“Slovenia’s full membership in CERN is an exceptional recognition of our science and researchers,” said Igor Papič, Slovenia’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. “Furthermore, it reaffirms and strengthens Slovenia’s reputation as a nation building its future on knowledge and science. Indeed, apart from its beautiful natural landscapes, knowledge is the only true natural wealth of our country. For this reason, we have allocated record financial resources to science, research and innovation. Moreover, we have enshrined the obligation to increase these funds annually in the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act.”

“On behalf of the CERN Council, I warmly welcome Slovenia as the newest Member State of CERN,” said Costas Fountas, president of the CERN Council. “Slovenia has a longstanding relationship with CERN, with continuous involvement of the Slovenian science community over many decades in the ATLAS experiment in particular.”

On 8 and 16 May, respectively, Ireland and Chile signed agreements to become Associate Member States of CERN, pending the completion of national ratification processes. They join Türkiye, Pakistan, Cyprus, Ukraine, India, Lithuania, Croatia, Latvia and Brazil as Associate Members – a status introduced by the CERN Council in 2010. In this period, the Organization has also concluded international cooperation agreements with Qatar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Thailand, Paraguay, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Bahrain and Uruguay.

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CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti estimated the integral FCC programme to offer unparalleled opportunities to explore physics at the shortest distances, and noted growing support and enthusiasm for the programme within the community. That enthusiasm is reflected in the growing collaboration: the FCC collaboration now includes 162 institutes from 38 countries, with 28 new Memoranda of Understanding signed in the past year. These include new partnerships in Latin America, Asia and Ukraine, as well as Statements of Intent from the US and Canada. The FCC vision has also gained visibility in high-level policy dialogues, including the Draghi report on European competitiveness. Scientific plenaries and parallel sessions highlighted updates on simulation tools, rare-process searches and strategies to probe beyond the Standard Model. Detector R&D has progressed significantly, with prototyping, software development and AI-driven simulations advancing rapidly.

In accelerator design, developments included updated lattice and optics concepts involving global “head-on” compensation (using opposing beam interactions) and local chromaticity corrections (to the dependence of beam optics on particle energy). Refinements were also presented to injection schemes, beam collimation and the mitigation of collective effects. A central tool in these efforts is the Xsuite simulation platform, whose capabilities now include spin tracking and modelling based on real collider environments such as SuperKEKB.

Technical innovations also came to the fore. The superconducting RF system for FCC-ee includes 400 MHz Nb/Cu cavities for low-energy operation and 800 MHz Nb cavities for higher-energy modes. The introduction of reverse-phase operation and new RF source concepts – such as the tristron, with energy efficiencies above 90% (CERN Courier May/June 2025 p30) – represent major design advances.

Design developments

Vacuum technologies based on ultrathin NEG coating and discrete photon stops, as well as industrialisation strategies for cost control, are under active development. For FCC-hh, high-field magnet R&D continues on both Nb₃Sn prototypes and high-temperature superconductors.

Sessions on technical infrastructure explored everything from grid design, cryogenics and RF power to heat recovery, robotics and safety systems. Sustainability concepts, including renewable energy integration and hydrogen storage, showcased the project’s interdisciplinary scope and long-term environmental planning.

FCC Week 2025 extended well beyond the conference venue, turning Vienna into a vibrant hub for public science outreach

The Early Career Researchers forum drew nearly 100 participants for discussions on sustainability, governance and societal impact. The session culminated in a commitment to inclusive collaboration, echoed by the quote from Austrian-born artist, architect and environmentalist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000): “Those who do not honour the past lose the future. Those who destroy their roots cannot grow.”

This spirit of openness and public connection also defined the week’s city-wide engagement. FCC Week 2025 extended well beyond the conference venue, turning Vienna into a vibrant hub for public science outreach. In particular, the “Big Science, Big Impact” session – co-organised with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) – highlighted CERN’s broader role in economic development. Daniel Pawel Zawarczynski (WKO) shared examples of small and medium enterprise growth and technology transfer, noting that CERN participation can open new markets, from tunnelling to aerospace. Economist Gabriel Felbermayr referred to a recent WIFO analysis indicating a benefit-to-cost ratio for the FCC greater than 1.2 under conservative assumptions. The FCC is not only a tool for discovery, observed Johannes Gutleber (CERN), but also a platform enabling technology development, open software innovation and workforce training.

The FCC awards celebrate the creativity, rigour and passion that early-career researchers bring to the programme. This year, Tsz Hong Kwok (University of Zürich) and Audrey Piccini (CERN) won poster prizes, Sara Aumiller (TU München) and Elaf Musa (DESY) received innovation awards, and Ivan Karpov (CERN) and Nicolas Vallis (PSI) were honoured with paper prizes sponsored by Physical Review Accelerators and Beams. As CERN Council President Costas Fountas reminded participants, the FCC is not only about pushing the frontiers of knowledge, but also about enabling a new generation of ideas, collaborations and societal progress.

The post A new phase for the FCC appeared first on CERN Courier.

DESY is a large laboratory with just over 3000 employees. It was founded 65 years ago as an accelerator lab, and at its heart it remains one, though what we do with the accelerators has evolved over time. It is fully funded by Germany.

In particle physics, DESY has performed many important studies, for example to understand the charm quark following the November Revolution of 1974. The gluon was discovered here in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, DESY ran the first experiments to study B mesons, laying the groundwork for core programmes such as LHCb at CERN and the Belle II experiment in Japan. In the 1990s, the HERA accelerator focused on probing the structure of the proton, which, incidentally, was the subject of my PhD, and those results have been crucial for precision studies of the Higgs boson.

Over time, DESY has become much more than an accelerator and particle-physics lab. Even in the early days, it used what is called synchrotron radiation, the light emitted when electrons change direction in the accelerator. This light is incredibly useful for studying matter in detail. Today, our accelerators are used primarily for this purpose: they generate X-rays that image tiny structures, for example viruses.

DESY’s culture is shaped by its very engaged and loyal workforce. People often call themselves “DESYians” and strongly identify with the laboratory. At its heart, DESY is really an engineering lab. You need an amazing engineering workforce to be able to construct and operate these accelerators.

Which of DESY’s scientific achievements are you most proud of?

The discovery of the gluon is, of course, an incredible achievement, but actually I would say that DESY’s greatest accomplishment has been building so many cutting-edge accelerators: delivering them on time, within budget, and getting them to work as intended.

Take the PETRA accelerator, for example – an entirely new concept when it was first proposed in the 1970s. The decision to build it was made in 1975; construction was completed by 1978; and by 1979 the gluon was discovered. So in just four years, we went from approving a 2.3 km accelerator to making a fundamental discovery, something that is absolutely crucial to our understanding of the universe. That’s something I’m extremely proud of.

I’m also very proud of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL), completed in 2017 and now fully operational. Before that, in 2005 we launched the world’s first free-electron laser, FLASH, and of course in the 1990s HERA, another pioneering machine. Again and again, DESY has succeeded in building large, novel and highly valuable accelerators that have pushed the boundaries of science.

What can we look forward to during your time as chair?

We are currently working on 10 major projects in the next three years alone! PETRA III will be running until the end of 2029, but our goal is to move forward with PETRA IV, the world’s most advanced X-ray source. Securing funding for that first, and then building it, is one of my main objectives. In Germany, there’s a roadmap process, and by July this year we’ll know whether an independent committee has judged PETRA IV to be one of the highest-priority science projects in the country. If all goes well, we aim to begin operating PETRA IV in 2032.

Our FLASH soft X-ray facility is also being upgraded to improve beam quality, and we plan to relaunch it in early September. That will allow us to serve more users and deliver better beam quality, increasing its impact.

In parallel, we’re contributing significantly to the HL-LHC upgrade. More than 100 people at DESY are working on building trackers for the ATLAS and CMS detectors, and parts of the forward calorimeter of CMS. That work needs to be completed by 2028.

Astroparticle physics is another growing area for us. Over the next three years we’re completing telescopes for the Cherenkov Telescope Array and building detectors for the IceCube upgrade. For the first time, DESY is also constructing a space camera for the satellite UltraSat, which is expected to launch within the next three years.

At the Hamburg site, DESY is diving further into axion research. We’re currently running the ALPS II experiment, which has a fascinating “light shining through a wall” setup. Normally, of course, light can’t pass through something like a thick concrete wall. But in ALPS II, light inside a magnet can convert into an axion, a hypothetical dark-matter particle that can travel through matter almost unhindered. On the other side, another magnet converts the axion back into light. So, it appears as if the light has passed through the wall, when in fact it was briefly an axion. We started the experiment last year. As with most experiments, we began carefully, because not everything works at once, but two more major upgrades are planned in the next two years, and that’s when we expect ALPS II to reach its full scientific potential.

We’re also developing additional axion experiments. One of them, in collaboration with CERN, is called BabyIAXO. It’s designed to look for axions from the Sun, where you have both light and magnetic fields. We hope to start construction before the end of the decade.

Finally, DESY also has a strong and diverse theory group. Their work spans many areas, and it’s exciting to see what ideas will emerge from them over the coming years.

How does DESY collaborate with industry to deliver benefits to society?

We already collaborate quite a lot with industry. The beamlines at PETRA, in particular, are of strong interest. For example, BioNTech conducted some of its research for the COVID-19 vaccine here. We also have a close relationship with the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, which focuses on translating basic research into industrial applications. They famously developed the MP3 format, for instance. Our collaboration with them is quite structured, and there have also been several spinoffs and start-ups based on technology developed at DESY. Looking ahead, we want to significantly strengthen our ties with industry through PETRA IV. With much higher data rates and improved beam quality, it will be far easier to obtain results quickly. Our goal is for 10% of PETRA IV’s capacity to be dedicated to industrial use. Furthermore, we are developing a strong ecosystem for innovation on the campus and the surrounding area, with DESY in the centre, called the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld.

What’s your position on “dual use” research, which could have military applications?

The discussion around dual-use research is complicated. Personally, I find the term “dual use” a bit odd – almost any high-tech equipment can be used for both civilian and military purposes. Take a transistor for example, which has countless applications, including military ones, but it wasn’t invented for that reason. At DESY, we’re currently having an internal discussion about whether to engage in projects that relate to defence. This is part of an ongoing process where we’re trying to define under what conditions, if any, DESY would take on targeted projects related to defence. There are a range of views within DESY, and I think that diversity of opinion is valuable. Some people are firmly against this idea, and I respect that. Honestly, it’s probably how I would have felt 10 or 20 years ago. But others believe DESY should play a role. Personally, I’m open to it.

If our expertise can help people defend themselves and our freedom in Europe, that’s something worth considering. Of course, I would love to live in a world without weapons, where no one attacks anyone. But if I were attacked, I’d want to be able to defend myself. I prefer to work on shields, not swords, like in Asterix and Obelix, but, of course, it’s never that simple. That’s why we’re taking time with this. It’s a complex and multifaceted issue, and we’re engaging with experts from peace and security research, as well as the social sciences, to help us understand all dimensions. I’ve already learned far more about this than I ever expected to. We hope to come to a decision on this later this year.

You are DESY’s first female chair. What barriers do you think still exist for women in physics, and how can institutions like DESY address them?

There are two main barriers, I think. The first is that, in my opinion, society at large still discourages girls from going into maths and science.

Certainly in Germany, if you stopped a hundred people on the street, I think most of them would still say that girls aren’t naturally good at maths and science. Of course, there are always exceptions: you do find great teachers and supportive parents who go against this narrative. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t received that kind of encouragement.

That’s why it’s so important to actively counter those messages. Girls need encouragement from an early age, they need to be strengthened and supported. On the encouragement side, DESY is quite active. We run many outreach activities for schoolchildren, including a dedicated school lab. Every year, more than 13,000 school pupils visit our campus. We also take part in Germany’s “Zukunftstag”, where girls are encouraged to explore careers traditionally considered male-dominated, and boys do the same for fields seen as female-dominated.

Looking ahead, we want to significantly strengthen our ties with industry

The second challenge comes later, at a different career stage, and it has to do with family responsibilities. Often, family work still falls more heavily on women than men in many partnerships. That imbalance can hold women back, particularly during the postdoc years, which tend to coincide with the time when many people are starting families. It’s a tough period, because you’re trying to advance your career.

Workplaces like DESY can play a role in making this easier. We offer good childcare options, flexibility with home–office arrangements, and even shared leadership positions, which help make it more manageable to balance work and family life. We also have mentoring programmes. One example is dynaMENT, where female PhD students and postdocs are mentored by more senior professionals. I’ve taken part in that myself, and I think it’s incredibly valuable.

Do you have any advice for early-career women physicists?

If I could offer one more piece of advice, it’s about building a strong professional network. That’s something I’ve found truly valuable. I’m fortunate to have a fantastic international network, both male and female colleagues, including many women in leadership positions. It’s so important to have people you can talk to, who understand your challenges, and who might be in similar situations. So if you’re a student, I’d really recommend investing in your network. That’s very important, I think.

What are your personal reflections on the next-generation colliders?

Our generation has a responsibility to understand the electroweak scale and the Higgs boson. These questions have been around for almost 90 years, since 1935 when Hideki Yukawa explored the idea that forces might be mediated by the exchange of massive particles. While we’ve made progress, a true understanding is still out of reach. That’s what the next generation of machines is aiming to tackle.

The problem, of course, is cost. All the proposed solutions are expensive, and it is very challenging to secure investments for such large-scale projects, even though the return on investment from big science is typically excellent: these projects drive innovation, build high-tech capability and create a highly skilled workforce.

Europe’s role is more vital than ever

From a scientific point of view, the FCC is the most comprehensive option. As a Higgs factory, it offers a broad and strong programme to analyse the Higgs and electroweak gauge bosons. But who knows if we’ll be able to afford it? And it’s not just about money. The timeline and the risks also matter. The FCC feasibility report was just published and is still under review by an expert committee. I’d rather not comment further until I’ve seen the full information. I’m part of the European Strategy Group and we’ll publish a new report by the end of the year. Until then, I want to understand all the details before forming an opinion.

It’s good to have other options too. The muon collider is not yet as technically ready as the FCC or linear collider, but it’s an exciting technology and could be the machine after next. Another could be using plasma-wakefield acceleration, which we’re very actively working on at DESY. It could enable us to build high-energy colliders on a much smaller scale. This is something we’ll need, as we can’t keep building ever-larger machines forever. Investing in accelerator R&D to develop these next-gen technologies is crucial.

Still, I really hope there will be an intermediate machine in the near future, a Higgs factory that lets us properly explore the Higgs boson. There are still many mysteries there. I like to compare it to an egg: you have to crack it open to see what’s inside. And that’s what we need to do with the Higgs.

One thing that is becoming clearer to me is the growing importance of Europe. With the current uncertainties in the US, which are already affecting health and climate research, we can’t assume fundamental research will remain unaffected. That’s why Europe’s role is more vital than ever.

I think we need to build more collaborations between European labs. Sharing expertise, especially through staff exchanges, could be particularly valuable in engineering, where we need a huge number of highly skilled professionals to deliver billion-euro projects. We’ve got one coming up ourselves, and the technical expertise for that will be critical.

I believe science has a key role to play in strengthening Europe, not just culturally, but economically too. It’s an area where we can and should come together.

The post Charting DESY’s future appeared first on CERN Courier.

The deadline for submitting inputs to the 2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) passed on 31 March. A total of 263 submissions, ranging from individual to national perspectives, express the priorities of the high-energy physics community (see “Community inputs” figure). These inputs will be distilled by expert panels in preparation for an Open Symposium that will be held in Venice from 23 to 27 June (CERN Courier March/April 2025 p11).

Launched by the CERN Council in March 2024, the stated aim of the 2026 update to the ESPP is to develop a visionary and concrete plan that greatly advances human knowledge in fundamental physics, in particular through the realisation of the next flagship project at CERN. The community-wide process, which is due to submit recom­mendations to Council by the end of the year, is also expected to prioritise alternative options to be pursued if the preferred project turns out not to be feasible or competitive.

“We are heartened to see so many rich and varied contributions, in particular the national input and the various proposals for the next large-scale accelerator project at CERN,” says strategy secretary Karl Jakobs of the University of Freiburg, speaking on behalf of the European Strategy Group (ESG). “We thank everyone for their hard work and rigour.”

Two proposals for flagship colliders are at an advanced stage: a Future Circular Collider (FCC) and a Linear Collider Facility (LCF). As recommended in the 2020 strategy update, a feasibility study for the FCC was released on 31 March, describing a 91 km-circumference infrastructure that could host an electron–positron Higgs and electroweak factory followed by an energy-frontier hadron collider at a later stage. Inputs for an electron–positron LCF cover potential starting configurations based on Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) or International Linear Collider (ILC) technologies. It is proposed that the latter LCF could be upgraded using CLIC, Cool Copper Collider, plasma-wakefield or energy-recovery technologies and designs. Other proposals outline a muon collider and a possible plasma-wakefield collider, as well as potential “bridging” projects to a future flagship collider. Among the latter are LEP3 and LHeC, which would site an electron–positron and an electron–proton collider, respectively, in the existing LHC tunnel. For the LHeC, an additional energy-recovery linac would need to be added to CERN’s accelerator complex.

Future choices

In probing beyond the Standard Model and more deeply studying the Higgs boson and its electroweak domain, next-generation colliders will pick up where the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) leaves off. In a joint submission, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations presented physics projections which suggest that the HL-LHC will be able to: observe the H → µ⁺µ^– and H → Zγ decays of the Higgs boson; observe Standard Model di-Higgs production; and measure the Higgs’ trilinear self-coupling with a precision better than 30%. The joint document also highlights the need for further progress in high-precision theoretical calculations aligned with the demands of the HL-LHC and serves as important input to the discussion on the choice of a future collider at CERN.

Neutrinos and cosmic messengers, dark matter and the dark sector, strong interactions and flavour physics also attracted many inputs, allowing priorities in non-collider physics to complement collider programmes. Underpinning the community’s physics aspirations are numerous submissions in the categories of accelerator science and technology, detector instrumentation and computing. Progress in these technologies is vital for the realisation of a post-LHC collider, which was also reflected by the recommendation of the 2020 strategy update to define R&D roadmaps. The scientific and technical inputs will be reviewed by the Physics Preparatory Group (PPG), which will conduct comparative assessments of the scientific potential of various proposed projects against defined physics benchmarks.

We are heartened to see so many rich and varied contributions

Key to the ESPP 2026 update are 57 national and national-laboratory submissions, including some from outside Europe. Most identify the FCC as the preferred project to succeed the LHC. If the FCC is found to be unfeasible, many national communities propose that a linear collider at CERN should be pursued, while taking into account the global context: a 250 GeV linear collider may not be competitive if China decides to proceed with a Circular Electron Positron Collider at a comparable energy on the anticipated timescale, potentially motivating a higher energy electron–positron machine or a proton–proton collider instead.

Complex process

In its review, the ESG will take the physics reach of proposed colliders as well as other factors into account. This complex process will be undertaken by seven working groups, addressing: national inputs; diversity in European particle physics; project comparison; implementation of the strategy and deliverability of large projects; relations with other fields of physics; sustainability and environmental impact; public engagement, education, communication and social and career aspects for the next generation; and knowledge and technology transfer. “The ESG and the PPG have their work cut out and we look forward to further strong participation by the full community, in particular at the Open Symposium,” says Jakobs.

A briefing book prepared by the PPG based on the community input and discussions at the Open Symposium will be submitted to the ESG by the end of September for consideration during a five-day-long drafting session, which is scheduled to take place from 1 to 5 December. The CERN Council will then review the final ESG recommendations ahead of a special session to be held in Budapest in May 2026.

The post European strategy update: the community speaks appeared first on CERN Courier.

The FCC is a proposed collider infrastructure that could succeed the LHC in the 2040s. Its scientific motivation stems from the discovery in 2012 of the final particle of the Standard Model (SM), the Higgs boson, with a mass of just 125 GeV, and the wealth of precision measurements and exploratory searches during 15 years of LHC operations that have excluded many signatures of new physics at the TeV scale. The report argues that the FCC is particularly well equipped to study the Higgs and associated electroweak sectors in detail and that it provides a broad and powerful exploratory tool that would push the limits of the unknown as far as possible.

The report describes how the FCC will seek to address key domains formulated in the 2013 and 2020 ESPP updates, including: mapping the properties of the Higgs and electroweak gauge bosons with accuracies orders of magnitude better than today to probe the processes that led to the emergence of the Brout–Englert–Higgs field’s nonzero vacuum expectation value; ensuring a comprehensive and accurate campaign of precision electroweak, quantum chromodynamics, flavour and top-quark measurements sensitive to tiny deviations from the SM, probing energy scales far beyond the direct kinematic reach; improving by orders of magnitude the sensitivity to rare and elusive phenomena at low energies, including the possible discovery of light particles with very small couplings such as those relevant to the search for dark matter; and increasing by at least an order of magnitude the direct discovery reach for new particles at the energy frontier.

This technology has significant potential for industrial and societal applications

The FCC research programme outlines two possible stages: an electron–positron collider (FCC-ee) running at several centre-of-mass energies to serve as a Higgs, electroweak and top-quark factory, followed at a later stage by a proton–proton collider (FCC-hh) operating at an unprecedented collision energy. An FCC-ee with four detectors is judged to be “the electroweak, Higgs and top factory project with the highest luminosity proposed to date”, able to produce 6 × 10¹² Z bosons, 2.4 × 10⁸ W pairs, almost 3 × 10⁶ Higgs bosons, and 2 × 10⁶ top-quark pairs over 15 years of operations. Its versatile RF system would enable flexibility in the running sequence, states the report, allowing experimenters to move between physics programmes and scan through energies at ease. The report also outlines how the FCC-ee injector offers opportunities for other branches of science, including the production of spatially coherent photon beams with a brightness several orders of magnitude higher than any existing or planned light source.

The estimated cost of the construction of the FCC-ee is CHF 15.3 billion. This investment, which would be distributed over a period of about 15 years starting from the early 2030s, includes civil engineering, technical infrastructure, electron and positron accelerators, and four detectors.

Ready for construction

The report describes how key FCC-ee design approaches, such as a double-ring layout, top-up injection with a full-energy booster, a crab-waist collision scheme, and precise energy calibration, have been demonstrated at several previous or presently operating colliders. The FCC-ee is thus “technically ready for construction” and is projected to deliver four-to-five orders of magnitude higher luminosity per unit electrical power than LEP. During operation, its energy consumption is estimated to vary
from 1.1 to 1.8 TWh/y depending on the operation mode compared to CERN’s current consumption of about 1.3 TWh/y. Decarbonised energy including an ever-growing contribution from renewable sources would be the main source of energy for the FCC. Ongoing technology R&D aims at further increasing FCC-ee’s energy efficiency (see “Powering into the future”).

Assuming 14 T Nb₃Sn magnet technology as a baseline design, a subsequent hadron collider with a centre-of-mass energy of 85 TeV entering operation in the early 2070s would extend the energy frontier by a factor six and provide an integrated luminosity five to 10 times higher than that of the HL-LHC during 25 years of operation. With four detectors, FCC-hh would increase the mass reach of direct searches for new particles to several tens of TeV, probing a broad spectrum of beyond-the-SM theories and potentially identifying the sources of any deviations found in precision measurements at FCC-ee, especially those involving the Higgs boson. An estimated sample of more than 20 billion Higgs bosons would allow the absolute determination of its couplings to muons, to photons, to the top quark and to Zγ below the percent level, while di-Higgs production would bring the uncertainty on the Higgs self-coupling below the 5% level. FCC-hh would also significantly advance understanding of the hot QCD medium by enabling lead–lead and other heavy-ion collisions at unprecedented energies, and could be configured to provide electron–proton and electron–ion collisions, says the report.

The FCC-hh design is based on LHC experience and would leverage a substantial amount of the technical infrastructure built for the first FCC stage. Two hadron injector options are under study involving a superconducting machine in either the LHC or SPS tunnel. For the purpose of a technical feasibility analysis, a reference scenario based on 14 T Nb₃Sn magnets cooled to 1.9 K was considered, yielding 2.4 MW of synchrotron radiation and a power consumption of 360 MW or 2.3 TWh/y – a comparable power consumption to FCC-ee.

FCC-hh’s power consumption might be reduced below 300 MW if the magnet temperature can be raised to 4.5 K. Outlining the potential use of high-
temperature superconductors for 14 to 20 T dipole magnets operating at temperatures between 4.5 K and 20 K, the report notes that such technology could either extend the centre-of-mass energy of FCC-hh to 120 TeV or lead to significantly improved operational sustainability at the same collision energy. “The time window of more than 25 years opened by the lepton-collider stage is long enough to bring that technology to market maturity,” says FCC study leader Michael Benedikt  (CERN). “High-temperature superconductors have significant potential for industrial and societal applications, and particle accelerators can serve as pilots for market uptake, as was the case with the Tevatron and the LHC for NbTi technology.”

Society and sustainability

The report details the concepts and paths to keep the FCC’s environmental footprint low while boosting new technologies to benefit society and developing territorial synergies such as energy reuse. The civil construction process for FCC-ee, which would also serve FCC-hh, is estimated to result in about 500,000 tCO2(eq) over a period of 10 years, which the authors say corresponds to approximately one-third of the carbon budget of the Paris Olympic Games. A socio-economic impact assessment of the FCC integrating environmental aspects throughout its entire lifecycle reveals a positive cost–benefit ratio, even under conservative assumptions and adverse implementation conditions.

The actual journey towards the realisation of the FCC starts now

A major achievement of the FCC feasibility study has been the development of the layout and placement of the collider ring and related infrastructure, which have been optimised for scientific benefit while taking into account territorial compatibility, environmental and construction constraints, and cost. No fewer than 100 scenarios were developed and analysed before settling on the preferred option: a ring circumference of 90.7 km with shaft depths ranging between 200 and 400 m, with eight surface sites and four experiments. Throughout the study, CERN has been accompanied by its host states, France and Switzerland, working with entities at the local, regional and national levels to ensure a constructive dialogue with territorial stakeholders.

The final report of the FCC feasibility study together with numerous referenced technical documents have been submitted to the ongoing ESPP 2026 update, along with studies of alternative projects proposed by the community. The CERN Council may take a decision around 2028.

“After four years of effort, perseverance and creativity, the FCC feasibility study was concluded on 31 March 2025,” says Benedikt. “The actual journey towards the realisation of the FCC starts now and promises to be at least as fascinating as the successive steps that brought us to the present state.”

The post FCC feasibility study complete appeared first on CERN Courier.

The most recent edition attracted more than 100 participants to the historic Hotel Shanker in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 9 to 13 December 2024. The conference aimed to facilitate interactions between researchers from BCVSPIN countries and the broader international community, covering topics such as collider physics, cosmology, gravitational waves, dark matter, neutrino physics, particle astrophysics, physics beyond the Standard Model and machine learning. Participants ranged from renowned professors from across the globe to aspiring students.

Speaking of aspiring students, the main event was preceded by the BCVSPIN-2024 Masterclass in Particle Physics and Workshop in Machine Learning, hosted at Tribhuvan University from 4 to 6 December. The workshop provided 34 undergraduate and graduate students from around Nepal with a comprehensive introduction to particle physics, high-energy physics (HEP) experiments and machine learning. In addition to lectures, the workshop engaged students in hands-on sessions, allowing them to experience real research by exploring core concepts and applying machine-learning techniques to data from the ATLAS experiment. The students’ enthusiasm was palpable as they delved into the intricacies of particle physics and machine learning. The interactive sessions were particularly engaging, with students eagerly participating in discussions and practical exercises. Highlights included a special talk on artificial intelligence (AI) and a career development session focused on crafting CVs, applications and research statements. These sessions ensured participants were equipped with both academic insights and practical guidance. The impact on students was profound, as they gained valuable skills and networking opportunities, preparing them for future careers in HEP.

The BCVSPIN conference officially started the following Monday. In the spirit of BCVSPIN, the first plenary session featured an insightful talk on the status and prospects of HEP in Nepal, providing valuable insights for both locals and newcomers to the initiative. Then, the latest and the near-future physics highlights of experiments such as ATLAS, ALICE, CMS, as well as Belle, DUNE and IceCube, were showcased. From physics performance such as ATLAS nailing b-tagging with graph neural networks, to the most elaborate mass measurement of the W boson mass by CMS, not to mention ProtoDUNE’s runs exceeding expectations, the audience were offered comprehensive reviews of the recent breakthroughs on the experimental side. The younger physicists willing to continue or start hardware efforts surely appreciated the overview and schedule of the different upgrade programmes. The theory talks covered, among others, dark-matter models, our dear friend the neutrino and the interactions between the two. A special talk on AI invited the audience to reflect on what AI really is and how – in the midst of the ongoing revolution – it impacts the fields of physics and physicists themselves. Overviews of long-term future endeavours such as the Electron–Ion Collider and the Future Circular Collider concluded the programme.

BCVSPIN offers younger scientists precious connections with physicists from the international community

A special highlight of the conference was a public lecture “Oscillating Neutrinos” by the 2015 Nobel Laureate Takaaki Kajita. The event was held near the historical landmark of Patan Durbar Square, in the packed auditorium of the Rato Bangala School. This centre of excellence is known for its innovative teaching methods and quality instruction. More than half the room was filled with excited students from schools and universities, eager to listen to the keynote speaker. After a very pedagogical introduction explaining the “problem of solar neutrinos”, Kajita shared his insights on the discovery of neutrino oscillations and its implications for our understanding of the universe. His presentation included historical photographs of the experiments in Kamioka, Japan, as well as his participation at BCVSPIN in 1994. After encouraging the students to become scientists and answering as many questions as time allowed, he was swept up in a crowd of passionate Nepali youth, thrilled to be in the presence of such a renowned physicist.

The BCVSPIN initiative has changed the landscape of HEP in South and Southeast Asia. With participation made affordable for students, it is a stepping stone for the younger generation of scientists, offering them precious connections with physicists from the international community.

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The symposium will begin by surveying the implementation of the last strategy process, whose recommendations were approved by the CERN Council in June 2020. In-depth working-group discussions on all areas of physics and technology will follow.

The rest of the week will see plenary sessions on the different physics and technology areas, starting with various proposals for possible large accelerator projects at CERN, and the status and plans in other regions of the world. Open questions, as well as how they can be addressed by the proposed projects, will be presented in rapporteur talks. This will be followed by longer discussion blocks where the full community can get engaged. On the final day, members of the European Strategy Group will summarise the national inputs and other overarching topics to the ESPP.

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The Physics Preparatory Group (PPG) will play an important role in distilling the community’s scientific input and scientific discussions at the open symposium in Venice in June 2025 into a “physics briefing book”. At its meeting in September 2024, CERN Council appointed eight members of the PPG, four on the recommendation of the scientific policy committee and four on the recommendation of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA). In addition, the PPG has one representative from CERN and two representatives each from the Americas and Asia.

The strategy secretariat also proposed to form nine working groups to cover the full range of physics topics as well as the technology areas of accelerators, detectors and computing. The work of these groups will be co-organised by two conveners, with one of them being a member of the PPG. In addition, an early-career researcher has been appointed to each group to act as a scientific secretary. Both the appointments of the co-conveners and of the early-career researchers are important to increase the engagement by the broader community in the current update. The full composition of the PPG, the co-conveners and the scientific secretaries of the working groups is available on the strategy web pages.

The strategy secretariat has also devised guidelines for input by the community. Any submitted documents must be no more than 10 pages long and provide a comprehensive and self-contained summary of the input. Additional information and details can be submitted in a separate backup document that can be consulted on by the PPG if clarification on any aspect is required. A backup document is not, however, mandatory.

A major component are inputs by national high-energy physics communities, which are expected to be collected individually by each country, and in some cases by region. The information collected from different countries and regions will be most useful if it is as coherent and uniform as possible when addressing the key issues. To assist with this, the ECFA has put together a set of guidelines.

It is anticipated that a number of proposals for large-scale research projects will be submitted as input to the strategy process, including, but not limited to, particle colliders and collider detectors. These proposals are likely to vary in scale, anticipated timeline and technical maturity. In addition to studying the scientific potential of these projects, the ESG wishes to evaluate the sequence of delivery steps and the challenges associated with delivery, and to understand how each project could fit into the wider roadmap for European particle physics. In order to allow a straightforward comparison of projects, we therefore request that all large-scale projects submit a standardised set of technical data in addition to their physics case and technical description.

It is anticipated that a number of proposals for large-scale research projects will be submitted as input to the strategy

To allow the community to take into account and to react to the submissions collected by March 2025 and to the content of the briefing book, national communities are offered further opportunities for input: first ahead of the open symposium (see p11), with a deadline of 26 May 2025; and then ahead of the drafting session, with a deadline of 14 November 2025.

In this strategy process the community must converge on a preferred option for the next collider at CERN and identify a prioritised list of alternative options. The outcome of the process will provide the basis for the decision by CERN Council in 2027 or 2028 on the construction of the next large collider at CERN, following the High-Luminosity LHC. Areas of priority for exploration complementary to colliders and for other experiments to be considered at CERN and other laboratories in Europe will also be identified, as well as priorities for participation in projects outside Europe.

Given the importance of this process and its outcomes, I encourage strong community involvement throughout to reach a consensus for the future of our field.

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Particle accelerators and spacecraft both operate in harsh radiation environments, extreme temperatures and high vacuum. Each must process large amounts of data quickly and autonomously. Much can be gained from cooperation between scientists and engineers in each field.

Ten years ago, the European Space Agency (ESA) and CERN signed a bilateral cooperation agreement to share expertise and facilities. The goal was to expand the limits of human knowledge and keep Europe at the leading edge of progress, innovation and growth. A decade on, CERN and ESA have collaborated on projects ranging from cosmology and planetary exploration to Earth observation and human spaceflight, supporting new space-tech ventures and developing electronic systems, radiation-monitoring instruments and irradiation facilities.

1. Mapping the universe

The Euclid space telescope is exploring the dark universe by mapping the large-scale structure of billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years across more than a third of the sky. With tens of petabytes expected in its final data set – already a substantial reduction of the 850 billion bits of compressed images Euclid processes each day – it will generate more data than any other ESA mission by far.

With many CERN cosmologists involved in testing theories of beyond-the-Standard-Model physics, Euclid first became a CERN-recognised experiment in 2015. CERN also contributes to the development of Euclid’s “science ground segment” (SGS), which processes raw data received from the Euclid spacecraft into usable scientific products such as galaxy catalogues and dark-matter maps. CERN’s virtual-machine file system (CernVM-FS) has been integrated into the SGS to allow continuous software deployment across Euclid’s nine data centres and on developers’ laptops.

The telescope was launched in July 2023 and began observations in February 2024. The first piece of its great map of the universe was released in October 2024, showing millions of stars and galaxies from observations and covering 132 square degrees of the southern sky (see “Sky map” figure). Based on just two weeks of observations, it accounts for just 1% of project’s six-year survey, which will be the largest cosmic map ever made.

Future CERN–ESA collaborations on cosmology, astrophysics and multimessenger astronomy are likely to include the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the NewAthena X-ray observatory. LISA will be the first space-based observatory to study gravitational waves. NewAthena will study the most energetic phenomena in the universe. Both projects are expected to be ready to launch about 10 years from now.

2. Planetary exploration

Though planetary exploration is conceptually far from fundamental physics, its technical demands require similar expertise. A good example is the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, which will make detailed observations of the gas giant and its three large ocean-bearing moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

Jupiter’s magnetic field is a million times greater in volume than Earth’s magnetosphere, trapping large fluxes of highly energetic electrons and protons. Before JUICE, the direct and indirect impact of high-energy electrons on modern electronic devices, and in particular their ability to cause “single event effects”, had never been studied before. Two test campaigns took place in the VESPER facility, which is part of the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) project. Components were tested with tuneable beam energies between 60 and 200 MeV, and average fluxes of roughly 10⁸ electrons per square centimetre per second, mirroring expected radiation levels in the Jovian system.

JUICE was successfully launched in April 2023, starting an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter including several flyby manoeuvres that will be used to commission the onboard instruments (see “Flyby” figure). JUICE should reach Jupiter in July 2031. It remains to be seen whether test results obtained at CERN have successfully de-risked the mission.

Another interesting example of cooperation on planetary exploration is the Mars Sample Return mission, which must operate in low temperatures during eclipse phases. CERN supported the main industrial partner, Thales Alenia Space, in qualifying the orbiter’s thermal-protection systems in cryogenic conditions.

3. Earth observation

Earth observation from orbit has applications ranging from environmental monitoring to weather forecasting. CERN and ESA collaborate both on developing the advanced technologies required by these applications and ensuring they can operate in the harsh radiation environment of space.

In 2017 and 2018, ESA teams came to CERN’s North Area with several partner companies to test the performance of radiation monitors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and electronics chips in ultra-high-energy ion beams at the Super Proton Synchrotron. The tests mimicked the ultra-high-energy part of the galactic cosmic-ray spectrum, whose effects had never previously been measured on the ground beyond 10 GeV/nucleon. In 2017, ESA’s standard radiation-environment monitor and several FPGAs and multiprocessor chips were tested with xenon ions. In 2018, the highlight of the campaign was the testing of Intel’s Myriad-2 artificial intelligence (AI) chip with lead ions (see “Space AI” figure). Following its radiation characterisation and qualification, in 2020 the chip embarked on the φ-sat-1 mission to autonomously detect clouds using images from a hyperspectral camera.

More recently, CERN joined Edge SpAIce – an EU project to monitor ecosystems onboard the Balkan-1 satellite and track plastic pollution in the oceans. The project will use CERN’s high-level synthesis for machine learning (hls4ml) AI technology to run inference models on an FPGA that will be launched in 2025.

Looking further ahead, ESA’s φ-lab and CERN’s Quantum Technology Initiative are sponsoring two PhD programmes to study the potential of quantum machine learning, generative models and time-series processing to advance Earth observation. Applications may accelerate the task of extracting features from images to monitor natural disasters, deforestation and the impact of environmental effects on the lifecycle of crops.

4. Dosimetry for human spaceflight

In space, nothing is more important than astronauts’ safety and wellbeing. To this end, in August 2021 ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet activated the LUMINA experiment inside the International Space Station (ISS), as part of the ALPHA mission (see “Space dosimetry” figure). Developed under the coordination of the French Space Agency and the Laboratoire Hubert Curien at the Université Jean-Monnet-Saint-Étienne and iXblue, LUMINA uses two several-kilometre-long phosphorous-doped optical fibres as active dosimeters to measure ionising radiation aboard the ISS.

When exposed to radiation, optical fibres experience a partial loss of transmitted power. Using a reference control channel, radiation-induced attenuation can be accurately measured related to the total ionising dose, with the sensitivity of the device primarily governed by the length of the fibre. Having studied optical-fibre-based technologies for many years, CERN helped optimise the architecture of the dosimeters and performed irradiation tests to calibrate the instrument, which will operate on the ISS for a period of up to five years.

LUMINA complements dosimetry measurements performed on the ISS using CERN’s Timepix technology – an offshoot of the hybrid-pixel-detector technology developed for the LHC experiments (CERN Courier September/October 2024 p37). Timepix dosimeters have been integrated in multiple NASA payloads since 2012.

5. Radiation-hardness assurance

It’s no mean feat to ensure that CERN’s accelerator infrastructure functions in increasingly challenging radiation environments. Similar challenges are found in space. Damage can be caused by accumulating ionising doses, single-event effects (SEEs) or so-called displacement damage dose, which dislodges atoms within a material’s crystal lattice rather than ionising them. Radiation-hardness assurance (RHA) reduces radiation-induced failures in space through environment simulations, part selection and testing, radiation-tolerant design, worst-case analysis and shielding definition.

Since its creation in 2008, CERN’s Radiation to Electronics project has amplified the work of many equipment and service groups in modelling, mitigating and testing the effect of radiation on electronics. A decade later, joint test campaigns with ESA demonstrated the value of CERN’s facilities and expertise to RHA for spaceflight. This led to the signing of a joint protocol on radiation environments, technologies and facilities in 2019, which also included radiation detectors and radiation-tolerant systems, and components and simulation tools.

Among CERN’s facilities is CHARM: the CERN high-energy-accelerator mixed-field facility, which offers an innovative approach to low-cost RHA. CHARM’s radiation field is generated by the interaction between a 24 GeV/c beam from the Proton Synchrotron and a metallic target. CHARM offers a uniquely wide spectrum of radiation types and energies, the possibility to adjust the environment using mobile shielding, and enough space to test a medium-sized satellite in full operating conditions.

Radiation testing is particularly challenging for the new generation of rapidly developed and often privately funded “new space” projects, which frequently make use of commercial and off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Here, RHA relies on testing and mitigation rather than radiation hardening by design. For “flip chip” configurations, which have their active circuitry facing inward toward the substrate, and dense three-dimensional structures that cannot be directly exposed without compromising their performance, heavy-ion beams accelerated to between 10 and 100 MeV/nucleon are the only way to induce SEE in the sensitive semiconductor volumes of the devices.

To enable testing of highly integrated electronic components, ESA supported studies to develop the CHARM heavy ions for micro-electronics reliability-assurance facility – CHIMERA for short (see “CHIMERA” figure). ESA has sponsored key feasibility activities such as: tuning the ion flux in a large dynamic range; tuning the beam size for board-level testing; and reducing beam energy to maximise the frequency of SEE while maintaining a penetration depth of a few millimetres in silicon.

6. In-orbit demonstrators

Weighing 1 kg and measuring just 10 cm on each side – a nanosatellite standard – the CELESTA satellite was designed to study the effects of cosmic radiation on electronics (see “CubeSat” figure). Initiated in partnership with the University of Montpellier and ESA, and launched in July 2022, CELESTA was CERN’s first in-orbit technology demonstrator.

As well as providing the first opportunity for CHARM to test a full satellite, CELESTA offered the opportunity to flight-qualify SpaceRadMon, which counts single-event upsets (SEUs) and single-event latchups (SELs) in static random-access memory while using a field-effect transistor for dose monitoring. (SEUs are temporary errors caused by a high-energy particle flipping a bit and SELs are short circuits induced by high-energy particles.) More than 30 students contributed to the mission development, partially in the frame of ESA’s Fly Your Satellite Programme. Built from COTS components calibrated in CHARM, SpaceRadMon has since been adopted by other ESA missions such as Trisat and GENA-OT, and could be used in the future as a low-cost predictive maintenance tool to reduce space debris and improve space sustainability.

The maiden flight of the Vega-C launcher placed CELESTA on an atypical quasi-circular medium-Earth orbit in the middle of the inner Van Allen proton belt at roughly 6000 km. Two months of flight data sufficed to validate the performance of the payload and the ground-testing procedure in CHARM, though CELESTA will fly for thousands of years in a region of space where debris is not a problem due to the harsh radiation environment.

The CELESTA approach has since been adopted by industrial partners to develop radiation-tolerant cameras, radios and on-board computers.

7. Stimulating the space economy

Space technology is a fast-growing industry replete with opportunities for public–private cooperation. The global space economy will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035, according to the World Economic Forum – up from $630 billion in 2023 and growing at double the projected rate for global GDP.

Whether spun off from space exploration or particle physics, ESA and CERN look to support start-up companies and high-tech ventures in bringing to market technologies with positive societal and economic impacts (see “Spin offs” figure). The use of CERN’s Timepix technology in space missions is a prime example. Private company Advacam collaborated with the Czech Technical University to provide a Timepix-based radiation-monitoring payload called SATRAM to ESA’s Proba-V mission to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.

Advacam is now testing a pixel-detector instrument on JoeySat – an ESA-sponsored technology demonstrator for OneWeb’s next-generation constellation of satellites designed to expand global connectivity. Advacam is also working with ESA on radiation monitors for Space Rider and NASA’s Lunar Gateway. Space Rider is a reusable spacecraft whose maiden voyage is scheduled for the coming years, and Lunar Gateway is a planned space station in lunar orbit that could act as a staging post for Mars exploration.

Another promising example is SigmaLabs – a Polish startup founded by CERN alumni specialising in radiation detectors and predictive-maintenance R&D for space applications. SigmaLabs was recently selected by ESA and the Polish Space Agency to provide one of the experiments expected to fly on Axiom Mission 4 – a private spaceflight to the ISS in 2025 that will include Polish astronaut and CERN engineer Sławosz Uznański (CERN Courier May/June 2024 p55). The experiment will assess the scalability and versatility of the SpaceRadMon radiation-monitoring technology initially developed at CERN for the LHC and flight tested on the CELESTA CubeSat.

In radiation-hardness assurance, the CHIMERA facility is associated with the High-Energy Accelerators for Radiation Testing and Shielding (HEARTS) programme sponsored by the European Commission. Its 2024 pilot user run is already stimulating private innovation, with high-energy heavy ions used to perform business-critical research on electronic components for a dozen aerospace companies.

The post CERN and ESA: a decade of innovation appeared first on CERN Courier.

What motivates you to be CERN’s next Director-General?

CERN is an incredibly important organisation. I believe my deep passion for particle physics, coupled with the experience I have accumulated in recent years, including leading the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, DUNE, through a formative phase, and running the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the UK, has equipped me with the right skill set to lead CERN though a particularly important period.

How would you describe your management style?

That’s a good question. My overarching approach is built around delegating and trusting my team. This has two advantages. First, it builds an empowering culture, which in my experience provides the right environment for people to thrive. Second, it frees me up to focus on strategic planning and engagement with numerous key stakeholders. I like to focus on transparency and openness, to build trust both internally and externally.

How will you spend your familiarisation year before you take over in 2026?

First, by getting a deep understanding of CERN “from within”, to plan how I want to approach my mandate. Second, by lending my voice to the scientific discussion that will underpin the third update to the European strategy for particle physics. The European strategy process is a key opportunity for the particle-physics community to provide genuine bottom-up input and shape the future. This is going to be a really varied and exciting year.

What open question in fundamental physics would you most like to see answered in your lifetime?

I am going to have to pick two. I would really like to understand the nature of dark matter. There are a wide range of possibilities, and we are addressing this question from multiple angles; the search for dark matter is an area where the collider and non-collider experiments can both contribute enormously. The second question is the nature of the Higgs field. The Higgs boson is just so different from anything else we’ve ever seen. It’s not just unique – it’s unique and very strange. There are just so many deep questions, such as whether it is fundamental or composite. I am confident that we will make progress in the coming years. I believe the High-Luminosity LHC will be able to make meaningful measurements of the self-coupling at the heart of the Higgs potential. If you’d asked me five years ago whether this was possible, I would have been doubtful. But today I am very optimistic because of the rapid progress with advanced analysis techniques being developed by the brilliant scientists on the LHC experiments.

What areas of R&D are most in need of innovation to meet our science goals?

Artificial intelligence is changing how we look at data in all areas of science. Particle physics is the ideal testing ground for artificial intelligence, because our data is complex there are none of the issues around the sensitive nature of the data that exist in other fields. Complex multidimensional datasets are where you’ll benefit the most from artificial intelligence. I’m also excited by the emergence of new quantum technologies, which will open up fresh opportunities for our detector systems and also new ways of doing experiments in fundamental physics. We’ve only scratched the surface of what can be achieved with entangled quantum systems.

How about in accelerator R&D?

There are two areas that I would like to highlight: making our current technologies more sustainable, and the development of high-field magnets based on high-temperature superconductivity. This connects to the question of innovation more broadly. To quote one example among many, high-temperature superconducting magnets are likely to be an important component of fusion reactors just as much as particle accelerators, making this a very exciting area where CERN can deploy its engineering expertise and really push that programme forward. That’s not just a benefit for particle physics, but a benefit for wider society.

How has CERN changed since you were a fellow back in 1994?

The biggest change is that the collider experiments are larger and more complex, and the scientific and technical skills required have become more specialised. When I first came to CERN, I worked on the OPAL experiment at LEP – a collaboration of less than 400 people. Everybody knew everybody, and it was relatively easy to understand the science of the whole experiment.

My overarching approach is built around delegating and trusting my team

But I don’t think the scientific culture of CERN and the particle-physics community has changed much. When I visit CERN and meet with the younger scientists, I see the same levels of excitement and enthusiasm. People are driven by the wonderful mission of discovery. When planning the future, we need to ensure that early-career researchers can see a clear way forward with opportunities in all periods of their career. This is essential for the long-term health of particle physics. Today we have an amazing machine that’s running beautifully: the LHC. I also don’t think it is possible to overstate the excitement of the High-Luminosity LHC. So there’s a clear and exciting future out to the early 2040s for today’s early-career researchers. The question is what happens beyond that? This is one reason to ensure that there is not a large gap between the end of the High-Luminosity LHC and the start of whatever comes next.

Should the world be aligning on a single project?

Given the increasing scale of investment, we do have to focus as a global community, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single project. We saw something similar about 10 years ago when the global neutrino community decided to focus its efforts on two complementary long-baseline projects, DUNE and Hyper-Kamiokande. From the perspective of today’s European strategy, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) is an extremely appealing project that would map out an exciting future for CERN for many decades. I think we’ll see this come through strongly in an open and science-driven European strategy process.

How do you see the scientific case for the FCC?

For me, there are two key points. First, gaining a deep understanding of the Higgs boson is the natural next step in our field. We have discovered something truly unique, and we should now explore its properties to gain deeper insights into fundamental physics. Scientifically, the FCC provides everything you want from a Higgs factory, both in terms of luminosity and the opportunity to support multiple experiments.

Second, investment in the FCC tunnel will provide a route to hadron–hadron collisions at the 100 TeV scale. I find it difficult to foresee a future where we will not want this capability.

These two aspects make the FCC a very attractive proposition.

How successful do you believe particle physics is in communicating science and societal impacts to the public and to policymakers?

I think we communicate science well. After all, we’ve got a great story. People get the idea that we work to understand the universe at its most basic level. It’s a simple and profound message.

Going beyond the science, the way we communicate the wider industrial and societal impact is probably equally important. Here we also have a good story. In our experiments we are always pushing beyond the limits of current technology, doing things that have not been done before. The technologies we develop to do this almost always find their way back into something that will have wider applications. Of course, when we start, we don’t know what the impact will be. That’s the strength and beauty of pushing the boundaries of technology for science.

Would the FCC give a strong return on investment to the member states?

Absolutely. Part of the return is the science, part is the investment in technology, and we should not underestimate the importance of the training opportunities for young people across Europe. CERN provides such an amazing and inspiring environment for young people. The scale of the FCC will provide a huge number of opportunities for young scientists and engineers.

We need to ensure that early-career researchers can see a clear way forward with opportunities in all periods of their career. This is essential for the long-term health of particle physics

In terms of technology development, the detectors for the electron–positron collider will provide an opportunity for pushing forward and deploying new, advanced technologies to deliver the precision required for the science programme. In parallel, the development of the magnet technologies for the future hadron collider will be really exciting, particularly the potential use of high-temperature superconductors, as I said before.

It is always difficult to predict the specific “return on investment” on the technologies for big scientific research infrastructure. Part of this challenge is that some of that benefits might be 20, 30, 40 years down the line. Nevertheless, every retrospective that has tried, has demonstrated that you get a huge downstream benefit.

Do we reward technical innovation well enough in high-energy physics?

There needs to be a bit of a culture shift within our community. Engineering and technology innovation are critical to the future of science and critical to the prosperity of Europe. We should be striving to reward individuals working in these areas.

Should the field make it more flexible for physicists and engineers to work in industry and return to the field having worked there?

This is an important question. I actually think things are changing. The fluidity between academia and industry is increasing in both directions. For example, an early-career researcher in particle physics with a background in deep artificial-intelligence techniques is valued incredibly highly by industry. It also works the other way around, and I experienced this myself in my career when one of my post-doctoral researchers joined from an industry background after a PhD in particle physics. The software skills they picked up from industry were incredibly impactful.

I don’t think there is much we need to do to directly increase flexibility – it’s more about culture change, to recognise that fluidity between industry and academia is important and beneficial. Career trajectories are evolving across many sectors. People move around much more than they did in the past.

Does CERN have a future as a global laboratory?

CERN already is a global laboratory. The amazing range of nationalities working here is both inspiring and a huge benefit to CERN.

How can we open up opportunities in low- and middle-income countries?

I am really passionate about the importance of diversity in all its forms and this includes national and regional inclusivity. It is an agenda that I pursued in my last two positions. At the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, I was really keen to engage the scientific community from Latin America, and I believe this has been mutually beneficial. At STFC, we used physics as a way to provide opportunities for people across Africa to gain high-tech skills. Going beyond the training, one of the challenges is to ensure that people use these skills in their home nations. Otherwise, you’re not really helping low- and middle-income countries to develop.

What message would you like to leave with readers?

That we have really only just started the LHC programme. With more than a factor of 10 increase in data to come, coupled with new data tools and upgraded detectors, the High-Luminosity LHC represents a major opportunity for a new discovery. Its nature could be a complete surprise. That’s the whole point of exploring the unknown: you don’t know what’s out there. This alone is incredibly exciting, and it is just a part of CERN’s amazing future.

The post A word with CERN’s next Director-General appeared first on CERN Courier.

The International Muon Collider Collaboration (IMCC), supported by the EU MuCol study, is working to assess the potential of a muon collider as a future facility, along with the R&D needed to make it a reality. European engagement in this effort crystalised following the 2020 update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPPU), which identified the development of bright muon beams as a high-priority initiative. Worldwide interest in a muon collider is quickly growing: the 2023 Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) recently identified it as an important future possibility for the US particle-physics community; Japanese colleagues have proposed a muon-collider concept, muTRISTAN (CERN Courier July/August 2024 p8); and Chinese colleagues have actively contributed to IMCC efforts as collaboration members.

Lighting the way

The workshop focused on reviewing the scope and design progress of a muon-cooling demonstrator facility, identifying potential host sites and timelines, and exploring science programmes that could be developed alongside it. Diktys Stratakis (Fermilab) began by reviewing the requirements and challenges of muon cooling. Delivering a high-brightness muon beam will be essential to achieving the luminosity needed for a muon collider. The technique proposed for this is ionisation cooling, wherein the phase-space volume of the muon beam decreases as it traverses a sequence of cells, each containing an energy- absorbing mat­erial and accelerating radiofrequency (RF) cavities.

Roberto Losito (CERN) called for a careful balance between ambition and practicality – the programme must be executed in a timely way if a muon collider is to be a viable next-generation facility. The Muon Cooling Demonstrator programme was conceived to prove that this technology can be developed, built and reliably operated. This is a critical step for any muon-collider programme, as highlighted in the ESPPU–LDG Accelerator R&D Roadmap published in 2022. The plan is to pursue a staged approach, starting with the development of the magnet, RF and absorber technology, and demonstrating the robust operation of high-gradient RF cavities in high magnetic fields. The components will then be integrated into a prototype cooling cell. The programme will conclude with a demonstration of the operation of a multi-cell cooling system with a beam, building on the cooling proof of principle made by the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment.

Chris Rogers (STFC RAL) summarised an emerging consensus that it is critical to demonstrate the reliable operation of a cooling lattice formed of multiple cells. While the technological complexity of the cooling-cell prototype will undergo further review, the preliminary choice presents a moderately challenging performance that could be achieved within five to seven years with reasonable investment. The target cooling performance of a whole cooling lattice remains to be established and depends on future funding levels. However, delegates agreed that a timely demonstration is more important than an ambitious cooling target.

Worldwide interest in a muon collider is quickly growing

The workshop also provided an opportunity to assess progress in designing the cooling-cell prototype. Given that the muon beam originates from hadron decays and is initially the size of a watermelon, solenoid magnets were chosen as they can contain large beams in a compact lattice and provide focusing in both horizontal and vertical planes simultaneously. Marco Statera (INFN LASA) presented preliminary solutions for the solenoid coil configuration based on high-temperature superconductors operating at 20 K: the challenge is to deliver the target magnetic field profile given axial forces, coil stresses and compact integration.

In ionisation cooling, low-Z absorbers are used to reduce the transverse momenta of the muons while keeping the multiple scattering at manageable levels. Candidate materials are lithium hydride and liquid hydrogen. Chris Rogers discussed the need to test absorbers and containment windows at the highest intensities. The potential for performance tests using muons or intensity tests using another particle species such as protons was considered to verify understanding of the collective interaction between the beam and the absorber. RF cavities are required to replace longitudinal energy lost in the absorbers.  Dario Giove (INFN LASA) introduced the prototype of an RF structure based on three coupled 704 MHz cavities and presented a proposal to use existing INFN capabilities to carry out a test programme for materials and cavities in magnetic fields. The use of cavity windows was also discussed, as it would enable greater accelerating gradients, though at the cost of beam degradation, increased thermal loads and possible cavity detuning. The first steps in integ­rating these latest hardware designs into a compact cooling cell were presented by Lucio Rossi (INFN LASA and UMIL). Future work needs to address the management of the axial forces and cryogenic heat loads, Rossi observed.

Many institutes presented a strong interest in contributing to the programme, both in the hardware R&D and hosting the eventual demonstrator. The final sessions of the workshop focused on potential host laboratories.

The event underscored the critical need for sustained innovation, timely implementation and global cooperation

At CERN, two potential sites were discussed, with ongoing studies focusing on the TT7 tunnel, where a moderate-power 10 kW proton beam from the Proton Synchrotron could be used for muon production. Preliminary beam physics studies of muon beam production and transport are already underway. Lukasz Krzempek (CERN) and Paul Jurj (Imperial College London) presented the first integration and beam-physics studies of the demonstrator facility in the TT7 tunnel, highlighting civil engineering and beamline design requirements, logistical challenges and safety considerations, finding no apparent showstoppers.

Jeff Eldred (Fermilab) gave an overview of Fermilab’s broad range of candidate sites and proton-beam energies. While further feasibility studies are required, Eldred highlighted that using 8 GeV protons from the Booster is an attractive option due to the favourable existing infrastructure and its alignment with Fermilab’s muon-collider scenario, which envisions a proton driver based on the same Booster proton energy.

The Fermilab workshop represented a significant milestone in advancing the Muon Cooling Demonstrator, highlighting enthusiasm from the US community to join forces with the IMCC and growing interest in Asia. As Mark Palmer (BNL) observed in his closing remarks, the event underscored the critical need for sustained innovation, timely implementation and global cooperation to make the muon collider a reality.

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Aerosols are microscopic particles suspended in the atmosphere that arise from both natural sources and human activities. They play an important role in Earth’s climate system because they seed clouds and influence their reflectivity and coverage. Most aerosols arise from the spontaneous condensation of molecules that are present in the atmosphere only in minute concentrations. However, the vapours responsible for their formation are not well understood, particularly in the remote upper troposphere.

The CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets) experiment at CERN is designed to investigate the formation and growth of atmospheric aerosol particles in a controlled laboratory environment. CLOUD comprises a 26 m³ ultra-clean chamber and a suite of advanced instruments that continuously analyse its contents. The chamber contains a precisely selected mixture of gases under atmospheric conditions, into which beams of charged pions are fired from CERN’s Proton Synchrotron to mimic the influence of galactic cosmic rays.

“Large concentrations of aerosol particles have been observed high over the Amazon rainforest for the past 20 years, but their source has remained a puzzle until now,” says CLOUD spokesperson Jasper Kirkby. “Our latest study shows that the source is isoprene emitted by the rainforest and lofted in deep convective clouds to high altitudes, where it is oxidised to form highly condensable vapours. Isoprene represents a vast source of biogenic particles in both the present-day and pre-industrial atmospheres that is currently missing in atmospheric chemistry and climate models.”

Isoprene is a hydrocarbon containing five carbon atoms and eight hydrogen atoms. It is emitted by broad-leaved trees and other vegetation and is the most abundant non-methane hydrocarbon released into the atmosphere. Until now, isoprene’s ability to form new particles has been considered negligible.

The CLOUD results change this picture. By studying the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with isoprene at upper tropospheric temperatures of –30 °C and –50 °C, the collaboration discovered that isoprene oxidation products form copious particles at ambient isoprene concentrations. This new source of aerosol particles does not require any additional vapours. However, when minute concentrations of sulphuric acid or iodine oxoacids were introduced into the CLOUD chamber, a 100-fold increase in aerosol formation rate was observed. Although sulphuric acid derives mainly from anthropogenic sulphur dioxide emissions, the acid concentrations used in CLOUD can also arise from natural sources.

In addition, the team found that isoprene oxidation products drive rapid growth of particles to sizes at which they can seed clouds and influence the climate – a behaviour that persists in the presence of nitrogen oxides produced by lightning at upper-tropospheric concentrations. After continued growth and descent to lower altitudes, these particles may provide a globally important source for seeding shallow continental and marine clouds, which influence Earth’s radiative balance – the amount of incoming solar radiation compared to outgoing longwave radiation (see “Seeding clouds” figure).

“This new source of biogenic particles in the upper troposphere may impact estimates of Earth’s climate sensitivity, since it implies that more aerosol particles were produced in the pristine pre-industrial atmosphere than previously thought,” adds Kirkby. “However, until our findings have been evaluated in global climate models, it’s not possible to quantify the effect.”

The CLOUD findings are consistent with aircraft observations over the Amazon, as reported in an accompanying paper in the same issue of Nature. Together, the two papers provide a compelling picture of the importance of isoprene-driven aerosol formation and its relevance for the atmosphere.

Since it began operation in 2009, the CLOUD experiment has unearthed several mechanisms by which aerosol particles form and grow in different regions of Earth’s atmosphere. “In addition to helping climate researchers understand the critical role of aerosols in Earth’s climate, the new CLOUD result demonstrates the rich diversity of CERN’s scientific programme and the power of accelerator-based science to address societal challenges,” says CERN Director for Research and Computing, Joachim Mnich.

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IUPAP was established in 1922 in the aftermath of World War I to coordinate international efforts in physics. Its logo is recognisable from conferences and proceedings, but its mission is less widely understood. IUPAP is the only worldwide organisation dedicated to the advancement of all fields of physics. Its goals include promoting global development and cooperation in physics by sponsoring international meetings; strengthening physics education, especially in developing countries; increasing diversity and inclusion in physics; advancing the participation and recognition of women and of people from under-represented groups; enhancing the visibility of early-career talents; and promoting international agreements on symbols, units, nomenclature and standards. At the 33rd assembly, 300 physicists were elected to the executive council and specialised commissions for a period of three years.

Global scientific initiatives were highlighted, including the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ2025) and the International Decade on Science for Sustainable Development (IDSSD) from 2024 to 2033, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in August 2023. A key session addressed the importance of industry partnerships, with delegates exploring strategies to engage companies in IYQ2025 and IDSSD to further IUPAP’s mission of using physics to drive societal progress. Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi discussed the role of physics in promoting a sustainable future, and public lectures by fellow laureates Barry Barish, Takaaki Kajita and Samuel Ting filled the 1820-seat Oriental Universal Theater with enthusiastic students.

A key focus of the meeting was visa-related issues affecting international conferences. Delegates reaffirmed the union’s commitment to scientists’ freedom of movement. IUPAP stands against any discrimination in physics and will continue to sponsor events only in locations that uphold this value – a stance that is orthogonal to the policy of countries imposing sanctions on scientists affiliated with specific institutions.

A joint session with the fall meeting of the Chinese Physical Society celebrated the 25th anniversary of the IUPAP working group “Women in Physics” and emphasised diversity, equity and inclusion in the field. Since 2002, IUPAP has established precise guidelines for the sponsorship of conferences to ensure that women are fairly represented among participants, speakers and committee members, and has actively monitored the data ever since. This has contributed to a significant change in the participation of women in IUPAP-sponsored conferences. IUPAP is now building on this still-necessary work on gender by focusing on discrimination on the grounds of disability and ethnicity.

The closing ceremony brought together the themes of continuity and change. Incoming president Silvina Ponce Dawson (University of Buenos Aires) and president-designate Sunil Gupta (Tata Institute) outlined their joint commitment to maintaining an open dialogue among all physicists in an increasingly fragmented world, and to promoting physics as an essential tool for development and sustainability. Outgoing leaders Michel Spiro (CNRS) and Bruce McKellar (University of Melbourne) were honoured for their contributions, and the ceremonial handover symbolised a smooth transition of leadership.

As the general assembly concluded, there was a palpable sense of momentum. From strategic modernisation to deeper engagement with global issues, IUPAP is well-positioned to make physics more relevant and accessible. The resounding message was one of unity and purpose: the physics community is dedicated to leveraging science for a brighter, more sustainable future.

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What role does science communication play in your academic career?

When I was a postdoc I started to realise that the science communication side of my life was really important to me. It felt like I was having a big impact – and in research, you don’t always feel like you’re having that big impact. When you’re a grad student or postdoc, you spend a lot of time dealing with rejection, feeling like you’re not making progress or you’re not good enough. I realised that with science communication, I was able to really feel like I did know something, and I was able to share that with people.

When I began to apply for faculty jobs, I realised I didn’t want to just do science writing as a nights and weekends job, I wanted it to be integrated into my career. Partially because I didn’t want to give up the opportunity to have that kind of impact, but also because I really enjoyed it. It was energising for me and helped me contextualise the work I was doing as a scientist.

How did you begin your career in science communication?

I’ve always enjoyed writing stories and poetry. At some point I figured out that I could write about science. When I went to grad school I took a class on science journalism and the professor helped me pitch some stories to magazines, and I started to do freelance science writing. Then I discovered Twitter. That was even better because I could share every little idea I had with a big audience. Between Twitter and freelance science writing, I garnered quite a large profile in science communication and that led to opportunities to speak and do more writing. At some point I was approached by agents and publishers about writing books.

Who is your audience?

When I’m not talking to other scientists, my main community is generally those who have a high-school education, but not necessarily a university education. I don’t tailor things to people who aren’t interested in science, or try to change people’s minds on whether science is a good idea. I try to help people who don’t have a science background feel empowered to learn about science. I think there are a lot of people who don’t see themselves as “science people”. I think that’s a silly concept but a lot of people conceptualise it that way. They feel like science is closed to them.

The more that science communicators can give people a moment of understanding, an insight into science, I think they can really help people get more involved in science. The best feedback I’ve ever gotten is when students have come up to me and said “I started studying physics because I followed you on Twitter and I saw that I could do this,” or they read my book and that inspired them. That’s absolutely the best thing that comes out of this. It is possible to have a big impact on individuals by doing social media and science communication – and hopefully change the situation in science itself over time.

What were your own preconceptions of academia?

I have been excited about science since I was a little kid. I saw that Stephen Hawking was called a cosmologist, so I decided I wanted to be a cosmologist too. I had this vision in my head that I would be a theoretical physicist. I thought that involved a lot of standing alone in a small room with a blackboard, writing equations and having eureka moments. That’s what was always depicted on TV: you just sit by yourself and think real hard. When I actually got into academia, I was surprised by how collaborative and social it is. That was probably the biggest difference between expectation and reality.

How do you communicate the challenges of academia, alongside the awe-inspiring discoveries and eureka moments?

I think it’s important to talk about what it’s really like to be an academic, in both good ways and bad. Most people outside of academia have no idea what we do, so it’s really valuable to share our experiences, both because it challenges stereotypes in terms of what we’re really motivated by and how we spend our time, but also because there are a lot of people who have the same impression I did: where you just sit alone in a room with a chalkboard. I believe it’s important to be clear about what you actually do in academia, so more people can see themselves happy in the job.

At the same time, there are challenges. Academia is hard and can be very isolating. My advice for early-career researchers is to have things other than science in your life. As a student you’re working on something that potentially no one else cares very much about, except maybe your supervisor. You’re going to be the world-expert on it for a while. It can be hard to go through that and not have anybody to talk to about your work. I think it’s important to acknowledge what people go through and encourage them to get support.

There are of course other parts of academia that can be really challenging, like moving all the time. I went from West coast to East coast between undergrad and grad school, and then from the US to the UK, from the UK to Australia, back to the US and then to Canada. That’s a lot. It’s hard. They’re all big moves so you lose whatever local support system you had and you have to start over in a new place, make new friends and get used to a whole new government bureaucracy.

So there are a whole lot of things that are difficult about academia, and you do need to acknowledge those because a lot of them affect equity. Some of these make it more challenging to have diversity in the field, and they disproportionately affect some groups more than others. It is important to talk about these issues instead of just sweeping people under the rug.

Do you think that social media can help to diversify science and research?

Yes! I think that a large reason why people from underrepresented groups leave science is because they lack the feeling of belonging. If you get into a field and don’t feel like you belong, it’s hard to power through that. It makes it very unpleasant to be there. So I think that one of the ways social media can really help is by letting people see scientists who are not the stereotypical old white men. Talking about what being a scientist is really like, what the lifestyle is like, is really helpful for dismantling those stereotypes.

Your first book, The End of Everything, explored astrophysics but your next will popularise particle physics. Have you had to change your strategy when communicating different subjects?

This book is definitely a lot harder to write. The first one was very big and dramatic: the universe is ending! In this one, I’m really trying to get deeper into how fundamental physics works, which is a more challenging story to tell. The way I’m framing it is through “how to build a universe”. It’s about how fundamental physics connects with the structure of reality, both in terms of what we experience in our daily lives, but also the structure of the universe, and how physicists are working to understand that. I also want to highlight some of the scientists who are doing that work.

So yes, it’s much harder to find a catchy hook, but I think the subject matter and topics are things that people are curious about and have a hunger to understand. There really is a desire amongst the public to understand what the point of studying particle physics is.

Is high-energy physics succeeding when it comes to communicating with the public?

I think that there are some aspects where high-energy physics does a fantastic job. When the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012, it was all over the news and everybody was talking about it. Even though it’s a really tough concept to explain, a lot of people got some inkling of its importance.

A lot of science communication in high-energy physics relies on big discoveries, however recently there have not been that many discoveries at the level of international news. There have been many interesting anomalies in recent years, however in terms of discoveries we had the Higgs and the neutrino mass in 1998, but I’m not sure that there are many others that would really grab your attention if you’re not already invested in physics.

Part of the challenge is just the phase of discovery that particle physics is in right now. We have a model, and we’re trying to find the edges of validity of that model. We see some anomalies and then we fix them, and some might stick around. We have some ideas and theories but they might not pan out. That’s kind of the story we’re working with right now, whereas if you’re looking at astronomy, we had gravitational waves and dark energy. We get new telescopes with beautiful pictures all the time, so it’s easier to communicate and get people excited than it is in particle physics, where we’re constantly refining the model and learning new things. It’s a fantastically exciting time, but there have been no big paradigm shifts recently.

How can you keep people engaged in a subject where big discoveries aren’t constantly being made?

I think it’s hard. There are a few ways to go about it. You can talk about the really massive journey we’re on: this hugely consequential and difficult challenge we’re facing in high-energy physics. It’s a huge task of massive global effort, so you can help people feel involved in the quest to go beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

You need to acknowledge it’s going to be a long journey before we make any big discoveries. There’s much work to be done, and we’re learning lots of amazing things along the way. We’re getting much higher precision. The process of discovery is also hugely consequential outside of high-energy physics: there are so many technological spin-offs that tie into other fields, like cosmology. Discoveries are being made between particle and cosmological physics that are really exciting.

Every little milestone is an achievement to be celebrated

We don’t know what the end of the story looks like. There aren’t a lot of big signposts along the way where we can say “we’ve made so much progress, we’re halfway there!” Highlighting the purpose of discovery, the little exciting things that we accomplish along the way such as new experimental achievements, and the people who are involved and what they’re excited about – this is how we can get around this communication challenge.

Every little milestone is an achievement to be celebrated. CERN is the biggest laboratory in the world. It’s one of humanity’s crowning achievements in terms of technology and international collaboration – I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. CERN and the International Space Station. Those two labs are examples of where a bunch of different countries, which may or may not get along, collaborate to achieve something that they can’t do alone. Seeing how everyone works together on these projects is really inspiring. If more people were able to get a glimpse of the excitement and enthusiasm around these experiments, it would make a big difference.

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HEP solutions

There is a scientific consensus that the Earth has been warming consistently since the industrial revolution, with the Earth’s surface temperature now about 1.2 °C warmer than in the late 1800s. The Paris Agreement of 2015 aims to limit this increase to 1.5 °C, requiring a 50% cut in emissions by 2030. However, the current rise in greenhouse-gas emissions far exceeds this target. The relevance of a 1.5 °C limit is underscored by the fact that the difference between now and the last ice age (12,000 years ago) is only about 5 °C, explained Veronique Boisvert (Royal Holloway) in her riveting talk on the intersection of HEP and climate solutions. If temperatures rise by 4 °C in the next 50 years, as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-emissions scenario, it could cause disruptions beyond what our civilisation can handle. Intensifying heat waves and extreme weather events are already causing significant casualties and socio-economic disruptions, with 2023 the warmest year on record since 1850.

Masakazu Yoshioka (KEK) and Ben Shepherd (Daresbury) delved deeply into sustainable accelerator practices. Cement production for facility construction releases significant CO₂, prompting research in material sciences to reduce these emissions. Accelerator systems consume significant energy, and if powered by electricity grids coming from grid fossil fuels, they increase the carbon footprint. Energy-saving measures include reducing power consumption and recovering and reusing thermal energy, as demonstrated by CERN’s initiative to use LHC cooling water to heat homes in Ferney-Voltaire. Efforts should also focus on increasing CO₂ absorption and fixation in accelerator regions. Such measures can be effective – Yoshioka estimated that Japan’s Ichinoseki forest can absorb more CO₂ annually than the construction emissions of the proposed ILC accelerator over a decade.

Suzanne Evans (ARUP) explained how to perform lifecycle assessments of carbon emissions to evaluate environmental impacts. Sustainability efforts at C3, CEPC, CERN, DESY and ISIS-II were all presented. Thomas Roser (BNL) presented the ICFA strategy for sustainable accelerators, and Jorgen D’Hondt (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) outlined the Horizon Europe project Innovate for Sustainable Accelerating Systems (CERN Courier July/August 2024 p20).

Gaseous detectors contribute significantly to emissions through particle detection, cooling and insulation. Ongoing research to develop eco-friendly gas mixtures for Cherenkov detectors, resistive plate chambers and other detectors were discussed at length – alongside an emphasis from delegates on the need for more efficient and leak-free recirculating systems. On the subject of greener computing solutions, Loïc Lannelongue (Cambridge) emphasised the high-energy consumption of servers, storage and cooling. Collaborative efforts from grassroots movements, funding bodies and industry will be essential for progress.

Stopping global warming is an urgent task for humanity

Thijs Bouman (Groningen) delivered an engaging talk on the psychological aspects of sustainable energy transitions, emphasising the importance of understanding societal perceptions and behaviours. Ayan Paul (DESY) advocated for optimising scientific endeavours to reduce environmental impact, urging a balance between scientific advancement and ecological preservation. The workshop concluded with an interactive session on the “Know Your Footprint” tool by the Young High Energy Physicists (yHEP) Association, facilitated by Naman Bhalla (Freiburg), to calculate individual carbon impacts (CERN Courier May/June 2024 p66). The workshop also sparked dynamic discussions on reducing flight emissions, addressing travel culture and the high cost of public transport. Key questions included the effectiveness of lobbying and the need for more virtual meetings.

Jyoti Parikh, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors in 2007 and member of India’s former Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, presented the keynote lecture on global energy system and technology choices. While many countries aim to decarbonise their electricity grids, challenges remain. Green sources like solar and wind have low operating costs but unpredictable availability, necessitating better storage and digital technologies. Parikh emphasised that economic development with lower emissions is possible, but posed the critical question: “Can we do it in time?”

