Motivation und Ziele:
Much of the progress in particle physics and in the creation of the Standard Model was made possible by particle accelerators and colliders. In particular, it has often been the case in the past that opening new energy regimes revealed new particle states. It is therefore in the interest of the particle physics community to continue in this direction and to develop a particle collider for the post-LHC era reaching a new energy scale.
The European strategy update process has proposed the FCC-ee as the next large project at CERN. While this would not lead initially to a new energy regime, it would allow a detailed study of the Higgs Boson and its interactions. The collider tunnel could then be used to install an energy frontier hadron collider. There are still major hurdles to be cleared before this project goes ahead, and a target of 2028 has been set for the CERN Council to decide on whether to go ahead with this project. It is therefore important to study also alternatives and perform R&D studies.
We have proposed proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration as a novel approach to increase the acceleration gradient. In our proposal, the energy of protons acquired in a circular accelerator is transferred to bunches of particles in a plasma section allowing for acceleration of e.g. electrons to high energies in a reasonable length. We are investigating the use of such an approach to accelerate bunches of electrons for use in different applications.
Name: Allen Caldwell
Anschrift:
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik
Boltzmannstraße 8
85748 Garching bei München
caldwell@mpp.mpg.de
Tätigkeit:
Forschungsinteressen:
- Experimental Particle Physics
- Plasma acceleration
Berufliche Stationen:
- 2002-present Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Physik
- 1989-2002 Professor Columbia University
