3 ms·

It increases the rate of production of neutral antihydrogen from antiprotons and positrons by a factor of 8. It doesn't increase the efficiency of production o

It increases the rate of production of neutral antihydrogen from antiprotons and positrons by a factor of 8. It doesn't increase the efficiency of production of antiprotons, which is the extremely inefficient, energy intensive part.

throwawayqqq11 1y ago
The output got increased by a factor of 8, did the energy consuption increase proportionately? If not, its an efficiency gain.
- tsimionescu 1y ago
  If you have a process where it takes 5MW to produce one component and 80KW to convert that component into the final product, and you increase the efficiency of the second step 8 times so it only takes 10KW, that's real and awesome, but still almost irrelevant to the overall efficiency of the process. I have no idea what the actual numbers are, just stating the general concept.
  - XorNot 1y ago
    Conversely efficiency is a lot less important if it unlocks capability you otherwise don't have at all. Antimatter is a unique element: nothing else can do what it does. The game changer would be producing industrially useful amounts for further experimentation. (Antimatter chemistry would be incredibly interesting and quite possibly a practical way to actually use antimatter - shoot the beam into a reaction or solid matrix to do interesting reactions due to the electronic properties before it annihilates).
    - tsimionescu 1y ago
      This article is about an efficiency gain, not about any new source of antimatter or any newly discovered property or reaction. And, getting industrial levels will require massive efficiency gains, so we're back to this discussion.
      - XorNot 1y ago
        It's about a production rate increase, not an efficiency gain.
SiempreViernes 1y ago
They cut production time to a given number of anti-atoms from 10 weeks to 7 hours by improving the electron cooling, just from this fact it is a bit rich to insist the anti-proton generation is the limiting factor. Going to the paper itself we can observe that the CERN Antiproton Decelerator can deliver 10^7 antiprotons every 2 minutes. Remembering it previously took 10 weeks to capture 10^4 anti-atoms, I hope you forgive me for not agreeing that the antiproton generation is the source of important inefficiencies.

throwawayqqq11 1y ago

The output got increased by a factor of 8, did the energy consuption increase proportionately? If not, its an efficiency gain.

tsimionescu 1y ago
If you have a process where it takes 5MW to produce one component and 80KW to convert that component into the final product, and you increase the efficiency of the second step 8 times so it only takes 10KW, that's real and awesome, but still almost irrelevant to the overall efficiency of the process. I have no idea what the actual numbers are, just stating the general concept.
- XorNot 1y ago
  Conversely efficiency is a lot less important if it unlocks capability you otherwise don't have at all. Antimatter is a unique element: nothing else can do what it does. The game changer would be producing industrially useful amounts for further experimentation. (Antimatter chemistry would be incredibly interesting and quite possibly a practical way to actually use antimatter - shoot the beam into a reaction or solid matrix to do interesting reactions due to the electronic properties before it annihilates).
  - tsimionescu 1y ago
    This article is about an efficiency gain, not about any new source of antimatter or any newly discovered property or reaction. And, getting industrial levels will require massive efficiency gains, so we're back to this discussion.
    - XorNot 1y ago
      It's about a production rate increase, not an efficiency gain.

SiempreViernes 1y ago

They cut production time to a given number of anti-atoms from 10 weeks to 7 hours by improving the electron cooling, just from this fact it is a bit rich to insist the anti-proton generation is the limiting factor. Going to the paper itself we can observe that the CERN Antiproton Decelerator can deliver 10^7 antiprotons every 2 minutes. Remembering it previously took 10 weeks to capture 10^4 anti-atoms, I hope you forgive me for not agreeing that the antiproton generation is the source of important inefficiencies.