Japan studies sub-atomic world

2008-08-27 20:11

Tokai - As the world's scientists try to unlock mysteries about the universe, Japan is set to open its largest atomic science park to study the world at its smallest level.

The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC Centre) - a ¥150 billion ($1.36 billion) project almost entirely funded by the government - will open in December as one of the world's three hubs of atomic science.

The gigantic complex in the nuclear research hub in Tokai, 100km northeast of Tokyo, is designed to help researchers study any object on Earth beneath the level of the atom.

By better understanding the world in such minute detail, researchers hope to bring benefits to a variety of fields including pharmaceuticals, food processing and ion batteries.

Free facilities

"As far as research results are made public, researchers can use these facilities for free," said Shoji Nagamiya, director of J-PARC Centre.

As many as 57 companies, universities and institutes are considering research at the science park, where up to 23 studies can take place simultaneously.

"Researchers will be able to study some lighter atoms that X-rays cannot analyse, most notably those of water," said Kunihiro Suzuki, chief spokesperson at the J-PARC Centre.

"This means they could unzip the mechanism of any living organism - whose main part consists of water - and this will hopefully lead to further development of, for example, cosmetics and frozen food products," he said.

The research could also help in developing more advanced lithium ion batteries, Suzuki said. Such rechargeable batteries are widely used in electronics, but automakers are hoping to eventually use them to power eco-friendly cars.

Studying neutrinos

The plant will also conduct experiments to track down neutrinos - the elusive and miniscule elementary particles discharged in nuclear reactions.

Neutrinos are considered key to understanding the universe.

Supernovas, or exploding stars, send into the universe a multitude of neutrinos, which do not appear to interact with mass and lack an electrical charge.

Billions of neutrinos pass through every person's body each day without changing course, but scientists are not clear what their function is.

Tracking them down is no easy task. European physicists made history last year when they managed to take a snapshot of the very instant that a neutrino slammed into a laboratory detector.

In a project due to start in April next year, about 400 scientists at the J-PARC Centre will send trillions of neutrinos on a 295km trip through the Earth's crust to another lab in western Japan.

Each neutrino will make the entire journey in a mere 1 000th of one second.

The neutrinos are being sent to a lab called Super Kamiokande, which was constructed by 2002 Nobel Prize physicist Masatoshi Koshiba.

Koshiba and his team have detected neutrinos set off by a supernova in an effort to understand the birth of the universe.

- AFP