International Linear Collider - Definition and Overview

The International Linear Collider, also known as the Next Linear Collider, is a proposed linear particle accelerator. As of 2004, it is planned to have a collision energy of 500 to 1000 GeV, and to be completed around 2015. It will collide electrons with positrons. It will be around 40 km long, more than 10 times as long as the Stanford Linear Accelerator, the longest exisiting linear particle accelerator.

The ILC will have a lower energy than the LHC, which is also due to be completed earlier, in 2007. However, the effective collision energy at the LHC will be less than the collision energy of the protons and antiprotons, which is 14000 GeV. This is because the actual collisions happen between the quarks, antiquarks and gluons the protons and antiprotons are composed of, so each individual collision has a lower energy, around 2000 GeV. This is still somewhat higher than the ILC collider energy, but measurements can be made more accurately at the ILC since a collision between an electron and a positron is much simpler than a collison between many quarks, antiquarks and gluons. Hence it is anticipated that the ILC will be used to make precision measurements of the properties of particles discovered at the LHC.

In August 2004, the International Technology Recommendation Panel recommended a superconducting technology for the accelerator. Physicists are now working on the detailed design of the accelerator. Steps ahead include obtaining funding for the accelerator, and choosing a site.

External link

• International Linear Collider Communication (http://www.interactions.org/linearcollider/)