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China's new collider promises to be the largest in the world, with a circumference of 100 km, offering a more economical and powerful alternative for investigating subatomic particles
China does not want to be left out of the study of the “God particle”. The discovery of the Higgs boson more than a decade ago continues to have consequences in today's physics, as it confirmed the existence of the theorized Higgs field. This is important because its study allows us to understand the interactions between subatomic particles and understand more about the structure of the universe.
It was a great achievement and research is still being done to learn more about supersymmetry, new particles and the mysterious dark matter, which is one of the most unknown components of the universe. The feat was carried out by CERN researchers and was carried out at the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. Now, China wants its own particle accelerator and is looking to not only make it bigger, but also much cheaper and easier to build.
The fight for a new collider
The European LHC is a huge tunnel measuring 27 kilometers in circumference located almost 180 meters underground, at a point near Geneva. The greatest achievement was the detection in 2012 of the aforementioned Higgs boson, but in their facilities, scientists continue to investigate the composition of atoms, how they interact with each other, whether there are unknown dimensions as predicted by string theory models and, ultimately, test other theories of particle physics and quantum physics.
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In these investigations, they shoot atoms at enormous speeds, waiting for them to collide with each other, generating a reaction that is what researchers can study. This, of course, is summarized in a tremendously simple way, but it seems that the LHC is becoming too small for the new investigations they want to carry out and are planning a larger collider. Much bigger.
The new European supercollider
The construction of a future super collider is already on the table. The goal? Accelerate the study of dark matter, which is estimated to make up 95% of the universe. In an interview with the BBC, professor Fabiola Gianotti -director general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research- states that, to carry out the process, they need “something big”.
Describing the new accelerator as “a wonderful machine”, Gianotti believes it will be “a tool that will allow humanity to take enormous steps forward in answering fundamental physics questions about our knowledge of the universe. To do this, we need a more powerful instrument.”
It is estimated that the new European super collider will have a circumference of 91 kilometers and will have a first phase of construction that will cost 17 billion dollars. The aim is to have it operational in 2040, with a second phase with more powerful magnets for 2070., although there are voices against it that consider it a waste and that the LHC could yield more. There are countries that directly say they will not finance their part.
China's ambitious plans
Now, China comes into play. In 2018, news began to appear that spoke of the Asian giant's ambitious plans to build a huge collider. Called, in principle, the Circular Electron Positron Collider, or CPEC, it will have the same mission of investigating everything related to the Higgs boson. Wang Yifang, director of the China Institute of High Energy Physics, said that “CPEC will be the largest positron-electron collider in the world.”
Not many details were given about it, but a conceptual design was shared that showed a huge collider measuring 100 kilometers in circumference and the ambition of being seven times more powerful than the LHC. Furthermore, the objective was to manufacture millions of boson particles to study them more precisely than at the European collider. Another objective is to be more efficient. Instead of colliding protons (which generates Higgs particles along with other types), in the Chinese collider electrons and positrons will be collided, which will only produce Higgs particles.
The cost and collaborations of the Chinese project
Since the first information, six years have passed, but in a recent article published in Nature, we can see that China has not forgotten its ambitious plans. In the new article, we once again talk about a CEPC measuring 100 kilometers in diameter and different researchers confirm this intention to be more precise when studying the characteristics of the boson.
And the most surprising thing is that the cost of the project would be “only” 5 billion dollars. Compared to the estimate for the European supercollider, it is less than a third. In the Nature article, Andrew Cohen believes that China can build the accelerator without anyone else's help, but for certain parts of the world, such as the detection system, they will need international help.
On the other hand, another complication that China may encounter is international cooperation. Tian Yu Cao, historian and philosopher of particle physics and quantum theory, considers that “there will be greater resistance from the West in helping China” due to the current climate of technological and, above all, commercial war between the United States (and partners both Western and Asian) and China.
Despite everything, in China they are confident and claim to be completely prepared for a project like this which, if everything goes well, will begin construction in 2027 and begin operating before the new Western collider. We'll see what happens, as the study of the God particle could add to the current climate of tension between China and… the rest of the world.
Image | CERN