Stopping global warming is an urgent task for humanity. We must aim to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to nearly zero by 2050. While collaboration within local communities and industries is imperative; and individual efforts may seem small, every action is one step toward global efforts for our collective benefit. Sustainable HEP 2024 showcased innovative ideas, practical solutions and collaborative efforts to reduce the environmental impact of HEP. The event highlighted the community’s commitment to sustainability while advancing scientific knowledge.

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“Given the long timescales involved in building large colliders, it is vital that the community reaches a consensus to enable Council to take a decision on the next collider at CERN in 2027/2028,” Jakobs told the Courier. To reach that consensus it is important that the whole community is involved, he says, emphasising that, compared to previous strategy updates, there will be more opportunities to provide input at different stages. “There is excellent progress with the LHC and no new indication that would change our physics priorities: understanding the Higgs boson much better and exploring further the energy frontier are key to the next project.”

The European strategy for particle physics is the cornerstone of Europe’s decision-making process for the long-term future of the field. It was initiated by the CERN Council in 2005, when completing the LHC was listed as the top scientific priority, and has been updated twice. The first strategy update, adopted in 2013, continued to prioritise the LHC and its high-luminosity upgrade, and stated that Europe needed to be in a position to propose an ambitious post-LHC accelerator project at CERN by the time of the next strategy update. The second strategy update, completed in 2020, recommended an electron–positron Higgs factory as the highest priority, and that a technical and financial feasibility study for a next-generation hadron collider should be pursued in parallel.

Significant progress has been made since then. A feasibility study for the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN presented a mid-term report in March 2024, with a final report expected in spring 2025 (CERN Courier March/April 2024 pp25–38). There is also a clearer view of the international landscape. In December 2023 the US “P5” prioritisation process stated that the US would support a Higgs factory in the form of an FCC-ee at CERN or an International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan, while also exploring the feasibility of a high-energy muon collider at Fermilab (CERN Courier January/February 2024 p7). Shortly afterwards, a technical design report for the proposed Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China was released (CERN Courier March/April 2024 p39). The ILC project has meanwhile established an international technology network in a bid to increase global support.

Alternative scenarios

In addition to identifying the preferred option for the next collider at CERN, the strategy update is expected to prioritise alternative options to be pursued if the chosen preferred plan turns out not to be feasible or competitive. “That we should discuss alternatives to the chosen baseline is important to this strategy update,” says Jakobs. “If the FCC were chosen, for example, a lower-energy hadron collider, a linear collider and a muon collider are among the options that would likely be considered. However, in addition to differences in the physics potential we have to understand the technical feasibility and the timelines. Some of these alternatives may also require an extension of the physics exploitation at the HL-LHC.”

Given the long timescales involved in building large colliders, it is vital that the community reaches a consensus

The third strategy update will also indicate physics areas of priority for exploration complementary to colliders and add other relevant items, including accelerator, detector and computing R&D, theory developments, actions to minimise environmental impact and improve the sustainability of accelerator-based particle physics, initiatives to attract, train and retain early-career researchers, and public engagement.

The particle-physics community is invited to submit written inputs by 31 March 2025 via an online portal that will appear on the strategy secretariat’s web page. This will be followed by a scientific open symposium from 23 to 27 June 2025, where researchers will be invited to debate the future orientation of European particle physics. A “briefing book” based on the input and discussions will then be prepared by the physics preparatory group, the makeup of which was to be established by the Council in September before the Courier went to press. The briefing book will be submitted to the ESG by the end of September 2025 for consideration during a five-day-long drafting session, which is scheduled to take place from 1 to 5 December 2025. To allow the national communities to react to the submissions collected by March 2025 and to the content of the briefing book, they are offered further opportunities for input both ahead of the open symposium (with a deadline of 26 May 2025) and ahead of the drafting session (with a deadline of 14 November 2025). The ESG is expected to submit the proposed strategy update to the CERN Council by the end of January 2026.

“The timing is well chosen because at the end of 2025 we will have a lot of the relevant information, namely the final outcome of the FCC feasibility study plus, on the international scale, an update about what is going to happen in China,” says Jakobs. “The national inputs, whereby national communities are also invited to discuss their priorities, are considered very important and ECFA has produced guidelines to make the input more coherent. Early-career researchers are encouraged to contribute to all submissions, and we have restructured the physics preparatory group such that each working group has a scientific secretary who is an early-career researcher. We look forward to a very fruitful process over the forthcoming one and a half years.”

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In January 1962, CERN was for the first time moving from machine construction to scientific research with the machines. Director-General Victor Weisskopf took up the pen in the first CERN Courier after a brief hiatus. “This institution is remarkable in two ways,” he wrote. “It is a place where the most fantastic experiments are carried out. It is a place where international co-operation actually exists.”

A new generation of early-career researchers (ECRs) shares his convictions. Now, as then, they do much of the heavy lifting that builds the future of the field. Now, as then, they need resilience and vision. As Weisskopf wrote in these pages, the everyday work of high-energy physics (HEP) can hide its real importance – its romantic glory, as the renowned theorist put it. “All our work is for an idealistic aim, for pure science without commercial or any other interests. Our effort is a symbol of what science really means.”

As CERN turns 70, the Courier now hands the pen to the field’s next generation of leaders. All are new post-docs. Each has already made a tangible contribution and earned recognition from their colleagues. All, in short, are among the most recent winners of the four big LHC collaborations’ thesis prizes. Each was offered carte blanche to write about a subject of their choosing, which they believe will be strategically crucial to the future of the field. Almost all responded. These are their viewpoints.

Invest in accelerator innovation

I come from Dallas, Texas, so the Superconducting Super Collider should have been in my backyard as I was growing up. By the late 1990s, its 87 km ring could have delivered 20 TeV per proton beam. The Future Circular Collider could deliver 50 TeV per proton beam in a 91 km ring by the 2070s. I’d be retired before first collisions. Clearly, we need an intermediate-term project to keep expertise in our community. Among the options proposed so far, I’m most excited by linear electron–positron colliders, as they would offer sufficient energy to study the Higgs self-coupling via di-Higgs production. This could be decisive in understanding electroweak symmetry breaking and unveiling possible Higgs portals.

A paradigm shift for accelerators might achieve our physics goals without a collider’s cost scaling with its energy. A strong investment in collider R&D could therefore offer hope for my generation of scientists to push back the energy frontier. Muon colliders avoid synchrotron radiation. Plasma wakefields offer a 100-fold increase in electric field gradient. Though both represent enormous challenges, psychologists have noted an “end of history” phenomenon, whereby as humans we appreciate how much we have changed in the past, but under­estimate how much we will change in the future. Reflecting on the past physics breakthroughs galvanises me to optimism: unlocking the next chapter of physics has always been within the reach of technological innovation. CERN has been a mecca for accelerator applications in the last 70 years. I’d argue that a strong increase in support for novel collider R&D is the best way to carry this legacy forwards.

Nicole Hartman is a post-doc at the Technical University of Munich and Origins Data Science Lab. She was awarded a PhD by Stanford University for her thesis “A search for non-resonant HH → 4b at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector – or – 2b, and then another 2b… now that’s the thesis question”.

Reward technical work with career opportunities

This job is a passion and a privilege, and ECRs devote nights and weekends to our research. But this energy should be handled in a more productive way. In particular, technical work on hardware and software is not valued and rewarded as it should be. ECRs who focus on technical aspects are often forced to divide their focus with theoretical work and data analysis, or suffer reduced opportunities to pursue an academic career. Is this correct? Why shouldn’t technical and scientific work be valued in the same way?

I am very hopeful for the future. In recent years, I have seen improvements in this direction, with many supervisors increasingly pushing their students towards technical work. I expect senior leadership to make organisational adjustments to reward and value these two aspects of research in exactly the same way. This cultural shift would greatly benefit our physics community by more efficiently transforming the enthusiasm and hard work of ECRs into skilled contributions to the field that are sustained over the decades.

Alessandro Scarabotto is a postdoctoral researcher at Technische Universität Dortmund. He was awarded a PhD by Sorbonne Université, Paris, for his thesis “Search for rare four-body charm decays with electrons in the final state and long track reconstruction for the LHCb trigger”.

A revolving door to industry

Big companies’ energy usage is currently skyrocketing to fuel their artificial intelligence (AI) systems. There is a clear business adaptation of my research on fast, energy-saving AI triggers, but I feel completely unable to make this happen. Why, as a field, are we unable to transfer our research to industry in an effective way?

While there are obvious milestones for taking data to publication, there is no equivalent for starting a business or getting our research into major industry players. Our collaborations are incubators for ideas and people. They should implement dedicated strategies to help ECRs obtain the funding, professional connections and business skills they need to get their ideas into the wider world. We should be presenting at industry conferences – both to offer solutions to industry and to obtain them for our own research – and industry sessions within our own conferences could bring links to every part of our field.

Most importantly, the field should encourage a revolving door between academia and industry to optimise the transfer of knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, when physicists leave for industry, slow, single-track physics career progressions and our focus on publication count rather than skills make a return unrealistic. There also needs to be a way of attracting talent from industry into physics without the requirement of a PhD so that experienced people can start or return to research in high-profile positions suitable for their level of work and life experience.

Christopher Brown is a CERN fellow working on next-generation triggers. He was awarded a PhD by Imperial College London for his thesis “Fast machine learning in the CMS Level-1 trigger for the High-Luminosity LHC”.

Collaboration, retention and support

I feel a strong sense of agency regarding the future of our field. The upcoming High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will provide a wealth of data beyond what the LHC has offered, and we should be extremely excited about the increased discovery potential. Looking further ahead, I share the vision of a future Higgs factory as the next logical step for the field. The proposed Future Circular Collider is currently the most feasible option. However, the high cost and evolving geopolitical landscape are causes for concern. One of the greatest challenges we face is retaining talent and expertise. In the US, it has become increasingly difficult for researchers to find permanent positions after completing postdocs, leading to a loss of valuable technical and operational expertise. On a positive note, our field has made significant strides in providing opportunities for students from under­represented nationalities and socioeconomic backgrounds – I am a beneficiary of these efforts. Still, I believe we should intensify our focus on supporting individuals as they transition through different career stages to ensure a vibrant and diverse future workforce.

Prajita Bhattarai is a research associate at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the US. She was awarded her PhD by Brandeis University in the US for her thesis “Standard Model electroweak precision measurements with two Z bosons and two jets in ATLAS”.

Redesign collaborations for equitable opportunity

Particle physics and cosmology capture the attention of nearly every inquisitive child. Though large collaborations and expensive machines have produced some of humankind’s most spectacular achievements, they have also made the field inaccessible to many young students. Making a meaningful contribution is contingent upon being associated with an institution or university that is a member of an experimental collaboration. One typically also has to study in a country that has a cooperation agreement with an international organisation like CERN.

If future experiments want to attract diverse talent, they should consider new collaborative models that allow participation irrespective of a person’s institution or country of origin. Scientific and financial responsibilities could be defined based on expertise and the research grants of individual research groups. Remote operations centres across the globe, such as those trialled by CERN experiments, could enable participants to fulfil their responsibilities without being constrained by international borders and travel budgets; the worldwide revolution in connectivity infrastructure could provide an opportunity to make this the norm rather than the exception. These measures could provide equitable opportunities to everyone while simultaneously maximising the scientific output of our field.

Spandan Mondal is a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University in the US. He was awarded a PhD by RWTH Aachen in Germany for his thesis on the CMS experiment “Charming decays of the Higgs, Z, and W bosons: development and deployment of a new calibration method for charm jet identification”.

Reward risk taking

Young scientists often navigate complex career paths, where the pressure to produce consistent publishable results can stifle creativity and discourage risk taking. Traditionally, young researchers are evaluated almost solely on achieved results, often leading to a culture of risk aversion. To foster a culture of innovation we must shift our approach to research and evaluation. To encourage bold and innovative thinking among ECRs, the fuel of scientific progress, we need to broaden our definition of success. European funding and grants have made strides in recognising innovative ideas, but more is needed. Mentorship and peer-review systems must also evolve, creating an environment open to innovative thinking, with a calculated approach to risk, guided by experienced scientists. Concrete actions include establishing mentorship programmes during scientific events, such as workshops and conferences. To maximise the impact, these programmes should prioritise diversity among mentors and mentees, ensuring that a wide range of perspectives and experiences are shared. Equally important is recognising and rewarding innovation. This can be achieved by dedicated awards that value originality and potential impact over guaranteed success. Celebrating attempts, even failed ones, can shift the focus from the outcome to the process of discovery, inspiring a new generation of scientists to push the boundaries of knowledge.

Francesca Ercolessi is a post-doc at the University of Bologna. She was awarded a PhD by the University of Bologna for her thesis “The interplay of multiplicity and effective energy for (multi) strange hadron production in pp collisions at the LHC”.

Our employment model stifles creativity

ECR colleagues are deeply passionate about the science they do and wish to pursue a career in our field – “if possible”. Is there anything one can do to better support this new generation of physicists? In my opinion, we have to address the scarcity of permanent positions in our field. Short-term contracts lead to risk aversion, and short-term projects with a high chance of publication increase your employment prospects. This is in direct contrast to what is needed to successfully complete ambitious future projects this century – projects that require innovation and out-of-the-box thinking by bright young minds.

In addition, employment in fundamental science is more than ever in direct competition with permanent jobs in industry. For example, machine learning and computing experts innovate our field with novel analysis techniques, but end up ultimately leaving our field to apply their skills in permanent employment elsewhere. If we want to keep talent in our field we must create a funding structure that allows realistic prospects for long-term employment and commitment to future projects.

Florian Jonas is a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley and LBNL. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Münster for his thesis on the ALICE experiment “Probing the initial state of heavy-ion collisions with isolated prompt photons”.

Embrace private expertise and investment

The two great challenges of our time are data taking and data analysis. Rare processes like the production of Higgs-boson pairs have cross sections 10 orders of magnitude smaller than their backgrounds – and during HL-LHC operation the CMS trigger will have to analyse about 50 TB/s and take decisions with a latency of 12.5 μs. In recent years, we have made big steps forward with machine learning, but our techniques are not always up to speed with the current state-of-the-art in the private sector.

To sustain and accelerate our progress, the HEP community must be more open to new sources of funding, particularly from private investments. Collaborations with tech companies and private investors can provide not only financial support but also access to advanced technologies and expertise. Encouraging CERN–private partnerships can lead to the development of innovative tools and infrastructure, driving the field forward.

The recent establishment of the Next Generation Trigger Project, funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, represents the first step toward this kind of collaboration. Thanks to overlapping R&D interests, this could be scaled up to direct partnerships with companies to introduce large and sustained streams of funds. This would not only push the boundaries of our knowledge but also inspire and support the next generation of physicists, opening new tenured positions thanks to private funding.

Jona Motta is a post-doc at Universität Zürich. He was awarded a PhD by Institut Polytechnique de Paris for his thesis “Development of machine learning based τ trigger algorithms and search for Higgs boson pair production in the bbττ decay channel with the CMS detector at the LHC”.

Stability would stop the brain drain

The proposed Future Circular Collider presents a formidable challenge. Every aspect of its design, construction, commissioning and operations would require extensive R&D to achieve the needed performance and stability, and fully exploit the machine’s potential. The vast experience acquired at the LHC will play a significant role. Knowledge must be preserved and transmitted between generations. But the loss of expertise is already a significant problem at the LHC.

The main reason for young scientists to leave the field is the lack of institutional support: it’s hard to count on a stable working environment, regardless of our expertise and performance. The difficulty in finding permanent academic or research positions and the lack of recognition and advancement are all viewed as serious obstacles to pursuing a career in HEP. In these conditions, a young physicist might find competitive sectors such as industry or finance more appealing given the highly stable future they offer.

It is crucial to address this problem now for the HL-LHC. Large HEP collaborations should be more supportive to ensure better recognition and career advancement towards permanent positions. This kind of policy could help to retain young physicists and ensure they continue to be involved in the current HEP projects that would then define the success of the FCC.

Hassnae El Jarrari is a CERN research fellow in experimental physics. She was awarded a PhD by Université Mohammed-V De Rabat for her thesis “Dark photon searches from Higgs boson and heavy boson decays using pp collisions recorded at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and performance evaluation of the low gain avalanche detectors for the HL-LHC ATLAS high-granularity timing detector”.

Reduce environmental impacts

The main challenge for the future of large-scale HEP experiments is reducing our environmental impact, and raising awareness is key to this. For example, before running a job, the ALICE computing grid provides an estimate of its CO₂-equivalent carbon footprint, to encourage code optimisation and save power.

I believe that if we want to thrive in the future, we should adopt a new way of doing physics where we think critically about the environment. We should participate in more collaboration meetings and conferences remotely, and promote local conferences that are reachable by train.

I’m not saying that we should ban air travel tout court. It’s especially important for early-career scientists to get their name out there and to establish connections. But by attending just one major international conference in person every two years, and publicising alternative means of communication, we can save resources and travel time, which can be invested in our home institutions. This would also enable scientists from smaller groups with reduced travel budgets to attend more conferences and disseminate their findings.

Luca Quaglia is a postdoctoral fellow at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino. He was awarded his PhD by the University of Torino for his thesis “Development of eco-friendly gas mixtures for resistive plate chambers”.

Invest in software and computing talent

With both computing and human resources in short supply, funds must be invested wisely. While scaling up infrastructure is critical and often seems like the simplest remedy, the human factor is often overlooked. Innovative ideas and efficient software solutions require investment in training and the recruitment of skilled researchers.

This investment must start with a stronger integration of software education into physics degrees. As the boundaries between physics and computer science blur, universities must provide a solid foundation, raise awareness of the importance of software in HEP and physics in general, and promote best practices to equip the next generation for the challenges of the future. Continuous learning must be actively supported, and young researchers must be provided with sufficient resources and appropriate mentoring from experienced colleagues.

Software skills remain in high demand in industry, where financial incentives and better prospects often attract skilled people from academia. It is in the interest of the community to retain top talent by creating more attractive and secure career paths. After all, a continuous drain of talent and knowledge is detrimental to the field, hinders the development of efficient software and computing solutions, and is likely to prove more costly in the long run.

Joshua Beirer is a CERN research fellow in the offline software group of the ATLAS experiment and part of the lab’s strategic R&D programme on technologies for future experiments. He was awarded his PhD by the University of Göttingen for his thesis “Novel approaches to the fast simulation of the ATLAS calorimeter and performance studies of track-assisted reclustered jets for searches for resonant X → SH → bbWW^* production with the ATLAS detector”.

Strengthen international science

HEP is at an exciting yet critical inflection point. The coming years hold both unparalleled opportunities and growing challenges, including an expanding arena of international competition and the persistent issue of funding and resource allocation. In a swiftly evolving digital age, scientists must rededicate themselves to public service, engagement and education, informing diverse communities about the possible technological advancements of HEP research, and sharing with the world the excitement of discovering fundamental knowledge of the universe. Collaborations must be strengthened across international borders and political lines, pooling resources from multiple countries to traverse cultural gaps and open the doors of scientific diplomacy. With ever-increasing expenses and an uncertain political future, scientists must insist upon the importance of public research irrespective of any national agenda, and reinforce scientific veracity in a rapidly evolving world that is challenged by growing misinformation. Most importantly, the community must establish global priorities in a maturing age of precision, elevating not only new discoveries but the necessary scientific repetition to better understand what we discover.

The most difficult issues facing HEP research today are addressable and furthermore offer excellent opportunities to develop the scientific approach for the next several decades. By tackling these issues now, scientists can continue to focus on the mysteries of the universe, driving scientific and technological advancements for the betterment of all.

Ezra D. Lesser is a CERN research fellow working with the LHCb collaboration. He was awarded his PhD in physics by the University of California, Berkeley for his thesis: Measurements of jet substructure in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √s_NN = 5.02 TeV with ALICE”.

Recognise R&D

ECRs must drive the field’s direction by engaging in prospect studies for future experiments, but dedicating time to this essential work comes at the expense of analysing existing data – a trade-off that can jeopardise our careers. With most ECRs employed on precarious two-to-four year contracts, time spent on these studies can result in fewer high-profile publications, making it harder to secure our next academic position. Another important factor is the unprecedented timescales associated with many prospective futures. Those working on R&D today may never see the fruits of their labour.

Anxieties surrounding these issues are often misinterpreted as disengagement, but nothing could be further from the truth. In my experience, ECRs are passionate about research, bringing fresh perspectives and ideas that are crucial for advancing the field. However, we often struggle with institutional structures that fail to recognise the breadth of our contributions. By addressing longstanding issues surrounding attitudes toward work–life balance and long-term job stability – through measures such as establishing enforced minimum contract durations, as well as providing more transparent and diverse sets of criteria for transitioning to permanent positions – we can create a more supportive environment where HEP thrives, driven by the creativity and innovation of its next generation of leaders.

Savannah Clawson is a postdoctoral fellow at DESY Hamburg. She was awarded her PhD by the University of Manchester for her thesis “The light at the end of the tunnel gets weaker: observation and measurement of photon-induced W⁺W^– production at the ATLAS experiment”.

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CERN’s experimental and theoretical research laid many of the building blocks of one of the most successful and impactful scientific theories in human history: the Standard Model of particle physics. Its contributions go beyond the best-known discoveries, such as of neutral currents and the seemingly fundamental W, Z and Higgs bosons, which have such far-reaching significance for our universe. I also wish to draw attention to the many dozens of new composite particles at the LHC and the incredibly high-precision agreement between theoretical calculation performed in quantum chromodynamics and the experimental results obtained at the LHC. These amazing discovering were made possible thanks to the many technological innovations made at CERN.

But knowledge creation and accumulation are only half the story. CERN’s human ecosystem is an oasis in which the words “collaboration among peoples for the good of humanity” can be uttered without grandstanding or hypocrisy.

What role does the CERN Council play?

CERN’s member states are each represented by two delegates to the CERN Council. Decisions are made democratically, with equal voting power for each national delegation. According to the convention approved in 1954, and last revised in 1971, Council determines scientific, technical and administrative policy, approves CERN’s programmes of activities, reviews its expenditures and approves the laboratory’s budget. The Director-General and her management team work closely with Council to develop the Organization’s policies, scientific activities and budget. Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and her management team are now collaborating with Council to forge CERN’s future scientific vision.

What’s your vision for CERN’s future?

As CERN Council president, I have a responsibility to be neutral and reflect the collective will of the member states. In early 2022, when I took up the presidency, Council delegates unanimously endorsed my evaluation of their vision: that CERN should continue to offer the world’s best experimental high-energy physics programme using the best technology possible. CERN now needs to successfully complete the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project and agree on a future flagship project.

I strongly believe the format of the future flagship project needs to crystallise as soon as possible. As put to me recently in a letter from the ECFA early-career researchers panel: “While the HL-LHC constitutes a much-anticipated and necessary advance in the LHC programme, a clear path beyond it for our future in the field must be cemented with as little delay as possible.” It can be daunting for young people to speak out on strategy and the future of the field, given the career insecurities they face. I am very encouraged by their willingness to put out a statement calling for immediate action.

At its March 2024 session, Council agreed to ignite the process of selecting the next flagship project by going ahead with the fourth European Strategy for Particle Physics update. The strategy group are charged, among other things, with recommending what this flagship project should be to Council. As I laid down the gavel concluding the meeting I looked around and sensed genuine excitement in the Chambers – that of a passenger ship leaving port. Each passenger has their own vision for the future. Each is looking forward to seeing what the final destination will look like. Several big pieces had started falling into place, allowing us to turn on the engine.

What are these big pieces?

Acting upon the recommendation of the 2020 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, CERN in 2021 launched a technical and financial feasibility study for a Future Circular Collider (FCC) operating first as a Higgs, electroweak and top factory, with an eye to succeeding it with a high-energy proton–proton collider. The report will include the physics motivation, technological and geological feasibility, territorial implementation, financial aspects, and the environmental and sustainability challenges that are deeply important to CERN’s member states and the diverse communes of our host countries.

It is also important to add that CERN has also invested, and continues to invest, in R&D for alternatives to FCC such as CLIC and the muon collider. CLIC is a mature design, developed over decades, which has already precipitated numerous impactful societal applications in industry and medicine; and to the best of my knowledge, at present no laboratory has invested as much as CERN in muon-collider R&D.

A mid-term report of FCC’s feasibility study was submitted to subordinate bodies to the CERN management mid-2023, and their resulting reports were presented to CERN’s finance and scientific-policy committees. Council received the outcomes with great appreciation for the work involved during an extraordinary session on 2 February, and looks forward to the completion of the feasibility study in March 2025. Timing the European strategy update to follow hot on its heels and use it as an input was the natural next step.

At the June Council session, we started dealing with the nitty gritty of the process. A secretariat for the European Strategy Group was established under the chairmanship of Karl Jakobs, and committees are being appointed. By January 2026 the Council could have at its disposal a large part of the knowledge needed to chart the future of the CERN vision.

How would you encourage early-career researchers (ECRs) to engage with the strategy process?

ECRs have a central role to play. One of the biggest challenges when attempting to build a major novel research infrastructure such as the proposed FCC – which I sometimes think of as a frontier circular collider – is to maintain high-quality expertise, enthusiasm and optimism for long periods in the face of what seem like insurmountable hurdles. Historically, the physicists who brought a new machine to fruition knew that they would get a chance to work on the data it produced or at least have a claim for credit for their efforts. This is not the case now. Success rests on the enthusiasm of those who are at the beginning of their careers today just as much as senior researchers. I hope ECRs will rise to the challenge and find ways to participate in the coming European Strategy Group-sponsored deliberations and become future leaders of the field. One way to engage is to participate in ECR-only strategy sessions like those held at the yearly FCC weeks. I’d also encourage other countries to join the UK in organising nationwide ECR-only forums for debating the future of the field, such as I initiated in Birmingham in 2022.

What’s the outlook for collaboration and competition between CERN and other regions on the future collider programme?

Over decades, CERN has managed to place itself as the leading example of true international scientific collaboration. For example, by far the largest national contingent of CERN users hails from the US. Estonia has completed the process of joining CERN as a new member state and Brazil has just become the first American associate member state. There is a global agreement among scientists in China, Europe, Japan and the US that the next collider should be an electron–positron Higgs factory, able to study the properties of the Higgs boson with high precision. I hope that – patiently, and step by step – ever more global integration will form.

Do member states receive a strong return on their investment in CERN?

Research suggests that fundamental exploration actively stimulates the economy, and more than pays for itself. Member states and associate member states have steadfastly supported CERN to the tune of CHF 53 billion (unadjusted for inflation) since 1954. They do this because their citizens take pride that their nation stands with fellow member states at the forefront of scientific excellence in the fundamental exploration of our universe. They also do this because they know that scientific excellence stimulates their economies through industrial innovation and the waves of highly skilled engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists who return home trained, inspired and better connected after interacting with CERN.

A bipartisan US report from 2005 called “Rising above the gathering storm” offered particular clarity, in my opinion. It asserted that investments in science and technology benefit the world’s economy, and it noted both the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost and the difficulty of recovering such a lead. One should not be shy to say that when CERN was established in 1954, it was part of a rather crowded third place in the field of experimental particle physics, with the Soviet Union and the United States at the fore. In 2024, CERN is the leader of the field – and with leadership comes a heavy responsibility to chart a path beneficial to a large community across the whole planet. As CERN Council president, I thank member states for their steadfast support and I applaud them for their economic and scientific foresight over the past seven decades. I hope it will persist long into the 21st century.

Is there a role for private funding for fundamental research?

In Europe, substantial private-sector support for knowledge creation and creativity dates back at least to the Medici. Though it is arguably less emphasised in our times, it plays an important role today in the US, the UK and Israel. Academic freedom is a sine qua non for worthwhile research. Within this limit, I don’t believe there is any serious controversy in Council on this matter. My sense is that Council fully supports the clear division between recognising generosity and keeping full academic and governance freedom.

What challenges has Council faced during your tenure as president?

In February 2022, the Russian Federation, an observer state, invaded Ukraine, which has been an associate member state since 2016. This was a situation with no precedent for Council. The shape of our decisions evolved for well over a year. Council members decided to cover from their own budgets the share of Ukraine’s contribution to CERN. Council also tried to address as much as possible the human issues resulting from the situation. It decided to suspend the observer status in the Council of the Russian Federation and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Council also decided to not extend its International Collaboration Agreements with the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation. CERN departments also undertook initiatives to support the Ukrainian scientific community at CERN and in Ukraine.

A second major challenge was to mitigate the financial pressures being experienced around the world, such as inflation and rising costs for energy and materials. A package deal was agreed upon in Council that included significant contributions from the member states, a contribution from the CERN staff, and substantial savings from across CERN’s activities. So far, these measures seem to have addressed the issue.

I thank member states for their steadfast support and I applaud them for their economic and scientific foresight over the past seven decades

While these key challenges were tackled, management worked relentlessly on preparing an exhaustive FCC feasibility study, to ensure that CERN stays on course in developing its scientific and technological vision for the field of experimental high-energy physics.

The supportive reaction of Council to these challenges demonstrated its ability to stay on course during rough seas and strong side winds. This cohesion is very encouraging for me. Time and again, Council faced difficult decisions in recent years. Though convergence seemed difficult at first, thanks to a united will and the help of all Council members, a way forward emerged and decisions were taken. It’s important to bear in mind that no matter which flagship project CERN embarks on, it will be a project of another order of magnitude. Some of the methods that made the LHC such a success can continue to accompany us, some will need to evolve significantly, and some new ones will need to be created.

Has the ideal of Science for Peace been damaged?

Over the years CERN has developed the skills needed to construct bridges. CERN does not have much experience in dismantling bridges. This issue was very much on the mind of Council as it took its decisions.

Do you wish to make some unofficial personal remarks?

Thanks. Yes. I would like to mention several things I feel grateful for.

Nobody owes humanity a concise description of the laws of physics and the basic constituents of matter. I am grateful for being in an era where it seems possible, thanks to a large extent to the experiments performed at CERN. Scientists from innumerable countries, who can’t even form a consensus on the best 1970s rock band, have succeeded time and again to assemble the most sophisticated pieces of equipment, with each part built in a different country. And it works. I stand in awe in front of that.

The ecosystem of CERN, the experimental groups working at CERN and the CERN Council are how I dreamt as a child that the United Nations would work. The challenges facing humanity in the coming centuries are formidable. They require international collaboration among the best minds from all over the planet. CERN shows that this is possible. But it requires hard work to maintain this environment. Over the years serious challenges have presented themselves, and one should not take this situation for granted. We need to be vigilant to keep this precious space – the precious gift of CERN.

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More than 150 German particle physicists gathered at Bonn University for a community event on a future collider at CERN. More precisely, the focus set for this meeting was to discuss the opportunities that the FCC-ee would offer should this collider be built at CERN. The event was organised by the German committee for particle physics, KET, and took place from 22 to 24 May. Representatives from almost all German institutes and groups active in particle physics were present, an attendance that shows the large interest in the collider to be built at CERN after the successful completion of the HL-LHC programme.

The main workshop was preceded by a dedicated session with more than 80 early-career scientists, organised by the Young High Energy Physicists Association, yHEP, to bring the generation that will benefit most from a future collider at CERN up to speed on the workshop topics. It included a presentation by former ECFA chair Karl Jakobs (Freiburg University) “From Strategy Discussions to Decision-Taking for Large Projects”, explaining the mechanisms and bodies involved in setting a project like the FCC-ee on track.

The opening session of the main workshop featured a fresh view on “The physics case for an e⁺e^– collider at CERN” by Margarete Mühlleitner (KIT Karlsruhe), who spread excitement about the strong and comprehensive physics case from super-precise measurements of the properties of the Z boson, the W boson and the top quark to what most people associate with a future e⁺e^– collider: precision measurements of the Higgs boson and insights about its connection to many of the still open questions of particle physics like dark matter or the matter–antimatter asymmetry. Markus Klute (KIT Karlsruhe) gave an in-depth review of the FCC-ee project. The midterm results of the FCC feasibility study indicate that no showstoppers were found in all the aspects studied so far and that the integrated FCC programme offers unparalleled exploration potential through precision measurements and direct searches. The picture was rounded off by a presentation from Jenny List (DESY, Hamburg) who talked about alternative options to realise an e⁺e^– Higgs factory at CERN, and the perspective of the early-career researchers was highlighted by Michael Lupberger (Bonn University). While all these presentations concentrated on the science and technology of the FCC-ee or alternatives, Eckart Lilienthal, representing the German Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF, reminded the audience that a future collider project at CERN needs an affordable financial plan and that – given the large uncertainties at present – this requires the community to prepare for different scenarios including one without the FCC-ee. Lilienthal confirmed that the future of CERN remains of the highest priority to BMBF.

The event was an important step in building consensus in the German community for a future collider project at CERN

The workshop went on to review many aspects of the FCC-ee and possible alternatives in more detail: accelerator R&D, detector concepts and technologies, computing and software, theory challenges as well as sustainability. The workshop witnessed the first meetings of the newly established German detector R&D consortia on silicon detectors, gaseous detectors and calorimetry. They will receive BMBF funding for the next three years and will allow German groups to strongly participate in the recently formed international DRD consortia in the context of the ECFA detector roadmap.

The path ahead

The workshop concluded with discussion sessions on the future collider scenarios for CERN, the engagement of the German community and a path to prepare the German input to the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. A series of three additional community workshops will be held in Germany before this input is due in March 2025.

The Bonn event was an important step in building consensus in the German community for a future collider project at CERN. The FCC-ee project generated a lot of interest and many groups plan to embark more strongly on this project. Contributions concerning the physics case, theory challenges, detector design and development, software, computing, and accelerator development were discussed. Alternative options for a future collider project at CERN need to be kept open to address the unanswered fundamental questions of particle physics in case the FCC-ee is not built at CERN. This event was clear evidence that a bright future for CERN remains of highest priority for the German particle-physics community and funding agency.

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“Estonia is delighted to join CERN as a full member because CERN accelerates more than tiny particles, it also accelerates international scientific collaboration and our economies,” said Estonia president Alar Karis. “We have seen this potential during our time as Associate Member State and are keen to begin our full contribution.”

The bilateral relationship formally began in 1996, when Estonia and CERN signed a first cooperation agreement. Estonia has been part of the CMS collaboration since 1997, participating in data analysis and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, for which Estonia operates a Tier 2 centre in Tallinn. Researchers from Estonia also contribute to other experiments including CLOUD, COMPASS, NA66 and TOTEM, and to studies for future colliders, while Estonian theorists are highly involved in collaborations with CERN.

“Estonia and CERN have been collaborating closely for some 30 years, and I am very pleased to welcome Estonia to the ever-growing group of CERN Member States,” said Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. “I am sure the country and its scientific community will benefit from increased opportunities in fundamental research, technology development, and education and training.”

Estonia has held Associate Member State status in the pre-stage to membership of CERN since February 2021. As a full Member State, Estonia will now have voting rights in the CERN Council, enhanced opportunities for Estonian nationals to be recruited by CERN and for Estonian industry to bid for CERN contracts.

“On behalf of the CERN Council, I warmly welcome Estonia as the newest Member State of CERN,” said Council president Eliezer Rabinovici. “I am happy to see the community of CERN Member States enlarging, and I am looking forward to the enhanced participation of Estonia in the CERN Council and to its additional scientific contributions to CERN.”

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Crossing frontiers

85% of the matter in the universe at most minimally interacts with the electromagnetic force but provided the gravitational seed for large-scale structure formation in the early universe. Hugh Lippincott (University of California, Santa Barbara) summarised cross-frontier searches. Pursuing all possible scenarios via direct detection will require scaling up existing technology and developing new technologies such as quantum sensors to probe lighter dark-matter candidates. On the one hand, the 60 to 80 tonne “XLZD” liquid xenon detector will merge the expertise of the XENONnT, LUX-ZEPLIN and DARWIN collaborations; on the low-mass side, Reina Maruyama (Yale) discussed the ALPHA and HAYSTAC haloscopes, which seek to convert axions into photons in highly tuned resonant cavities. Indirect detection and collider experiments will also play an important role in closing in on minimal dark-matter models.

Delegates expressed a sense of urgency to probe higher energies. Cari Cesarotti (MIT) advocated R&D towards a future muon collider, arguing that muons offer a clean and power-efficient route to the 10 TeV scale and above. Recently, experts have estimated that challenges due to the finite muon lifetime could be overcome on a 20-year technically limited timeline. Both CERN and China have proposed building 100 km-circumference tunnels, initially hosting an electron–positron collider followed by a 100 TeV hadron machine, however, the timeline suggests that almost all of the conference attendees would be retired before hadron collisions come online. Elliot Lipeles (Pennsylvania) proposed skipping the electron-positron stage and immediately pursuing an intermediate-energy hadron collider: existing magnets in a 100 km tunnel could produce 37 TeV collisions, advancing measurements of the Higgs self-coupling and electroweak phase transition, dark matter and its mediators, and naturalness.

The energy, intensity and cosmic frontiers of particle physics target deeply connected questions

Neutrinos were discussed at length. Georgia Karagiorgi (Columbia University) argued that three short-baseline anomalies remain, potentially hinting at additional sterile neutrinos or dark-sector portals. Julieta Gruszko (North Carolina at Chapel Hill) presented an exciting future for experiments that seek to discern the fundamental nature of neutrinos. A new tonne-scale generation of detectors comprising LEGEND1000, nEXO and CUPID may succeed in confirming the Majorana nature of the neutrino if they observe neutrinoless double beta decay.

Talks on the importance of science communication and education provoked a great deal of discussion. Ethan Siegal, host of popular podcast “Starts with a Bang” spoke on public outreach, Kevin Pedro (Fermilab) on advocacy with policy­makers in Washington, DC, and Roger Freedman (University of California Santa Barbara) on educating the next generation of physicists. In public programming, Nausheen Shah (Wayne State) was the guest speaker at a screening of Hidden Figures, the inspiring true story of the black women who helped the US win the space race, and Philip Chang (University of California San Diego) lectured on “An Invitation to Imagine Something from Nothing”.

The energy, intensity and cosmic frontiers of particle physics target deeply connected questions. Dark matter, dark energy, cosmic inflation and baryogenesis have remained unexplained for decades, and the structure of the Standard Model itself provokes questions, not least in relation to the Higgs boson and neutrinos. Innovative and complementary experiments are needed across all areas of particle physics. Judging from the 2024 Aspen Winter Conference, the future of the field is in good hands.

The post A new generation, a new vision appeared first on CERN Courier.

The seventh workshop on Medical Applications of Spectroscopic X-ray Detectors was held at CERN from 15 to 18 April. This year’s workshop brought together more than 100 experts in medical imaging, radiology, physics and engineering. The workshop focused on the latest advancements in spectroscopic X-ray detectors and their applications in medical diagnostics and treatment. Such detectors, whose origins are found in detector R&D for high-energy physics, are now experiencing a breakthrough moment in medical practice.

Spectroscopic X-ray detectors represent a significant advancement in medical imaging. Unlike traditional X-ray detectors that measure only the intensity of X-rays, these advanced detectors can differentiate the energies of X-ray photons. This enables enhanced tissue differentiation, improved tumour detection and advanced material characterisation, which may lead in certain cases to functional imaging without the need for radioactive tracers.

The technology has its roots in the 1980s and 1990s when the high-energy-physics community centred around CERN developed a combination of segmented silicon sensors and very large-scale integration (VLSI) readout circuits to enable precision measurements at unprecedented event rates, leading to the development of hybrid pixel detectors (see p37). In the context of the Medipix Collaborations, CERN has coordinated research on spectroscopic X-ray detectors including the development of photon-counting detectors and new semiconductor materials that offer higher sensitivity and energy resolution. By the late 1990s, several groups had proofs of concept, and by 2008, pre-clinical spectral photon-counting computed-tomography (CT) systems were under investigation.

Spectroscopic X-ray detectors offer unparalleled diagnostic capabilities, enabling more detailed imaging and earlier and precise disease detection

In 2011, leading researchers in the field decided to bring together engineers, physicists and clinicians to help address the scientific, medical and engineering challenges associated with guiding the technology toward clinical adoption. In 2021, the FDA approval of Siemens Healthineers’ photon-counting CT scanner marked a significant milestone in the field of medical imaging, validating the clinical benefits of spectroscopic X-ray detectors. The mobile CT scanner, OmniTom Elite from NeuroLogica, approved in March 2022, also integrates photon counting detector (PCD) technology. The 3D colour X-ray scanner developed by MARS Bioimaging, in collaboration with CERN based on Medipix3 technology, has already shown significant promise in pre-clinical and clinical trials. Clinical trials of MARS scanners demonstrated its applications for detecting acute fractures, evaluation of fracture healing and assessment of osseous integration at the bone–metal interface for fracture fixations and joint replacements. With more than 300 million CT scans being performed annually around the world, the potential impact for spectroscopic X-ray imaging is enormous, but technical and medical challenges remain, and the need for this highly specialised workshop continues.

The scientific presentations in the 2024 workshop covered the integration of spectroscopic CT in clinical workflows, addressed technical challenges in photon counting detector technology and explored new semiconductor materials for X-ray detectors. The technical sessions on detector physics and technology discussed new methodologies for manufacturing high-purity cadmium–zinc–tellurium semiconductor crystals and techniques to enhance the quantum efficiency of current detectors. Sessions on clinical applications and imaging techniques included case studies demonstrating the benefits of multi-energy CT in cardiology and neurology, and advances in using spectroscopic detectors for enhanced contrast agent differentiation. The sessions on computational methods and data processing covered the implementation of AI algorithms to improve image reconstruction and analysis, and efficient storage and retrieval systems for large-scale spectral imaging datasets. The sessions on regulatory and safety aspects focused on the regulatory pathway for new spectroscopic X-ray detectors, ensuring patient and operator safety with high-energy X-ray systems.

Enhancing patient outcomes

The field of spectroscopic X-ray detectors is rapidly evolving. Continued research, collaboration and innovation to enhance medical diagnostics and treatment outcomes will be essential. Spectroscopic X-ray detectors offer unparalleled diagnostic capabilities, enabling more detailed imaging and earlier and precise disease detection, which improves patient outcomes. To stay competitive and meet the demand for precision medicine, medical institutions are increasingly adopting advanced imaging technologies. Continued collaboration among researchers, physicists and industry leaders will drive innovation, benefiting patients, healthcare providers and research institutions.

The post Threshold moment for medical photon counting appeared first on CERN Courier.

Manjit Fifty to 60% of cancer patients can benefit from radiation therapy for cure or palliation. Pain relief is also critical in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) because by the time tumours are discovered it is often too late to cure them. Radiation therapy typically accounts for 10% of the cost of cancer treatment, but more than half of the cure, so it’s relatively inexpensive compared to chemotherapy, surgery or immunotherapy. Radiation therapy will be tremendously important for the foreseeable future.

What is the state of the art?

Manjit The most precise thing we have at the moment is hadron therapy with carbon ions, because the Bragg peak is very sharp. But there are only 14 facilities in the whole world. It’s also hugely expensive, with each machine costing around $150 million (M). Proton therapy is also attractive, with each proton delivering about a third of the radiobiological effect of a carbon ion. The first proton patient was treated at Berkeley in September 1954, in the same month CERN was founded. Seventy years later, we have about 130 machines and we’ve treated 350,000 patients. But the reality is that we have to make the machines more affordable and more widely available. Particle therapy with protons and hadrons probably accounts for less than 1% of radiation-therapy treatments whereas roughly 90 to 95% of patients are treated using electron linacs. These machines are much less expensive, costing between $1M and $5M, depending on the model and how good you are at negotiating.

Most radiation therapy in the developing world is delivered by cobalt-60 machines. How do they work?

Manjit A cobalt-60 machine treats patients using a radioactive source. Cobalt has a half-life of just over five years, so patients have to be treated longer and longer to be given the same dose as the cobalt-60 gets older, which is a hardship for them, and slows the number of patients who can be treated. Linacs are superior because you can take advantage of advanced treatment options that target the tumour using focusing, multi-beams and imaging. You come in from different directions and energies, and you can paint the tumour with precision. To the best extent possible, you can avoid damaging healthy tissue. And the other thing about linacs is that once you turn it off there’s no radiation anymore, whereas cobalt machines present a security risk. One reason we’ve got funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) is because our work supports their goal of reducing global reliance on high-activity radioactive sources through the promotion of non-radioisotopic technologies. The problem was highlighted by the ART (access to radiotherapy technologies) study I led for International Cancer Expert Corps (ICEC) on the state of radiation therapy in former Soviet Union countries. There, the legacy has always been cobalt. Only three of the 11 countries we studied have had the resources and knowledge to be able to go totally to linacs. Most still have more than 50% cobalt radiation therapy.

The kick-off meeting for STELLA took place at CERN from 29 to 30 May. How will the project work?

Manjit STELLA stands for Smart Technology to Extend Lives with Linear Accelerators. We are an international collaboration working to increase access to radiation therapy in LMICs, and in rural regions in high-income countries. We’re working to develop a linac that is less expensive, more robust and, in time, less costly to operate, service and maintain than currently available options.

Steinar $1.75M funding from the DOE has launched an 18 month “pre-design” study. ICEC and CERN will collaborate with the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Lancaster, and a network of 28 LMICs who advise and guide us, providing vital input on their needs. We’re not going to build a radiation-therapy machine, but we will specify it to such a level that we can have informed discussions with industry partners, foundations, NGOs and governments who are interested in investing in developing lower cost and more robust solutions. The next steps, including prototype construction, will require a lot more funding.

What motivates the project?

Steinar The basic problem is that access to radiation therapy in LMICs is embarrassingly limited. Most technical developments are directed towards high-income countries, ultimately profiting the rich people in the world – in other words, ourselves. At present, only 10% of patients in LMICs have access to radiation therapy.

We’re working to develop a linac that is less expensive, more robust and less costly to operate, service and maintain than currently available options

Manjit The basic design of the linac hasn’t changed much in 70 years. Despite that, prices are going up, and the cost of service contracts and software upgrades is very high. Currently, we have around 420 machines in Africa, many of which are down for long intervals, which often impacts treatment outcomes. Often, a hospital can buy the linac but they can’t afford the service contract or repairs, or they don’t have staff with the skills to maintain them. I was born in a small village with no gas, electricity or water. I wasn’t supposed to go to school because girls didn’t. I was fortunate to have got an education that enabled me to have a better life with access to the healthcare treatments that I need. I look at this question from the perspective of how we can make radiation therapy available around the world in places such as where I’m originally from.

What’s your vision for the STELLA machine?

Steinar We want to get rid of the cobalt machines because they are not as effective as linacs for cancer treatment and they are a security risk. Hadron-therapy machines are more costly, but they are more precise, so we need to make them more affordable in the future. As Manjit said, globally 90 or 95% of radiation treatments are given by an electron linac, most often running at 6 MeV. In a modern radiation therapy facility today, such linacs are not developing so fast. Our challenge is to make them more reliable and serviceable. We want to develop a workhorse radiation therapy system that can do high-quality treatment. The other, perhaps more important, key parts are imaging and software. CERN has valuable experience here because we build and integrate a lot of detector systems including readout and data-analysis. From a certain perspective, STELLA will be an advanced detector system with an integrated linac.

Are any technical challenges common to both STELLA and to projects in fundamental physics?

Steinar The early and remote prediction of faults is one. This area is developing rapidly, and it would be very interesting for us to deploy this on a number of accelerators. On the detector and sensor side, we would like to make STELLA easily upgradeable, and some of these upgrades could be very much linked to what we want to do for our future detectors. This can increase the industrial base for developing these types of detectors as the medical market is very large. Software can also be interesting, for example for distributed monitoring and learning.

Where are the biggest challenges in bringing STELLA to market?

Steinar We must make medical linacs open in terms of hardware. Hospitals with local experts must be able to improve and repair the system. It must have a long lifetime. It needs to be upgradeable, particularly with regard to imaging, because detector R&D and imaging software are moving quickly. We want it to be open in terms of software, so that we can monitor the performance of the system, predict faults, and do treatment planning off site using artificial intelligence. Our biggest contribution will be to write a specification for a system where we “enforce” this type of open hardware and open software. Everything we do in our field relies on that open approach, which allows us to integrate the expertise of the community. That’s something we’re good at at CERN and in our community. A challenge for STELLA is to build in openness while ensuring that the machines can remain medically qualified and operational at all times.

How will STELLA disrupt the model of expensive service contracts and lower the cost of linacs?

Steinar This is quite a complex area, and we don’t know the solution yet. We need to develop a radically different service model so that developing countries can afford to maintain their machines. Deployment might also need a different approach. One of the work packages of this project is to look at different models and bring in expertise on new ideas. The challenges are not unique to radiation therapy. In the next 18 months we’ll get input from people who’ve done similar things.

Manjit Gavi, the global alliance for vaccines, was set up 24 years ago to save millions of children who died every year from vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, TB, tetanus and rubella using vaccinations that were not available to millions of children in poorer parts of the world, especially Africa. Before, people were dying of these diseases, but now they get a vaccination and live. Vaccines and radiation therapy are totally different technologies, but we may need to think that way to really make a critical difference.

Steinar There are differences with respect to vaccine development. A vaccine is relatively cheap, whereas a linac costs millions of dollars. The diseases addressed by vaccines affect a lot of children, more so than cancer, so the patients have a different demographic. But nonetheless, the fact is that there was a group of countries and organisations who took this on as a challenge, and we can learn from their experiences.

Manjit We would like to work with the UN on their efforts to get rid of the disparities and focus on making radiation therapy available to the 70% of the world that doesn’t have access. To accomplish that, we need global buy-in, especially from the countries who are really suffering, and we need governmental, private and philanthropic support to do so.

What’s your message to policymakers reading this who say that they don’t have the resources to increase global access to radiation therapy?

Steinar Our message is that this is a solvable problem. The world needs roughly 5000 machines at $5M or less each. On a global scale this is absolutely solvable. We have to find a way to spread out the technology and make it available for the whole world. The problem is very concrete. And the solution is clear from a technical standpoint.

Manjit The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have said that the world needs one of these machines for every 200 to 250 thousand people. Globally, we have a population of 8 billion. This is therefore a huge opportunity for businesses and a huge opportunity for governments to improve the productivity of their workforces. If patients are sick they are not productive. Particularly in developing countries, patients are often of a working economic age. If you don’t have good machines and early treatment options for these people, not only are they not producing, but they’re going to have to be taken care of. That’s an economic burden on the health service and there is a knock-on effect on agriculture, food, the economy and the welfare of children. One example is cervical cancer. Nine out of 10 deaths from cervical cancer are in developing countries. For every 100 women affected, 20 to 30 children die because they don’t have family support.

How can you make STELLA attractive to investors?

Steinar Our goal is to be able to discuss the project with potential investor partners – and not only in industry but also governments and NGOs, because the next natural step will be to actually build a prototype. Ultimately, this has to be done by industry partners. We likely cannot rely on them to completely fund this out of their own pockets, because it’s a high-risk project from a business point of view. So we need to develop a good business model and find government and private partners who are willing to invest. The dream is to go into a five-year project after that.

We need to develop a good business model and find government and private partners who are willing to invest

Manjit It’s important to remember that this opportunity is not only linked to low-income countries. One in two UK citizens will get cancer in their lifetime, but according to a study that came out in February, only 25 to 28% of UK citizens have adequate access to radiation therapy. This is also an opportunity for young people to join an industrial system that could actually solve this problem. Radiation therapy is one of the most multidisciplinary fields there is, all the way from accelerators to radio-oncology and everything in between. The young generation is altruistic. This will capture their spirit and imagination.

Can STELLA help close the radiation-therapy gap?

Manjit When the IAEA first visualised radiation-therapy inequalities in 2012, it raised awareness, but it didn’t move the needle. That’s because it’s not enough to just train people. We also need more affordable and robust machines. If in 10 or 20 years people start getting treatment because they are sick, not because they’re dying, that would be a major achievement. We need to give people hope that they can recover from cancer.

The post How to democratise radiation therapy appeared first on CERN Courier.

CERN is already sharing its expertise in vacuum, materials, manufacturing and surface treatments with the gravitational-wave community. Beginning in 2022, a collaboration between CERN, Nikhef and INFN is exploring practical solutions for the ET vacuum tubes which, with a diameter of 1 to 1.2 m, would represent the largest ultrahigh vacuum systems ever built (CERN Courier September/October 2023 p45).

In September 2023, the ET study entered a further agreement with CERN to support the preparation of a site-independent technical design report. With civil-engineering costs representing a significant proportion of the overall implementation budget, detailed studies are needed to ensure a cost-efficient design and construction methodology. Supported financially by INFN, Nikhef and IFAE, CERN will provide technical assistance on how to optimise the tunnel placement, for example via software tools to generate geological profiles. Construction methodology and management of excavated materials, carbon footprint, environmental impact, and project cost and schedule, are other key aspects. CERN will also provide recommendations during the technical review of the associate documents that feed into the site selection.

“We are advising the ET study on how we managed similar design studies for colliders such as CLIC, ILC, the FCC and the HL-LHC upgrade,” explains John Osborne of CERN’s site and civil-engineering department. “CERN is acting as an impartial third party in the site-selection process.”

A decision on the most suitable ET site is expected in 2027, with construction beginning a few years later. “The collaboration with CERN represents an element of extreme value in the preparation phase of the ET project,” says ET civil-engineering team leader Maria Marsella. “CERN’s involvement will help to design the best infrastructure at any selected sites and to train the future generation of engineers who will have to face the construction of such a large underground research facility.”

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Acknowledging their longstanding partnership in nuclear and particle physics, CERN and the US intend to enhance collaboration in planning activities for large-scale, resource-intensive facilities. Concerning the proposed Future Circular Collider, FCC-ee, the text states: “Should the CERN Member States determine that the FCC-ee is likely to be CERN’s next world-leading research facility following the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider, the US intends to collaborate on its construction and physics exploitation, subject to appropriate domestic approvals.” A technical and financial feasibility study for the proposed FCC is due to be completed in March 2025.

CERN and the US also intend to discuss potential collaboration on pilot projects to incorporate new analytics techniques and tools such as AI into particle-physics research at scale, and affirm their collective mission “to take swift strategic action that leads to accelerating widespread adoption of equitable open research, science and scholarship throughout the world”.

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The deadline for submitting written input for the next strategy update has been set for 31 March 2025, with a view to concluding the process in June 2026. The strategy process is managed by the strategy secretariat, which the Council will establish during its June 2024 session.

The European strategy process was initiated by the CERN Council in 2005, placing the LHC at the top of particle physics’ scientific priorities, with a significant luminosity upgrade already being mooted. A ramp-up of R&D for future accelerators also featured high on the priority list, followed by coordination with a potential International Linear Collider and participation in a global neutrino programme.

The final report of the FCC feasibility study will be a key input for the next strategy update

The first strategy update in 2013, which kept the LHC as a top priority and attached increasing importance to its high-luminosity upgrade, stated that Europe needs to be in a position to propose an ambitious post-LHC accelerator project at CERN by the time of the next strategy update. The latter charge was formulated in more detail in the second strategy update, completed in 2020, which recommended a Higgs factory as the highest priority to follow the LHC and that a technical and financial feasibility study should be pursued in parallel for a next-generation hadron collider at the highest achievable energy. A mid-term report on the resulting Future Circular Collider feasibility study was submitted for review at the end of 2023 (CERN Courier March/April 2024 pp25–38) and the final report, expected in March 2025, will be a key input for the next strategy update.

More information about the third update of the European strategy, together with the call for input, will be issued by the strategy secretariat in due course.

The post European strategy update appeared first on CERN Courier.

I was first trained as a mathematician, and then as a physicist. I’ve always worked at the interface between theory and data, where one of the most interesting things is to test cosmological models inspired by some fundamental theory. For example, you can create a model based on string theory or on a non-perturbative approach to quantum gravity, and then use data to constrain the quantum gravity theory. Today we receive a wealth of data from different kinds of experiments, which allows us to test early-universe models without relying on ad hoc ideas. Although it is not something I directly work on, the current tension in the value of the Hubble constant serves as an example. This of course could be telling us something about new physics, but it seems to me it is more likely to be an issue with the way we interpret data and apply the same models across different scales. Supernovae are taken as “standard candles” when measuring the expansion rate of the universe, for example, and one may wonder how correct this assumption is. It is important to perform systematic studies of the raw data before we rush to new theories.

My current work mainly bears on gravitational waves. I am also editor-in-chief of the journal General Relativity and Gravitation. I joined the LIGO collaboration the year of the discovery, studying the implications of gravitational-wave background searches for new physics. I am working on similar studies for the proposed Einstein Telescope. Gravitational waves allow us to test high-energy models beyond the Standard Model at energy scales that are above those that can be reached by accelerators. There are also new results coming from pulsar timing arrays. We live in a time where many exciting results are coming fast.

How big is the European Physical Society, and what led you to be elected president?

The European Physical Society (EPS) is the federation of all national physics societies in Europe. It was founded in 1968 by particle physicist Gilberto Bernardini, who contributed to the foundation of CERN and later became director of the Synchrocyclotron division and directorate member for research.

Several years ago, following the LIGO/Virgo discoveries, I initiated the gravitational physics division of the EPS and, in doing so, entered the EPS council. Then I was elected a member of the executive committee and was eventually contacted to run for election. I admit that I was reluctant at first because it’s another task with a lot of responsibilities. But it turned out I was elected, and I took up the position formally on April 27th. I am proud to have been elected as president and I will do my best to serve the EPS and respect the confidence that representatives of so many European national societies have put in me.

What do you hope to achieve during your two-year mandate?

I have several goals as president. The most important one is to strengthen the position of Europe. What do I mean by that? There are important issues that we all face together, such as our economic independence (for instance, sources of energy, technological advances in electronics, biophysics and medical applications) and the preservation of the environment. The EPS can play a role by building teams of experts to address these issues, to be in a position to advise policy makers at the European level.

Scientific policy is another example. We live in an era with very large changes in the scale of experiments, the size of datasets, as well as advanced data-analysis techniques such as artificial intelligence. We should be able to have a say about how these things are dealt with and what the priorities are. The EPS can have a solid dialogue with large experimental teams and important research centres such as CERN. We can pass the message, for example via the national physics societies, and provide lists of experts able to advise politicians on such matters.

Last but not least is education. We need to adapt the programmes offered to the students because there is huge demand for soft skills, and I am not sure they are adequately provided. We also need to offer opportunities to welcome students and early-career researchers from regions around the world that need support. We should collaborate with them and provide scholarships to enable them to spend time at a facility such as CERN or DESY and develop key skills.

To achieve all that, we should strengthen the links between the EPS and the national societies (be they small or large). We represent the interest of all physicists in Europe equally. We also need to have a more active dialogue with our colleagues in North America and Asia because we share common challenges. Of course, to do that requires hard work and commitment.

How can the EPS support fundamental research such as particle physics?

We have a high-energy physics division, of course. From my point of view, we need to accentuate the motivation for exploring the laws of the universe. CERN obviously plays a key role in this because colliders are one of the basic experimental devices to do so. Gravitational-wave observatories are another example. These experiments have to go hand-in-hand because they have a common ambition. The EPS can give an extra voice to the scientific aspects of this enterprise. Of course, the question of financing next-generation experiments remains to be solved, as well as the balance between fundamental science and applied research. For me there is no doubt that such experiments should continue. Unfortunately, today one often has to state the implications for industry and the applications for society. This can sometimes be difficult to square with curiosity-driven science.

If approved, would a new collider at CERN take away funding from other fields?

This is a very simplistic view. Science funding is not a zero-sum game. As CERN did for the LHC, it’s good to find external sources. Money can’t go to everyone in equal amounts, so we need a way to set scientific priorities in Europe. First and foremost, this should take into account the scientific case. Then we should look at the number of countries that are interested and the level of investments that have been made – for example, also involving industry.

Money can’t go to everyone in equal amounts, so we need a way to set scientific priorities in Europe

Is the scientific case for the Future Circular Collider sufficiently clear in this respect?

If the argument is to find super-symmetry, or particles predicted by some other framework of physics beyond the Standard Model, then I’m afraid it will fail. Of course, in scientific working groups you need to go into specifics such as which hypotheses will be tested, and which signatures are possible. But such detail is a trap when engaging with broader audiences because we can’t be sure that such things exist at the energies we can explore. Instead, the argument should be that we try to understand better the elementary particles and laws. We need to pass the message to politicians, to the person on the street and to scientists that there are some important questions that can only be addressed with future colliders. While CERN and particle physicists should not be defensive, they should be clearer about what the role and ultimate hope of a collider is. Then there is no argument that can go against it. This is something that could be elaborated by the high-energy physics division of the EPS, for example by providing a document stating the views of particle physicists. We should also be prepared for a critical dialogue, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. One should in any case ensure that anyone invited to give their views should have an established scientific reputation within their field, a prerequisite that is not met in some high-level discussions and media outlets.

Does the existence of several future-collider options pose a problem from a communications perspective?

I think it’s problematic if, scientifically, a consensus cannot be reached. There is something similar going on in the gravitational-wave community, where divisions exist about where to build the Einstein Telescope and which configuration it should have. This may lead to a healthy process of course, but discussions should be kept between experts. Indeed, it can weaken the case for a new experiment if scientists are seen to be disagreeing strongly.

What effects are current political shifts in Europe having on physics?

I’m afraid that there could be very negative effects. To this we have to add the risks created by the conflicts we see expanding. One effect could also be the changes in priorities for funding. As one of the largest scientific societies, we need to keep supporting collaborations among scientists no matter their country of origin, ethnicity, gender, or any other discriminating factor. We also need to provide financial support where possible, for example as we have done recently for Ukrainian colleagues to participate in our activities, and to make statements in response to events going way beyond the world of physics.

The post Strengthening science in Europe appeared first on CERN Courier.

A significant fraction of ICFA’s work is carried out within a set of seven panels, which meet regularly and assemble expertise on more technical or detailed aspects of particular importance to the field. One is devoted to the International Linear Collider (ILC). For more than two decades, ICFA has promoted the realisation of the ILC, for which a global design effort was put in place in 2005. In parallel, an international collaboration under CERN’s leadership had been working on the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). Recognising the synergies between the two concepts, ICFA established a single coordinating structure, the Linear Collider Collaboration (LCC), in 2012. Also that year, the Japanese high-energy physics community proposed to host the ILC in Japan as a global project.

The LCC mandate came to an end in 2020, when ICFA put in place the ILC International Development Team (IDT) and its working groups. In June 2021 the IDT developed a proposal for the “preparatory laboratory” as a first step towards the realisation of the ILC in Japan.

Evolving landscape

While the IDT is continuing its work, the global Higgs-factory landscape has evolved since the early days of the ILC: more – linear and circular – studies and proposals are on the table, not least as demonstrated by the P5 report in the US. ICFA will soon discuss in what way its discussions and structures need to be adapted to better reflect this evolving landscape.

In November 2023 ICFA established a new panel devoted to the “data lifecycle”, which involves everything from data acquisition, processing, distribution, storage, access, analysis, simulation and preservation, to management, software, workflows, computing and networking. The panel, which replaces two previous ones on related topics, was created in response to the growing importance of data management and open science in recent years. Its membership is currently being put together with the aim to develop ideas and strategies for workforce development and professional recognition mechanisms.

For more than two decades, ICFA has promoted the realisation of the ILC

ICFA’s farthest-reaching and most visible activity is the ICFA Seminar. The 13th ICFA seminar on “Future Perspectives in High-Energy Physics” took place at DESY from 28 November to 1 December 2023. For the first time in six years (the prior ICFA seminar had taken place in 2017 in Ottawa, Canada), this select crowd of scientists, lab directors and funding agency representatives could come together in person for updates and discussions. One highlight was the panel discussion between the directors of KEK, CERN, Fermilab and IHEP, in which views on a future global strategy were discussed. The seminar concluded on a festive note with the formal passing of the ICFA chair baton from Stuart Henderson (JLAB) to Pierluigi Campana (INFN), who will lead ICFA for the next three years.

ICFA is the only global representation of the particle-physics community, and the ideal discussion forum for global strategic developments, especially large international collider projects. In view of the current situation with numerous opportunities for future facilities – not least a future Higgs factory, but also smaller and more diverse projects – the committee and its panels look forward to serving the field of particle physics through continued advocacy, exploration, discussion and facilitation.    

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Since its inception a decade ago, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) collaboration has evolved in scope and scale – especially since the completion of the conceptual design report in 2018, when directed efforts were made to broaden the project’s reach and attract new partners. Such endeavours are crucial considering the ambitious nature of the FCC project and the immense global collaboration required to bring it to fruition.

Today, the collaboration brings together more than 130 institutes from 31 countries. Contributions from members span a broad spectrum encompassing theoretical and experimental particle physics, applied science, engineering, computing and technology. Ongoing collaborations with research centres internationally are pushing the performance of key technologies such as superconducting radio-frequency cavities and klystrons, as well as magnets based on novel high-temperature superconductors (see “Advancing hardware“). Increased global collaboration is a prerequisite for success, and links with high-tech industry will be essential to further advance the implementation of the FCC.

The proposed four-interaction point layout for the FCC is not only designed to offer the broadest physics coverage, but makes it a future collider commensurate with the size and aspirations of the current high-energy physics community. The attractiveness of the FCC is also reflected in the composition of participants at annual conferences, which shows a good balance between early-career and more senior researchers, geographical diversity, and gender. The latter currently stands at a 70:30 male-to-female ratio, which has been increasing during the course of the feasibility study.

Global working group

The FCC feasibility study has established a global working group with a mandate to engage countries with mature communities, a long-standing participation in CERN’s programmes, and the potential to contribute substantially to the project’s long-term scientific objectives. In addition, an informal forum of national contacts allows exchanges between physicists from different countries and the development of collaborations inside FCC. Each interested country has one or two national contacts who have the opportunity to report regularly on the development of their FCC activities.

Drawing parallels with the LHC and HL-LHC successes, CERN’s unique experience with large-scale scientific collaborations has been invaluable in shaping the cohesive and productive environment of the FCC collaboration. It is imperative to recognise the dedication of existing members while addressing the need for new contributors to bolster the collaboration. As the FCC considers the next stage of its scientific journey, potential partners are invited to bring their unique skills and perspectives.

First discussions on the governance and financial considerations for the FCC project are taking place in the CERN Council. The models aim to provide a structure for both the construction and operation phases, and assume compatibility with the CERN Convention, while also taking into account the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. In parallel, the organisational structure of the FCC experiment collaborations is being discussed. Given the inherently cooperative and distributed nature of these collaborations, a relatively lightweight structure will be put forth, based on openness, equality at the level of participating institutes and a wide consultation within the collaboration for key decisions.

Since 2021, the FCC has implemented a robust organisational structure, acting under the authority of the CERN Council, that facilitates efficient communication and coordination among its members. Looking ahead, the path to the governance model required for the FCC project and operation phases is both exciting and challenging. Importantly, it requires the long-term engagement and support of participants from CERN’s member and associate member states, and from the non-member states, whose community at CERN has been growing with the LHC, particularly from institutes located in North America and the Asia-Pacific regions. As the project evolves further, it is crucial to refine and adapt the collaboration model to ensure the efficient allocation of resources and sustained momentum.

The FCC offers a multitude of R&D opportunities, and the collaborative spirit that defines it promises to shape the future of particle physics. As we go forward, the FCC collaboration beckons individuals and institutions to contribute to the next chapter in our exploration of the fundamental laws and building blocks of the universe.

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Studies show that the FCC would deliver benefits that outweigh its costs

After three years of work, mobilising the expertise of physicists and engineers from around the world, a mid-term report of the FCC feasibility study was completed in December 2023. Numerous technical documents and a 700-page overview of the results demonstrate significant progress across all project deliverables, including physics opportunities, the placement and implementation of the ring, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, accelerators, detectors and cost. No technical showstoppers have been identified, and the results were received positively by the CERN Council during a special session on 2 February. Here and in the some related articles, the Courier gathers the key take-aways.

A collider for the times

The scientific backdrop to the FCC is the existence of a 125 GeV Higgs boson together with no sign yet of new elementary particles at the TeV scale – transformational discoveries by the LHC that call for a broad and versatile exploration tool with unprecedented precision, sensitivity and energy reach (see “FCC: the physics case“). An unfathomable amount of work has led to an optimal placement of the FCC ring, surface sites and project implementation with CERN’s host states (see “Where and how“). The 90.7 km FCC tunnel, constituting a major global civil-engineering project in its own right, is well understood (see “Tunnelling to the future“). Assuming a decision to advance to the next stage is taken by the CERN Council after the next European strategy process, a preparatory phase (involving project authorisation, preparation of civil-engineering works, technical design for the collider, injectors and the detectors, further consolidation of physics cases and detector development) would take place from 2026 to 2032. Construction could then take place in 2033–2040, with the installation phase and transition to operation between 2038 and the mid-2040s.

The multi-energy lepton collider FCC-ee, which would produce huge quantities of Z, W and Higgs bosons, and ultimately top-quark pairs, over a period of about 15 years, builds on the remarkable success of LEP, which was instrumental in confirming the Standard Model and in guiding physicists to the discoveries of the top quark and the Higgs boson. Once thought to be the final word on circular e⁺e^– colliders, advances in accelerator technology since LEP (such as top-up injection at B factories and synchrotron-radiation light sources, developments in superconducting RF, and novel beam-focusing techniques) offer collision rates more than two orders of magnitude larger. Boosting the FCC-ee luminosity further, a key outcome of the mid-term report is a new ring-layout that enables four interaction points.

Ideal springboard

The mid-term report confirms that FCC-ee is both a mature design for a Higgs, electroweak and top factory, and an ideal springboard for an energy-frontier collider, FCC-hh, for which it would provide a significant part of the infrastructure. Since the revised FCC-ee placement studies, the overall layout of FCC-hh has changed radically compared to the initial concept phase, with three key benefits: an optimal size of the experiment caverns, with the option of sharing detector components between the lepton and the hadron machines; a reduction in the number of surface sites; and a shorter tunnel for the transfer lines from the injector to the collider ring. The new layout is compatible with an injection scheme that delivers beams to the FCC-hh ring from the LHC or from an upgrade of the SPS.

The mid-term report addresses the challenging R&D for the high-field FCC-hh magnets. A key deliverable of the feasibility study is a summary of R&D plans based on Nb₃Sn, high-temperature superconductors (HTS) and hybrid technologies. While Nb₃Sn magnets are considered relatively low-risk, HTS technology would enable the most aspirational goals to be reached. Due to the sizable gap in technology readiness between the two options, however, the study team advises against an early decision. Instead, an adapted “phase-gate” process is proposed with regular review, steering and decision points every five years, and coordinated with the CERN high-field magnet programme. Taking into account the time needed to construct and operate FCC-ee and, in parallel, to develop the high-field dipole magnet technology, it is estimated that FCC-hh could begin physics operations in the early 2070s.

The cost of an FCC-ee with four interaction points is estimated to be CHF 15 billion, around a third of which is taken up by the tunnel. The reliability of the FCC-ee cost estimate will be improved following further development of the various accelerator systems and equipment required, along with the subsurface investigations starting in 2024. The final feasibility-study report will also address risk-management and the personnel resources required from project development to construction.

Power consumption is another topic of interest. The FCC-ee will be the largest particle accelerator ever built, with its RF, magnet and cryogenic systems drawing the main loads. The total CERN energy consumption throughout the FCC-ee scientific programme is estimated to vary between 2.0 and 2.8 TWh/year depending on the energy mode, to be compared with about 1.6 TWh/year during the High-Luminosity LHC era. The figures are hoped to be lowered as R&D (for example, to improve the performance of superconducting cavities and the efficiency of power sources) advances. The FCC study team is also working with regional authorities to identify ways in which part of this energy may be re-used for heating in local industries and public infrastructures.

Electrical power would be provided from the French electricity grid, and the system is designed such that no new sub-stations will need to be constructed between the different FCC-ee energy stages. Studies carried out in conjunction with McKinsey and Accenture indicate that by the time the FCC comes into operation, a low carbon footprint can be achieved with an energy mix that contains a large fraction of energy from renewable sources.

Return on investment

Beyond the creation of new knowledge, studies undertaken within the European Union co-funded FCC Innovation Study show that the FCC would deliver benefits that outweigh its cost. Impacts on industry from high-tech developments, the sustained training of early-stage researchers and engineers, the development of open and free software, the creation of spin-off companies, cultural goods and other factors lead to an estimated benefit/cost ratio of 1.66. The FCC project is linked to the creation of around 800,000 person-years of jobs, states the mid-term report, and the FCC-ee scientific programme is estimated to generate an overall local economic impact of more than €4 billion.

The digested mid-term report in summary: the FCC integrated programme is an ideal match for the uncharted physics territory ahead; its placement at CERN is geologically and territorially feasible; no technical showstoppers have been identified; the FCC would return more to society than it costs. Accelerator, detector, engineering and physics studies by the global FCC collaboration are continuing across more than 150 institutes in more than 30 countries, while new partners are sought to work on various R&D (see “The people factor” ). The final report of the FCC feasibility study is due in early 2025.

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Designing a next-generation collider with a performance that meets the scientific demands of the particle-physics community is one thing. Ensuring its territorial compatibility, technical feasibility and cost control is quite another. A core element of the FCC feasibility study is therefore the placement of the ring and the necessary surface sites, for which an iterative approach in collaboration with CERN’s host states, France and Switzerland, has been adopted from the outset.

Territorial compatibility requires numerous natural, technical, urban and cultural constraints to be identified and considered. The goal is to limit the consumption of land, keep the quantity of excavated materials to a minimum and re-use as much as possible, minimise the consumption of resources such as electricity and water, avoid visibility, noise and dust nuisances, and create synergies with future neighbours where possible. Following eight years of intense study, one configuration was identified out of some 100 variants as being particularly suitable. This scenario has a circumference of about 90.7 km, eight surface sites and permits the installation of up to four experiments.

During 2023 this reference scenario was reviewed with different regional stakeholders and now serves as the baseline for further design and optimisation activities. These include geophysical and geotechnical investigations to set the optimum depth of the tunnel, links to high voltage grids, access to water for cooling purposes, connections to major rail and road infrastructures, landscape integration and the development of sustainable mitigation measures.

Drill down

Working out how to place a 90.7 km-circumference research infrastructure in a densely populated region requires several dozens of criteria to be met. While initial investigations concerned observations at the square-kilometre level, the focus gradually moved to thousands of square metres and individual land-plot levels. Initial cartographic and database research has progressively been replaced with analysis in the field, working meetings with public administration services and eventually individuals with expert local knowledge. In addition to the scientific and technical requirements, the FCC implementation scenario takes into account  the project-implementation risks, cost impacts, access to resources (electricity, water, land), transport requirements, and estimates of the urban and demographic evolution. The study also analyses socio-economic benefits for the region.

The reference layout with only eight surface sites requires less than 50 ha of land use on the surface and constitutes a significant reduction in footprint with respect to the initial scenario drawn up in 2014. All sites are situated close to road infrastructure, with less than 5 km of new roads required, and several of the eight sites are located in the vicinity of 400 kV grid lines. The layout of the FCC is integrated geographically with the existing CERN accelerator complex, with beam transfer possible from either the LHC or via the SPS tunnel.

Throughout all studies, CERN has been accompanied by the services of the Swiss and French authorities at different levels

The feasibility study, carried out with relevant consultancy companies, confirms the technical feasibility of all eight surface sites and the underground works. Working meetings with all the municipalities affected in France and Switzerland have not revealed any showstoppers so far, even if decisions by municipalities and the host states are yet to be taken. Next steps include the detailed integration of the surface sites in the environment.

Timescales are critical to be able to continue with such studies. By the end of the feasibility study in 2025, all land plots that are required by the project need to be communicated to the host states. In addition, a formal environmental evaluation phase in both France and Switzerland is necessary for the authorisation procedures. These activities rely on an agreement between CERN and the host states on the steps to be made by each stakeholder, including the associated legal and regulatory conditions.

Throughout all studies, CERN has been accompanied by the services of the Swiss and French authorities at different levels. This dialogue concerns the more detailed expression of the needs and constraints of the local actors and the identification of potential co-development topics and compensatory measures. The findings are gradually being integrated into a process of project optimisation of the reference scenario to further improve its added value for the territory while keeping the science value high and the project implementation risks low.

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The absence of LHC signals for new phenomena in the TeV range requires physicists to think differently about the open questions in fundamental physics. These include the abundance of matter over antimatter, the nature of dark matter, the quark and lepton flavour puzzle in general, and the non-zero nature of neutrino masses in particular. Solutions could be at even higher energies, at the price of either an unnatural value of the electroweak scale or an ingenious but still elusive structure. Radically new physics scenarios have been devised, often involving light and very-weakly coupled structures. Neither the mass scale (from meV to ZeV) of this new physics nor the intensity of its couplings (from 1 to 10^–12 or less) to the SM are known, calling for a versatile exploration tool.

By providing considerable advances in sensitivity, precision and, eventually, energy far above the TeV scale, the integrated Future Circular Collider (FCC) programme is the perfect vehicle with which to navigate this new landscape. Its first stage FCC-ee, an e⁺e^– collider operating at centre-of-mass energies ranging from below the Z pole (90 GeV) to beyond the top-quark pair-production threshold (365 GeV), would map the properties of the Higgs and electroweak gauge bosons and the top quark with precisions that are orders of magnitude better than today, acquiring sensitivity to the processes that led to the formation of the Brout–Englert–Higgs field a fraction of a nanosecond after the Big Bang. A comprehensive campaign of precision electroweak, QCD, flavour, tau, Higgs and top-quark measurements sensitive to tiny deviations from the predicted SM behaviour would probe energy scales far beyond the direct kinematic reach, while a subsequent pp collider (FCC-hh) would improve – by about an order of magnitude – the direct discovery reach for new particles. Both machines are strongly motivated in their own rights. Together, they offer the furthest physics reach of all proposed future colliders, and put the fundamental scalar sector of the universe centre-stage.

A scalar odyssey

The power of FCC-ee to probe the Higgs boson and other SM particles at much higher resolution would allow physicists to peer further into the cloud of quantum fluctuations surrounding them. The combination of results from previous lepton and hadron colliders at CERN and elsewhere has shown that electroweak symmetry breaking is consistent with its SM parameterisation, but its origin (and the origin of the Higgs boson itself) demands a deeper explanation. The FCC is uniquely placed to address this mystery via a combination of per-mil-level Higgs-boson and parts-per-millon gauge-boson measurements, along with direct high-energy exploration, to comprehensively probe symmetry-based explanations for an electroweak hierarchy. In particular, measurements of the Higgs boson’s self-coupling at the FCC would test whether the electroweak phase transition was first- or second-order, revealing whether it could have potentially played a role in setting the out-of-equilibrium condition necessary for creating the matter–antimatter asymmetry.

While the Brout–Englert–Higgs mechanism nicely explains the pattern of gauge-boson masses, the peculiar structure of quark and lepton masses (as well as the quark mixing angles) is ad hoc within the SM and could be the low-energy imprint of some new dynamics. The FCC will probe such potential new symmetries and forces, in particular via detailed studies of b and τ decays and of b → τ transitions, and significantly extend knowledge of flavour physics. A deeper understanding of approximate conservation laws such as baryon- and lepton-number conservation (or the absence thereof in the case of Majorana neutrinos) would test the limits of lepton-flavour universality and violation, for example, and could reveal new selection rules governing the fundamental laws. Measuring the first- and second-generation Yukawa couplings will also be crucial to complete our understanding, with a potential FCC-ee run at the s-channel Higgs resonance offering the best sensitivity to the electron Yukawa coupling. Stepping back, the FCC would sharpen understanding of the SM as a low-energy effective field theory approximation of a deeper, richer theory by extending the reach of direct and indirect exploration by about one order of magnitude.

The unprecedented statistics from FCC-ee also make it uniquely sensitive to exploring weakly coupled dark sectors and other candidates for new physics beyond the SM (such as heavy axions, dark photons and long-lived particles). Decades of searches across different experiments have pushed the mass of the initially favoured dark-matter candidate (weakly interacting massive particles, WIMPs) progressively beyond the reach of the highest energy e⁺e^– colliders. As a consequence, hidden sectors consisting of new particles that interact almost imperceptibly with the SM are rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative that could hold the answer not only to this problem but to a variety of others, such as the origin of neutrino masses. If dark matter is a doublet or a triplet WIMP, FCC-hh would cover the entire parameter space up to the upper mass limit for thermal relic. The FCC could also host a range of complementary detector facilities to extend its capabilities for neutrino physics, long-lived particles and forward physics.

For the first time since the Fermi theory almost a century ago, particle physicists are voyaging into completely uncharted territory

Completing this brief, high-level summary of the FCC physics reach are the origins of exotic astrophysical and cosmological signals, such as stochastic gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions or astrophysical signatures of high-energy gamma rays. These phenomena, which include a modified electroweak phase transition, confining new physics in a dark sector, or annihilating TeV-scale WIMPs, could arise due to new physics which is directly accessible only to an energy-frontier facility.

Precision rules

Back in 2011, the original incarnation of a circular e⁺e^– collider to follow the LHC (dubbed LEP3) was to create a high-luminosity Higgs factory operating at 240 GeV in the LEP/LHC tunnel, providing similar precision to that at a linear collider running at the same centre-of-mass energy for a much smaller price tag. Choosing to build a larger 80–100 km version not only allows the tunnel and infrastructure to be reused for a 100 TeV hadron collider, but extends the FCC-ee scientific reach significantly beyond the study of the Higgs boson alone. The unparalleled control of the centre-of-mass energy via the use of resonant depolarisation and the unrivalled luminosity of an FCC-ee with four interaction points would produce around 6 × 10¹² Z bosons, 2.4 × 10⁸ W pairs (offering ppm precision on the Z and W masses and widths), 2 × 10⁶ Higgs bosons and 2 × 10⁶ top-quark pairs (impossible to produce with e⁺e^– collisions in the LEP/LHC tunnel) in as little as 16 years.

From the Fermi interaction to the discovery of the W and Z, and from electroweak measurements to the discovery of the top quark and the Higgs boson, greater precision has operated as a route to discoveries. Any deviation from the SM predictions, interpreted as the manifestation of new contact interactions, will point to a new energy scale that will be explored directly in a later stage. One of the findings of the FCC feasibility study is the richness of the FCC-ee Z-pole run, which promises comprehensive measurements of the Z lineshape and many electroweak observables with a 50-fold increase in precision, as well as direct and uniquely precise determinations of the electromagnetic and strong coupling constants. The comparison between these data and commensurately precise SM predictions would severely constrain the existence of new physics via virtual loops or mixing, corresponding to a factor-of-seven increase in energy scale – a jump similar to that from the LHC to FCC-hh. The Z-pole run also enables otherwise unreachable flavour (b, τ) physics, studies of QCD and hadronisation, searches for rare or forbidden decays, and exploration of the dark sector.

After the Z-pole run, the W boson provides a further precision tool at FCC-ee. Its mass is one of the most precisely measured parameters that can be calculated in the SM and is thus of utmost importance. In the planned WW-threshold run, current knowledge can be improved by more than an order of magnitude to test the SM as well as a plethora of new-physics models at a higher quantum level. Together, the very-high-luminosity Z and W runs will determine the gauge-boson sector with the sharpest precision ever.

Going to its highest energy, FCC-ee would explore physics associated with the heaviest known particle, the top quark, whose mass plays a fundamental role in the prediction of SM processes and for the cosmological fate of the vacuum. An improvement in precision by more than an order of magnitude will go hand in hand with a significant improvement in the strong coupling constant, and is crucial for precision exploration beyond the SM.

High-energy synergies

A later FCC-hh stage would complement and substantially extend the FCC-ee physics reach in nearly all areas. Compared to the LHC, it would increase the energy for direct exploration by a factor of seven, with the potential to observe new particles with masses up to 40 TeV (see “Direct exploration” figure). The day FCC-hh directly finds a signal for beyond-SM physics, the precision measurements from FCC-ee will be essential to pinpoint its microscopic origin. Indirectly, FCC-hh will be sensitive to energies of around 100 TeV, for example in the tails of Drell–Yan distributions. The large production of SM particles, including the Higgs boson, at large transverse momentum allows measurements to be performed in kinematic regions with optimal signal-to-background ratio and reduced experimental systematic uncertainties, testing the existence of effective contact interactions in ways that are complementary to what is accessible at lepton colliders. Dedicated FCC-hh experiments, for instance with forward detectors, would enrich further the new-physics opportunities and hunt for long-lived and millicharged particles.

Further increasing the synergies between FCC-ee and FCC-hh is the importance of operating four detectors (instead of two as in the conceptual design study), which has led to an optimised ring layout with a new four-fold period­icity. With four interaction points, FCC-ee provides a net gain in integrated luminosity for a given physics outcome. It also allows for a range of detector solutions to cover all physics opportunities, strengthens the robustness of systematic-uncertainty estimates and discovery claims, and opens several key physics targets that are tantalisingly close (but missed) with only two detectors. The latter include the first 5σ observation of the Higgs-boson self-coupling, and the opportunity to access the Higgs-boson coupling to electrons – one of FCC-ee’s toughest physics challenges.

No physics case for FCC would be complete without a thorough assessment of the corresponding detector challenges. A key deliverable of the feasibility study is a complete set of specifications ensuring that calorimeters, tracking and vertex detectors, muon detectors, luminometers and particle-identification devices meet the physics requirements. In the context of a Higgs factory operating at the ZH production threshold and above, these requirements have already been studied extensively for proposed linear colliders. However, the different experimental environment and the huge statistics of FCC-ee demand that they are revisited. The exquisite statistical uncertainties anticipated on key electroweak measurements at the Z peak and at the WW threshold call for a superb control of the systematic uncertainties, which will put considerable demands on the acceptance, construction quality and stability of the detectors. In addition, the specific discovery potential for very weakly coupled particles must be kept in mind.

The software and computing demands of FCC are an integral element of the feasibility study. From the outset, the driving consideration has been to develop a single software “ecosystem” adaptable to any future collider and usable by any future experiment, based on the best software available. Some tools, such as flavour tagging, significantly exceed the performance of algorithms previously used for linear-collider studies, but there is still much work needed  to bring the software to the level required by the FCC-ee. This includes the need for more accurate simulations of beam-related quantities, the machine-detector interface and the detectors themselves. In addition, various reconstruction and analysis tools for use by all collaborators need to be developed and implemented, reaping the benefits from the LHC experience and past linear-collider studies, and computing resources for regular simulated data production need to be evaluated.

Powerful plan

The alignment of stars – that from the initial concept in 2011/2012 of a 100 km-class electron–positron collider in the same tunnel as a future 100 TeV proton–proton collider led to the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics endorsing the FCC feasibility study as a top priority for CERN and its international partners – provides the global high-energy physics community with the most powerful exploration tool. FCC-ee offers ideal conditions (luminosity, centre-of-mass energy calibration, multiple experiments and possibly monochromatisation) for the study of the four heaviest particles of the SM with a flurry of opportunities for precision measurements, searches for rare or forbidden processes, and the possible discovery of feebly coupled particles. It is also the perfect springboard for a 100 TeV hadron collider, for which it provides a great part of the infrastructure. Strongly motivated in their own rights, together these two machines offer a uniquely powerful long-term plan for 21st-century particle physics.

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Firstly, the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) was called upon by the CERN Council to formulate a global detector R&D roadmap for both short- and long-term experimental endeavours. A painstaking consultation process across the entire range of detector technologies – from gas, liquid and solid-state detectors to particle-
identification systems, calorimetry and blue-sky R&D – culminated in a 250-page document and the creation of detector R&D collaborations to focus on the most relevant topics. In parallel, the European Laboratory Directors Group has compiled an accelerator R&D roadmap spanning activities such as high-field magnets, high-gradient accelerating elements, plasma-wakefield acceleration, energy- recovery linacs, and more.

With the accelerator and detector development in the best of hands, what remains is to converge on the next machine: namely the e⁺e^– collider that takes us as close as we can to a full understanding of the Higgs boson and the electroweak and top-quark sectors. Thankfully, we already know a lot about the reach of such “HET” factories from previous studies, in particular those carried out during the previous strategy update. To encourage further work en route to the next strategy update, ECFA has put together a HET-factory study group that brings together both the linear and circular e⁺e^– detector communities. The goal is to solidify our understanding of the requirements that the physics places on the experiments and on the associated beams. A common software framework with more realistic detector simulation and a parallel study of detector structures are the other working areas in the study group. Good progress is visible, and the third and last major workshop on the HET-factory study will take place in October 2024.

Major players

The other major players in the global high-energy physics scene completed their corresponding strategy processes either several years ago (Japan with the ILC and China with the CEPC) or recently (US with the P5 process). All eyes are now turned to Europe as we enter the final stretch towards the next update of the European strategy. With the Future Circular Collider feasibility study due to be completed next year, all the elements needed for a fully informed decision on the future of European – and global – particle physics will soon be in place.

The entire field, and especially the younger generations, are most eagerly awaiting this decision

The next strategy process will build on the excellent work that took place in the context of the previous one, which culminated with a large community gathering in Granada. Taking into account the updated information, it is both expected and highly desirable that the process converges quickly, with a definitive recommendation on both the next e⁺e^– collider and the longer-term prospects. The entire field, and especially the younger generations, are most eagerly awaiting this decision. Today, in parallel with maximally exploiting the physics potential of the LHC, our most important duty is to ensure that current PhD candidates find themselves at the centre of future discoveries a few decades from now.

Is all this possible for Europe? Absolutely! CERN has an unparalleled track record on the world stage with the ISR, SppS and LEP legacies, as well as the tremendous success of the LHC. These have not only provided some of the greatest advances in our understanding of the fundamental elements of nature, but also serve as guarantors of CERN’s ability to continue advancing the energy frontier, keeping Europe at the leading edge of scientific knowledge. All that is currently needed is the final direction – and the start signal. Quo vadis European particle physics? Towards the next discovery frontier, to further unravel the mysteries of the fascinating universe we have come to inhabit.

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In the aftermath of World War II, nations came together and formed the United Nations (UN) with the purpose, as stated in the first article of the UN charter, “… to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace”. With more than 100 ongoing wars and military conflicts, we are further away than ever from this ideal. This marks a significant failure of diplomacy to prevent those wars.

 The invasion of Ukraine by the army of the Russian Federation at the end of February 2022 and the suffering inflicted on countless innocent civilians, including scientists, is against international law and must be condemned in the strongest terms. Despite pro-war statements from some Russian institutes, many Russian physicists oppose the war and immediately signed petitions against it.

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Just as CERN was born out of the ashes of global destruction and disarray – a condition that called for collaboration out of necessity – we propose that the resurgence of nationalism along with pressing challenges such as climate change, disease and artificial intelligence call for stronger scientific communities. At the time of CERN’s founding 70 years ago, European physicists, especially in sub-atomic physics, faced marginalisation. Devastated European countries could not separately fund the “big science” facilities necessary to do cutting-edge research. Moreover, physicists were divided by national loyalties to countries that had been enemies during the war. In the period that followed, it seemed that subatomic research would be dominated by the US and the USSR. Worse, it seemed all too likely that the nationalistic agendas in those nations would push for advances in catastrophic new military technologies.

The creation and operation of CERN in that environment was monumental. CERN brought together scientists from various countries, eventually extending beyond Europe. It greatly advanced basic knowledge in fundamental physics and spun-off practical technologies such as the web and medical equipment. It has also served as a template (greatly underused in our view) for other international science and technology organisations such as SESAME in the Middle East. Today, the challenges for global cooperation in science and technology are different from those facing the founders of CERN. Mostly Western Europeans, with a few US supporters, they shared the discipline of subatomic physics and included Nobel Laureates and other highly respected people who were able to enlist the help of supportive diplomats in the various founding states.

Moment for change

The current geopolitical moment calls forth the need for more CERN-like organisations, just as occurred in that brief post-war moment. New global institutes and organisations to address global problems will have to span a broad range of countries and cultures. They will have to overcome techno-nationalistic opportunism and fears, and deal with potential capture by multinational enterprises (as happened with the response to COVID).

New global institutes and organisations to address global problems will have to span a broad range of countries and cultures

Since its founding, CERN has increasingly shown the ability to cross cultural and political boundaries – most nations of the world have sent scientists to participate in CERN projects, and non-European countries such as India, Pakistan and Turkey are associate members. Some mention the importance of facility cafeterias and other venues where scientists from different countries can meet and have unofficial discussions. CERN has striven to keep decision-making separate from national interests by having a convention that precludes its involvement in military technologies, and by having decisions about projects made primarily by scientists. It has strong policies regarding the sharing of intellectual property developed at its facilities.

CERN’s contributions to basic science and to various important technologies is undisputed. We suggest its potential contributions to the organisation of global science and technology cooperation also deserve greater attention. A systematic examination of CERN’s governance system and membership should be undertaken and compared with the experiences of others. Analysing how the CERN model fits social science-studies of design principles, it is clear that the CERN success brings important additional principles for when the common-pool resources are science and technology, and members come from diverse cultural backgrounds. CERN has addressed issues of bringing together scientists from countries that may have competing techno-nationalistic agendas, providing shelter against not only government but also multinational enterprises. It has focused on non-military technologies and on sharing its intellectual property. It is time that this organisational experience is rolled out for even greater common good.

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The SEENET–MTP network has since grown to include 24 institutions from 12 countries, and more than 450 individual members. There are also 13 partner institutions worldwide. During its 20 years of existence, the network has undertaken: more than 20 projects; 30 conferences, workshops and schools; more than 360 researcher and student exchanges and fellowships; and more than 350 joint papers. Following initial support from CERN’s theoretical physics department, a formal collaboration agreement resulted in the joint CERN–SEENET–MTP PhD training programme with at least 150 students taking part in the first two cycles from 2015 to 2022. Significant support also came from the European Physical Society and ICTP Trieste, and the third cycle of the PhD programme will start in June 2024 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Networking is the most promising auxiliary mechanism to preserve and build local capacity in fundamental physics in the region

Unfortunately, the general focus on (Western) Balkan states has shifted during the past few years to other parts of the world. However, networking is the most natural and promising auxiliary mechanism to preserve and build local capacity in fundamental physics in the region. The central SEENET-MTP event in this anniversary year, the BWXX workshop held in Vrnjačka Banja from 29 to 31 August 2023, marked the endurance of the initiative and offered 30 participants an opportunity to consider topics such as safe supersymmetry breaking (B Bajc, Slovenia), string model building using quantum annealers (I Rizos, Greece), entropy production in open quantum systems (A Isar, Romania), advances in noncommutative field theories and gravity (M Dimitrijević Ćirić, Serbia), and the thermodynamic length for 3D holographic models and optimal processes (T Vetsov, Bulgaria).

A subsequent meeting held during an ICTP workshop on string theory, holography and black holes from 23 to 27 October 2023, partially supported by CERN, invited participants to brainstorm about future SEENET–MTP activities – the perfect setting to trace the directions of this important network’s activity in its third decade.

The post Widening Balkan bridges in theory appeared first on CERN Courier.

CERN’s strategy with respect to the environment is based on three pillars: minimise the lab’s impact on the environment, reduce energy consumption and increase energy reuse, and develop technologies that can help society to preserve the planet. For a large part of the latest reporting period, CERN’s accelerator complex was undergoing a long shutdown that ended in July 2022 with the start of Run 3 (scheduled to end in 2025). The report charts progress made in domains such as waste, noise, ionising radiation and biodiversity, land use and landscape change. It specifically covers measures taken to reach objectives set out in the first report published in 2020: limiting the rise in electricity and water consumption and reducing direct emissions (“Scope 1”) of fluorinated gases from large experiments.

CERN is committed to limiting the rise in electricity consumption to 5% up to the end of Run 3 compared to the 2018 baseline year (which corresponds to a maximum target of 1314 GWh), while delivering significantly increased performance of its facilities. It is also committed to increasing energy reuse. A total of 1215 GWh was consumed in 2022, and the accelerator complex is now more efficient, delivering more data per unit of energy consumed (CERN Courier May/June 2022 p55). In light of the energy crisis, CERN implemented additional energy-saving measures as a mark of social responsibility, and further explored diversification of energy sources and heat-recovery projects. The process to obtain the internationally recognised ISO 50001 energy-management certification was also undertaken in the reporting period, and has since been awarded.

CERN’s objective is to reduce direct greenhouse-gas emissions by 28% by the end of Run 3 compared to 2018, which corresponds to a maximum target of 138,300 tCO₂e. In 2022, 184,300 tCO₂e direct emissions were generated, with a comprehensive programme to ensure progress towards the objective. For example, the experiments have increased efforts to repair leaks in gas systems and worked towards replacing current gases with more environmentally friendly ones. With respect to indirect greenhouse-gas emissions (“Scope 3”), CERN first reported these in the second environment report (2019–2020) spanning catering, commuting and duty travel. This third report now includes scope 3 emissions arising from procurement, which represent 92% of this total, and details the main sources of related emissions.

Regarding water consumption, CERN is committed to keeping the increase in its water consumption below 5% up to the end of Run 3 compared to 2018 (which corresponds to a maximum target of 3651 ML) despite a growing demand for water cooling at the upgraded facilities. Since 2000, CERN has radically decreased its water consumption by about 80%. The report also explores how waste is managed. CERN’s aim over the reporting period has been to increase its recycling rate for non-hazardous waste, which represents over 70% of the total waste generated. In 2022 this recycling rate was 69% compared to 56% in 2018.

Biodiversity, land use and landscape change are another important focus of the report, as is the latest on how CERN’s technology and knowledge benefit society, notably with the new CERN Innovation Programme on Environmental Applications launched in March 2022.

Benoît Delille, head of the CERN Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Protection unit, concludes: “Over the years since we embarked on our first environment report, we have learned a great deal about our footprint, implemented mechanisms to better understand and control it, and increased our efforts to identify and develop technologies stemming from our core research that have the potential to benefit the environment.”

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“The Higgs boson had just been discovered before the previous P5 process, and now our continued study of the particle has greatly informed what we think may lie beyond the standard model of particle physics,” said panel chair Hitoshi Murayama (UCB). “Our thinking about what dark matter might be has also changed, forcing the community to look elsewhere – to the cosmos. And in 2015, the discovery of gravitational waves was reported. Accelerator technology is changing too, which has shifted the discussion to the technology R&D needed to build the next-generation particle collider.”

Independent of the budget scenario, realising the full scientific potential of existing projects is the highest P5 priority, including the High-Luminosity LHC, DUNE and PIP-II, and the Vera C Rubin Observatory. In addition, the panel recommends continued support for the medium-scale experiments NOvA, SBN, T2K and IceCube; DarkSide-20k, LZ, SuperCDMS and XENONnT; DESI; Belle II and LHCb; and Mu2e.

On the hot topic of future colliders, the P5 report endorses an off-shore Higgs factory, naming FCC-ee and ILC, to advance studies of the Higgs boson following the HL-LHC. The US should actively engage in design studies to establish the technical feasibility and cost of Higgs factories and convene a targeted panel to make decisions in US accelerator physics at the time when major decisions concerning an off-shore Higgs factory are expected, at which point the US should commit funds commensurate with its involvement in the LHC and HL-LHC. Looking further into the future “and ultimately aim to bring an unparalleled global facility to US soil”, the P5 report supports vigorous R&D toward a 10 TeV parton-centre-of-momentum collider, including a targeted programme to establish the feasibility of a 10 TeV muon collider at Fermilab – dubbed “our Muon Shot”.

Astro-matters

Looking outward, the panel identified several critical areas in cosmic evolution, neutrinos and dark matter where next-generation facilities could make a dramatic impact. Topping the list are: CMB-S4, which will use telescopes in Chile and Antarctica to study the cosmic microwave background (CERN Courier March/April 2022 p34); early implementation of a planned accelerator upgrade at Fermilab to advance the timeline of DUNE (in addition to a re-envisioned second phase of DUNE and R&D towards an advanced fourth detector); and a comprehensive Generation-3 dark-matter experiment to be coordinated with international partners and preferably sited in the US. Here, states the report, the impact of the more constrained budget scenario is severe, and could force the US to cede leadership in Generation-3 and to descope or delay elements of DUNE: “Limiting of DUNE’s physics reach would negatively impact the reputation of the US as an international host, and more limited contributions to an off-shore Higgs factory would tarnish our standing as a partner for future global facilities.”

Multi-messenger observatories with dark-matter sensitivity, including IceCube Gen-2 for the study of neutrino properties, and small-scale dark-matter experiments employing innovative technologies, are singled out for support. In addition, the panel recommends that the Department of Energy create a new competitive programme to support a portfolio of smaller, more agile experiments in high-energy physics.

The P5 report supports vigorous R&D toward a 10 TeV parton-centre-of-momentum collider

Investing in the scientific workforce and enhancing computational and technological infrastructure are described as “crucial”, with increased support for theory, general accelerator R&D, instrumentation and computing needed to bolster areas where US leadership has begun to erode. The report also urges broader engagement with and support for the workforce, suggesting that all projects, workshops, conferences and collaborations incorporate ethics agreements that detail expectations for professional conduct and establish mechanisms for transparent reporting, response and training. 

“In the P5 exercise, it’s really important that we take this broad look at where the field of particle physics is headed, to deliver a report that amounts to a strategic plan for the US community with a 10-year budgetary timeline and a 20-year context,” said P5 panel deputy chair Karsten Heeger (Yale). “The panel thought about where the next big discoveries might lie and how we could maximise impact within budget, to support future discoveries and the next generation of researchers and technical workers who will be needed to achieve them.”

The post US unveils 10-year strategy for particle physics appeared first on CERN Courier.

What is the origin and purpose of EPP-2024?

Michael Turner (MT): In June 2022, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF) asked the US National Academy of Sciences to convene a committee to provide a long-term (30 years or more) vision for elementary particle physics in the US and to deliver its report in mid 2024. EPP-2024 follows three previous National Academy studies, the last one in 2006 being notable for its composition (more than half of the members were “outsiders”) and the fact that it both set a vision and priorities. EPP-2024 is an 18-member committee, co-chaired by Maria and myself, and comprises mostly particle physicists from across the breadth of the field. It includes two Nobel Prize winners, eight National Academy members and CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. It will recommend a long-term vision, but will not set priorities.

How does EPP-2024 relate to the current “P5” prioritisation process in the US?

MT: The field is in the process of the third P5 (Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel) exercise, following previous cycles in 2008 and 2014. The DOE and the NSF asked the 30-member P5 committee (chaired by Hitoshi Murayama of UC Berkeley) to provide a prioritised, 10-year budget plan in the context of a 20-year globally-aware strategy by October 2023. By way of contrast, EPP-2024 will assess where the field is today, describe its ambitions and the tools and workforce necessary to achieve those ambitions, all without discussing budgets, specific projects or priorities. 

Both P5 and EPP-2024 have benefitted from the community-based activity, Snowmass 2021, sponsored by the American Physical Society, which brought together more than 1000 particle physicists to set their priorities and vision for the future in a report published in January 2023. Together, EPP-2024 and P5 will provide both a long-term vision and a shorter-term detailed plan for particle physics in the US that will maintain a vibrant US programme within the larger context of a field that is very international.

What took EPP-2024 to CERN earlier this year? 

Maria Spiropulu (MS): CERN, from its inception, has been structured as an international organisation; pan-European surely, but structurally internationally ready. In 2018 I was in the Indian Treaty room of the White House when the then CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer proclaimed CERN as the biggest US laboratory not on US soil. Indeed, in the past decade the ties between US particle physics and CERN have become stronger – in particular via the LHC and HL-LHC and also the neutrino programme – and ever more critical for the future of the field at large, so it was only natural to visit CERN and to discuss with the community in our EPP Town Hall, the early-career contingent and others. It was a very productive visit and we were impressed with what we saw and learned. The early-career scientists were fully engaged and there was a long and lively discussion focused both on the long-term science goals of the field, the planning process in Europe and in the US, the role of the US at CERN and CERN’s role in the US, as well as the involvement of early-career researchers in the process. As the field evolves and innovative approaches from other domains are employed to address persistent science questions and challenges, we see our workforce as a major output of the field both feeding back to our research programme and the society writ large. 

The questions we are asking now are big questions that require tenacity, resources, innovation and collaboration. Every technology advance and invention we can use to push the frontiers of knowledge we do. Of course, we need to investigate whether we can break these questions into shorter-timescale undertakings, perhaps less demanding in scale and resources, and with even higher levels of innovation, and then put the pieces together. Ultimately it is the will and determination of those who engage in the field that will draft the path forward. 

How would you define particle physics today?

MT: There is broad agreement that the mission of particle physics is the quest for a fundamental understanding of matter, energy, space and time. That ambitious mission not only involves identifying the building blocks of matter and energy, and the interactions between them, but also understanding how space, time and the universe originated. As evidenced by the diversity of participants at Snowmass – astronomers and physicists of all kinds – the enterprise encompasses a broad range of activities. Those being prioritised by P5 range from experiments at particle accelerators and underground laboratories to telescopes of all kinds and a host of table-top experiments. 

Long ago when I was an undergraduate at Caltech working with experimentalist Barry Barish (now a gravitational-wave astronomer), particle physics comprised experimenters who worked at accelerators and theorists who sought to explain and understand their results. While these two activities remain the core of the field, there is a “cloud” of activities that are also very important to the mission of particle physics. And for good reason: almost all the evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model involves the universe at large: dark matter, dark energy, baryogenesis and inflation. Neutrino masses were discovered in experiments that involved astrophysical sources (e.g. the Sun and cosmic-ray produced atmospheric neutrinos), and many of the big ideas in theoretical particle physics involve connecting quarks and the cosmos. Although some of the researchers involved in such cloud activities are particle physicists who have moved out of the core, the primary research of most isn’t directly associated with the mission of particle physics.

We stand on the tall shoulders of the Standard Model of particle physics – and general relativity – with a programme in place that includes the LHC, neutrino experiments, dark-matter and dark-energy experiments, CMB-polarisation measurements, precision tests and searches for rare processes and powerful theoretical ideas – not to mention all the ideas for future facilities. I believe that we are on the cusp of a major transformation in our understanding of the fundamentals of the physical world at least as exciting as the November 1974 revolution that brought us the Standard Model.

How can particle physics maintain its societal relevance next to more applied domains? 

MS: To be sure, the edifice of science is ever more relevant to human civilisation and most of society’s functions. Particle physics and associated fields capture human imagination and curiosity in terms of questions that they grapple with – questions that no one else would take up, at least not experimentally. All science domains, technology-needs and products are important to our 21st-century workings. Particle physics is not more or less important, in fact it consumes and optimises and adapts the advances of most other domains toward very ambitious objectives of building an understanding of our universe. I would also argue that because we are the melting pot of so much input and tools from other seemingly unrelated science and technology domains, the field offers a very fertile and attractive ground for training a workforce able to tackle intellectually and technologically ambitious puzzles. It can be seen as overly demanding – and this is where mentorship, guidance and clarity of opportunities play a crucial role. 

How does EPP-2024 take into account international aspects of the field?

MS: This is exemplified by a committee membership that includes the CERN Director-General, and also by the multiple testimonies and panels focusing on international collaboration, including the framework, the optimisation of science and societal outcomes, and the training of an outstanding workforce. We have collected information from distinguished panels and experts in Europe, Asia and the US that have traditionally led the field, and we study how smaller economies and nations participate and contribute successfully and to the benefit of their nations and the international discovery science goals at large. We also interrogate the role of our science in diplomacy and in scientific exchanges that may overcome geopolitical tensions. International big projects are not a walk in the park; in our field they have proven to be necessary, so we put in deliberate emphasis to make them work towards achieving ambitious goals that are otherwise intractable.  

What has the EPP-2024 committee learned so far – any surprises?

MT: For me, a relative outsider to particle physics, several things have stood out. First, the breadth of the enterprise today: cosmology has become fully integrated into particle physics, and new connections have been made to AMO physics (quantum sensors, trapped atoms and molecules, atomic interferometry), gravitational physics (gravitational waves and precision tests of gravity theory), and nuclear physics (neutrino masses and properties). Not only have dark-matter searches for WIMPs and axions become “big science”, but there is exploration of a host of new candidates that has spurred the invention of novel detection schemes. 

I believe that we are on the cusp of a major transformation in our understanding at least as exciting as the November 1974 revolution

In the US, particle physics has become a big tent that encompasses tabletop experiments to look for a small electric dipole moment of the electron, large galaxy surveys, cosmic microwave background experiments, long-baseline neutrino experiments, and of course collider experiments to explore the energy frontier. It is difficult to draw a box around a field called elementary particle physics. 

On the science side, much has changed since the last National Academy report in 2006, which noted discovering the Higgs boson and exploring the soon-to-be-discovered world of supersymmetry as its big vision. The aspirations of the field are much loftier today, from understanding the emergence of space and time to the deep connections between gravity and quantum mechanics. At the same time, however, the path forward is less clear than it was in 2006.

The post EPP-2024: progress and promise appeared first on CERN Courier.

“My visit to SESAME on 8 June 2023 has convinced me that Iraq will stand to greatly benefit from membership, and that this would be the right moment for it to become a member,” stated Naeem Alaboodi, minister of higher education and scientific research and head of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, in his letter to Rolf Heuer, president of the SESAME Council. “However, before doing so it would like to better familiarise itself with the governance, procedures and activity of this centre, and feels that the best way of doing this would be by first taking on associate membership.”

SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), based in Allan, Jordan, was founded on the CERN model and established under the umbrella of UNESCO. It opened its doors to users in 2017, offering third-generation X-ray beamlines for a range of disciplines, with the aim to be the first international Middle-Eastern research institution enabling scientists to collaborate peacefully for the generation of knowledge (CERN Courier January/February 2023 p28). SESAME has eight full members (Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine and Turkey) and 17 observers, including CERN. One of SESAME’s main focuses is archaeological heritage. This will be the topic of the first Iraqi user study, which involves two Iraqi institutes collaborating in a project of the Natural History Museum in the UK.

Iraq has been following progress at SESAME for some time. As an associate member Iraq will enjoy access to SESAME’s facilities for its national priority projects and more opportunities for international collaboration.“Iraq’s formal association with SESAME will be very useful for Iraqi scientists to gain the required scientific knowledge in many different areas of science and applications using synchrotron radiation,” said Hua Liu, deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been actively encouraging its member states located in the region to seek membership of SESAME.

“The Council and all the members of SESAME are delighted by Iraq’s decision,” added Heuer. “We look forward to further countries of the region joining the SESAME family. With more beamlines available in the future, we hope that user groups from different countries will be working together on projects and we will see more transnational collaboration.”

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The ep/eA programme finds itself at a crossroad between nuclear and particle physics, with synergies with astroparticle physics. It has the potential to empower the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) physics programme in a unique way, and allows for a deeper exploration of the electroweak and strong sectors of the Standard Model beyond what can be achieved with proton–proton collisions alone. In many cases, adding LHeC to HL-LHC data can significantly improve the precision of Higgs-boson measurements – similar to the improvements expected when moving from the LHC to HL-LHC.

The innovative spirit of the ep/eA community was demonstrated during the workshop “Electrons for the LHC – LHeC/FCCeh and PERLE” held at IJCLab from 26 to 28 October. As the ep/eA community moves from the former HERA facility and from the Electron-Ion Collider, currently under construction at Brookhaven, to higher energies at LHeC and FCC-eh, the threshold will be reached to study electroweak, top and Higgs physics in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) processes for the first time. In addition, these programmes enable the exploration of the low Bjorken-x frontier orders of magnitude beyond current DIS results. At this stage, it is unclear what physics will be unlocked if hadronic matter is broken into even smaller pieces. In recent years, particle physicists have learned that the ultimate precision for Higgs-boson physics lies in the complementarity of e⁺e^–, pp and ep collisions, as embedded in the FCC programme, for example. Exploiting this complementarity is key to exploring new territories via the Higgs and dark sectors, as well as zooming in on potential anomalies in our data.

The October workshop underlined the advantage of a joint ep/pp/eA/AA/pA interaction experiment, and the need to further document its added scientific value. For example, a precision of 1 MeV on the W-boson mass could be within reach. In short, the ep data allows constraints to be placed on the most important systematic uncertainty when measuring the W-boson mass with pp data.

Reduced power 

Participants also addressed how to reduce the power consumption of LHeC and FCC-eh. PERLE, an expanding international collaboration revolving around a multi-turn demonstrator facility being pursued at IJCLab in Orsay for energy recovery linacs (ERLs) at high beam currents, is ready to become Europe’s leading centre for developing and testing sustainable accelerating systems.  

At this stage, it is unclear what physics will be unlocked if hadronic matter is broken into even smaller pieces

As demonstrated at the workshop, with additional R&D on ERLs and ep colliders we might be able to further reduce the power consumption of the LHeC (and FCC-eh) to as low as 50 MW. These values are to be compared with the GW power consumption if there was no energy recovery and therefore provide a power-economic avenue to extend the Higgs precision frontier beyond the HL-LHC. ERLs are not uniquely applicable to eA colliders, but have been discussed for future linear and circular e⁺e^– colliders too. With PERLE and other sustainable accelerating systems, the ep/eA programme has the ambition to deliver a demonstration of ERL technology at high beam current, potentially towards options for an ERL-based Higgs factory.

Workshop participants are engaged to further develop an ep/eA programme with the ability to significantly enrich this overall strategy with a view to finding cracks in the Standard Model and/or finding new phenomena that further our understanding of nature at the smallest and largest scales.

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Safety is a priority for CERN. It spans all areas of occupational health and safety, including the protection of the environment and the safe operation of facilities. Continuous exchanges with similar research infrastructures on best practices and techniques ensures that CERN maintains the highest standards. From 25 to 28 October, more than 100 people from CERN and research institutes worldwide gathered in the Globe of Science and Innovation at CERN for the International Technical Safety Forum (ITSF). This key conference in matters of health and safety is a forum for exchanging new ideas, processes, procedures and technologies in personnel, environmental and equipment safety among a variety of high-energy physics, synchrotron and other research infrastructures.

It is a pleasure to share new ways of thinking and acting in matters of occupational health & safety and environmental protection

Yves Loertscher

“In its 25-year existence, the Forum has evolved with the times, all the while increasing its attractiveness for experts to share their knowledge, experience and challenges,” says Ralf Trant of the CERN technology department. “The scope has broadened from high-energy physics to a wider range of disciplines and participating institutes, in Europe and beyond with Asian labs joining in addition to American institutes, who have been involved since the beginning.”

Opening the event, Benoît Delille, head of the CERN Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) unit, noted: “For colleagues from different institutes who visit CERN for the first time, it is an occasion for us to share the values on which this Organization is built, that we are proud of, and also how we make them come to life through the prism of Safety.” A first session on environmental protection and sustainability saw CERN share its approach to minimise its environmental footprint in key domains, alongside a presentation from the European Spallation Source (ESS) on environmental management during its post-construction phase. Sessions including continuous improvements in health & safety, fire safety, equipment certification, incidents and lessons learned, risk assessment and technical risks unfolded during the week, ending with new projects and challenges, safety culture and behaviour and safety training.

“Listening to your colleagues from other research institutes informing about occurred events, lessons learned and recent developments in safety assessment is the pure essence of ITSF,” said Peter Jakobsson, head of environment, safety, health & quality at ESS and member of the ITSF organising committee, who chaired the “Incidents and lessons learned” session. “We openly share information in different subject safety areas such as fire hazards, handling of chemicals and inspection of pressurised equipment. In doing so, we all learn from each other to create a safe work environment for our staff and scientific users: a true sign of the safety culture that we all strive for.”

In addition to a rich programme of presentations, the event featured an interactive fire workshop in which participants shared ongoing projects and challenges related to fire safety in accelerator facilities. CERN also shared its experiences of the fire-induced radiological integrated assessment (FIRIA) project whose objective is to develop a general methodology for assessing the fire-related risks present in CERN’s facilities and provide a forum to keep experts connected and updated. Participants also enjoyed visits of the installations, complemented with a tour of the CERN safety training centre in Prévessin on the final day.

“This event gave us the possibility to share our knowledge through presentations but also through networking breaks, visits and social events,” said Yves Loertscher, head of the CERN HSE occupational health & safety group and organiser of this year’s ITSF event. “After a break of almost three years owing to the pandemic, it is a pleasure to interact directly with peers again and share new ways of thinking and acting in matters of occupational health & safety and environmental protection”.

The post Keeping research infrastructures safe appeared first on CERN Courier.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) is an offspring of the International Research Council, a temporary body created after the First World War to rebuild and promote research across the sciences. IUPAP was established in 1922 with 13 member countries and held its first general assembly in Paris the following year. Originally, neither the International Research Council nor IUPAP included any of the countries of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria–Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire). Many lessons in science diplomacy had to be learned before IUPAP and the other scientific unions became truly international and physicists from all countries could apply to join. Today, with 60 member countries, the union strongly advocates that no scientist shall be excluded from the scientific community as long as their work is based on ethics and the principles of science in its highest ideals – an aspect that certainly will be further elaborated by the working group on ethics established by IUPAP in October last year. 

Information exchange

Among IUPAP’s commissions covering all the different disciplines of physics  is the Commission on Symbols, Units, Nomenclature, Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants (C2), formed in 1931. The task of this commission is to promote the exchange of information and views among the members of the international scientific community in the general field of fundamental constants. As an example, the international system of units (SI) was originally recommended by IUPAP in 1960, and C2 has maintained its role in recommending further improvements, including resolutions supporting the choice of constants to define the new SI as well as the decision to proceed with the redefinition of four of the seven units made in May 2019. 

From 11 to 13 July, around 250 physicists from some 70 countries gathered to celebrate the 100th birthday of IUPAP at a symposium held at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The symposium was one of the official events of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, which was officially inaugurated only a few days earlier at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. About 40% of the participants were physically present, while the rest connected online. Various panels composed of international experts discussed important issues in alignment with the IUPAP’s core aims, including: how to support and encourage early-career physicists, how to improve diversity in physics, how to strengthen the ties to physicists working in industry, how to improve the quality of physics education, and how to promote physics in less developed countries.

IUPAP continues to promote physics as an essential tool for development and sustainability in the next century

A number of influential scientists, including Giorgio Parisi (La Sapienza) and Laura Greene (Florida State University), described their roles in providing evidence-based advice to their respective governments on science and shared best practices that could be useful across borders. Other prominent speakers included William Phillips (Maryland), who covered the quantum reform of modern metric systems; Donna Strickland (Waterloo), who discussed the physics of high-intensity lasers; and Takaaki Kajita (Tokyo), who presented 100 years of neutrino physics via an online connection with the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP) in Bologna. Climate scientist Tim Palmer (Oxford) argued that a supercomputing facility modelled on the organisation of CERN would enable a step-change in quantifying climate change, while Stewart Prager (Princeton) outlined a new project sponsored by the American Physical Society to engage physicists in reducing nuclear threat. Dedicated panels discussed the development of physics in Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America. It is clear that in these regions IUPAP has a large potential to foster further international collaboration.

IUPAP enhances the vital role of young physicists, among others, through the award of early-career scientist prizes. In Trieste, several recent recipients of the prize were invited to present their research. The talks were all striking and left the audience with high hopes for the future of physics. Furthermore, the logistics in the auditorium and the handling of all the questions that came in from online participants were smoothly taken care of by members of the International Association of Physics Students.

The centennial symposium was an opportunity to reflect on IUPAP’s role in promoting international cooperation and to welcome Ukraine as a new member. The decision to admit Ukraine was expedited to send a strong signal of support for the war-torn country – a war that has not spared its scientific institutions and the people who work there, as expressed by the president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Zagorodny in a powerful online presentation. IUPAP has issued a statement strongly condemning the Russian aggression in Ukraine, while also expressing the principle that no scientist should be excluded from union-sponsored conferences, as long as he or she carries out work not contributing to weapons development. To overcome difficulties related to conferences, IUPAP has put in place that excluded scientists can participate using the Union as their affiliation – similar to the model applied for the Olympic Games.

IUPAP has served the physics community for 100 years and has strong ambitions to continue to assist in the worldwide development of physics and to promote physics as an essential tool for development and sustainability in the next century.

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Every seven to 10 years since 1982, high-energy physicists in the US have undertaken a community planning exercise to identify the most important questions for the following two decades and the facilities, infrastructure and R&D needed to pursue them. For many years these efforts, which are sponsored by the Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society (APS) and include scientists from other countries and related fields, concluded with a summer workshop in Snowmass, Colorado. The planning exercise focuses on scientific issues, whereas establishing project priorities is the task of a Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel “P5”, charged by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

The latest study, “Snowmass 2021” (CERN Courier January/February 2022 p43) was meant to conclude in July 2021, but had to be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, our community accomplished an amazing amount of work. The final discussions and synthesis of all the white papers, seminars, workshops and other materials took place at the University of Washington in Seattle from 17–26 July 2022. At the end of the  meeting, Hitoshi Murayama (UC Berkeley and the University of Tokyo) was named chairperson of the new P5 subpanel, which will take input from Snowmass 2021.

Snowmass in context 

The last US community planning exercise was held in 2013. The subsequent P5 report synthesised the questions identified into five physics drivers: use the Higgs boson as a tool for discovery; pursue the physics associated with neutrino mass; identify the new physics of dark matter; understand cosmic acceleration; and explore the unknown. It also made 29 project-oriented recommendations. The two projects assigned the highest priority were participation in the High-Luminosity LHC and the ATLAS and CMS experiments; and the construction of the LBNF/DUNE long-baseline neutrino experiment, which will detect neutrinos produced at Fermilab interacting in massive underground detectors 1300 km away in the Homestake mine in South Dakota. 

Nearly a decade since the last Snowmass/P5 exercise, some elements of the recommended experimental programme have taken data and have succeeded in pushing the boundaries of our knowledge. But despite some hints, they have not yet produced a result that points us in a specific direction. Snowmass 2021 reconfirmed the relevance of the physics drivers, and added a proposal for a sixth: flavour physics as a tool for discovery. Specifically, we don’t understand why three generations of matter particles exist nor the origin of the mass patterns that they exhibit. We do not know why the quark and the lepton mixing matrices are so different, or whether CP violation exists in the neutrino sector and how it relates to the observed matter–antimatter asymmetry of the universe. There are, currently, several tantalising hints of new particles and interactions that could explain various anomalies in the weak decays of B mesons and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Depending on what the near-future brings, dedicated next-generation flavour experiments are likely to be required and could play a key role in the quest for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Snowmass 2021 was organised into 10 working groups or “frontiers”: accelerator, cosmic, community engagement, computational, energy, instrumentation, neutrinos, rare processes and precision measurements, theory, and underground facilities and infrastructure. Each frontier divided its work into several topical groups, taking into account input from the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics and other international studies. More than 500 new white papers were produced. An early-career organisation assisted young physicists in contributing to the Snowmass process and international participation was encouraged, with leaders of international institutes and laboratories including Fabiola Gianotti (CERN), Masanori Yamauchi (KEK) and Yifang Wang (IHEP) giving presentations during special plenary sessions at the Seattle workshop. In describing the US programme, Fermilab director Lia Merminga emphasised the importance of international collaboration, citing the close relationship between the US and CERN.

There was broad agreement that a successful future programme should include a healthy breadth and balance of physics topics, experiment sizes and timescales, supported via a dedicated, robust and ongoing funding process. Completion of existing experiments and execution of DUNE and the HL-LHC programmes are critical for addressing the science drivers in the near-term. Strong and continued support for formal theory, phenomenology and computational theory is needed, as are stronger, targeted efforts connecting theory to experiment. Both R&D directed to specific future projects and generic research needs to be supported in critical enabling technologies such as accelerators, instrumentation/detectors and computation, and in new ones such as quantum science and machine learning. Finally, a cohesive, strategic approach to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, and to improving outreach and engagement, is required.

A panoply of ideas were discussed at Snowmass 2021. Here, in the context of the 10 frontiers, we list some of the larger projects and programmes that are proposed to be carried  out, or at least started, in the next two decades, and some important conclusions concerning enabling technologies and infrastructure, with the disclaimer that these may change as the final Snowmass frontier reports are written.

The cosmic frontier

The cosmic frontier is focused on understanding how fundamental physics shapes the behaviour of the universe, in particular concerning the nature of dark matter (DM) and dark energy. The space of DM models encompasses a dizzying array of possibilities representing many orders of magnitude in mass and couplings, making the DM programme one of the most interdisciplinary investigations in high-energy and particle physics. The cosmic frontier DM programme will “delve deep, search wide” by employing a range of direct searches for WIMPs interacting with targets on Earth or produced at accelerators, indirect searches for the products of DM annihilation and probes based on analyses of cosmic structure. A complementary thrust is building the next generation of cosmological probes. The next big project in this arena is CMB-S4, a system of telescopes to study the cosmic microwave background and address the mystery of cosmic inflation, which is expected to operate through to at least 2036 (CERN Courier March/April 2022 p34). Additional projects that would start after 2029 are Spec-S5 (the follow-on spectroscopic device to DESI), a project to carry out line intensity mapping (LIM), and planning efforts to increase the sensitivity of gravity wave detection by at least a factor of 10 (10³ in sensitive volume)  beyond what will be achieved by LIGO/Virgo.

The energy frontier

The immediate goal for the energy frontier is to carry out the 2014 P5 recommendations to complete the HL-LHC upgrade and execute its physics programme. A new aspect of the proposed programme is the emergence of a variety of auxiliary experiments, examples of which are FASER (operational) and MATHULSA (proposed), that can use the existing LHC interaction regions to explore parts of discovery space in the far-forward regions. These are mid-scale detectors in cost and complexity, and provide room for additional innovation at the HL-LHC. The energy frontier supports the construction of a global e⁺e^– Higgs factory as soon as possible. Either a linear collider or a circular collider can provide the necessary sensitivity, and a programme of directed detector and accelerator R&D for a Higgs factory is needed immediately to enable US participation. To ensure the long-term viability of the field, the energy frontier wants to begin accelerator and detector R&D towards a 10 TeV muon collider or a 100 TeV-scale hadron collider, in collaboration with partners worldwide. Finally, the US energy-frontier community has expressed renewed interest and ambition to develop options for an energy-frontier collider that could be sited in the US, specifically either an e⁺e^– Higgs factory or a muon collider, while maintaining its international collaborative partnerships and obligations with, for example, CERN future-collider R&D projects. 

The neutrino frontier 

What are the neutrino masses? Are neutrinos their own antiparticles? How are the masses ordered? What is the origin of neutrino mass and flavour? Do neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate differently? And are there new particles and interactions that can be discovered? These are among the fascinating questions elaborated by the neutrino frontier. The DUNE R&D programme, propelled by the development of large-scale liquid-argon detectors in the US and Europe, in particular through the CERN Neutrino Platform, has demonstrated the power and feasibility of this technique. Following the completion of DUNE Phase 1 by 2030, DUNE Phase 2 is the neutrino community’s highest priority project for 2030–2040. The Phase 2 project has three components: a replacement of the Fermilab 8 GeV Booster to deliver 2.4 MW to the DUNE target and possibly to provide beam for other experiments; the construction of an additional 20 kT (fiducial) of far-detectors at Homestake; and a fully capable near-detector complex at Fermilab to provide very precise control of the systematic uncertainties for the far-detector measurements, besides carrying out a rich physics programme of their own. DUNE will perform definitive studies of neutrino oscillations, test the three-flavour paradigm, search for new neutrino interactions, and will resolve the mass hierarchy question and hopefully observe CP violation. There are many other aspects of neutrino physics that merit study, including the absolute mass, the search for neutrinoless double beta decay (which bears on the issue of whether the neutrino is a Dirac or a Majorana fermion), the measurement of cross sections, and the search for sterile neutrinos. Several of these will be part of the US neutrino programme, either based in the US or through collaboration abroad.

Rare processes and precision measurements

The rare processes and precision measurements frontier is currently working on two mid-sized US projects at Fermilab endorsed by P5 in 2014: the Muon g−2 experiment, which has produced exciting results and will continue to take data for at least a few more years; and the Mu2e experiment, which is under construction. The programme also has important investments in flavour physics through support of the Belle II experiment in Japan and LHCb at CERN. Priorities for the next few years are to complete g−2, begin taking data with Mu2e, and continue collaboration at Belle II and LHCb, including participation in future upgrades. Looking ahead, the central themes are to understand quark and lepton flavour and its violation measurements, and the search for dark-matter production in the mass range from sub-MeV to a few GeV in fixed-target proton and electron experiments. There is a proposal to study muon science in an advanced muon facility at Fermilab that would greatly improve the search for lepton-flavour violation in µ → eγ, µN → eN and µ → 3e decays. This would require an intense proton beam with unique characteristics and accumulator rings to manage the production of muon beams with different energies and time profiles.

Theory frontier 

Theoretical particle physics seeks to provide a predictive mathematical description of matter, energy, space and time that synthesises our knowledge of the universe, analyses and interprets existing experimental results and motivates future experimental investigation. Theory connects particle physics to other areas (e.g. gravity and cosmology) and extends the boundaries of our understanding (e.g. quantum information). Together, fundamental, phenomenological and computational theory form a vibrant ecosystem whose health is essential to all aspects of the US high-energy physics programme. The theory frontier recommends, among others, invigorated support for a broad programme of research as part of a balanced portfolio and an emphasis on targeted initiatives to connect theory to experiment.

Nearly a decade since the last Snowmass exercise, the recommended experimental programme has succeeded in pushing the boundaries of our knowledge

Accelerator frontier 

The accelerator frontier, which has many crossovers with the energy frontier, aims to prepare for the next generations of major accelerator-based particle physics projects to explore the energy, neutrino and rare-process-and-precision frontiers. In the near term, a multi-MW beam-power upgrade of the Fermilab proton accelerator complex is required for DUNE phase 2. Studies are required to understand what other requirements the Fermilab accelerator complex needs to meet if the same upgrade is to be used for related rare-decay and precision experiments. In the energy frontier, a global consensus for an e⁺e^– Higgs factory as the next collider has been reaffirmed. While some options (e.g. the International Linear Collider) have mature designs, other options (such as FCC-ee, C³, HELEN and CLIC) require further R&D to understand if they are viable. In order to further explore the energy frontier, a very high-energy circular hadron collider or a multi-TeV muon collider will be needed, both of which require substantial study to see if construction is feasible in the decade starting 2040 or beyond. It is proposed that the US establish a national integrated R&D programme on future colliders to carry out technology R&D and accelerator design studies for future collider concepts. Since machines of this magnitude will require international collaboration, the US R&D programme must be well-aligned and consistent with international efforts. Also under consideration are new acceleration techniques, such as wakefield acceleration, and ERLs, along with proposed R&D programmes that could indicate how they would contribute to the design of future colliders. 

Computational frontier 

Software and computing are essential to all high-energy physics experiments and many theoretical studies. However, computing has entered a new “post-Moore’s law” phase. Speed-ups in processing now come from the use of heterogeneous resources such as GPUs and FPGAs developed in the commercial sector, with significant implications for the way we develop and maintain software. We are also beginning to rely on community hardware resources such as high-performance computing centres and the cloud rather than dedicated experiment resources. Finally, new machine-learning approaches are changing the way we work. This new computing environment requires new approaches to address the long-term development, maintenance and user support of essential software packages and cross-cutting R&D efforts. Additionally, strong investment in career development for software and computing researchers is needed to ensure future success. The computational frontier therefore recommends the creation of a standing coordinating panel for software and computing under the auspices of the APS DPF, mirroring the Coordinating Panel for Advanced Detectors established in 2012.

Instrumentation frontier 

Improved instrumentation is the key to progress in neutrino physics, collider physics and the physics of the cosmic and rare-processes frontiers. Many aspects now at the cutting-edge of detector development were hardly present 10 years ago, including quantum sensors, machine-learning and precision timing. Funding for instrumentation in the US, however, is actually declining. Key elements of a rejuvenated instrumentation effort include programmes to develop and maintain a sufficiently large and diverse workforce, including physicists, engineers and technicians at universities and national laboratories; double the US detector R&D budget over the next five years and modify funding models to enable R&D consortia; expand and sustain support for innovative detector R&D and establish a separate review process for such pathfinding endeavours; and develop and maintain critical facilities, centres and capabilities for sharing knowledge and tools.

The underground frontier

Underground experiments address some of the most important areas of particle physics, including the search for dark matter, neutrino physics (including neutrinoless double beta decay and atmospheric neutrinos), cosmic-ray physics and searches for proton decay. The underground frontier concluded that future experiments and their enabling R&D require more space than is currently planned. They proposed a possible addition of the underground space at a depth of 4850 feet at SURF/Homestake and possible additional space at a depth of 7400 feet. These would open up space to develop new experiments and would provide the opportunity for SURF to host next-generation dark-matter or neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.

Community engagement 

The community engagement frontier concentrated on seven areas: interaction with industry; career pipeline and development; diversity, equity and inclusion; physics education; public education and outreach; public policy and government engagement; and environmental and societal impacts. The inclusion of this broad array of issues as a “frontier” was a novel aspect of Snowmass 2021 and led to the formulation of many proposals for consideration and implementation by the community as a whole. These issues impact the ability of all frontiers to successfully complete their work, and some, such as the need to broaden representation, are highlighted by other frontiers too. While many recommendations apply directly to the DOE and NSF programmes and could be considered by P5, many others are directed to the HEP community as a whole. We in DPF are considering how best to pursue these issues with government agencies, APS and other groups.

The exciting road ahead 

Almost three months since the Seattle workshop, the individual frontier reports are now nearly all complete and the process of synthesising the results has begun. One important theme is to stay the course on the programme approved by the last P5 in the hopes that the hints and anomalies that have shown up since then will provide some guidance for physics beyond the Standard Model. The second theme is that, in the absence of a specific target, we will have to plan a very diverse programme of experiments, theoretical studies and machine and detector R&D in which we broadly explore the large space of possibilities. In all cases, a global effort will be required, and much thought is being applied to ensuring that the US can play an appropriate role. 

A global effort will be required, and much thought is being applied to ensuring that the US can play an appropriate role

We believe that members of the US high-energy physics community left the Seattle workshop with an appreciation of the great opportunities present in each frontier, the interconnections between the frontiers and the connections to programmes in the rest of the world. We hope that our report will help P5 produce recommendations that we can unite behind, as we did in 2014. That has proven to be an effective step in convincing the public and policy makers that we have conducted a rigorous process and achieved a consensus that is worthy of their support. 

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Physics-based industries are as important to the Swiss economy as production or trade, concludes a new report by the Swiss Physical Society (SPS). Seeking to determine the impact of physics on Swiss society, and motivated by a similar Europe-wide study completed in 2019 by the European Physical Society, the SPS team, with support from the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences and Swiss service-provider IMSD, carried out a statistical analysis revealing key indicators of the national value of physics.

Currently, states the report, the turnover of physics-based industries (PBI) in Switzerland is estimated to exceed CHF 274 billion in revenue, and is expected to grow further. PBI, defined as those industries that are strongly reliant on modern technologies developed by physicists, were divided into 11 categories ranging from pharmaceuticals and medical instruments to electricity supply and general manufacturing. The share of PBI in Switzerland’s gross value added (GVA) was found to be CHF 91.5 billion, or 13% of the total for 2019, while the number of full-time equivalent jobs was 417,000 (9.8%). Furthermore, the specific GVA for PBI increased by 6.3% from 2015 to 2019 – almost three times higher than the average increase among all economic-activity sectors during the same period.

Innovative ideas that come out of fundamental, curiosity-driven research are at the source of what leads to success in society

Hans Peter Beck

Not included in these figures are the contributions of physicists who are employed in other industries, nor additional economic impact due to downstream effects such as household spending associated with economic activity in PBI. Estimating the GVA multiplier associated with the impact of PBI to be between 2.31 and 2.49, the report concludes that every CHF 1.00 of direct physics-related output contributes CHF 2.31 to 2.49 to the economy-wide output. Beyond economic impact, the report also evaluated the contribution of education and innovation to Swiss society, and highlighted ways in which to address the shortage of skilled workers and the gender gap.

“The impact physics has on society has been studied multiple times in a variety of countries and all arrive at the same conclusion: economic success in a modern, technology-driven society is the fruit of long-term support for physics in education and research,” says former SPS president Hans Peter Beck. “Innovative ideas that come out of fundamental, curiosity-driven research are at the source of what leads to success in society.”

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Open science has always been one of CERN’s key values, dating back to the signing of the CERN Convention at UNESCO in 1952. The new policy follows the 2020 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which highlighted the importance of open science, and UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science, published in 2021. It encompasses the existing policies for open access and open data, which make all research papers and experimental data publicly available. It also brings together other existing elements of open science – open-source software and hardware, research integrity, open infrastructure and research assessment (which make research reliable and reproducible) and training, outreach and citizen science, which aim to educate and create dialogue with the next generation of researchers and the public.

“The publication of the Open Science Policy gives a solid framework in which the popular suite of open-source tools and services provided by CERN, including Zenodo, Invenio and REANA, can continue to grow and support the adoption of open-science practices, not only within physics but also across the globe’s research communities,” said Enrica Porcari, head of CERN’s IT department.

The OSWG will continue to assess how open science evolves at CERN, developing the policy in accordance with new best practices. Alongside this, a new open-science report will be published each year, showing CERN’s continued commitment to the initiative.

https://openscience.cern.

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European Laboratories for Accelerator Based Sciences (EURO-LABS) aims to provide unified transnational access to leading research infrastructures across Europe. Taking over from previously running independent programmes, it brings together the nuclear physics, the high-energy accelerator, and the high-energy detector R&D communities. With 33 partners from European countries, EURO-LABS forms a large network of laboratories and institutes ranging from modest sized test infrastructures to large-scale ESFRI facilities such as SPIRAL2.  Its goal is to enable research at the technological frontiers in accelerator and detector development and to open wider avenues in both basic and applied research in diverse topics, from optimal running of reactors to mimicking reactions in the stars. Within this large network, EURO-LABS will ensure diversity and actively support researchers from different nationalities, gender, age, grade, and variety of professional expertise.

Sharing information to support users at test facilities is pivotal. Targeted improvements such as new isotope-enriched targets for high-quality standard medical radioisotope production, improved beam- profile monitors, or magnetic-field measurement instruments in cryogenic conditions will further enhance the capabilities of  facilities to address the challenges of the coming decades. Through an active and open data management plan following the FAIR principle, EURO-LABS will act as a gateway for information to facilitate research across disciplines and provide training for young researchers.

Funded by the European Commission, EURO-LABS started on 1 September and will run until August 2026. At the kick off meeting, held in Bologna from 3 to 5 October, presentations offered a detailed overview of the research infrastructures and facilities providing particle and ion beams at energies from meV to GeV. Exchanges during the meeting gave participants a view of the strengths and synergies on offer, planting the seeds for fruitful collaborations.

Prospects for testing and developing techniques for present and future accelerators were among the highlights of the meeting. In the high-energy accelerator sector, this requires state of the art test benches for cryogenic equipment such as magnets, superconducting cavities and associated novel materials, electron and plasma beams, as well as specialised test-beam facilities. Facilities at CERN, DESY and PSI, for example, allow the study of performances and radiation effects on detectors for the HL-LHC and beyond while also enabling nuclei to be explored under extreme conditions. Benefiting from past experiences, a streamlined procedure for handling transnational-access applications to all research infrastructures across the different fields of EURO-LABS was defined.

On the last day of the meeting, the consortium’s governing board, chaired by Edda Gschwendtner (CERN), met for the first time. The governing board further appointed Navin Alahari (GANIL, France) as EURO-LABS scienfitic coordinator, Paolo Giacomelli (INFN-BO, Italy) as project corodinator, Maria Colonna (INFN-LNS, Italy), Ilias Efhymiopoulos (CERN) and Marko Mikuz (Univ.Lubljana, Slovenia) as deputy scientific coordinator and work-package and Maria J G Borge (CSIC, Spain) and Adam Maj (IFJ, Poland) as work-package leaders.

With all facilities declaring their readiness to receive the first transnational users, the next annual meeting will be hosted by IFJ-PAN in Krakow, Poland.

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Here Anne-Charlotte Joubert, ENRIITC project coordinator and grants officer at the European Spallation Source (ESS), a neutron science facility currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, tells CERN Courier how ENRIITC is helping ILOs and ICOs to join the dots between big science and industry.

How does ENRIITC connect ILOs, ICOs and industry?

Connection and collaboration underpin the ENRIITC mission to build a permanent pan-European network of ILOs and ICOs supporting cross-border partnerships between industry and RIs. Our first formal community meeting, for example, took place in October 2020 when Europe was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although a virtual rather than face-to-face experience, we attracted more than 120 RI and industry representatives from 21 countries for two days of interactive sessions and workshops to address topics relating to the growth and impact of the ENRIITC network. 

Building on this initial success, we established #ENRIITCyourCoffee, a virtual meeting series to bring network members together on a weekly basis for group discussion on “issues arising” at the interface between big science and industry (with 38 sessions held to date attracting more than 200 unique participants). Initially launched to sustain the collective conversation among ENRIITC members through the Europe-wide lockdowns, #ENRIITCyourCoffee is now an established and ongoing part of the project mix.   

What about support for training and education of ENRIITC members?

Under the snappy banner ENRIITC your Knowledge (you see what we’re doing here), the ENRIITC consortium organised a programme of eight training webinars (concluding in May this year) to encourage knowledge transfer, skills development and best practice around the ILO/ICO core competencies needed for successful industry engagement. The series attracted 140 new individual members into the network. In a different direction – with the aim of raising industry awareness about business and R&D opportunities at Europe’s RIs – the project consortium organised five brokerage events for existing and prospective RI industrial users and equipment suppliers (as well as funding five other brokerage events). 

What lessons has ENRIITC learned about the relationship between Europe’s large-scale research facilities and industry?

ENRIITC members have conducted two surveys to map the level and scope of engagement between industry and RIs, looking specifically at “Industry as an RI supplier” and “Industry as an RI user”. The surveys focused, among other things, on the nature of the RI access routes used by industry; business sector and enterprise size; the effectiveness of current ILO and ICO performance indicators; as well as drivers of (and barriers to) closer collaboration between RIs and industry. 

This granular mapping exercise laid the foundations for a set of complementary strategies, subsequently articulated by ENRIITC, to enhance collaboration between RIs and industry. The headline goal here: to promote – and scale – the role of RIs in supporting applied R&D, technology innovation and long-term growth opportunities for Europe’s technology companies. Equally important is the emphasis on coordinated operational implementation, with separate strategies to guide ILO/ICO training on industry outreach (including brokerage events) and policy recommendations to follow on optimisation of ILO/ICO performance.   

The current iteration of the ENRIITC project wraps up in December. What are the priorities until then?

Although a lot has been achieved, there is much work still to do. Our immediate priority is the second ENRIITC community networking meeting, which takes place in October at the Big Science Business Forum (BSBF) in Granada, Spain, when we will bring together ILO/ICO members for a series of intensive knowledge-sharing, networking and training activities. Longer term, a policy paper is in the works to ensure the sustainability of the network, covering: strategic goals and propositions for the project’s continuation; the need to secure funding for a follow-on ENRIITC 2.0 initiative; a transition plan for 2023/24 to build support for our partners and associates; and a business case for the registration of ENRIITC as an independent legal structure. From there we hope to agree a memorandum of understanding between RIs and the ILO/ICO community.  

Tell us about ENRIITC 2.0

Right now, the ENRIITC consortium is looking for sources of funding to support an ENRIITC 2.0 initiative, the plan being to consolidate a pan-European ILO/ICO network and secure the successes of the initial project phase. The business model for this follow-up activity is still under discussion, though it is already clear there will be a transition period between the current publicly funded network (within the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme) to a set-up that is necessarily self-sustaining in the long term – likely some sort of mixed membership model that is part open access and part membership/fee-based service offering. Operationally, one of the fundamental objectives of ENRIITC 2.0 will be to establish what we’re calling the Innovation and Industry Services Central Support Hub. The idea is for an online platform to deliver training, connectivity and professional development for ILOs and ICOs, while also streamlining industry engagement with a common pathway to handle the flow of requests from companies to RIs. 

Define success for ENRIITC

Success is all about longevity: if the ENRIITC network is strong and sustained, the project has succeeded. What does that look like? I guess one tangible measure of success over the next decade will be the launch, and widescale adoption, of the ENRIITC Innovation and Industry Services Central Support Hub – a unifying vehicle to scale and diversify the innovation ecosystem connecting RIs with industry.

• ENRIITC is running a specialist workshop, “Infrastructures and industry engagement – enabling European innovation”,  on 19 October at the International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI 2022) in Brno, Czech Republic. The event is organised in collaboration with CzechInvest, the Investment and Business Development Agency of the Czech Republic.

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Procurement: a world of opportunity

CERN is budgeted to spend CHF 2.5 billion (Euro 2.6 billion) on procurement of equipment and services for the period 2022–26 and is always looking to engage new industry suppliers. Contracts are awarded following price enquiries or invitations to tender. The former relate to contracts with an anticipated value below CHF 200,000 and are issued to a limited number of selected firms. Invitations to tender, meanwhile, are required for contracts with a value above CHF 200,000 and issued to firms qualified and selected based on a preceding open market survey. Prospective industry suppliers should visit https://procurement.web.cern.ch/ to register for CERN’s procurement database. 

Procurement: amplifying the upsides 

For industry suppliers, the benefits of doing business with CERN go well beyond direct financial returns on a given contract. Like all big science projects, CERN provides fertile ground for technology innovation. As such, industry partners are also investing in future visibility and impact within their given commercial setting. CERN, after all, is well known for its technological excellence, which means preferred suppliers must, as standard, push the boundaries of what’s possible, creating a virtuous circle of positive impacts versus firms’ product innovation, sustainable practices, profitability and competitiveness. A 2018 research study, for example, investigated whether becoming a CERN supplier was linked to enhanced innovation performance within partner companies, and it showed a statistically significant correlation between CERN procurement contracts and corporate R&D, knowledge creation and commercial outcomes (see “Further reading”).

Following the procurement roadmap 

The LHC is undergoing a major upgrade to sustain and extend its discovery potential. Scheduled to enter operation in 2029, the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project is a complex undertaking that requires at-scale industry engagement for all manner of technology innovations, whether that’s cutting-edge superconducting magnets or compact, ultraprecise superconducting RF cavities for beam rotation. What’s more, the machine’s enhanced luminosity (i.e. increased rate of collisions) will make new demands on the supporting vacuum, cryogenics and machine protection systems, while advanced concepts for collimation and diagnostics, beam modelling and beam-crossing schemes will also be required to maximise physics outputs. Industry is front-and-centre and has a pivotal role to play in delivering the core technologies needed to achieve the HL-LHC’s scientific goals. Down the line, even bigger opportunities will come into play as the HL-LHC draws to a close (in 2040 or thereabouts). Designs are now in the works for the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC), an advanced research infrastructure that would push the energy and intensity frontiers of particle accelerators into uncharted territory, reaching collision energies of 100 TeV (versus the LHC’s current 13.6 TeV) in the search for new physics. 

The engine-room of knowledge transfer

Although fundamental physics might not seem the most obvious discipline in which to find emerging technologies with marketable applications, CERN’s unique research environment – reliant as it is on diverse types of radiation, extremely low temperatures, ultrahigh magnetic fields and high-voltage power systems – represents a rich source of innovation spanning particle accelerators, detectors and scientific computing. Industry partnerships underpin CERN’s core research endeavour through the procurement of specialist services and co-development of cutting-edge components, subsystems and instrumentation – a process known as upstream innovation. Conversely, companies looking to solve innovation challenges are able to tap CERN’s capabilities to support technology development and growth opportunities within their own R&D pipeline – a process known as downstream innovation. In this way, companies and research institutes collaborate with CERN scientists and engineers to deliver breakthrough technologies ranging from cancer therapy to environmental monitoring, radiation-hardened electronics to banking and finance. 

Knowledge transfer at CERN: unique technologies, unprecedented performance

The applied R&D and technology advances that underpin CERN’s scientific mission are a rich source of product innovation for companies working across multiple industry sectors. Industry collaborations with CERN scientists and engineers – including the projects below – are overseen by the laboratory’s Knowledge Transfer Group.     

Next-generation radiotherapy

An R&D collaboration involving scientists from CERN and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) seeks to fast-track the development of a next-generation radiotherapy modality that will exploit very-high-energy electron (VHEE) beams to treat cancer patients. A dedicated VHEE facility, based at CHUV, will exploit the so-called FLASH effect to deliver high-dose VHEE radiation over short time periods (less than 200 ms) to destroy deep-seated tumours while minimising collateral damage to adjacent healthy tissue and organs at risk. The pioneering treatment system is based on the high-gradient accelerator technology developed for the proposed CLIC electron–positron collider at CERN. Teams from CHUV and its research partners have been performing preclinical studies related to VHEE and FLASH at the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR), one of the few facilities available for characterising VHEE beams. 

The future of transportation

CERN has unique capabilities in real-time data processing. When beams of particles collide at the centre of a particle detector, new particles fly out in all directions. Different detector systems, arranged in layers around the collision point, use a range of techniques to identify the resulting particles, generating an enormous flow of data. Similar challenges apply to the development of autonomous vehicles, with the need for rapid interpretation of a multitude of real-time data streams generated under normal driving conditions. Zenseact, owned primarily by Volvo Cars, worked with CERN scientists to optimise machine learning algorithms, originally developed to support LHC data acquisition and analysis, for collision-avoidance scenarios in next-generation autonomous vehicles.

Sustainability and energy-efficiency

Another high-profile innovation partner for CERN is ABB Motion, a technology leader in digitally enabled motor and drive solutions to support a low-carbon future for industry, infrastructure and transportation. The partnership has been launched to optimise the laboratory’s cooling and ventilation infrastructure, with the aim of reducing energy consumption across the campus. Specifically, CERN’s cooling and ventilation system will be equipped with smart sensors, which convert traditional motors, pumps, mounted bearings and gearing into smart, wirelessly connected devices. These devices will collect data that will be used to develop “digital twins” of selected cooling and ventilation units, allowing for the creation of energy-saving scenarios. Longer term, the plan is to disseminate the project learning publicly, so that industry and large-scale research facilities can apply best practice on energy-efficiency.

Intellectual property: getting creative  

A curated portfolio of intellectual property (IP) policies provides the framework for transferring CERN’s applied R&D and technology know-how to industry and institutional partners. Democratisation is the driver here, whatever the use-case. Many of the organisation’s projects, for example, are available via CERN’s Open Hardware Repository under the CERN Open Hardware Licence, offering a large user community the chance to transform prototype products and services into tangible commercial opportunities. CERN also encourages the creation of new spin-offs – companies based, partially or wholly, on CERN technologies – and supports such ventures with a dedicated IP policy. Custom licensing opportunities are available for more established start-up businesses seeking to apply CERN technologies within an existing product development programme.

Innovation partnerships: a call to action 

The Knowledge Transfer team at CERN is exploring a range of innovation partnerships across applied disciplines as diverse as energy and environment, healthcare, quantum science, machine learning and AI, and aerospace engineering. The unifying theme: to translate CERN domain knowledge and enabling technologies into broader societal and economic impacts. Companies should visit CERN’s Knowledge Transfer website (https://kt.cern/) to learn more about partnership opportunities, including R&D collaborations; technology licensing; services and consultancy; and starting up a new business based on CERN technology.  

IdeaSquare: networking young innovators

IdeaSquare is CERN’s platform for early-stage collaborations between students, scientists, other CERN personnel and relevant organisations working across multiple disciplines. The initiative operates at what it calls the “fuzzy front end” of the R&D and innovation process and seeks to “trigger transformations in the way we think about societal challenges and…identify solutions that will have a real impact on people’s lives”. In this way, IdeaSquare ties science innovation at CERN to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, engaging young innovators in the CERN Entrepreneurship Student Programme (CESP), for example, or Challenge-Based Innovation (CBI). Other activities include selected EU R&D projects; prototyping and innovation workshops; as well as international educational programmes. Prospective partners should visit https://ideasquare.cern and https://kt.cern/cesp for more information about the latest opportunities. 

The post CERN’s partnerships underpin a joined-up innovation pipeline appeared first on CERN Courier.

Having witnessed the horrors of war first hand, several years as a soldier and then as a displaced person, I could not imagine that humanity would unleash another war on the continent. As one of its last witnesses, I wonder what advice should be passed on, especially to younger colleagues, about what to do in the short term, and perhaps more importantly, what to do afterwards. 

Scientists have a special responsibility. Fortunately, there is no doubt today that science is independent of political doctrines. There is no “German physics” any more. We have established human relationships with our colleagues based on our enthusiasm for our profession, which has led to mutual trust and tolerance.

This has been practised at CERN for 70 years and continued at SESAME, where delegates from Israel, Palestine, Iran, Cyprus, Turkey and other governments sit peacefully around a table. Another offshoot of CERN, the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST), is in the making in the Balkans. Apart from fostering science, the aim is to transfer ethical achievements from science to politics: science diplomacy, as it has come to be known. In practice, this is done, for example, in the CERN Council where each government sends a representative and an additional scientist who work effectively together on a daily basis.

In the case of imminent political conflicts, “Science for Peace” cannot of course help immediately, but occasionally opportunities arise even for this. In 1985, when disarmament negotiations between Gorbachev and Reagan in Geneva reached an impasse, one of the negotiators asked me to invite the key experts to CERN on neutral territory, and at a confidential dinner the knot was untied. This showed how trust built up in scientific cooperation can impact politics.

Hot crises put us in particularly difficult dilemmas. It is therefore understandable that the CERN Council has to follow, to a large extent, the guidelines of the individual governments and sometimes introduce harsh sanctions. This leads to considerable damage for many excellent projects, which should be mitigated as much as possible. But it seems equally important to prevent or at least alleviate human suffering among scientific colleagues and their families, and in doing so we should allow them tolerance and full freedom of expression. I am sure the CERN management will try to achieve this, as in the past.

Day after

But what I consider most important is to prepare for the situation after the war. Somehow and sometime there will be a solution to the Russian invasion. On that “day after”, it will be necessary to talk to each other again and build a new world out of the ruins. This was facilitated after World War II because, despite the Nazi reign of terror, some far-sighted scientists maintained human relations as well as scientific ones. I remember with pleasure how I was invited to spend a sabbatical year in 1948 in Sweden with Lise Meitner. I was also one of the first German citizens to be invited to a scientific conference in Israel in 1957, where I was received without resentment. 

CERN was the first scientific organisation whose mission was not only to conduct excellent science, but also to help improve relations between nations. CERN did this initially in Europe with great success. Later, during the most intense period of the Cold War, it was CERN that signed an agreement with the Russian laboratory in Serpukhov in the 1960s. Together with contacts with JINR in Dubna, this offered one of the few opportunities for scientific West–East cooperation. CERN followed these principles during the occupation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1968 and during the Afghanistan crisis in 1979.

The aim is to transfer ethical achievements from science to politics

CERN has become a symbol of what can be achieved when working on a common project without discrimination, for the benefit of science and humanity. In recent decades, when peace has reigned in Europe, this second goal of CERN has somewhat receded into the background. The present crisis reminds us to make greater efforts in this direction again, even more so when many powers disregard ethical principles or formal treaties by pretending that their fundamental interests are violated. Science for Peace tries to help create a minimum of human trust between governments. Without this, we run the risk that future political treaties will be based only on deterrence. That would be a gloomy world.

A vision for the day after requires courage and more Science for Peace than ever before. 

The post Science for peace? More than ever! appeared first on CERN Courier.

The search for the Higgs boson is the kind of adventure that draws many young people to science, even if they go on to work in more applied areas. I first set out to become a nuclear physicist, and even applied for a position at CERN, before deciding to specialise in electrical engineering and then moving into science policy. Today, my job at the European Commission (EC) is to co-create policies with member states and stakeholders to shape a globally competitive European research and innovation system. 

Large research infrastructures (RIs) such as CERN have a key role to play here. Having visited CERN for the first time last year, I was impressed not just by the basic research but also by the services that CERN provides the collaborations, its relationships with industry, and its work in training and educating young people. It is truly an example of what it means to collaborate on an international level, and it helped me understand better the role of RIs in research and innovation. 

Innovation is one of three pillars of the EC’s €95.5 billion Horizon Europe programme for the period 2021–2027. The first pillar is basic science, and the second concerns applied research and knowledge diffusion. Much of the programme’s focus is “missions” geared to societal challenges such as soil, climate and cancer, driven by the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. So where does a laboratory like CERN fit in? Pillar one is the natural home of particle physics, where there is well established support via European Research Council grants, Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships and RI funding. On the other hand, the success of the Horizon Europe missions relies on the knowledge and new technologies generated by the RIs. 

We view the role of RIs as driving knowledge and technology, and ensuring it is transferred in Europe – acting as engines in a local ecosystem involving other laboratories and institutes, hospitals and schools, attracting the best people and generating new labour forces. COVID-19 is a huge social challenge that we also managed to address using basic research, RIs and opening access to data. This is a clear socioeconomic impact of current research and also data collected in the past.

Open science is a backbone of Horizon Europe, and an area where particle physics and CERN in particular are well advanced. I chair the governance board of the European Open Science Cloud, a multi-disciplinary environment where researchers can publish, find and re-use data, tools and services, in which CERN has a long-standing involvement.

Indeed, the EC has established a very strong collaboration with CERN across several areas. Recently we have been meeting to discuss the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC). The FCC is worthwhile not just to be discussed but supported, and we are already doing so via significant projects. We are now discussing possibilities in Horizon Europe to support more technological aspects, but clearly EU money is not enough. We need commitment from member states, so there needs to be a political decision. And to achieve that we need a very good business plan that turns the long-term FCC vision into clearly defined short-term goals and demonstrates its stability and sustainability. 

Societal impact

Long-term projects are not new to the EC: we have ITER, for example, while even the neutrality targets for the green-deal and climate missions are for 2050. The key is to demonstrate their relevance. There is sometimes a perception that people doing basic research are closed in their bubble and don’t realise what’s going on in the “real” world. The space programme has managed to demonstrate over the years that there are sufficient applications providing value beyond its core purpose. Nowadays, with issues of defence, security and connectivity rising up political agendas, researchers can always bring to the table that their work can help society address its needs. For big RIs such as the FCC we need to demonstrate first: what is the added value, even if it’s not available today? Why is it important for Europe? And what is the business plan? The FCC is not a typical project. To attract and convince politicians and finance ministers of its merits, it has to be presented in terms of its uniqueness. 

The FCC brings to mind the Moon landings

The FCC brings to mind the Moon landings. Contrary to popular depictions, this was a long-term project that built on decades of competitive research from different countries. Yes, it was a period during the Cold War, but it was also the basis of fruitful collaboration. If we don’t dare to spend money on projects that bring us to the future then we lose, as Europe, a competitive advantage.

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On 14 April the government of the Netherlands announced that it intends to conditionally allocate €42 million to the development of the Einstein Telescope – a proposed next-generation gravitational-wave observatory in Europe. It also pledged a further €870 million for a potential future Dutch contribution to the construction. The decision was taken by the Dutch government based on the advice of the Advisory Committee of the National Growth Fund, stated a press release from Nikhef and the regional development agency for Limburg. 

The Einstein Telescope (ET) is a triangular laser interferometer with sides 10 km-long that would be at least 10 times more sensitive than the Advanced LIGO and Virgo observatories, extending its scope for detections and enabling physicists to look back much further in cosmological time. To reach the required sensitivities, the interferometer has to be built at least 200 m underground in a geologically stable area. Its mirrors will have to operate in cryogenic conditions to reduce thermal disturbance, and be larger and heavier than those currently employed to allow for a larger and more powerful laser beam. 

Activities have been taking place at two potential sites in Europe: the border region of South Limburg (the Euregio Meuse-Rhine) in the Netherlands; and the Sar-Grav laboratory in the Sos Enattos mine in Sardinia, Italy. For the Sardinia site, a similar proposal has been submitted to the Italian government and feedback is expected in July.

The Netherlands’ intended €42 million investment will go towards preparatory work such as innovation of the necessary technology, location research, building up a high-tech ecosystem and organisation, stated the press release, while the reservation of €870 million is intended to put the Netherlands in a strong position to apply in the future – together with Belgium and Germany – to host and build the ET. 

It is fantastic that the cabinet embraces the ambition to make the Netherlands a world leader in research into gravity waves

“It is fantastic that the cabinet emb­races the ambition to make the Netherlands a world leader in research into gravity waves,” said Nikhef director Stan Bentvelsen, who has been involved with the ET for several years. “These growth-fund resources form the basis for further cooperation with our partners in Germany and Belgium, and for research into the geological subsurface in the border region of South Limburg. A major project requires a careful process, and I am confident that we will meet the additional conditions.”

Housing the ET in the region could have a major positive impact on science, the economy and society in the Netherlands, said provincial executive member for Limburg Stephan Satijn. “With today’s decision, the cabinet places our country at the global forefront of high-tech and science. Limburg is the logical place to help shape this leading position. Not only because of the suitability of our soil, but also because we are accustomed to working together internationally and to connecting science and business.”

At the 12th ET symposium in Budapest on 7–8 June, the ET scientific collaboration was officially born – a crucial step in the project’s journey, said ad interim spokesperson Michele Punturo of the INFN: “We were a scientific community, today we are a scientific collaboration, that is, a structured and organised system that works following shared rules to achieve the common goal: the realisation of a large European research infrastructure that will allow us to maintain scientific and technological leadership in this promising field of fundamental physics research.”

In January, the ET was granted status as a CERN recognised experiment (RE43), with a collaboration agreement on vacuum technology already in place and a further agreement concerning cryogenics at an advanced stage.

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At its 208th meeting on 16 June, the CERN Council announced further measures in response to the continuing illegal military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation with the involvement of the Republic of Belarus. The Council declared that it intends to terminate CERN’s International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs) with both countries at their expiration dates in 2024. However, the situation will continue to be monitored carefully and the Council stands ready to take any further decision in the light of developments in Ukraine.

CERN’s ICAs normally run for five years and are tacitly renewed for the same period unless a written notice of termination is provided by one party to the other at least six months prior to the renewal date. The ICA with the Russian Federation expires in December 2024, and that with the Republic of Belarus in June 2024.

The latest measures follow those already adopted at an extraordinary meeting of the Council on 8 March, and at the Council’s regular session on 25 March. In addition to the promotion of initiatives to support Ukrainian collaborators and Ukrainian scientific activity in high-energy physics, these measures included the suspension of Russia’s Observer status and the decision not to engage in new collaborations with Russia and its institutions until further notice (CERN Courier May/June 2022 p7). 

The Council also decided in June to review CERN’s future cooperation with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) well in advance of the expiration of the current ICA in January 2025. This follows measures adopted at the previous Council sessions to suspend the Observer status of JINR and the participation of CERN scientists in all JINR scientific committees, and vice versa, until further notice. The Council reaffirmed that all decisions taken to date, along with the actions undertaken by the CERN management, which have had a marked impact on the involvement of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in the scientific programme of the organisation, remain in force. 

Ukraine joined CERN as an Associate Member State in 2016 and Ukrainian scientists have long been active in many of the laboratory’s activities. Russian scientists also have a long and distinguished involvement with CERN, and Russia was granted Observer status in recognition of its contributions to the construction of the LHC. At the June Council meeting, the Member States reiterated their denunciation of the continuing illegal military invasion, recalling that the core values of CERN (CERN Courier September/October 2022 p49) have always been based upon scientific collaboration across borders as a driver for peace, and stressing that the aggression of one country against another runs counter to these values.

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The famous “Livingston diagram”, first presented by cyclotron co-inventor Milton Stanley Livingston in 1954, depicts the rise in energy of particle accelerators as a function of time. To assess current and future facilities, however, we need complementary metrics suited to the 21st century. As the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics demonstrated, such metrics exist: instead of weighing up colliders solely on the basis of collision energy, they consider the capital cost or energy consumption with respect to the luminosity produced. 

Applying these metrics to the LHC shows that the energy used during the upcoming Run 3 will be around three times lower than it was during Run 1 for similar luminosity performance (see “Greener physics” figure). The High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will operate with even greater efficiency. In fact, CERN accelerators have drawn a similar power for a period of 40 years despite their vastly increased scientific output: from 1 TWh for LEP2 to 1.2 TWh for the LHC and possibly 1.4 TWh at the HL-LHC.

The GWh/fb^–1 metric has now been adopted by CERN as a key performance indicator (KPI) for the LHC, as set out in CERN’s second environmental report published last year. It has also been used to weigh up the performance of various Higgs factories. In 2020, for example, studies showed that an electron–positron Future Circular Collider is the most energy efficient of all proposed Higgs factories in the energy range of interest. But this KPI is only part of a larger energy-management effort in which the whole community has an increasingly important role to play. 

In 2011, with the aim to share best practices amongst scientific facilities, CERN was at the origin of the Energy for Sustainable Science at Research Infrastructures workshop series. A few years later, prompted by the need for CERN to move from protected-tariff to market-based electricity contracts, the CERN energy management panel was created to establish solid forecasts and robust monitoring tools. Each year since 2017, we send virtual “electricity bills” to all group leaders, department heads and directors, which has contributed to a change of culture in the way CERN views energy management. 

Best practice

Along with the market-based energy contract, energy suppliers have a duty by law (with tax-incentive mechanisms) to help their clients consume less. A review of energy consumption and upgrades conducted between CERN and its electricity supplier EDF in 2017 highlighted best practices for operation and refurbishment, leading to the launch of the LHC-P8 (LHCb) heat-recovery project for the new city area of Ferney-Voltaire. Similar actions were proposed for LHC-P1 (ATLAS) to boost the heating plant at CERN’s Meyrin site, and heat recovery has been considered as a design and adjudication parameter for the new Prevessin Computer Centre. Besides an attractive 5–10 year payback time, such programmes make an important contribution to reducing CERN’s carbon footprint.

Energy efficiency and savings are an increasingly important element in each CERN accelerator infrastructure. Completed during Long Shutdown 2, the East Area renovation project led to an extraordinary 90% reduction in energy consumption, while the LHC Injectors Upgrade project also offered an opportunity to improve the injectors’ environmental credentials. Energy economy was also the primary motivation for CERN to adopt new regenerative power converters for its transfer lines. These efforts build on energy savings of up to 100 GWh/y since 2010, for example by introducing free cooling and air-flow optimisation in the CERN Computer Centre, and operating the SPS and the LHC cryogenics with the minimum of necessary machines. CERN buildings are also aligning with energy- efficiency standards, with the renovation of up to two buildings per year planned over the next 10 years. 

There will be no future large-scale science projects without major energy-efficiency and recovery objectives

This year, a dedicated team at CERN is being put together concerning alignment with the ISO50001 energy-management standard, which could bring significant subsidies. A preliminary evaluation was conducted in November 2021, demonstrating that 54% of ISO expectations is already in place and a further 15% is easily within reach. 

The mantra of CERN’s energy-management panel is “less, better, recover”. We also have to add “credible” to this list, as there will be no future large-scale science projects without major energy-efficiency and recovery objectives. Today and in the future, we must therefore all work to ensure that every MWh of energy consumed brings demonstrable scientific advances.

The post Less, better, recover appeared first on CERN Courier.

At an extraordinary session of the CERN Council on 8 March, the 23 Member States of CERN condemned, in the strongest terms, the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February. The Council deplored the resulting loss of life and humanitarian impact, as well as the involvement of Belarus in the unlawful use of force against Ukraine.

Ukraine joined CERN as an Associate Member State in 2016 and Ukrainian scientists have long been active in many of the laboratory’s activities. Russian scientists also have a long and distinguished involvement with CERN, and Russia was granted Observer status in recognition of its contributions to the construction of the LHC. 

The Council decided that: CERN will promote initiatives to support Ukrainian collaborators and Ukrainian scientific activity in high-energy physics; the Observer status of Russia is suspended until further notice; and CERN will not engage in new collaborations with Russia and its institutions until further notice. In addition, the CERN management stated that it will comply with all applicable international sanctions. 

The Council also expressed its support to the many members of CERN’s Russian scientific community who reject the invasion: “CERN was established in the aftermath of World War II to bring nations and people together for the peaceful pursuit of science: this aggression runs against everything for which the Organization stands. CERN will continue to uphold its core values of scientific collaboration across borders as a driver for peace.”

Two weeks later at its March session, strongly condemning statements by those Russian institutes that have expressed support for the invasion and stressing that its decisions are taken to express its solidarity with the Ukrainian people and its commitment to science for peace, the Council decided to suspend the participation of CERN scientists in all scientific committees of institutions located in Russia and Belarus, and vice versa. It also decided to suspend or, failing that, cancel all events jointly arranged between CERN and institutions located in those countries, and to suspend the granting of contracts as associated members of the CERN personnel to any new individuals affiliated to home institutions in Russia and Belarus.

CERN was established to bring nations and people together for the peaceful pursuit of science

Measures were also introduced regarding the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR), with which CERN has had scientific relations for more than 60 years. The Council decided to suspend the participation of CERN scientists in all JINR scientific committees, and vice versa; to suspend or, failing that, cancel all events jointly arranged between CERN and JINR; that CERN will not engage in new collaborations with JINR until further notice; and that the Observer status of JINR at the Council is suspended and CERN will not exercise the rights resulting from its Observer status at JINR, until further notice. 

At its June session, the Council will decide on further measures regarding the suspension of international cooperation agreements and related protocols, as well as any other agreements concerning participation in CERN’s scientific programme.

Science for peace

Other European institutions with longstanding scientific relationships with Russia, such as DESY and the ESRF, have also taken measures in response to the invasion. On 4 March the European Commission suspended co-operation with Russia on research and innovation, and on 28 February ESA announced that it will fully implement sanctions imposed on Russia by its 22 member states, making a scheduled 2022 launch for the ExoMars programme “very unlikely”. Russia’s future cooperation on the International Space Station is also uncertain. 

The EPS, APS and national physical societies in Europe have released statements strongly condemning the Russian invasion and announcing various measures, as have organisations including IAEA, IUPAP and EUROfusion. A declaration initiated by the Max Planck Society and supported by the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings has been signed by 150 Nobel Laureates, while 77 Breakthrough Prize Laureates have signed an open letter standing in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. A letter from Russian scientists and science journalists attracted around 5000 signatories, while almost 200 Russian researchers participating in CERN experiments have signed an open letter standing strongly for resolving the conflict through diplomacy and negotiations.

At CERN, actions have been initiated to support employed and associated members of personnel of Ukrainian nationality and their families. The CERN community has also raised funds for the Red Cross’s operations in Ukraine. With the CERN directorate deciding to match, from the CERN budget, donations made by the personnel, and in addition to a financial contribution from the CERN Staff Association, the collection raised 820,000 Swiss francs by the time of closing on 22 March.

The initiatives of many members of the personnel further demonstrate CERN’s solidarity and community spirit. The theoretical physics department has created a web page listing initiatives from the scientific community, and the users office also has useful information.

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On 3 March, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and Brazilian minister for science, technology and innovation Marcos Pontes signed an agreement admitting Brazil as an Associate Member State of CERN. The associate membership will enter into force once Brazil has completed all necessary accession and ratification processes. 

Brazil will be the first country in Latin America to join CERN as an Associate Member State, marking a significant step in a geographical enlargement process that was initiated in 2010. Formal cooperation between CERN and Brazil started in 1990 with the signature of an international cooperation agreement, allowing Brazilian researchers to participate in the DELPHI experiment at LEP. Today, Brazilian institutes participate in all the main experiments at the LHC and are also involved in other experiments, such as ALPHA, ProtoDUNE at the Neutrino Platform, ISOLDE, Medipix and RD51. Brazilian nationals also participate very actively in CERN training and outreach programmes, including the summer student programme, the Portuguese- language teacher programme and the Beamline for Schools competition.

Over the past decade, Brazil’s experimental particle-physics community has doubled in size. At the four main LHC experiments alone, more than 180 Brazilian scientists, engineers and students collaborate in fields ranging from hardware and data processing to physics analysis. Beyond particle physics, CERN and Brazil’s National Centre for Research in Energy and Materials have also been formally cooperating since December 2020 on accelerator R&D and applications.

“The accession of Brazil to CERN Associate Membership creates a robust framework for collaboration in research, technology development and innovation,” said Marcos Pontes. “I am certain that this partnership will take the Brazilian science, technology and innovation sector to a whole new level of development.” 

As an Associate Member State, Brazil will attend meetings of the CERN Council and finance committee. Brazilian nationals will be eligible for limited-duration staff positions, fellowships and studentships, while Brazilian companies will be able to bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies. 

“We are very pleased to welcome Brazil as an Associate Member State,” said Fabiola Gianotti. “Over the past three decades, Brazilian scientists have contributed substantially to many CERN projects. This agreement enables Brazil and CERN to further strengthen our  collaboration, opening up a broad range of new and mutually beneficial opportunities in fundamental research, technological developments and innovation, and education and training activities.”

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The COVID-19 pandemic has cost more than five million lives and disrupted countless more. Without the results of decades of curiosity-driven research, however, the situation would have been much worse. The pandemic therefore serves as a stark and brutal reminder of the links between basic science and the balanced, sustainable and inclusive development of our planet.

The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD), proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) general assembly on 2 December 2021, is a key moment of mobilisation to convince economic and political leaders, as well as the public, of the critical links between basic research and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all UN member states in 2015. Due to their evidence-based nature, universality and openness, basic sciences not only contribute to expanding knowledge and improving societal welfare, but also help to reduce societal inequality, improve inclusion and foster intercultural dialogue and peace. They are thus central in achieving the UN Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Virtuous circle

Many examples of basic sciences’ transformative contribution to society are so widespread that they are taken for granted. The web was born at CERN from the needs of global particle physics; general relativity underpins the global positioning system; search engines and artificial intelligence rely on brilliant mathematics and statistical methods; mobile phones derive from the discovery of transistors; and Wi-Fi from developments in astronomy. The discovery of DNA, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and radiotherapy have transformed medical diagnostics and treatments, while advances in basic physics, chemistry and materials science are reducing pollution and revolutionising the generation and storage of renewable energy.

Basic science, together with applied scientific research and technological applications, is thus one of the key elements of the virtuous circle that allows the sustainable development of society. Yet, basic sciences are often not as prominent as they should be in discussions concerning societal, environmental and economic development. The aims of the IYBSSD are to focus global attention on the enabling role of basic science and to improve the collaboration between basic sciences and policy-making.

Particle physics has a major role to play in making the IYBSSD a success

The IYBSSD, led by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics – which will celebrate its centenary in 2022 – has received strong support from around 30 international science unions and organisations active in physics, mathematics, chemistry, life science and social science, along with 70 national and international academies of sciences, and 30 Nobel laureates and Fields medallists. A series of specific activities coordinated at local, national and international levels will aim to promote inclusive collaboration (with special attention paid to gender balance), enhance basic-science training and education, and encourage the full implementation of open-access publishing and open data in the basic sciences.

The IYBSSD inauguration ceremony will take place at UNESCO on 8 July, and a closing ceremony is planned to take place at CERN in 2023, hopefully timed with the completion of the Science Gateway building. Events of all sorts proposed by countries, territories, scientific unions, organisations and academies endorsed by the steering committee will occur throughout the year.

The role of particle physics

As one of the most basic sciences of all, particle physics has a major role in making the IYBSSD a success. The high-energy physics community should use all the available opportunities in 2022 and 2023, be it through conferences, workshops, collaboration meetings or other activities, to place our field under the auspices of the IYBSSD. We need to show how this community advances science for the benefit of society, how much it re-enchants our world and therefore makes it worth sustaining, how much it contributes in its practice to openness, equity, diversity and inclusion, and to multicultural dialogue and peace. The CERN model is emblematic of these contributions. Many of the programmes of the CERN & Society foundation also promote these values in line with the IYBSSD objectives.

The need for humanity to maintain and develop high levels of interest and participation in basic sciences makes awareness-raising initiatives such as the IYBSSD critical. Following the recent international years of physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, it is now time for us to get behind this unprecedented, global interdisciplinary initiative

The post Standing up for sustainability appeared first on CERN Courier.

Every seven to 10 years, the US high-energy physics community comes together to re-evaluate and update its vision of the field. These wide-ranging exercises, organised by the American Physical Society (APS)’s Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) since 1982, are now known as the Snowmass Community Studies on account of the final drafting having historically taken place in Snowmass, Colorado. They include all related disciplines that contribute to elementary particle physics and welcome the participation of physicists from outside the US.

Snowmass exists to identify the physics issues that should be addressed and possible approaches to pursuing them, but we do not seek to specify which projects should be carried out. That task is accomplished by a Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5), a subpanel of the US High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP), which uses the Snowmass output to develop programmatic priorities based on specific budget scenarios and provides recommendations to US funding agencies. Snowmass 2013 and the subsequent 2014 P5 roadmap recommended a suite of new projects, including: the HL-LHC upgrade; DUNE/LBNF; a short-baseline neutrino programme; the PIP-II proton source upgrade; the Mu2e experiment; the LSST camera and DESI; the LUX-ZEPLIN and CDMS dark matter searches; preparation for a new cosmic-microwave-background explorer; and strong investment in R&D for future accelerators. With many of these projects now under construction, it is vital to prepare the next round of compelling US particle-physics initiatives.

In April 2020 we kicked off a new Snowmass study. Initially scheduled to conclude with a workshop at the University of Washington in Seattle in July 2021, the process was paused due to COVID-19. On 24 September, at a virtual “Snowmass Day” meeting, we declared the Snowmass process officially resumed, with the Seattle workshop scheduled for 17 to 26 July.

White papers describing ideas, proposals and projects are due by 15 March for discussion

The Snowmass 2021 study is divided into 10 “frontiers”: energy; neutrino physics; rare processes and precision measurements; cosmic; theory; accelerator; instrumentation; computation; underground facilities; and community engagement. Each frontier is led by two or three conveners and is divided into between six and 11 topical groups – with community development, demographics, and diversity and inclusion addressed across all frontiers. A Snowmass early-career organisation has also been formed to assist young physicists in contributing to the process. The whole exercise is overseen by a steering group, which includes the DPF chair line, and international representation is provided by an advisory group chosen by national and regional physics societies.

Informing Snowmass 2021 are many recent results: Higgs-boson properties obtained by ATLAS and CMS; the measurement of the angle θ₁₃ in the neutrino mixing matrix; evidence for anomalies in B-meson decays from LHCb; and the tension between Fermilab’s measurement of muon g-2 and the Standard Model prediction. These topics will continue to be explored in current experiments. Snowmass 2021 and the latest European strategy update focus on what comes next.

Collider matters

In the Snowmass process, we collect all ideas, whether they are large or small, expensive or less so, require international collaboration or not, and are hosted in the US or elsewhere. One topic of intense interest worldwide is the next generation of colliders, both to study the Higgs boson with sub-percent level precision and to directly search for new phenomena in the multi-TeV regime. The proposed Higgs factories require some final development that could be completed in a few years, which would enable a decision on which machine to build, and the start of negotiations to fund it, as an international project. Machines to explore the multi-TeV terrain require significantly more R&D to develop and industrialise the necessary new technologies. We expect this Snowmass/P5 process to set the direction for US participation in this R&D effort and future construction projects. We also look forward to new experiments and upgrades to existing experiments in neutrino physics, rare decays and astrophysics, along with new R&D initiatives in detectors, computing, accelerators and theory.

White papers describing ideas, proposals and projects are due by 15 March 2022 for discussion at the Seattle meeting, where a draft report will be produced and then submitted to HEPAP and the APS in the fall. With hard work and good will, we expect to emerge from the Snowmass/P5 process with a grand vision for a vibrant US high-energy physics programme over the 10 years starting from 2025 and with a roadmap for large new initiatives that will come to fruition in the 2030s. Please join us and contribute your ideas to shaping our future!

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The first CERN South Asian High Energy Physics Instrumentation (SAHEPI) workshop, held in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2017, came into place shortly after Pakistan (July 2015) and India (January 2017) became CERN Associate Member States and follows similar regional approaches in Latin America and South-east Asia. Also, within the South Asia region, CERN has signed bilateral international cooperation agreements with Bangladesh (2014), Nepal (2017) and Sri Lanka (2017). The second workshop took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2019. SAHEPI’s third edition took place virtually on 21 October 2021, hosted by the University of Mauritius in collaboration with CERN. Its aim was to consolidate the dialogue from the first two workshops while strengthening the scientific cooperation between CERN and the South Asia region.

“SAHEPI has been very successful in strengthening the scientific cooperation between CERN and the South Asia region and reinforcing intra-regional links,” said Emmanuel Tsesmelis, head of relations with Associate Members and non-Member States at CERN. “SAHEPI provides the opportunity for countries to enhance their existing contacts and to establish new connections within the region, with the objective of initiating new intra-regional collaborations in particle physics and related technologies, including the promotion of exchange of researchers and students within the region and also with CERN.”

Rising participation

Despite its virtual mode, SAHEPI-3 witnessed the largest participation yet, with 210 registrants. Representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka attended, with at least one senior scientist and one student from each country. The workshop brought together physicists and policy makers from the South Asia region and neighbouring countries, together with representatives from CERN. Societal applications of technologies developed for particle physics were key highlights of SAHEPI-3, explained Archana Sharma, senior advisor for relations with international organisations at CERN:

“In this decade, disruptive innovation underpinning the importance of science and technology is making a huge impact towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. CERN plays its role at the forefront, whether it is advances in science and technology or dissemination of that knowledge with an emphasis on inclusive engagement. We see the percolation of this initiative with increasing engagement from the region in CERN programmes.”

Participants reviewed the status and operation of present facilities in particle physics, and the scientific experimental programme, including the LHC and its high-luminosity upgrade at CERN, while John Ellis captivated participants with his talk “Answering the Big Question: From the Higgs boson to the dark side of the Universe”.  Sanjaye Ramgoolam topped off the workshop with a public lecture on “the simple and the complex” in elementary particle physics.

SAHEPI has been very successful in strengthening the scientific cooperation between CERN and the South Asia region and reinforcing intra-regional links

Emmanuel Tsesmelis

Country representatives presented several highlights of the ongoing experimental programmes in collaboration with CERN and other international projects. India’s contributions across the ALICE experiment (such as the development of the photon multiplicity detector), its plans to join the IPPOG outreach group, its activities for the Worldwide LHC computing grid, industrial involvement and contributions to CMS – where it is the seventh-largest country in terms of the number of members – were presented. For Afghanistan, representatives described the participation of the country’s first student in the CERN Summer Student School (2019) and the completion of master’s degrees by two faculty members based on measurements at ATLAS. The country hopes to team up with particle physicists outside Afghanistan to teach online courses at the physics faculty at Kabul University, provide postgraduate scholarships to students and involve more female faculty members at ICTP – the International Centre for Theoretical Physics.

Pakistan shared its contributions to the LHC experiments as well as accelerator projects such as CLIC/CTF3 and Linac4 and its role in the tracker alignment of CMS and Resistive Plate Chambers. Nepal representatives described the development of supercomputers at Kathmandu University (KU) and acknowledged the donation agreement between KU and CERN receiving servers and related hardware to set up a high-performance computing facility. In Sri Lanka, delegates highlighted a rising popularity of the CERN Summer Student Programme among university physics students following honours degrees. The country also mentioned its initiative of an island-wide online teacher training programme to promote particle physics. The representative from Bangladesh reported on the country’s long tradition in theoretical particle physics and plans for developing the experimental particle physics community in partnership with CERN. Maldives and Bhutan continue to be growing members from South Asia at CERN, with Bhutan preparing to host the second South Asia science education programme in a hybrid-mode this year.

Strengthening relations
Chief guest Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, the Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology of Mauritius, informed the audience about the formation of a research and development unit in her ministry and gave her strong support to a partnership between CERN and Mauritius. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, Dhanjay Jhurry, expressed his deep appreciation of SAHEPI and indicated his support for future initiatives via a partnership between CERN and the University of Mauritius.

The workshop and the initiative to reinforce particle-physics capacity in the region also form part of broader efforts for CERN to emphasise the role of fundamental research in development, notably to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals agenda. In this regard, discussions took place for a follow-up on the first-of-its-kind professional development programme for high-school teachers of STEM subjects from South Asia, held in New Delhi in 2019, with Bhutan volunteering to host the next event in 2023 pandemic permitting. A poster competition engaged students from South Asia, and three prizes were announced to encourage further participation in big-science projects and towards capacity building in the local regions.

The motivation and enthusiasm of SAHEPI-participants was notable, and the efforts in support of research and education across the region were clear. Proceedings of the workshop will be presented to representatives of the governments from the participating countries to raise awareness at the highest political level of the growth of the community in the region and its value for broader societal development.

Discussions will follow in 2023 at SAHEPI-4, helping CERN continue to engage further with particle physics research and education across South Asia for the benefit of the field as a whole.

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In setting out a vision for the post-LHC era, the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPPU) emphasised the need to ramp up detector and accelerator R&D in the near and long term. To this end, the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) was asked to develop a global detector R&D roadmap, while the CERN Council invited the European Laboratory Directors Group (LDG) to oversee the development of a complementary accelerator R&D roadmap. 

After more than a year of efforts involving hundreds of people, and comprising more than 500 pages between them, both roadmaps were completed in December. In addition to putting flesh on the bones of the ESPPU vision, they provide a rich and detailed snapshot of the global state-of-the-art in detector and accelerator technologies.

Future-proof detectors

Beyond the successful completion of the high-luminosity LHC, the ESPPU identified an e⁺e^– Higgs factory as the highest priority future collider, and tasked CERN to undertake a feasibility study for a hadron collider operating at the highest possible energies with a Higgs factory as a possible first stage. The ESPPU also acknowledged that construction of the next generations of colliders and experiments will be challenging, especially for machines beyond a Higgs factory.

The development of cost-effective detectors that match the precision-physics potential of a Higgs factory is one of four key challenges in implementing the ESPPU vision, states the ECFA roadmap report. The second is to push the limitations in radiation tolerance, rate capabilities and pile-up rejection power to meet the unprecedented requirements of future hadron-collider and fixed-target experiments, while a third is to enhance the sensitivity and affordably expand the scales of both accelerator and non-accelerator experiments searching for rare phenomena. The fourth challenge identified by ECFA is to vigorously expand the technological basis of detectors, maintain a nourishing environment for new ideas and concepts, and attract and train the next generation of instrumentation scientists.

To address these challenges, ECFA set up a roadmap panel, chaired by Phil Allport of the University of Birmingham, and defined six task forces spanning different instrumentation topics (gaseous, liquid, solid state, particle-identification and photon, quantum, calorimetry) and three cross-cutting task forces (electronics, integration, training), with the most crucial R&D themes identified for each. Tasks are mapped to concrete time scales ranging from the present to beyond 2045, driven by the earliest technically achievable experiment or facility start-dates. The resulting picture reveals the potential synergies between concurrent projects pursued by separate communities, as well as between consecutive projects, which  was one of the goals of the exercise, explains ECFA chair Karl Jakobs of the University of Freiburg: “It shows the role of earlier projects as a stepping stone for later ones, opening the possibility to evaluate and to organise R&D efforts in a much broader strategic context and on longer timescales, and allowing us to suggest greater coordination,” he says. 

Attracting R&D experts and recognising and sustaining their careers is one of 10 general strategic recommendations made by the report. Others include support for infrastructure and facilities, industrial partnerships, software, open science, blue-sky research, and recommendations relating to international coordination and strategic funding programmes. Guided by this roadmap, concludes the report, concerted and “resource-loaded” R&D programmes in innovative instrumentation will transform the ability of present and future generations of researchers to explore and observe nature beyond current limits.

“Ensuring the goals of future collider and non-collider experiments are not compromised by detector readiness calls now for an R&D collaboration programme, similar to that initiated in 1990 to better manage the activities then already underway for the LHC,” adds Allport. “These should be focused on addressing their unmet technology requirements through common research projects, exploiting where appropriate developments in industry and synergies with neighbouring disciplines.” 

Accelerating physics 

Although accelerator R&D is necessarily a long-term endeavour, the LDG roadmap focuses on the shorter but crucial timescale of the next five-to-ten years. It concentrates on the five key objectives identified in the ESPPU: further development of high-field superconducting magnets; advanced technologies for superconducting and normal-conducting radio-frequency (RF) structures; development and exploitation of laser/plasma-acceleration techniques; studies and developments towards future bright muon beams and muon colliders; and the advancement and exploitation of energy-recovery linear accelerator technology. Expert panels were convened to examine each area, which are at different stages of maturity, and to identify the key R&D objectives.

The high-field-magnets panel supports continued and accelerated progress on both niobium-tin and high-temperature superconductor technology, placing strong emphasis on its inclusion into practical accelerator magnets and warning that final designs may have to reflect a compromise between performance and practicality. The panel for high-gradient RF structures and systems also identified work needed on basic materials and construction techniques, noting significant challenges to improve efficiency. Longer term, it flags a need for automated test, tuning and diagnostic techniques, particularly where large-scale series-production is needed. 

Energy consumption and sustainability are key considerations in defining R&D priorities and in the design of new machines

In the area of advanced plasma and laser acceleration, the panel focused on rapidly evolving plasma-wakefield and dielectric acceleration technologies. Further developments require reduced emittance and improved efficiency, the ability to accelerate positrons and the combination of accelerating stages in a realistic future collider, the panel concludes, with the goal to produce a statement about the basic feasibility of such a machine by 2026. The panel exploring muon beams and colliders also sets a date of 2026 to demonstrate that further investment is justified, focusing on a 10 TeV collider with a 3 TeV intermediate-scale facility targeted for the 2040s. Finally, having considered several medium-scale projects under way worldwide, the energy-recovery linacs panel identifies reaching the 10 MW power level as the next practical step, and states that future sustainability rests on developing 4.4 K superconducting RF technology for a next-generation e⁺e^– collider. 

In addition to the technical challenges, states the report, new investment will be needed to support R&D and test facilities. Energy consumption and sustainability are explicitly identified as key considerations in defining R&D priorities and in the design of new machines. Having identified objectives, each panel set out a detailed work plan covering the period to the next ESPPU, with options for a number of different levels of investment. The aim is to allow the R&D to be pushed as rapidly as needed, but in balance with other priorities for the field.

Like its detector R&D counterpart, the report concludes with 10 concrete recommendations. These include the attraction, training and career management of researchers, observations on the implementation and governance of the programme, environmental sustainability, cooperation between European and international laboratories, and continuity of funding. 

“The accelerator R&D roadmap represents the collective view of the accelerator and particle-physics communities on the route to machines beyond the Higgs factories,” says Dave Newbold, LDG chair and director of particle physics for STFC in the UK. “We now need to move swiftly forwards with an ambitious, cooperative and international R&D programme – the potential for future scientific discoveries depends on it.”

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Twenty-five years. That is the time we have from now to ensure a smooth transition between the LHC and the next major collider at CERN. Twenty-five years to approve a project, find the necessary funding, solve administrative problems and define a governance model; to dig a tunnel, equip it with a cutting-edge accelerator, and design and build experiments at the limits of technology. 

One of the most memorable moments of my time as president of the CERN Council came on 19 June 2020, when delegates from CERN’s Member States adopted a resolution updating the European strategy for particle physics. The implementation of the European strategy  recommendations is now in full swing, based around two major topics for CERN’s long-term future: the Future Circular Collider (FCC) feasibility study with an organisational schema in place, and the elaboration of roadmaps for advanced accelerator and detector technologies. At the next strategy update towards the middle of the decade, we should be able to decide if the first phase of the FCC – an electron–positron collider operating at centre-of-mass energies from 91 GeV (the Z mass) to 365 GeV (above the tt production threshold) – can be built, paving the way for a hadron collider with an energy of at least 100 TeV in the same tunnel. By then, we should also have a clearer picture of the potential of novel accelerator technologies, such as muon colliders or plasma acceleration. 

Besides the purely technical questions, many other challenges lie ahead. It will be indispensable to attract major interregional partners to CERN’s next large project. Together with the scientific impact, the socioeconomic benefits of skills and technologies built through large research infrastructures are increasingly recognised, which makes a new collider an appealing prospect for states to participate in. But what collaboration model can we elaborate together that is fair and efficient? How can we build bridges to other projects currently discussed, such as the ILC? The US recently started its own “Snowmass” strategy process, which may also impact the decisions ahead.

Neither the implementation of the technology roadmaps nor the FCC feasibility study, and far less its construction, can be carried out by CERN alone. Without a tight network of collaboration and exchanges it will not be possible to find the brains, the hands and the financial resources to ensure that CERN continues to thrive in the long term. The collaboration and support from laboratories and institutes in CERN’s Member and Associate Member States and beyond are crucial. Can we imagine new ways to enhance and to intensify the collaboration, to spread the quality and to share the savoir faire? Understanding where difficulties may lay merits continued efforts.

For projects that reach far into the century, we will need the curiosity, creativity and motivation of young people entering our field. Efforts such as the recent ECFA early-career researcher survey are salutary. But are there other means through which we can broaden the freedom and creativity for young scientists within our highly organised collaborations? If there are silver linings to the pandemic, one is surely the increased accessibility to scientific discourse for a greater range of young and diverse researchers that our adaptation to virtual meetings has demonstrated.

Societal acceptance will also be crucial in convincing local communities to accept the impact of a new, big project. Developing environmentally friendly technologies is one factor, especially if we can contribute with innovative solutions. In this context, the launch in September 2020 of CERN’s first public environment report (with a second report about to be published) is timely. CERN’s new education and outreach centre, the Science Gateway, will also significantly increase the number of people who can visit and be inspired by CERN. 

For projects that reach far into the century, we will need the curiosity, creativity and motivation of young people entering
our field

The enormous amount of work that has taken place during Long Shutdown 2 lays the foundation for the HL-LHC later this decade. However, beyond ensuring the success of this flagship programme, and that of CERN’s large and diverse portfolio of non-collider experiments, we must clearly and carefully explain the case for continued exploration at the energy frontier. To other scientists: we all benefit from mutual exchange and stimulation. To teachers and educators: we can contribute to make science fascinating and help attract young people into STEM subjects. To society: we can help increase scientific literacy, which is crucial for democracies to distinguish sense from, well, nonsense. 

Twenty-five years is not long. And no matter our individual roles at CERN, we each have our work cut out. Together, we need to stand behind this unique laboratory, be proud of its past achievements, and embrace the changes necessary to build its – and our – future. 

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Africa’s science, innovation, education and research infrastructures have over the years been undervalued and under-resourced. This is particularly true in physics. The African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics (ASFAP) initiative aims to define the education and physics priorities that can be most impactful for Africa. The first ASFAP community town hall was held from 12 to 15 July. The event was virtual, with 147 people participating, including international speakers and members of the ASFAP community. The purpose of the meeting was to initiate a broad and community-driven discussion and action programme, leading to a final strategy document in two to three years’ time.

The first day began with an overview of the ASFAP by Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg) on behalf of the steering committee and addresses by Shamila Nair-Bedouelle (UNESCO assistant director-general for natural sciences), Sarah Mbi Enow Anyang Agbor (African Union commissioner for human resources, science and technology) and Raissa Malu (member of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Presidential Panel to the African Union). These honoured guests encouraged delegates to establish a culture of gender balance in African physics. Later, in a dedicated forum for women in physics, Iroka Chidinma Joy (chief engineer at the National Space Research and Development Agency) noted that women are drastically underrepresented in scientific fields across the continent, and pointed out a number of cultural, religious and social barriers that prevent women from pursuing higher education. Barriers can come as early as primary education: in most cases, girls are not encouraged to take leading roles in conducting science experiments in classrooms. Improved strategies should include outreach, mentorship, dedicated funding for women, the removal of age limits for women wishing to conduct scientific research or further their education, and awards and recognition for women who excel in scientific fields. 

Community-driven

Representatives of scientific organisations such as the African Physical Society, the Network of African Science Academies and the African Academy of Science all presented messages of support for ASFAP, and delegates from other regions, including Japan, China, India, Europe, the US and Latin America, all presented their regional strategies. The consensus is that strategic planning should be a bottom-up and community-driven process, even if this means it may take two to three years to produce a final report. 

The meeting was updated on the progress of a diverse and well-established range of working groups (WGs) on accelerators, astrophysics and cosmology; computing and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR); energy needs for Africa; instrumentation and detectors; light sources; materials physics; medical physics; nuclear physics; particle physics; and community engagement (CE), which comprises physics education (PE), knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship and stakeholder and governmental-agency engagement. The WGs must also maintain dynamic communications with each other as key topics often impact multiple working groups.

Marie Clémentine Nibamureke (University of Johannesburg) highlighted the importance of the CE WG’s vision “to improve science education and research in African countries in order to position Africa as a co-leader in science research globally”. Convener Jamal Mimouni (Mentouri University) stressed that for ASFAP to establish a successful CE programme, it is crucial to reflect on challenges in teaching and learning physics in Africa – and on why students may be reluctant to choose physics as their study field. Nibamureke explained that the CE WG is seeking to appoint liaison officers between all the ASFAP working groups. Sam Ramaila (University of Johannesburg), representing the PE WG, indicated four main points the group has identified as crucial for the transformation and empowering of physics practices in Africa: strengthening teacher training; developing 21st-century skills and competences; introducing the 4IR in physics teaching and learning; and attracting and retaining students in physics programmes. Ramaila identified problem-based learning, self-directed learning and technology-enhanced learning as new educational strategies that could make a difference in Africa if applied more widely. 

On the subject of youth engagement, Mounia Laassiri (Mohammed V University) led a young-person’s forum to discuss the major issues young African physicists face in their career progression: outreach, professional development and networking will be a central focus for this new forum going forwards, she explained, and the forum aims to encourage young physics researchers to take up leadership roles. So far, there are about 40 members of the young-people’s forum. Laassiri explained that the long-term vision, which goes beyond ASFAP, is to develop into an association of young physicists affiliated to the African Physical Society.

We are now soliciting inputs for the development of the African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics

The ability to generate scientific innovation and technological knowledge, and translate this into new products, is vital for a society’s economic growth and development. The ASFAP is a key step towards unlocking Africa’s potential. We are now soliciting inputs for the development of the African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics. Letters of interest may be submitted by individuals, research groups, professional societies, policymakers, education officials and research institutes on anything they think is an issue, needs to be improved, or is important for fundamental or applied physics education and research in Africa.

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In Climate Change and Energy Options for a Sustainable Future, nuclear physicists Dinesh Kumar Srivastava and V S Ramamurthy explore global policies for an eco-friendly future. Facing the world’s increasing demand for energy, the authors argue for the replacement of fossil fuels with a new mixture of green energy sources including wind energy, solar photovoltaics, geothermal energy and nuclear energy. Srivastava is a theoretical physicist and Ramamurthy is an experimental physicist with research interests in heavy-ion physics and the quark–gluon plasma. Together, they analyse solutions offered by science and technology with a clarity that will likely surpass the expectations of non-expert readers. Following a pedagogical approach with vivid illustra­tions, the book offers an in-depth description of how each green-energy option could be integrated into a global-energy strategy. 

In the first part of the book, the authors provide a wealth of evidence demonstrating the pressing reality of climate change and the fragility of the environment. Srivastava and Ramamurthy then examine unequal access to energy across the globe. There should be no doubt that human wellbeing is decided by the rate at which power is consumed, they write, and providing enough energy to everyone on the planet to reach a human-development index of 0.8, which is defined by the UN as high human development, calls for about 30 trillion kWh per year – roughly double the present global capacity. 

Human wellbeing is decided by the rate at which power is consumed

Srivastava and Ramamurthy present the basic principles of alternative renewable sources, and offer many examples, including agrivoltaics in Africa, a floating solar-panel station in California and wind-turbines in the Netherlands and India. Drawing on their own expertise, they discuss nuclear energy and waste-management, accelerator-driven subcritical systems, and the use of high-current electron accelerators for water purification. The book then finally turns to sustainability, showing by means of a wealth of scientific data that increasing the supply of renewable energy, and reducing carbon-intensive energy sources, can lead to sustainable power across the globe, both reducing global-warming emissions and stabilising energy prices for a fairer economy. The authors stress that any solution should not compromise quality of life or development opportunities in developing countries. 

This book could not be more timely. It is an invaluable resource for scientists, policymakers and educators.

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On 14 April, representatives of CERN and the Republic of Latvia gathered in a virtual ceremony to sign an agreement admitting Latvia as an Associate Member State. 

Latvia, which is the third of the Baltic States to join CERN in recent years after Lithuania and Estonia, first became involved with CERN activities in the early 1990s. Latvian researchers have since participated in many CERN projects, including contributions to the CMS hadron calorimeter and, more recently, participation in the Future Circular Collider study.

“As we become CERN’s newest Associate Member State, we look forward to enhancing our contribution to the Organization’s major scientific endeavours, as well as to investing the unparalleled scientific and technological excellence gained by this membership in further building the economy and well-being of our societies,” said Latvian prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš. 

As an Associate Member State, Latvia will be entitled to appoint representatives to attend meetings of the CERN Council and Finance Committee. Its nationals will be eligible for staff positions, fellowships and studentships, and its industries will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for collaboration in advanced technologies.

“We are delighted to welcome Latvia as a new Associate Member State,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. “The present agreement contributes to strengthening the ties between CERN and Latvia, thereby offering opportunities for the further growth of particle physics in Latvia through partnership in research, technological development and education.”

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Although the FCC is a long-term project with a horizon up to the 22nd century, its timescales are rather tight. A post-LHC collider should be operational around the 2040s, ensuring a smooth continuation from the High-Luminosity LHC, so construction would need to begin in the early 2030s. Placement studies to balance geological and territorial constraints with machine requirements and physics performance suggest that the most suitable scenarios are based on a 92 km-circumference tunnel with eight surface sites.

The next steps are subsurface investigations of high-risk areas, surface-site initial-state analysis and verification of in-principle feasibility with local authorities. A “Mining the Future” competition has been launched to solicit ideas for how to best use the nine million cubic metres of molasse that would be excavated from the tunnel.

The present situation in particle physics is reminiscent of the early days of superconductivity

A highlight of the week was the exploration of the physics case of a post-LHC collider. Matthew Reece (Harvard University) identified dark matter, the baryon asymmetry and the origin of primordial density perturbations as key experimental motivations, and the electroweak hierarchy problem, the strong CP problem and the mystery of flavour mixing patterns as key theoretical motivations. The present situation in particle physics is reminiscent of the early days of superconductivity, he noted, when we had a phenomenological description of symmetry breaking in superconductivity, but no microscopic picture. Constraining the shape of the Higgs potential could allow a similar breakthrough for electroweak symmetry breaking. Regarding recent anomalous measurements, such as those of the muon’s magnetic moment, Reece noted that while these measurements could give us the coefficients of one higher dimension operator in an effective-field-theory description of new physics, only colliders can systematically produce and characterise the nature of any new physics. FCC-ee and FCC-hh both have exciting and complementary roles to play.

A key technology for FCC-ee is the development of efficient superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities to compensate for the 100 MW synchrotron radiation power loss in all modes of operation from the Z pole up to the top threshold at 365 GeV. A staged RF system is foreseen as the baseline scenario, with low-impedance single-cell 400 MHz Nb/Cu cavities for Z running replaced by four-cell Nb/Cu cavities for W and Higgs operation, and later augmented by five-cell 800 MHz bulk Nb cavities at the top threshold.

As well as investigations into the use of HIPIMS coating and the fabrication of copper substrates, an innovative slotted waveguide elliptical (SWELL) cavity design was presented that would operate at 600 or 650 MHz. SWELL cavities optimise the surface area, simplify the coating process and avoid the need for welding in critical areas, which could reduce the performance of the cavity. The design profits from previous work on CLIC, and may offer a simplified installation schedule while also finding applications outside of high-energy physics. A prototype will be tested later this year.

Several talks also pointed out synergies with the RF systems needed for the proposed electron–ion collider at Brookhaven and the powerful energy-recovery linac for experiments (PERLE) project at Orsay, and called for stronger collaboration between the projects.

Machine design

Another key aspect of the study regards the machine design. Since the conceptual design report last year, the pre-injector layout for FCC-ee has been simplified, and key FCC-ee concepts have been demonstrated at Japan’s SuperKEKB collider, including a new world-record luminosity of 3.12 × 10³⁴ cm^–2 s^–1 in June with a betatron function of β_γ* = 1 mm. Separate tests squeezed the beam to just β_γ* = 0.8 mm in both rings.

Other studies reported during FCC Week 2021 demonstrated that hosting four experiments is compatible with a new four-fold symmetric ring. This redundancy is thought to be essential for high-precision measurements, and different detector solutions will be invaluable in uncovering hidden systematic biases. The meeting also followed up on the proposal for energy-recovery linacs (ERLs) at FCC-ee, potentially extending the energy reach to 600 GeV if deemed necessary during the previous physics runs. First studies for the use of the FCC-ee booster as a photon source were also presented, potentially leading to applications in medicine and industry, precision QED studies and fundamental-symmetry tests.

Participants also tackled concepts for power reduction and power recycling, to ensure that FCC is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Ideas relating to FCC-ee include making the magnets superconducting rather than normal conducting, improving the klystron efficiency, using ERLs and other energy-storage devices, designing “twin” dipole and quadrupole magnets with a factor-two power saving, and coating SRF cavities with a high-temperature superconductor.

All in all, FCC Week 2021 saw tremendous progress across different areas of the study. The successful completion of the FCC Feasibility Study (2021–2025) will be a crucial milestone for the future of CERN and the field.

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In the early 1950s, particle accelerators were national-level activities. It soon became obvious that to advance the field further demanded machines beyond the capabilities of single countries. CERN marked a phase transition in this respect, enabling physicists to cooperate around the development of one big facility. Climate science stands to similarly benefit from a change in its topology.

Modern climate models were developed in the 1960s, but there weren’t any clear applications or policy objectives at that time. Today we need hard numbers about how the climate is changing, and an ability to seamlessly link these changes to applications – a planetary information system for assessing hazards, planning food security, aiding global commerce, guiding infrastructural investments, and much more. National centres for climate modelling exist in many countries. But we need a centre “on steroids”: a dedicated exascale computing facility organised on a similar basis to CERN that would allow the necessary leap in realism.

Quantifying climate

To be computationally manageable, existing climate models solve equations for quantities that are first aggregated over large spatial and temporal scales. This blurs their relationship to physical laws, to phenomena we can measure, and to the impacts of a changing climate on infrastructure. Clouds, for example, are creatures of circulation, particularly vertical air currents. Existing models attempt to infer what these air currents would be given information about much larger scale 2D motion fields. There is a necessary degree of abstraction, which leads to less useful results. We don’t know if air is going up or down an individual mountain, for instance, because we don’t have individual mountains in the model, at best mountain ranges. 

In addition to more physical models, we also need a much better quantification of model uncertainty. At present this is estimated by comparing solutions across many low-resolution models, or by perturbing parameters of a given low-resolution model. The particle-physics analogy might be that everyone runs their own low-energy accelerators hoping that coordinated experiments will provide high-energy insights. Concentrating efforts on a few high-resolution climate models, where uncertainty is encoded through stochastic mathematics, is a high-energy effort. It would result in better and more useful models, and open the door to cooperative efforts to systematically explore the structural stability of the climate system and its implications for future climate projections.

Working out climate-science’s version of the Standard Model thus provides the intellectual underpinnings for a “CERN for climate change”. One can and should argue about the exact form such a centre should take, whether it be a single facility or a federation of campuses, and on the relative weight it gives to particular questions. What is important is that it creates a framework for European climate, computer and computational scientists to cooperate, also with application communities, in ways that deliver the maximum benefit for society.

Building momentum

A number of us have been arguing for such a facility for more than a decade. The idea seems to be catching on, less for the eloquence of our arguments, more for the promise of exascale computing. A facility to accelerate climate research in developing and developed countries alike has emerged as a core element of one of 12 briefing documents prepared by the Royal Society in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in November. This briefing flanks the European Union’s “Destination Earth” project, which is part of its Green Deal programme – a €1 billion effort over 10 years that envisions the development of improved high-resolution models with better quantified uncertainty. If not anchored in a sustainable organisational concept, however, this risks throwing money to the wind.

Giving a concrete form to such a facility still faces internal hurdles, possibly similar to those faced by CERN in its early days. For example, there are concerns that it will take away funding from existing centres. We believe, and CERN’s own experience shows, that the opposite is more likely true. A “CERN for climate change” would advance the frontiers of the science, freeing researchers to turn their attention to new questions, rather than maintaining old models, and provide an engine for European innovation that extends far beyond climate change.

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When CERN was established in the 1950s, with the aim of bringing European countries together to collaborate in scientific research after the Second World War, countries from East and West Europe were invited to join. At the time, the only eastern country to take up the call was Yugoslavia. Poland’s accession to CERN membership in 1991 was therefore a particularly significant moment in the organisation’s history because it was the first country from behind the former Iron Curtain to join CERN. Its example was soon followed by a range of Eastern European countries throughout the 1990s.

At the origin of Polish participation at CERN was a vision of the three world-class physicists: Marian Danysz and Jerzy Pniewski from Warsaw and Marian Mięsowicz from Kraków, who had made first contacts with CERN in the early 1960s. The major domains of Polish expertise around that time encompassed the analysis of bubble-chamber data (especially those related to high-multiplicity interactions), the properties of strange hadrons, charm production, and the construction of gaseous detectors.

In 1963, Poland gained observer status at the CERN Council — the first country from Eastern Europe to do so. During the subsequent 25 years, almost out of nothing, a critical mass of national scientific groups collaborating with CERN on everyday basis was established. By the late 1980s, the CERN community recognised that Poles deserved full access to CERN. With the feedback and support of their numerous brilliant pupils, Danysz, Pniewski and Mięsowicz had accomplished a goal which had seemed impossible. Today, Poland’s red and white flag graces the membership rosters of all four major Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments and beyond.

Entering the fray
Poland joined CERN two years after the start-up of the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), the forerunner to the LHC. Having already made strong contributions to the
construction of LEP’s DELPHI experiment, in particular its silicon vertex detector, electromagnetic calorimeter and RICH detectors, Polish researchers quickly became involved in DELPHI data analyses, including studies of the properties of beauty baryons and searches for supersymmetric particles.

Poland’s accession to CERN membership 30 years ago was the very first case of the return of our nation to European structures

With the advent of the LHC era, Poles became members of all four major LHC-experiment collaborations. In ALICE we are proud of our broad contribution to the study of the quark gluon plasma using HBT-interferometry and electromagnetic probes, and of our participation in the design of and software development for the ALICE time projection chamber. Polish contributions to the ATLAS collaboration encompass not only numerous software and hardware activities (the latter concerning the inner detector and trigger), but also data analyses, notably searching for new physics in the Higgs sector, studies of soft and elastic hadron interactions and a central role in the heavy-ion programme. Involvement in CMS has revolved around the experiment’s muon-detection system, studies of Higgs-boson production and its decays to tau leptons, W⁺W^– interactions and searches for exotic, in particular long-lived, particles. This activity is also complemented by software development and coordination of physics analysis for the TOTEM experiment. Last but not least, Polish groups in LHCb have taken important hardware responsibilities for various subdetectors (including the VELO, RICH and high-level trigger) together with studies of b->s transitions, measurements of the angle γ of the CKM matrix and searches for CPT violation, to name but a few.

Beyond colliders
The scope of our research at CERN was never limited to LEP and the LHC. In particular, Polish researchers comprise almost one third of collaborators on the fixed-target experiment NA61/SHINE, where they are involved across the experiment’s strong-interactions programme. Indeed, since the late 1970s, Poles have actively participated in the whole series of deep-inelastic scattering experiments at CERN: EMC, NMC, SMC, COMPASS and recently AMBER. Devoted to studies of different aspects of the partonic structure of the nucleon, these experiments have resulted in spectacular discoveries, including the EMC effect, nuclear shadowing, the proton “spin puzzle”, and 3D imaging of the nucleon.

Polish researchers have also contributed with great success to studies at CERN’s ISOLDE facility. One of the most important achievements was to establish the coexistence of various nuclear shapes, including octupoles, at low excitation energy in radon, radium and mercury nuclei, using the Coulomb-excitation technique. Polish involvement in CERN neutrino experiments started with the BEBC bubble chamber, followed by the CERN Dortmund Heidelberg Saclay Warsaw (CDHSW​) experiment and, more recently, participation in the ICARUS experiment and the T2K near-detector as part of the CERN Neutrino Platform. In parallel, we take part in preparations for future CERN projects, including the proposed Future Circular Collider and Compact Linear Collider. In terms of theoretical research, Polish researchers are renowned for the phenomenological description of strong interactions and also play a crucial role in the elaboration of Monte Carlo software packages. In computing generally, Poland was the regional leader in implementing the grid computing platform.

The past three decades have brought a few-fold increase in the population of Polish engineers and technicians involved in accelerator science. Experts contributed significantly to the LHC construction, followed by the services (e.g. electrical quality assurance of the LHC’s superconducting circuits) during consecutive long shutdowns. Detector R&D is also a strong activity of Polish engineers and technicians, for example via membership of CERN’s RD51 collaboration which exists to advance the development and application of micropattern gas detectors. These activities take place in the closest cooperation with national industry, concentrated around cryogenic applications. Growing local expertise in accelerator science also saw the establishment of Poland’s first hadron-therapy centre, located at the Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN in Kraków.

Poland@CERN 2019 saw over 20 companies and institutions represented by around 60 participants take part in more than 120 networking meetings

Collaborations between CERN and Polish industry was initiated by Maciej Chorowski, and there are numerous examples. One is the purchase of vacuum vessels manufactured by CHEMAR in Kielce and RAFAKO in Racibórz, and parts of cryostats from METALCHEM in Kościan. Industrial supplies for CERN were also provided by KrioSystem in Wrocław and Turbotech in Płock, including elements of cryostats for testing prototype superconducting magnets for the LHC. CERN also operates devices manufactured by the ZPAS company in Wolibórz, while Polish company ZEC Service has been awarded CMS Gold awards for the delivery and assembly of cooling installations. Creotech Instruments – a company established by a physicist and two engineers who met at CERN – is a regular manufacturer of electronics for CERN and enjoys a strong collaboration with CERN’s engineering teams. Polish companies also transfer technology from CERN to industry, such as TECHTRA in Wrocław, which obtained a license from CERN for the production and commercialisation of GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) foil. Deliveries to CERN are also carried out, inter alia, by FORMAT, Softcom or Zakład Produkcji Doświadczalnej CEBEA from Bochnia. At the most recent exhibition of Polish industry at CERN, Poland@CERN 2019, over 20 companies and institutions represented by around 60 participants took part in more than 120 networking meetings.

Societal impact
CERN membership has so far enabled around 550 Polish teachers to visit the lab, each returning to their schools with enhanced knowledge and enthusiasm to pass on to younger generations. Poland ranks sixth in Europe in terms of participation in particle-physics masterclasses participants, and at least 10 PhD theses in Poland based on CERN research are defended annually. Over the past 30 years, CERN has also become a second home for some 560 technical, doctoral or administrative students and 180 summer students, while Polish nationals have taken approximately 150 staff positions and 320 fellowships.

Some have taken important positions at CERN. Agnieszka Zalewska was chair of the CERN Council from 2013 to 2015, Ewa Rondio acted as a member of CERN’s directorate in 2009-2010 and Michał Turała chaired the electronics-and-computing-for-physics division in 1995-1998. Also, several of our colleagues were elected as members of CERN bodies such as the Scientific Policy Committee. Our national community at CERN is well integrated, and likes to pass the time outside working hours in particular during mountain hikes and summer picnics.

Poland’s accession to CERN membership 30 years ago was the very first case of the return of our nation to European structures, preceding the European Union and NATO. Poland joined the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in 2004, the Institut Laue-Langevin in 2006 and the European Space Agency in 2012. It was also a founding member of the European Spallation Source and the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research,and is a partner of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser.

Today, six research institutes and 11 university departments located in eight major Polish cities are focused on high-energy physics. Among domestic projects that have benefitted from CERN technology-transfer is the Jagiellonian PET detector, which is exploring the use of inexpensive plastic scintillators for whole-body PET imaging, and the development of electron linacs for radiotherapy and cargo scanning at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Świerk, Warsaw.

During the past few years, thanks to closer alignment between participation in CERN experiments and the national roadmap for research infrastructures, the long-term funding scheme for Poland’s CERN membership has been stabilised. This fact, together with the highlights described here, allow us to expect that in the future CERN will be even more “Polish”.

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Recent decades have seen an emphasis on the market and social value of fundamental science. Increasingly, researchers must demonstrate the benefits of their work beyond the generation of pure scientific knowledge, and the cultural benefits of peaceful and open international collaboration.

This timely collection of short essays by leading scientific managers and policymakers, which emerged from a workshop held during Future Circular Collider (FCC) Week 2019, brings the interconnectedness of fundamental science and economics into focus. Its 18 contributions range from procurement to knowledge transfer, and from global-impact assessments to case studies from CERN, SKA, the ESS and ESA, with a foreword by former CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer. As such, it constitutes an important contribution to the literature and a guide for future projects such as a post-LHC collider.

As the number and size of research infrastructures (RIs) has grown over the years, describes CERN’s head of industry, procurement and knowledge transfer, Thierry Lagrange, the will to push the frontier of knowledge has required significant additional public spending linked to the development and upgrade of high-tech instruments, and increased maintenance costs. The socioeconomic returns to society are clear, he says. But these benefits are not generated automatically: they require a thriving ecosystem that transfers knowledge and technologies to society, aided by entities such as CERN’s knowledge transfer group and business incubation centres.

RIs need to be closely integrated into the European landscape, with plans put in place for international governance structures

Multi-billion public investments in RIs are justified given their crucial and multifaceted role in society, asserts EIROforum liaison officer at the European Commission, Margarida Ribeiro. She argues that new RIs need to be closely integrated into the European landscape, with plans put in place for international governance structures, adequate long-term funding, closer engagement with industry, and methodologies for assessing RI impact. All contributors acknowledge the importance of this latter point. While physicists would no doubt prefer to go back to the pre-Cold War days of doing science for science’s sake, argues ESS director John Womersley, without the ability to articulate the socioeconomic justifications of fundamental science as a driver of prosperity, jobs, innovation, startups and as solutions to challenges such as climate change and the environment, it is only going to become more difficult for projects to get funding.

A future collider is a case in point. Johannes Gutleber of CERN and the FCC study describes several recent studies seeking to quantify the socioeconomic value of the LHC and its proposed successor, the FCC, with training and industrial innovation emerging as the most important generators of impact. The rising interest in the type of RI benefits that emerge and how they can be maximised and redistributed to society, he writes, is giving rise to a new field of interdisciplinary research, bringing together economists, social scientists, historians and philosophers of science, and policymakers.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than the ongoing programme led by economists at the University of Milan, described in two chapters by Florio Massimo and Andrea Bastianin. A recent social cost–benefit analysis of the HL-LHC, for example, conservatively estimates that every €1 of costs returns €1.2 to society, while a similar study concerning the FCC estimates the benefit/cost ratio to be even higher, at 1.8. Florio argues that CERN and big science more generally are ideal testing grounds for theoretical and empirical economic models, while demonstrating the positive net impact that large colliders have for society. His 2019 book Investing in Science: Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of Research Infrastructures (MIT Press) explores this point in depth (CERN Courier September 2018 p51), and is another must-read in this growing interdisciplinary area. Completing the series of essays on impact evaluation, Philip Amison of the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council reviews the findings of a report published last year capturing the benefits of CERN membership.

The final part of the volume focuses on the question “Who benefits from such large public investments in science?”, and addresses the contribution of big science to social justice and inequalities. Carsten Welsch of the University of Liverpool/Cockcroft Institute argues that fundamental science should not be considered as a distant activity, illustrating the point convincingly via the approximately 50,000 particle accelerators currently used in industry, medical treatments and research worldwide.

The grand ideas and open questions in particle physics and cosmology already inspire many young people to enter STEM subjects, while technological spin-offs such as medical treatments, big-data handling, and radio-frequency technology are also often communicated. Less well known are the significant but harder-to-quantify economic benefits of big science. This volume is therefore essential reading, not just for government ministers and policymakers, but for physicists and others working in curiosity-driven research who need to convey the immense benefits of their work beyond pure knowledge.

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Science and basic research are drivers of technologies and innovations, which in turn are key to solving global challenges such as climate change and energy. The United Nations has summarised these challenges in 17 “sustainable development goals”, but it is striking how little connection with science they include. Furthermore, as found by a UNESCO study in 2017, the interest of the younger generation in studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics is falling, despite jobs in these areas growing at a rate three times faster than in any other sector. Clearly, there is a gulf between scientists and non-scientists when it comes to the perception of the importance of fundamental research in their lives – to the detriment of us all.

Some in the community are resistant to communicate physics spin-offs because this is not our primary purpose

Try asking your neighbours, kids, family members or mayor of your city whether they know about the medical and other applications that come from particle physics, or the stream of highly qualified people trained at CERN who bring their skills to business and industry. While the majority of young people are attracted to physics by its mindboggling findings and intriguing open questions, our subject appeals even more when individuals find out about its usefulness outside academia. This was one of the key outcomes of a recent survey, Creating Ambassadors for Science in Society, organised by the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG).

Do most “Cernois” even know about the numerous start-ups based on CERN technologies or the hundreds of technology disclosures from CERN, 31 of which came in 2019 alone? Or about the numerous success stories contained within the CERN impact brochure and the many resources of CERN’s knowledge-transfer group? Even though “impact” is gaining attention, anecdotally when I presented  these facts to my research colleagues they were not fully aware. Yet who else will be our ambassadors, if not us?

Some in the community are resistant to communicate physics spin-offs because this is not our primary purpose. Yet, millions of people who have lost their income as a result of COVID-19 are rather more concerned about where their next rent and food payments are coming from, than they are about the couplings of the Higgs boson. Reaching out to non-physicists is more important than ever, especially to those with an indifferent or even negative attitude to science. Differentiating audiences between students, general public and politicians is not relevant when addressing non-scientifically educated people. Strategic information should be proactively communicated to all stakeholders in society in a relatable way, via eye-opening, surprising and emotionally charged stories about the practical applications of curiosity-driven discoveries.

IPPOG has been working to provide such stories since 2017 – and there is no shortage of examples. Take the touchscreen technology first explored at CERN 40 years ago, or humanitarian satellite mapping carried out for almost 20 years by UNOSAT, which is hosted at CERN. Millions of patients are diagnosed daily thanks to tools like PET and MRI, while more recent medical developments include innovative radioisotopes from MEDICIS for precision medicine, the first 3D colour X-ray images, and novel cancer treatments  based on superconducting accelerator technology. In the environmental arena, recent CERN spin-offs include a global network of air-quality sensors and fibre-optic sensors for improved water and pesticide management, while CERN open-source software is used for digital preservation in libraries and its computing resources have been heavily deployed in fighting the pandemic.

Building trust

Credibility and trust in science can only be built by scientists themselves, while working hand in hand with professional communicators, but not relying only on them. Extracurricular activities, such as those offered by IPPOG, CERN, other institutions and individual initiatives, are crucial in changing the misperceptions of the public and bringing about fact-based decision-making to the young generation. Scientists should develop a proactive strategic approach and even consider becoming active in policy making, following the shining examples of those who helped realise the SESAME light source in the Middle East and the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies.

Particle physics already inspires some of the brightest minds to enter science. But audiences never look at our subject with the same eyes once they’ve learned about its applications and science-for-peace initiatives.

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CERN enjoys a world-class reputation as a scientific laboratory, with the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of the Higgs boson propelling the organisation into the public spotlight. Less tangible and understood by the public, however, is that to achieve this level of success in cutting-edge research, you need the infrastructure and tools to perform it. CERN is an incredible hub for engineering and technology – hosting a vast complex of accelerators, detectors, experiments and computing infrastructure. Thus, CERN needs to attract candidates from across a wide spectrum of engineering and technical disciplines to fulfil its objectives.

CERN employs around 2600 staff members who design, build, operate, maintain and support an infrastructure used by a much larger worldwide community of physicists. Of these, only 3% are research physicists. The core hiring needs are for engineers, technicians and support staff in a wide variety of domains: mechanical, electrical, engineering, vacuum, cryogenics, civil engineering, radiation protection, radio­frequency, computing, software, hardware, data acquisition, materials science, health and safety… the list goes on. Furthermore, there are also competences needed in human resources, legal matters, communications, knowledge transfer, finance, firefighters, medical professionals and other support functions.

On the radar

CERN’s hiring challenge takes on even greater meaning when one considers the drive to attract students, graduates and professionals from across CERN’s 32 Member and Associate Member States. In what is already a competitive market, attracting people from a large multitude of disciplines to an organisation whose reputation revolves around particle physics can be a challenge. So how is this challenge tackled? CERN now has a well-established “employer brand”, developed in 2010 to promote its opportunities in an increasingly digitalised environment. The brand centres around factors that make working at CERN the rich experience that it is, namely challenge, purpose, imagination, collaboration, integrity and quality of life – underpinned by the slogan “Take part”. This serves as an identity to devise attractive campaigns through web content, video, online, social media and job-portal advertisements to promote CERN as an employer of choice to the audiences we seek to reach: from students to professionals, apprenticeships to PhDs, across all diversity dimensions. The intention is to put CERN “on the radar” of people who wouldn’t normally identify CERN as a possibility in their chosen career path.

CERN doesn’t just bring together people from a large scope of fields but unites people from all over the world

As no single channel exists that will allow targeting of, for example, a mechanical technician in all CERN Member States, creative and innovative approaches have to be utilised. The varying landscapes, cultural preferences and languages come into play, and this is compounded by the different job-seeking behaviours of students, graduates and experienced professionals through a constantly evolving ecosystem of channels and solutions. A widespread presence is key. The cornerstones are: an attractive careers website; professional networks such as LinkedIn to promote CERN’s employment opportunities and proactively search for candidates; social media to increase visibility of hiring campaigns; and being present on various job portals, for example in the oil, gas and energy arenas. Outreach events, presence at university career fairs and online webinars further serve to present CERN and its diverse opportunities to the targeted audiences.

Storytelling is an essential ingredient in promoting our opportunities, as are the experiences of those already working at CERN. In the words of Håvard, an electromechanical technician from Norway: “I get to challenge myself in areas and with technology you don’t see any other place in the world.” Gunnar, a firefighter from Germany describes, “I am working as a firefighter in one of the most international fire brigades at CERN in what is a very complex, challenging and interesting environment.” Katarina, a computing engineer from Sweden, says, “The diversity of skills needed at CERN is so much larger than what most people know!” While Julia, a former mechanical engineering technical student from the UK put it simply: “I never knew that CERN recruited students for internships.” Natasha, a former software engineering fellow from Pakistan, summed it up with, “Here I am, living my dreams, being a part of an organisation that’s helping me grow every single day.” Each individual experience is a rich insight for potential candidates to identify with and recognise the possibility of joining CERN in their own right.

