High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)(International Linear Collider)
Particle accelerators have been the primary tool of particle physics for over 60 years. They have enabled great advances and discoveries, the latest being the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Using complementary approaches of colliding protons on protons as a broad-band discovery device and colliding electrons on positrons as a precision probe of physics, we have uncovered the basic constituents of matter and fundamental symmetries in nature.
The International Linear Collider is the next advance in accelerators and will be the complementary electron-positron collider for the Large Hadron Collider. Consisting of two linear accelerators that will stretch approximately 20 kilometres in length, the ILC will smash electrons and their antimatter particles, positrons, together at nearly the speed of light. Colliding nearly 7,000 times every second, the electrons and positrons will create an array of new particles that could help answer some of the most fundamental questions of all time: What is the Higgs boson? What are dark matter and dark energy? Does supersymmetry exist?
The ILC will allow physicists to precisely explore extremely high-energy regions and unlock some of the deepest mysteries about the universe.
At present, development and design work are promoted by worldwide cooperative studies. Studies on accelerators are conducted by Asian, North American, and European accelerator scientists and engineers forming a design team (GDE). Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) is the working group responsible for advancing international collaboration among institutes and laboratories toward important R&D activities and will continue to encourage intergovernmental discussion between Japan and potential partner nations on the ILC.