Preparing the Future of Particle Physics
"Particle physicists are gathered this week in Bad Honnef in a meeting that marks the final discussions for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics "
Senior figures in European particle physics are gathered in the small town of Bad Honnef, Germany, for a week of intense discussions that will guide the future of fundamental exploration in this field. This marks the final stage of the update of the European strategy for particle physics. Convened by the European Strategy Group (ESG) — which includes a scientific delegate from each of CERN’s member and associate-member states, directors and representatives of major European laboratories and organisations and invitees from outside Europe – the 60 or so attendees are tasked with identifying a set of priorities and recommendations to the CERN Council. Portugal is represented by Mário Pimenta, Portuguese delegate to the CERN Council, president of LIP, the Portuguese Laboratory for Instrumentation and Particle Physics, and full professor at IST.
The ESG, a body set up by the CERN Council approximately every five years, was invited to formulate an update of the European strategy for particle physics in September 2017. A call for input from the community in 2018 attracted 160 submissions, which were discussed at an open symposium in Granada, Spain, in May 2019. The ESG then published a 200-page briefing book which distilled the input into an objective scientific summary and will form the basis for discussions in Germany this week.
The focus of this strategy update, the third since 2005, is which major project should follow the LHC once its high-luminosity phase comes to an end in the late 2030s. The strategy update will also consider non-collider experiments, computing, instrumentation and other key aspects of growing importance to the field such as energy efficiency and communication. The recommendations from the ESG are due to formally be approved by the CERN Council on May.
The draft document now produced is not finalized yet. It will be discussed by the CERN Council in March and submitted for final approval at an extraordinary Council Session on 25 May, in Budapest. No comments shall be made on this document before final approval,