Future Circular Collider (FCC)

Future Circular Collider (FCC) Latest News

Plans for the Future Circular Collider (FCC), a proposed $30 billion project by CERN, have led to significant divisions within the scientific community.

What is the Future Circular Collider (FCC)?

• Project scope: A 91 km circular tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border, designed to accelerate and collide particles at unprecedented energies.
• Purpose: To generate Higgs bosons in large numbers (Phase 1, ~2040) and later to collide protons at extreme energies (Phase 2, ~2070).
• Estimated cost: $30 billion (initial), with long-term funding implications for the next decades.
• Supporters: CERN leadership and senior physicists like Fabiola Gianotti and Mark Thomson claim it will be the most powerful instrument to study nature.
• Critics: Many physicists fear the project will drain funds, limiting investment in other scientific advancements.
• Alternative Proposals to FCC:
  • Linear accelerators: Straight-line accelerators could offer a cheaper and more adaptable approach to studying particle physics.
  • Plasma wave technology: Uses plasma waves to accelerate particles in a compact setup, potentially revolutionizing collider design in the next 20 years.

What is a Hadron?

• A hadron is a subatomic particle made of quarks and bound by the strong nuclear force.
• Types of Hadrons:
  • Mesons (e.g., pions, kaons)
  • Baryons (e.g., protons, neutrons)

What is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)?

• Location: Franco-Swiss border, operated by CERN.
• Size: 27 km circular tunnel.
• Purpose: Collides protons at high energies to study fundamental forces and particles.
• Discoveries: Higgs boson (2012) confirmed the Higgs field, which gives particles mass.
• Speed: Accelerates particles to 99.999999% the speed of light.
• Significance: Helps replicate Big Bang conditions and test theories like supersymmetry and extra dimensions.

Future Circular Collider (FCC) FAQs

Q1: What is the Future Circular Collider (FCC)?
Ans: The FCC is a proposed next-generation particle collider, planned to be larger and more powerful than the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Q2: Who is developing the Future Circular Collider?
Ans: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is leading its development.

Q3: What is the purpose of the FCC?
Ans: It aims to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model, study dark matter, and potentially discover new particles.

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Q4: How big will the FCC be compared to the LHC?
Ans: The FCC is expected to have a circumference of around 100 km, nearly three times larger than the LHC (27 km).

Source: TG