CERN lays out vision for next-generation particle collider

Phys.org ^ | Jan 15, 2019

[ETL]

Scientists behind the world's largest atom smasher have laid out their multibillion-euro vision to build an even bigger one, in hopes of unlocking even more secrets of matter and the universe in the coming decades.

Officials at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, presented Tuesday their study for a "Future Circular Collider" inside a 100-kilometer (62-mile) circumference tunnel that could start operating in 2040.

It would sit next to the current 27-kilometer (17-mile) circumference Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, which is perhaps best known for helping confirm the subatomic Higgs boson in 2012.

Officials hope for a decision by CERN's 22 member states within the next few years about the project that would debut with an electron-positron collider at an estimated cost of 9 billion euros ($10.25 billion).

A second phase would involve a superconducting proton machine in the same tunnel, at a cost of about 15 billion euros more. That machine could start operation in the late 2050s.

The concept paper, five years in the making, aimed to explore prospects of "tantalizingly more powerful particle colliders that can inaugurate the post-LHC era in high-energy physics," CERN said on its website.

Ultimately, the FCC would include a superconducting proton accelerator ring with energy of up to 100 tera electron volts, compared with a maximum 17 TeV in the current collider.

[NorthMountain]

If Clinton and TX governor, Ann Richards, hadn't scuttled the Superconducting Supercollider in 1984

1994?

Bastards one and all. The SSC would have been only a little smaller than this beast is proposed to be.

[NorthMountain]

Since they want a bigger accelerator they must see behavior that they still can’t explain.

It also works the other way. Physicists develop theories that explain some observations, and predict not-yet observed events. They're also looking to cause (or not) certain events that the present state of theoretical physics predicts.

[cymbeline]

“and predict not-yet observed events”

Yep, all you say is true. The Special Relativity equations explained certain things and also predicted certain things that were only recently observed.

I don’t know that much about particle physics and a lot of other things.

[TXnMA]

Actual shutdown was in 1993. I messed up the date -- apparently was looking at program start times, instead.

Oooops!
TXnMA
 

[Getready]

More matryoshka particle nesting? Suppose we fimd out we need a supercollider the size of the solar system to generate speeds high enuf? Suppose we need ALL the energy in the universe to crack matter apart? We will only stop when all phenomena can be precisely defined and precisely controlled. We may run out of space and energy to find out..in the meantime...full relativistic speed ahead

[TXnMA]

Actual shutdown was in 1993. I messed up the date -- apparently was looking at program start times, instead.

Thanks to hadaclueonce!!

Oooops!
TXnMA
 

[NorthMountain]

I have occasionally suggested that there's a reason we find no evidence of alien life "out there".

Their civilizations progress until they build a supercollider that's "too big" ...

[aimhigh]

When the first one pays for itself, let me know.

[Paal Gulli]

"What the heck is a higs boson?"

It's a scalar boson with a zero integer spin.

[Paal Gulli]

"CERN lays out vision for next-generation particle collider"

It's about dern time. They're overdue for discovery of the Buddha particle.