Particle accelerators can produce a stream of charged particles. These accelerators come in two basic configurations: circular (cyclotrons and synchrotrons) and straight (linear or linacs) and are used for research at various laboratories and educational institutions to investigate the nature of subatomic particles or at clinics to produce x-rays for medical purposes such as zapping cancer tumors. My personal experience is with linacs of the traveling wave variety. This type of device consists of a segmented tube of individual cavities with a gun at one end and a target at the other. Once in the tube the particles "surf" on a traveling radio frequency wave whose phase velocity is increased as it travels down the tube, thus accelerating the particles. The longer the tube, the higher the velocities and energies achieved.

What would happen if a beam of accelerated charged particles were to be aimed up into the atmosphere instead of at a material target? Physicist Tom Mahood in his on-line essay, "Particle Beams and Saucer Dreams" (5) speculates that a particle beam aimed up into the atmosphere would, depending upon the initial energy and velocity, produce a ball of plasma at some altitude, and he provides some impressive mathematics to back this up. Coming out of the accelerator at high velocity the beam would initially shoulder aside molecules of air, but would gradually attenuate to the point where it would collide with these molecules and dump its remaining energy creating a ball of plasma. Much of the resulting electromagnetic radiation would be in the visual portion of the spectrum, but it would also show up as a false bogie on radar screens, and he suggests therein lies the military interest.

The Implications of Quantum Physics

The field of quantum physics (mechanics), is a difficult subject to wrap your mind around. Much of what happens on the level of the very small is counterintuitive to us. Things wink into and out of existence at subatomic dimensions, and the very nature of a particle seems to depend on whether or not it is being observed. Quantum entanglement is one of the strangest aspects of quantum mechanics. It holds that when two or more particles are put into the same state they become "entangled" and afterward mirror each other no matter how far apart they are separated. Moreover, this communication is instantaneous. The mathematics governing such action was first pointed out by Einstein et al. in 1935 (2) but he refused to believe it was possible, calling it "spooky action at a distance." He proposed that the theory must be incomplete. However, subsequent developments have supported the validity of entanglement, and it has recently been verified experimentally on numerous occasions. As we currently understand it, entanglement is a fairly fragile connection. Magnetic fields, stray radiation, and the presence of other particles or atoms can cause what is known as decoherence. Even so, it would seem to open up the possibility of a number of practical applications. Those mentioned so far include unbreakable encryption, parallel processing by quantum computers, and teleportation. The last of these would seem to border on science fiction but, in fact, teleportation has already been achieved on a very small scale (subatomic particles) over short distances.

Remote Sensing?

Remote sensing would also seem to be a possibility. Especially intriguing is the thought that an alien culture might use such technology to monitor events here on Earth. How would that work? It is next to impossible to know or even guess how a technology that may be centuries, millennia, or even much larger time periods, in advance of our own, would work. Nevertheless, I believe we must, at least, try.

Extrapolating on current human technology, I imagine a device like a particle accelerator in which entangled particles such as electrons or protons are inserted and accelerated to velocities approaching the speed of light. Then some portion of them is separated off and pointed at a distant target. This would constitute a beam of charged particles. The remaining particles are maintained at velocity in a storage ring something like those in use today at various high-energy labs. When the targeted particles reach their destination they interact with whatever is there and that interaction is mirrored by their entangled "brethren" in the storage ring at home.

Maybe the entangled particles could be put through a particle accelerator, then divided by a beam splitter of some kind sending half to a storage ring and putting the other half in orbit around a carrier beam of opposite charge that has wave characteristics. Care would be taken to achieve an exact match in the conditions the two halves experience, and then the traveling half is sent on its way in an annular configuration, by manipulating the phase velocity of the carrier beam. Figure No.1 is a schematic diagram of how such a device might work.

Click on the 'NEXT' arrow for page 3

Share this article with: