at Edinburgh

Welcome

ILC physics is the newest activity of the Edinburgh particle physics experiments group!

The ILC is the International Linear Collider, the next generation collider for high energy physics. It will collide electrons and positrons (anti-electrons) at energies between 200 GeV and 1000 GeV - the highest ever energies for fundamental particles.

The aim of the ILC is to measure very precisely the properties of the Higgs boson and any new particles that may exist. We need to test the Higgs boson\u2019s properties to compare to the Standard Model of particle physics. We also need to study carefully any new particles to see if they provide could explain dark matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for 75% of the matter in the universe.

The ILC is not yet built! Our ILC activities are focussed on physics studies, detector development and software development to ensure that the ILC will be able to deliver the world leading science. Our ILC work is carried out mainly within two collaborations: LCFI and the ILD detector.

For all our ILC work we collaborate closely with our colleagues at the University of Glasgow, our partners in SUPA (the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance).

What is the ILC?

The International Linear Collider is a proposed new electron-positron collider. Together with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, it would allow physicists to explore energy regions beyond the reach of today's accelerators. At these energies, researchers anticipate significant discoveries that will lead to a radically new understanding of what the universe is made of and how it works. The nature of particle collisions at the ILC would give it the precision to answer compelling questions that discoveries at the LHC will raise, from the identity of dark matter to the existence of extra dimensions.

In the ILC's design, two facing linear accelerators, each 20 kilometres long, hurl beams of electrons and positrons toward each other at 99.9999999998 percent of the speed of light. Each beam contains ten billion electrons or positrons compressed down to a minuscule three nanometer thickness. As the particles hurtle down the collider, superconducting accelerating cavities operating at temperatures near absolute zero pump more and more energy into them. The beams collide 2000 times every second in a blazing crossfire that creates a firework of new particles.