Particle Physics

Key Decisions for Europe's Future

The CERN Council approved a document on “the European strategy for particle physics.” France was represented at the meeting by Michel Spiro, physicist and director of IN2P3 at CNRS.

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© N. Tiget/CNRS Photothèque

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What was the objective of the July 14 CERN Council¹ meeting in Lisbon?

Michel Spiro: Its goal was to draw up a joint strategy agreed upon by all the European countries for the field of particle physics. In other words, not only concerning CERN's projects but also all future investments made at a national level. The aim is to harmonize the European position on the future of the discipline over the next ten to twenty years.

Can you give us an outline of the document?

MS: In the preamble, the signatory countries recognize the importance of particle physics and the need to actively continue research in this cutting-edge discipline. Europe confirms that its top priority over the coming years is the launch of CERN's LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in Geneva. This machine, which is due to begin operation in November 2007, will be able to accelerate protons to extremely high speeds before they collide. The hope is to produce and detect new basic building blocks of matter, and in particular the Higgs boson, whose existence is, for the moment, only implied by theory and indirect measurements. The second and third priorities concern the long term. On one hand, we need to start thinking about the machine that will replace the LHC sometime after 2015-2020. And on the other hand, we need to take part in the discussion about the international linear accelerator project (International Linear Collider or ILC), which is to be built in Japan or the US. In either case, the decision to build will have to be made in around 2010-2012, so discussion has to take place now.

Does this mean that Europe might take part in funding the ILC?

MS: At this stage, Europe is only involved in a detailed study of the instrument, together with the US and Japan. Two broad scenarios are contemplated for the period after 2010-2012: Either  the US and Japan decide to build the ILC themselves, in which case CERN will have to work on developing a more ambitious machine that could begin operation around 2025, or else they abandon the project. In that case, as the LHC approaches the end of its life, we at CERN will have to start working on building a new machine which could have a similar or very different design from the ILC. 

Vahé Ter Minassian