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Muon colliders to expand frontiers of particle physics

Nature Physics volume 17, pages 289–292 (2021)Cite this article

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Muon colliders offer enormous potential for the exploration of the particle physics frontier but are challenging to realize. A new international collaboration is forming to make such a muon collider a reality.

Future high-energy particle physics facilities have traditionally been evaluated on the basis of three criteria: (1) scientific potential, (2) technical construction and financial requirements, and (3) flexibility for further upgrades and developments1. The most recent update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which provides a roadmap for the future of the field, has added an important new requirement: next-generation facilities should meet very high ecological and environmental standards and, in particular, should be energy efficient2.

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Fig. 1: Energy efficiency of present and future colliders.
Fig. 2: Schematic layout of a 10-TeV-class muon collider complex.
Fig. 3: Ionization cooling-channel scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imperial College London, London, UK

    K. R. Long

  2. STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, UK

    K. R. Long

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    D. Lucchesi

  4. INFN Padova, Padua, Italy

    D. Lucchesi

  5. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA

    M. A. Palmer

  6. INFN Torino, Turin, Italy

    N. Pastrone

  7. CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

    D. Schulte

  8. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, USA

    V. Shiltsev

Authors
  1. K. R. Long
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  2. D. Lucchesi
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  3. M. A. Palmer
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  4. N. Pastrone
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  5. D. Schulte
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  6. V. Shiltsev
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to K. R. Long, D. Lucchesi, M. A. Palmer, N. Pastrone, D. Schulte or V. Shiltsev.

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Long, K.R., Lucchesi, D., Palmer, M.A. et al. Muon colliders to expand frontiers of particle physics. Nat. Phys. 17, 289–292 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01130-x

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