The idea that an underground river was frozen to make it possible to build the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of my favorite scientific and engineering facts! After the Higgs Boson was added, the Standard Model’s last component fit the proverbial jigsaw puzzle. However, there have been no additional noteworthy advancements in fusing quantum physics and gravity. That is about as far as it has gone.
There are currently plans to construct a new collider that will be three times longer than the LHC and have far higher energy for smashing particles together. Particle colliders have emerged as a crucial instrument for revealing the fundamental secrets of the universe in the last several decades. With a remarkable radius of 27 kilometers (17 miles), the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) changed the game and emerged as the most potent collider in the world.
Even at this “High Luminosity” phase, there are plans to try to raise the number of collisions to try and improve its input to comprehending the Universe. However, CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) wants to go even further and build a new collider!
To contribute to high-energy physics in the future, colliders such as the LHC will require energy thresholds to be pushed beyond their existing capabilities. The Future Circular Collider (FCC) project has investigated several collider configurations, envisioning a research facility contained within a subterranean tunnel spanning 100 kilometers. A physics program that will carry high-energy research into the next century is promised by this ambitious undertaking.
The new tunnel’s design and engineering must overcome several obstacles, including avoiding geologically fascinating regions, maximizing collider efficiency in the future, enabling connection to the LHC, and taking into account the infrastructure’s and buildings’ social and environmental effects.
Many layout ideas are being investigated, with CERN’s intention to minimize the impact on the region serving as guidance. ‘Where to put it’ seems to be quite the difficulty. Two successive colliders will be housed within the FCC tunnel, which appears to be situated beneath a ring-shaped subterranean tunnel that runs beneath Haute-Savoie and Ain in France and Geneva in Switzerland.
The first stage, which includes an electron-positron collider (FCC-ee), is expected to be operational in the middle of the 1940s. It is hoped to provide measurements of unmatched precision and reveal physics beyond the mainstream model. The proton-proton collider (FCC-hh), which will surpass the energy capability of the LHC eight times over, will be right behind it.
The possibility that FCC will accelerate particle collisions to 100 TeV energy to explore previously unexplored physics is exciting. However, to accomplish the goal, new technological developments will be needed, and more than 150 colleges worldwide are investigating the possibilities in this regard.
