Scientists release plans for even bigger atomic smashers to address the mystery of physics

The world’s largest atomic smasher’s top mind has released a blueprint for a much larger successor who can significantly improve the study of the remaining mysteries of physics.

Plans for the future circular corridor are a nearly 91-kilometer (56.5 miles) loop under the French Swiss border and Lake Geneva, published late Monday.

The FCC conducted high-precision experiments in the mid-2040s to study “known physics” in more detail, entering the second phase planned for 2070, with “opening the unknown door” and “high-energy collisions and heavy ions.”

“The history of physics says that if there is more data, human ingenuity can extract more information than initially expected,” Chiarelli, who was not involved in the plan, said in an email.

For nearly a decade, CERN’s top mind has been planning for successors to the large hadron collider, a network of magnets that accelerate particles through a 27-kilometer (17-mile) underground tunnel and pound them together at speeds that approach the speed of light.

The blueprint reduces proposed routes, environmental impacts, scientific ambitions, and project costs. Independent experts will see if they will move forward at a cost of around 14 billion Swiss francs (approximately $16 billion) before two dozen members of CERN (all Europe except Israel) that will decide whether to move forward in 2028.

CERN officials are promoting the promise of scientific discovery that can drive innovation in areas such as extreme magnets, vacuum technology, and more that can benefit humanity.

External experts point to the promise to learn more about Higgs Boson, a controversially dubbed elusive particle that helped explain how matter was formed after the Big Bang.

Working with a large hadron collider confirmed the presence of Higgsboson in 2013. This is the central part of the puzzle known as the standard model that explains some of the basic forces of the universe.

CERN Director Fabiola Gianotti said future conflicters could “be the most extraordinary tool ever built for humanity to build.

One unknown is whether the Trump administration has cut foreign aid and spent on academia and research, if the Biden administration is approved, will continue to support CERN after pledging US support for research and cooperation on “physics exploitation” and “physics” support.

The US is home to 2,000 CERN users, and of the 17,000 people, including outside experts and on-site staff overseas, they are the largest national condition of the 17,000 people working there, Gianotti said.

Although it is an observer state rather than a member, the US does not pay for CERN’s normal budgets, but contributes to certain projects. Most of CERN’s normal budget comes from Europe.

Costas Fountus, chairman of CERN Council, said he spoke with staff at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, and previously relayed the message “they are under the radar of the Trump administration’s cut.”

CERN scientists, engineers and partners behind the plan considered at least 100 scenarios for the new collider before coming up with the proposed 91-kilometer circumference at an average depth of 200 meters (656 feet). The tunnel will be about 5 meters (16 feet) in diameter, Cern said.

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