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Accelerating news

11 October 2012

The third issue of the newsletter Accelerating News brings summaries of project plans, new ideas and progress on EU-funded projects.

From the editors: This summer saw CERN announce to a worldwide audience the discovery of a Higgs-like boson, so this issue takes a look at the machine behind the discovery, the LHC, as well as future plans for a possible Higgs factory in the form of LEP3. Looking ahead too are European strategies for particle physics and accelerator-based neutrino physics. In addition, taking stock of the work so far, HiLumi LHC and EuCARD showcase their latest results.

Some of the highlights of the newsletter: a story about the LHC “Higgs factory” by Mike Lamont (CERN), alternative “Circulating ideas about a new Higgs factory” by Frank Zimmermann (CERN), or “A European strategy for accelerator-based neutrino physics” by Alain Blondel (University of Geneva).

Frank Zimmermann (CERN) and Roy Aleksan (CEA) summarise the Cracow Strategy Symposium from the accelerator experts’ point of view:

From 10 to 12 September 2012 about 500 particle physicists and accelerator experts came together in Cracow, Poland, at an Open Symposium organized by the CERN Council to discuss the future European strategy. The Symposium’s Accelerator Science and Technology Session featured two excellent overview talks, on the energy frontier by Caterina Biscari (INFN-LNF) and on the intensity frontier by Mats Lindroos (ESS, on leave from CERN), which were complemented by a lively discussion.
The smooth operation of the LHC represents a huge success. The measures needed to raise the LHC collision energy up to 13-14 TeV by 2014 are at hand. Work is progressing on the technology for the LHC luminosity upgrade (HL-LHC) around 2020. Increasing further the collision energy up to 26-33 TeV in the LHC tunnel requires substantial R&D for 16-20 T magnets (HE-LHC). A new 80-km tunnel could allow reaching energies of 80-100 TeV in proton-proton collisions.

Great progress in the SRF development for the ILC makes the construction of a high-energy lepton collider possible. CLIC with two-beam technology could be an alternative if 3 TeV is needed but R&D is still required. A lower-energy CLIC based on klystrons is also proposed. A number of new ideas for circular or gamma-gamma colliders, to study a “Higgs” particle at 125 GeV have also emerged. Much higher energy using leptons requires muon colliders, dielectric RF structures or plasma acceleration, with increasing complexity. High-power proton linacs, such as ESS and IFMIF, are under construction. Neutrino beams will be improved worldwide.

Many R&D topics are common for various accelerators, e.g. high-field magnets, RF structures & RF power sources, particle sources, alignment & stabilization. The conference brought together experts from these areas, highlighting the need to promote further collaborations with other fields of science.

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