Scientists alter speed-of-light beam

UPTON, N.Y., Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. physicists have created a technique that measures a particle beam moving at the speed of light and then uses the information to alter the beam.

The physicists at the U.S. Energy Department's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, say the technique can save money and time in the quest to understand the workings of the early universe.

The physicists have developed a way to measure subtle fluctuations in the RHIC's particle beams as they speed around the collider's 2.4-mile-circumference track -- and then send the information ahead to specialized devices that smooth the fluctuations when the beam arrives.

"These corrections help to keep the beams focused and colliding, recreating thousands of times a second the conditions that existed just after the big bang," said Steven Vigdor, who manages the RHIC program.

RHIC scientists have learned that mere microseconds after the big bang, the universe was more interesting than imagined -- a nearly "perfect" liquid with virtually no viscosity and strong interactions among its constituents.

With the ability to race ahead of the RHIC's beams and keep them focused, the scientists expect to be able to create many more "mini-bangs" for study.