Still in the dark. With the discovery of the Higgs, the crucial final piece of physicists’ cosmic jigsaw known as the Standard Model has been put in place. However, there is plenty still to play for in particle physics.

In addition to its work on chips for LCLS detectors, the team built chips for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has 16,000 ASICs of nine different designs on board. Now, the group is building chips for SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource; the CERN particle physics lab in Europe; nEXO, the next phase of the Enriched Xenon Observatory experiment; and the planned International Linear Collider project.

Some physicists caution that the VLHC would be only a small part of the global particle-physics agenda. Other priorities include: upgrading the LHC, which shut down in February for two years to boost its energies from 7 TeV to 14 TeV; plans to build an International Linear Collider in Japan, to collide beams of electrons and positrons as a complement to the LHC’s proton findings; and a major US project to exploit high-intensity neutrino beams generated at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.

The ILC could produce huge numbers of Higgs bosons, allowing scientists to precisely probe its properties. It might also uncover other anomalous events, which could test many exotic theories beyond the Standard Model. Assuming that final designs are approved and funded (and this is far from certain), the ILC could start construction in 2016 and be completed 10 years later.

“It may be that we will need a machine that is more precise although less energetic,” added Heuer. “In that case, a linear device – a long, straight tunnel – through which lighter particles like electrons are accelerated might be better. Until we get more results from the LHC we cannot be sure. However, we have to be prepared and we are looking at possible designs for both types of machine.”

社会への波及効果を考えると、ＩＬＣは今の日本にとって「ど真ん中」の好球にみえる。ただし、球質（財政負担）は重い。誘致の最終判断は慎重に下すべきだが、腰の引けた消極的な姿勢では、まともに打ち返すことはできまい。凡打になることを恐れて「絶好球」を呆然（ぼうぜん）と見送るのは、なお悪い。(Considering the spillover effects to the society, the ILC seems like the pitched ball right down the middle, but the ball is heavy. For the decision weather Japan should bid on the ILC should need very careful consideration, but if you are up in the batter’s box with coward attitude, you never be able to hit the ball. Looking over this golden opportunity by fear of the mishit will be even worse.)

Physics cases were made for American participation in the international linear collider (ILC). There are many sound scientific reasons to build the ILC and for the USA to take an active part in the project even if it is not built here. [...] “The physics case rest on the fact that the ILC is a scaling up of existing technologies to achieve interesting new results.” As Michael Peskin more or less put it, we know how to build something like the ILC right now. Furthermore there is international political support for building the ILC. That may not ever be the case again unless we do it now. Taking part in the ILC has the advantage of sharing the cost, and risk across many nations. Legislators, the ones who will really have the final say in whatever is done, as they ultimately control the funding, will like that aspect.

「国際リニアコライダー」（ＩＬＣ）の北上山地への誘致に向け、奥州市在住の外国人でつくる「インターナショナルＩＬＣサポート委員会」は３０日、県庁で達増拓也知事に、外国人が暮らしやすい環境に関する提言書を手渡した。(Toward the realization to invite the ILC to the Kitakami area, the group od foreign residents in Oshu city submitted the recommendation on the environmental consoderation for foreign researchers to Tasuya Tasso, governor of Iwate prefecture.)