle collisions within the accelerators, yielding more data and quickening the pace of discovery.
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But corralling the particles into narrow streams presents a challenge because the particles, which typically are all either positively or negatively charged, repel each other. Now, a German team has shown a way to minimize this problem: Freeze particles in the beams. Instead of individual particles whipping around a ring, cold, dense crystals make the rounds.