Technology Breakthroughs and an International Linear Collider
Barry C. Barish
California Institute of Technology
There is a consensus among the worldwide high energy physics community that a
TeV scale linear electron positron collider should be the highest priority long term goal
for the field for the next large particle accelerator to follow and complement the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Together, these machines will enable a comprehensive
exploration of the TeV energy scale where many of the new phenomena we seek, like
supersymmetry or possibly even extra dimensions could reveal themselves. Two possible
technologies for such a linear collider have been developed through a decade of intense
R&D, a “warm” technology, based on a room temperature X-band accelerating
structures, and a “cold” technology, based on L-band superconducting rf. Both
technologies have been demonstrated to be viable choices in terms of performance
requirements for such a machine. In order to choose between them, the International
Committee on Future Accelerators (ICFA) defined and implemented an unprecedented
worldwide process for choosing which technology to pursue toward the international
linear collider final design, in anticipation of proposing a construction project to begin in
about 2010. In this presentation, I will review and reflect on the process of making the
technology choice of the superconducting rf technology to be the basis of the linear
collider design, and I will review the recent progress toward an emerging global design
for such a machine.