A sphere of high purity germanium crystals to study the matter. E 'Agata (Advanced Gamma Tracking Array), a detector of gamma rays by the method of tracking, designed to study the structure of atomic nuclei "exotic", ie not naturally occurring. The AGATA Demonstrator - a prototype on which you can already make physical measurements - was inaugurated at the National Laboratories of Legnaro (LNL) of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (Infn), a few kilometers from Padova.
addition to the study of fundamental physics, to understand what happens inside nuclei not found in nature or progress in astrophysical research, including future applications Data discovered by Agata will also medical imaging. According to the scientists of Legnaro and European institutions involved in the project, through this cutting-edge sensor gamma-ray will develop technology that will allow diagnostic tests such as PET, but in a much quicker, more accurate and with the 'Using a lower dose of radioactive drugs. Furthermore, the results of Agatha may have a use in the field of security: you can run, for example, fast controls of goods in containers through an X-ray, with an accurate determination of the presence of radioactive contaminants. The Agata Project, which will be finalized in the coming years, involves the construction a spectrometer that captures signals and the gamma rays produced by nuclear reactions, are issued in any direction.
Specifically, Agata receives, from an accelerator of the Legnaro Laboratories, a beam of particles accelerated against a "target" - a target - in the center apparatus itself. The beam reaches a speed of 30 thousand kilometers per second. The nuclear reaction that is registered, in which an item can be born again, is very fast and can hardly be imagined: it is a unit of time between femptosecondo (10 to less than 15 seconds) and picosecond (10 to less than 12 seconds ). In this fraction of time, Agatha is able to take a picture which highlights both the energy and direction of gamma rays.
"The inauguration of the Agata demonstrator is a great time to Legnaro and European scientific research - said Giovanni Fiorentini, Director of LNL and Professor of Nuclear and Subnuclear Physics, University of Ferrara -. It 's a necessary apparatus for the study linked to the cores of stars, but also to medicine and security. " Agate is responsible for installing
Farnei Henry, 39, explaining that "there is only one other system like this all over the world. It chiamaGreta, is an American project, still in testing phase. Agata also exceeded the period of testing and we are starting the first campaign of physical measures. "
numbers. Agata is the result of international collaboration of 45 research institutions from 13 European countries. For the design and construction materials have been invested EUR 7 million.
Once concluded, Agata will consist of 180 crystals of germanium, grouped into 60 triplets and will have the diameter of one meter.
Agnese Fedeli
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