Universities and Science Minister Sam Gyimah has today announced that Professor Mark Thomson has been selected to be Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), following a fair and open competition. Professor Thomson is a Professor in Experimental Particle Physics based at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge and has an extensive background […]
SiD optimisation group moves towards new detector model after PNNL meeting
With LCWS in Morioka just over eight weeks away, and several new students from the University of Oregon, University of California at Santa Cruz and University of Texas at Arlington joining the optimisation effort, the SiD optimisation group decided that the time was right to hold a workshop dedicated to getting new users up to […]
Bump or no bump
That was a question at the 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics in Chicago
From 3rd August to 10th August the International Conference of High Energy Physics (ICHEP) took place at the Sheraton Hotel in the heart of the windy city. More than 1400 scientists, students and industrial representatives from all around the world were attending this major conference to present their research and discuss exciting results in High […]
The fall and subsequent rise of the ILC project through the eyes of a particle physicist journeyman
In the fall of 2001, an exchange student from Germany arrived at the University of Oregon expecting to stay a year, with particle physics not very high on his list of career priorities. But a graduate level particle physics class and an ensuing summer project on Higgs branching ratios changed all that. Impressed by Jan […]
Linear collider scientists gather in Japan
From 27 to 29 August, the POSIPOL 2014 workshop was held at the brand-new library at Ichinoseki-city, Iwate prefecture, Japan. Scientists discussed issues of polarised positron sources, high-intensity positron sources, X-ray/Gamma-ray sources, and their applications. The R&D on positron source technology is crucial for the realisation of the proposed future linear colliders, ILC and CLIC. On […]
From concept to consortium
SiD workshop at SLAC
The SiD detector concept held a workshop at SLAC from 14 to 16 October. This was the first workshop held since the completion of the Detailed Baseline Design document and was an opportunity to consider the next steps in detector development and organisation of the concept. The workshop agenda can be found here. The next phase […]
On the way to SiD: testing a novel calorimeter
SLAC prepares for a test beam of an electromagnetic calorimeter specific to the proposed SiD detector
Researchers are taking a step towards the realisation of the International Linear Collider’s (ILC) SiD detector with a test beam of a SiD-specific electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) planned for this month at SLAC. This initial test beam could actually be considered a “test” test beam, as this run will utilise a partial calorimeter. Researchers involved in […]
Andy White and Marcel Stanitzki new SiD spokesmen
There is a change at the helm of SiD, one of the two detector concepts for the ILC. After John Jaros and Harry Weerts have pushed SiD the LOI, the validation of SiD as one of two ILC detector concepts and collaboration in the CLIC CDR, the time is right for two new spokesmen to […]
Of complete DBD drafts, reviews and the future
The draft of the Detailed Baseline Design report (DBD) of ILC physics and detectors is complete and has been submitted to the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) of the ILC Steering Committee (ILCSC) for review. This report presents the achievements of physics and detector R&D activities during the Letter-of-Intent process (LOI) since 2007. It summarises the […]
Make no assumptions
A linear collider would complete the picture
Collisions in the LHC are like fireworks. At energies no other particle collider has ever reached, protons smash into protons and produce such exciting particles as the Higgs boson. The catch: many, many things go on at these collisions, and filtering out the interesting ones is possible, but hard. What is more, LHC physicists can […]