The International Linear collider (ILC)

Hi all,

we've all read and heard about the Large Hadron collider (LHC) which is based in Switzerland.

Well, time to meet his future big brother, the International Linear collider (ILC).


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Scientists from Asia — including from Indian institutes like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) — the US and the UK are coming together to build the next-generation accelerator, the International Linear Collider (ILC), which will complement the already-running Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and will help explore the fundamental questions about the universe

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The International Linear Collider will give physicists a new cosmic doorway to explore energy regimes beyond the reach of today’s accelerators. A proposed electron-positron collider, the ILC will complement the Large Hadron Collider, a proton-proton collider at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, together unlocking some of the deepest mysteries in the universe. With LHC discoveries pointing the way, the ILC—a true precision machine—will provide the missing pieces of the puzzle

From the senior physicist to the undergraduate student, about 2000 people from more than 300 universities and laboratories in over two dozen countries are collaborating to build the ILC, the next-generation particle accelerator

“If the LHC is the discovery machine, the ILC will be the precision machine. Both will look for similar basic questions but with different view angles and production power. We expect to start building it by early 2020. It will be between 35-50 km long,”

Wow, the whole Particle Smashing business is massively important it seems. The LHC is not even into full swing yet and already they have the design for the next generation machine.

Big business, big money and huge importance.

The Website for the ILC contains huge amounts of info, so rather than bog this post down with tonnes of information, it's better i just link it, and you can wade through the pages yourself.

www.linearcollider.org...

also, a news story from 22nd January 2010 -

www.dnaindia.com...

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu reckons the ILC will cost around $25 Billion, although not all agree with him -

blogs.sciencemag.org...

g.

Well, this ends the argument of "is bigger better?"


I think all of this stuff is exciting. I cant claim to understand all of it, but I have enough of the concept to "get" what they are doing.

This is going to be expensive.

reply to post by InertiaZero

I cant claim to understand all of it, but I have enough of the concept to "get" what they are doing

Yes, I am the same. Being in Manufacturing, I can appreciate the design, the Building of it, the Materials used, and appreciate the problems they encounter, but as for the Physics, thats where I am lost.

I understand the basic though, which is enough to keep me interested in it!!

I think the LHC is amazing and I expect some exciting results this year when it restarts in Feb.

If you thought the LHC took a long time to get up and running, just wait for this monster... Bigger = More Kinks.

reply to post by DaMod


I agree, there probably will be more issues, but hopefully they can learn a lot from the LHC and not experience the same problems.

Maybe someone can explain, as I don't have a Physics brain. What are the implications on the ILC if -

1/ the LHC is unsuccessful and does not find the Higgs boson

2/ the LHC is successful in every way and reveals great amount of information

surely the LHC's results will affect the ILC in some way?