For a large particle physics project like the International Linear Collider (ILC), the accelerator and the detectors are generally funded quite differently. The accelerator typically costs an order of magnitude more than the detectors and its funding comes from governments through a handful of major laboratories or is directly pooled at the new central laboratory. On […]
A well-focused workshop on top quark physics held at KEK
The top quark is one of the pillars of the physics topics that linear colliders address. With its large mass of about 175 GeV the top quark is the heaviest particle in the standard model – even heavier than the Higgs boson. Its value suggests that the top quark may have something to do with […]
Morioka welcomes next LC workshop
The 2016 international linear collider workshop LCWS2016 will be held in Morioka, Japan from 5 to 9 December. Since around 2010, two linear collider workshops are held per year – one in spring and another in autumn. Recent tradition is that the one in spring is hosted regionally, and the one in autumn is hosted […]
Trailguides in difficult terrain: the Physics and Detector Advisory Panel (PDAP)
The Linear Collider Collaboration (LCC) was established in February 2013, and the organisation of the physics and detector part started to form over the following several months with regional representatives, concept group representatives, and working groups. One important ingredient for the organisation was the physics and detector advisory panel (PDAP) that advises the Associate Director […]
ILC the discovery machine
It is often said that the ILC is a precision machine. One should note, however, that the ILC is actually a discovery machine that can find new phenomena and new particles LHC at CERN would not be able to discover. This capability is made possible by a few unique features of the ILC. First, at […]
Updating the physics case for the ILC
The physics case of the ILC has been studied intensively for many years, culminating in the physics volume of the Technical Design Report (TDR). It was followed by efforts to compare various machines such as the European Strategy studies and the Snowmass studies. Still, the scientific and political environments surrounding the ILC keep changing. On […]
Supporting political developments in Japan
On 1st May 2014, Japan’s Ministry for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) established an expert committee to investigate various issues raised by the Science Council of Japan regarding the ILC. Then, two subcommittees were created: one, the ILC particle & nuclear physics subcommittee, to investigate the physics case of the ILC, and the […]
Physics and detector organisation – Progressing on delicate balances
In the charge drafted by the ILCSC nearly two years ago, the responsibility of the associate director for physics and detectors of the Linear Collider Collaboration (LCC) was stated as follows: “He/she will coordinate the world-wide effort to develop advanced detectors that are appropriate for either accelerator technology…Initially, the Associate Director will focus on Building […]
LCWS13 – a timely linear collider workshop
The international linear collider workshop LCWS13 will be hosted by the University of Tokyo from 11 to 15 November. In June 2013, the ILC TDR was completed and the new international linear collider organisation LCC has fully taken over from the GDE (Global Design Effort) and RD (Research Directorate) that coordinated the activities to produce the […]
Steering the direction of US high-energy physics
For the realisation of a linear collider, a significant contribution from the United States is essential. A critical step is that the project is positively included in the US strategy for high-energy physics. The formation of the US strategy is currently in progress through a multi-step process. First, the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) […]