by -
CERN’s new supercollider will be 8 times more powerful than the LHC, the largest and most powerful in the world.
-
Physicists could use it to solve mysteries about the nature of our universe.
-
Based on their current timeline, the first stage of the new collider could be up and running by 2045.
For decades, physicists have been ramming particles together to peel back the layers of our universe. But despite all that research, we still only know what 5% of the universe is made of.
Particle physics research will need a major upgrade to begin exploring that mysterious 95%, made up of dark matter and dark energy.
CERN, the European Council for Nuclear Research, is designing a new supercar called the Future Circular Collider (FCC) to push the boundaries of modern physics research and perhaps discover the true nature of our most invisible universe.
Based on CERN’s timeline, this giant atom smasher could be partially operational by 2045.
It would be 3 times larger and about 100 times more efficient than the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most powerful collider in the world.
“With this new machine, we will reproduce 11 years of physics data taken on the old machine in about 2 minutes,” said CERN accelerator physicist Michael Benedikt, head of the FCC feasibility study.
They will not just reproduce data. With FCC, the physicists hope to tackle some of the most pressing questions in their field.
Solve the mysteries of our universe
What happened in the first instant after the Big Bang? What is the true nature of dark matter? Where did all the antimatter go?
“There are several important questions that we do not understand how to answer,” said Christophe Grojean, a theoretical particle physicist at DESY who is also working on the FCC. “We need an explanation.”
Particle colliders can help with that. Colliders send particles spinning around a ring at almost the speed of light, crashing into each other to reveal their properties.
CERN has already achieved a lot with the LHC, including the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. The identification of the Higgs Boson was a huge step towards understanding weak nuclear interactions, a fundamental force in our Universe that is quite important – it keeps the sun shining.
But now, physicists want to dive deeper into the Higgs Boson to reveal its physics. Doing so could lead to a better understanding of dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of the universe.
Although we cannot see dark matter, scientists are able to detect the gravitational effect it has on galaxies and their distribution throughout the universe. Understanding the properties of dark matter is key to understanding how galaxies form and grow.
To do that and investigate other big questions, CERN needs a super collider with an even higher level of precision and efficiency than the LHC.
The FCC would exist in two phases
In the first construction phase, CERN plans to build an electron-positron collider known as the FCC-ee.
Often referred to as a “Higgs factory,” this collider would produce Higgs particles at a very high rate and collect data with a precision 10 to 100 times higher than the LHC, feasibility study leader Benedikt told BI.
In the second phase, CERN plans to upgrade the FCC-ee to a proton collider known as the FCC-hh. This collider would push the envelope even further.
With an energy capacity 8 times that of the LHC, the FCC-hh “discovery machine” could reveal never-before-observed fundamental forces and particles.
Together, these two colliders could usher in a new frontier of physics research. But first, CERN has to build it.
New ground was broken
CERN plans to build the FCC tunnel 56 miles long under France and Switzerland, around the city of Geneva.
If the feasibility study and authorization process goes well, tunnel construction will begin in the early 2030s and be completed around 2040.
Then, CERN would install the FCC-ee collider inside the tunnel. This first-stage collider could start operating by 2045, according to Benedikt.
Building a super hitter is no mean feat — financially or logistically. The first phase of construction alone will cost about $15 billion. CERN is collaborating with experts from 150 universities and research institutes around the world to design and plan the FCC.
“FCC is not a machine that a few people can pull off on their own. You really need to put a force together,” Grojean said.
Both Benedikt and Grojean believe that the unification of this network has value beyond the FCC.
“We have allied communities that otherwise wouldn’t need to talk to each other,” Benedikt said. “The value of connecting these academic and industrial societies – it’s hard to quantify, but the level of impact on society is huge.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
