Physicists tame fundamental muon particles into highly controlled beam for first time

Researchers have accelerated muons — the heavier, unstable cousins of electrons — into a tightly controlled beam for the first time. A team at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex in Tokai shot a laser at a stream of muons to bring the fast-moving particles to a near-standstill. Then, the researchers applied an electric field to accelerate these ‘cooled’ muons to around 4% of the speed of light. The feat takes researchers a step closer to making a muon collider, which would be smaller and cheaper than other current colliders, a reality.