CERN doesn’t just bring together people from a large scope of fields but unites people from all over the world. Working as summer, technical or doctoral student, as a graduate or professional, builds skills and knowledge that are highly transferable in today’s demanding and competitive job market, along with lasting connections. As the cherry on the cake, a job at CERN paves the way to become CERN’s future alumni and join the ever-growing High-Energy Network. Take part!

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A particle physics-led experiment called AION (Atomic Interferometric Observatory and Network) is one of several multidisciplinary projects selected for funding by the UK’s new Quantum Technologies for Fundamental Physics programme. The successful projects, announced in January following a £31 million call for proposals from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will exploit recent advances in quantum technologies to tackle outstanding questions in fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology.

We have an opportunity to change the way we search for answers to some of the biggest mysteries of the universe

Mark Thomson

UKRI and university funding of about £10 million (UKRI part £7.2 million) will enable the AION team to prepare the construction of a 10 m-tall atomic interferometer at the University of Oxford to explore ultra-light dark matter and provide a pathway towards detecting gravitational waves in the unexplored mid-frequency band ranging from several mHz to a few Hz. The setup will use lasers to drive transitions between the ground and excited states of a cloud of cold strontium atoms in free fall, effectively acting as beam splitters and mirrors for the atomic de Broglie waves (see figure). Ultralight dark matter and exotic light bosons would be expected to have differential effects on the atomic transition frequencies, while a passing gravitational wave would generate a strain in the space through which the atoms fall freely. Either would create a difference between the phases of atomic beams following different paths – the greater their separations, the greater the sensitivity of the experiment.

“AION is a uniquely interdisciplinary mission that will harness cold-atom quantum technologies to address key issues in fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology that can be realised in the next few decades,” says AION principal investigator Oliver Buchmueller of Imperial College London, who is also a member of the CMS collaboration. “The AION project will also significantly contribute to MAGIS, a 100 m-scale partner experiment being prepared at Fermilab, and we are exploring the possibility of utilising a shaft in the UK or at the LHC for a similar second 100 m detector.”

Six other quantum-technology projects involving UK institutes are under way thanks to the UKRI scheme. One, led by experimental particle physicist Ruben Saakyan of University College London, will use ultra-precise B-field mapping and microwave spectrometry to determine the absolute neutrino mass in tritium beta-decay beyond the 0.2 eV sensitivity projected for the KATRIN experiment. Others include the use of new classes of detectors and coherent quantum amplifiers to search for hidden structure in the vacuum state; the development of ultra-low-noise quantum electronics to underpin searches for axions and other light hidden particles; quantum simulators to mimic the extreme conditions of the early universe and black holes; and the development of quantum-enhanced superfluid technologies for cosmology.

The UKRI call is part of a global effort to develop quantum technologies that could bring about a “second quantum revolution”. Several major international public and private initiatives are under way. Last autumn, CERN launched its own quantum technologies initiative.

“With the application of emerging quantum technologies, I believe we have an opportunity to change the way we search for answers to some of the biggest mysteries of the universe,” said Mark Thomson, executive chair of the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council. “These include exploring what dark matter is made of, finding the absolute mass of neutrinos and establishing how quantum mechanics fits with gravity.”

The post Quantum sensing for particle physics appeared first on CERN Courier.

ILC250 primarily targets precision measurements of the Higgs boson (see Targeting a Higgs factory). However, fully exploiting these measurements demands substantial improvement in our knowledge about many other Standard Model (SM) observables. Here, ILC250 opens three avenues: the study of gauge-boson pair-production and fermion pair-production at 250 GeV; fermion-pair production at effective centre-of-mass energies lowered to about 91.2 GeV by prior emission of photons (radiative returns to the Z pole); and operation of the collider at both the Z pole and the WW threshold. In all of these cases, the polarisation of the electron and positron beams (at polarisations up to 80% and 30%–60%, respectively) boosts the statistical power of many measurements by factors between 2.5 (for Higgs measurements) and 10 (at the Z pole), thanks to the ability to exploit observables such as left–right asymmetries of production cross-sections. These additional polarisation-dependent observables are also essential to disentangle the unavoidable interference between Z and γ exchange in fermion pair-production at energies above the Z pole, enabling access to the chiral couplings of fermions to the Z and the photon. Broadly speaking, the polarised beams and the high luminosity of ILC250 will lead to at least one order of magnitude improvement over the current knowledge for many SM precision observables.

Other important inputs when interpreting Higgs measurements are charged triple-gauge couplings (TGCs), which are also probes of physics beyond the SM. ILC250 will measure these 100 times more precisely than LEP, with a further factor-of-two improvement possible at the higher-energy stage ILC500. These numbers refer to the case of extracting simultaneously all three TGCs relevant in SM effective field theory, which is currently the most favoured framework for the interpretation of precision Higgs-boson data, whereas TGC results from the LHC assume that only one of these couplings deviates from its SM value at a time. With both beams polarised and with full control over the orientation of the polarisation vectors, all 28 TGC parameters that exist in the most general case can potentially be determined simultaneously at the ILC.

Z-pole physics

Classic electroweak precision observables refer to the Z pole. ILC250 will produce about 90 million visible Z events via radiative return, which is about five times more than at LEP and 100 times more than SLC. Thanks to the polarised beams, these data will allow a direct measurement of the asymmetry A_e between the left- and right-handed electron’s coupling to the Z boson with 10 times better accuracy than today, and enable the asymmetries A_f of the final-state fermions to the Z to be directly extracted. This is quite different from the case of unpolarised beams, where only the product A_e A_f can be accessed. Compared to LEP/SLC results, the Z-pole asymmetries can be improved by typically a factor of 20 using only the radiative returns to the Z at ILC250. This would settle beyond doubt the long-standing question of whether the 3σ tension between the weak mixing-angle extractions from SLC and LEP originates from physics beyond the SM. With a few minor modifications, the ILC can also directly operate at the Z pole, improving fermion asymmetries by another factor 6 to 25 with respect to the radiative-return results.

The higher integrated luminosity of the ILC will provide new opportunities to search for physics beyond the SM

At energies above the Z pole, di-fermion production is sensitive to hypothetical, heavy siblings of the Z boson (so-called Z′ bosons) and to four-fermion operators, i.e. contact-interaction-like parametrisations of yet unknown interactions. ILC250 could indirectly discover Z′ particles with masses up to 6 TeV, while ILC1000 could extend the reach to 18 TeV. For contact interactions, depending on the details of the assumed model, compositeness scales of up to 160 TeV can be probed at ILC250, and up to nearly 400 TeV at ILC1000.

Direct searches for new physics

At first glance, it might seem that direct searches at ILC250 offer only a marginal improvement over LEP, which attained a collision energy of 209 GeV. Nevertheless, the higher integrated luminosity of the ILC (about 2000 times higher than LEP’s above the WW threshold), its polarised beams, much-improved detectors, and triggerless readout will provide new opportunities to search for physics beyond the SM. For example, ILC250 will improve on LEP searches for a new scalar particle produced in association with the Z boson by over an order of magnitude. Another example of a rate-limited search at LEP is the supersymmetric partner of the tau lepton, the tau slepton. In the most general case, tau-slepton masses above 26.3 GeV are not excluded, and in this case no improvement from HL-LHC is expected. The ILC, with its highly-granular detectors covering angles down to 6 mrad with respect to the collision axis, has the ability to cover masses up to nearly the kinematic limit of half the collision energy, also in the experimentally most difficult parts of the parameter space.

The absence of discoveries of new high-mass states at the LHC has led to increased interest in fermionic “Z-portal” models, with masses of dark-matter particles below the electroweak scale. A dark photon, for example, could be detected via its mixing with SM photons. In searching for such phenomena, ILC250 could cover the region between the reach of the B-factories, which is limited to below 10 GeV, and the LHC experiments, which start searching in a range above 150 GeV.

The ILC’s Higgs-factory stage will require only about 40% of the tunnel length available at the Kitakami Mountains in northern Japan, which is capable of housing a linear collider at least 50 km long. This is sufficient to reach a centre-of-mass energy of 1 TeV with current technology by extending the linacs and augmenting power and cryogenics. The upgrade to ILC500 is expected to cost approximately 60% of the ILC250 cost, while going to 1 TeV would require an estimated 100% of the ILC250 cost, assuming a modest increase of the accelerating gradient over what has been achieved (CERN Courier November/December 2020 p35). These upgrades offer the opportunity to optimise the exact energies of the post-Higgs-factory stages according to physics needs and technological advances.

ILC at higher energies

ILC500 targets the energy range 500–600 GeV, which would improve the precision on Higgs-boson couplings typically by a factor of two compared to ILC250 and on charged triple-gauge couplings by a factor of three to four. It would also offer optimal sensitivity in three important measurements. The first is the electroweak couplings of the top quark, for which a variety of new-physics models predict deviations for instance in its coupling to the Z (see “Model sensitivity” figure). The second is the Higgs self-coupling λ from double Higgs-strahlung (e⁺e^– → ZHH): while ILC500 could reach a precision of 27% on λ, at 1 TeV a measurement based on vector-boson fusion (VBF) reaches 10%. These numbers assume that λ takes the value predicted by the SM. However, the situation can be quite different if λ is larger, as is typically required by models of baryogenesis, and only the
combination of double Higgs-strahlung and VBF-based measurements can guarantee a precision of at least 10–20% for any value of λ (see “Higgs self-coupling” figure). A third physics target is the top-quark Yukawa coupling, for which a precision of 6.3% is projected at ILC500, 3.2% at 550 GeV and 1.6% at 1 TeV.

While ILC250 has interesting discovery potential in various rate-limited searches, ILC500 extends the kinematic reach significantly beyond LEP. For instance, in models of supersymmetry that adhere to naturalness, the supersymmetric partners of the Higgs boson (the higgsinos) must have masses that are not too far from the Z or Higgs bosons, typically around 100 to 300 GeV. While the lower range of these particles is already accessible at ILC250, the higher energy stages of the ILC will be able to cover the remainder of this search space. The ILC is also able to reconstruct decay chains when the mass differences among higg­sinos are small, which is a challenging signature for the HL-LHC.

The ILC is the only future collider that is currently being discussed at the government level, by Japan, the US and various countries in Europe. It is also the most technologically established proposal, its cutting edge radio-frequency cavities already in operation at the European XFEL. The 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics also noted that, should an ILC in Japan go ahead, the European particle-physics community would wish to collaborate. Recently, an ILC international development team was established to prepare for the creation of the ILC pre-laboratory, which will make all necessary technical preparations before construction can begin. If intergovernmental negotiations are successful, the ILC could undergo commissioning as early as the mid-2030s. 

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The novelty of the Higgs boson derives largely from its apparently scalar nature. It is the only fundamental particle without spin. Additionally, it is the only fundamental particle with a self-coupling (gluons also couple to other gluons, but only to those with different colour combinations). Measurements of the couplings of the Higgs boson to the W and Z bosons at the LHC have confirmed its role in the generation of their masses, likewise for the charged third-generation fermions. Despite this great success, the Higgs boson is connected to many of the most troublesome aspects of the Standard Model (see “Connecting the Higgs to Standard Model enigmas” panel). It is for this reason that the recently concluded update of the European strategy for particle physics advocated an electron–positron Higgs factory as the highest priority collider after the LHC, to allow detailed study of this novel and unique particle.

Circular vs linear

The discovery of the Higgs boson at the relatively light mass of 125 GeV, announced by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in 2012, had two important consequences for experiment. The first was the large number of potentially observable branching fractions available. The second was that circular, as well as linear, e⁺e^– machines could serve as Higgs factories. The two basic mechanisms for Higgs-boson production at such colliders are associated production, e⁺e^– → ZH, and vector-boson fusion. The former process is dominant at the low-energy first stage of the various Higgs factories under consideration, with vector-boson fusion becoming more important with increasing energy (see “Channeling the Higgs” figure). About a quarter of a million Higgs bosons would be produced per inverse attobarn of data, leading to substantial numbers of recorded events even after the branching ratios to observable modes are taken into account.

Four Higgs-factory designs are presently being considered. Two are linear accelerators, namely the International Linear Collider (ILC) under consideration in Japan and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) at CERN, while the other two are circular: the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) at CERN and the Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China.

The beams in circular colliders continuously lose energy due to synchrotron radiation, causing the luminosity at circular colliders to decrease with beam energy roughly as E_b^–3.5. The advantage of circular colliders is their high instantaneous luminosity, in particular at the centre-of-mass energy relevant for the Higgs-physics programme (250 GeV), but even more so at lower energies such as those corresponding to the Z-boson mass (91 GeV). Electron and positron beams in a circular machine naturally achieve transverse polarisation, which can be exploited to make precise measurements of the beam energy via the electron and positron spin-precession frequencies.

In contrast, for linear colliders the luminosity increases roughly linearly with the beam energy. The advantages of linear accelerators are that they can be extended to higher energies, and the beams can be polarised longitudinally. The ZH associated cross section can be increased by 40% with longitudinal polarisations of –80% and 30% for electrons and positrons, respectively. This increase, coupled with the ability to isolate certain components of Higgs-boson production by tuning the polarisation, enables a linear machine to achieve similar precisions on Higgs-boson measurements with half the integrated luminosity of a circular machine.

FCC-ee, CEPC and ILC are foreseen to run for several years at a centre-of-mass energy of around 250 GeV, where the ZH production cross section is largest. Instead, CLIC plans to run its first stage at 380 GeV where both WW fusion and ZH production contribute, and tt production is possible. The circular colliders FCC-ee and CEPC envisage running at the Z-pole and the WW production threshold for long enough to collect of the order 10¹² Z bosons and 10⁸ WW pairs, enabling powerful electroweak and flavour-physics programmes (see “Compare and contrast” table). To achieve design luminosity, all proposed e⁺e^– colliders need beams focused to a very small size in one direction (30–70 nm for FCC-ee, 3–8 nm for ILC and 1–3 nm for CLIC), which are all below the values so far achieved at existing facilities.

Evolving designs

The proposed circular colliders are based on a combination of concepts that have been proven and used in previous and present colliders (LEP, SLC, PEP-II, KEKB, SuperKEKB, DAFNE). In Higgs-production mode the beam lifetime is limited by Bhabha scattering to about 30 minutes and therefore requires quasi-continuous injection or “top-up” as used by the B-factories. Each of the circular collider main concepts and parameters has been demonstrated in a previous machine, and thus the designs are considered mature. The total FCC-ee construction cost is estimated to be 10.5 billion CHF for energies up to 240 GeV, with an additional 1.1 billion CHF to go to the tt threshold. This includes 5.4 billion CHF for the tunnel, which could be reused later for a hadron collider. The CEPC cost has been estimated at $5 billion, including $1.3 billion for the tunnel. With the present design, the FCC-ee power consumption is 260–340 MW for the various energy stages (compared to 150 MW for the LHC).

The ILC was proposed in the late 1990s and a technical design report published in 2012. It uses superconducting RF cavities for the acceleration, as used in the currently operating European XFEL facility in Germany, to aim for gradients of 35 MV/m. The cost of the first energy stage (250 GeV) was estimated as $4.8–5.3 billion, with a power consumption of 130–200 MW, and an expression of interest to host the ILC as a global project is being considered in Japan. The CLIC accelerator uses a second beam, termed a drive-beam, to accelerate the primary beam, aiming for gradients in excess of 100 MV/m. This concept has been demonstrated with electron beams at the CLIC test facility, CTF3. The cost of the first energy stage of CLIC is estimated as 5.9 billion CHF with a power consumption of 170 MW, rising to 590 MW for final-stage operation at 3 TeV.

Another important difference between the proposed linear and circular colliders concerns the number of detectors they can host. Collisions at linear machines only occur at one interaction point, while in circular colliders at least two interaction points are proposed, doubling the luminosity available for analyses. Two detectors also offer the dual benefits of scientific competition and the cross-checking of results. At the ILC two detectors are proposed but they cannot run concurrently since they use the same interaction point.

FCC-ee and CLIC have both been proposed as CERN-hosted international projects, similar to the LHC or high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). At present, as recommended by the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics, a feasibility study for the FCC (including its post-FCC-ee hadron-collider stage, FCC-hh) is ongoing, with the goal of presenting an updated conceptual design report by the next strategy update in 2026. Among the e⁺e^– colliders, CLIC has the greatest capacity to be extended to the multi-TeV energy range. In its low-energy incarnation it could be realised either with the drive-beam or conventional technology. CEPC is conceptually and technologically similar to FCC-ee and has also presented a conceptual design report. Nearly all statements about FCC-ee also hold for CEPC except that CEPC’s design luminosity is about a factor of two lower, and thus it takes longer to acquire the same integrated luminosity. At circular colliders, the multi-TeV regime (at least 100 TeV in the case of FCC-hh) would be reached by using proton beams, similar to what was done with LHC following LEP.

Connecting the Higgs to Standard Model enigmas

In addition to the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field and the mass of the Higgs boson, the discovery of the Higgs boson introduces a large number of parameters into the Standard Model. Among them are the Yukawa couplings of the nine charged fermions (in contrast, the gauge sector of the SM has only three free parameters). The Yukawa forces, of which only three have been discovered corresponding to the couplings to the charged third-generation fermions, are completely new. They are of disparate strengths and, unlike the other forces, are not subject to the constraint of local gauge invariance. They provide a parameterisation of the theory of flavour, rather than an explanation. It is of primary importance to discover, bound and characterise the Yukawa forces. In particular, the discovery of CP violation in the Yukawa couplings would go beyond the confines of the Standard Model.

Famously, because of its scalar nature, the quantum corrections to the Higgs boson mass are only bounded by the cut-off on the theory, demanding large renormalisations to maintain the mass at 125 GeV as measured. This issue is not so much a problem for the Standard Model per se. However, in the context of a more complete theory that aims to supersede and encompass the Standard Model, it becomes much more troubling. In effect, the degree of cancellation necessary to maintain the Higgs mass at 125 GeV effectively sabotages the predictive power of any more complete theory. This sabotage becomes deadly as the scale of the new physics is pushed to higher and higher energies.

The electroweak potential is another area of importance in which our current knowledge is fragmentary. Within the confines of the Standard Model the potential is completely specified by the position of its minimum – the vacuum expectation value and the second derivative of the potential at the minimum, the mass of the Higgs boson (or equivalently its self-coupling). We have no direct knowledge of the behaviour of the potential at larger field values further from the minimum. In addition, extrapolation of the currently understood Higgs potential to higher energy reveals a world teetering between stability and instability. Further information about the behaviour of the potential could help us to interpret the meaning of this result. A modified electroweak potential might also give rise to a first-order phase transition at high temperature, rather than the smooth crossover expected for the Standard Model Higgs potential. This would fulfil one of the three Sakharov conditions necessary to generate an asymmetry between matter and antimatter in our universe.

To quantify the scientific reach of the proposed colliders compared to current knowledge or the expectations for the HL-LHC, it is necessary to define figures-of-merit for the observables that will be measured. For the Higgs boson the focus is on the coupling strengths to the Standard Model bosons and fermions, as well as the couplings to any new particles. The strength with which the Higgs boson couples to the various particles, i, is denoted by κ_i, defined such that κ_i = 1 corresponds to the Standard Model. Non-standard phenomena are included in this “kappa” framework by introducing two new quantities: the branching ratio into invisible particles (determined by measuring the missing energy in identified Higgs events), and the branching ratio to untagged particles (determined by measuring the contributions to the total width accounted for by the observed modes, or by directly searching for anomalous decays).

Higgs-boson observables

At hadron colliders, only ratios of κ_i parameters can be measured, since a precise measurement of the total width of the Higgs boson is lacking (the expected total width of the Higgs boson in the Standard Model is 4.2 MeV, which is far too small to be resolved experimentally). To determine the absolute κ_i values at a hadron collider a further assumption needs to be made, either on decay rates of the Higgs boson to new particles or on one of the κ_i values. An assumption that is often made, and valid in many beyond-the-Standard-Model theories, is that κ_Z ≤ 1.

The kappa framework, however, by construction, does not parameterise possible effects coming from different Lorentz structures and/or the energy dependence of the Higgs couplings. Such effects could generically arise from the existence of new physics at higher scales and could lead not only to changes in the predicted rates, but also in distributions. Deviations of κ_i from 1 indicate a departure from the Standard Model, but do not provide a tool to diagnose its cause. This shortcoming is remedied in so-called effective-operator formalisms by including operators of mass dimension greater than four.

At e⁺e^– colliders a Higgs boson produced via e⁺e^– → ZH can be identified without observing its decay products. This measurement, of primary importance, is unique to e⁺e^– colliders. By measuring the Z decay products and with the precise knowledge of the momenta of the incoming e^– and e⁺ beams, the presence of the Higgs boson in ZH events can be inferred based on energy and momentum conservation alone, without actually tagging the Higgs boson. In this way one directly measures the coupling between the Higgs and Z bosons. In combination with the Higgs branching ratio to Z pairs it can be interpreted as a measurement of the Higgs-boson width. The first-stage e⁺e^– Higgs factories all constrain the total width at about the 2% level.

LHC and HL-LHC

To assess the potential impact of the e⁺e^– Higgs factories it is important to examine the point of departure provided by the LHC and HL-LHC. Since its startup in 2010 the LHC has made a monumental impact on our understanding of the Higgs sector. After the Higgs discovery in 2012, a measurement programme started and now, with nearly 150 fb^–1 of data analysed by ATLAS and CMS, much has been learned. The Higgs-boson mass has been measured with a precision of < 0.2%, its spin and parity confirmed as expected in the Standard Model, and its coupling to bosons and to third-generation charged fermions established with a precision of 5–10%.

With the HL-LHC and its experiments planned to operate from 2027, the precision on the coupling parameters and the branching ratios to new particles will be increased by a factor of 5–10 in all cases, typically resulting in a sensitivity of a few % (see “Kappa couplings” figure). The HL-LHC will also enable measurements of the very rare μ⁺μ^– decay, the first evidence for which was recently reported by CMS and ATLAS, and thus show whether the Higgs boson also generates the mass of a second-generation fermion. With the full HL-LHC dataset, corresponding to 3000 fb^–1 for each of ATLAS and CMS, it is expected that di-Higgs production will be established with a significance of four standard deviations. This will allow a determination of the Higgs-boson’s coupling to itself with a precision of 50%.

About a quarter of a million Higgs bosons could be produced per inverse attobarn of data

The LHC has also made enormous progress in the direct searches for new particles at high energies. With more than 1000 papers published on this topic, hunting down particles predicted by dozens of theoretical ideas, and no firm sign of a new particle anywhere, it is clear that the new physics is either heavier, or more weakly coupled or has other features that hides it in the LHC data. The LHC is also a precision machine for electroweak physics, having measured the W-boson mass and the top-quark mass with uncertainties of 0.02% and 0.3%, respectively. In addition, a large number of relevant cross-section measurements of multi-boson production have been made, probing the trilinear and quartic interactions of the gauge bosons with each other.

Higgs-factory impact

In terms of the measurement precision on the Higgs-boson couplings, the proposed Higgs factories are expected to bring a major improvement with respect to HL-LHC in most cases (see “Relative precision” figure). Only for the rare decays to muons, photons and Zγ, and for the very massive top quark, is this not the case. The highest precision (0.2% in the case of FCC-ee) is achieved on κ_Z since the main Higgs production mode, ZH, depends directly on it, regardless of the decay mode. For other Standard Model particles, improvement factors of two to four are typical. For the invisible and untagged decays, the constraints are improved to around 0.2% and 1%, respectively, for some of the Higgs factories. A new measurement, not possible at the LHC, is that of the charm–quark coupling, κ_c.

None of the initial stages of the proposed Higgs factories will be able to directly probe the self-coupling of the Higgs boson beyond the 50% expected from the HL-LHC, since the cross-sections for the relevant processes (e⁺e^– → ZHH and e⁺e^– → HHνν) are negligible at centre-of-mass energies below 400 GeV. The Higgs self-coupling, however, enters through loops also in single-Higgs production and indirect effects might therefore be observable, for instance as a small (< 1%) deviation in measurements of the inclusive ZH cross section. Measurements of the Higgs self-coupling exploiting the di-Higgs production process can only be performed at higher energy colliders. The ILC and CLIC project uncertainties of around 30% at their intermediate energies and around 10% at their ultimate energies, while FCC-hh projects a precision of around 5%. Similarly, for the Higgs coupling to the top quark, the HL-LHC precision of 3.2% will not be improved by the initial stages of any of the Higgs factories.

The proposed Higgs factories also have a rich physics programme at lower energies, particularly at the Z pole. FCC-ee, for instance, plans to run for four years at the Z pole to accumulate a total of more than 10¹² Z bosons – 100,000 times more than at LEP. This will enable a rich and unprecedented electroweak physics programme, constraining so-called oblique parameters (which are sensitive to violations of weak isospin) at the per-mille level, 100 times better than today. It will also enable a B-physics programme, complementary to that at Belle II and LHCb. At CEPC, a similar programme is possible, while at ILC and CLIC the luminosity when running at the Z pole is much lower: the typical number of Z-bosons that can be accumulated here is 10⁹, 100 times more than LEP but not at the same level as the circular colliders. FCC-ee’s electroweak programme also foresees a run at the WW threshold to enable a high-precision measurement of the W mass.

Concerning the large top-quark mass, measurements at the LHC suffer from uncertainties associated with renormalisation schemes and it is unlikely to improve the precision significantly at the HL-LHC beyond the currently achieved value of 400 MeV. At an e⁺e^– collider operating at the tt threshold (~350 GeV), a measurement of the top mass with total uncertainty of around 50 MeV and with full control of the issues associated with the renormalisation scheme is possible. In addition to its importance as a fundamental parameter of the Standard Model, the top mass is the dominant term in the evolution of the Higgs potential with energy to determine vacuum stability (see “Connecting the Higgs to Standard Model enigmas” panel).

To assess the potential impact of the e⁺e^– Higgs factories it is important to examine the point of departure provided by the LHC and HL-LHC

In short, a Higgs factory promises to expand our knowledge of nature at the smallest scales. The ZH cross-section measurement alone will probe fine tuning at a level of a few permille, about 30 times better than what we know today. This provides indirect sensitivity to new particles with masses up to 10–30 TeV, depending on their coupling strength, and could point to a new energy scale in nature.

But most of all the Higgs boson has not exhausted its ability to surprise. The rest of the Standard Model is a compact structure, exquisitely tested, and ruled by local gauge invariance and other symmetries. Compared to this, the Lagrangian of the Higgs sector is the wild west, where the final laws have yet to be written. Does the Higgs boson have a significant rate of invisible decays, which could be a key component in understanding the nature of dark matter in our universe? Does the Higgs boson act as a portal to other scalar degrees of freedom? Does the Higgs boson provide a source of CP violation? An electron–positron Higgs factory provides a tool to address these questions with unique clarity, when deviations between the measured and predicted values of observables are detected. Building on the data from the HL-LHC, it will be the perfect tool to elucidate the underlying laws of physics.

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The proposed 100 km-circumference Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN features, as a first stage, an electron–positron Higgs and electroweak factory (FCC-ee) operating at centre-of-mass energies from 91 GeV (the Z mass) to a maximum of 365 GeV (above the tt production threshold). The same tunnel is then planned to host a hadron collider (FCC-hh) operating at the highest possible energies, at least 100 TeV. The complete FCC programme, whose financial and technical feasibility is currently under study, offers unprecedented potential in terms of the reach on phenomena beyond the Standard Model (SM). The proposed Circular Electron Positron Collider project in China adopts the scheme envisioned for the FCC-ee, with a somewhat less ambitious overall physics programme.

While the original goal of a future lepton collider is the precise study of the interactions of the scalar boson discovered in 2012 at the LHC, seeking answers to open questions in particle physics requires many high-precision measurements of the other three heaviest SM particles: the W and Z electroweak bosons and the top quark. Beyond the exploration of the Higgs sector, FCC-ee offers a rich range of opportunities to indirectly and directly discover new phenomena.

Studies of Higgs-boson interactions are prime tests of the dynamics of electroweak symmetry breaking and of the generation of elementary-particle masses. At FCC-ee, the Higgs boson will dominantly be produced by radiation off a Z boson. With around one million such e⁺e^– → ZH events recorded in three years of operation, a per-mil precision is targeted on the cross-section measurement. This corresponds to probing phenomena coupled to the scalar SM sector at energy scales approaching 10 TeV. The Higgsstrahlung process is, however, sensitive to gauge interactions beyond those of the Higgs boson (see “Higgs production” figure), which can themselves be affected by new physics. A robust test of the SM’s consistency will require independent experimental determination of these interactions. The precision available today is insufficient, however, and calls for new electroweak measurements to be performed.

Electroweak and top-quark precision

FCC-ee will provide these missing pieces, and much more. An unprecedented number (5 × 10¹²) of Z bosons will be produced with an exquisite knowledge of the centre-of-mass energy (100 keV or lower, thanks to the availability of transverse polarisation of the beams), thereby surpassing the precision of all previous measurements at LEP and SLC by several orders of magnitude. Uncertainties of the order of 100 keV on the Z-boson’s mass and 25 keV on its width can be achieved, as well as precisions of around 10^–5  on the various charged fermion couplings, and of 3 × 10^–5 on the QED coupling strength α_QED (m_Z). Impressive numbers of pairs of tau leptons (1.7 × 10¹¹) and 10¹² each of c and b quarks will be produced in Z decays, allowing order-of-magnitude improvements on tau and heavy-flavour observables compared to other planned facilities.

At the WW threshold, with 10⁸ W bosons collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV and threshold scans with an energy uncertainty of about 300 keV, a unique W-boson mass precision of 0.5 MeV will be reached. Meticulous measurements of di-boson production will be essential for the Higgs programme, given the gauge-symmetry relations between triple-gauge-boson and Higgs-gauge-boson interactions. Hadronic W and Z decays will also provide measurements of the QCD coupling strength with per-mil uncertainties – a factor of 10 better than the current world average.

Stepping up to a centre-of-mass energy of 350 GeV, e⁺e^– → tt measurements would deliver an impressive determination of the top-quark mass with 10 MeV statistical uncertainty, thanks to energy scans with a 4 MeV precision. At the highest FCC-ee energies, the determination of the top quark’s electroweak couplings, which affect Higgs processes, can be performed to sub-percent precision.

These high-precision FCC-ee measurements in the Higgs, electroweak and top-quark sectors will be sensitive to a large variety of new-physics scenarios. High-mass physics with SM couplings, for example, can be tested up to scales of the order of 50 TeV. Regardless of mass scale, mixing of new particles with known ones at the level of a few tens of ppm will also produce visible effects.

Probing new physics at the Z pole

Given that new light particles are constrained to be feebly coupled to the SM, large e⁺e^– luminosities are needed to search for them. By examining an astounding number of Z-boson decays, FCC-ee will explore uncharted territories in direct searches for feebly coupled light states, such as heavy neutral leptons and axion-like particles. If not directly produced, the former are also probed indirectly through precision electroweak measurements.

Heavy neutral leptons (N) are sterile particles, such as those invoked in neutrino mass-generation mechanisms. The mixing of these states with neutrinos would induce interactions with electroweak bosons and charged leptons, for example N¯W, NνZ or NνH. Heavy neutral leptons can have a wide range of masses and be searched for at FCC-ee, both directly and indirectly, with unparalleled reach. When heavier than the muon and mixing with either the e or µ flavours, they lower the µ → eν_eν_µ decay rate and affect the extraction of the Fermi constant, leading to deviations from the SM in many precision electroweak observables. When lighter than the Z boson, they could be produced in Z → νN decays. FCC-ee will bring order-of-magnitude improvements over LEP bounds in both regimes (see “Heavy neutral leptons” figure). The direct sensitivity improves even more dramatically than the indirect one: in the parameter space where N have sizeable lifetimes, displaced vertices provide a spectacular, background-free, signature (see “Discovery potential” image). This region of great interest corresponds to weak-scale leptogenesis, in which right-handed neutrinos participate in the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the universe.

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are pseudoscalar singlets with derivative couplings to the SM, which may be generated in the breaking of global symmetries at high scales. They could contribute to the dark-matter relic abundance and, in a specific range of parameter space, provide a dynamical explanation for the absence of CP violation in the strong interaction. Having symmetry-protected masses, ALPs can be naturally light. For masses smaller than twice that of the electron, they can only visibly decay to photons. Suppressed by a potentially large scale, their couplings to the SM may be tiny. ALPs lifetimes could thus be large. A coupling to either hypercharge or weak isospin would allow them to be produced in Z-boson decays together with a photon and to decay to photon pairs. Searching for this signature, FCC-ee will probe couplings more than an order of magnitude smaller than those accessible at the LHC (see “Axion-like particles” figure). Pairs of ALPs could possibly also be produced in the decay of the Higgs boson, whose small width enhances branching fractions and allows small couplings to be probed. Producing Higgs bosons in larger numbers, hadron colliders are, however, more efficient at probing such interactions.

Towards a new frontier

The physics potential of FCC-ee clearly extends much beyond its original purpose as a Higgs and electroweak factory. Upgrading the facility to FCC-hh will require a new machine based on high-field superconducting magnets, although key parts of FCC-ee infrastructure would be usable at both colliders. Compared to the LHC, FCC-hh will collect about 10 times more integrated luminosity and increase the direct discovery reach for high-mass particles – such as Z′ or W′ gauge bosons, gluinos and squarks, and even WIMP dark matter – by a factor of around 10, up to scales of about 50 TeV. It would also serve as a giga Higgs factory, producing more than 10¹⁰ Higgs bosons during its planned 25 years of data taking, albeit not in the ultraclean collision environment of FCC-ee.

Beyond exquisite precision on Higgs-boson couplings to other SM particles, a 100 TeV proton–proton collider comes to the fore in revealing how the Higgs boson couples to itself, which is connected to the electroweak phase transition in the early universe and ultimately to the stability of the vacuum. The rate of Higgs pair-production events, which in some part occur through the Higgs self-interaction, would grow by a factor of 40 at FCC-hh with respect to the LHC and enable this unique property of the Higgs boson to be measured with a statistical accuracy reaching ±2%. Such a measurement would comprehensively explore classes of models that rely on modifying the Higgs potential to drive a strong first-order phase transition at the time of electroweak symmetry breaking, a necessary condition to induce baryogenesis.

Stepping up to an energy of 350 GeV would deliver an impressive determination of the top-quark mass

Following the highly successful model of LEP and its successor, the LHC, the integrated FCC programme offers a far-reaching particle-physics programme at the limits of known technology to significantly push the frontier of our knowledge of the fundamental particles and interactions. A conceptual design report was published in 2019, estimating that operations could begin as soon as 2040 for FCC-ee and 2065 for FCC-hh. Exploring the financial and technical feasibility of this visionary project
is one of the highest priority recommendations of the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics, with a decision on whether or not to proceed expected by the next strategy update towards the middle of the decade. 

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The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is conceived in its first stage to be an 11 km-long electron–positron collider operating at a centre-of-mass energy of 380 GeV. Unlike other Higgs-factory proposals that start around 240 GeV, CLIC benefits at the initial stage not only from top-quark production, but also from two Higgs-boson production modes – Higgsstrahlung (e⁺e^– → HZ) and WW fusion – giving extra complementary input for global interpretations of the data.

A defining feature of a linear collider is that its collision energy can be raised by extending its length. While the European strategy update recommended a circular hadron collider at the energy frontier as a long-term ambition, CLIC represents a compelling alternative were a circular machine found not to be feasible. CLIC has the potential to be extended in several stages up to 50 km and a maximum energy of 3 TeV, giving access to a wide range of physics processes (see “Multichannel” figure). Some important processes such as Higgsstrahlung production fall with energy, while others such as double-Higgs production require higher energies, and processes occurring through vector-boson fusion grow with energy. In general, the beyond-Standard-Model (BSM) sensitivity of scattering processes such as ZH, WW and two-fermion (including top-pair) production rises strongly with energy, so the higher-energy stages bring further sensitivity to potential new physics both indirectly and directly.

Lepton colliders can in general explore much closer to kinematic limits than hadron colliders

In contrast to the ILC (see ILC: beyond the Higgs), CLIC operates via a novel two-beam scheme, whereby radio-frequency power extracted from a high-current, low-energy drive beam is used to accelerate the colliding beams. Were a decision to be made to upgrade CLIC from 380 GeV to 1.5 TeV, the length of the main linacs would have to be extended to 29 km, as well as moving and adding accelerator modules. Going from an energy of 1.5 to 3 TeV, as well as further lengthening of the main linacs, a second drive-beam complex must be added. CLIC’s combination of Higgs- and top-factory running, and multi-TeV extension potential, makes it illuminating to study the physics prospects of the initial stage in parallel with those of the ultimate energy.

Higgs physics

At 380 GeV, with 1 ab^–1 of integrated luminosity CLIC would produce around 160,000 Higgs bosons. This stage would enable precision determinations well beyond the HL-LHC, for example in the single-Higgs couplings to WW, ZZ, bb, and cc. Due to the known kinematic constraints in the collision environment, it also allows an absolute determination of the Higgs couplings, as opposed to the ratios accessible at the LHC. The corresponding precision on Higgs-coupling measurements is increased considerably by the enhanced statistics at 1.5 TeV, where CLIC could produce 1 million Higgs bosons with an integrated luminosity of 2.5 ab^–1 as well as opening sensitivity to other processes. A linear collider like CLIC provides considerable flexibility, for example: collecting at 380 GeV 1 ab^–1 in 8 years or 4 ab^–1 in 13 years, as studied recently, before a possible jump to 1.5 TeV.

The 1.5 TeV energy stage gives access to two double-Higgs production mechanisms: double-Higgsstrahlung (e⁺e^– → ZHH) and vector-boson fusion (e⁺e^– → HHν_eν_e). Such production of Higgs-boson pairs allows the Higgs self-coupling to be probed directly. While the 1.5 TeV stage could reach a precision of –29%/+67% using a rate-only analysis, at 3 TeV an ultimate Higgs self-coupling precision of –8%/+11% is expected, also exploiting differential information. Furthermore, the ability to measure both the ZHH and HHν_eν_e processes allows for an unambiguous determination of the Higgs self-coupling even if it is far from its Standard Model value. Unlike indirect determinations from ZH measurements at lower Higgs-factory energies, the precision of CLIC’s direct Higgs-self-coupling measurement is largely preserved in global fits. CLIC could thus robustly verify that the Higgs self-coupling assumes the value predicted by the Standard Model, or uniquely identify the new-physics effects responsible for potential tensions with the Standard Model in Higgs observables.

Top-quark physics

CLIC is unique among the proposed electron–positron colliders in producing top-quark pairs at its initial energy stage. Electroweak couplings to third-generation fermions such as the top are particularly relevant in many BSM scenarios. Operating at the top-quark pair-production threshold of around 350 GeV would allow precise measurements of the top-quark mass and width, while cross-section and asymmetry measurements would probe the top-quark interactions. However, comprehensive exploration of top-quark couplings requires several energy stages, and spacing them widely as the CLIC baseline envisages enhances energy-dependent effects.

Electron-beam longitudinal polarisation at ±80% plays an important role in the precision programme at CLIC. Generally the polarisation significantly enhances WW-fusion processes, for example single- and double-Higgs production at higher energies; we make use of this in the baseline scenario by taking more data with left-handed electrons at the later stages. In the interpretation of Standard Model measurements, polarisation also helps to disentangle different contributions. The coupling of the top quark to the Z boson and the photon is one such example.

Indirect searches

Many observables such as cross-sections and differential distributions for WW and two-fermion production, in addition to measurements from the Higgs-boson and top-quark sectors, can be used to constrain potential new physics in the framework of effective field theory. Here, the Standard Model Lagrangian is supplemented by interaction operators of higher dimension that describe the effects of new particles. These particles could be too heavy to be produced at CLIC, but can still be probed through the effects they induce, indirectly, on CLIC observables.

For many new-physics operators, CLIC is projected to bring an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity over the HL-LHC. The 380 GeV stage already significantly enhances our knowledge of operators relating to modifications of the Higgs couplings, as well as electroweak observables such as triple-gauge couplings. The higher-energy stages are then particularly effective in probing operators that induce corrections to Standard Model predictions which grow with energy. Sensitivity to these operators allows a wide range of new-physics scenarios to be probed without reference to particular models. Comparisons performed for the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics show, for example, that sensitivities derived in this way to four-fermion, or two-fermion two-boson contact interactions rise very steeply with the centre-of-mass energy of a lepton collider, allowing CLIC to probe scales up to 100 TeV and beyond.

Precision measurements of Standard Model processes can also be interpreted in the context of particular BSM models, such as the broad classes of composite Higgs and top, or extra-dimension models. At CLIC this represents strong new-physics reach. For example, a 3 TeV CLIC has sensitivity to Higgs compositeness up to a scale of around 18 TeV for all values of the compositeness sector coupling strength (see “Sensitivity” figure, left), and can reach beyond 40 TeV in particularly favourable scenarios; in all cases well beyond what the HL-LHC can exclude. At high masses, a multi-TeV lepton collider such as CLIC also provides the best possible sensitivity to search for new vector bosons such as the Y-universal Z′, which has couplings to quarks and leptons that are comparable (see figure, right).

As a further example, the very high energy of CLIC, and therefore the high propagator virtuality in two-fermion production, means that high-precision differential cross-sections could reveal deviations from Standard Model predictions owing to the presence of new particles in loops. This would allow discovery or exclusion of new states, for example dark-matter candidates, with a variety of possible quantum numbers and masses in the range of several TeV.

Direct searches

Direct searches for new physics at CLIC benefit from the relatively clean collision environment and from triggerless detector readout, both of which allow searches for elusive signatures that are difficult at a hadron collider. Mono-photon final states are an example of such a signature. In simplified dark-matter models containing a dark-matter particle and a mediator, dark-matter particles can be pair-produced in association with a photon, which is observed in the detector. In the case of a scalar mediator, lepton colliders are particularly sensitive and CLIC’s reach for the mediator can exceed its centre-of-mass energy significantly. In the case where the couplings to electrons and quarks are different, e⁺e^– and proton colliders provide complementary sensitivities.

Lepton colliders can in general explore much closer to kinematic limits than hadron colliders, and this was recently verified in several examples of pair production, including simplified supersymmetric models and doubly charged Higgs production. Supersymmetric models where the higgsino multiplet is decoupled from all other supersymmetric states can lead to charginos decaying to slightly lighter neutralinos and leaving a “disappearing track stub” signature in the detector. CLIC at 3 TeV would be sensitive to such a higgsino to masses beyond 1.1 TeV, which is what would be required for the higgsino to account for the dark-matter relic mass density. 

All the above approaches can be combined to illuminate the electroweak phase transition in the early universe. Models of electroweak baryogenesis can contain new scalar particles to facilitate a strong first-order phase transition, during which the electroweak symmetry is broken. Such scalar singlet extensions of the Higgs sector can be searched for directly; and indirectly from a universal scaling of all Higgs couplings.

Having both the precision capacity of a lepton collider and also the high-energy reach of multi-TeV collisions, CLIC has strong potential beyond a Higgs factory as a discovery machine. Over the next five years CERN will maintain a level of R&D in key CLIC technologies, which are also being adapted for medical applications, such that the project could be realised in a timely way after the HL-LHC if the international community decides to take this route.

The post CLIC: beyond a Higgs factory appeared first on CERN Courier.

The European strategy for particle physics (ESPP), updated by the CERN Council in June 2020, lays the foundations for a bright future for accelerator-based particle physics. Its 20 recommendations – covering the components of a compelling scientific programme for the short, medium and long terms, as well as the societal and environmental impact of the field, public engagement and support for early-career scientists – set out an ambitious but prudent approach to realise the post-LHC future in Europe within the worldwide context.

Full exploitation of the LHC and its high-luminosity upgrade is a major priority, both in terms of its physics potential and its role as a springboard to a future energy-frontier machine. The ESPP identified an electron–positron Higgs factory as the highest priority next collider. It also recommended that Europe, together with its international partners, investigate the technical and financial feasibility of a future hadron collider at CERN with a centre-of-mass energy of at least 100 TeV, with an electron–positron Higgs and electroweak factory as a possible first stage. Reinforced R&D on a range of accelerator technologies is another ESPP priority, as is continued support for a diverse scientific programme.

Implementation starts now

It is CERN’s role, in strong collaboration with other laboratories and institutions in Europe and beyond, to help translate the visionary scientific objectives of the ESPP update into reality. CERN’s recently approved medium-term plan (MTP), which covers the period 2021–2025, provides a first implementation of the ESPP vision.

Starting this year, CERN will deploy efforts on the feasibility study for a Future Circular Collider (FCC) as recommended by the ESPP update. One of the first goals is to verify that there are no showstoppers to building a 100 km tunnel in the Geneva region, and to gather pledges for the necessary funds to build it. The estimated FCC cost cannot be met only from CERN’s budget, and special contributions from non-Member States as well as new funding mechanisms will be required. Concerning the enabling technologies, the first priority is to demonstrate that the superconducting high-field magnets needed for 100 TeV (or more) proton–proton collisions in a 100 km tunnel can be made available on the mid-century time scale. To this end CERN is implementing a reinforced magnet R&D programme in partnership with industry and other institutions in Europe and beyond. Fresh resources will be used to explore low- and high-temperature superconducting materials, to develop magnet models towards industrialisation and cost reduction, and to build the needed test infrastructure. These studies will also have vast applications outside the field. Minimising the environmental impact of the tunnel, the colliders and detectors will be another major focus, as well as maximising the benefits to society from the transfer of FCC-related technologies.

The 2020 MTP includes resources to continue R&D on key technologies for the Compact Linear Collider and for the establishment of an international design study for a muon collider. Further advanced accelerator technologies will be pursued, as well as detector R&D and a new initiative on quantum technologies.

Continued progress requires a courageous, global experimental venture involving all the tools at our disposal

Scientific diversity is an important pillar of CERN’s programme and will continue to be supported. Resources for the CERN-hosted Physics Beyond Colliders study have been increased in the 2020 MTP and developments for long-baseline neutrino experiments in the US and Japan will continue at an intense pace via the CERN Neutrino Platform.

Immense impact

The discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle with unprecedented characteristics, has contributed to turning the focus of particle physics towards deep structural questions. Furthermore, many of the open questions in the microscopic world are increasingly intertwined with the universe at large. Continued progress on this rich and ambitious path of fundamental exploration requires a courageous, global experimental venture involving all the tools at our disposal: high-energy colliders, low-energy precision tests, observational cosmology, cosmic rays, dark-matter searches, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and many more. High-energy colliders, in particular, will continue to be an indispensable and irreplaceable tool to scrutinise nature at the smallest scales. If the FCC can be realised, its impact will be immense, not only on CERN’s future, but also on humanity’s knowledge.

The post Implementing a vision for CERN’s future appeared first on CERN Courier.

The recently completed European strategy for particle physics (ESPP) outlines a coherent and fascinating vision for an effective and efficient exploration of the most fundamental laws of physics. Scientific recommendations for the field provide concrete guidance and priorities on future research facilities and efforts to expand our current knowledge. The depth with which we can address open mysteries about the universe depends heavily on our ability to innovate instrumentation and research infrastructures.

The ESPP calls upon the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) to develop a global detector R&D roadmap to support proposals at European and national levels. That roadmap will define the backbone of the detector R&D needed to implement the community’s vision for both the short and long term. At its plenary meeting in November, ECFA initiated a roadmap panel to develop and organise the process to realise the ESPP goals in a timely fashion. In addition to listing the targeted R&D projects required, the roadmap will also consider transformational, blue-sky R&D relevant to the ESPP.

Six technology-oriented task forces will capture each of the major components in detector instrumentation: gaseous and liquid detectors; solid-state detectors; photon detection and particle-identification; calorimetry; and quantum and emerging technologies. Along with three cross-cutting task forces devoted to electronics, integration and training, these efforts will proceed via in-depth consultation with the research community. An open symposium for each task force, due to be held in March or April 2021, will inform discussions that will eventually culminate in a roadmap document in the summer. To identify synergies and opportunities with adjacent research fields, an advisory panel – comprising representatives from the nuclear and astrophysics fields, the photon- and neutron-physics communities, as well as those working in fusion and space research – will also be established.

The roadmap will also consider transformational, blue-sky R&D relevant to the ESPP

In parallel, with a view to stepping up accelerator R&D, the European Laboratory Directors Group is developing an accelerator R&D roadmap as a work-plan for this decade. Technologies under consideration include high-field magnets, high-temperature superconductors, plasma-wakefield acceleration and other high-gradient accelerating structures, bright muon beams, and energy-recovery linacs. The roadmap, to be completed on a similar timeline as that for detectors, will set the course for R&D and technology demonstrators to enable future facilities that support the scientific objectives of the ESPP.

Gathering for a Higgs factory

The global ambition for the next-generation accelerator beyond the HL-LHC is an electron–positron Higgs factory, which can include an electroweak and top-quark factory in its programme. Pending the outcome of the technical and financial feasibility study for a future FCC-like hadron collider at CERN, the community has at this stage not concluded on the type of Higgs factory that is to emerge with priority. The International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan and the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) at CERN are listed, with the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) as a possible backup.

It goes without saying, and for ECFA within its mandate to explore, that the duplication of similar accelerators should be avoided and international cooperation for creating these facilities should be encouraged if it is essential and efficient for achieving the ESPP goal. At this point, coordination of R&D activities is crucial to maximise scientific results and to make the most efficient use of resources.

Recognising the need for the experimental and theoretical communities involved in physics studies, experiment designs and detector technologies at future Higgs factories to gather, ECFA supports a series of workshops from 2021 to share challenges and expertise, and to respond coherently to this ESPP priority. An international advisory committee will soon be formed to further identify synergies both in detector R&D and physics-analysis methods to make efforts applicable or transferable across Higgs factories. Concrete collaborative research programmes are to emerge to pursue these synergies. With the strategy discussion behind us, we now need to focus on getting things done together.

The post Together towards new facilities appeared first on CERN Courier.

The recent update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPP) offered a unique opportunity for early-career researchers (ECRs) to shape the future of our field. Mandated by the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) to provide input to the ESPP process, a diverse group of about 180 ECRs were nominated to debate topics including the physics prospects at future colliders and the associated implications for their careers. A steering board comprising around 25 ECRs organised working groups devoted to topics including detector and accelerator physics, and key areas of high-energy physics research. Furthermore, working groups were dedicated to the environment and sustainability, and to human and social factors – aspects that have been overlooked in previous ESPP exercises. A debate took place in November 2019 and a survey was launched to obtain a quantitative understanding of the views raised.

The feedback from these activities was combined into a report reflecting the opinions of almost 120 signed authors. The survey suggests that more than half of the respondents are postdocs, around two-fifths PhD students and approximately a tenth staff members. Moreover, roughly one-third were female and two-thirds male. Several areas, such as which collider should follow the LHC and environmental and sustainability considerations, were highlighted by the participating ECRs. Among the many topics discussed, we highlight here a handful of aspects that we feel are key to the future of our field.

Building a sustainable future

A widespread concern is that the attractiveness of our field is at risk, and that dedicated actions need to be taken to safeguard its future. Certain areas of work are vital to the field, but are undervalued, resulting in shortages of key skills. Due to significant job insecurity many ECRs struggle to maintain a healthy work–life balance. Moreover, the lack of attractive career paths in science, compared to the flexible working hours and family-friendly policies offered by many companies these days, potentially compromises the ability of our field to attract and retain the brightest minds in the short- and long-term future. With the funding for the proposed Future Circular Collider (a key pillar of the ESPP recommendations) not yet clear, and despite it receiving the largest support among future-collider scenarios in CERN’s latest medium-term financial plan, an additional risk arises for ECRs to back the wrong horse.

The future of the field will depend on the success of reaching a diverse community

It is imperative to holistically include social and human factors when planning for a sustainable future of our field. Therefore, we strongly recommend that long-term project evaluations and strategy updates assess and include the impact of their implementation on the situation of young academics. Specifically, equal recognition and career paths for domains such as computing and detector development have to be established to maintain expertise in the field.

Next-generation colliders beyond the LHC will need to overcome major technical challenges in detector physics, software and computing to meet their ambitious physics goals. Our survey and debate showed that young researchers are concerned about a shortage of experts in these domains, where very few staff positions and even less professorships are open for particle physicists specialised in detector development and software and computing. In particular in the light of ever increasing project time scales, a sizable fraction of funding for non-permanent positions must be converted to funding for permanent positions in order to establish a sustainable ratio between fixed-term postdocs and staff scientists.

The possibility for a healthy work–life balance and the reconciliation of family and a scientific career is a must: currently, most of the ECRs consulted think that having children could damage their future and that moving between countries is generally a requirement to pursue a career in particle physics. These might constitute two reasons why only 20% of the polled ECRs have children. Put in a broader perspective, the future of the field will depend on the success of reaching a diverse community, with viable career paths for a wide spectrum of schemes of life. In order to reach this diverse community, it is not enough to simply offer more day-care places to parents. Similarly, the #BlackInTheIvory movement in 2020 shone a spotlight on the significant barriers faced by the Black community in academia – an issue also shared by many other minority groups. Discrimination in academia has to be counteracted systematically, including the filling of positions or grant-approval processes, where societal and diversity aspects must be taken into account with high priority.

The environmental sustainability of future projects is a clear concern for young researchers, and particle-physics institutes should use their prominent position in the public eye to set an example to other fields and society at large. The energy efficiency of equipment and the power consumption of future collider scenarios are considered only partially in the ESPP update, and we support the idea of preparing a more comprehensive analysis that includes the environmental impact of the construction as well as the disposal of large infrastructures. There should be further discussion of nuclear versus renewable energy usage and a concrete plan on how to achieve a higher renewable energy fraction. The ECRs were also of the view that much travel within our field is unnecessary, and that ways to reduce this should be brought to the fore. Since the survey was conducted, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, various conferences have already moved online, proving that progress can be made on this front.

Collider preference

In the context of the still-open questions in particle physics and potential challenges of future research programmes, the ECRs find dark matter, electroweak symmetry breaking and neutrino physics to be the three most important topics of our field. They also underline the importance of a European collider project soon after the completion of the HL-LHC. Postponing the choice of the next collider project at CERN to the 2030s, for example, would potentially negatively impact the future of the field: there could be fewer permanent jobs in detector physics, computing and software if preparations for future experiments cannot begin after the current upgrades. Additionally, it could be difficult to attract new, young bright minds into the field if there is a gap in data-taking after the LHC. While physics topics were already discussed in great detail during the broader ESPP process, many ECRs stated their discomfort about the way the next-generation scenarios were compared, especially by how the different states of maturity of the projects were not sufficiently taken into account.

About 90% of ECRs believe that the next collider should be an electron–positron machine

About 90% of ECRs believe that the next collider should be an electron–positron machine, concurring with the ESPP recommendations, although there is not a strong preference if this machine is linear or circular. While there was equal preference for CLIC and FCC-ee as the next-generation collider, a clear preference was expressed for the full FCC programme over the full CLIC programme. Given the diverse interest in future collider scenarios, and keeping in mind the unclear situation of the ILC, we strongly believe that a robust and diverse R&D programme on both accelerators and detectors must be a high priority for the future of our field.

In conclusion, both the debate and the report were widely viewed as a success, with extremely positive feedback from ECFA and the ECRs. Young researchers were able to share their views and concerns for the future of the field, while familiarising themselves with and influencing the outcome of the ESPP. ECFA has now established a permanent panel of ECRs, which is a major milestone to make such discussions among early-career researchers more regular and effective in the future.

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Tom Kammermeier is an industrial physicist in a hurry. Hardly surprising given that the commercial roadmap he’s following points to a multibillion-dollar opportunity for vacuum equipment makers – an opportunity that, in turn, promises to transform ground-based mass-transportation of people and goods over the coming decades using energy-efficient hyperloop technologies.

Put simply: if technology hype translates into commercial reality, today’s proof-of-principle hyperloop test facilities will, ultimately, scale up to enable the transit of passenger and freight capsules from A to B through steel tubes (roughly 4 m in diameter) maintained at partial vacuum (typically less than 1 mbar). The end-game: journeys of several hundred kilometres at speeds in excess of 1000 km/h – Los Angeles to San Francisco, Mumbai to Chennai, Montreal to Toronto are just some of the high-demand routes on the drawing board – with maglev technologies teed up to provide the required propulsion, acceleration and deceleration along the way.

The end-game for hyperloop is journeys of several hundred kilometres at speeds in excess of 1000 km/h

While the journey to commercial hyperloop deployment is only just beginning, a thriving and diverse innovation ecosystem is already hard at work, with heavily financed technology start-ups and dozens of academic groups and established manufacturers coalescing into a nascent hyperloop supply chain. As Leybold’s global application development manager (industrial vacuum), Kammermeier is front-and-centre in the German manufacturer’s efforts to establish itself as the “go-to” vacuum technology partner for the hyperloop development community. Here he talks to CERN Courier about the trade-offs, challenges and near-term benefits of playing the long game on technology strategy.

How does your application development team support technical and commercial outcomes within Leybold?

I coordinate a team of 20 application specialists worldwide who handle what we call third-level product support – essentially any unique or non-standard technical requests that get referred to us by our regional sales and field engineering colleagues. In each case, we’ll work closely with Leybold’s product engineering and R&D teams to come up with solutions, ensuring that any new learning and insights are shared across the organisation through a structured programme of knowledge dissemination – online webinars, tutorial videos and the like. Our remit also includes the investigation and development of new vacuum applications. This work is informed by emerging customer needs in markets where Leybold already has an established presence – for example, surface coatings, semiconductors, solar technology and food and drink – as well as evaluation of longer-range commercial applications like hyperloop transportation.

What’s the back-story to Leybold’s engagement with the hyperloop community?

The hyperloop opportunity was initially championed at Leybold back in 2015 by my colleague Carl Brockmeyer, who at the time was head of new business development (and is now president of Leybold’s scientific vacuum division). While Carl articulated the long-term commercial vision, my team focused on initial simulations and high-level requirements-gathering for the enabling vacuum technologies. At the outset, we worked closely with pioneering development companies such as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) in the US and Virgin Hyperloop (US), while subsequent collaborations include TransPod (Canada) and the EuroTube Foundation (Switzerland).

I’m a physicist by training and, from the off, it was evident to me that there are no insurmountable technical barriers to hyperloop transportation. As such, it seems clear that the large-scale deployment of hyperloop systems will ultimately be driven by policy-makers and by commercial factors such as capital/operational costs versus return on investment.

Hyperloop represents a long-term commercial opportunity for Leybold. Are there any near-term upsides?

The calculus is simple: in the absence of volume orders, we invest time and resources in early-stage R&D collaborations with leading hyperloop companies in return for the publicity, benefits of association and the acquisition of technical and commercial domain knowledge. The work is bursty and comes in waves – essentially an R&D programme and reciprocal learning exercise at this stage. More widely, we’re seeing some payback in our established market sectors, where the hyperloop activity has opened doors with new customers who might not know Leybold so well. What we see is that hyperloop is a great topic for our sales teams to talk about – it’s very relatable.

What do these hyperloop collaborations typically involve?

Our approach is project-led, bringing together ad hoc teams of engineering, simulation and application specialists to address a range of customer requirements. Most of our collaborations to date have kicked off with simulation studies – a relatively cheap way to test the water and build a fundamental understanding of hyperloop vacuum systems and their core technologies.

It wasn’t long, however, before our systems group began supplying one-off hardware orders, including a large-scale vacuum pumping unit for Virgin Hyperloop’s DevLoop test facility in the Nevada desert. While this is a custom installation, it’s
based on existing commercial pumping units that we sell into steel degassing applications, though with several modifications to the programmable controller.

There’s been lots of hype about hyperloop over the last five years. How do you see the market trajectory right now?

My take is that hyperloop R&D and commercialisation activities are gathering pace, as evidenced by the first successful demonstration of human travel in a hyperloop pod at Virgin Hyperloop’s DevLoop test site back in October. This represents a significant breakthrough after more than 400 previously unoccupied test-runs at DevLoop. Elsewhere, we recently sold another big pumping system into HTT for its work-in-progress test-track near Toulouse, France. We’re frequently in contact with them regarding simulation or engineering considerations, with safety-critical aspects very much to the fore as HTT also plans to transport human passengers in the near future. 

What sort of technical challenges is Leybold being asked to address by hyperloop developers?

Pumping down a hyperloop vacuum tube over hundreds of kilometres is a non-trivial engineering challenge. From a vacuum perspective, you need to think carefully about the spacing of your pumping stations along the tube; optimisation of each pumping system; what happens in case of tube failures or accidents; and how the distributed pumping network can provide back-up pumping capacity and compensation (see “Hyperloop: rewriting the rules of large-scale vacuum”).

Hyperloop: rewriting the rules of large-scale vacuum

“Pumping down a hyperloop vacuum tube over hundreds of kilometres is a non-trivial engineering challenge,” notes Leybold’s Tom Kammermeier in our accompanying interview. Here he outlines some of the key design and engineering considerations for hyperloop vacuum systems.

Location, location, location

The aspect ratio (diameter/length) of a hyperloop system is enormous – 1/1000,000 is easily within reach – and imposes inescapable design constraints in terms of vacuum pumping capability. A single-site pumping station, while minimising capital outlay, would result in some odd pressure distributions and gradients along the hyperloop track. During pump-down, for example, the operator might register the target base pressure at one end of the pipe while the other end is still at atmospheric pressure. What’s needed instead is an intelligent distribution of pumping capacity along the track – crucial for compensation of any leaks and pump failures, and doubly so in terms of reducing capital/operational expenditure (as every additional pumping site means more outlay in terms of enclosures, power supply, water supply and associated infrastructure).

Smart strategies for leak management

A vacuum system can be defined along a number of coordinates, not least in terms of its pump-down requirements and target operating pressure (where the total pumping speed equals the inleak flow rate). The higher the permissible operating pressure, the lower the pumping speed, and the greater the aggregate energy savings over time. A large-scale hyperloop system will therefore require a smart pumping network to optimise the distribution of pumping speed dynamically versus local inleak flow conditions – a capability that, in turn, will yield significant (and recurring) operational savings. It’s also worth noting that an understanding of the pumping-speed distribution (essentially a granular map of pressure along the tube) will enable efficient leak detection without recourse to a conventional and time-consuming leak search.

Gearing up, pumping down

Peak energy consumption for any hyperloop vacuum system will occur during end-to-end pump-down along the track. With this in mind, Leybold is working to optimise its multistage Roots pumping systems for the very long pump-downs (of the order of 12–24 hours) that will be required in large-scale hyperloop tubes. Roots pumps are an excellent option for high-volume flows at low pressures – i.e. the usual operating regime of hyperloop systems – but their efficient use for an extended pump-down from atmospheric pressure is problematic. Issues can include overheating due to gas compression; overload of the motor; or exceeding temperature limits due to low heat dissipation at low gas pressures. The answer is to employ variable-speed drives, which basically “know” the thermodynamics of each individual pump and enable optimised use. In this way, the programmable logic controller of the pumping system is able to orchestrate the individual pumps to yield the highest possible pumping speed during a pump-down – equating to some millions of m³/h for a 1000 km track.

What lessons have you learned from Leybold’s engagement with the hyperloop community?

A lot of the learning here has been around the simulation of large-scale distributed vacuum systems – because no-one has ever built a vacuum system on the scale necessary to support commercial hyperloop transportation. We’ve had plenty of discussions to date regarding our models and whether they’re still valid over distances of several hundred kilometres, while our technology roadmap focuses on what an optimised pumping system will look like for future “live” hyperloop deployments. To date, because the market is still not mature enough, we’ve created smart hyperloop pumping systems by adapting our existing product lines – specifically, units that we’ve developed for steel-industry applications.

Is cost a big driver of your hyperloop R&D priorities?

Always. Cost-of-ownership calculations feature prominently in discussions with all our hyperloop customers. We’ve given a lot of input, for example, on required pumping speed versus leak flow rate versus operating pressure. Fundamental studies like this help our partners to evaluate whether it’s worth focusing more of their investments on a leak-tight pipe or on the vacuum pumping systems. Another priority for developers is energy consumption, so our system-level simulations provide vital insights for the accurate calculation of pump-down time and vacuum performance versus energy budget. In this context, it’s worth noting that Leybold’s DRYVAC Energy Saver – which reduces the energy consumption of our dry compressing screw pumps and systems by as much as 50% – is emerging as a potential game-changer for the large-scale pumping systems that will underpin hyperloop installations.

Are vacuum equipment makers ready if hyperloop’s technology push translates into market pull?

If hyperloop transportation really takes off, it will represent a massive growth market for the vacuum industry. Even a mid-size hyperloop project will require significant focus and scale-up from suppliers like Leybold. The biggest challenge will be developing, then bringing to market, a new generation of application-specific pumping systems – at the required scale and the right price-points.

The post Hyperloop: think big, win big appeared first on CERN Courier.

Neutron science 2.0 is evolving from concept to reality as construction progresses on the European Spallation Source (ESS), a €1.84 billion accelerator-driven neutron source in Lund, Sweden. ESS will deliver first science in 2023 and will, when in full operation, be the world’s most powerful neutron research facility – between 20 and 100 times brighter than the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, and up to five times more powerful than the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, US.

This industrial-scale endeavour represents an amalgam of the most powerful linear proton accelerator ever built; a two-tonne, rotating tungsten target wheel (which produces neutrons via the spallation process); a reference set of 22 state-of-the-art neutron instruments for user experiments (of which 15 are under construction); and a high-performance data management and software development centre (located in Copenhagen). Here, Marcelo Juni Ferreira, vacuum group leader at ESS, tells CERN Courier how vacuum technologies are equally fundamental to the ESS’s scientific programme.

What does your role as ESS vacuum group leader involve?

I head up a 12-strong multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, designers and technicians who manage the international network of stakeholders developing the vacuum infrastructure for the ESS. Many of our partners, for example, make “in-kind” contributions of equipment and personnel rather than direct cash investments from the ESS member countries. As such, the ESS vacuum group is responsible for maintaining the facility’s integrated vacuum design approach across all of these contributions and all of our vacuum systems – the proton accelerator, target section, neutron beamlines and the full suite of neutron instruments that will ultimately support user experiments (see “ESS science, funding and partnership”).

In terms of specifics, what is meant by integrated vacuum design?

The integrated approach to vacuum design works on several levels. Cost reduction is a fundamental driver for ESS. The use of standard industry components where possible reduces maintenance and training requirements, minimises the need for expensive product inventory and, through a single framework agreement covering our in-kind partners and industry suppliers, we can work at scale to lower our overall procurement costs.

Another motivation is to help the vacuum group support the diverse vacuum requirements across the neutron instruments. The goal in each case is to ensure sustainable, economical and long-term operation of each instrument’s vacuum plant to minimise downtime and maximise research output. To make this possible, each of the neutron instruments (and associated beamlines) has its own “vacuum interface” document summarising key technical specifications and performance requirements – all ultimately aligned with the ESS Vacuum Handbook, the main reference source promoting the use of common vacuum equipment and standards across all aspects of the project.

So, standardisation is a big part of your vacuum strategy?

Absolutely. It’s all about a unified approach to our vacuum equipment as well as the procurement policy for any major hardware/software purchases for the accelerator, the target and the neutron instruments. Another upside of standardisation is that it simplifies the interfaces between the ESS vacuum infrastructure and the ESS safety and control plant – for example, the personnel protection, machine protection and target safety systems.

ESS recently took delivery of the Target Monolith Vessel (TMV), one of the facility’s main vacuum sections. What is the TMV and who built it?

The TMV represents the core building block of the ESS target station and was assembled by our in-kind partners at ESS Bilbao, Spain, working in collaboration with local manufacturers such as Cadinox and AVS. When ESS goes online in 2023, the TMV will enclose all of the target subsystems – the target wheel, moderator, reflector plugs and cryogenic cooling – in a vacuum atmosphere and, with the help of 6000 tonnes of stainless-steel shielding, also confine any activated materials and ionising radiation in case of a highly unlikely event, such as an earthquake or accident (see “ESS operational highlights”).

The monolith is an impressive and complex piece of precision engineering in its own right. The vessel requires exacting and repeatable alignment tolerances (±25 μm) for the target wheel, the moderator and reflector assemblies relative to the incident proton beam as well as the neutron-beam extraction system. Ahead of shipping, ESS Bilbao successfully completed the leak and vacuum tests on the TMV with satisfactory measurements of dew-point temperature, pressure rise and leak detection. The final pressure obtained was 1 × 10^-6 mbar with a leakage < 1 × 10^–8 mbar.l/s.

In terms of the TMV, how does your team design and build for maximum uptime?

The focus on project risk is a collective effort across all support functions and is framed by the ESS Strategic Installation and Test Strategy. With the TMV, for example, our design choices seek to minimise service interruptions to the scientific experiments at ESS. Put another way: each vacuum component in the TMV must offer the longest “time before failure” available on the market. In the case of the rough vacuum pumps, for example, this comes from Kashiyama Industries of Japan through ESS’s supplier Low2High Vacuum in Sweden – offering a dry vacuum pump that’s capable of 24/7, maintenance-free operation for up to three years. We’ve actually tested six of these units running at the laboratory for more than five years and none of them have required any intervention.

Smart choices like this add up and result in less maintenance, reduced manual handling of active materials (e.g. pump oil) and lower cost per unit life-cycle. Similar thinking informs our approach regarding the TMV’s vacuum “plumbing”. The use of aluminium gaskets and clamps, for example, streamlines installation (compared with CF flanges) and takes into account their low neutron activation in the case of maintenance removal and reassembly ahead of resumed operations (with hands-on manipulation being faster and simpler in each case).

What are the biggest operational challenges in terms of preparing the TMV for high-reliability vacuum performance?

The major effort on the vessel was – and still is – to qualify all in-vacuum parts and connections in terms of their leak rates, pressure-code requirements and surface finishing. This includes the water-cooled shielding blocks, hydrogen-cooled moderator/deflector, and the helium cooling unit for the rotating tungsten target wheel (which employs a ferrofluidic sealing system). It’s a huge collective effort in vacuum: there are more than 1000 flanges, around 20,000 bolts and 6000 tonnes of load in the fully configured TMV (which measures 6 m internal diameter and 11 m high).

There will be two possible modes of TMV operation, with the target residing in either high vacuum or helium at slightly below atmospheric pressure. What’s the rationale here?

One of the high-level design objectives for ESS states that the TMV should be built to last for 50 years of operation while satisfying all performance and safety criteria. Our initial simulations showed that “cleanliness” of the volume surrounding the collisions of the proton beam and the tungsten target wheel will be essential for slowing material degradation and therefore delivering against this objective. What’s more, the specification of a 5 MW proton beam means that secondary gamma and neutron radiation will be produced as a side-effect of the spallation process, further emphasising the need for a controlled environment as well as appropriate cooling of the shielding blocks to counter radiation-induced heating effects.

ESS operational highlights

Fundamental principles

• At the heart of the ESS is a linear accelerator that produces up to a 5 MW beam of 2 GeV protons, with the bulk of the acceleration generated by more than 100 superconducting radio-frequency (RF) cavities.

• These accelerated protons strike a rotating tungsten target wheel (2.6 m diameter) to produce a beam of neutrons via nuclear spallation – i.e. the impact on the tungsten nuclei effectively “spalls” off free neutrons.

• The target wheel rotates at 23.3 rpm and is cooled by a flowing helium gas system interfaced with a secondary water system.

• The spalled neutrons pass through water premoderators, a supercritical hydrogen moderator (cooled to about 17 K) and a beryllium-lined reflector – all of which are housed in a replaceable plug – to slow the neutrons to useful energies before distribution to a suite of 15 neutron-science instruments.

• The TMV has an Active Cells Facility to perform remote handling, disassembly and storage of components that are taken out of the monolith after reaching the end of their lifetime; steel shielding blocks prevent the escape of neutron/gamma ionising radiation.

TMV vacuum considerations

• The TMV is designed to accommodate various leak-rate loads, including: outgassing of vacuum components; air leaks into the vacuum vessel; water leaks from internal piping plus humidity and condensation present during operations and pump down; and helium leaks from the target wheel.

• Total gas in-leakage is critical and, in conjunction with the capacity of the turbomolecular pumping system, will determine not only the TMV operating pressure but also the refrigeration capacity for the cryo-condensing coil for pumping of potential water leaks.

• In vacuum mode, TMV pressures < 10^–4 mbar will be required for interfacing with the UHV environment of the proton accelerator (i.e. to keep gas flows into the accelerator section to an acceptable level).

• TMV vacuum components (including polymer seals) must be compatible with operation up to 35 °C in harsh gamma/neutron radiation environments.

Operationally, the optimal mode of operation will be high vacuum (< 10^–4 mbar), which will negate the need for a proton beam window between the proton accelerator and the target. This, in turn, will lower the annual operating costs. Other advantages include up to 1% improved neutronic performance, reduced beam scattering on the TMV components (and therefore less heat load and radiation damage), as well as a cleaner image for the beam imaging diagnostics.

Nevertheless, we will design and build a proton beam window, so that it is ready to install for operation under helium should an unanticipated issue arise with the TMV vacuum. Worth noting that in this “helium mode” a pump-and-purge capability is provided to ensure high helium purity (> 99.9%).

What lessons can other big-science facilities learn from your experiences with the ESS vacuum project?

With ESS we are entering new territory and the reliability of all our components – vacuum and otherwise – requires close collaboration as well as consistent communication on all levels with our equipment vendors and in-kind partners. Operationally, there’s no doubt that the TMV and the other ESS vacuum systems have benefited from our dedicated vacuum laboratory – one of the first in-kind hardware shipments back in 2015 – and our efforts to recruit and build a skilled team of specialists in those early days of the project. The laboratory includes test facilities for vacuum integration, gauge calibration and materials outgassing studies – capabilities that allow us to iterate and optimise field solutions in good time ahead of deployment. All of which ultimately helps us to minimise project risk, with technical decisions informed by real-world testing and not just prior experience.

The post A joined-up vision for vacuum appeared first on CERN Courier.

Absence, it seems, can sometimes manifest as a ubiquitous presence. High and ultrahigh vacuum – broadly the “nothingness” defined by the pressure range spanning 0.1 Pa (0.001 mbar) through 10^–9 Pa – is a case in point. HV/UHV environments are, after all, indispensable features of all manner of scientific endeavours – from particle accelerators and fusion research to electron microscopy and surface analysis – as well as a fixture of diverse multibillion-dollar industries, including semiconductors, computing, solar cells and optical coatings.

For context, the ionisation vacuum gauge is the only instrument able to make pressure measurements in the HV/UHV regime, exploiting the electron-induced ionisation of gas molecules within the gauge volume to generate a current that’s proportional to pressure (see figure 1 in “Better traceability for big-science vacuum measurements”). Integrated within a residual gas analyser (RGA), for example, these workhorse instruments effectively “police” HV/UHV systems at a granular level – ensuring safe and reliable operation of large-scale research facilities by monitoring vacuum quality (detecting impurities at the sub-ppm level), providing in situ leak detection and checking the integrity of vacuum seals and feed-throughs.

