CERN’s Large Hadron Collider could eventually be succeeded by an even more ginormous physics experiment, which passed a technical review this week.
The even larger project is the Future Circular Collider. The 56-mile-long (91-kilometer) project has not yet gotten the green light or (arguably more importantly) funding, and even if it does, the project’s operations wouldn’t kick off for more than a decade, or be completed by the end of the century.
Nevertheless, CERN believes the next-generation particle collider to be a critical piece of infrastructure for addressing some of the universe’s most enigmatic phenomena, including dark matter and dark energy. The collider could also help physicists get to the bottom of antimatter and characteristics of the lightest particles in the universe—millions of times smaller than an electron, 100 trillion of which zip through your body each second.
The LHC has been instrumental to many of the most revelatory findings in particle physics in the last 20 years. The most significant finding in that time was the observation of the Higgs boson in 2012, but the LHC has discovered many particles and their interactions besides that landmark achievement. Since the Higgs discovery, researchers have been chasing that high-water mark—and looking for ways to go beyond what the LHC’s aging (but still capable) infrastructure can uncover.
The LHC is currently being upgraded into the High Luminosity-LHC, which will increase the facility’s luminosity tenfold and increase the number of Higgs bosons physicists can study by an order of magnitude. But the upgraded facility will still not be capable of the energetic collisions CERN hopes for in the FCC.
The future collider would be constructed in two phases, the first iteration being an electron-positron collider set to begin operations in 2046, and a proton-proton collider to follow in 2070, according to AFP. The collider’s energy target would be 100 trillion electronvolts—more than seven times the record amount of energy mustered by the LHC.
The feasibility study for the FCC was released yesterday—so we know it’s not an April Fool’s joke—and describes a collider three times the size of the LHC, buried twice as deep underground as the active collider. The LHC is expected to have run its course by 2041, meaning that the FCC’s electron-positron collider could be ready just five years after its completion—assuming everything goes right in terms of timelines.
CERN’s member states have until 2028 to decide whether to release the funds for the gargantuan project. Some physicists and environmental groups have expressed concern with the idea, suggesting that the money would be better invested in smaller scientific projects, and that the energy costs of the proposed collider are simply too high. For reference, the new project’s cost—$17 billion—dwarfs the approximately $8 billion it cost to build the LHC.
There are plenty of human aspects to the project that will require deliberation, but Monday’s report revealed that there is no technical hurdle preventing the megaproject from being built. Now, CERN’s top priority is more political: convincing decision-makers of the project’s utility, and summoning the willpower to make it a reality.
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