Vienna, the Imperial and Royal (k.u.k.) capital was the place where this year’s FCC Week took place. With the submission of the feasibility study report earlier this year the excitement is noticeable and the number of participants has shot up to over 600 (Paris 2022: 478, London 2023: 466, San Francisco 2024: 449, Vienna: 618).
Not only was this FCC Week locate in the city of Vienna, which is rated as the most liveable city in the world, it was more specifically hosted in the historic Hofburg which is a breathtaking beauty in itself.
The conference started with a barrage of high level and high quality introductions. Personally, I was very impressed with Marumi Kado’s keynote presentation which outlined the transition from the HL-LHC to the FCC. He reviews current key measurements from the LHC abd discusses their importance and progression in the HL-LHC and FCC era. Quite a number of the analyses he highlighted have been lead by the PPC, like the W mass, the Dark Photon searches and Mono-X analyses. Another presentation to watch is the summary from Michael Benedikt, our fearless leader. He reminds us that the FCC Kick-off meeting took place in Geneva from February 12 to 15 in 2014, and how far we have come following the recommendations by the European Strategy group. The presentation also shows that the feasibility study has some tangible planning results, like over-the-ground site layouts, tunnel boring and community work, which can make you believe that the FCC really is feasible, and it is just a matter of moving ahead. Apart from Fabiola, the outgoing director general of CERN, also Mark Thomson the DG elect was present at the meet.
It is always impressive to see how far the general implementation and the civil engineering of the FCC project have progressed in the last year. Having seen detailed bore cores that confirm that the geology along the tunnel is mostly molasses (geological) is reconfirming. The predict that the boring will be easier than anticipated because the limestone drilling section turns out to be substantially shorter than previously estimated. Dealing with the dug out molasses also made quite some progress as it has been shown that it can be converted into fertile soil after some additions and special treatment. The energy for cooling the machine could also be cheaper than expected if the cooling temperature of the liquid helium could be raised. The project though remains a gigantic challenge and will weight heavy on the funding agencies.
The week in Vienna was defined by intense and constructive discussion about our results and the way things need to move forward. Generally, there was a spirit of positivity at least considering the overall situation we are working with right now. There will be some hustle and bustle to get settled for the the community-wide Open Symposium that will be held in Venice from 23 to 27 June. It is obvious to everybody that the “FCC train” is about to leave the station and will be hard to stop if we can continue this way.
Apart from that when in Vienna you have to go to a concert and you have to go to one of the many coffee houses.
The FCC Week went very smoothly and ended on the last day early, leaving people time to get the the airport for the US participants and with a big high class summary session. the room (Der Zeremoniensaal) was packed and people were watching intently.
The MIT faction of the FCC made significant contributions to the week with a poster on particle Id for flavor physics (Anja Beck) and two presentations, the Overall Summary of the FCC Tracker Workshop by CP and the very important overall Physics Summary by Jan Eysermans on the last day.