Setting the standard

Notwithstanding the ubiquity of HV/UHV systems, it’s clear that many scientific and industrial users are sure to gain – and significantly so – from an enhanced approach to pressure measurement in this rarefied domain. For their part, HV/UHV end-users, metrology experts and the International Standards Organisation (ISO) all acknowledge the need for improved functionality and greater standardisation across commercial ionisation gauges – in short, enhanced accuracy and reproducibility plus more uniform sensitivity versus a broad spectrum of gas species.

That wish-list, it turns out, is the remit of an ambitious pan-European vacuum metrology initiative – the catchily titled 16NRM05 Ion Gauge – within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation Research (EMPIR), which in turn is overseen by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET). As completion of its three-year R&D effort approaches, it seems the EMPIR 16NRM05 consortium is well on its way to finalising the design parameters for a new ISO standard for ionisation vacuum gauges that will combine improved accuracy (total relative uncertainty of 1%), robustness and long-term stability with known relative gas sensitivity factors.

It’s a design that cannot be found on the market…The results have been very encouraging

Another priority for EMPIR 16NRM05 is “design for manufacturability”, such that any specialist manufacturer will be able to produce standardised, next-generation ionisation gauges at scale. “We work closely with the gauge manufac­turers – VACOM of Germany and INFICON of Liechtenstein are consortium members – to make sure that any future standard will result in an instrument that is easy to use and economical to produce,” explains Karl Jousten, project lead and head of section for vacuum metrology at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany’s national measurement institute (NMI) in Berlin.

In fact, this engagement with industry underpins the project’s efforts to unify something of a fragmented supply chain. Put simply: manufacturers currently use a range of electrode materials, operating potentials and, most importantly, geometries to define their respective portfolios of ionisation gauges. “It’s no surprise,” Jousten adds, “that gauges from different vendors vary significantly in terms of their relative sensitivity factors. What’s more, all commercially available gauges lack long-term and transport stability – the instability being about 5% over one year.”

The EMPIR 16NRM05 project partners – five national measurement institutes (including PTB), VACOM and INFICON, along with vacuum experts from CERN and the University of Lisbon – have sought to bring order to this disorder by designing an ionisation gauge that is at once compatible with standardisation while exceeding current performance levels. When the project kicked off in summer 2017, for example, the partners set themselves the goal of improving the relative standard uncertainty due to long-term and transport instability from about 5% to below 1% for nitrogen gas. Another priority involves tightening the spread of sensitivity factors for different gas species (from about 10% to 2–3%) which, in turn, will help to streamline the calibration of relative gas sensitivity factors for individual gauges and multiple gas species.

It’s all about the detail

For starters, the consortium sought to identify and prioritise a set of high-level design parameters to underpin any future ISO-standardised gauge. A literature review of 260 relevant academic papers (from as far back as the 1950s) yielded some quick-wins and technical insights to inform subsequent simulations (using the commercial software packages OPERA and SIMION) of a v1.0 gauge design versus electrode positions, geometry and overall dimensions. Meanwhile, the partners carried out a statistical evaluation of the manufacturing tolerances for the electrode positions as well as a study of candidate electrode materials before settling on a “model gauge design” for further development.

“It’s a design that cannot be found on the market,” explains Jousten. “While somewhat risky, given that we can’t rely on prior experience with existing commercial products, the consortium took the view that the instabilities in current-generation gauges could not be overcome by modifying existing designs.” With a clear steer to rewrite the rulebook, VACOM and INFICON developed the technical drawings and produced 10 prototype gauges to be tested by NMI consortium members – a process that informed a further round of iteration and optimisation.

Better traceability for big-science vacuum measurements

The ionisation vacuum gauge is fundamental to the day-to-day work of the vacuum engineering teams at big-science laboratories like CERN. There’s commissioning of HV/UHV systems in the laboratory’s particle accelerators and detectors – monitoring of possible contamination or leaks between experimental runs of the LHC; pass/fail acceptance testing of vacuum components and subsystems prior to deployment; and a range of offline R&D activities, including low-temperature HV/UHV studies of advanced engineering materials.

“I see the primary use of the standardised gauge design in the testing of vacuum equipment and advanced materials prior to installation in the CERN accelerators,” explains Berthold Jenninger, a CERN vacuum specialist and the laboratory’s representative in the EMPIR 16NRM05 consortium. “The instrument will also provide an important reference to simplify the calibration of vacuum gauges and RGAs already deployed in our accelerator complex.”

The underlying issue is that commercial ionisation vacuum gauges are subject to significant drifts in their sensitivity during regular operation and handling – changes that are difficult to detect without access to an in-house calibration facility. Such facilities are the exception rather than the norm, however, given their significant overheads and the need for specialist metrology personnel to run them.

Owing to its stability, the EMPIR 16NRM05 gauge design promises to address this shortcoming by serving as a transfer reference for commercial ionisation vacuum gauges. “It will be possible to calibrate commercial vacuum gauges simply by comparing their readings with respect to that reference,” says Jenninger. “In this way, a research lab will get a clearer idea of the uncertainties of their gauges and, in turn, will be able to test and select the products best suited for their applications.”

The measurement of outgassing rate, pumping speed and vapour pressure at cryogenic temperatures will all benefit from the enhanced precision and traceability of the new-look gauge. Similarly, measurements of ionisation cross-section induced by electrons, ions or photons also rely on gas density measurement, so uncertainties in these properties will be reduced.

“Another bonus,” Jenninger notes, “will be enhanced traceability and comparability of vacuum measurements across different big-science facilities.”

“The results have been very encouraging,” explains Jousten. Specifically, the measured sensitivity of the latest model gauge design agrees with simulations, while the electron transmission through the ionisation region is close to 100%. As such, the electron path length is well-defined, and it can be expected that the relative sensitivities will relate exactly to the ionisation probabilities for different gases. For this reason, the fundamentals of the model gauge design are now largely fixed, with the only technical improvements in the works relating to robustness (for transport stability) and better electrical insulation between the gauge electrodes.

“Robustness appears fine, but is still under test at CMI [in the Czech Republic],” says Jousten. “Right now, the exchange of the emitting cathode – particularly its positioning – seems to depend a little too much on the skill of the technician, though this variability should be addressed by future industrial designs.”

Summarising progress as EMPIR 16NRM05 approaches the finishing line, Jousten points out that PTB and the consortium members originally set out to develop an ionisation vacuum gauge with good repeatability, reproducibility and transport robustness, so that relative sensitivity factors are consistent and can be accumulated over time for many gas species. “It seems that we have exceeded our target,” he explains, “since the sensitivity seems to be predictable for any gas for which the ionisation probability by electrons is known.” The variation of sensitivity for nitrogen between gauges appears to be < 5%, so that no calibration is necessary when the user is comfortable with that level of uncertainty. “At present,” Jousten concludes, “it looks like there is no need to calibrate the relative sensitivity factors, which represents enormous progress from the end-user perspective.”

Of course, much remains to be done. Jousten and his colleagues have already submitted a proposal to EURAMET for follow-on funding to develop the full ISO Technical Specification within the framework of ISO Technical Committee 112 (responsible for vacuum technology). In 2021, Covid permitting, the consortium members will then begin the hard graft of dissemination, presenting their new-look gauge design to manufacturers and end-users.

The post Vacuum metrology: made to measure appeared first on CERN Courier.

On 10 September the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) announced the structure and members of a new organisational team to prepare a “pre-laboratory” for an International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan. The ILC International Development Team (ILC-IDT), which consists of an executive board and three working groups governing the pre-lab setup, accelerator, and physics and detectors, aims to complete the preparatory phase for the pre-lab on a timescale of around 1.5 years.

We hope that the effort by our Japanese colleagues will result in a positive move by the Japanese government

Tatsuya Nakada

The aim of the pre-lab is to prepare the ILC project, should it be approved, for construction. It is based on a memoranda of understanding among participating national and regional laboratories, rather than intergovernmental agreements, explains chair of the ILC-IDT executive board Tatsuya Nakada of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. “The ILC-IDT is preparing a proposal for the organisational and operational framework of the pre-lab, which will have a central office in Japan hosted by the KEK laboratory,” says Nakada. “In parallel to our activities, we hope that the effort by our Japanese colleagues will result in a positive move by the Japanese government that is equally essential for establishing the pre-laboratory.”

In June the Linear Collider Board and Linear Collider Collaboration, which were established by ICFA in 2013 to promote the case for an electron–positron linear collider and its detectors as a worldwide collaborative project, reached the end of their terms in view of ICFA’s decision to set up the ILC-IDT.

The ILC has been on the table for almost two decades. Shortly after the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the Japanese high-energy physics community proposed to host the estimated $7 billion project, with Japan’s prime minister at that time, Yoshihiko Noda, stressing the importance of establishing an international framework. In 2018 ICFA backed the ILC as a Higgs factory operating at a centre-of-mass energy of 250 GeV – half the energy set out five years earlier in the ILC’s technical design report.

Higgs factory

An electron–positron Higgs factory is the highest-priority next collider, concluded the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPPU). The ESPPU recommended that Europe, together with its international partners, explore the feasibility of a future hadron collider at CERN at the energy frontier with an electron–positron Higgs factory as a possible first stage, noting that the timely realisation of the ILC in Japan “would be compatible with this strategy”. Two further proposals exist: the Compact Linear Collider at CERN and the Circular Electron–Positron Collider in China. While the ILC is the most technically ready Higgs-factory proposal (see p35), physicists are still awaiting a concrete decision about its future.

In March 2019 Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) expressed “continued interest” in the ILC, but announced that it had “not yet reached declaration” for hosting the project, arguing that it required further discussion in formal academic decision-making processes. In February KEK submitted an application for the ILC project to be considered in the MEXT 2020 roadmap for large-scale research projects. KEK withdrew the application the following month, announcing the move in September following the establishment of the ILC-IDT.

The ministry will keep an eye on discussions by the international research community

Koichi Hagiuda

“The ministry will keep an eye on discussions by the international research community while exchanging opinions with government authorities in the US and Europe,” said Koichi Hagiuda, Japanese minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, at a press conference on 11 September.

Steinar Stapnes of CERN, who is a member of the ILC-IDT executive board representing Europe, says that clear support from the Japanese government is needed for the ILC pre-lab. “The overall project size is much larger than the usual science projects being considered in these processes and it is difficult to see how it could be funded within the normal MEXT budget for large-scale science,” he says. “During the pre-lab phase, intergovernmental discussions and negotiation about the share of funding and responsibilities for the ILC construction need to take place and hopefully converge.”

The post Preparatory ‘pre-lab’ proposed for ILC appeared first on CERN Courier.

“It is our vision for CERN to be a role model for environmentally responsible research,” writes CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti in her introduction to a landmark environmental report released by the laboratory on 9 September. While CERN has a longstanding framework in place for environmental protection, and has documented its environmental impact for decades, this is its first public report. Two years in the making, and prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards, it details the status of CERN’s environmental footprint, along with objectives for the coming years.

Given the energy consumption of large particle accelerators, environmental impact is a topic of increasing importance for high-energy physics research worldwide. Among the recommendations of the 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics was a strong emphasis on the need to continue with efforts to minimise the environmental impact of accelerator facilities and maximise the energy efficiency of future projects.

When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is operating, CERN uses an average of 4300 TJ of electricity every year (30–50% less when not in operation) – enough energy to power just under half of the 200,000 homes in the canton of Geneva. “This is an inescapable fact, and one that CERN has always taken into consideration when designing new facilities,” states Frédérick Bordry, director for accelerators and technology.

Action plan

An energy-management panel established at CERN in 2015 has already led to actions, including free cooling and air-flow optimisation, better optimised LHC cryogenics, and the implementation of SPS magnetic cycles and stand-by modes, which significantly reduce energy consumption. The LHC delivered twice as much data per Joule in its second run (2015–2018) compared to its first (2010–2013), states the new report. With the High-Luminosity LHC due to deliver a tenfold increase in luminosity towards the end of the decade, CERN has made it a priority to limit the increase in energy consumption to 5% up to the end of 2024, with longer-term objectives to be set in future reports.

CERN procures its electricity mainly from France, whose production capacity is 87.9% carbon-free. In terms of direct greenhouse-gas emissions, the 192,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent emitted by CERN in 2018 is mainly due to fluorinated gases used in the LHC detectors for cooling, particle detection, air conditioning and electrical insulation. CERN has set a formal objective that, by 2024, direct greenhouse emissions will be reduced by 28% by replacing fluorinated gases – which were designed in the 1990s to be ozone-friendly – with carbon dioxide, which has a global-warming potential several thousand times lower.

CERN has set a formal objective that, by 2024, direct greenhouse emissions will be reduced
by 28%

Other areas of environmental significance studied in the report include radiation exposure, noise and waste. CERN commits to limit the emission of ionising radiation to no more than 0.3 mSv per year – less than a third of the annual dose limit for public exposure set by the European Council. The report states that the actual dose to any member of the public living in the immediate vicinity of CERN due to the laboratory’s activities is below 0.02 mSv per year, which is less than the exposure received from cosmic radiation during a transatlantic flight.

A 2018 measurement campaign showed that noise levels at CERN have not changed since the early 1990s, and are low by urban standards. Nevertheless, CERN has have invested 0.7 million CHF to reduce noise at its perimeters to below 70 dB during the day and 60 dB at night (which corresponds to the level of conversational speech). The organisation has also introduced approaches to preserve the local landscape and protect flora, including 15 species of orchid growing on CERN’s sites.

Waste not

Water consumption, mostly drawn from Lac Léman, has slowly decreased over the past 10 years, the report notes, and CERN commits to keeping the increase in water consumption below 5% to the end of 2024, despite a growing demand for cooling from upgraded facilities. CERN also eliminates 100% of its waste, states the report, and has a recycling rate of 56% for non-hazardous waste (which comprises 81% of the total). A major project under construction since last year will see waste hot water from the cooling system for LHC Point 8 (where the LHCb experiment is located) channeled to a heating network in the nearby town of Ferney-Voltaire from 2022, with LHC Points 2 and 5 being considered for similar projects.

CERN plans to release further environment reports every two years. “Today, more than ever, science’s flag-bearers need to demonstrate their relevance, their engagement, and their integration into society as a whole,” writes Gianotti. “This report underlines our strong commitment to environmental protection, both in terms of minimising our impact and applying CERN technologies for environmental protection.”

The post CERN publishes first environmental report appeared first on CERN Courier.

Since its launch in June 2017, the CERN Alumni Network has attracted more than 6300 members located in more than 100 countries. Predominantly a young network, with the majority of its members aged between 25 and 39, CERN alumni range between their early 20s up to those who are over 75. After a professional experience at CERN, be it as a user of the lab, as an associate, a student, a fellow or a staff member, our alumni venture into diverse careers in many different fields, such as computer software, information technology and services, mechanical or industrial engineering, electric/electronic manufacturing, financial services and management consulting.

The network was established to enable our alumni to maintain an institutional link with the organisation, as well as to demonstrate the positive impact of a professional CERN experience on society. Though most CERN alumni remain in high-energy physics research or closely related fields, those who wish to use their skills elsewhere, especially early-career members, will find active support in the Alumni Network.

The alumni.cern platform (also available as an app on Android and iOS) provides members with access to an exclusive and powerful network that can be leveraged as required, whether at the start of a career or later when the desire to give back to CERN is there. The platform facilitates different groups, including regional groups, interest groups (such as entrepreneurship and finance) and groups for managing the alumni of the CERN scientific collaborations. Events and selected news articles are also posted on the alumni.cern platform, and members can also benefit from messaging.

A key appeal of the platform is its jobs board, where both alumni and companies can post job opportunities free of charge. Since its launch more than 500 opportunities have been posted with 260 applications submitted directly via the platform, mostly in fields such as engineering, software engineering and data science. Several CERN alumni have found their next position thanks to the network, either directly via job postings or through networking events.

A notable success has been a series of “Moving out of Academia” networking events that showcase sectors into which CERN alumni migrate. Over the course of one afternoon, around half a dozen alumni are invited to share their experiences in a specific sector. Events devoted to finance, industrial engineering, big data, entrepreneurship and, most recently, medical technologies, have proved a great success. The alumni provide candid and pragmatic advice about working within a specific field, how to market oneself and discuss the additional skills that are advisable to enter a certain sector. These events attract more than 100 in-person participants and many more via webcast.

The Office for Alumni Relations has recently launched its first global CERN alumni survey to understand the community better and identify problems it can help to solve. The survey results will soon be shared with registered members, helping us to continue to build a vibrant and supportive network for the future.

Rachel Bray Office for CERN Alumni Relations.

Markus Pflitsch
Founder and CEO of Terra Quantum

Markus joined CERN as a summer student in 1996, working on the OPAL experiment at LEP. Eager to tackle other professional challenges, upon graduating he accepted an internship with the Boston Consulting Group. “On my first day I found myself surrounded by Harvard MBAs in sleek suits, wondering what we would have in common,” he says. “I think there are two very clear reasons why companies are so keen to employ people from CERN. Number one, you develop extremely strong and structured analytical skills, and this is coupled with the second reason: a CERN experience provides you with a deep passion to perform.” In 2001 Markus returned to Germany as director of corporate development with Deutsche Bank. He enjoyed a meteoric rise in the world of finance, moving to UniCredit/HypoVereinsbank as managing director in 2005, and then to Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), first as head of corporate development and subsequently CEO of LBBW Immobilien GmbH. The global financial crisis in 2009 led him to pursue a more entrepreneurial role, and he moved into marketing, becoming CFO and managing director of Avantgarde. After six successful years he sought some major life changes, taking three months off and discovering a passion for hiking. In 2018 Markus founded Terra Quantum to develop quantum computing. He describes it as his proudest career achievement to date, taking him back to his lifelong interest in quantum physics. “CERN gave me so much!” he says. “Recently I brought 70 entrepreneurs to CERN and they were blown away by their visit. Not only were they impressed that CERN is seeking answers to the most profound and relevant questions, but the sheer scale of project management of such a gigantic endeavour left them in complete awe.”

Maria Carmen Morodo Testa
Launch range programmatic support officer at ESA

After completing her studies as a telecommunications engineer at the Polytechnic University in Barcelona, Carmen joined a multinational company in the agro-food sector specialising in automation and control systems, whilst studying for an MBA. On the university walls she spotted an advert for a staff position at CERN, which corresponded almost word for word to the position she held at the time, but in a completely different sector: CERN’s cooling and ventilation group. “So, why not?” she thought. “At CERN, I discovered the importance of being open to different paths and different ways of thinking.” In 2004, five years in to her position and with a “reasonable prospect” but no confirmation of a permanent contract, she began to think about the future. “I decided that it would be either CERN or a sister international organisation that would also give me the opportunity to take ownership of my work and shape it.” She sent a single application for an open position in the launcher department of the European Space Agency (ESA), and was successful. “I didn’t know of course if I was making a good choice and I was afraid of closing doors. But, my interest was already piqued by the launchers!” Carmen joined ESA at an exciting time, when Ariane 5 was preparing for flight. She trained on the job, largely thanks to a “work-meeting” technique that allows small teams to be fast and share knowledge and experience effectively on a specific objective, and is currently working on the Ariane 6 design project. “I do not hesitate to change positions at ESA, taking into account my technical interests, without giving too much importance to opportunities for hierarchical promotion.”

Alessandro Pasta
General manager at Diagramma

In 1987, then 18 year-old Alessandro was selected to take part in a physics school hosted by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. His mentor Eilam Gross sparked a passion for particle physics, and Alessandro arrived at CERN in 1991 as a summer student working on micro strip gas avalanche chambers for a detector to be installed in the DELPHI experiment at LEP. His contract was extended to enable him to complete his work, and he returned to CERN in 1992 to work on DELPHI. After three glorious years, his Swiss scholarship was replaced by an Italian one with a much lower salary. A desire to buy a house and start a family forced him to consider other avenues, drawing on his hobby of computer programming. “I had a number of ongoing consultancies with external companies so I switched my hobby for my job and physics became my hobby!” Alessandro returned to Italy in 1995 as a freelance software developer designing antennas. In 1999 he joined Milan software company Diagramma, and transitioned from telecommunications to car insurance – where he was tasked with developing tools to enable customers to enter their data online and obtain the best tariff. “Nowadays, this is quite commonplace, but at the time such software did not exist,” he says. Alessandro is now general manager of Diagramma, which is developing AI algorithms to increase the efficiency of its products. He values his particle-physics experience more than ever: “It wasn’t enough to know the physics and think logically, I also had to think differently, laterally one could say. I learnt how to solve problems using an innovative approach. Having worked at CERN, I know how multi-talented these people are and I am very keen to employ such talent in my company.”

Stephen Turner
Electrical/electronic engineer at STFC

Following a Master’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Plymouth in the UK, Stephen started working for the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), where he sought a three-month placement as part of their graduate scheme. Having contacted an STFC scientist with CERN links “who knew someone, who also knew someone” at CERN – a scientist supporting the Beamline for Schools competition – Stephen secured his placement in the autumn of 2017. As a member of the support-scientists team, his role was to help characterise the detectors and prepare the experimental area for the students, enabling him to combine his passion for education and outreach with technical experience, where he would gain precious knowledge that could be put to use in his current role at the ISIS neutron and muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. “My experience at CERN provided me with the bigger picture of how such user facilities are run,” he says. Whilst at Plymouth, Stephen was also involved in Engineers Without Borders UK, which works with non-governmental organisations in developing countries on projects including water sanitation and hygiene, building techniques and clean energy. Although he now has a full time job, Stephen is still an active volunteer, and his interests in public engagement and international development brought him back to CERN in 2018 to share knowledge on target manufacturing and testing with the CERN mechanical and materials engineering group. “Lots of variety, public engagement and outreach were part of the job’s remit and it has kept its promises, he says. “There are not many companies that can offer this!”

John Murray
Private investor and synthetic-biology consultant

John arrived at CERN in 1985 as a PhD student on the L3 experiment at LEP. Every day was a new experience, he says. “My absolute favourite thing was spending time with the summer students, out on the patio of Restaurant 1 in the evenings, just chatting. Everyone was so curious and knowledgeable.” Despite the fulfilment of his experience, he decided to pursue a career in finance, reckoning it was a game he could “win”. He found his first job on Wall Street thanks to a book he had read about option pricing, realising that the equations were similar to those of quantum field theory, only easier. His employer, First Boston, soon gave him responsibility for investing the firm’s capital, and by the late 1990s he was a hedge-fund manager at Goldman Sachs. Realising that the investment world was about to go digital, he started his own company, building computer models that could predict market inefficiencies and designing trading strategies. “Finance textbooks said these sorts of things were impossible, but they were all written before the markets went digital,” he says. In recent years, John has turned his attention to synthetic biology, where he invests in and advises start-up companies. Biology is following a similar path to finance 30 years ago, he says, and the pace of progress is going to accelerate as the field becomes more quantitative. In 2018 John offered to co-found the New York group of the CERN Alumni Network. “I loved the time I spent at CERN and the energy of its people. In setting up the New York group, I want to recreate that atmosphere. I also hope to help young alumni at the beginning of their careers. I hope we can help our younger members avoid making the same mistakes we did!”

Anne Richards
CEO at a private finance services company

Anne came to CERN as a summer student in 1984 and fell in love with the international environment, leading her to apply for a fellowship where she worked on software and electronics for LEP. At the end of the fellowship, she was faced with a choice. “I was surrounded by these awesomely brilliant, completely focused physicists who were willing to dedicate their lives to fundamental research. And much as I loved to be amongst them and was proud of my equipment being installed in the accelerator, I didn’t feel I had the same passion they did. I was still seeking something else.” She returned to the UK and joined a technology consultancy firm in Cambridge where she had the opportunity to run a variety of different small-scale projects. “I really enjoyed that variety, I think that was what I was seeking,” she says. “Now I know that at CERN there are varied jobs one person can do, but at that time perhaps I wasn’t mature enough to realise that.” Today, she works in investment and finance, and has actively sought out roles that allow her to travel and work with people from different places. But a return visit to CERN in 2011 added another career dimension. “A fantastically positive change had happened in my lifetime: the appreciation of the importance of science by wider society. It was time to think how to capitalise on this and help society become more engaged directly with us.” The answer was the CERN & Society Foundation, of which Anne was appointed chair and that has seen CERN proactively engage with society, leading to the future Science Gateway project dedicated to education and outreach. “When we started the foundation in 2014 we did not know how incredibly successful it was going to be. The major part of this success comes from the interest and engagement we have had from alumni.”

Bartosz Niemczura
Software engineer, Facebook

Bartosz graduated with a Master’s degree in computer science from AGH University of Science and Technology in 2012. The following year he became a CERN technical student working on databases in CERN’s IT department. It was his first professional experience, and he was immediately captivated by the field of data security. Deciding to enter into a career in the area, he then applied for positions elsewhere, leading to a six-month research internship at IBM Zurich, participating in the Great Minds Programme. “My project focused on big-data analysis, an activity very closely related to my CERN project. I probably wouldn’t have been selected for the internship if I hadn’t had the CERN experience,” he explains. “It’s not just about the experience, but also the CERN reputation and prestige.” Working in a global environment with more than 20 international students was also extremely valuable. Since 2015 Bartosz has been working as a software engineer for Facebook’s product security team in Silicon Valley. “Despite the culture being slightly different at Facebook compared to CERN, I still apply the same approach I learnt at CERN,” he says. “Having learnt to communicate with people from other countries, this is highly useful for me in my current position as I now find it easier to make connections. It’s important not to close yourself off in your office. Go out and talk to people, those who have lots of experience, or who are working on something different from you, ask questions, make connections!”

Maaike Limper
Data engineering and web portal specialist at Swiss Global Services

Following a PhD on ATLAS, Maaike became a CERN openlab fellow in 2012. There was a lot to learn in moving from physics to IT, she says. “You need to understand how technology actually works: how it stores your data as bytes on the disk or how your computations can optimise the CPU usage.” Until last year, Maaike was head of aviation surface performance at Inmarsat, investigating solutions to allow aircraft passengers to have a reliable internet connection. One of her challenges was to put data from all the systems involved in passenger internet connectivity, such as ground control, satellites and aircraft together and understand where outages were experienced and why.” As a particle physicist, by contrast, Maaike was dealing with “very specific issues and no longer felt challenged”. She also didn’t warm to the ruthless competition she encountered, especially when the first LHC data were being collected and the normal collaborative spirit was slightly set aside. In her new career, which recently saw her join Swiss Global Services as a data-engineering specialist, she feels she is the expert. “I like the fact that I am constantly kept busy, challenged and, sometimes, very much stressed!” However, her particle-physics training had a useful impact on her career. “At CERN, we are very good at developing our own tools and we don’t just expect there to be a ready-made product on the market.” And Maaike is proud that the detector she worked on sits at the centre of the ATLAS experiment. “I was there, checking that each optical cable was producing the right sound once connected and that everything was working as expected. So actually, yes, a little piece of my heart is there, deep inside ATLAS.”

Panayotis Spentzouris
Head of Fermilab’s Quantum Science Program

Panayotis’s affiliation with CERN began in 1986 as an associate physicist working on a prototype of a detector for the DELPHI experiment at LEP. He moved to the US in 1990 and started a PhD, continuing his research at Fermilab, first as a Columbia University postdoc and then a junior staff scientist. Of his time at CERN he recalls the challenging experience of working for a multi-institutional, multicultural and multinational collaboration of many people of different cultures. “I remember it being a great experience with exposure to many wonderful things from machine shops to computers and scientific collaborations. It was also whilst at CERN that my first ever paper was published, when DELPHI started taking data, around 1990 I think – I was absolutely thrilled. Even though, somewhere in the middle of my career, I ended up doing a lot of computational physics, CERN is where I began my career as an experimentalist and I am always grateful for that.” He did not want to leave fundamental research, and today Panayotis is a senior scientist at Fermilab. In 2014 he was head of Fermilab’s scientific computing division and since 2018 has led Fermilab’s Quantum Science Program, which includes simulation of quantum field theories, teleportation experiments and applying qubit technologies to quantum sensors in high-energy physics experiments. Shortly afterwards, he presented the Fermilab programme to CERN openlab’s “Quantum computing for high-energy physics” event. “Coming back to CERN was actually strange, because everything had changed so much that I needed to follow signs to find my way to the cafeteria!” He would also like to see Fermilab establish an alumni network of its own. “It is good to have a sense of community, especially during difficult times when you need your community to stand up in support of your organisation.”

Cynthia Keppel
Professor, Hampton University

Having attended a small liberal arts college in the US where the focus was on philosophy, Thia found herself a bit frustrated. “We would discuss deep questions at length in class, and I would think:’ Can’t we test something?’ Physics seemed to be a place where people were striving to provide concrete answers to big questions, so I looked for summer internships in physics, and to my surprise I got one.” She wound up working with a group of plasma physicists who wanted an “artsy” person to make a movie visualising the solar magnetic flux cycle. “I liked learning the physics, I liked being sent off on my own, and it turned out I even liked the programming.” She went on to do a PhD in nuclear physics at SLAC and continued her research at JLab where, one night, while working late on a scintillating fibre-type particle detector, she realised that a colleague in the lab across from her was building the same type of detector – but for a project in medical instrumentation. They started to collaborate, and a few years later Thia founded the Center for Advanced Medical Instrumentation at Hampton University. More than a dozen patented technologies later, they were contacted by Hampton University’s president about proton therapy and realised that they had the know-how to build their own proton-therapy centre, which ended up being one of the largest in the world. “Having directed the centre from the start, Thia preferred the period of building, instrumenting and commissioning the facility over that of clinical operations. So she decided to set up a consulting company, which has so far helped to start 16 proton-therapy centres. “I think that my discourse-based philosophy education has been a help in learning to express ideas clearly and succinctly to people,” she says. “If you’re going to irradiate people, you must explain carefully and well why that’s a beneficial thing. Once you’re used to explaining things in plain language to potential patients or the public, you can give the same talk in a boardroom.”

•This final case study is based on an article in APS Careers 2020, produced in conjunction with Physics World. All other articles are drawn from the CERN Alumni Network.

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On 19 June the prime minister of Estonia, Jüri Ratas, and CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti, signed an agreement admitting Estonia as an associate member state in the pre-stage to membership of CERN. The agreement will enter into force once CERN has been informed by the Estonian authorities that all the necessary approval processes have been finalised.

“With Estonia becoming an associate member, Estonia and CERN will have the opportunity to expand their collaboration in, and increase their mutual benefit from, scientific and technological development as well as education and training activities,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. “We are looking forward to strengthening our ties further.”

Many important opportunities open up for Estonian entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers

Jüri Ratas

After joining the CMS experiment in 1997, Estonia became an active member of the CERN community. Between 2004 and 2016 new collaboration frameworks gradually boosted scientific and technical co-operation. Today, Estonia is represented by 25 scientists at CERN, comprising an active group of theorists, researchers involved in R&D for the Compact Linear Collider project, a CMS team involved in data analysis and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, and another team taking part in the TOTEM experiment.

CERN’s associate member states are entitled to participate in meetings of the CERN Council, Finance Committee and Scientific Policy Committee. Their nationals are eligible for staff positions and fellowships, and their industries are entitled to bid for CERN contracts.

“As an associate member, many important opportunities open up for Estonian entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers to work together on innovation and R&D, which will greatly benefit Estonia’s business sector and the economy as a whole,” said Jüri Ratas, Estonia’s prime minister, at the signing ceremony. “Becoming an associate member is the next big step for Estonia to deepen its co-operation with CERN before becoming a full member.”

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The benefits of CERN membership go well beyond science and technology, confirms a study commissioned by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The report “Evaluation of the benefits that the UK has derived from CERN”, published on 6 August, finds that around 500 UK firms have benefitted from supplying goods and services to CERN during the past decade, bringing in £183.3M in revenue. An additional £33.4M was awarded to UK firms for CERN experiments and from the CERN pension fund, while a further £1B in turnover and £110M in profit is estimated to have resulted from knock-on effects for UK companies after working with CERN.

Over the same 10-year period, 1000 or so individuals who have participated in CERN’s various employment schemes have received training estimated to be worth more than £4.9M. The knowledge and skills gained via working at CERN are deployed across sectors including IT and software, engineering, manufacturing, financial services and health, the report notes, with young UK researchers who have engaged with CERN estimated to earn 12% more across their careers (corresponding to an extra £489M in additional wages in the past 10 years).

Each year an average of 12,000 school students and other members of the public visit CERN in person; 220,000 visit CERN’s website; and 40,000 interact with its social media. More than 1000 teachers have attended CERN’s national teacher programme in the past decade, who go on to teach an estimated 175,000 school students within three months of their visit. A survey of 673 physics undergraduates in eight UK universities revealed that 95% were attracted to study science because of activities in particle physics, with more than 50% saying they were inspired by the discovery of the Higgs boson.

In terms of science diplomacy, the report acknowledges that CERN provides a platform for the UK to engage more widely in global initiatives and international networks, spilling over to favourable perceptions of its members and greater engagement in science, technology and beyond. “Fundamental research requires long-term engagement; international collaboration makes this essential pooling of efforts possible, and the report provides a promising testimony for the future of CERN membership,” said Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN director of international relations.

Being part of one of the biggest international scientific collaborations on the planet places the UK at the frontier of discovery science

Mark Thomson

Carried out by consulting firm Technopolis, the study also quantified the scientific benefits of CERN membership. Over the past decade, more than 20,000 scientific papers with a UK author have cited one of the 40,000 papers based directly on CERN research published in the past 20 years. The report estimates that the production of knowledge can be valued at more than £495M, before even considering the impact of the advances that this research may underpin. Bibliometric analyses also show that CERN research underpins many of the UK’s most influential physics papers.

The new report supports previous studies into the benefits of CERN membership. In particular, a recent study of the impact of the High Luminosity LHC conducted by economists at the University of Milan concluded that the quantifiable return to society is well in excess to the project’s costs (CERN Courier September 2018 p51).

The UK is one of CERN’s founding members, and currently contributes £144M per year to the CERN budget (representing 16% of Member State subscriptions) via the STFC. “Being part of one of the biggest international scientific collaborations on the planet places the UK at the frontier of discovery science, which in turn helps to inspire the next generation to study physics and other STEM subjects,” says STFC executive chair Mark Thomson. “This is of huge value to the UK – and for the first time this report goes some way to quantify this.”

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Science, from the immutable logic of its mathematical underpinnings to the more fluid realms of the social sciences, has carried us from our humble origins to an understanding of such esoteric notions as gravitation and quantum mechanics. This knowledge has been applied to develop devices such as GPS trackers and smartphones – a story repeated in countless domains for a century or more – and it has delivered new tools for basic research along the way in a virtuous circle.

While it is undeniable that science has led us to a better world than that inhabited by our ancestors, and that it will continue to deliver intellectual, utilitarian and economic progress, advancement is not always linear. Research has led us up blind alleys, and taken wrong turnings, yet its strength is its ability to process data, to self-correct and to form choices based on the best available evidence. The current coronavirus pandemic could prove to be a great educator in the methods of science, demonstrating how the right course of action evolves as the evidence accumulates. We’ve seen all too clearly how badly things can go wrong when individuals and governments fail to grasp the importance of evidence-based decision making.

Fundamental science has to make its case not only on the basis of cultural wealth, but also in terms of socioeconomic benefit. In particle physics, we also have no shortage of examples. These go well beyond the web, although an economic impact assessment of that particular invention is one that I would be very interested in seeing. As of 2014, there were some 42,200 particle accelerators worldwide, 64% of which were used in industry, a third for medical purposes and just 3% in research – not bad for a technology invented for fundamental exploration. It’s a similar story for techniques developed for particle detection, which have found their way into numerous applications, especially in medicine and biology.

The benefits of Big Science for economic prosperity become more pertinent if we consider the cumulative contributions to the 21st-century knowledge economy, which relies heavily on research and innovation. In 2018, more than 40% of the CERN budget was returned to industry in its member-state countries through the procurement of supplies and services, generating corollary benefits such as opening new markets. Increasing efforts, for example by the European Commission, to require research infrastructures to estimate their socioeconomic impact are a welcome opportunity to quantify and demonstrate our impact.

CERN has been subject to economic impact assessments since the 1970s, with one recent cost–benefit analysis of the LHC, conducted by economists at the University of Milan, concluding with 92% probability that benefits exceed costs, even when attaching the very conservative figure of zero to the value of the organisation’s scientific discoveries. More recent  studies (CERN Courier September 2018 p51) by the Milan group, focusing on the High-Luminosity LHC, revealed a quantifiable return to society well in excess of the project’s costs, again, not including its scientific output. Extrapolating these results, the authors show that future colliders at CERN would bring similar societal benefits on an even bigger scale.

Across physics more broadly, a 2019 report commissioned by the European Physical Society found that physics-based industries generate more than 16% of total turnover and 12% of overall employment in Europe – represen­ting a net annual contribution of at least €1.45 trillion, and topping contributions from the financial services and retail sectors (CERN Courier January/February 2020 p9).

Of course, there are some who feel that limited resources for science should be deployed in areas such as addressing climate change, rather than blue-sky research. These views can be persuasive, but are misleading. Fundamental research is every bit as important as directed research, and through the virtuous circle of science, they are mutually dependent. The open questions and mind-bending concepts explored by particle physics and astronomy also serve to draw bright young minds into science, even if individuals go on to work in other areas. Surveys of the career paths taken by PhD students working on CERN experiments fully bear this out (CERN Courier April 2019 p55).

In April 2020, as a curtain-raiser to the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, Nature Physics published a series of articles about potential future directions for CERN. An editorial pointed out the strong scientific and utilitarian case for future colliders, concluding that: “Even if the associated price tag may seem high – roughly as high as that of the Tokyo Olympic Games – it is one worth paying.” This is precisely the kind of argument that we as a community should be prepared to make if we are to ensure continuing exploration of fundamental physics in the 21st century and beyond.

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The discovery of the Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the LHC in 2012 marked a turning point in particle physics. Not only was it the last of the Standard Model particles to be found, but it is completely different to any particle seen before: a fundamental scalar, with profound connections to the structure of the vacuum. Extensive measurements so far suggest that the particle is the simplest possible version that nature permits. But the study of the Higgs boson is still in its infancy and its properties present enigmas, including why it is so light, which the Standard Model cannot explain. Particle physics is entering a new era of exploration to address these and other outstanding questions, including unknowns in the universe at large, such as the nature of dark matter.

The 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPPU), which was released today during the 199^th session of the CERN Council, sets out an ambitious programme to carry the field deep into the 21^st century. Following two years of discussion and consultation with particle physicists in Europe and beyond, the ESPPU has identified an electron–positron Higgs factory as the highest priority collider after the LHC. The ultraclean collision environment of such a machine (which could start operation at CERN within a timescale of less than 10 years after the full exploitation of the high-luminosity LHC in the late 2030s) will enable dramatic progress in mapping the diverse interactions of the Higgs boson with other particles, and form an essential part of a research programme that includes exploration of the flavour puzzle and the neutrino sector.

We have started to concretely shape CERN’s future after the LHC

Ursula Bassler

To prepare for the longer term, the ESPPU prioritises that Europe, together with its international partners, explore the technical and financial feasibility of a future proton–proton collider at CERN with a centre-of-mass energy of at least 100 TeV. In addition to allowing searches for new phenomena at unprecedented scales, this machine would enable the detailed study of how the Higgs boson interacts with itself – offering a deeper understanding of the electroweak phase transition in the early universe after which the vacuum gained a non-zero expectation value and particles were enabled to acquire mass.

“The strategy is above all driven by science and presents the scientific priorities for the field,” said Ursula Bassler, president of the CERN Council. “We have started to concretely shape CERN’s future after the LHC, which is a difficult task because of the different paths available.”

Setting the stage
The strategy update is the second since the process was launched in 2005. It aims to ensure the optimal use of global resources, serving as a guideline to CERN and enabling a coherent science policy in Europe. Building on the previous strategy update, which concluded in 2013, the 2020 update states that the successful completion of the high-luminosity LHC should remain the focal point of European particle physics, together with continued innovation in experimental techniques. Europe, via the CERN neutrino platform, should also continue to support the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility in the US and neutrino projects in Japan. Diverse projects that are complementary to collider projects are an essential pillar of the ESPPU recommendations, which urge European laboratories to support  experiments enabling, for example, precise investigations of flavour physics and electric or magnetic dipole moments, and searches for axions, dark-sector candidates and feebly interacting particles.

The continuing ability of CERN, European laboratories and the particle-physics community to realise compelling scientific projects is essential for scientific progress, states the report. Cooperative programmes between CERN and research centres and national institutes in Europe should be strengthened and expanded, in addition to building strong collaborations with the astroparticle and nuclear physics communities.

Exploring the next frontier
The 2013 ESPPU recommended that options for CERN’s next machine after the LHC be explored. Today, there are four possible options for a Higgs factory in different regions of the world: an International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan, a Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) at CERN, a Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) at CERN, and a Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China. As Higgs factories, the ESPPU finds all four to have comparable reach, albeit with different time schedules and with differing potentials for the study of physics topics at other energies. While not specifying which facility should be built, the ESPPU states that the large circular tunnel necessary for a future hadron collider at CERN would also provide the infrastructure needed for FCC-ee as a possible first step. In addition to serving as a Higgs factory, FCC-ee is able to provide huge numbers of weak vector bosons and their decay products that would enable precision tests of electroweak physics and the investigation of the flavour puzzle.

Considering colliders at the energy frontier, a 3 TeV CLIC and a 100 TeV circular hadron collider (FCC-hh) were considered in depth. While the proposed 380 GeV CLIC also offers a Higgs factory as a first stage, the dramatic increase in energy possible with a future hadron collider compared to the 13 TeV of the LHC has led the ESPPU to consider this technology as the most promising for a future energy-frontier facility. Europe together with international partners will therefore begin a feasibility study into building such a machine at CERN with the FCC-ee Higgs and electroweak factory as a possible first stage, to be established as a global endeavour and completed on the timescale of the next strategy update later this decade. It is also expected that Europe invests further in R&D for the high-field superconducting magnets for FCC-hh while retaining a programme in the advanced accelerator technology developed for CLIC, which also has significant potential applications in accelerator-based science beyond high-energy physics.

Europe should keep the door open to participate in other headline projects

Halina Abramowicz

The report also notes that the timely realisation of the ILC in Japan would be compatible with this strategy and, in that case, the European particle physics community would wish to collaborate. “The natural next step is to explore the feasibility of the highest priority recommendations, while continuing to pursue a diverse programme of high-impact projects,” explains Halina Abramowicz, chair of the European Strategy Group, which was charged with organizing the 2020 update. “Europe should keep the door open to participate in other headline projects which will serve the field as a whole.”

Ramping up accelerator R&D
To achieve the ambitious ESPPU goals, particle physicists are urged to undertake vigorous R&D on advanced accelerator technologies, in particular concerning high-field superconducting magnets including those based on high-temperature superconductors. Europe should develop a technology roadmap, taking into account synergies with international partners and other communities such as photon and neutron science, fusion energy and industry, urges the ESPPU report, which also stresses the proven ability of innovative accelerator technology to drive many other fields of science, industry and society. In addition to high-field magnets, the roadmap should include R&D for plasma-acceleration schemes, an international design study for a muon collider, and R&D on high-intensity, multi-turn energy-recovery linacs.

It is an historic day for CERN and for particle physics in Europe and beyond

Fabiola Gianotti

The ESPPU recommendations strongly emphasise the need to continue with efforts to minimise the environmental impact of accelerator facilities and maximise the energy efficiency of future projects. Europe should also continue to vigorously support theoretical research covering the full spectrum of particle physics, pursuing new research directions and links with cosmology, astroparticle physics and nuclear physics. The development of software and computing infrastructures that exploit recent advances in information technology and data science are also to be pursued in collaboration with other fields of science and industry, while particle physicists should forge stronger relations with the European Commission and continue their leadership in promoting knowledge-sharing through open science.

“It is an historic day for CERN and for particle physics in Europe and beyond. We are all very excited and we are ready to work on the implementation of this very ambitious but cautious plan,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti following the unanimous adoption of the resolution to update the strategy by the CERN Council’s national representatives. “We will continue to invest in strong cooperative programmes between CERN and other research institutes in CERN’s member states and beyond. These collaborations are key to sustained scientific and technological progress and bring many societal benefits.”

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Recent trends indicate a move towards the use of permanent magnets

IPAC’20’s success relied on a programme of recent technical highlights, new developments and future plans in the accelerator world. Weighing in at 1,998 views, the most popular talk of the conference was by Ben Shepherd from STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in the UK, who spoke on high-technology permanent magnets. Accelerators do not only accelerate ensembles of particles, but also use strong magnetic fields to guide and focus them into very small volumes, typically just micro or nanometres in size. Recent trends indicate a move towards the use of permanent magnets that provide strong fields but do not require external power, and can provide outstanding field quality. Describing the major advances for permanent magnets in terms of production, radiation resistance, tolerances and field tuning, Shepherd presented high tech devices developed and used for the SIRIUS, ESRF-EBS, SPRING-8, CBETA, SOLEIL and CUBE-ECRIS facilities, and also presented the Zero-Power Tunable Optics (ZEPTO) collaboration between STFC and CERN, which offers 15 – 60 T/m tunability in quadrupoles and 0.46 – 1.1 T in dipoles.

Top of the talks

The seven IPAC’20 presentations with the most views included four by outstanding female scientists. CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti presented strategic considerations for future accelerator-based particle physics. While pointing out the importance of Europe participating in projects elsewhere in the world, she made the strong point that CERN should host an ambitious future collider, and discussed the options being considered, pointing to the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics soon to be approved by the CERN Council. Sarah Cousineau from Oakridge reported on accelerator R&D as a driver for science in general, pointing out that accelerators have directly contributed to more than 25 Nobel Prizes, including the Higgs-boson discovery at the LHC in 2012. The development of superconducting accelerator technology has enabled projects for colliders, photon science, nuclear physics and neutron spallation sources around the world, with several light sources and neutron facilities currently engaged in COVID-19 studies.

SPIRAL-2 will explore exotic nuclei near the limits of the periodic table

The benefits of accelerator-based photon science for society was also emphasized by Jerry Hastings from Stanford University and SLAC, who presented the tremendous progress in structural biology driven by accelerator-based X-ray sources, and noted that research can be continued during COVID-19 times thanks to the remote synchrotron access pioneered at SSRL. Stressing the value of international collaboration, Hastings presented the outcome of an international X-ray facilities meeting that took place in April and defined an action plan for ensuring the best possible support to COVID-19 research. GANIL Director Alahari Navin presented new horizons in nuclear science, reviewing facilities around the world and presenting his own laboratory’s latest activities. GANIL has now started commissioning SPIRAL-2, which will allow users to explore the as-yet unknown properties of exotic nuclei near the limits of the periodic table of elements, and has performed its initial science experiment. Liu Lin from LNLS in Brazil presented the commissioning results for the new 4th generation SIRIUS light source, showing that the functionality of the facility has already been demonstrated by storing 15 mA of beam current. Last, but not least in the top-seven most-viewed talks, Anke-Susanne Müller from KIT presented the status of the study for a 100 km Future Circular Collider – just one of the options for an ambitious post-LHC project at CERN.

Many other highlights from the accelerator field were presented during IPAC’20. Kyo Shibata (KEK) discussed the progress in physics data-taking at the SuperKEKb factory, where the BELLE II experiment recently reported its first result. Ferdinand Willeke (BNL) presented the electron-ion collider approved to be built at BNL, Porntip Sudmuang (SLRI) showed construction plans for a new light source in Thailand, and Mohammed Eshraqi (ESS) discussed the construction of the European Spallation Source in Sweden. At the research frontier towards compact accelerators, Chang Hee Nam (IBS, Korea) explained prospects for laser-driven GeV-electron beams from plasma-wakefield accelerators and Arnd Specka (LLR/CNRS) showed plans for compact European plasma-accelerator facility EuPRAXIA, which is entering its next phase after successful completion of a conceptual-design report. The accelerator-application session rounded the picture off with presentations by Annalisa Patriarca (Institute Curie) about accelerator challenges in a new radiation-therapy technique called FLASH, in which ultra-fast delivery of radiation dose reduces damage to healthy tissue, by Charlotte Duchemin (CERN) on the production of non-conventional radionuclides for medical research at the MEDICIS hadron beam facility, by Toms Torims (Riga Technical University) on the treatment of marine exhaust gases using electron beams and by Adrian Fabich (SCK-CEN) on proton-driven nuclear-waste transmutation.

To the credit of the French organisers, the virtual setup worked seamlessly. The concept relied on pre-recorded presentations and a text-driven chat function which allowed registered participants to participate from time zones across the world. Activating the sessions in half-day steps preserved the appearance of live presentations to some degree, before a final live session, during which the four prizes of the accelerator group of the European Physical Society were awarded.

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In increasing its focus towards averting environmental disaster and maintaining economic competitiveness, both the European Union and national governments are looking towards green technologies, such as materials for sustainable energy production and storage. Such ambitions rely on our ability to innovate – powered by Europe’s highly developed academic network and research infrastructures.

Neutron science holds enormous potential at every stage of innovation

Europe is home to world-leading neutron facilities that each year are used by more than 5000 researchers across all fields of science. Studies range from the dynamics of lithium-ion batteries, to developing medicines against viral diseases, in addition to fundamental studies such as measurements of the neutron electric-dipole moment. Neutron science holds enormous potential at every stage of innovation, from basic research through to commercialisation, with at least 50% of publications globally attributed to European researchers. Yet, just as the demand for neutron science is growing, access to facilities is being challenged.

Three of Europe’s neutron facilities closed in 2019: BER II in Berlin; Orphée in Paris; and JEEP II outside Oslo. The rationale is specific to each case. There are lifespan considerations due to financial resources, but also political considerations when it comes to nuclear installations. The potentially negative consequences of these closures must be carefully managed to ensure expertise is maintained and communities are not left stranded. This constitutes a real challenge for the remaining facilities. Sharing the load via strategic collaboration is indispensable, and is the motivation behind the recently created League of advanced European Neutron Sources (LENS).

We must also ensure that the remaining facilities – which include the FRM II in Munich, the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France, ISIS in the UK and the SINQ facility in Switzerland – are fully exploited. These facilities have been upgraded in recent years, but their long-term viability must be secured. This is not to be underestimated. For example, 20% of the ILL’s budget relies on the contributions of 10 scientific members that must be renegotiated every five years. The rest is provided by the ILL’s three associate countries (France, Germany and the UK). The loss of one of its major scientific members, even only partially, would severely threaten the ILL’s upgrade capacity.

Accelerator sources

The European Spallation Source (ESS) under construction in Sweden, which was conceived more than 20 years ago, must become a fully operating neutron facility at the earliest possible date. This was initially foreseen for 2019, now scheduled for 2023. Europe must ask itself why building large scientific facilities such as ESS, or FAIR in Germany, takes so long, despite significant strategic planning (e.g. via ESFRI) and sophisticated project management. After all, neutron-science pioneers built the original ILL in just over four years, though admittedly at a time of less regulatory pressure. We must regain that agility. The Chinese Spallation Neutron Source has just reached its design goal of 100 kW, and the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is actively pursuing plans for a second target station.

The value of neutron science will be judged on its contribution to solving society’s problems

We therefore need to look to next-generation sources such as Compact Accelerator driven Neutron Sources (CANS). Contrary to spallation sources that produce neutrons by bombarding heavy nuclei with high-energy protons, CANS rely on nuclear processes that can be triggered by proton bombardment in the 5 to 50 MeV range. While these processes are less efficient than spallation, they allow for a more compact target and moderator design. Examples of this scheme are SONATE, currently under development at CEA-Saclay and the High Brilliance Source being pursued at Jülich. CANS must now be brought to maturity, requiring carefully planned business models to identify how they can best reinforce the ecosystem of neutron science.

It is also important to begin strategic discussions that aim beyond 2030, including the need for powerful new national sources that will complement the ESS. Continuous (reactor) neutron sources must be part of this because many applications, such as the production of neutron-rich isotopes for medical purposes, require the highest time-averaged neutron flux. Such a strategic evaluation is currently under way in the US, and Europe should soon follow suit.

Despite last year’s reactor closures, Europe is well prepared for the next decade thanks to the continuous modernisation of existing sources and investment in the ESS. The value of neutron science will be judged on its contribution to solving society’s problems, and I am convinced that European researchers will rise to the challenge and carve a route to a greener future through world-leading neutron science.

The post Bridging Europe’s neutron gap appeared first on CERN Courier.

During its 197^th session, which took place for the first time by videoconference on 19-20 March, the CERN Council addressed the impact of the current COVID-19 situation on the update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPPU).

The ESPPU got under way in September 2017, when the CERN Council appointed a European Strategy Group (ESG) – headed by Halina Abramowicz of Tel Aviv University and comprising a scientific delegate from each of CERN’s member and associate-member states, plus directors and representatives of major European laboratories and organisations and invitees from outside Europe – to organise the process. Following two years of discussions and consultation with the high-energy physics and related communities, the ESPPU entered its final stages in January with a week-long drafting session in Bad Honnef, Germany. Afterwards, the ESG released a statement reporting convergence on recommendations to guide the future of high-energy physics in Europe. These were due to be submitted for final approval at an extraordinary session of the CERN Council on 25 May in Budapest, Hungary, before being publicly released.

Discussing with various stakeholders in the Member States will take more time

Ursula Bassler

Acknowledging that the COVID-19 outbreak threatens the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of people, and affects the everyday lives of millions, the CERN Council has now agreed that it would not be appropriate to release the ESG update (and an accompanying deliberation document) to a wider audience, nor for the Council to make any further comment on the contents of the documents for the time being. The Budapest event has been cancelled and replaced by a new extraordinary session, to be held by videoconference on the same date, at which the Council will further discuss how to proceed.

“In these exceptional circumstances it is not the right time to release the strategy, and discussing with various stakeholders in the Member States will take more time,” says Ursula Bassler, president of the CERN Council. “Even though this will come as a disappointment to many physicists after all the effort put into the ESPPU, everyone can understand, that in this situation, the process will last longer.”

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Why don’t we more resolutely pursue a technology that could contribute to the production of carbon-free energy? ITER’s path has been plagued by rivalries between strong personalities, and difficult technical and political decisions, though, in retrospect, few domains of science and technology have received such strong and continuous support from governments and agencies. Claessens’ book begins by discussing the need for fusion among other energy sources — he avoids selling fusion as the “unique and final” solution to energy problems — and quickly brings us to the heart of a key problem humanity is facing today. Travelling through history, the author shows that when politicians take decisions of high inspiration, as at the famous fireside summit between presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva in November 1985, where the idea for a collaborative project to develop fusion energy for peaceful purposes was born, they change the course of history — for the better! The book then goes through the difficulties of setting up a complex project animated by a political agenda (fusion was on the agenda of political summits between the USA and the USSR since the cold war) without a large laboratory backing it up.

The author shows that when politicians take decisions of high inspiration they change the course of history

Progress with ITER was made more difficult by a complex system of in-kind contributions which were not optimised for cost or technical success, but for political “return” to each member state of ITER (Europe, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the US, and most recently India). Claessens’ examples are striking, and he doesn’t skirt around the inevitable hot questions: what is the real cost of ITER? Will it even be finished given its multiple delays? How much of these extra costs and delays are due to the complex and politically oriented governance structures established by the partners? The answers are clear, honestly reported, and quantitative, though the author makes it clear that the numbers should be taken cum grano salis. Assessing the cost of a project where 90% of the components are in-kind contributions, with each partner having its own accounting structures, and in certain cases no desire to reveal the real cost, is a doubtful enterprise. However, we can say with some certainty that ITER is taking twice as long and likely costing more than double what was initially planned — and as the author says on more than one occasion, further delays will likely entail additional costs. By comparison, the LHC needed roughly an additional 25% in both budget and time compared to what was initially planned.

Price tag

Was the initial cost estimate for ITER simply too low, perhaps to help the project get approved, or would a better management, with a different governance structure, have performed better? Significantly, I have not met a single knowledgeable person who did not strongly express that ITER is a textbook case of bad management organisation, though in my opinion the book does not do justice to the energetic action of the current director general, Bernard Bigot. His directorate has been a turning point in ITER’s construction, and has set the project back on track in a moment of real crisis when many scientists and mangers expected the project to fail. A key question surfaces in the book: is the price tag important? ITER’s cost is peanuts compared to the EU’s budget, for example, and the cost is not significant by comparison to the promise it delivers: carbon-free energy in large quantities, at an affordable cost to environment, and based on widely distributed fuel.

Michel Claessens’ book explores different points of view without fanaticism

Though there is almost no intrinsic innovation in ITER, Claessens shows how the project has nevertheless pushed tokamak technology beyond its apparent limits by a sheer increase in size, though he neglects some key points, such as the incredible stored energy of the superconducting magnets. An incident similar to that suffered by the LHC in 2008 would be a logistical nightmare for ITER, as it contains more than three times the stored energy of the entire LHC and its detectors in an incomparably smaller volume. Comparisons with CERN are however a feature throughout the book, and a point of pride for high-energy physicists — clearly, CERN has set the standard for high-tech international collaboration, and ITER has tried to follow its example (CERN Courier October 2014 p45). Having begun my career as a plasma scientist, before turning to accelerators at the beginning of the 1980s, I know some of the stories and personalities involved, including CERN’s former Director General, and recognised father of ITER, Robert Aymar, and ITER’s head of superconductor procurement, my close friend Arnaud Devred, also now of CERN.

I recommend Michel Claessens’ well written and easy-to-read book. It is passionate and informative and explores different points of view without fanaticism. Interestingly, his conclusion is not scientific or political, but socio-philosophical in nature: ITER will be built because it can be, he says, according to a principle of “technological necessity”.

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There has been a marked increase in awareness about climate change in society. Whether due to the recent school strikes initiated by Greta Thunberg or the destructive bushfires gripping Australia, the climate emergency has now moved up in the public’s list of concerns. Governments around the world have put in place various targets to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2015 Paris agreement. The scientific community, like others, will increasingly be expected to put in place measures to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions. It is then timely to create structures that will minimise the carbon footprint of current and future experiments, and their researchers.

The LHC uses 1.25 TWh of electricity annually, the equivalent of powering around 300,000 homes, or roughly 2% of the annual consumption of Switzerland. Fortunately, the electricity supply of the LHC comes from France, where only about 10% of electricity is produced by fossil fuels. CERN is adopting several green initiatives. For example, it recently released plans to use hot water from a cooling plant at Point 8 of the LHC (where the LHCb detector is situated) to heat 8000 homes in the nearby town of Ferney-Voltaire. In 2015, CERN introduced an energy-management panel and the laboratory is about to publish a wide-ranging environmental report. CERN is also involved in the biennial workshop series Energy for Sustainable Science at Research Infrastructures, which started in 2011 and is where useful ideas are shared among research infrastructures. Whether it be related to high-performance computing or the LHC’s cryogenic systems, increased energy efficiency both reduces CERN’s carbon footprint and provides financial savings.

It is a moral imperative for the community to look at ways to reduce its carbon footprint

In addition to colliders, particle physics also involves detectors, some of which need particular gases for their operation or cooling. Unfortunately, some of these gases have very high global-warming potential. For example, sulphur hexa­fluoride, which is commonly used in high-voltage supplies and also in certain detectors such as the resistive plate chambers in the ATLAS muon spectrometer, causes 16,000 times more warming than CO₂ over a 20-year period. Though mostly used in closed circuits, some of these gases are occasionally vented to the atmosphere or leak from detectors, and, although the quantities involved are small, it is likely that some of the gases used by current detectors are about to be banned by many countries, making them very hard to procure and their price volatile. A lot is already being done to combat this issue. At CERN, for instance, huge efforts have gone into replacing detector cooling fluids and investigating new gas mixtures.

Strategic approach

The European particle-physics community is currently completing the update of its strategy for the next five years or so, which will guide not only CERN activities but also those in all European countries. It is of the utmost importance that sustainability goals be included in this strategy. To this end, myself and my colleagues Cham Ghag and David Waters (University College London) and Francesco Spano (Royal Holloway) arrived at three main recommendations on sustainability as input into the strategy process.

First, as part of their grant-giving process, European laboratories and funding agencies should include criteria evaluating the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of particle-physics proposals, and should expect to see evidence that energy consumption has been properly estimated and minimised. Second, any design of a major experiment should consider plans for reduction of energy consumption, increased energy efficiency, energy recovery and carbon-offset mechanisms. (Similarly, any design for new buildings should consider the highest energy-efficiency standards.) Third, European laboratories should invest in next-generation digital meeting spaces including virtual-reality tools to minimise the need for frequent travel. Many environmental groups are calling for a frequent-flyer levy, since roughly 15% of the population take about 70% of all flights. This could potentially have a massive effect on the travel budgets of particle physicists, but it is a moral imperative for the community to look at ways to reduce this carbon footprint. Another area that the IPCC has identified will need to undergo a massive change is food. Particle physicists could send a very powerful message by choosing to have all of its work-related catering be mostly vegetarian.

Particle physics is flush with ideas for future accelerators and technologies to probe deeper into the structure of matter. CERN and particle physicists are important role models for all the world’s scientific community. Channelling some of our scientific creativity into addressing the sustainability of our own field, or even finding solutions for climate change, will produce ripples across all of society.

The post A recipe for sustainable particle physics appeared first on CERN Courier.

The International Linear Collider (ILC), currently being considered to be hosted in the Tohoku region of Japan, has not been selected as a high-priority project in the country’s 2020 “master plan” for large research projects. The master plan, which is compiled every three years, was announced on 30 January by the Science Council of Japan (SJC). Among 31 projects which did make it onto high-priority list were the Super-B factory at KEK, the KAGRA gravitational-wave laboratory and an upgrade of the J-PARC facility.

“Even though the ILC did not go into the final shortlist, it was selected as one of the projects that went to the hearing stage indicating that the scientific merit of the ILC was recognized by the committee,” said ILC director Shin Michizono. “This allows the ILC project to move to the next phase.”

In 2012, physicists in Japan submitted a petition to the Japanese government to host the ILC, an electron–positron collider serving as a Higgs-factory. A technical design report was published the following year and, in 2017, the original ILC design was revised to reduce its centre-of-mass energy by half (to 250 GeV), shortening the machine by around a third. In 2018, the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) issued a statement of support for the project, but in March last year, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced that it has “not yet reached declaration” for hosting the ILC and that the project “requires further discussion in formal academic decision-making processes such as the SCJ master plan”.

The important thing is that discussions on how to share the burden start soon.

Lyn Evans

At a press conference held on 31 January, state minister for MEXT, Koichi Hagiuda, responded positively to the contents of the SJC document. “This has been put together from the viewpoint of people representing the academic community, and we believe that it will serve as a reference for future discussions within the government. Being an international project, the ILC project requires broad support from both inside and outside the country. In light of the outcome of the Master Plan 2020, and observing the progress of other discussions such as the European Strategy for Particle Physics, we would like to carefully carry forward the discussions.”

Member of the Japanese government’s cabinet office, Naokazu Takemoto, who is minister of state for science and technology policy, said: “To put it simply, the project made it through the first round of evaluations, and there were about 60 such projects. In the second round, 31 projects were selected, and the ILC was not among them. However, this is a viewpoint of the Science Council. When considering the possibilities going forward, MEXT will look at high-priority research topics, and I hear that the ILC will be included in the list of these topics.” Responding to a question about the cost of the ILC, Takemoto continued: “The cost is to be shared among many countries, but some say that Japan needs to shoulder most of it. Even if these are the presumptions, I personally think we should strongly ask for realizing the project. It will effectively contribute to regional revitalisation. It will give back hope to people who have suffered greatly by the [damage caused by a tsunami in 2011]. Furthermore, it will give Japan’s technology an advantage to have an important share in the area of the world’s scientific research.”

MEXT representatives are expected to update the community on 20 February during the 85^th meeting of ICFA at SLAC National Laboratory in the US.

“It is no surprise that the ILC is not on the SCJ list,” says Lyn Evans, director of the Linear Collider Collaboration.  “It is of a different order of magnitude to any other project the committee considered. It also requires broad international collaboration. The important thing is that discussions on how to share the burden start soon.”

The post Japanese scientists identify priorities appeared first on CERN Courier.

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The proposed Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) offers the most flexible option for European particle physics in the post-LHC era, write the leaders of the CLIC study in a preprint posted on arXiv on 15 January. Responding to a preprint by 53 authors in late December which backed a Future Circular Collider (FCC) over CLIC, the CLIC team argues that moving forward quickly with a linear collider “would allow a vibrant high-energy frontier programme to be maintained over the coming decades, while pursuing in parallel the accelerator R&D required to open future options”.

Acknowledging the widespread consensus that the next major collider should be an electron–positron collider to explore the Higgs sector in detail, the authors argue that the discussion of what will be the most appropriate high-energy frontier machine afterwards “must be kept open” such that it can be guided by new physics results and new technology. The three-page long note states that an initial CLIC programme undertaken in parallel with strong accelerator R&D and HL-LHC, followed by the best possible high-energy frontier machine when technologies are mature, “thus provides the most flexible and appealing strategic option” for collider physics in Europe.

Although FCC-ee is unique in offering a very high-statistics Z physics programme, state the CLIC authors, the potential for Higgs-boson studies with a first-stage 380 GeV CLIC or 365 GeV FCC-ee is similar when assuming equivalent running times. They also say that both machines have a similar performance at the top-quark energy and the same accelerator performance risk. “Previous limits of both circular and linear electron–positron colliders have been understood and overcome thanks to vast efforts in hardware developments and large-scale system tests across the planet,” says coauthor Daniel Schulte of CERN. “Both colliders have ambitious parameters, but we are confident that they can be achieved, as confirmed in detailed reviews of both projects.”

Ultimately we all want what is best for our science

Aidan Robson

CLIC studies during the past few years have focused on energy consumption and construction costs, which CLIC project leader Steinar Stapnes of CERN says are now “very favourable” compared with FCC-ee. “Owing to CLIC’s compactness the construction is relatively fast, and we have also deliberately kept the 380 GeV baseline operation time relatively short at eight years,” he says. “We feel strongly that the possibilities for the subsequent step – whether a linear collider energy extension, or a proton or muon collider option – need to be kept on timescales that are not too far away.”

Priorities for European particle physics are under discussion this week at a meeting in Bad Honnef, Germany, as the update of the European strategy for particle physics enters its final stages.

“The European strategy is being developed in a complex environment where particle physics projects continue to become larger and longer-scale,” says Aidan Robson of the University of Glasgow, who is spokesperson of the CLIC detector & physics collaboration. “Ultimately we all want what is best for our science. CLIC at 380 GeV offers a rapid and exciting e⁺e^– programme, and opens doors for R&D for several possible future colliders going much higher in energy. This provides the key elements that offer attractive and challenging opportunities for the young people who will drive the future of our field.”

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The ESG, a special body set up by the CERN Council approximately every five years, was invited to formulate an update of the European strategy for particle physics in September 2017. A call for input in 2018 attracted 160 submissions, which were discussed at an open symposium in Granada, Spain, in May 2019. The ESG then published a 200-page briefing book which distilled the input into an objective scientific summary and will form the basis for discussions in Germany this week.

The start of a new project in the early 2040s is crucial to keep the community motivated and engaged

Fabiola Gianotti

The focus of the latest strategy update, the third since 2005, is which major project should follow the LHC once its high-luminosity phase comes to an end in the late 2030s. There is broad support for an electron—positron collider that will explore the Higgs sector in detail, as well as for a high-energy proton–proton collider at CERN. In Europe, the possible options are the Compact Linear Collider and the Future Circular Collider, while an International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan and a large Circular Electron-Positron Collider in China are also contenders. The strategy update will also consider non-collider experiments, computing, instrumentation and other key aspects of growing importance to the field such as energy efficiency and communication.

The previous strategy update, which concluded in 2013, made several high-priority recommendations: the full exploitation of the LHC, including the high-luminosity upgrade of the machine and detectors; R&D and design studies for a future energy-frontier machine at CERN; establishing a neutrino programme at CERN for physicists to develop detectors for experiments at accelerator-based neutrino facilities around the world; and the welcoming of a proposal from Japan to discuss the possible participation of Europe in the ILC. The first three are well under way, while a decision on the ILC still rests with the Japanese government. Other conclusions of the 2013 update included the need for closer collaboration with the astroparticle and nuclear physics communities, which has been met for example via the recently launched centre for astroparticle physics theory (EuCAPT) and the new Joint ECFA-NuPECC-APPEC Seminar series, JENAS. There was also a call for greater scientific diversity, leading to the CERN-led Physics Beyond Colliders initiative, which will also form a central part of this week’s discussions.

The recommendations from the ESG are due to formally be approved by the CERN Council on 25 May at an event in Budapest, Hungary.

During her annual address to personnel on 14 January, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti acknowledged the enormous efforts that have gone into the strategy update, and said that she hoped that a recommendation on CERN’s next major collider would be among the ESG’s priorities.

“The start of a new project in the early 2040s is crucial to keep the community motivated and engaged,” said Gianotti, noting that CERN and Europe should also be open to participate in projects at the forefront of particle physics elsewhere in the world. “The Higgs boson is a guaranteed deliverable. It is related to the most obscure and problematic sector of the Standard Model and carries special quantum numbers and a new type of interaction. It is therefore a unique door into new physics, and one that can only be studied at colliders.”

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On 10 October CERN welcomed the Republic of Croatia as an Associate Member State, following receipt of official notification that Croatia has completed its internal approval procedures in respect of an agreement signed on 28 February.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Croatia into the CERN family as an associate member. Croatian scientists have made important contributions to a large variety of experiments at CERN for almost four decades, and as an associate member, new opportunities open up for Croatia in scientific collaboration, technological development, education and training,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti.

Researchers from Croatia have contributed to many experiments at CERN, and a cooperation agreement concluded in 2001 increased the country’s participation in CERN’s research and educational programmes. As an Associate Member State, Croatia will be represented at the CERN Council and be entitled to attend meetings of the finance committee and the scientific policy committee. Nationals of Croatia will be eligible to apply for limited-duration positions as staff members and fellows, while firms offering goods and services originating from Croatia will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts, creating opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.

Croatia joins India, Lithuania, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine as Associate Member States, while Cyprus and Slovenia are Associate Member States in the pre-stage to membership.

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The next major European project after the LHC should be a 100-km circumference circular collider, argue more than 50 senior particle physicists in a preprint posted on arXiv at the end of last year. The authors — who include two previous CERN Council presidents, two former CERN Directors-General, leading members of the LHC experiments and high-energy theorists – say that the sequential electron-positron and hadron-hadron programme of the CERN-led Future Circular Collider (FCC) offers the most promising way to explore in full detail the Higgs sector and extend substantially the reach for new physics, and is the best option to maintain Europe’s place at the high-energy frontier during the coming decades.

“The combination of FCC-ee and FCC-hh will provide a forefront scientific programme for CERN for many decades, just as the combination of LEP and LHC has done,” says coauthor and former CERN Council president Michel Spiro. “We consider FCC to be a visionary programme for the future of CERN.”

“We consider FCC to be a visionary programme for the future of CERN”

The 15-page long preprint comes as the update of the European strategy for particle physics enters its final stages, and notes that several important new facts have emerged during the past year: the FCC conceptual design reports were published in January; in March, Japan postponed the decision about an International Linear Collider to an indefinite date; in May, Europe discussed its particle physics strategy at an open symposium in Granada, where several high-energy options were presented; and in September, the European Strategy Group (ESG) published a Physics Briefing Book and prepared a supporting note which included five possible scenarios for major new accelerator facilities and raised a number of important issues. In Europe the options for a post-LHC collider are the FCC and Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) projects, both proposed to be located at CERN. “The supporting note had the cardinal virtue of posing directly the central question: linear or circular?” write the authors. “We summarise our view on the key issues, which contain the answer to this question.”

The estimated physics reach of both machines is explored in detail. In terms of an initial-stage 380 GeV CLIC or 365 GeV FCC-ee, the report finds that both machines cover in comparable ways the number-one priority of the particle physics community: exploring more fully the Higgs sector, and covering top-quark physics. FCC compares favourably with CLIC  on the expected accuracy of the Higgs couplings, it claims, and its much higher luminosity means it can operate as a “tera-Z” and WW facility, providing a new generation of precision electroweak measurements. FCC-ee combines several new accelerator technologies, but “will be built using the vast experience accumulated with previous circular electron-positron colliders,” notes the report. CLIC would require “a vertical beam size in the collision region at the nanometre level”, and the authors raise concerns that CLIC would be restricted to electron–positron collisions with only a single interaction point and one experimental facility.

The differences between the physics reach of a linear and circular machine become sharper for “stage 2”: a 1– 3 TeV CLIC or a 100 TeV FCC-hh. Here, the authors conclude that CLIC will have very interesting capabilities for physics exploration, such as double-Higgs production, assuming that the design performance is achieved, whereas a 100 TeV FCC-hh opens a new energy regime, provided the 16 T magnet technology can be mastered technically and cost-effectively. FCC would have the last word on Standard Model measurements, and “an unrivalled discovery potential, with an increased reach for direct discovery at the highest masses”.

Whichever project is chosen, the necessary time and resources will require a new style for CERN

Both CLIC and FCC require a new scale of investment, the report notes, and success in this formidable task may be achieved “only if the particle physics community at large shows overwhelming support for the recommended programme”. The authors note that the integrated FCC-ee and FCC-hh programme is estimated to be a factor 1.5 more expensive than a 3 TeV CLIC, but will provide a greater range of research opportunities for a larger physics community over a longer time span. The costs are also to be seen in the perspective of the long timeframes of these programmes, each of which will extend over several decades, as well as the expected physics advances.

Whichever project is chosen, conclude the authors, the necessary time and resources will require a new style for CERN, for the particle-physics community – including innovative ways of guiding the careers of young researchers – and for the interaction between politics and society. “The FCC programme that we support will keep particle physics at the high-energy frontier vibrant, but it will require a deep and lasting commitment by society to fundamental research, which the high-energy community must strive to merit and justify,” says Spiro.

The next step in the European strategy update is the ESG drafting session to take place in Bad Honnef, Germany, from 20-24 January. Recommendations to CERN will be formally presented at an event in Budapest in May.

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Published on 17 September by a group of eight prominent particle physicists in Europe – Siegfried Bethke (MPI for Physics), Nora Brambilla (TU-München), Aldo Deandrea (U-Lyon 1), Carlo Guaraldo (INFN Frascati), Luciano Maiani (U-Roma La Sapienza), Antonio Pich (U-València), Alexander Rothkopf (U-Stavanger) and Johanna Stachel (U-Heidelberg) – the letter followed the announcement of a new EC organisational structure on 10 September in which former EC directorates for education, culture, sports and youth, as well as that for research, science and innovation, have been subsumed under a single commissioner with the titular brief “innovation and youth”.

“Words are important,” says Maiani, who was CERN Director-General from 1999–2003. “Omitting ‘research’ from the logo of the EC is reason for concern. The response we received, including from prestigious personalities, reassured us that this concern is widely shared.”

With signatories including hundreds of university and laboratory leaders, 19 Nobel laureates and many institutions including the European, French and German physical societies, the letter demands that the EC revises the title of the brief to “Education, Research, Innovation and Youth”. It states: “We, as members of the scientific community of Europe, wish to address this situation early on and emphasise both to the general public, as well as to relevant politicians on the national and European Union level, that without dedication to education and research there will neither exist a sound basis for innovation in Europe, nor can we fulfill the promise of a high standard of living for the citizens of Europe in a fierce global competition.”

