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AdA:The First Electron-Positron Collider

Abstract.

I review the origin of AdA, the first electron-positron collider at Frascati, Italy, in the early 1960s. I describe the problems that were tackled to produce the positron beam, the vacuum, and the injection system that were necessary to observe the electron-positron beam-beam collisions. Accidents and incidents occurred, such as the unpredicted “Touschek effect,” and were surmounted. I discuss the roles of the physicists involved in this work and the state of physics at the time, and I sketch subsequent work on larger collider rings. My recollections are based on the original literature and unpublished documents, photographs, and drawings.

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Correspondence to Carlo Bernardini.

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Bernardini, C. AdA:The First Electron-Positron Collider. Phys. perspect. 6, 156–183 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-003-0202-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-003-0202-y

  • Edoardo Amaldi
  • Fernando Amman
  • Gilberto Bernardini
  • Henri Bruck
  • Gianfranco Corazza
  • Giorgio Ghigo
  • Jacques Haïssinski
  • Pierre Marin
  • Enrico Persico
  • Giorgio Salvini
  • Albert Silverman
  • Bruno Touschek
  • Cerenkov counter
  • Frascati National Laboratories
  • Orsay Laboratory
  • Touschek effect
  • electron synchrotron
  • electron linac
  • electron-positron collider
  • electron-positron storage ring
  • beam luminosity
  • beam lifetime