RAND Workshop on Antiproton Science and Technology, October 6-9, 1987

This Note describes a conference held in October 1987 to review the critical issues surrounding the establishment of a comprehensive U.S. antiproton research program and to help formulate its research goals. The conference was organized around three major themes: (1) basic machine, facility, and scale-up review — antiproton production and collection; (2) a basic physics program for a low-energy antiproton source in North America; and (3) near-term and precursor applications using an initial low-energy antiproton source. Among the major conclusions were the following: The United States can construct an intense source of low-energy antiprotons in three to four years, and develop portable antiproton storage devices (rings and ion traps). A dozen classes of key low-energy antiproton experiments can be conducted on questions ranging from charge parity violation to condensed matter. A number of near-term important applications are possible using the source and portable storage devices.