Of course we are disappointed that the voices of more than 13,600 scientists went unheard

Johanna Stachel, University of Heidelberg

The letter closed on 13 November after the EC issued a press release stating that it will rename three commissioner portfolios, but that the title of commissioner designate for innovation and youth, Mariya Gabriel, is not among those three being changed. “Naturally we are disappointed, and even frightened as the decisions about non-renaming prove that the omission of research and education in the title signals how low these fields may be valued by the new commission,” says Bethke.

“We will keep pushing,” adds Stachel. “But of course we are disappointed that the voices of more than 13,600 scientists went unheard, despite many prominent voices and also significant press coverage.”

On 18 November, Rothkopf responded to European parliament president David Sassoli on behalf of the initial signatories with a letter, stating: “It is with great disappointment that we recognize that the voice of science has not reached the ears of the Commission. The intention of the Commission is to stimulate innovation. But we reiterate with force that without research and education there is no future to innovation… We are counting on you, Mr. President, to represent the voice of all European citizens who have signed up as supporter of the open letter and in the interest of European research.”

Update 28th November: Speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 27 November, European Commission (EC) president-elect Ursula von der Leyen announced that the brief of commissioner Mariya Gabriel would be been renamed “Innovation, research, culture, education and youth”. The addition of “education” and “research” to the initial title of the brief announced on 10 September was met with applause in the chamber.

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Ireland is one of only three European countries that do not have any formal agreement with CERN, said committee chair Mary Butler. “Innovation 2020’s vision is for Ireland to be a global innovation leader driving a strong sustainable economy and a better society. If Ireland is to deliver on this vision, membership of organisations such as CERN, which are at the forefront of innovation, is critical.” CERN already enjoys a productive relationship with physicists in Ireland, with University College Dublin a longstanding member of the LHCb and CMS collaborations, Dublin City University working on ISOLDE, University College Cork contributing civil engineering expertise, and theorists from several institutions involved in CERN projects. In January 2016, Ireland notified CERN of its intention to initiate deliberations on potential associate membership.

“I welcome this report and endorse its recommendations, which are pragmatic and cost-effective,” says Ronan McNulty, leader of the LHCb group at University College Dublin, and witness to the committee. “Delivery of these recommendations would enormously improve Irish academic links to CERN and create a new landscape for training the next generation of scientists and engineers, as well as developing business opportunities in the technology sector, and beyond.”

Ireland has a strong particle-physics community and CERN would welcome stronger institutional links

Charlotte Warakaulle

The report envisages a “multiplier effect” for return on investment to the Irish economy as a result of joining CERN. Although around 20 Irish companies already have contracts with CERN, it notes that they are at a competitive disadvantage as the laboratory prioritises companies from member countries. Under associate membership, says the report, contracts with Irish companies could rise to one third of the country’s financial contribution to the laboratory, which for Associate Member States must be at least of 10% of the cost of full membership. The cost of full membership, which yields voting rights at the CERN Council and eliminates the investment cap, depends on a country’s GDP, and would currently be estimated to be of the order of €12.5 million per year in Ireland’s case.

“We note the positive report from the committee, which clearly sets out the opportunities that membership or associate membership of CERN would bring to Ireland,” said Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN’s director for international relations. “Ireland has a strong particle-physics community and CERN would welcome stronger institutional links, which we believe would be mutually beneficial.”

The Irish government will now consider the committee’s findings.

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Physics-based industries generate over 16% of total turnover and more than 12% of overall employment in Europe, topping contributions from the financial services and retail sectors, according to a report published by the European Physical Society (EPS). The analysis, carried out by UK consultancy firm Cebr (Centre for Economics and Business Research), reveals that physics makes a net contribution to the European economy of at least €1.45 trillion per year, and suggests that physics-based sectors are more resilient than the wider economy.

“To give some context to these numbers, the turnover per person employed in the physics-based sector substantially outperforms the construction and retail sectors, and physics-based labour productivity (expressed as gross value added per employee) was significantly higher than in many other broad industrial and business sectors, including manufacturing,” stated EPS president Petra Rudolf of the University of Groningen. “Our hope is that the message conveyed by the EPS through the study performed by Cebr will be inspiring for the future, both at the European and national levels, making a convincing case for the support for physics in all of its facets, from education to research, to business and industry.”

The Cebr analysis examined public-domain data in 31 European countries for the six-year period 2011-2016. It defined physics-based industries as those where workers with some training in physics would be expected to be employed and where the activities rely heavily on the theories and results of physics to achieve their commercial goals, following the statistical classification of economic activities in the European community (NACE).

Germany showed the highest percentage of turnover from physics-based industries

Based on several different measures of economic growth and prosperity, the analysis found that physics-based goods and services contributed and average of 44% of all exports from the 28 European Union countries during the relevant period. The three major contributions were from manufacturing (42.5%), information & communication (14.1%), followed by professional, scientific & technical activities in physics-based fields such as architecture, engineering and R&D (14.1%). Distributions in employment data were found to be broadly similar, with professional, scientific & technical activities showing the strongest employment growth. Germany showed by far the highest percentage of turnover from physics-based industries (29%), followed by the UK (14.2%), France (12.9%) and Italy 10.4(%).

Taking into account “multiplier impacts” that capture the knock-on effect of goods and services on the wider economy, the analysis found that for every €1 of physics-based output, a total of €2.49 output is generated throughout the EU economy. The employment multiplier is higher still, meaning that for every job in physics-based industries, an average of 3.34 jobs are supported in the economy as a whole by these industries.

The report also found the European physics-based sector to be highly R&D intensive, with expenditure exceeding €22 billion in every year. “However, what seems to be difficult to comprehend for policy makers and for the general public that elects them is that keeping the physics-based sector in the economy strong and addressing global societal challenges is a process of a very long-term nature,” comments Rudolf. “Indeed, it will not suffice to develop technologies on the basis of the current knowledge: new paths and new knowledge will be needed, which can only be generated by open-ended research.”

While the report does not assess the impact of different sub-fields of physics, it is clear that high-energy physics is a major contributor, says former EPS president Rüdiger Voss of CERN. “The sheer scale and technological complexity of big-science projects, and the thousands of highly-skilled people that they produce, makes particle physics, astronomy and other research based on large-scale facilities significant contributors to the European economy – not to mention the fact that these are the subjects that often draw young people into science in the first place.”

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Physicists in Europe have published a 250-page “briefing book” to help map out the next major paths in fundamental exploration. Compiled by an expert physics-preparatory group set up by the CERN Council, the document is the result of an intense effort to capture the status and prospects for experiment, theory, accelerators, computing and other vital machinery of high-energy physics.

Last year, the European Strategy Group (ESG) — which includes scientific delegates from CERN’s member and associate-member states, directors and representatives of major European laboratories and organisations and invitees from outside Europe — was tasked with formulating the next update of the European strategy for particle physics. Following a call for input in September 2018, which attracted 160 submissions, an open symposium was held in Granada, Spain, on 13-16 May at which more than 600 delegates discussed the potential merits and challenges of the proposed research programmes. The ESG briefing book distills input from the working groups and the Granada symposium to provide an objective scientific summary.

“This document is the result of months of work by hundreds of people, and every effort has been made to objectively analyse the submitted inputs,” says ESG chair Halina Abramowicz of Tel Aviv University. “It does not take a position on the strategy process itself, or on individual projects, but rather is intended to represent the forward thinking of the community and be the main input to the drafting session in Germany in January.”

Collider considerations
An important element of the European strategy update is to consider which major collider should follow the LHC. The Granada symposium revealed there is clear support for an electron–positron collider to study the Higgs boson in greater detail, but four possible options at different stages of maturity exist: an International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan, a Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) or Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) at CERN, and a Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China. The briefing book states that, in a global context, CLIC and FCC-ee are competing with the ILC and with CEPC. As Higgs factories, however, the report finds all four to have similar reach, albeit with different time schedules and with differing potentials for the study of physics topics at other energies.

Also considered in depth are design studies in Europe for colliders that push the energy frontier, including a 3 TeV CLIC and a 100 TeV circular hadron collider (FCC-hh). The briefing book details the estimated timescales to develop some of these technologies, observing that the development of 16 T dipole magnets for FCC-hh will take a comparable time (about 20 years) to that projected for novel acceleration technologies such as plasma-wakefield techniques to reach conceptual designs.

“The Granada symposium and the briefing book mention the urgent need for intensifying accelerator R&D, including that for muon colliders,” says Lenny Rivkin of Paul Scherrer Institut, who was co-convener of the chapter on accelerator science and technology. “Another important aspect of the strategy update is to recognize the potential impact of the development of accelerator and associated technology on the progress in other branches of science, such as astroparticle physics, cosmology and nuclear physics.”

The bulk of the briefing book details the current physics landscape and prospects for progress, with chapters devoted to electroweak physics, strong interactions, flavour physics, neutrinos, cosmic messengers, physics beyond the Standard Model, and dark-sector exploration. A preceding chapter about theory emphasises the importance of keeping theoretical research in fundamental physics “free and diverse” and “not only limited to the goals of ongoing experimental projects”. It points to historical success stories such as Peter Higgs’ celebrated 1964 paper, which had the purely theoretical aim to show that Gilbert’s theorem is invalid for gauge theories at a time when applications to electroweak interactions were well beyond the horizon.

“While an amazing amount of progress has been made in the past seven years since the Higgs boson discovery, our knowledge of the couplings of the Higgs-boson to the W and Z and to third-generation charged fermions is quite imprecise, and the couplings of the Higgs boson to the other charged fermions and to itself are unmeasured,” says Beate Heinemann of DESY, who co-convened the report’s electroweak chapter. “The imperative to study this unique particle further derives from its special properties and the special role it might play in resolving some of the current puzzles of the universe, for example dark matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry or the hierarchy problem.”

Readers are reminded that the discovery of neutrino oscillations constitutes a “laboratory” proof of physics beyond the Standard Model. The briefing book also notes the significant role played by Europe, via CERN, in neutrino-experiment R&D since the last strategy update concluded in 2013. Flavour physics too should remain at the forefront of the European strategy, it argues, noting that the search for flavour and CP violation in the quark and lepton sectors at different energy frontiers “has a great potential to lead to new physics at moderate cost”. An independent determination of the proton structure is needed if present and future hadron colliders are to be turned into precision machines, reports the chapter on strong interactions, and a diverse global programme based on fixed-target experiments as well as dedicated electron-proton colliders is in place.

Europe also has the opportunity to play a leading role in the searches for dark matter “by fully exploiting the opportunities offered by the CERN facilities, such as the SPS, the potential Beam Dump Facility, and the LHC itself, and by supporting the programme of searches for axions to be hosted at other European institutions”. The briefing book notes the strong complementarity between accelerator and astrophysical searches for dark matter, and the demand for deeper technology sharing between particle and astroparticle physics.

Scientific diversity
The diversity of the experimental physics programme is a strong feature of the strategy update. The briefing book lists outstanding puzzles that did not change in the post-Run 2 LHC era – such as the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking, the nature of the Higgs boson, the pattern of quark and lepton masses and the neutrino’s nature – that can also be investigated by smaller scale experiments at lower energies, as explored by CERN’s dedicated Physics Beyond Colliders initiative.

Finally, in addressing the vital roles of detector & accelerator development, computing and instrumentation, the report acknowledges both the growing importance of energy efficiency and the risks posed by “the limited amount of success in attracting, developing and retaining instrumentation and computing experts”, urging that such activities be recognized correctly as fundamental research activities. The strong support in computing and infrastructure is also key to the success of the high-luminosity LHC which, the report states, will see “a very dynamic programme occupying a large fraction of the community” during the next two decades – including a determination of the couplings between the Higgs boson and Standard Model particles “at the percent level”.

Following a drafting session to take place in Bad Honnef, Germany, on 20-24 January, the ESG is due to submit its recommendations for the approval of the CERN Council in May 2020 in Budapest, Hungary.

“Now comes the most challenging part of the strategy update process: how to turn the exciting and well-motivated scientific proposals of the community into a viable and coherent strategy which will ensure progress and a bright future for particle physics in Europe,” says Abramowicz. “Its importance cannot be overestimated, coming at a time when the field faces several crossroads and decisions about how best to maintain progress in fundamental exploration, potentially for generations to come.”

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A state-of-the-art facility for hadron therapy in Southeast Europe has moved from its conceptual to design phase, following financial support from the European Commission. At a kick-off meeting held on Wednesday 18 September in Budva, Montenegro, more than 120 people met to discuss the future South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) – a facility for tumour therapy and biomedical research that follows the founding principles of CERN.

“This is a region that has no dilemma regarding its European affiliation, and which, I believe, will be part of a joint European competition for technological progress. Therefore, the International Institute for Sustainable Technologies is an urgent need of our region,” said Montenegro prime minister Duško Marković during the opening address. “I am confident that the political support for this project is obvious and indisputable. The memorandum of understanding was signed by six prime ministers in July this year in Poznan. I believe that other countries in the region will formally join the initiative.”

The idea for SEEIIST germinated three years ago at a meeting of trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is the brainchild of former CERN Director-General Herwig Schopper, and has benefitted from a political push from Montenegro minister of science Sanja Damjanović, who is also a physicist who works at CERN and GSI-FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany. SEEIIST aims to create a platform for internationally competitive research in the spirit of the CERN model “science for peace”, stimulating the education of young scientists, building scientific capacity and fostering greater cooperation and mobility in the region.

In January 2018, at a forum at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy held under the auspices of UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Physical Society, two possibilities for a large international institute were presented: a synchrotron X-ray facility and a hadron-therapy centre. Soon afterwards, the 10 participating parties of SEEIIST’s newly formed intergovernmental steering committee chose the latter.

Europe has played a major role in the development of hadron therapy, with numerous centres currently offering proton therapy and four facilities offering proton and more advanced carbon-ion treatment. But currently no such facility exists in Southeast Europe despite a growing number of tumours being diagnosed there. SEEIIST will follow the  idea of the “PIMMS” accelerator design started at CERN two decades ago, profiting from the experience at the dual proton–ion centres CNAO in Italy and MedAustron in Austria, and also centres at GSI and in Heidelberg. It will be a unique facility that splits its beam time 50:50 between treating patients and performing research with a wide range of different ions for radiobiology, imaging and treatment planning. The latter will include studies into the feasibility of heavier ions such as oxygen, making SEEIIST distinct in this rapidly growing field.

The next steps are to prepare a definite technical design for the facility, to propose a structure and business plan and to define the conditions for the site selection. To carry out these tasks, several working groups are being established in close collaboration with CERN and GSI-FAIR. “This great event was a culmination of the continuous efforts invested since 2017 into the project,” says Damjanović. “If all goes well, construction is expected to start in 2023, with first patient treatment in 2028.”

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On 10 July, CERN and the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (APPEC) founded a new research centre for astroparticle physics theory called EuCAPT. Led by an international steering committee comprising 12 theorists from institutes in France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, and from CERN, EuCAPT aims to coordinate and promote theoretical physics in the fields of astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe.

Astroparticle physics is undergoing a phase of profound transformation, explains inaugural EuCAPT director Gianfranco Bertone, who is spokesperson of the Centre for Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics at the University of Amsterdam. “We have recently obtained extraordinary results such as the discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos with IceCube, the direct detection of gravitational waves with LIGO and Virgo, and we have witnessed the birth of multi-messenger astrophysics. Yet we have formidable challenges ahead of us: understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy, elucidating the origin of cosmic rays, understanding the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem, and so on. These are highly interdisciplinary problems that have ramifications in cosmology, particle, and astroparticle physics, and that are best addressed by a strong and diverse community of scientists.”

The construction of experimental astroparticle facilities is coordinated by APPEC, but until now there was no Europe-wide coordination of theoretical activities, says Bertone. “We want to be open and inclusive, and we hope that all interested scientists will feel welcome to join this new initiative.” On a practical level, EuCAPT aims to coordinate scientific and training activities, help researchers attract adequate resources for their projects, and promote a stimulating and open environment in which young scientists can thrive. CERN will act as the central hub of the consortium for the first five years.

It is not a coincidence that CERN has been chosen as the central hub of EuCAPT, says Gian Giudice, head of CERN’s theory department. “The research that we are doing at CERN-TH is an exploration of the possible links between physics at the smallest and largest scales. Creating a collaborative network among European research centres in astroparticle physics and cosmology will boost activities in these fields and foster dialogue with particle physics,” he says. “Dark matter, dark energy, inflation and the origin of large-scale structures are big questions regarding the universe. But there are good hints that suggest that their explanation has to be looked for in the domain of particle physics.”

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Twenty years ago, distinguished Austrian theorist and co-inventor of supersymmetric quantum field theory, Julius Wess, concluded that something must be done to revitalise science in former Yugoslavia. One of the 12 founding members of CERN, Yugoslavia was a middle-sized European country with corresponding moderate activities in high-energy physics. Its breakup resulted in a dramatic deterioration of conditions for science, the loss of connections and an overwhelming sense of isolation inside the region.

Wess strongly believed that science is a powerful means to influence the development of society. From 1999 to 2003, his initiative “Wissenschaftler in Global Verantwortung” (WIGV), which translates to “Scientists in Global Responsibility”, provided a platform to connect and support individual researchers, groups and institutions with a focus on former Yugoslavia. Much was achieved during this short time, such as the granting of scholarships in mathematics and theoretical physics, a revival of interrupted schools and conferences and the modernisation of intranet at several Serbian institutions. Funding, initially from Germany, provided an opportunity to researchers from former Yugoslavia to establish contacts and cooperation with many excellent researchers from all around the world.

It was natural to expand the WIGV initiative to bridge the gap between southeastern and the rest of Europe. Countries to the east and south of Yugoslavia – such as Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey – have a reasonably strong presence in high-energy physics. On the other hand, they share some similar economic and scientific problems, with many research groups facing insufficient financing, isolation and lacking critical mass.

Therefore, the participants of the UNESCO-sponsored Balkan Workshop 2003 held in Serbia created the southeastern European Network in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics (SEENET-MTP). The network has since grown to include 16 full and seven associated member institutions from 11 countries, and more than 450 individual members. There are also 13 partner institutions worldwide. During its 15 years SEENET-MTP has undertaken: more than 18 projects, mostly concerning mobility and training; 30 conferences, workshops and schools; more than 300 researcher and student exchanges and fellowships; and more than 250 joint papers. Following initial support from CERN’s theory department, a formal collaboration agreement resulted in the joint CERN–SEENET-MTP PhD Training Program with at least 80 students taking part in the first cycle from 2015 to 2018. Vital support also came from the European Physical Society and ICTP Trieste.

In total, the investment provided for SEENET-MTP from international funds, its members, national funds and in-kind support amounts to almost €1 million. It is quite an achievement – if we consider that the results rely mostly on the efforts and good will of many individuals – but it is still much less than an average “EU project”. This raises important questions about maintaining SEENET-MTP’s efforts. 

SEENET-MTP has “thermalised” the system – the network has made people in the region interact. Yet today, we find ourselves asking similar questions that its founders asked themselves 15 years ago. Is there something specific to southeast Europe that deserves special treatment? Is there something specific in high-energy theoretical physics that merits specific funding? Is the financing of high-energy physics primarily a responsibility of governments? And, if so, can Balkan countries do it properly?

Is there something specific to southeast Europe that deserves special treatment?

If the answers to the first three questions are “yes”, and to the last one “no”, a pressing issue concerns extra funding and the role of the European Union (EU). In the six or seven countries in the region that are not yet members of the EU (and which have a very unclear perspective about joining), we need to work out how to fund fundamental sciences in a similar way that Poland, Czech Republic, or “older” EU countries do. At the same time, it is important to consider the future roles of non-EU institutions such as CERN and the ICTP. The recent accession of Serbia to CERN as a full member state, and with Croatia and Slovenia in the process of joining, are promising signs towards closer European integration.

Networking is the most natural and promising auxiliary mechanism to preserve and build local capacity in fundamental physics in the region. The next SEENET Scientific-Advisory Committee and its Council meeting will take place at ICTP Trieste from 20 to 23 October. It will be the right place, if not the last possibility, to transfer the initial ideas and achieved results to an EU-supported project to bolster best practice in the Balkans.

www.seenet-mtp.info/bridges

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Nearly 70 years ago, before CERN was established, two models for European collaboration in fundamental physics were on the table: one envisaged opening up national facilities to researchers from across the continent, the other the creation of a new, international research centre with world-leading facilities. Discussions were lively, until one delegate pointed out that researchers would go to wherever the best facilities were.

From that moment on, CERN became an accelerator laboratory aspiring to be at the forefront of technology to enable the best science. It was a wise decision, and one that I was reminded of while listening to the presentations at the open symposium of the European Strategy for Particle Physics in Granada, Spain, in May. Because among the conclusions of this very lively meeting was the view that providing world-leading accelerator and experimental facilities is precisely the role the community needs CERN to play today.

There was huge interest in the symposium, as witnessed by the 600-plus participants, including many from the nuclear and astroparticle physics communities. The vibrancy of the field was fully on display, with future hadron colliders offering the biggest leap in energy reach for direct searches for new physics. Precision electroweak studies at the few per cent level, particularly for the Higgs particle, will obtain sensitivities for similar mass scales. The LHC, and soon the High-Luminosity LHC, will go a long way towards achieving that goal of precision. Indeed, it’s remarkable how far the LHC experiments have come in overturning the old adage that hadrons are for discovery and leptons for precision – the LHC has established itself as a precision tool, and this is shaping the debate as to what kind of future we can expect.

Nevertheless, however precise proton–proton physics becomes, it will still fall short in some areas. To fully understand the absolute width of the Higgs, for example, a lepton machine will be needed, and no fewer than four implementations were discussed. So, one key conclusion is that if we are to cover all bases, no single facility will suffice. One way forward was presented by the chair of the Asian Committee for Future Accelerators Geoff Taylor, who advocated a lepton machine for Asia while Europe would focus on advancing the hadron frontier.

Interest in muon colliders was rekindled, not least because of some recent reconsiderations in muon cooling (CERN Courier July/August 2018 p19). The great and recent progress of plasma-wakefield accelerators, including AWAKE at CERN, calls for further research in this field so as to render the technology usable for particle physics. Methods of dark-matter searches abound and are an important element of the discussion on physics beyond colliders, using single beams at CERN.

The Granada meeting was a town meeting on physics. Yet, it is clear to all that we can’t make plans solely on the basis of the available technology and a strong physics case, but must also consider factors such as cost and societal impact in any future strategy for European particle physics. With all the available technology options and open questions in physics, there’s no doubt that the future should be bright. The European Strategy Group, however, has a monumental challenge in plotting an affordable course to propose to the CERN Council in March next year.

There were calls for CERN to diversify and lend its expertise to other areas of research, such as gravitational waves: one speaker even likened interferometers to accelerators without beams. In terms of the technologies involved, that statement stands up well to scrutiny, and it is true that technology developed for particle physics at CERN can help the advancement of other fields. CERN already formally collaborates with organisations like ITER and the ESS, sharing our innovation and expertise. However, for me, the strongest message from Granada is that it is CERN’s focus on remaining at the forefront of particle physics that has enabled the Organization to contribute to a diverse range of fields. CERN needs to remain true to that founding vision of being a world-leading centre for accelerator technology. That is the starting point. From it, all else follows.

• This article was originally published in the CERN Bulletin.

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An event held at CERN on 20–21 May revealed 170 projects that have been granted €100,000 of European Union (EU) funding to develop disruptive detection and imaging technologies. The successful projects, drawn from more than 1200 proposals from researchers in scientific and industrial organisations across the world, now have one year to prove the scientific merit and innovation potential of their ideas.

The 170 funded projects are part of the Horizon 2020 ATTRACT project funded by the EU and a consortium of nine partners, including CERN, the European Southern Observatory (ESO), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), European XFEL and Institut Laue-Langevin. The successful projects are grouped into four broad categories: data acquisition systems and computing; front-end and back-end electronics; sensors; and software and integration.

CERN researchers are involved in 19 of the projects, in areas from magnets and cryogenics to electronics and informatics. Several of the selected projects involve the design of sensors or signal-transmission systems that operate at very low temperatures or in the presence of radiation, and many target applications in medical imaging and treatment or in the aerospace sector. Others seek industrial applications, such as 3D printing of systems equipped with sensors, the inspection of operating cryostats or applications in environmental monitoring.

ESO’s astronomical technology and expertise will be applied to an imaging spectrograph suitable for clinical cancer studies and to single-photon visible-light imagers for adaptive optics systems and low-light-level spectroscopic and imaging applications. Among other projects connected with Europe’s major research infrastructures, four projects at the ESRF concern adaptive algebraic speckle tomography for clinical studies of osteoarticular diseases, a novel readout concept for 2D pixelated detectors, the transferral of indium-gallium-nitride epilayers onto substrates for full-spectrum LEDs, and artificial intelligence for the automatic segmentation of volumetric microtomography images.

“170 breakthrough ideas were selected based on a combination of scientific merit, innovation readiness and potential societal impact,” explained Sergio Bertolucci, chair of ATTRACT’s independent research, development and innovation committee. “The idea is to speed up the process of developing breakthrough technologies and applying them to address society’s key challenges.”

The outcomes of the ATTRACT seed-funding will be presented in Brussels in autumn 2020, and the most promising projects will receive further funding.

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The open symposium of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP), which took place in Granada, Spain, from 13–16 May, revealed a vibrant field in flux as it grapples with how to attack the next big questions. Opening the event, chair of the ESPP strategy secretariat, Halina Abramowicz, remarked: “This is a very strange symposium. Normally we discuss results at conferences, but here we are discussing future results.” More than 10 different future-collider modes were under discussion, and the 130 or so talks and discussion sessions showed that elementary particle physics – in the wake of the discovery of the Higgs boson but so far no evidence of particles beyond the Standard Model (SM) – is transitioning into a new and less well-mapped realm of fundamental exploration.

Plain weird

Theorist Pilar Hernández of the University of Valencia described the SM as plain “weird”. The model’s success in describing elementary particles and their interactions is beyond doubt, but as an all-encompassing theory of nature it falls short. Why are the fermions arranged into three neat families? Why do neutrinos have an almost imperceptibly small mass? Why does the discovered Higgs boson fit the simplest “toy model” of itself? And what lies beneath the SM’s numerous free parameters? Similar puzzles persist about the universe at large: the mechanism of inflation; the matter–antimatter asymmetry; and the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

While initial results from the LHC severely constrain the most natural parameter spaces for new physics, said Hernández, the 10–100 TeV region is an interesting scale to explore. At the same time, she argued, there is a shift to more “bottom-up, rather than top-down”, approaches to beyond-SM (BSM) physics. The new quarries includes axion-like and long-lived particles, and searches for hidden, dark and feebly-interacting sectors – in addition to studying the Higgs boson, which has deep connections to many puzzles in the SM, with much greater precision. “Particle physics could be heading to crisis or revolution,” said Hernández.

Normally we discuss results at conferences, but here we are discussing future results

The accelerator, detector and computing technology needed for future fundamental exploration are varied and challenging. Reviewing Higgs-factory programmes, Vladimir Shiltsev, head of Fermilab’s Accelerator Physics Center, weighed up the pros and cons of linear versus circular machines. The former includes the International Linear Collider (ILC) and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC); the latter a future circular electron–positron collider at CERN (FCCee) and the Circular Electron Positron Collider in China (CEPC). Linear colliders, said Shiltsev, are based on mature designs and organisation, are expandable to higher energies, and draw a wall-plug power similar to that of the LHC. On the other hand, they face challenges including their luminosity and number of interaction points. Circular Higgs factories offer a higher luminosity and more interaction points than linear options but require R&D into high-efficiency RF sources and superconducting cavities, said Shiltsev.

For hadron colliders, the three current options – CERN’s FCC-hh (100 TeV), China’s SppC (75 TeV) and a high-energy LHC (27 TeV) – demand next-generation superconducting dipole magnets. Akira Yamamoto of CERN/KEK said that while a lepton collider could begin construction in the next few years, the dipoles necessary for a hadron collider might take 10 to 15 years of R&D before construction could start.

The symposium also saw much discussion about muon colliders, which offer an energy-frontier lepton collider but for which it was widely acknowledged the technology is not yet ready. Concerning more futuristic acceleration technologies based on plasma wakefields, impressive results at facilities such as BELLA at Berkeley and AWAKE at CERN were on show.

Thinking ahead

From colliders to fixed-target to astrophysics experiments, said Francesco Forti of INFN and the University of Pisa, detectors face a huge variety of operating conditions and employ technologies deeply entwined with developments in industry. Another difficulty, he said, is how to handle non-standard physics signals, such as long-lived particles and monopoles. Like accelerators, detectors require long time scales – it was the very early 1990s when the first conceptual design reports for the LHC detectors were written.

In terms of data processing, the challenges ahead are immense, said Simone Campana of CERN and the HEP software foundation. The high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) presents a particular challenge, but DUNE, FAIR, BELLE II and other experiments will also create unprecedented data samples, plus there is the need to generate ever-more Monte Carlo samples. At the same time, noted Campana, the rate of advance in hardware performance has slowed in recent years, forcing the community to towards graphics processing units, high-performance computing and commercial cloud services. Forti and Campana both argued for better career opportunities and greater recognition for physicists who devote their time to detector and computing efforts.

The symposium also showed that the strategic importance of communications, education and outreach is becoming increasingly recognised.

Discussions in Granada revealed a community united in its desire for a post-LHC collider, but not in its choice of that collider’s form. Stimulating some heated exchanges, the ESPP saw proposals for future machines pitted against each other and against expectations from the HL-LHC in terms of their potential physics reach for key targets such as the Higgs boson.

Big questions

Gian Giudice, head of CERN’s Theory Department, said that the remaining BSM-physics space is “huge”, and pointed to four big questions for colliders: to what extent can we tell whether the Higgs is fundamental or composite? Are there new interactions or new particles around or above the electroweak scale? What cases of thermal relic WIMPs are still unprobed and can be fully covered by future collider searches? And to what extent can current or future accelerators probe feebly interacting sectors?

Though colliders dominated discussions, the enormous progress in neutrino physics since the previous ESPP was clear from numerous presentations. The open-symposium audience was reminded that neutrino masses, as established by neutrino oscillations, are the first particle-physics evidence for BSM phenomena. A vibrant programme is under way to fully measure the neutrino mixing matrix and in particular the neutrino mass ordering and CP violation phase, while other experiments are probing the neutrino’s absolute mass scale and testing whether they are of a Dirac or Majorana nature.

New working group to address ILC concerns

On 17 May in Granada, following the open symposium of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the first meeting of a new international working group on the International Linear Collider (ILC) took place. The ILC is the most technologically mature of all current future-collider options, and was at the centre of discussions at the previous strategy update in 2013. Although its technology and costs have been revised since then, there is still no firm decision on the project’s location, governance or funding model. The new working group was set up by Japan’s KEK laboratory in response to a recent statement on the ILC from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology (MEXT) that called for further discussions on these thorny issues. Comprising two members from Europe, two from North America and three from Asia (including Japan), the group will investigate and update several points, including: cost sharing for construction and operation; organisation and governance of the ILC; and the international sharing of the remaining technical preparations. The working group will submit a report to KEK by the end of September 2019 and the final report will be used by MEXT for discussions with other governments.

Around a fifth of the 160 input documents to the ESPP were linked to flavour physics, which is crucial for new-physics searches because it is potentially sensitive to effects at scales as high as 10⁵ TeV, said Antonio Zoccoli of INFN. Summarising dark-matter and dark-sector physics, Shoji Asai of the University of Tokyo said that a shift was taking place from the old view, where dark-matter solutions arose as a byproduct of beyond-SM approaches such as supersymmetry, to a new paradigm where dark matter needs an explanation of its own. Asai called for more coordination and support between accelerator-based direct detection and indirect detection dark-sector searches, as exemplified by the new European Center for Astro-Particle Theory.

Jorgen D’Hondt of Vrije Universiteit Brussel listed the many dedicated experiments in the strong-physics arena and the open questions, including: how to reach an adequate precision of perturbative and non-perturbative QCD predictions at the highest energies? And how to probe the quark–gluon plasma equation of state and to establish whether there is a first-order phase transition at high baryon density?

Of all the scientific themes of the week, electroweak physics generated the liveliest discussions, especially concerning how well the Higgs boson’s couplings to fermions, gauge bosons and to itself can be probed at current and future colliders. Summary speaker Beate Heinemann of DESY cautioned that such quantitative estimates are extremely difficult to make, though a few things stand out. One is the impressive estimated performance from the HL-LHC in the next 15 years or so; another is that a long-term physics programme based on successive machines in a 100 km-circumference tunnel offers the largest overall physics reach on the Higgs boson and other key parameters. There is broad agreement, however, that the next major collider immediately after the LHC should collide electrons and positrons to fully explore the Higgs and make precision measurements of other electroweak parameters.

The big picture

The closer involvement of particle physics with astroparticle physics, in particular following the discovery of gravitational waves, was a running theme. It was argued that, in terms of technology, next-generation gravitational-wave detectors such as the Einstein Telescope are essentially “accelerators without beams” and that CERN’s expertise in vacuum and cryogenics would help to make such facilities a reality. Inputs from the astroparticle– and nuclear-physics communities, in addition to dedicated perspectives from Asia and the Americas, brought into sharp focus the global nature of modern high-energy physics and the need for greater coordination at all levels.

The open symposium of the ESPP update was a moment for physicists to take stock of the field’s status and future. The community rose to the occasion, aware that the decisions ahead will impact generations of physicists yet to be born. A week of high-quality presentations and focused discussions proved how far things have moved on since the previous strategy update concluded in 2013. Discussions illuminated both the immensity of efforts to evaluate the physics reach of the HL-LHC and future colliders, and the major task faced by the European Strategy Group (ESG) in plotting a path to the future. It is clear that new thinking, from basic theory to instrumentation, computing, analysis and global organisation, is required to sustain progress in the field.

No decisions were taken in Granada, stresses Abramowicz. “During the open symposium we mainly discussed the science. Now comes the time to assess the capacity of the community to realise the proposed scientific goals,” she says. “The Physics Preparatory Group is preparing the briefing book, which will summarise the scientific aspirations of the community, including the physics case for them.”

The briefing book is expected to be completed in September. The ESG drafting session will take place on 20–24 January 2020 in Bad Honnef, Germany, and the update of the ESPP is due to be completed and approved by CERN Council in May 2020.

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Serbia became the 23rd Member State of CERN, on 24 March, following receipt of formal notification from UNESCO. Ever since the early days of CERN (former Yugoslavia was one of the 12 founding Member States of CERN in 1954, until its departure in 1961), the  Serbian scientific community has made strong contributions to CERN’s projects. This includes at the Synchrocyclotron, Proton Synchrotron and Super Proton Synchrotron facilities. In the 1980s and 1990s, physicists from Serbia worked on the DELPHI experiment at CERN’s LEP collider. In 2001, CERN and Serbia concluded an International Cooperation Agreement, leading to Serbia’s participation in the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC, in the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, as well as in the ACE and NA61 experiments. Serbia’s main involvement with CERN today is in the ATLAS and CMS experiments, in the ISOLDE facility, and on design studies for future particle colliders – FCC and CLIC – both of which are potentially new flagship projects at CERN.

Serbia was an Associate Member in the pre-stage to membership from March 2012. As a Member State, Serbia will have voting rights in the CERN Council, while the new status will also enhance the recruitment opportunities for Serbian nationals at CERN and for Serbian industry to bid for CERN contracts. “Investing in scientific research is important for the development of our economy and CERN is one of the most important scientific institutions today,” says Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia. “I am immensely proud that Serbia has become a fully-fledged CERN Member State. This will bring new possibilities for our scientists and industry to work in cooperation with CERN and fellow CERN Member States.”

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The Japanese government has put on hold a decision about hosting the International Linear Collider (ILC), to the disappointment of many hoping for clarity ahead of the update of the European strategy for particle physics. At a meeting in Tokyo on 6–7 March, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced, with input from the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), that it has “not yet reached declaration” for hosting the ILC at this time. A statement from MEXT continued: “The ILC project requires further discussion in formal academic decision-making processes such as the SCJ Master Plan, where it has to be clarified whether the ILC project can gain understanding and support from the domestic academic community… MEXT will continue to discuss the ILC project with other governments while having an interest in the ILC project.”

The keenly awaited announcement was made during the 83rd meeting of the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) at the University of Tokyo. During a press briefing, ICFA chair Geoffrey Taylor emphasised that colliders are long-term projects. “At the last strategy update in 2013 the ILC was seen as an important development in the field, and we were hoping there would be a definite statement from Japan so that it can be incorporated into the current strategy update,” he said. “We don’t have that positive endorsement, so it will proceed at a slower rate than we hoped. ICFA still supports Japan as hosts of the ILC, and we hope it is built here because Japan has been working hard towards it. If not, we can be sure that there will be somewhere else in the world where the project can be taken up.”

The story of the ILC, an electron–positron collider that would serve as a Higgs factory, goes back more than 15 years. In 2012, physicists in Japan submitted a petition to the Japanese government to host the project. A technical design report was published the following year. In 2017, the original ILC design was revised to reduce its centre-of-mass energy by half, shortening it by around a third and reducing its cost by up to 40%.

Meanwhile, MEXT has been weighing up the ILC project in terms of its scientific significance, technical challenges, cost and other factors. In December 2018, the SCJ submitted a critical report to MEXT highlighting perceived issues with the project, including its cost and international organisation. Asked at the March press briefing why the SCJ should now be expected to change its views on the ILC, KEK director-general Masanori Yamauchi responded: “We can show that we already have solutions for the technical challenges pointed out in the latest SCJ report, and we are going to start making a framework for international cost-sharing.”

Writing in LC NewsLine, Lyn Evans, director of the Linear Collider Collaboration (which coordinates planning and research for the ILC and CERN’s Compact Linear Collider, CLIC), remains upbeat: “We did not get the green light we hoped for. Nevertheless, there was a significant step forward with a strong political statement and, for the first time, a declaration of interest in further discussions by a senior member of the executive. We will continue to push hard.”

Japan’s statement has also been widely interpreted as a polite way for the government to say “no” to the ILC. “The reality is that it is naturally difficult for people outside the machinery of any national administration to understand fully how procedures operate, and this is certainly true of the rest of the world with regard to what is truly happening with ILC in Japan,” says Phil Burrows of the University of Oxford, who is spokesperson for the CLIC accelerator collaboration.

A full spectrum of views was expressed at a meeting of the linear-collider community in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 8–9 April, with around 100 people present. “The global community represented at the Lausanne meeting restated the overwhelming physics case for an electron–positron collider to make precision measurements in the Higgs and top-quark sectors, with superb sensitivity to new physics,” says Burrows. “We are in the remarkable situation that we have not one, but two, mature options for doing this: ILC and CLIC. I hope that the European Strategy Update recommendations will reflect this consensus on the physics case, position Europe to play a leading role, and hence ensure that one of these projects proceeds to realisation.”

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What would you do if you were thrust into a world where suddenly you lacked control over who you were? If you had no way to prove where you were from, who you were related to, or what you had accomplished? If you lost all your documentation in a natural disaster, or were forced to leave your home without taking anything with you? Without proof of identity, people are unable access essential systems such as health, education and banking services, and they are also exceedingly vulnerable to trafficking and incarceration. Having and owning your identity is an essential human right that too many people are lacking.

More than 68 million people worldwide have been displaced by war and conflict, and over 25 million have fled their countries and gone from the designation of “citizen” to “refugee”. They are often prevented from working in their new countries, and, even if they are allowed to work, many nations will not let professional credentials, such as licences to practise law or medicine, follow these people across their borders. We end up stripping away fundamental human dignities and leaving exorbitant amounts of untapped potential on the table. Countries need to recognise not just the right to identity but also that identity is portable across nation states.

The issue of sovereign identities extends much further than documentation. All over the world, individuals are becoming commodified by companies offering “free” services because their actual products are the users and their data. Every individual should have the right to decide to monetise their data if they want. But the speed, scale and stealth of such practises is making it increasingly difficult to retain control of our data.

All of this is happening as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the web. While there is no doubt that the web has been incredibly beneficial for humanity, it has also turned people into pawns and opened them up to new security risks. I believe that we can not only remedy these harms, but that we’ve yet to harness even a small fraction of the good that the web can do. Enter The Humanized Internet – a non-profit movement founded in 2017 that is working to use new technologies to give every human being secure, sovereign control over their own digital identity.

New technologies like blockchain, which allows digital information to be distributed but not copied, can allow us to tackle this issue. Blockchain has some key differences with today’s databases. First, it allows participants to see and verify all data involved, minimising chances of fraud. Second, all data is verified and encrypted before being added to an individual block in such a way that a hacker would need to have exponentially more computing power to break in than is required in today’s systems. These characteristics allow blockchain to provide public ledgers that participants trust based on the agreed-upon consensus protocol. Once data transactions are on a block, they cannot be overwritten, and no central institution holds control, as these ledgers are visible to all the users connected to them. Users’ identities within a ledger are known only to the users themselves.

The first implication of this technology is that it can help to establish a person’s citizenship in their state of origin and enable registration of official records. Without this many people would be considered stateless and granted almost no rights or diplomatic protections. For refugees, digital identities also allow peer-to-peer donation and transparent public transactions. Additionally, digital identities create the ability to practise selective disclosure, where individuals can choose to share their records only at their own discretion.

We now need more people to get on board. We are already working with experts to discuss the potential of blockchain to improve inclusion in state-authenticated identity programmes and how to combat potential privacy challenges, in addition to e-voting systems that could allow inclusive participation in voting at all policy levels. We should all be the centre of our universe; our identity should be wholly and irrevocably our own.

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Since the advent of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN has been recognised as the world’s leading laboratory for experimental particle physics. More than 10,000 people work at CERN on a daily basis. The majority are members of universities and other institutions worldwide, and many are young students and postdocs. The experience of working at CERN therefore plays an important role in their careers, be it in high-energy physics or a different domain.

The value of education

In 2016 the CERN management appointed a study group to collect information about the careers of students who have completed their thesis studies in one of the four LHC experiments. Similar studies were carried out in the past, also including people working on the former LEP experiments, and were mainly based on questionnaires sent to the team leaders of the various collaborator institutes. The latest study collected a larger and more complete sample of up-to-date information from all the experiments, with the aim of addressing young physicists who have left the field. This allows a quantitative measurement of the value of the education and skills acquired at CERN in finding jobs in other domains, which is of prime importance to evaluate the impact and role of CERN’s culture.

Following an initial online questionnaire with 282 respondents, the results were presented to the CERN Council in December 2016. The experience demonstrated the potential for collecting information from a wider population and also to deepen and customise the questions. Consequently, it was decided to enlarge the study to all persons who have been or are still involved with CERN, without any particular restrictions. Two distinct communities were polled with separate questionnaires: past and current CERN users (mainly experimentalists at any stage of their career), and theorists who had collaborated with the CERN theory department. The questionnaires were opened for a period of about four months and attracted 2692 and 167 participants from the experimental and theoretical communities, respectively. A total of 84 nationalities were represented, with German, Italian and US nationals making
up around half, and the distribution of participants by experiments was: ATLAS (994); CMS (977); LHCb (268) ALICE (102); and “other” (87), which mainly included members of the NA62 collaboration.

The questionnaires addressed various professional and sociological aspects: age, nationality, education, domicile and working place, time spent at CERN, acquired expertise, current position, and satisfaction with the CERN environment. Additional points were specific to those who are no longer CERN users, in relation to their current situation and type of activity. The analysis revealed some interesting trends.

For experimentalists, the CERN environment and working experience is considered as satisfactory or very satisfactory by 82% of participants, which is evenly distributed across nationalities. In 70% of cases, people who left high-energy physics mainly did so because of the long and uncertain path for obtaining a permanent position. Other reasons for leaving the field, although quoted by a lower percentage of participants, were: interest in other domains; lack of satisfaction at work; and family reasons. The majority of participants (63%) who left high-energy physics are currently working in the private sector, often in information technology, advanced technologies and finance domains, where they occupy a wide range of positions and responsibilities. Those in the public sector are mainly involved in academia or education.

For persons who left the field, several skills developed during their experience at CERN are considered important in their current work. The overall satisfaction of participants with their current position was high or very high for 78% of respondents, while 70% of respondents considered CERN’s impact on finding a job outside high-energy physics as positive or very positive. CERN’s services and networks, however, are not found to be very effective in helping finding a new job – a situation that is being addressed, for example, by the recently launched CERN alumni programme.

Theorists participating in the second questionnaire mainly have permanent or tenure-track positions. A large majority of them spent time at CERN’s theory department with short- or medium-term contracts, and this experience seems to improve participants’ careers when leaving CERN for a national institution. On average, about 35% of a theorist’s scientific publications originate from collaborations started at CERN, and a large fraction of theorists (96%) declared that they are satisfied or highly satisfied with their experience at CERN.

Conclusions

As with all such surveys, there is an inherent risk of bias due to the formulation of the questions and the number and type of participants. In practice, only between 20 and 30% of the targeted populations responded, depending on the addressed community, which means the results of the poll cannot be considered as representative of the whole CERN population. Nevertheless, it is clear that the impact of CERN on people’s careers is considered by a large majority of the people polled to be mostly positive, with some areas for improvement such as training and supporting the careers of those who choose to leave CERN and high-energy physics.

In the future this study could be made more significant by collecting similar information on larger samples of people, especially former CERN users. In this respect, the CERN alumni programme could help build a continuously updated database of current and former CERN users and also provide more support for people who decide to leave high-energy physics.

The final results of the survey, mostly in terms of statistical plots, together with a detailed description of the methods used to collect and analyse all the data, have been documented in a CERN Yellow Report, and will also be made available through a dedicated web page.

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Of all the movements to make science and technology more open, the oldest is “open source” software. It was here that the “open” ideals were articulated, and from which all later movements such as open-access publishing derive. Whilst it rightly stands on this pedestal, from another point of view open-source software was simply the natural extension of academic freedom and knowledge-sharing into the digital age.

Open-source has its roots in the free software movement, which grew in the 1980s in response to monopolising corporations and restrictions on proprietary software. The underlying ideal is open collaboration: peers freely, collectively and publicly build software solutions. A second ideal is recognition, in which credit for the contributions made by individuals and organisations worldwide is openly acknowledged. A third ideal concerns rights, specifically the so-called four freedoms granted to users: to use the software for any purpose; to study the source code to understand how it works; to share and redistribute the software; and to improve the software and share the improvements with the community. Users and developers therefore contribute to a virtuous circle in which software is continuously improved and shared towards a common good, minimising vendor lock-in for users.

Today, 20 years after the term “open source” was coined, and despite initial resistance from traditional software companies, many successful open-source business models exist. These mainly involve consultancy and support services for software released under an open-source licence and extend beyond science to suppliers of everyday tools such as the WordPress platform, Firefox browser and the Android operating system. A more recent and unfortunate business model adopted by some companies is “open core”, whereby essential features are deemed premium and sold as proprietary software on top of existing open-source components.

Founding principles

Open collaboration is one of CERN’s founding principles, so it was natural to extend the principle into its software. The web’s invention brought this into sharp focus. Having experienced first-hand its potential to connect physicists around the globe, in 1993 CERN released the web software into the public domain so that developers could collaborate and improve on it (see CERN’s ultimate act of openness). The following year, CERN released the next web-server version under an open-source licence with the explicit goal of preventing private companies from turning it into proprietary software. These were crucial steps in nurturing the universal adoption of the web as a way to share digital information, and exemplars of CERN’s best practice in open-source software.

Nowadays, open-source software can be found in pretty much every corner of CERN, as in other sciences and industry. Indico and Invenio – two of the largest open-source projects developed at CERN to promote open collaboration – rely on the open-source framework Python Flask. Experimental data are stored in CERN’s Exascale Open Storage system, and most of the servers in the CERN computing centre are running on Openstack – an open-source cloud infrastructure to which CERN is an active contributor. Of course, CERN also relies heavily on open-source GNU/Linux as both a server and desktop operating system. On the accelerator and physics analysis side, it’s all about open source. From C2MON, a system at the heart of accelerator monitoring and data acquisition, to ROOT, the main data-analysis framework used to analyse experimental data, the vast majority of the software components behind the science done at CERN are released under an open-source licence.

Open hardware

The success of the open-source model for software has inspired CERN engineers to create an analogous “open hardware” licence, enabling electronics designers to collaborate and use, study, share and improve the designs of hardware components used for physics experiments. This approach has become popular in many sciences, and has become a lifeline for teaching and research in developing countries.

Being a scientist in the digital age means being a software producer and a software consumer. As a result, collaborative software-development platforms such as GitHub and GitLab have become as important to the physics department as they are to the IT department. Until recently, the software underlying an analysis has not been easily shared. CERN has therefore been developing research data-management tools to enable the publication of software and data, forming the basis of an open-data portal (see Preserving the legacy of particle physics). Naturally, this software itself is open source and has also been used to create the worldwide open-data service Zenodo, which is connected to GitHub to make the publication of open-source software a standard part of the research cycle.

Interestingly, as with the early days of open source, many corners of the scientific community are hesitant about open science. Some people are concerned that their software and data are not of sufficient quality or interest to be shared, or that they will be helping others to the next discovery before them. To triumph over the sceptics, open science can learn from the open-source movement, adopting standard licences, credit systems, collaborative development techniques and shared governance. In this way, it too will be able to reap the benefits of open collaboration: transparency, efficiency, perpetuity and flexibility. 

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The goal of practising science in such a way that others can collaborate, question and contribute – known as “open science” – long predates the web. One could even argue that it began with the first academic journal 350 years ago, which enabled scientists to share knowledge and resources to foster progress. But the web offered opportunities way beyond anything before it, quickly transforming academic publishing and giving rise to greater sharing in areas such as software. Alongside the open-source (Inspired by software), open-access (A turning point for open-access publishing) and open-data (Preserving the legacy of particle physics) movements grew the era of open science, which aims to encompass the scientific process as a whole.

Today, numerous research communities, political circles and funding bodies view open science and reproducible research as vital to accelerate future discoveries. Yet, to fully reap the benefits of open and reproducible research, it is necessary to start implementing tools to power a more profound change in the way we conduct and perceive research. This poses both sociological and technological challenges, starting from the conceptualisation of research projects, through conducting research, to how we ensure peer review and assess the results of projects and grants. New technologies have brought open science within our reach, and it is now up to scientific communities to agree on the extent to which they want to embrace this vision.

Particle physicists were among the first to embrace the open-science movement, sharing preprints and building a deep culture of using and sharing open-source software. The cost and complexity of experimental particle physics, making complete replication of measurements unfeasible, presents unique challenges in terms of open data and scientific reproducibility. It may even be considered that openness itself, in the sense of having an unfettered access to data from its inception, is not particularly advantageous.

Take the existing data-management policies of the LHC collaborations: while physicists generally strive to be open in their research, the complexity of the data and analysis procedures means that data become publicly open only after a certain embargo period that is used to assess its correctness. The science is thus born “closed”. Instead of thinking about “open data” from its inception, it is more useful to speak about FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data, a term coined by the FORCE11 community. The data should be FAIR throughout the scientific process, from being initially closed to being made meaningfully open later to those outside the experimental collaborations.

True open science demands more than simply making data available: it needs to concern itself with providing information on how to repeat or verify an analysis performed over given datasets, producing results that can be reused by others for comparison, confirmation or simply for deeper understanding and inspiration. This requires runnable examples of how the research was performed, accompanied by software, documentation, runnable scripts, notebooks, workflows and compute environments. It is often too late to try to document research in such detail once it has been published.

True open science demands more than simply making data available

FAIR data repositories for particle physics, the “closed” CERN Analysis Preservation portal and the “open” CERN Open Data portal emerged five years ago to address the community’s open-science needs. These digital repositories enable physicists to preserve, document, organise and share datasets, code and tools used during analyses. A flexible metadata structure helps researchers to define everything from experimental configurations to data samples, from analysis code to software libraries and environments used to analyse the data, accompanied by documentation and links to presentations and publications. The result is a standard way to describe and document an analysis for the purposes of discoverability and reproducibility.

Recent advancements in the IT industry allow us to encapsulate the compute environments where the analysis was conducted. Capturing information about how the analysis was carried out can be achieved via a set of runnable scripts, notebooks, structured workflows and “containerised” pipelines. Complementary to data repositories, a third service named REANA (reusable analyses) allows researchers to submit parameterised computational workflows to run on remote compute clouds. It can be used to reinterpret preserved analyses but also to run “active” analyses before they are published and preserved, with the underlying philosophy that physics analyses should be automated from inception so that they can be executed without manual intervention. Future reuse and reinterpretation starts with the first commit of the analysis code; altering an already-finished analysis to facilitate its eventual reuse after publication is often too late.

Full control

The key guiding principle of the analysis preservation and reuse framework is to leave the decision as to when a dataset or a complete analysis is shared, privately or publicly, in the hands of the researchers. This gives the experiment collaborations full control over the release procedures, and thus fully supports internal processing and review protocols before the results are published on community services, such as arXiv, HEPData and INSPIRE.

The CERN Open Data portal was launched in 2014 amid a discussion as to whether primary particle-physics data would find any use outside of the LHC collaborations. Within a few years, the first paper based on open data from the CMS experiment was published (see Preserving the legacy of particle physics).

Three decades after the web was born, science is being shared more openly than ever and particle physics is at the forefront of this movement. As we have seen, however, simple compliance with data and software openness is not enough: we also need to capture, from the start of the research process, runnable recipes, software environments, computational workflows and notebooks. The increasing demand from funding agencies and policymakers for open data-management plans, coupled with technological progress in information technology, leads us to believe that the time is ripe for this change.

Sharing research in an easily reproducible and reusable manner will facilitate knowledge transfer within and between research teams, accelerating the scientific process. This fills us with hope that three decades from now, even if future generations may not be able to run our current code on their futuristic hardware platforms, they will be at least well equipped to understand the processes behind today’s published research in sufficient detail to be able to check our results and potentially reveal something new.

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In the 17th century, Galileo Galilei looked at the moons of Jupiter through a telescope and recorded his observations in his now-famous notebooks. Galileo’s notes – his data – survive to this day and can be reviewed by anyone around the world. Students, amateurs and professionals can replicate Galileo’s data and results – a tenet of the scientific method.

In particle physics, with its unique and expensive experiments, it is practically impossible for others to attempt to reproduce the original work. When it is impractical to gather fresh data to replicate an analysis, we settle for reproducing the analysis with the originally obtained data. However, a 2013 study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada, estimates that the odds of scientific data existing in an analysable form reduce by about 17% each year.

Indeed, just a few years down the line it might not even be possible for researchers to revisit their own data due to changes in formats, software or operating systems. This has led to growing calls for scientists to release and archive their data openly. One motivation is moral: society funds research and so should have access to all of its outputs. Another is practical: a fresh look at data could enable novel research and lead to discoveries that may have eluded earlier searches.

Like open-access publishing (see A turning point for open-access publishing), governments have started to impose demands on scientists regarding the availability and long-term preservation of research data. The European Commission, for example, has piloted the mandatory release of open data as part of its Horizon 2020 programme and plans to invest heavily in open data in the future. An increasing number of data repositories have been established for life and medical sciences as well as for social sciences and meteorology, and the idea is gaining traction across disciplines. Only days after they announced the first observation of gravitational waves, the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations made public their data. NASA also releases data from many of its missions via open databases, such as exoplanet catalogues. The Natural History Museum in London makes data from millions of specimens available via a website and, in the world of art, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam provides an interface for developers to build apps featuring historic artworks.

Data levels

The open-data movement is of special interest to particle physics, owing to the uniqueness and large volume of datasets involved in discoveries such as that of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The four main LHC experiments have started to periodically release their data in an open manner, and these data can be classified into four levels. The first consists of the data shown in final publications, such as plots and tables, while the second concerns datasets in a simplified format that are suitable for “lightweight” analyses in educational or similar contexts. The third level involves the data being used for analysis by the researchers themselves, requiring specialised code and dedicated computing resources, and the final level with the highest complexity is the raw data generated by the detectors, which requires petabytes of storage and, uncalibrated, is not of much use without being fed to the third tier.

In late 2014 CERN launched an open-data portal and released research data from the LHC for the first time. The data, collected by the CMS experiment, represented half the level-three data recorded in 2010. The ALICE experiment has also released level-three data from proton–proton as well as lead–lead collisions, while all four collaborations – including ATLAS and LHCb – have released subsets of level-two data for education and outreach purposes.

Proactive policy

The story of open data at CMS goes back to 2011. “We started drafting an open-data policy, not because of pressure from funding agencies but because defining our own policy proactively meant we did not have an external body defining it for us,” explains Kati Lassila-Perini, who leads the collaboration’s data-preservation project. CMS aims to release half of each year’s level-three data three years after data taking, and 100% of the data within a ten-year window. By guaranteeing that people outside CMS can use these data, says Lassila-Perini, the collaboration can ensure that the knowledge of how to analyse the data is not lost, while allowing people outside CMS to look for things the collaboration might not have time for. To allow external re-use of the data, CMS released appropriate metadata as well as analysis examples. The datasets soon found takers and, in 2017, a group of theoretical physicists not affiliated with the collaboration published two papers using them. CMS has since released half its 2011 data (corresponding to around 200 TB) and half its 2012 data (1 PB), with the first releases of level-three data from the LHC’s Run 2 in the pipeline.

The LHC collaborations have been releasing simpler datasets for educational activities from as early as 2011, for example for the International Physics Masterclasses that involve thousands of high-school students around the globe each year. In addition, CMS has made available several Jupyter notebooks – a browser-based analysis platform named with a nod to Galileo – in assorted languages (programming and human) that allow anyone with an internet connection to perform a basic analysis. “The real impact of open data in terms of numbers of users is in schools,” says Lassila-Perini. “It makes it possible for young people with no previous contact with coding to learn about data analysis and maybe discover how fascinating it can be.” Also available from CMS are more complex examples aimed at university-level students.

Open-data endeavours by ATLAS are very much focused on education, and the collaboration has provided curated datasets for teaching in places that may not have substantial computing resources or internet access. “Not even the documentation can rely on online content, so everything we produce needs to be self-contained,” remarks Arturo Sánchez Pineda, who coordinates ATLAS’s open-data programme. ATLAS datasets and analysis tools, which also rely on Jupyter notebooks, have been optimised to fit on a USB memory stick and allow simplified ATLAS analyses to be conducted just about anywhere in the world. In 2016, ATLAS released simplified open data corresponding to 1 fb^–1 at 8 TeV, with the aim of giving university students a feel for what a real particle-physics analysis involves.

ATLAS open data have already found their way into university theses and have been used by people outside the collaboration to develop their own educational tools. Indeed, within ATLAS, new members can now choose to work on preparing open data as their qualification task to become an ATLAS co-author, says Sánchez Pineda. This summer, ATLAS will release 10 fb^–1 of level-two data from Run 2, with more than 100 simulated physics processes and related resources. ATLAS does not provide level-three data openly and researchers interested in analysing these can do so through a tailored association programme, which 80 people have taken advantage of so far. “This allows external scientists to rely on ATLAS software, computing and analysis expertise for their project,” says Sánchez Pineda.

Fundamental motivation

CERN’s open-data portal hosts and serves data from the four big LHC experiments, also providing many of the software tools including virtual machines to run the analysis code. The OPERA collaboration recently started sharing its research data via CERN and other particle-physics collaborations are interested in joining the project.

Although high-energy physics has made great strides in providing open access to research publications, we are still in the very early days of open data. Theorist Jesse Thaler of MIT, who led the first independent analysis using CMS open data, acknowledges that it is possible for people to get their hands on coveted data by joining an experimental collaboration, but sees a much brighter future with open data. “What about more exploratory studies where the theory hasn’t yet been invented? What about engaging undergraduate students? What about examining old data for signs of new physics?” he asks. These provocative questions serve as fundamental motivations for making all data in high-energy physics as open as possible. 

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Strategy is a base that allows resources to be prioritised in the pursuit of im­p­ortant goals. No strategy would be needed if enough resources were available – we would just do what appears to be necessary.

Elementary particle physics generally requires large and expensive facilities, often on an international scale, which take a long time to develop and are heavy consumers of resources during operations. For this reason, in 2005 the CERN Council initiated a European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP), resulting in a document being adopted the following year. The strategy was updated in 2013 and the community is now working towards a second ESPP update (CERN Courier April 2018 p7).

The making of the ESPP has three elements: bottom-up activities driven by the scientific community through document submission and an open symposium (the latter to be held in Spain in May 2019); strategy drafting (to take place in Germany in January 2020) by scientists, who are mostly appointed by CERN member states; and the final discussion and approval by the CERN Council. Therefore, the final product should be an amalgamation of the wishes of the community and the political and financial constraints defined by state authorities. Experience of the previous ESPP update suggests that this is entirely achievable, but not without effort and compromise.

Out of four high-priority items in the current ESPP, which concluded in 2013, three of them are well under way: the full exploitation of the LHC via a luminosity upgrade; R&D and design studies for a future energy-frontier machine at CERN; and establishing a platform at CERN for physicists to develop neutrino detectors for experiments around the world. The remaining item, relating to an initiative of the Japanese particle-physics community to host an international linear collider in Japan, has not made much progress.

In physics, discussions about strategy usually start with a principled statement: “Science should drive the strategy”. This is of course correct, but unfortunately not always sufficient in real life, since physics consideration alone does not provide a practical solution most of the time. In this context, it is worth recalling the discussion about long-baseline neutrino experiments that took place during the previous strategy exercises.

Optimal outcome

At the time of the first ESPP almost 15 years ago, so little was known about the neutrino mass-mixing parameters that several ambitious facilities were discussed so as to cover necessary parameter spaces. Some resources were directed into R&D, but most probably they were too little and not well prioritised. In the meantime, it became clear that a state-of-the-art neutrino beam based on conventional technology would be sufficient to make the next necessary step of measuring the neutrino CP-violation parameter and mass hierarchy. What should be done was therefore clear from a scientific point of view, but there simply were not enough resources in Europe to construct a long-baseline neutrino experiment together with a high performance beam line while fully exploiting the LHC at the same time. The optimal outcome was found by considering global opportunities and this was one of the key ingredients that drove the strategy.

The challenge facing the community now in updating the current ESPP is to steer the field into the mid-2020s and beyond. As such, discussions about the various ideas for the next big machine at CERN will be an important focus, but numerous other projects, including proposals for non-collider experiments, will be jostling for attention. Many brilliant people are working in our field with many excellent ideas, with different strengths and weaknesses. The real issue of the strategy update is how we can optimise the resources using time and location, and possibly synergies with other scientific fields.

The intention of the strategy is to achieve a scientific goal. We may already disagree about what this goal is, since it is people with different visions, tastes and habits who conduct research. But let us at least agree this to be “to understand the most fundamental laws of nature” for now. Also, depending on the time scales, the relative importance of elements in the decision-making might change and factors beyond Europe cannot be neglected. Strategy that cannot be implemented is not useful for anyone and the key is to make a judgement on the balance among many elements. Lastly, we should not forget that the most exciting scenario for the ESPP update will be the appearance of an unexpected result –then there would be a real paradigm shift in particle physics.

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CERN hosted a workshop on high-energy theory and gender on 26–28 September. It was the first activity of the “Gen-HET” working group, whose goals are to improve the presence and visibility of women in the field of high-energy theory and increase awareness of gender issues.

Most of the talks in the workshop were on physics. Invited talks spanned the whole of high-energy theory, providing an opportunity for participants to learn about new results in neighbouring research areas at this interesting time for the field. Topics ranged from the anti-de-Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence and inflationary cosmology to heavy-ion, neutrino and beyond-Standard Model physics.

Agnese Bissi (Uppsala University, Sweden) began the physics programme by reviewing the now-two-decades-old AdS/CFT correspondence, and discussing the use of conformal bootstrap methods in holography. Korinna Zapp (LIP, Lisbon, Portugal and CERN) then put three recent discoveries in heavy-ion physics into perspective: the hydrodynamic behaviour of soft particles; jet quenching; and surprising similarities between soft particle production in high-multiplicity proton–proton and heavy-ion collisions.

JiJi Fan (Brown University, USA) delved into the myriad world of beyond-the Standard Model phenomenology, discussing the possibility that the Higgs is “meso-tuned” but that there are no other light scalars. Elvira Gamiz (University of Granada, Spain) reviewed key features of lattice simulations for flavour physics and mentioned significant tensions with some experimental results that are as high as 3σ in certain B-decay channels. The theory colloquium, by Ana Achucarro (University of Leiden, Holland, and UPV-EHU Bilbao, Spain), was devoted to the topic of inflation, which still presents a major challenge to theorists.

The importance of parton distribution functions in an era of high-precision physics was the focus of a talk by Maria Ubiali (University of Cambridge, UK), who explained the state-of-the-art methods used. Reviewing key topics in cosmology and particle physics, Laura Covi (Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany) then described how models with heavy R-parity violating supersymmetry lead to scenarios for baryogenesis and gravitino dark matter.

In neutrino physics, Silvia Pascoli (Durham University, UK) gave an authoritative overview of the experimental and theoretical status, while Tracy Slatyer (MIT, USA) did the same for dark matter, emphasising the necessity of search strategies that test many possible dark-matter models.

Closing the event, Alejandra Castro (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) talked about black-hole entropy and its fascinating connections with holography and number theory. The final physics talk, by Eleni Vyronidou (CERN), covered Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), which provides a pathway to new physics above the direct energy-reach of colliders.

The rest of the workshop centred on talks and discussion sessions about gender issues. The full spectrum of issues was addressed, a few examples of which are given here.

Julie Moote from University College London, UK, delivered a talk on behalf of the Aspires project in the UK, which is exploring how social identities and inequalities affect students continuing in science, while Marieke van den Brink from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, described systematic biases that were uncovered by her group’s studies of around 1000 professorial appointments in the Netherlands. Meytal Eran-Jona from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, reviewed studies about unconscious bias and its implications for women in academia, and described avenues to promote gender equality in the field.

The last day of the meeting focused on actions that physicists can take to improve diversity in their own departments. For example, Jess Wade from Imperial College London, UK, discussed UK initiatives such as the Institute of Physics Juno and Athena SWAN awards, and Yossi Nir from the Weizmann Institute gave an inspiring account of his work on increasing female participation in physics in Israel. One presentation drawing on bibliometric data in high-energy theory attracted much attention beyond the workshop, as has been widely reported elsewhere.

This first workshop on high-energy theory and gender combined great physics, mentoring and networking. The additional focus on gender gave participants the opportunity to learn about the sociological causes of gender imbalance and how universities and research institutes are addressing them.

We are very grateful to many colleagues for their support in putting together this meeting, which received help from the CERN diversity office and financial support from the CERN theory department, the Mainz “cluster of excellence” PRISMA, Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the University of Milano-Bicocca, the ERC and the COST network.

Similar activities are planned in the future, including discussions on other scientific communities and minority groups.

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In the high-energy theory (HET) community, where creativity and originality are so important, the problem is particularly acute. Many of the breakthroughs in theoretical physics have come from people who think “differently”, yet the community does not acknowledge that being both mostly male and white encourages groupthink and lack of originality.

The gender imbalance in physics is well documented. Data from the American Physical Society and the UK Institute of Physics indicate that around 20% of the physics-research community is female, and the situation deteriorates significantly as one looks higher on the career ladder. By contrast, the percentage of females is higher in astronomy and the number of women at senior levels in astronomy has increased quite rapidly over the last decade.

However, research into gender in science often misses issues specific to particular disciplines such as HET. While many previous studies have explored challenges faced by women in physics, theory has not specifically been targeted, even though the representation of women is anomalously low.

In 2012, a group of string theorists in Europe launched a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) action with a focus on gender in high-energy theory. Less than 10% of string theorists are female, and, worryingly, postdoc-application data in Europe show that the percentage of female early-career researchers has not changed significantly over the past 15 years.

The COST initiative enabled qualitative surveys and the collection of quantitative data. We found some evidence that women PhD students are less likely to continue onto postdoctoral positions than male ones, although further data are needed to confirm this point. The data also indicate that the percentage of women at senior levels (e.g. heads of institutes) is extremely low, less than 5%. Qualitative data raised issues specific to HET, including the need for mobility for many years before getting a permanent position and the long working hours, which are above average even for academics. A series of COST meetings also provided opportunities for women in string theory to network and to discuss the challenges that they face.

Following the conclusion of the COST action in 2017, women from the string theory community obtained support to continue the initiative, now broadened to the whole of the HET community. “GenHET” is a permanent working group hosted by the CERN theory department whose goals are to increase awareness of gender issues, improve the presence of women in decision-making roles, and provide networking, support and mentoring for women, particularly during their early career.

GenHET’s first workshop on high-energy theory and gender was hosted by CERN in September, bringing together physicists, social scientists and diversity professionals (see Faces and Places). Further meetings are planned, and the GenHET group is also developing a web resource that will collect research and reports on gender and science, advertise activities and jobs, and offer  advice on evidence-based practice for supporting women. GenHET aims to propose concrete actions, for example encouraging the community to implement codes of conduct at conferences, and all members of the HET community are welcome to join the group.

Diversity is about much more than gender: in the HET community, there is also under-representation of people of colour and LGBTQ+ researchers, as well as those who are disabled, carers, come from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds, and so on. GenHET will work in collaboration with networks focusing on other diversity characteristics to help improve this situation, turning the high-energy theory community into one that truly reflects all of society.

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It was 2001 and Neil Turok, a cosmologist at the University of Cambridge at the time, was on sabbatical in his home town of Cape Town, South Africa. At dinner one evening, his father, who himself was a member of the first South African congress following the end of apartheid in 1994, posed the question: what will you do for Africa?

Two years later, Turok founded the African Institute for Mathematical Science (AIMS), with the mission to improve mathematics and science education throughout the African continent. The first centre, in 2003 at a derelict resort hotel in the small surfer town of Muizenberg, just south of Cape Town, saw 12 students graduate. Since that time, AIMS has grown to span the whole continent, with five more centres founded in Tanzania, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon and most recently in Rwanda. The centres have produced almost 2000 graduates and form part of a pan-African and global network of mathematicians and physicists called the Next Einstein Initiative (NEI), a number of whom work in high-energy physics experiments at CERN and elsewhere.

Africa is a continent filled with potential, rich in natural resources and with a population that is projected to comprise nearly 50% of the world population before the end of the century. But it is also a continent plagued by problems that hinder development and success, particularly in mathematics and science (figure 1). More people there die each year from AIDS and civil war than anywhere else in the world, and access to quality education at all levels is tenuous, at best. The mission of AIMS and NEI is to address these issues by empowering Africa’s brightest students and propelling them towards scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency.

The AIMS curriculum

The primary way that AIMS contributes to this transformation is an intensive one-year master’s programme that runs from August to June each year. Preparations begin well in advance, starting in January when lecturers from around the world submit proposals to teach three-week courses at one of the six centres. In parallel, students from all over Africa apply and are selected through a very competitive process, with upwards of 2000 students vying for around 50 spots at each centre. The goal of both sets of applications, for lecturers as well as students, is to ensure that the very best people are brought together.

The course is highly structured. For the first 10 weeks, students attend a series of skills courses with an emphasis on problem solving and computing. The curriculum then enters a review phase, where students elect to follow two courses for every three-week block. The courses are dynamic, selected by the academic director of each centre every year and then taught by (mostly foreign) lecturers, who have complete freedom to write the course as they so choose. The beauty of such a curriculum is the diverse set of topics that can be taught side-by-side, which allows students to sample new topics – a day that begins with a course on financial mathematics could end with students writing a simulation for computational neuroscience. Three weeks later, the courses change and students can find themselves immersed in knot theory or Monte Carlo methods in particle physics.

This cadence continues for 18 weeks, during which time the students are able to build connections with academics from around the world and find the course that suits them best. This builds to the final portion of the course, called the essay phase, in which students identify a mentor and a project from a list of proposed topics. The student then works independently for a period of 10 weeks under the supervision of a mentor, culminating in a thesis essay and oral examination. If this fast-paced academic course were not enough, the entire course is taught in English, which for many students is not their first language. Adding to their workloads, students are taught courses in English and writing throughout.

Strong support

Unlike many institutions, success at AIMS is limited only by a student’s will to achieve. All fees are paid by AIMS, as well as the costs of relocating, accommodation and food. Each student is provided with a personal computer (which for many students is the first computer they have ever owned) and a team of five to 10 academic tutors are hired to support the students in their studies and augment the lectures when necessary. This all ensures that the complete focus of the student can be on their studies and development as an academic. 

The result is a nearly 100% success rate, with more than 30% of graduates being female and AIMS graduates representing 43 out of 54 African nations. These students most often go on to enter research master’s and PhD programmes in Africa and elsewhere, their university education having been in some way validated through the standards set by AIMS and the international institutions that support it. However, nearly all AIMS graduates eventually desire to return to Africa, whether it be in industry or research, thus contributing to their home nation. Some alumni even return to the school as lecturers themselves. Ultimately, the goal of AIMS and NEI is to establish 15 centres throughout Africa by 2030 and to establish a sustainable pan-African academic culture.

A lecturer’s perspective

To offer a first-hand account of a typical day as a lecturer, it’s 19:00 and you have just sent the last e-mail of the day. Dusk is welcome since it promises to relieve some of the heat. If you’re in Biriwa, Ghana, you make sure to close the window and put on some mosquito repellant. There was a student in your class who excused himself yesterday for not completely finishing his homework. He has Malaria. He’s working a lot anyhow and he’ll be better soon, but you would be completely knocked out if you caught it. As you are about to close the laptop, you hear someone at the door: it is your students, waiting for their ad-hoc evening tutorial. Teaching at AIMS is a full-day immersion. Finding students discussing your lecture, assignments or books that you showed them is not uncommon, even after midnight.

Your average AIMS student is inquisitive, hard-working and passionate, and the vastly different academic backgrounds of students in your class will force you to have to answer questions from very basic to very advanced levels. One day, a student might be “angry” because you told them that morning how light is both a wave and a particle. After the first days of shyness (many students have never been encouraged to state their own opinion over a science matter), they’ll question what you say, and clearly it is not possible that a thing is a wave but also a particle, is it?!

Don’t expect to spend your evening not doing physics unless you really need a break, in which case take a walk on the beach or, if you’re at the Muizenberg centre in South Africa, grab a surfboard. For those of you familiar with CERN, the parallel that might best explain the AIMS atmosphere is the “Bermuda triangle” of Restaurant 1, the hostel and your office: you can manage to spend weeks there before breaking out and spending some time to explore Geneva, the Jura, and the world around you. AIMS students are ambitious and grateful for the opportunity to work and learn, so they can easily spend their days between the lecture room, the canteen and the computer lab without leaving the building once. As an AIMS lecturer, it is thus good to come prepared for a few extra-curricular activities. This could range from showing students how to swim in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean in Bagamoyo, taking them on an all-day hike to Table Mountain in Cape Town, or an extra tutorial on how to write a good application or give a talk, not to mention a discussion about how to shape Africa’s future. Topics such as how a woman can be a president in some countries (or a physics lecturer for that matter!) are sure to attract the attention of all students, even those not directly in your class.

The last few days of your three-week lecture block are the most special. Students give presentations on topics that go beyond what your lecture contains, having spent every free minute preparing. Building confidence in the student’s mind is your most important mission at AIMS, and the students have every reason to be confident. Most of them had to fight to get a good education that is taken for granted in many countries, and they all want to make an impact in building Africa’s future. After the student’s talks, the ceremony and party starts. Lecturers are bid farewell, and you may well be handed a traditional African costume to be dressed properly for the party. Then, with some exceptionally gifted dancers taking the lead, you’ll not be let go before at least attempting to move gracefully to the latest African pop-music, all without a single drop of alcohol in sight.

