How do particle accelerators keep the heat inside their chamber contained, and how do the construction materials resist the insane temperature?

Question

If particle accelerators’ internal temperature/beam can get to millions of degrees, how do they not melt or damage their surrounding encasing? The highest temperature resistant materials go only up to a few thousand degrees, so shouldn’t they easily be melted?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Temperature is a way of measuring the entropy/energy of particles. In a particle accelerator, a very small number of particles is given a large amount of energy. This makes those few particles very hot. But even though each particle has a ton of energy, it is only one very small particle and can’t really do that much damage if it gets lose.

The particles are also contained inside of a powerful magnetic field which prevents the particles from escaping or hitting the walls of the particle accelerator. The magnetic field also helps accelerate them to higher and higher speeds. When the particle has enough energy, it is shot into a measurement chamber where it collides with a target. The measurement chamber is full of sensors which absorb and measure the results of the impact.