For three days, much of the U.S. and international community met in a rainy Cambridge to discuss the plans of the Future Circular Collider and the future of the field. This was the second U.S. annual FCC workshop, and the first after the U.S.’s P5 report was made public, which supported the construction of an off-shore Higgs factory as the next project on the energy frontier. While two decades seem far distant into the future, the scale of this 98-km collider with four interaction-point detectors requires careful planning from the community to be able to assemble enough resources – from financial to special knowledge and person-power – to make this a successful project and, importantly, coordinate it with the interests and projects of governments around the world.
The conference kicked off with status reports on the physics goals of the FCC, the status of the project, and the P5 recommendations. This line-up sought to state that the FCC-ee will be the ultimate electroweak precision machine, that it aligns with the U.S. and international goals, and that the technical planning for it is already far ahead: geological studies are already underway, even in Lac Leman. Talks followed detailing several innovative detector ideas; brainstorming ideas on theory; discussing the synergies with other existing projects on accelerators, software & computing, detectors, and physics; and a panel on DOE and NSF goals. A reception and poster-session followed, in which many talented undergraduates from MIT and the University of Maryland (pictured above, left) presented their work, which focused on several key precision measurements that will be undertaken at the FCC-ee.
The second and third days focused in on the details of the detectors, physics goals, and accelerator ideas, as well as statements of interest from institutions. On the evening of the second day, the participants were treated to a sit-down dinner at the top floor of the Samberg Center, overlooking the Charles and the skyline of Boston. Three days flew by smoothly and quickly, as the days were filled presentations, ideas, chats, and coffee. The community will meet again in San Francisco for the FCC week. The near-term goal is the preparation of the Feasibility Report, which will be released in March of 2025, and will be the key document to be evaluated by CERN to make the ultimate decision on this project.