Back at your workplace, AIMS stays with you. Many students will keep you updated on their career, seek a reference letter from you, or eventually join you as researcher.

Becoming involved with AIMS is for anyone who is interested in working with some of the best students in the world, most of whom have had to fight hard to get there. There are a variety of options. For those with master’s degrees in mathematics and science, it is possible to serve as an academic tutor at an AIMS institute for a period of one year, during which time you will work closely with students as a mentor and act as a bridge between the shorter term lecturers. For those with PhD degrees, it is possible to act as either an essay supervisor or a lecturer. In both instances, the topic of instruction is designed by you, giving you control and flexibility to tailor the course to your interests and expertise. In whatever capacity you decide to become involved, it is an opportunity you will not regret.

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The year 1968 marked a turning point in the history of post-war Europe that remains engraved in our collective memory. Global politics were marked by massive student unrest, the Cold War and East–West confrontation. On 21 August the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact states invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the movement of liberalisation, democratisation and civil rights, which had become known as the Prague Spring.

Against this background, it seems a miracle that the European Physical Society (EPS) was established only a few weeks later, on 26 September, with representatives of the Czechoslovak Physical Society and the USSR Academy of Sciences sitting at the same table. The EPS was probably the first learned society in Europe involving physicists from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Ever since, building scientific bridges across political divides has been core to the society’s mission.

The EPS was founded in Geneva not by accident. Whereas CERN did not play a formal role, the CERN model of European cooperation made a substantial impact on the genesis of the new society. CERN was at that time principally an organisation of Western European states, but it had started early to develop scientific collaboration with the Soviet Union and other Eastern countries, notably through the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. Leading CERN physicists – including Director-General Bernard Gregory – were instrumental in setting up the new society; Gilberto Bernardini, who had been CERN’s first director of research in 1960–1961 and was a strong advocate of international collaboration in science, became the first EPS president. From the 20 national physical societies and similar organisations that participated in the 1968 foundation, this has now grown to 42, covering almost all of Europe plus Israel, and representing more than 130,000 members. In addition, there are about 42 associate members – mostly major research institutions including CERN – and, last but not least, around 3500 individual members.

Today, the EPS serves the European physics community in a twofold way: by promoting collaboration across borders and disciplines, through activities such as conferences, publications and prizes; and by reaching out to political decision makers, media and the public to promote awareness of the importance of physics education and research.

The Iron Curtain is history, but the EPS celebrates its 50th anniversary at a time when new, more complex and subtle political divides are opening up in Europe: the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) is only the most prominent example. While respecting the result of democratic votes, a continued erosion of European unity will undermine fundamental values and best practices that many of us take for granted: free cross-border collaboration, unrestricted mobility of researchers and students, and access to European funding and infrastructures. For almost 30 years now, in Europe, we have taken such freedoms in science as self-evident. Today, prestigious universities in the heart of Europe are threatened with closure on political grounds, while in other countries physicists are jailed for claiming the right to freely exercise their academic profession. These concerns are not unique to physics and must be addressed by the scientific community at large. The EPS, representing a science with a long tradition and highly developed culture of international collaboration, has a special responsibility to uphold these values.

Against this challenging background, the EPS is undertaking efforts to make the voice of the physics community more clearly heard in European science-policy making, principally through a point of presence in Brussels to facilitate communication with the European Commission and with partner organisations defending similar interests. In an environment where funding opportunities are increasingly organised around societal rather than scientific challenges, the EPS must advocate a healthy and sustained balance between basic and applied research. The next European Framework Programme Horizon Europe must not only provide fair access to funds, research opportunities and infrastructure for researchers from EU countries, but should remain equally open to participation from third countries, following the example of the successful association of countries like Norway and Switzerland with Horizon 2020. Building scientific bridges across political divides remains as vital as ever, in the best interest of a strong cohesion of the European physics community.

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In addition, a special session organised by the European Committee for Future Accelerators on 14 July 2019, during the European Physical Society conference on high-energy physics in Ghent, Belgium, will provide a further opportunity for the community to feed into the drafting session (CERN Courier April 2018 p7).

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It is almost six years since the CMS and ATLAS collaborations jointly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last of the Standard Model particles predicted to exist. Yet deep questions in particle physics remain unsolved and precise measurements of the Higgs boson are one of many ways to search for answers that could point to new physics beyond the Standard Model. Experiments at higher energies than those available at the LHC could conclusively determine which, if any, of the many theories describing this new physics is realised and reveal the nature of the dark sector of the universe.

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) study, which was formally launched in 2014, would see a 100 km-circumference tunnel built at CERN to host post-LHC colliders. The goals of this international project include precision measurements of the Higgs self-interaction, whose structure is deeply related to the origin of mass and to the breaking of the electroweak symmetry. More generally, the FCC offers a leap into completely uncharted territory, from delivering mind-boggling statistics of 5 × 10¹² Z decays all the way up to proton–proton collisions at an energy of 100 TeV (CERN Courier May 2017 p34).

Deriving from proposals formulated as early as 2010, the FCC study has made rapid progress in R&D across the many domains of this mammoth technological effort, and attracted a growing international community. Scientists and engineers from around the world gathered in Amsterdam from 9–13 April for the 2018 FCC collaboration week to identify key objectives for the FCC’s Conceptual Design Report (CDR), which is due by the end of this year. Advances in theoretical studies and detector techniques presented during the conference demonstrated that the machines envisaged by the FCC study could investigate some of the most compelling issues of particle physics in the decades following the LHC, while at the same time driving a major training, technological and industrial programme.

As with other major proposals for post-LHC machines at CERN and elsewhere, the FCC is currently at the exploratory stage. Its predecessors, the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP) and the LHC were, and are, massive endeavours offering a fruitful physics programme spanning more than 60 years: from the first concept of LEP to the future full exploitation of the high-luminosity LHC upgrade. The timescales of high-energy physics are such that we need to start the process of designing, and understanding what would be required to build, the next generation of circular colliders now if they are to come into operation soon after the completion of the high-luminosity LHC’s research programme in the late 2030s.

Following earlier investigations and projects – such as the ELOISATRON in Italy and the Superconducting Super Collider and Very Large Lepton Collider (VLLC)/Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC) in the US – the first studies in Europe for a future circular collider started in 2010 and 2011, respectively, for new high-energy proton and lepton colliders at CERN. The lepton collider had three variants: LEP3 (a new electron–positron collider in the LHC tunnel), DLEP (a new collider roughly double the size of LEP) and the 80 km circumference “TLEP” (triple the size of LEP). As was the case for LEP and LHC, and also proposed by the VLLC/VLHC study in around 2001, both the lepton and hadron machines could be housed successively in a new, large tunnel.

Amalgamation

In early 2014 the lepton- and proton-collider design efforts were formally combined under the umbrella of the FCC study. First civil engineering studies in 2012 and 2014 revealed that a tunnel of 80–100 km is geologically preferred in the Lake Geneva basin, and a circumference of about 100 km has become the FCC target. In 2013 the Institute for High-Energy Physics in Beijing initiated a similar design study for a Higgs factory in China (CEPC) that would be succeeded by a high-energy proton–proton collider called SppC (see China’s bid for a circular electron–positron collider). Initially a CEPC tunnel circumference of 54 km and a proton collider reaching collision energies of 70 TeV were being considered, but since 2017 the CEPC tunnel circumference has also been set at 100 km.

The FCC study envisages, as a potential first step, an electron–positron collider (FCC-ee) that could scrutinise the Higgs boson and the electroweak scale. The remarkable precision of LEP has been instrumental in confirming the Standard Model and in tightly constraining the masses of the top quark and of the Higgs Boson. The FCC-ee builds upon this tradition. Operating at four different energies for precision measurements of the Z, W and Higgs bosons and the top quark, FCC-ee represents a significant advance in terms of technology and design parameters. The total scientific programme could span a period of 14 years, the first eight dedicated to Z, W and Higgs measurements followed by a high-energy upgrade to a top-quark factory.

With produced samples of 5 × 10¹² Z bosons, 10⁸ W pairs, 10⁶ Higgs and top pairs, FCC-ee will allow searches for rare phenomena that can reveal new physics, while as an exploratory machine it would have sensitivity to new particles that might either be extremely heavy or that could interact too weakly with ordinary matter to be otherwise seen. The extraordinary precision of FCC-ee (1 ppm precision on the Z mass, 7 ppm precision on the W mass) backed up by unique measurements of additional inputs to the calculations (such as the top-quark mass) will allow typical sensitivity to particles as massive as 50 TeV or to couplings many orders of magnitude smaller than those of normal particles. While presenting considerable challenges, the design and technology for FCC-ee are solid and the machine could be built so as to start physics as soon as the LHC’s high-luminosity upgrade (HL-LHC) has completed its programme.

The mammoth proton–proton collider (FCC-hh) would operate at seven times the LHC energy, and deliver about 10 times more integrated luminosity. During its planned 25 years of data-taking, more than 10¹⁰ Higgs bosons will be created, which will be 100 times more than that achieved by the end of the (HL-)LHC operation. These additional statistics will enable the FCC-hh experiments to improve the separation of Higgs signals from the huge backgrounds that affect most LHC studies. The discovery reach for high-mass particles – such as Z′ and W′ gauge bosons corresponding to new fundamental forces, or particles like gluinos and squarks that appear in supersymmetric theories – will increase by a factor five or more, depending on the luminosity. The new energy regime will allow us to exclude many theories relying on weakly interacting massive particles, guaranteeing a discovery or excluding a vast portion of the parameter space, and explore fully the electroweak symmetry-breaking mechanism.

Operating the FCC-hh machine with heavy ions generates even more extreme collisions, leading to the creation of a quark–gluon plasma with larger initial density and temperature than those previously observed at RHIC and LHC. This system, in comparison to that produced at the LHC, represents the universe at an earlier, hotter stage of its evolution, allowing a better understanding of quantum chromodynamics and shedding light on the question of how quarks combine to form more stable particles. The FCC complex could also host a proton–electron mode (FCC-he) to explore the secrets of the structure of matter by means of an electron super microscope using deep-inelastic electron–proton (ep) scattering with unprecedented energies and luminosities. Finally, the FCC study also pursues the design of a 27 TeV proton–proton collider in the LHC tunnel (the so-called High Energy LHC, HE-LHC) based on the same 16 T superconducting niobium-tin magnet technology as intended for FCC.

New thinking required

Conceiving and designing an FCC-class accelerator poses tantalising challenges with respect to infrastructure and operations. Since the launch of the study, a major focus of the civil-engineering team has been locating the machine in the optimal position, as well as developing a design that could host the different collider modes in a combination of underground and surface structures.

The civil-engineering requirements for the FCC include approximately 115 km of tunnelling, of which 97.75 km is a 5.5 m-diameter machine tunnel, and the remainder is a combination of bypass, injection and dump tunnels. In addition, four experimental caverns and 12 service caverns are needed, while a total of 22 shafts will connect the underground facilities with the surface (figure 1). The current baseline position successfully fulfils many of the desired criteria, such as a reduction in the total shaft length, a maximum amount of tunnelling in the stable molasses rock, and a minimum amount of excavation in karstic limestone and moraines. Detailed underground surveys, as previously done for the LHC and HL-LHC, are needed to confirm the different soil types and identify potential problems before the proposed location can be firmly validated.

Significant progress has been made over the past year to assess and minimise environmental impact, opting for smart “green” solutions based on the development of new technologies. Among all proposed, future electron–positron colliders, FCC-ee offers by far the highest luminosity at the lowest electric input power up to the top quark threshold, partly thanks to more efficient superconducting radio-frequency cavities, new klystrons and novel designs for the dipole (figure 2) and quadrupole magnets. Similar considerations apply to the design of FCC-hh, which spans a wide range of proton collision energies yet should draw a total electric power similar to the FCC-ee.

FCC Week 2018 saw significant progress in the development of detector designs both for FCC-ee and FCC-hh. For the lepton collider, a detector inspired by the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) with an all-silicon tracker and a 3D-imaging calorimeter, and an alternative novel detector approach (called International Detector for Electron-positron Accelerator, or IDEA) combine different philosophies with bold technologies. For IDEA, the vertex detector would be silicon-based using the Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) technology developed for the ALICE inner-tracker upgrade, while a large wire chamber inspired by DAFNE’s KLOE experiment would provide the central tracking. Perhaps the most innovative concept of IDEA is the dual-readout copper calorimeter. All in all, the basic detector components are based on proven techniques and work is in progress, including test beam sessions foreseen at CERN in the summer, to optimise their designs.

The increased energy of FCC-hh also has a huge impact on the design of the various detectors for tracking and calorimetry and their readout electronics, as well as the magnet system for bending charged particles and identifying their properties. The superconducting detector magnets of the FCC-hh experiments should provide a higher magnetic field over a larger tracking distance than currently achieved by the LHC experiments, and this poses a new challenge for magnet designers. The FCC-hh baseline design foresees a very large main solenoid (with a free bore of 10 m and a length of 20 m) providing a field of 4 T and forward solenoids at both ends. For FCC-ee, an ultra-thin 2 T magnet concept is being studied with a free bore of 4.4 m and a length of 6 m.

Core technology

Advanced superconducting technology is at the core of the FCC study. Two of the major technological challenges for an energy-frontier machine are the development of more powerful dipole magnets (16 T, which is around twice that of the LHC) and a new generation of superconductors able to meet the FCC requirements. CERN has launched a 16 T magnet programme, in coordination with a US programme targeting 15 T, and an ambitious FCC conductor development programme with research institutes and industry distributed around the world (CERN Courier May 2018 p40).

Niobium-tin (Nb₃Sn) is the workhorse of the FCC magnet development programme. The first breakthrough results of this effort came in 2015, when a Nb₃Sn magnet in Racetrack Model Coil (RMC) configuration reached a field of 16.2 T (CERN Courier November 2015 p8). The next goal is to create an enhanced RMC (ERMC) reaching a mid-plane field of 16 T with a 10% margin at a temperature of 4.2 K. The first ERMC coil was successfully wound at CERN in April this year (figure 2, left picture) and a demonstrator unit will be available by the end of the summer. The high-field magnets of the proposed FCC-hh collider would require 7000–9000 tonnes of Nb₃Sn superconducting wire, with major implications for the superconductivity industry, while boosting the applications of this technology in domains outside high-energy physics.

The FCC conductor development programme aims, over an initial four-year period, to meet the challenging requirements of the FCC high-field magnets. The first results are very promising: within only one year, the Nb₃Sn superconducting wires produced by various international partners have achieved the same performance as the HL-LHC wire (figure 3), and there are strong indicators that it will be feasible to meet the even more ambitious wire targets (in terms of performance and cost) for FCC. The FCC magnet development programme will require six tonnes of superconducting wire over the next five years for the construction of R&D and model magnets, representing a substantial opportunity for wire manufacturers in Europe and beyond. CERN has also launched a Marie-Curie training network called EASITrain to advance our knowledge on superconducting materials and take into account large-scale industrialisation (CERN Courier September 2017 p31).

Another key technology for FCC is advanced superconducting radio-frequency (RF) cavities. A series of cavity designs comprising single-cell, four-cell 400 MHz and five-cell 800 MHz cavities are being developed, in collaboration with LNL-INFN in Italy and JLAB in the US, to cover the different operation energies foreseen for FCC-ee (figure 4). Recent progress in superconducting RF cavities at CERN has been fascinating, and a concrete R&D programme is under way (CERN Courier April 2018 p26). The technology of superconducting niobium-coated copper cavities, already employed at LEP and LHC, is rapidly advancing, achieving, for FCC-ee, a performance at 4.5 K that is competitive to niobium radiofrequency cavities at 2 K.

Current results from niobium-copper cavities installed in HIE-ISOLDE demonstrate the outstanding performance of this technology, achieving peak surface fields of 60 MV/m. Another key development is the rapid shaping of cavities using novel hydro-hydraulic forming, a technique developed in collaboration with the France-headquartered firm Bmax, and promising results from sputtering tests with Nb₃Sn films for even more efficient RF cavities. In addition, new klystron bunching technologies that can increase RF power production efficiency up to 90% (compared to the present average of 65%) are being developed in collaboration with the CLIC team. Finally, prototypes of the low-field low-power (and low-cost) twin-aperture dipole and quadrupole magnets for the FCC-ee arcs have been built and tested at CERN.

All in all, the new challenges of the FCC compared to the LHC and LEP call for a number of novel, special technologies that will allow a reliable and sustainable operation. New extraction systems, kickers and collimators to control the beam, powerful vacuum systems and novel approaches to deal with beam effects at the new regime of FCC, are but a few examples. These efforts have already resulted in a new beam-screen design (figure 5) to cope with the high synchrotron radiation of energetic proton beams, the first prototypes of which are currently under test at the Karlsruhe Research Accelerator (KARA) in Germany. Among other first pieces of hardware paving the way for FCC are the first prototypes of a superconducting shield septum magnet (figure 6) and an innovative method of laser surface treatment to suppress the electron clouds so easily induced by the intense FCC-hh beams, which is also under consideration for the HL-LHC.

Cooling the detector and accelerator magnets is another major challenge for a research infrastructure of this size, requiring huge cryogenic refrigeration capacity below 2 K. In collaboration with specialised industrial partners, significant studies of turbo compressors and also new mixtures of coolants have been carried out. A prototyping phase is to be launched after the completion of the forthcoming CDR.

Winning multinational cooperation

A collider that significantly extends the energy reach of the LHC requires multi-year and multinational cooperation, given the daunting magnitude of the resources needed. The high and growing number of young participants during the annual FCC meetings is a positive indicator for the future of the study. Moreover, the participation of a large number of industries in the FCC study and the supporting Horizon 2020 projects is not a surprise. After all, many of these challenges are also opportunities for technological breakthroughs, as confirmed by past large-scale scientific projects.

The wealth of results presented during the FCC Week 2018 will help inform the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, written input for which is required by the end of the year (CERN Courier April 2018 p7). As CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti remarked during the opening session of the Amsterdam event, “I cannot see a more natural and better place than CERN to host future circular colliders of the complexity of the FCC, given CERN’s demonstrated expertise in building and operating high-energy accelerators, the existing powerful accelerator complex, and the available infrastructure that we continue to upgrade.” The laboratory’s long history and strong expertise in all the necessary technical domains, as well as its ability to foster international collaborations that amplify the impact of such large-scale projects, provide the ideal base from which to mount the post-LHC adventure.

The post CERN thinks bigger appeared first on CERN Courier.

Chinese accelerator-based research in high-energy physics is a relatively recent affair. It began in earnest in October 1984 with the construction of the 240 m-circumference Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC) at the Institute of High Energy Physics. BEPC’s first collisions took place in 1988 at a centre-of-mass energy of 1.89 GeV. At the time, SLAC in the US and CERN in Europe were operating their more energetic PEP and LEP electron–positron colliders, respectively, while the lower-energy electron–positron machines ADONE (Frascati), DORIS (DESY) and VEPP-4 (BINP Novosibirsk) were also in operation.

Beginning in 2006, the BEPCII upgrade project saw the previous machine replaced with a double-ring scheme capable of colliding electrons and positrons at the same beam energy as that of BEPC but with a luminosity 100 times higher (10³³ cm⁻² s⁻¹). BEPCII, whose collisions are recorded by the Beijing Spectrometer III (BES III) detector, switched on two years later and continues to produce results today, with a particular focus on the study of charm and light-hadron decays. China also undertakes non-accelerator-based research in high-energy physics via the Daya Bay neutrino experiment, which was approved in 2006 and announced the first observation of the neutrino mixing angle θ₁₃ in March 2012.

The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in July 2012 raises new opportunities for a large-scale accelerator. Thanks to the low mass of the Higgs, it is possible to produce it in the relatively clean environment of a circular electron–positron collider – in addition to linear electron–positron colliders such as the International Linear Collider (ILC) and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) – with reasonable luminosity, technology, cost and power consumption. The Higgs boson is the cornerstone of the Standard Model (SM), yet is also responsible for most of its mysteries: the naturalness problem, the mass-hierarchy problem and the vacuum-stability problem, among others. Therefore, precise measurements of the Higgs boson serve as excellent probes of the fundamental physics principles underlying the SM and of exploration beyond the SM.

In September 2012, Chinese scientists proposed a 50–70 km circumference 240 GeV Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China, serving two large detectors for Higgs studies. The tunnel for such a machine could also host a Super Proton Proton Collider (SppC) to reach energies beyond the LHC (figure 1). CERN is also developing, via the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study, a proposal for a large (100 km circumference) tunnel, which could host high-energy electron–positron (FCC-ee), proton–proton (FCC-hh) or electron–proton (FCC-he) colliders (see CERN thinks bigger). Progress in both projects is proceeding fast, although many open questions remain – not least how to organise and fund these next great steps in our exploration of fundamental particles.

Precision leap

CEPC is a Higgs factory capable of producing one million clean Higgs bosons over a 10 year period. As a result, the couplings between the Higgs boson and other particles could be determined to an accuracy of 0.1–1% – roughly one order of magnitude better than that expected of the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and challenging the most advanced next-to-next-to-leading-order SM calculations (figure 2). By lowering the centre-of-mass energy to that of the Z pole at around 90 GeV, without the need to change hardware, CEPC could produce at least 10 billion Z bosons per year. As a super Z – and W – factory, CEPC would shed light on rare decays and heavy-flavour physics and mark a factor-10 leap in the precision of electroweak measurements.

The latest CEPC baseline design is a 100 km double ring (figure 3, left) with a single-beam synchrotron-radiation power of 30 MW at the Higgs pole, and with the same superconducting radio-frequency accelerator system for both electron and positron beams. CEPC could work both at Higgs- and Z-pole energies with a luminosity of 2 × 10³⁴ cm^–2 s^–1 and 16 × 10³⁴ cm^–2 s^–1, respectively. The alternative design of CEPC is based on a so-called advanced partial double-ring scheme (figure 3, right) with the aim of reducing the construction cost. Preliminary designs for the two CEPC detectors are shown in figure 4.

Concerning the SppC baseline, it has been decided to start with 12 T dipole magnets made from iron-based high-temperature superconductors to allow proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 75 TeV and a luminosity of 10³⁵ cm^–2 s^–1. The SppC SC magnet design is different to the Nb₃Sn-based magnets planned by the FCC-hh study, which are targeting a field of 16 T to allow protons to collide at a centre-of-mass energy of 100 TeV. The Chinese design also envisages an upgrade to 20 T magnets, which will take the SppC collision energy to beyond 100 TeV. Discovered just over a decade ago, iron-based superconductors have a much higher superconducting transition temperature than conventional superconductors, and therefore promise to reduce the cost of the magnets to an affordable level. To conduct the relevant R&D, a national network in China has been established and already more than 100 m of iron-based conductor cable has been fabricated.

The CEPC is designed as a facility where both machines can coexist in the same tunnel (figure 5). It will have a total of four detector experimental halls, each with a floor area of 2000 m² – two for CEPC and another two for SppC experiments. The tunnel is around 6 m wide and 4.8 m high, hosting the CEPC main ring (comprising two beam pipes), the CEPC booster and SppC. The SppC will be positioned outside of CEPC to accommodate other collision modes, such as an electron–proton, in the far future. The FCC study, which is aiming to complete a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) by the end of the year, adopts a similar staged approach (see CERN thinks bigger).

China on track

Since the first CEPC proposal, momentum has grown. In June 2013, the 464th Fragrant Hill Meeting (a national meeting series started in 1994 for the long-term strategic development of China’s science and technology) was held in Beijing and devoted to developing China’s high-energy physics following the discovery of the Higgs boson. Two consensuses were reached: the first was to support the ILC and participate in its construction with in-kind contributions, with R&D funds to be requested from the Chinese government; the second was a recognition that a circular electron–positron Higgs factory – the next collider after BEPCII in China – and a Super proton–proton collider built afterwards in the same tunnel is an important historical opportunity for fundamental science.

In 2014, the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) released statements supporting studies of energy-frontier circular colliders and encouraged global coordination. ICFA continues to support international studies of circular colliders, in addition to support for linear machines, reflecting the strategic vision of the international high-energy community. In April 2016, during the AsiaHEP and Asian Committee for Future Accelerators (ACFA) meeting in Kyoto, positive statements were made regarding the ILC and a China-led effort on CEPC-SppC. In September that year, at a meeting of the Chinese Physics Society, it was concluded that CEPC is the first option for a future high-energy accelerator project in China, with the strategic aim of making it a large international scientific project. Pre-conceptual design reports (pre-CDRs) for CEPC-SppC were completed at the beginning of 2015 with an international review, based on a single ring-based “pretzel” orbit scheme. A CEPC International Advisory Committee (IAC) was established and, in 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) allocated 36 million RMB (€4.6 million) for the CEPC study, and in 2018 another 32 million RMB (€4.1 million) has been approved by MOST.

Ensuring that a large future circular collider maximises its luminosity is a major challenge. The CEPC project has studied the use of a crab-waist collision scheme, which is also being studied for FCC-ee. Each of the double-ring schemes for CEPC have been studied systematically with the aim of comparing the luminosity potentials. On 15 January last year, CEPC-SppC baseline and alternative designs for the CDR were decided, laying the ground for the completion of the CEPC CDR at the end of 2017. Following an international review in June, the CEPC CDR will be published in July 2018.

While technical R&D continues – both for the CEPC machine and its two large detectors – a crucial issue is how to pay for such a major international project. In addition to the initial funding from MOST, other potential channels include the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and local governments. For example, two years ago Beijing Municipal allocated more than 500 million RMB (€65 million) to the Institute of High Energy Physics for superconducting RF development, and in 2018 CAS plans to allocate 200 million RMB (€26 million) to study high-temperature superconductors for magnets, including studies in materials science, industry and projects such as SppC. While not specifically intended for CEPC-SppC, such investments will have strong synergies with high-energy physics and, in November 2017, the CEPC-SppC Industrial Promotion Consortium was established with the aim of supporting mutual efforts between CEPC-SppC and industry.

A five-year-long Technical Design Report (TDR) effort to optimise the CEPC-SppC design and technologies, and prepare for industrial production, started this year. Construction of CEPC could begin as early as 2022 and be completed by the end of the decade. CEPC would operate for about 10 years, while SppC is planned to start construction in around 2040 and be completed by the mid-2040s. The CEPC-SppC TDR phase after the CDR is critical, both for key-component R&D and industrialisation. R&D has already started towards high-Q, high-field 1.3 GHz and 650 MHz superconducting cavities; 650 MHz high-power high-efficiency klystrons; 12 kW cryogenic systems, 12 T iron-based high temperature superconducting dipoles, and other enabling technologies. Construction of a new 4500 m² superconducting RF facility in Beijing called the Platform of Advanced Photon Source began in May 2017 to be completed in 2020, and could serve as a supporting facility for different projects.

International ambition

CEPC-SppC is a Chinese-proposed project to be built in China, but its nature is an international collaboration for the high-energy physics community worldwide. Following the creation of the CEPC-SppC IAC in 2015, more than 20 MoUs have been signed with many institutes and universities around the world, such as the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP; Russia); National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow, Russia) and the University of Rostock (Germany).

In August 2017, ICFA endorsed an ILC operating at a centre-of-mass energy of 250 GeV (ILC250), with energy-upgrade possibilities in the future (CERN Courier January/February 2018 p7). Although CEPC and ILC250 start with the same energy to study the Higgs boson, the ultimate goals are totally different from each other: SppC is for a 100 TeV proton–proton collider and ILC is a 1 TeV (maximum) electron–positron collider. The existence of both, however, would offer a highly complementary physics programme operating for a period of decades. The specific feature of CEPC is its small-scale superconducting RF system, (and its relatively large AC power consumption (300 MW for CEPC compared to 110 MW for ILC250). As for the cost, CEPC in its first phase includes part of the cost of SppC for its long tunnel, whereas ILC would upgrade its energy by increasing tunnel length accordingly later.

Deciding where to site the CEPC-SppC involves numerous considerations. Technical criteria are roughly quantified as follows: earthquake intensity less than seven on the Richter scale; earthquake acceleration less than 0.1 g; ground surface-vibration amplitude less than 20 nm at 1–100 Hz; granite bedrock around 50–100 m deep, and others. The site-selection process started in February 2015, and so far six sites have been considered: Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province; Huangling county in Shanxi Province; Shenshan Special District in Guangdong Province; Baoding (Xiongan) in Heibei Province; Huzhou in Zhejiang Province and Changchun in Jilin Province, where the first three sites have been prospected underground (figure 6). More sites, such as Huzhou in Zhejiang Province, will be considered in the future before a final selection decision. According to Chinese civil construction companies involved in the siting process, a 100 km tunnel will take less than five years to dig using drill-and-blast methods, and around three years if a tunnel boring machine is employed.

2018 is a milestone year for Higgs factories in Asia. As CEPC completes its CDR, the global high-energy physics community is waiting for a potential positive declaration from the Japanese government, by the end of the year, on their intention to host ILC250 in Japan, upgradable to higher energies. It is also a key moment for high-energy physics in Europe. FCC will complete its CDR by the end of the year, while CLIC released an updated 380 GeV baseline-staging scenario (CERN Courier November 2016 p20), and the European Strategy for Particle Physics update process will get under way (CERN Courier April 2018 p7). Hopefully, both ILC250 and CEPC-SppC will be included in the update together with FCC, while with respect to the US strategy we are looking forward to the next “P5” meeting following the European update.

During the past five years, CEPC-SppC has kept to schedule both in design and R&D, together with strong team development and international collaboration. On 28 March this year, the Chinese government announced the “Implementation method to support China-initiated large international science projects and plans”, with the goal of identifying between three and five preparatory projects, one or two of which will be put to construction, by 2020. Hopefully, CEPC will be among those selected.

The post China’s bid for a circular electron–positron collider appeared first on CERN Courier.

With each new high-energy accelerator, a question arises: is this the largest facility that we can conceive of being built? Although accelerator experts have never lost their astounding capacity for innovation when it comes to building the next collider, it is the necessary political will required to fund multi-billion-dollar science projects that remains the big unknown. Yet, giant facilities have succeeded in the past.

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was Europe’s answer to a long-standing transatlantic competition for the high-energy frontier. The US Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) had been designed to operate at 40 TeV – an enormous step – while the LHC was proposed at lower energy to fit into the existing LEP tunnel, compensating with higher luminosity. The cancellation of the SSC in 1993 ensured that the LHC would take up the high-energy mantle. Meanwhile, the 2 TeV Tevatron at Fermilab continued operations, giving the LHC real competition in the search for the Higgs boson.

Overcoming many challenges to the LHC’s construction, CERN wrestled back the energy frontier with magnificent success, crowned in 2012 by the Higgs-boson discovery. The machine and its approved high-luminosity upgrade will maintain Europe’s leadership into the 2030s. But what then?

The proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) aims to keep CERN at the energy frontier via a 100 km-circumference ring capable of housing a 100 TeV proton collider (see CERN thinks bigger). It may well proceed via an intermediate 90–365 GeV electron–positron collider (FCC-ee), bringing incredible precision to measurements of the Higgs boson and backing up the discovery at the LHC in much the same way that LEP did after the discoveries of the Z and W bosons at the SppS.

Whilst CERN physicists and partners wish for continued leadership from their stable base, global competition is tilting towards Asia, where two major proposals are progressing towards approval: the 250 GeV International Linear Collider (ILC) in Japan, and the 250 GeV Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC) in China (see China’s bid for a circular electron–positron collider). The ILC requires major international participation, whilst CEPC (which, like FCC, could proceed to a high-energy proton collider) will be largely nationally resourced.

In principle, FCC-ee and the CEPC are direct competitors. For that matter the ILC is too, and CERN is also developing the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) with a much higher energy reach. All would produce a very large sample of Higgs bosons in a clean environment. Uniquely, linear machines can in principle be upgraded by extending their length or increasing the gradient of their accelerating cavities. Circular machines, with the radius fixed at construction, require stronger magnets and increased power to push up their energy.

The existence of the Chinese and CERN bids is reminiscent of the competitive LHC–SSC era. Again, while the physics potential of each machine is similar, their political, economic and social environments are quite different. This time it is the new economic power of China, with a government focussed on international leadership in a range of endeavours, that is impacting future planning in the field.

The ILC and CEPC have such different development pathways – and with China increasing the size of the international high-energy physics pie, not just re-slicing it – that both could be important. For a 100 TeV proton collider, perhaps the massive development and production of the necessary superconducting magnets can be limited to one facility, freeing up international resources to explore more compact and efficient acceleration techniques for the future. CERN clearly has the experience and leadership in high-energy proton colliders.

The lesson from the LHC–SSC story is the need for persistence, international collaboration and endorsement, stability, innovation and a long-term vision – characteristics that underpin CERN’s successes. In Asia too, where long-term vision is the cultural norm, effective decadal planning is expected and recognised as critical amongst high-energy physics leaders. Surely international resources can be optimised to ensure our field remains active and relevant in the decades to come.

The post Colliding visions drive success appeared first on CERN Courier.

On 20 March, the DESY laboratory in Germany presented its strategy for the coming decade, outlining the areas of science and innovation it intends to focus on. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a union of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centres in Germany with a workforce of 39,000 and annual budget of €4.5 billion. The laboratory’s plans for the 2020s include building the world’s most powerful X-ray microscope (PETRA IV), expanding the European X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), and constructing a new centre for data and computing science.

Founded in 1959, DESY became a leading high-energy-physics laboratory and today remains among the world’s top accelerator centres. Since the closure of the HERA collider in 2007, the lab’s main accelerators have been used to generate synchrotron radiation for research into the structure of matter, while DESY’s particle-physics division carries out experiments at other labs such as those at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

Together with other facilities on the Hamburg campus, DESY aims to strengthen its role as a leading international centre for research into the structure, dynamics and function of matter using X rays. PETRA IV is a major upgrade to the existing light source at DESY that will allow users to study materials and other samples in 100 times more detail than currently achievable, approaching the limit of what is physically possible with X rays. A technical design report will be submitted in 2021 and first experiments could be carried out in 2026.

Together with the international partners and operating company of the European XFEL, DESY is planning to comprehensively expand this advanced X-ray facility (which starts at the DESY campus and extends 3.4 km northwest). This includes developing the technology to increase the number of X-ray pulses from 27,000 to one million per second (CERN Courier July/August 2017 p18).

As Germany’s most important centre for particle physics, DESY will continue to be a key partner in international projects and to set up an attractive research and development programme. DESY’s Zeuthen site, located near Berlin, is being expanded to become an international centre for astroparticle physics, focusing on gamma-ray and neutrino astronomy as well as on theoretical astroparticle physics. A key contribution to this effort is a new science data-management centre for the planned Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the next-generation gamma-ray observatory. DESY is also responsible for building CTA’s medium-sized telescopes and, as Europe’s biggest partner in the neutrino telescope IceCube located in the Antarctic, is playing an important role in upgrades to the facility.

The centre for data and computing science will be established at the Hamburg campus to meet the increasing demands of data-intensive research. It will start working as a virtual centre this year and there are plans to accommodate up to six scientific groups by 2025. The centre is being planned together with universities to integrate computer science and applied mathematics.

Finally, the DESY 2030 report lists plans to substantially increase technology transfer to allow further start-ups in the Hamburg and Brandenburg regions. DESY will also continue to develop and test new concepts for building compact accelerators in the future, and is developing a new generation of high-resolution detector systems.

“We are developing the campus in Hamburg together with partners at all levels to become an international port for science. This could involve investments worth billions over the next 15 years, to set up new research centres and facilities,” said Helmut Dosch, chairman of DESY’s board of directors, at the launch event. “The Zeuthen site, which we are expanding to become an international centre for astroparticle physics, is undergoing a similarly spectacular development.”

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The European strategy for particle physics, which is due to be updated by May 2020, will guide the direction of the field to the mid-2020s and beyond. To inform this vital process, the secretariat of the European Strategy Group (ESG) is calling upon the particle-physics community across universities, laboratories and national institutes to submit written input by 18 December 2018.

The update of the European strategy got under way in September when the CERN Council established a strategy secretariat (CERN Courier November 2017 p37). Chaired by Halina Abramowicz, former chair of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA), the secretariat includes Keith Ellis (chair of CERN’s Scientific Policy Committee), Jorgen D’Hondt (current ECFA chair) and Lenny Rivkin (chair of the European Laboratory Directors group).

The ESG secretariat, which has been assigned the task of organising the update process, proposes to broadly follow the steps of the previous two strategy processes concluded in 2006 and 2013. An open symposium, which in previous editions took place in Orsay (France) and Kraków (Poland), will take place in the second half of May 2019, in which the community will be invited to debate scientific input into the strategy update. With the event expected to attract around 500 participants, the secretariat proposes to hold it over a period of four days.

To prepare for the open symposium, the location of which is expected to be decided by the summer, ESG calls for written contributions towards the end of the year. Input should be submitted via a portal on the strategy-update website, which will be available from the beginning of October once the update has been formally launched by the CERN Council. The link will appear on the CERN Council’s web pages (https://council.web.cern.ch/en) and will be widely communicated closer to the time.

A “briefing book” based on the discussions will then be prepared by a physics preparatory group and submitted to the ESG for consideration during a five-day-long drafting session in the second half of January 2020. A special ECFA session on 14 July 2019 during the European Physical Society conference on high-energy physics in Ghent, Belgium, will provide another important opportunity for the community to feed into the ESG’s drafting session.

Global perspective

The European strategy update takes into account the worldwide particle-physics landscape and developments in related fields, and was initiated to coordinate activities across a large, international and fast-moving community. The third update comes as the scale of particle-physics facilities is leading to increased globalisation of the field and as its research direction evolves.

Understanding the properties of the Higgs boson (which was discovered at CERN just before the previous strategy update) remains a key focus of analysis at the LHC and future colliders, as are precision measurements of other Standard Model (SM) parameters and searches for new physics beyond the SM.

Neutrino physics is another key area of interest, with much experimental activity taking place since the last update. A “physics beyond colliders” programme has also been established by CERN to explore projects complementary to high-energy colliders and projects of national laboratories. The European astroparticle and nuclear-physics communities, meanwhile, recently launched their own strategies (CERN Courier September 2017 p6; March 2018 p7), which will also feed into the ESG update.

“After the discovery of the Higgs boson, the field is presented with a number of challenges and opportunities,” says Abramowicz. “Guided by the input from the community, the European strategy will determine which of these opportunities will be pursued.”

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The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) workshop is the main annual gathering of the CLIC accelerator and detector communities, and this year attracted more than 220 participants to CERN on 22–26 January. CLIC is a proposed electron-positron linear collider envisaged for the era beyond the high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), that would operate a staged programme over a period of 25 years with collision energies at 0.38, 1.5, and 3 TeV. This year the CLIC workshop focused on preparations for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics in 2019–2020.

The initial CLIC energy stage is optimised to provide high-precision Higgs boson and top-quark measurements, with the higher-energy stages enhancing sensitivity to effects from beyond-Standard Model (BSM) physics (CERN Courier November 2016 p20). Following a 2017 publication on Higgs physics, the workshop heard reports on recent developments in top-quark physics and the BSM potential at CLIC, both of which are attracting significant interest from the theory community.

Speakers also reported extensive progress in the validation and performance of the new detector model. To ensure that its performance meets the challenging specifications, a new approach to tracking has been commissioned, and the particle flow analysis and flavour-tagging capabilities have been consolidated. Updates were presented on the broad and active R&D programme on the vertex and tracking detectors, which aims to find technologies that simultaneously fulfil all the CLIC requirements. Reports were given on test-beam campaigns with both hybrid and monolithic assemblies, and on ideas for future developments. Many of the tracking and calorimeter technologies under study for the CLIC detector are also of interest to the HL-LHC, where the high granularity and time-resolution needed for CLIC are equally crucial.

For the accelerator, studies with the aim of reducing the cost and power have particular priority, presenting the initial CLIC stage as a project requiring resources comparable to what was needed for LHC. Key activities in this context are high-efficiency RF systems, permanent magnet studies, optimised accelerator structures and overall implementation studies related to civil engineering, infrastructure, schedules and tunnel layout.

A key aspect of the ongoing accelerator development is moving towards industrialisation of the component manufacture, by fostering wider applications of the CLIC 12 GHz X-band technology with external partners. In this respect, the CLIC workshop coincided with the kick-off meeting for the CompactLight project recently funded by the Horizon 2020 programme, which aims to design an optimised X-ray free-electron laser based on X-band technology for more compact and efficient accelerators (CERN Courier December 2017 p8).

Last year also saw the realisation of the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR), a new user facility for accelerator R&D whose programme includes CLIC high-gradient and instrumentation studies (CERN Courier November 2017 p8). Presentations at the workshop addressed the programmes for instrumentation and radiation studies, plasma-lensing, wakefield monitors and high-energy electrons for cancer therapy.

During 2018 the CLIC accelerator and detector and physics collaborations will prepare summary reports focusing on the 380 GeV initial CLIC project implementation as inputs for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, including plans for the project preparation phase in 2020–2025.

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Multi-messenger astronomy, neutrino physics and dark matter are among several topics in astroparticle physics set to take priority in Europe in the coming years, according to a report by the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (APPEC).

The APPEC strategy for 2017–2026, launched at an event in Brussels on 9 January, is the climax of two years of talks with the astroparticle and related communities. 20 agencies in 16 countries are involved and includes representation from the European Committee for Future Accelerators, CERN and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Lying at the intersection of astronomy, particle physics and cosmology, astroparticle physics is well placed to search for signs of physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. As a relatively new field, however, European astroparticle physics does not have dedicated intergovernmental organisations such as CERN or ESO to help drive it. In 2001, European scientific agencies founded APPEC to promote cooperation and coordination, and specifically to formulate a strategy for the field.

Building on earlier strategies released in 2008 and 2011, APPEC’s latest roadmap presents 21 recommendations spanning scientific issues, organisational aspects and societal factors such as education and industry, helping Europe to exploit tantalising potential for new discoveries in the field.

There are plans to join forces with experiments in the US to build the next generation of NDBD detectors.

The recent detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars (CERN Courier December 2017 p16) opens a new line of exploration based on the complementary power of charged cosmic rays, electromagnetic waves, neutrinos and gravitational waves for the study of extreme events such as supernovae, black-hole mergers and the Big Bang itself. “We need to look at cross-fertilisation between these modes to maximise the investment in facilities,” says APPEC chair Antonio Masiero of the INFN and the University of Padova. “This is really going to become big.”

APPEC strongly supports Europe’s next-generation ground-based gravitational interferometer, the Einstein Telescope, and the space-based LISA detector. In the neutrino sector, KM3NeT is being completed for high-energy cosmic neutrinos at its site in Sicily, as well as for precision studies of atmospheric neutrinos at its French site near Toulon. Europe is also heavily involved in the upgrade of the leading cosmic-ray facility the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. Significant R&D work is taking place at CERN’s neutrino platform for the benefit of long- and short-baseline neutrino experiments in Japan and the US (CERN Courier July/August 2016 p21), and Europe is host to several important neutrino experiments. Among them are KATRIN at KIT in Germany, which is about to begin measurements of the neutrino absolute mass scale, and experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay (NDBD) such as GERDA and CUORE at INFN’s Gran Sasso National Laboratory (CERN Courier December 2017 p8).

There are plans to join forces with experiments in the US to build the next generation of NDBD detectors. APPEC has a similar vision for dark matter, aiming to converge next year on plans for an “ultimate” 100-tonne scale detector based on xenon and argon via the DARWIN and Argo projects. APPEC also supports ESA’s Euclid mission, which will establish European leadership in dark-energy research, and encourages continued European participation in the US-led DES and LSST ground-based projects. Following from ESA’s successful Planck mission, APPEC strongly endorses a European-led satellite mission, such as COrE, to map the cosmic-microwave background and the consortium plans to enhance its interactions with its present observers ESO and CERN in areas of mutual interest.

“It is important at this time to put together the human forces,” says Masiero. “APPEC will exercise influence in the European Strategy for Particle Physics, and has a significant role to play in the next European Commission Framework Project, FP9.”

A substantial investment is needed to build the next generation of astroparticle-physics research, the report concedes. According to Masiero, European agencies within APPEC currently invest around €80 million per year in astroparticle-related activities, in addition to funding large research infrastructures. A major effort in Europe is necessary for it to keep its leading position. “Many young people are drawn into science by challenges like dark matter and, together with Europe’s existing research infrastructures in the field, we have a high technological level and are pushing industries to develop new technologies,” continues Masiero. “There are great opportunities ahead in European astroparticle physics.”

• View the full report at www.appec.org.

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On 8 January the Republic of Lithuania formally became an associate Member State of CERN, following the completion of its internal approval procedures (CERN Courier July/August 2017 p7). Lithuania’s relationship with CERN dates back to an International Cooperation Agreement signed in 2004, with Lithuanian researchers contributing to the CMS experiment since 2007. Its new status strengthens the long-term partnership between CERN and the Lithuanian scientific community, makes Lithuanian scientists eligible for staff appointments, and entitles Lithuanian industry to bid for CERN contracts.

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In the autumn of 2016, at a meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science discussed a proposal to create a large international research institute for South-East Europe. The facility would promote the development of science and technology and help mitigate tensions between countries in the region, following the CERN model of “science for peace”. A platform for internationally competitive research in South-East Europe would stimulate the education of young scientists, transfer and reverse the brain drain, and foster greater cooperation and mobility in the region.

The South-East Europe initiative received first official support by the government of Montenegro, independent of where the final location would be, thanks to the engagement of Montenegro science minister Sanja Damjanovic, who is also a physicist with a long tradition working at CERN.

On 25 October last year at a meeting at CERN, ministers of science or their representatives from countries in the region signed a Declaration of Intent (DOI) to establish a South-East Europe International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) with the above objectives. The initial signatories were Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo^*, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Croatia agreed in principle, while Greece participated as an observer. CERN’s role was to provide a neutral and inspirational venue for the meeting.

The signature of the DOI was followed by a scientific forum on 25–26 January at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, held under the auspices of UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Physical Society. The forum attracted more than 100 participants ranging from scientists and engineers at universities to representatives of industry, government agencies and international organisations including ESFRI and the European Commission. Its aim was to present two scientific options for SEEIIST: a fourth-generation synchrotron light source that would offer users intense beams from infrared to X-ray wavelengths; and a state-of-the-art patient treatment facility for cancer using protons and heavy ions, also with a strong biomedical research programme. The concepts behind each proposal were worked out by two groups of international experts.

With SEEIIST’s overarching goal to be a world-class research infrastructure, the training of scientists, engineers and technicians is essential. Whichever project is selected, it will require several years of effort, during which people will be trained for the operation of the machines and user communities will also be formed. Capacity-building and technology-transfer activities will further trigger developments for the whole region, such as the development of powerful digital networks and big-data handling.

Reports and discussions from the ICTP forum have provided an important basis for the next steps. Representatives of IAEA declared an interest in helping with the training programme, while European Union (EU) representatives are also looking favourably at the project – potentially providing resources to support the preparation of a detailed conceptual design and eventual concrete proposal.

The initiative is gathering momentum. On 30 January the first meeting of the SEEIIST steering committee, chaired initially by the Montenegro science minister, took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Sofia was chosen at the invitation of Bulgaria since it currently holds the EU presidency, and the meeting was introduced by Bulgarian president Rumen Radew, who expressed strong interest in SEEIIST and promised to support the initiative. Officials have underlined that a decision between the two scientific options should be taken as soon as possible – a task that we are now working towards.

SEEIIST wouldn’t be the first organisation to be inspired by the CERN model. The European Southern Observatory, European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the recently operational SESAME facility in Jordan – a third-generation light source governed by a council made up of representatives from eight members in the Middle East and surrounding region – each demonstrate the power of fundamental science to advance knowledge and bring people and countries together.

• This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSC 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

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As the LHC’s 2017 run drew to a close late last year, CERN hosted a workshop addressing future physics opportunities at the flagship collider. The first workshop on the physics of High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and perspectives at High-Energy LHC (HE-LHC) took place from 30 October to 1 November, attracting around 500 participants. HL-LHC is an approved extension of the LHC programme that aims to achieve a total integrated luminosity of 3 ab^–1 by the second half of the 2030s (for reference, the LHC has amassed around 0.1 ab^–1 so far). HE-LHC, by contrast, is one of CERN’s possible options for the future beyond the LHC; its target collision energy of 27 TeV, twice the LHC energy, would be made possible using the 16 T dipole magnets under development in the context of the Future Circular Collider study.

The workshop was the first of a series of meetings scheduled throughout 2018 to review and further refine our understanding of the physics potential of the HL-LHC, and to begin a systematic study of physics at the HE-LHC.

Close to 2000 physics papers have been published by the LHC experiments. In addition to the discovery of the Higgs boson and the first studies of its properties, these papers document progress in hundreds of different directions, ranging from searches for new particles and interactions to the measurement of a multitude of cross-sections with unprecedented precision, from the improved determination of the top-quark and W-boson masses to the opening of new directions in the exploration of flavour phenomena, from the discovery of hadrons made of exotic quark configurations to the observation of new collective phenomena in both proton and nuclear collisions. That these results were extracted from datasets representing only a few percent of the data sample promised by the HL-LHC, shows how vast and incisive its ultimate achievements may be.

There is nevertheless a recurrent concern expressed by many physicists that the lack of direct evidence for new physics at the LHC is already diminishing the expected returns from the HL-LHC. The conflict with the expectation that new physics should have already appeared at the LHC forces us to reconsider that prejudice, and strongly underscores the mysterious origin of the Higgs boson and the need to study it in the greatest detail. This orients the HL-LHC goals towards increasing the sensitivity to elusive exotic phenomena, and increasing the precision of Standard Model measurements and of their interpretation, in particular for the Higgs. These directions pose severe challenges to experimentalists and theorists, pushing us to develop original approaches for the best exploitation of the HL-LHC statistics and to use experience to reduce future systematic uncertainties in theory and experiment. The full HL-LHC dataset will be needed to challenge the Higgs mechanism. With it, we will be able to attain percent-level precision for the most prominent of the Higgs interactions, test the couplings to the second fermion generation, and find evidence for the self-interaction of the Higgs.

A priority of the workshop series is to study the added value provided by the HE-LHC. And, since minor deviations from the Standard Model could be hiding anywhere, no stone should be left unturned. We have already seen the emergence of new proposals and techniques, which have extended beyond expectations the new-physics reach. Examples include the use of boosted jet topologies to enhance sensitivity to weakly interacting light particles decaying hadronically, or the use of quantum interference effects to constrain the Higgs-decay width. New proposals are also emerging to detect exotic long-lived particles, with the possible help of additional detector elements. The workshop environment should stimulate the youngest researchers to develop ideas and leave their own signature on future analyses.

Indications of lepton-flavour-universality violation (see “Implications of LHCb results brought into focus”) are being closely monitored and will be further scrutinised during the workshop. Were these hints to be confirmed with more data, it would open a hunt for their microscopic origin and provide concrete ground in which to examine the power of the HL-LHC and the potential of a future HE-LHC to test the proposed models. The workshop series will explore the synergy and complementarity of the flavour studies carried out with the precise measurement of b-hadron decays and with the direct search for these new interactions.

The LHC running into the mid-2030s also provides new opportunities for the study of hadronic matter at high densities. The established existence of a quark-gluon plasma phase should be probed under a broader set of experimental conditions, using ions lighter than lead, and thoroughly addressing the novel indications that unexpected collective effects appear in proton collisions. Surprises such as this show that the field of high-density hadronic matter is rapidly evolving, and the workshop will outline the ambitious future programme needed to answer all open questions.

The discussion of the prospects of HL-LHC physics builds on the experience gained so far by the LHC experiments, in particular the dedicated work done for the preparation of future detector upgrades to cope with the harsher high-luminosity environment of HL-LHC, addressing problems of increased event rates and complexity. The workshop will try to go beyond the existing performance studies, exploring the opportunities offered by the superior detector and data-acquisition systems.

On the theory side, the computing techniques discovered in the last few years are being pushed to new heights, promising continued progress in the modelling of LHC interactions. This goes hand in hand with the improved precision of the measurements, and the workshop will examine new ideas for the direct validation of theoretical calculations, to improve the extraction of Standard Model parameters and to gain higher sensitivity to deviations from the Standard Model.

The strong attendance at the kick-off workshop attests the great interest present in the community in the post-LHC era. The outcomes will be documented in a report to be submitted to the 2019 review of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. The projections for the ultimate outcome of the HL-LHC will provide an essential reference for the assessment of the other future initiatives to be evaluated during the strategy review.

indico.cern.ch/event/647676

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Ninety years after the famous photograph of the 1927 Solvay conference (top) was taken, depicting 28 male scientists and a single woman (Marie Skłodowska Curie), the University of Trento and the Italian Physical Society created a more modern picture: a new photo showing 28 female physicists and one man (former CMS spokesperson Guido Tonelli). The aim was to give more visibility to women in physics, one of the topics of the conference of the Italian Physical Society in Trento after which the photo was taken on 14 September. At the 1927 Solvay conference, devoted to electrons and photons, 17 of the 29 attendees photographed were or became Nobel Prize winners – including Curie, who alone among them, had won Nobel Prizes in two separate scientific disciplines.

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On 7 November, during its triennial seminar in Ottawa, Canada, the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) issued a statement of support for the International Linear Collider (ILC) as a Higgs-boson factory operating at a centre-of-mass energy of 250 GeV. That is half the energy set out five years ago in the ILC’s technical design report (TDR), shortening the length of the previous design (31 km) by around a third and slashing its cost by up to 40%.

The statement follows physics studies by the Japanese Association of High Energy Physicists (JAHEP) and Linear Collider Collaboration (LCC) outlining the physics case for a 250 GeV Higgs factory. Following the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, the first elementary scalar particle, it is imperative that physicists undertake precision studies of its properties and couplings to further scrutinise the Standard Model. The ILC would produce copious quantities of Higgs bosons in association with Z bosons in a clean electron–positron collision environment, making it complementary to the LHC and its high-luminosity upgrade.

One loss to the ILC physics program would be top-quark physics, which requires a centre-of-mass energy of around 350 GeV. However, ICFA underscored the extendibility of the ILC to higher energies via improving the acceleration technology and/or extending the tunnel length – a unique advantage of linear colliders – and noted the large discovery potential accessible beyond 250 GeV. The committee also reinforced the ILC as an international project led by a Japanese initiative.

Thanks to experience gained from advanced X-ray sources, in particular the European XFEL in Hamburg (CERN Courier July/August 2017 p25), the superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) acceleration technology of the ILC is now well established. Achieving a 40% cost reduction relative to the TDR price tag of $7.8 billion also requires new “nitrogen-infusion” SRF technology recently discovered at Fermilab.

“We have demonstrated that with nitrogen doping a factor-three improvement in the cavity quality-factor is realisable in large scale machines such as LCLS-II, which can bring substantial cost reduction for the ILC and all future SRF machines,” explains Fermilab’s Anna Grassellino, who is leading the SRF R&D. “With nitrogen doping at low temperature, we are now paving the way for simultaneous improvement of efficiency and accelerating gradients of SRF cavities. Fermilab, KEK, Cornell, JLAB and DESY are all working towards higher gradients with higher quality factors that can be realised within the ILC timeline.”

With the ILC having been on the table for more than two decades, the linear-collider community is keen that the machine’s future is decided soon. Results from LHC Run 2 are a key factor in shaping the physics case for the next collider, and important discussions about the post-LHC accelerator landscape will also take place during the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics in the next two years.

“The Linear Collider Board strongly supports the JAHEP proposal to construct a 250GeV ILC in Japan and encourages the Japanese government to give the proposal serious consideration for a timely decision,” says LCC director Lyn Evans.

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Rapid progress is being made in novel acceleration techniques. An example is the AWAKE experiment at CERN (CERN Courier January/February 2017 p8), which is currently in the middle of its first run demonstrating proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration. This has inspired researchers to propose further applications of this novel acceleration scheme, among them a very-high-energy electron−proton (VHEeP) collider.

Simulations show that electrons can be accelerated up to energies in the TeV region over a length of only a kilometre using the AWAKE scheme. The VHEeP collider would use one of the LHC proton beams to drive a wakefield and accelerate electrons to an energy of 3 TeV over a distance less than 4 km, then collide the electron beam with the LHC’s other proton beam to yield electron−proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 9 TeV – 30 times higher than the only other electron−proton collider, HERA at DESY. Other applications of the AWAKE scheme with electron beams up to 100 GeV are being considered as part of the Physics Beyond Colliders study at CERN (CERN Courier November 2016 p28).

Of course, itʼs very early days for AWAKE. Currently the scheme offers instantaneous luminosities for VHEeP of just 10²⁸ – 10²⁹ cm⁻² s⁻¹, mainly due to the need to refill the proton bunches in the LHC once they have been used as wakefield drivers. Various schemes are being considered to increase the luminosity, but for now the physics case of a VHEeP collider with very high energy but moderate luminosities is being considered. Motivated by these ideas, a workshop called Prospects for a very high energy ep and eA collider took place on 1–2 June at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich to discuss the VHEeP physics case.

Electron−proton scattering can be characterised by the variables Q² (the squared four-momentum of the exchanged boson) and x (the fraction of the proton’s momentum carried by the struck parton), the reaches of which are extended by a factor 1000 to high Q² and to low x. The energy dependence of hadronic cross-sections at high energies, such as the total photon−proton cross-section, which has synergy with cosmic-ray physics, can be measured and QCD and the structure of matter better understood in a region where the effects are completely unknown. With values of x down to 10⁻⁸ expected for Q² ∼> 1 GeV², effects of saturation of the structure of the proton will be observed and searches at high Q² for physics beyond the Standard Model will be possible, most significantly the increased sensitivity to the production of leptoquarks.

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Particle physics is evolving as a result of greater co-ordination and collaboration on a global scale. This goes hand in hand with CERN’s policy of increased networking with organisations and institutions worldwide. In 2010, the CERN Council approved a radical shift in CERN’s membership policy that opened full membership to non-European states, irrespective of their geographical location. At the same time, the Council introduced the status of associate membership to facilitate the accession of new members, including emerging countries outside of Europe, which might not command sufficient resources to sustain full membership (CERN Courier December 2014 p58). Interest in membership and associate membership of CERN continues to grow (CERN Courier January/February 2017 p5).

CERN’s geographical enlargement policy offers clear opportunities to reinforce the long-term aspirations of the high-energy physics community. Enlargement is not an aim in itself. Rather, the focus is on strengthening relations with countries that can bring scientific and technological expertise to CERN and, in return, allow countries with developing particle-physics communities to build capacity. Presently, CERN has 22 Member States, seven associate Member States, and six states and organisations with observer status. From the South Asia region, Pakistan and India have recently become associate members. International Co-operation Agreements (ICAs) have been signed with Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The first CERN South Asian High Energy Physics Instrumentation (SAHEPI) workshop on detector technology and applications, held on 20–21 June at Nepal’s Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, brought together physicists and policy makers from the South Asia region and Mauritius. Representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were invited to attend. At least one senior scientist and one student from each country participated, making a total of about 70 participants, more than half of whom were students (representatives from the Maldives and Bhutan were not able to attend due to other commitments).

The aim of the workshop was to bring together representatives from CERN and South Asia countries to strengthen the scientific co-operation between the Organization and the South Asia region. The workshop also provided the opportunity for countries to establish new contacts within the region, with the objective of initiating new intra-regional co-operation in high-energy physics and related technologies. The workshop was initiated as part of CERN’s broader efforts to establish relations with regions, complementing relations with individual countries, and follows similar regional approaches in Latin America and South-east Asia.

Rewards of participation

Progress in particle physics relies on close collaboration between physicists, technicians, hardware and software engineers and industry, and both Member States and associate Member States enjoy opportunities to apply for staff and fellowship positions and bid for CERN contracts. Collaborating with CERN also trains young scientists and engineers in cutting-edge projects, giving them expertise that can be brought to their home nations, and offers great opportunities for educating the next generation through CERN’s teacher programmes and others. Participation in CERN programmes has already fostered successful scientific collaborations in South Asia, where researchers have participated in many of CERN’s pioneering activities and made a significant contribution to the construction of the LHC. Indeed, CERN’s relations with South Asia feature strong partnerships dating back decades, particularly with India and Pakistan.

In 1994, CERN and the government of Pakistan signed an ICA concerning the development of scientific and technical co-operation in CERN’s research. This agreement was followed by the signing of  several protocols, and today Pakistan contributes to the ALICE and CMS experiments as well as to accelerator projects such as CLIC/CTF3 and Linac 4, making Pakistan a significant partner for CERN. Pakistan has also built various mechanical components for ATLAS and for the LHC, and made an important contribution to the LHC consolidation programme in 2013–2014. In July 2015 Pakistan  became an associate Member State of CERN.

Given its long tradition and broad spectrum of co-operation with CERN since the 1970s, combined with the country’s substantial scientific and technological potential, India applied for associate membership in 2015. In particular, in 1996 the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) agreed to take part in the construction of the LHC, and to contribute to the CMS and ALICE experiments and to the LHC Computing Grid with Tier-2 centres in Mumbai and Kolkata. In recognition of its contribution to the construction of the LHC, India was awarded observer status in 2002. The success of the partnership between CERN and the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) regarding the LHC has also led to co-operation on novel accelerator technologies through DAE’s participation in CERN’s Linac 4, Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) and CTF3 projects, and CERN’s contribution to DAE’s programmes. India is also participating in the COMPASS, ISOLDE and n_TOF experiments. India became an associate Member State in January 2017.

Broader region

In the recent past, contacts have also been established with several other countries in the South Asia region. Collaboration between Sri Lanka and CERN has been ongoing for a number of years, following an expression of interest signed between the CMS collaboration and the University of Ruhuna in 2006. This saw the first CERN summer students from Sri Lanka and the first PhD student graduating in 2013. The conclusion of the ICA with the government of Sri Lanka in 2017, and the expected entry of a consortium of universities from Sri Lanka into the CMS collaboration, are important steps for growing the country’s national high-energy physics capacity. Sri Lanka is moving towards membership of the CMS collaboration with an interest in contributing to the experiment’s upgrade programme, driven initially by the University of Colombo and the University of Ruhuna.

Official contacts between CERN and Bangladesh were established in 2012 with the signing of an expression of interest. This provided an interim framework to enable scientists, engineers and students from universities and research institutes of Bangladesh to further develop their professional training, in particular through participation in CERN’s scientific and training programmes. In 2014 CERN and Bangladesh signed an ICA, and the first Bangladesh–CERN school on particle physics was held at the University of Dhaka that year. Bangladesh is currently participating in the ALICE experiment as an associate member and working on physics analysis. There is a high potential for future development of the collaboration with CERN, through 39 public universities and 93 recognised universities and the high number of multidisciplinary research facilities of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.

Nepal has seven universities: Tribhuvan University (the largest and, until around 1990, the only university in the country); Kathmandu University; Pokhara University; Purbanchal University; Mahendra Sanskrit University; Far-western University; and the Agriculture and Forestry University. Tribhuvan and Kathmandu universities are considered to be best placed to develop scientific and technical co-operation with CERN, and collaborative activities are already under way between CERN and Nepal. Students from Nepal have been participating in the CERN summer-student programme for non-Member State nationals, and teachers from Nepal have taken part in the CERN high-school teachers programme. Several workshops on particle physics and related areas have been held at Tribhuven University and Kathmandu University, and an ICA between Nepal and CERN has recently been concluded.

Contacts with the physics communities of Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Maldives and Mauritius were established through the June workshop and will be pursued to explore ways and means to develop capacity in physics and related areas in these countries. The department of physics at the University of Kabul was established in 1942 and includes programmes for undergraduate and graduate studies in physics as well as student laboratories. The department of physics at the University of Mauritius includes research programmes in radioastronomy and applied radio frequency and it also operates the Mauritius Radio Telescope, while its undergraduate teaching programme includes courses in nuclear and elementary particle physics.

Moving forward

The nature of the national programmes in high-energy physics and related areas in these South Asian countries was the focus of discussions at the Kathmandu workshop. The aim was to identify synergies to establish stronger scientific collaboration across the region, such as promoting the exchange of researchers and students within the region. These efforts will help to build capacity, particularly in the countries with emerging high-energy physics programmes that face challenges in research infrastructure and university curricula.

The motivation and enthusiasm of the participants was palpable, and it was clear to see the efforts they put in for research and education. The proceedings of the workshop together with the identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the national programmes in high-energy physics and possibilities to strengthen the intra-regional co-operation will be presented to representatives of the governments from the participating countries with the objective to raise awareness at the highest political level.

CERN will continue to engage with the region in an effort to build capacity in high-energy physics research and education and to facilitate collaboration with CERN. It was decided that due to the success of this workshop, discussions will continue in Sri Lanka in 2019.

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On 4 July, the Republic of Slovenia became an associate member of CERN in the pre-stage to membership. It follows official notification to CERN that Slovenia has completed internal approval procedures, entering into force an agreement signed in December 2016. “It is a great pleasure to welcome Slovenia into our ever-growing CERN family as an associate Member State in the pre-stage to membership,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. “This now moves CERN’s relationship with Slovenia to a higher level.”

Slovenian physicists contributed to CERN’s programme long before Slovenia became an independent state in 1991, participating in an experiment at LEAR (the Low Energy Antiproton Ring) and on the DELPHI experiment at CERN’s previous large accelerator, the Large Electron–Positron collider (LEP). In 1991, CERN and Slovenia concluded a co-operation agreement concerning the further development of scientific and technical co-operation in the research projects of CERN. In 2009, Slovenia applied to become a Member State of CERN. For the past 20 years, Slovenian physicists have participated in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Their focus has been on silicon tracking, protection devices and computing at the Slovenian TIER-2 data centre, and on the tracker upgrade, making use of the research reactor in Ljubljana for neutron irradiation studies.   

“Sloveniaʼs membership in CERN will on the one hand facilitate, strengthen and broaden the participation and activities of Slovenian scientists (especially in the field of experimental physics), on the other it will bring full access of Slovenian industry to CERN orders, which will help to break through in demanding markets with products with a high degree of embedded knowledge,” said Maja Makovec Brenčič, Slovenian minister of education, science and sport.

Slovenia joins Cyprus and Serbia as an associate Member State in the pre-stage to membership. After a period of five years, the CERN Council will decide on the admission of Slovenia to full membership.

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On 19 June, the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC) released its long-range plan for nuclear research in Europe, following 20 months of work involving extensive discussions with the scientific community. The previous long-range plan was issued in 2010.

Today, nuclear physics is a broad field covering nuclear matter in all its forms and exploring their possible applications. It encompasses the origin and evolution of the universe, such as the quark deconfinement at the Big Bang, the physics of neutron stars and nucleosynthesis, and addresses open questions in nuclear structure, among other topics.

A number of research programmes are at the interface between nuclear and particle physics, where CERN plays an important role. This can be seen clearly in the six chapters of the NuPECC report devoted to: hadron physics; properties of strongly interacting matter; nuclear structure and dynamics; nuclear astrophysics; symmetries and fundamental interactions; and applications. For symmetries and fundamental interactions, particular emphasis is given to experiments (such as those with antihydrogen) where nuclei are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Concerning broader societal benefits, CERN’s MEDICIS facility, based on expertise from ISOLDE, is of particular interest (CERN Courier October 2016 p28).

The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), a major investment that just entered construction in Germany (CERN Courier July/August 2017 p41), also has high prominence. Three other prominent recommendations have particular relevance to CERN: support for world-leading isotope-separation facilities (ISOLDE at CERN together with SPIRAL2 in France and SPES in Italy); support for existing and emerging facilities (including the new ELENA synchrotron at CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator); and support for the LHC’s heavy-ion programme, in particular ALICE. Emerging facilities – the extreme-light source ELI-NP in Bucharest, and NICA and a superheavy element factory in Dubna – are also highlighted.

Research in nuclear physics involves several facilities of different sizes that produce complementary scientific results, and in Europe they are well co-ordinated. International collaborations beyond Europe, mainly in the US (JLAB in particular) and in Asia (Japan in particular), add much value to this field.

NuPECC’s latest report is expected to help co-ordinate and guide this rich field of physics for the next 6–7 years. Its recommendations were extensively discussed and can be read in full at nupecc.org/pub/lrp2017.pdf.

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On 27 June, representatives of CERN and the Republic of Lithuania signed an agreement in the capital city of Vilnius admitting Lithuania as an associate Member State. The agreement will enter into force once official approval is received from the Lithuanian government.

“The involvement of Lithuanian scientists at CERN has been growing steadily over the past decade, and associate membership can now serve as a catalyst to further strengthen particle physics and fundamental research in the country,” said CERNʼs Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti. “We warmly welcome Lithuania to the CERN family, and look forward to enhancing our partnership in science, technology development and education and training.”

Lithuania’s relationship with CERN dates back to a co-operation agreement signed in 2004, which paved the way to participation of Lithuanian universities and scientific institutions in high-energy physics experiments at CERN. Lithuania has been a long-time contributor to the CMS experiment and has also played an important role in developing databases for the experiment. The country actively promoted the BalticGrid in 2005, and more generally participates in detector development relevant to the High Luminosity LHC.

Lithuania’s associate membership will strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Lithuanian scientific community. It will allow Lithuania to take part in meetings of CERN Council and its committees, and Lithuanian scientists will be eligible for staff appointments. Finally, once the agreement enters into force, Lithuanian industry will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts.

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It is perhaps no coincidence that many dystopian visions of the future in popular fiction, such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451, have breach of data privacy at the core of their plots. With an ever growing level of interaction between humans and a global infrastructure tied together by the internet, there is always the fear that others know more about you than you would like. How can we save ourselves from such a bleak future?

The answer has been to create, over the past 20 years, a number of strict legal obligations and rights when dealing with the personal data of individuals. You will notice that you are increasingly asked for consent for use of your personal data on websites and to allow software to store cookies on your computer. Such legislation is sometimes criticised for generating bureaucracy that gets in the way of “real work”. But for those who work in the data-privacy arena, it is clear that we need to adapt quickly to a rapidly evolving digital environment. What you do, where you go and how long you spend there are valuable assets in the information world.

In 2012 the European Union (EU) proposed new data-protection reforms to strengthen the fundamental rights of citizens. Three years later, EU institutions reached agreement on the rules, and in May 2016 a new regulation was issued called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which enters into force in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries from 25 May 2018.

You probably haven’t heard much about the GDPR until now, yet it is almost certain to impact the way our field deals with personal data. The central idea is that your personal data is truly yours: it cannot be taken or processed without safeguards to its privacy, and any data collection or processing must have an appropriate legal basis. The new laws offer a very broad interpretation of what “personal data” and “processing” mean, and offer a number of legal bases that must be considered. Personal data is anything that could be used to identify you, including obvious things like name and address but also more subtle information like GPS location or IP address. Processing is equally loosely defined, from storing data in a database to viewing data on a screen and even copying a file.

Although in practice there are many details to be determined, the intention of the regulators is evident: to stop the use of people’s personal data except for well-defined purposes that must be clear when the data are collected to be fair to the individual. Crucially, the new regulations aim to be technology agnostic and therefore apply equally to online databases as well as a filing cabinet full of paper.

All EEA institutions, companies, labs and universities will be subject to the GDPR. Although CERN, as an international organisation, is not directly subject to EU regulations, in light of the coming changes it is reviewing its internal legislation to offer equivalent levels of personal-data protection. Consequently, in January this year CERN established the Office of Data Privacy Protection to assist services that process personal data and to help anyone who is concerned about how their personal data is being handled by the Organization.

Given the broad scope of personal data and data processing, it can be complicated and somewhat burdensome to comply with these new practices. For instance, it will require us to review how passport information should be sent, how records such as medical information and personal attributes are secured, as well as how photos and CCTV are used. At the same time, we need to recognise that protecting privacy is important and that adopting a “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” approach does not protect us from future unknown uses of our personal data.

So, if in any doubt, simply adopt the golden rule of personal data: if you don’t really need it, don’t collect and store it; if you do, delete it as soon as possible.

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Convened and managed by CERN and launched in 2014, SCOAP³ is the largest-scale global open access initiative ever built, involving 3000 libraries and research institutes from 44 countries. The initiative is possible through funds made available from the redirection of former subscription monies: publishers reduce subscription prices for journals participating in the initiative, and those savings are pooled by SCOAP³ partners to pay for the open access costs.

“Open access reflects values and goals that have been enshrined in CERN’s Convention for more than 60 years, such as the widest dissemination of scientific results. We are very pleased that the APS is joining SCOAP³ and we look forward to welcoming more partners for the long-term success of this initiative,” says CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti.

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Driven by technology, scale, geopolitical reform, and even surprising discoveries, the field of particle physics is changing dramatically. This evolution is welcomed by some and decried by others, but ultimately is crucial for the survival of the field. The next 50 years of particle physics will be shaped not only by the number, character and partnerships of labs around the world and their ability to deliver exciting science, but also by their capacity to innovate.

Increasingly, the science we wish to pursue as a field has demanded large, even mega-facilities. CERN’s LHC is the largest, but the International Linear Collider (ILC) project and plans for a large circular collider in China are not far behind, and could even be new mega-science facilities. The main centres of particle physics around the world have changed significantly in the last several decades due to this trend. But a new picture is emerging, one where co-ordination among and participation in these mega-efforts is required at an international level. A more co-ordinated global playing field is developing, but “in transition” would best describe the situation at present.

Europe and North America have clear directions of travel. CERN has emerged as the leader of particle physics in Europe; the US has only Fermilab devoted entirely to particle physics. Other national labs in the US and Europe have diversified into other areas of science and some have found a niche for particle physics while also connecting strongly to the research programmes at Fermilab and CERN. Indeed, in the US a network of laboratories has emerged involving SLAC, Brookhaven, Argonne and Berkeley. Once quite separate, now these labs contribute to the LHC and to the neutrino programme based at Fermilab. Furthermore, each lab is becoming specialised in certain science and technology areas, while their collective talents are being developed and protected by the Department of Energy. As a result, CERN and Fermilab are stronger partners than ever before. Likewise, several European labs are now engaged or planning to engage in the ambitious neutrino programme being hosted by Fermilab, for which CERN continues to be the largest partner.

Will this trend continue, with laboratories worldwide functioning more like a network, or will competition slow down the inevitable end game? There are at least a couple of wild cards in the deck at the moment. Chief issues for the future are how aggressively and at what scale will China enter the field with its Circular Electron Positron Collider and Super Proton–Proton Collider projects, and whether Japan will move forward to build the ILC. The two projects have obvious science overlap and some differences, and if either project moves forward, Europe and the US will want to be involved and the impact could be large.

The global political environment is also fast evolving, and science is not immune from fiscal cuts or other changes taking place. While it is difficult to predict the future, fiscal austerity is here to stay for the near term. The consequences may be dramatic or could continue the trend of the last few decades, shrinking and consolidating our field. Rising above this trend will take focus, co-ordination and hard work. More importantly than ever, the worldwide community needs to demonstrate the value of basic science to funding stakeholders and the public, and to propose compelling reasons why the pursuit of particle physics deserves its share of funding.

Top-quality, world-leading science should be the primary theme, but it is not enough. The importance of social and economic impact will loom ever larger, and the usual rhetoric about it taking 40 years to reap the benefits from basic research – even if true – will no longer suffice. Innovation, more specifically the role of science in fuelling economic growth, is the favourite word of many governments around the world. Particle physics needs to be engaged in this discussion and contribute its talent. Is this a laboratory effort, a network of laboratories effort, or a global effort? For the moment, innovation is local, sometimes national, but our field is used to thinking even bigger. The opportunity to lead in globalisation is on our doorstep once again.

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