Tracks show the paths of particles passing through the time projection chamber, the tracker prototype for the ILD detector, in a DESY test beam last week. Six brand-new readout modules of the Micromegas type - one possible module type for the final detector - were mounted to the TPC endplate and produced beautiful tracks both from cosmic and beam particles.
The International Linear Collider Steering Committee and the International Committee for Future Accelerators met recently in Melbourne in conjunction with ICHEP2012. ICFA chair and Fermilab Director Pier Oddone reports in his Director's Corner in the 17 July issue of Fermilab Today on the new organisation of the linear collider efforts, the timelines and responsibilities. There's also a call for nominees for the new Linear Collider Board.
The Korean Physical Society recently celebrated its 60th anniversary in an impressive event in Daejean, South Korea. South Korea has made an astounding recovery from a country devastated by war to a struggling poor postwar country to a leading high-tech industrial country. The Koreans have embraced science and technology, are manufacturing high-quality cars and electronics for the world, and have become an important part of the international science community.
More exhaustive analysis is needed both at the CERN facility in Geneva where the Higgs boson was found, and, Lockyer hopes, at a new linear accelerator that would be built with significant international cooperation to share the cost.
To broaden human knowledge of the universe, more research on the Higgs boson is necessary. The international community is pushing a joint project to construct a more powerful, 30-to-50-km-long International Linear Collider.