Barry Barish | 12 July 2012A very talented group of accelerator physicists have come together from around the world to develop the technologies and design for a next-generation lepton collider that will complement CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Who better to learn accelerator physics from? The International Accelerator School for Linear Colliders to be held in Indore, India, next autumn offers this opportunity and applications are being accepted now for this year’s school.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: accelerator research, CLIC, ILC, India, LC school, Linear Collider Accelerator School, muon collider
Barry Barish | 5 July 2012The announcements of the most recent results from the search for the Higgs boson at the LHC bring into sharper focus the new physics at the energy frontier and the potential role of the ILC. Although it is still too soon to know what will be uncovered regarding the Higgs mechanism from studies at the LHC, it is worth pointing out the long-range potential for Higgs physics at the ILC. Two examples illustrate how the ILC will be able to shed further light on the phenomena seen at the LHC.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: CERN, Higgs, ILC, LHC
Marc Ross | 28 June 2012New machines set new challenges for accelerator experts, and there are a number of challenges that the ILC R&D team has had to face before sitting down to write a convincing Technical Design Report. Beam test facilities in all regions have delivered and are still delivering important results. Project Manager Marc Ross takes stock.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: cavity gradient, SCRF, TDR, Technical Design Phase
Barry Barish | 21 June 2012ICFA announced yesterday that Lyn Evans will become the new Linear Collider Director, when the Global Design Effort (GDE) completes the ILC Technical Design Report and thereby its mandate next year. This is very welcome news! Not only is Lyn a superb and exceptionally well-qualified candidate for the job, but his early appointment will give us the opportunity to make a smooth transition.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: CLIC, GDE, ILC, Linear Collider, management, organisation
Barry Barish | 14 June 2012At the KILC12 workshop in Daegu, Korea, in May, there was a panel discussion on the topic of what will be required to provide scientific justification for the International Linear Collider. The panel consisted of a cross-section of workshop attendees, accelerator physicists, detector experts, theorists and even one of our communicators. The panel discussion produced areas of agreement, some differences and homework.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: CLIC, Higgs boson, KILC12, LCWS11, LHC, physics case
Barry Barish | 7 June 2012The international KILC12 workshop was held in April in Korea to discuss topics varying from ILC physics to the nuts and bolts of the accelerator and detector designs for the International Linear Collider. This meeting came at a crucial time when the design decisions for the Technical Design Report was being finalised and the writing of the report being begun in earnest.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: DBD, Higgs, Japan, KILC12, physics, TDR
Gerry Dugan | 31 May 2012The cost estimate for the ILC that will accompany the Technical Design Report is intended to be a credible, comprehensive, and well-documented presentation of the costs in a format which is useful for all regional partners. It will be a “Value” estimate, stated in “ILC Units” which are convertible to any regional currency, and in person-hours of institutional labour at the ILC laboratory, or at collaborating laboratories and institutions.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: cost estimate, ILC Units, TDR
Barry Barish | 24 May 2012The Funding Agencies for Large Colliders met in the Shonan Village Center in Kanagawa, Japan on 17 April. FALC is an informal group of agency representatives who discuss large international projects in particle physics, both projects that are under way and those in the planning stages. FALC has given special attention to the ILC since it is a totally global initiative and has no home laboratory to oversee its development. The meeting in Japan discussed the future of ILC R&D beyond the Global Design Effort mandate to produce a Technical Design Report next year.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: FALC, Higgs, ICFA, ILCSC, LHC, POST-TDR, Super B, TDR
Barry Barish | 17 May 2012Today I pay tribute to a very special Vietnamese physicist, Jean Trân Thanh Vân, who has been awarded the 2011 Tate Medal. No field of physics is more international than particle physics and Trân epitomises that spirit. He has dedicated much of his professional life to creating ways to bring physicists together from around the globe, and especially his initiatives to bring Vietnam into the global world of physics.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: AIP, APS, award, Moriond, Orsay, Vietnam
Barry Barish | 10 May 2012The ILC physics programme is based on building two complementary detectors that will share beam time. The value of having two detectors with different designs, technologies, collaborations and emphasis has proven to be a very effective way to exploit the science. For the ILC, we propose using a push-pull concept to cost-effectively share the beam between two detectors.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: CFS, ILC baseline, interaction region, push-pull
