From: sawyer@sscvx1.ssc.gov (Lee Sawyer)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: terminal particle energy for accelerators
Date: 16 Apr 92 15:31:00 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

In article <yrzjp!-.rcain@netcom.com>, rcain@netcom.com (Robert Cain)     writes...
>No, my next question is how is the work coming on the very high gradient
>desktop accelerators? :-)  A summery of theory and progress would be
>greatly appreciated.  Enquiring minds wish to know.
> 
>Thanks,
> 
>Bob
>-- 
>Bob Cain    rcain@netcom.com   408-358-2007
> 
>"There are some strings.  They're just not attached."
>                                                    Victoria Roberts
  You said it, sister, and here are the strings : There is work on going
to develop appropriate accelerating technologies for the next generation
of e+e- linear colliders (wake field, lasers). There are plans to build
a test facility at SLAC. The Japanese are eager to build a linear collider,
which be why the Japanese HEP community has been hesitant to cough up funds
for SSC. The Europeans have plans on the drawing board, and the Germans may 
just go ahead and build one with existing technology. First, here's the 
challenge, then the strings. Because you only have one shot at colliding 
two particle bunches in a linear collider, you are forced to get the smallest
interaction area possible. At SLC I believe the beam size at final focus is
on  the order of microns; for a TeV linear collider (TLC) it will have to be
nanometers !!! There are some tasty accelerator problems to be solved and
there are plans for a test of 10-100 nanometer focusing, but (here's the 
strings) the funding is facing the same battle as SSC. In fact there is a 
lot of scuttlebutt that SLAC may be closed - it seems certain that at least 
one of the HEP labs will be scaled back. 

  So here I step on to my ever handy soap box : The natural progression in
High energy physics over the last three decades has been to build the proton
machine, discover the new physics, build the more technologically challenging
electron machine, and study the new energy regime in detail. That program has
worked spectacularly at it's last iteration : The CERN SppS and FNAL Tevatron
established the existance of the W and Z and electroweak unification; LEP
at CERN is studying the 80-100 GeV energy scale was remarkable precision.
Because of a lot of problems, funding being one of them, SLC has not been
a major competitor for LEP; it has however shown us the way to go towards
the next electron machine.

  The natural thing to do over the next ten years is : Build SSC, with
international help; discover whatever is sitting at the 1 TeV scale; build
TLC in Japan or Europe, with U.S. help; & study SUSY or limping Technicolor or
whatever in detail. What is so farfetched about this ? Why can't we sign an
international pact on future collaboration in HEP ? 

  I'm meeting with a Congresscritter this afternoon; I will mention this to
him...


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         Lee Sawyer     | Dept of Physics          
       (SSCVX1::SAWYER) | Univ of Texas - Arlington    
                        | Arlington, TX            
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Newsgroups: sci.physics