China’s Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is planned to be the world’s largest particle accelerator, measuring about 100 kilometers or 62 miles in length. That’s much larger than CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which has a circumference of about 27 kilometers, or nearly 17 miles. These systems, especially the Large Hadron Collider, play a huge role in studying how the universe began during the Big Bang.
Development of CEPC began in 2012, when CERN discovered the Higgs boson particle; however, the multibillion-dollar project now appears to be on hold. It is not included in the country’s next five-year plan (2026-2030), which means the country considers it a lower priority – it will receive less funding and resources. Wang Yifang of the Institute of High Energy Physics confirmed the change, but the team plans to resubmit the CEPC proposal in 2030, despite the denial of a recent proposal for inclusion in China’s five-year plan.
While it has not been directly confirmed, CEPC is expected to cost $5.1 billion, and the country may want to divert that money elsewhere. In this case, Wang said they might join forces with the relevant teams if Europe’s Future Circular Collider (FCC) – a next-generation collider with a larger circumference of 90.7 kilometers (or 56 miles) that will effectively be the successor to the Large Hadron Collider – is approved before the 2030 proposal.
All in all, China’s CEPC may withdraw due to cost and resource requirements, but Europe’s FCC still has potential, and a team of Chinese physicists may join if the proposal is approved before China’s next round of planning.
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What do particle accelerators actually tell us?
Close-up of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and CERN particle accelerator tunnels. – Danuta Hyniewska/Shutterstock
Discoveries in the systems we operate now, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, occur because of how particle accelerators actually work. They launch particles into a large tunnel or underground ring that spins at incredible speeds before impacting. By observing these collisions, scientists can get a glimpse of what the early universe looked like, along with other fundamental elements like quarks, the building blocks of visible matter in the universe. Scientists have also used the system to create a quark soup, a substance not seen in billions of years. Typically, when two particles collide, scientists can see otherwise invisible traces or patterns for a very short time afterwards – which is how they discovered the Higgs boson.
Large colliders such as CEPC or FCC will introduce not only larger tunnel systems, but also more advanced and unique equipment to discover heavier or different particles, many of which the LHC simply cannot produce. Imagine the alchemy that larger, more powerful collider systems could accomplish.
As a current system, the Large Hadron Collider is expected to be phased out in the 2040s; meanwhile, the FCC, if approved, would begin development in the 2030s. Still, construction won’t start easily: before anything can happen, CERN member states and international partners must give the upgrade project the green light.
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