CERN wants to build a next-generation gas pedal four times the size of the LHC
Scientists from the European Organization for Nuclear Research have unveiled the Future Circular Collider project, which aims to be the successor to the Large Hadron Collider. The new particle gas pedal is expected to be nearly four times longer and ten times more powerful than its predecessor.
To discover the biggest secretóin the Universe Large Hadron CollideróIn (Large Hadron Collider – LHC) is insufficient. Need for a completely new particle gas pedal. To learn the mysteries of the reality around us, European physicists want to build the Future Circular Collider (FCC), a device much larger than the LHC.
Published by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the project calls for the construction of a 100-kilometer-long gas pedalów. LHC is 27 kilometersóin length. The proposed device would also have ten times the power of the LHC and could write the next chapter in particle physics.
– The project demonstrates the FCC’s enormous potential to advance our understanding of fundamental physics and develop many technologies with broad societal impact – said Fabiola Gianotti, director general of CERN’s.
CERN’s plans are outlined in a conceptual design report. These will be considered by an international teamół physicalóin elementary particles along with other inferences that areóre being analyzed in the creation of a new European particle physics strategy. The document is expected to be published next year.
Professor Jon Butterworth of University College in London, whoóry is one of the scientistsóin those working on the new strategy, he admitted in an interview with the BBC that there is a particularólnie interested in CERN proposal. – This is a very ambitious program, very exciting, and would be my plan A – said the researcher.
The proposal includes digging a new tunnel underground, który would be located in the vicinity of the current LHC, and then build and gradually install all the necessary infrastructure in it. Initially, electrons would collide in it with their antiparticles – positrons. Stage two assumes hadron collisionsów with electrons. Both stages would lay the groundwork for the final step, in which theórym particles would collide with each other at nearly ten times the energy of the LHC.
LHC collision energy is 14 TeV. At the FCC, scientists hope to reach 100 TeV. Physicists believe that research at such high energies will reveal new króThe world of subatomic particles.
The most famous achievement of the LHC is the confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson. This is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics – theory, whichóra best describes elementary particles and forces, whichóre connecting them. It was discovered in 2012, and since then physicists working at the LHC have been studying its nature. Researchers in particularóThe lowness analyzes howób, how the boson decays or transforms into other particles, to test the predictions of the Standard Model.
Over the past three years, experiments at the LHC have expanded measurements of decay ratesów bosonóin Higgs, including the most common but difficult to detect decay into bottom quarks. ATLAS and CMS experiments have presented róAlso, an updated measurement of the mass of the bosonóAt the Higgs with the best precision yet.
In addition to the Higgs boson, the LHC experiments have yielded a wide range of resultsów and hundreds of scientific publications, including the discovery of new exotic particles such as Xi-cc ++ baryons and pentaquarks.
But despite the achievements made at the LHC, our quest to understand the Universe is far from complete. There are many important questions, and the current gas pedal is not able to meet the challenge and provide evidenceów, whichóre we need to answer them. Where does the low mass of the neutrino come from? Why the Higgs boson is so incredibly light? Where is all the antimatter in the Universe? And what is the true nature of dark matter? This is just someóre of them.
The Standard Model does not explain everything. Galaxies are rotating faster than they should, and the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, not slowing down. Besides, the theory does not explain gravity. Thus, deeper processes must be taking place, whichóThe explanation of which requires the discovery of new particles. This would give physicists new arguments in the search for a theory of everything, która would unite all the forces of nature and unify the two pillars on which theówhich is based on the commonóln modern physics: ogóThe theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
The problem is that physicists do not know what hadron collision energiesów need to discover enigmatic super particles, whichóre hold the keys to the unknown królectures. Researchers at CERN hope that the step-by-step proposal presented will determine the required energy, whichóra is needed to find exotic particles.
However, there are no guarantees that the FCC will be built. The conviction of the decision-makerów to allocate about 25 billionóin euros to build the complex, will be extremely difficult.
A 100-kilometer particle gas pedalów plan to build also China. Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) to be built by 2030. For more on this topic, see China will build a successor to the Large Hadron Colliderów.