 The machine
itself is enclosed in a tunnel, 12 feet under the ground. Inside those
two shiny tubes, ion bunches race around RHIC's 2.4-mile
ring in opposite directions. (Enlarge)
Before we find out what
happens when the two ion beams meet, let's see how RHIC is built.
 The
collider's rings are
actually made of hundreds of magnets, similar to the one at left, strung together like beads
on a necklace. As you can see, a magnet cylinder
contains more than the steel magnet. Each one is packed with many
pipes and wires. The pipe in the middle, only a few inches across,
is where the ion beams travel. Enlarge
 This
beautiful computer image makes visible the magnetic fields
generated by a RHIC superconducting magnet. The focus of the field
is at the center, where the ion
beam travels. The magnetic field precisely guides the beam in its
many laps around the collider ring.
 RHIC
also uses a system of intense radio waves to give the particle beam
a little extra "kick" of energy to accelerate it each time it travels
around the ring. This is called the radio frequency, or RF,
system. The RF cavity system is shown here. Enlarge
Continue the tour...
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