With funding for ILC R&D cut this year, and the possible start of construction postponed, the ILC Citizens’ Task Force could have turned their backs on the proposed project. They didn’t. Instead, they rallied behind the value of community involvement in planning for building the ILC at Fermilab. ILC Citizens’ Task Force members Vicki Danklefsen, […]
Value engineering begins
I have three different routes to choose from when I drive to work in the morning. The first one is the interstate. It’s fast theoretically, but traffic and tolls can turn my 15 minute commute into 45 minutes. Back roads are another option, but the constant stop and go from traffic lights drain my gas […]
ILC challenges materials science
Physicists and engineers already know most of the empirical recipes to build very good accelerating cavities: highly pure niobium is essential, welding needs to be carefully controlled and surfaces undergo advanced cleaning and annealing procedures. But, as for every complex system, a lot of phenomena remain unexplained. The theoretical limits of RF superconductivity are not […]
EUROTeV encore
People with big plans need time and space to make their dreams come true – assuming that they already have some money to get going. The time for the European-funded linear collider R&D consortium EUROTeV was almost up. Together with the CALICE collaboration, they were making plans for a virtual control room for next spring […]
More scientists read ILC NewsLine, survey says… …and they want more physics stories!
Last September, the ILC communicators conducted a survey about your favourite newsletter. Who are its readers? Are they satisfied with the content? Survey answers that you are mostly scientists who would like more stories about physics. Unfortunately, many of you do not know how to get your stories into NewsLine yet. What do NewsLine readers […]
One world, one dream
New expressways and subways are under construction. New hotels and apartment buildings are popping up. This city with a population of over 15 million people, which is already big enough, is getting ready for the coming year of increasing visitors who will attend the Olympic Games. This is Beijing. Participants at the CCAST workshop had […]
An alternative with many applications
The R&D for an ILC positron source using a laser-compton scheme is ongoing around the world. The efforts in Europe and Asia complement each other. In Europe, scientists are pursuing R&D for the laser path stacking cavity, a complicated, highly sophisticated system with four mirrors. In Asia, scientists aim to accumulate experience in gamma ray […]
TPC: a digital breakthrough
Digitisation – a key word that could lead to smaller and simpler detectors. Two weeks ago, at Saclay, France, the CEA Time Projection Chamber group of Paul Colas proved it could build a digital TPC for the ILC. A truly collaborative effort, this breakthrough could significantly reduce the cost and simplify the implementation of this […]
Live from ALCPG
Feature Story Live from ALCPG View ALCPG slideshow. A hotel built around a New Orleans street, burgers for lunch, autumn colours, bison and a duelling piano – this must be ALCPG! More than 300 machine and detector people and theorists have been debating and planning the ILC’s entry into the Engineering Design Phase this week […]
Passing the torch
The ILC Reference Design Report companion document, Gateway to the Quantum Universe played a symbolic role for CERN’s Jean-Luc Baldy as he passed the torch to John Osborne, also from CERN, during the ALCPG07 workshop at Fermilab this week. For the past two years, Baldy served as one of the Conventional Facilities & Siting group […]