Press conference announcing LCWS2019 in Sendai. From left: Hitoshi Yamamoto, Lyn Evans, Atsuto Suzuk
The next annual meeting of world scientists working on the linear collider development will be held in Sendai, Japan. On 21 May, Lyn Evans, Director of Linear Collider Collaboration announced at the press conference held in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. This year, the Linear Collider Workshop (LCWS) will take place from 28 October to 1 November, hosted by Tohoku University.
The last LCWS held in Japan was in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture in 2016, and this will be the first international conference since Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) presented its views concerning the ILC project, stating “MEXT has not yet reached declaration for hosting the ILC in Japan at this moment” but “MEXT will continue to discuss the ILC project with other governments while having an interest in the ILC project.”
Evans, together with Hitoshi Yamamoto from Tohoku University, and Atsuto Suzuki, President of Iwate Prefectural University and former Director General of KEK explained about the conference and the environment surrounding the ILC.
“The discussion of the ILC project is in a fully matured state. With the positive statement from the Japanese Government on 7 March, I am rather optimistic about the realization of the ILC”, said Evans. “However, it is important for the Japanese government to make a more positive statement later this year to give the project the green light,” he said.
Yamamoto, who is the chair of the organizing committee of LCWS2019, explained the reasons behind why the conference will be held in Sendai. “Sendai is close to the proposed construction site. Also, both Tohoku University and the headquarter of the Tohoku ILC Promotion Council are located in Sendai.” The possible candidate site for ILC construction is the Kitakami Mountains that stretch from Ichinoseki City in Iwate Prefecture to Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture, which can be reached by a 30 minute Shinkansen ride from Sendai. Tohoku University, which plays a central role in the physics and detector research for the ILC, is located in the heart of Sendai. In addition, the Tohoku ILC Promotion Council,an industry-academia-government collaboration body headquartered in Sendai, is very active in promoting basic scientific research and deepening the understanding of the ILC. “Sendai is the ideal place to host the ILC conference to show the conference attendees the continuation of the momentum for attracting the ILC in Japan”, Yamamoto said. “LCWS could raise the profile of the ILC to the Japanese Government, and we are hoping that it will have a positive impact on the discussions in Europe.”
LCWS 2019 will be held for five days from October 28 to November 1 at the Sendai International Center adjacent to Tohoku University. The official website of the conference will be launched in June.
“We are looking forward to seeing many particle and accelerator physicists in Sendai,” Yamamoto said.
Recent Comments