Going Interstellar (collection)

Early antimatter history has been discussed in many archival sources. One such is H. A. Boorse and L. Motz, ed., The World of the Atom, Basic Books, NY (1966).

The story of the antiproton is eloquently told by L. Yarris in “The Golden Anniversary of the Antiproton,” Science @ Berkeley Lab (Oct. 27, 2005), http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2005/10/27/ the-golden-anniversary-of-the-antiproton/

For further information regarding possible biomedical antiproton applications, check out L. Gray and T. E. Kalogeropoulos, “Possible Biomedical Applications of Antiproton Beams: Focused Radiation Transfer,” Radiation Research, 97, 246-252 (1984).

Many sources have speculated on possible military applications of antiprotons. Two web references on this topic, both by Andre Gsponer and John-Pierre Hurni, “Antimatter Underestimated,” arXiv:physics/0507139v1 [physics.soc-ph] 19 Jul 2005 and “Antimatter Weapons,” http://cul.unige.ch.isi/sscr/phys/antim-BPP.html

Many astronomy texts consider the early moments of the universe when matter (and antimatter) formed. One readable text, authored by Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan, is Astronomy Today, 3^rd ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ (1999).

Sanger’s photon rocket is described by Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matloff in The Starflight Handbook, Wiley, NY (1989). This book also discusses the decay scheme for the proton-antiproton annihilation reaction.

Robert Forward’s work is reviewed in The Starflight Handbook and other interstellar monographs. His final report to the US Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory is entitled AFRPL TR-83-067, “Alternate Propulsion Energy Sources.” Many of Bob Forward’s ideas regarding antimatter (and a host of other subjects) are also published in a more accessible form: R. Forward, Indistinguishable from Magic, Baen, Riverdale, NY (1995).

Antimatter production by black holes is described by C. Bambi, A. D. Dogov and A. A. Petrov in “Black Holes as Antimatter Factories,” which was published in Sept. 2009 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which is an on-line journal. This paper is also available from a physics archive as arXiv.org/astro-ph>arXiv:086.3440v2.

A NASA web publication, titled “Antimatter Factory on Sun Yields Clues to Solar Explosions,” describes the discovery of gamma rays in solar flares. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/rhessi _antimatter.html.

To learn more about the surprising discovery of positrons associated with terrestrial lightning discharges, consult R. Cowen, “Signature of Antimatter Detected in Lightning,” www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009//11/antimatter-lightning/.

Information regarding the current capabilities of the Tevatron was obtained from Wikipedia and the Fermilab website. Operational details regarding the Large Hadron Collider are available on the CERN website.

Many books on SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) deal with the Kardashev scheme for categorizing the capabilities of advanced technological civilizations. A very readable and authoritative one is W. Sullivan’s We Are Not Alone, revised edition, Dutton, NY (1993).

A number of researchers have considered the application of solar-sail technology to the construction of huge planetary sunshades or solar collectors. Analysis by Robert Kennedy, Ken Roy and David Fields is discussed and reviewed by L. Johnson, G. L. Matloff and C Bangs in Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth, Springer-Copernicus, NY (2009).

The cited antimatter-storage paper by S. D. Howe and G. A. Smith is entitled “Development of High-Capacity Antimatter Storage.” It was delivered at the Space-Technology and Applications International Forum-2000, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, July 30-February 3, 2000 and is available on line.