accelerator

From ABC7, March 15, 2019: Fermilab broke ground on a new particle accelerator project Friday.
The new machine will power cutting-edge physics experiments for years to come by allowing scientists to study invisible particles called neutrinos, which may hold the key to cosmic mysteries.

What if you could accelerate particles to higher energies in only a few meters? This is the alluring potential of an up-and-coming technology called plasma wakefield acceleration. Scientists around the world are testing ways to further boost the power of particle accelerators while drastically shrinking their size.

Fermilab engineers and technicians stand by a magnet coil made for the High-Luminosity LHC. Photo: Reidar Hahn

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved the scope, cost and schedule for the U.S. LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project and has given the first approval for the purchase of materials. This project brings together scientists, engineers and technicians from national laboratories — such as Fermilab, Brookhaven, Berkeley, SLAC and Jefferson labs — to develop two cutting-edge technologies to advance the future of both the Large Hadron Collider and broader collider research.

Agencies in the United States and France have signed statements expressing interest to work together on the development and production of technical components for PIP-II, a major particle accelerator project with substantial international contributions. In addition, the French agencies also plan to collaborate on DUNE, an international flagship science project that will unlock the mysteries of neutrinos.