Planning the future of US accelerators

There was a large turnout at the end of October for the public sessions of the US Department of Energy’s Accelerators for America’s Future symposium in Washington DC.

The attendance, as well as the presentations, demonstrated the great interest in the potential of accelerators outside of high energy particle physics.

The three-day symposium was cochaired by Walter Henning and Charles Shank .

Seeking advice

Dennis Kovar , director of DOE’s Office of High Energy Physics, explained that in closed sessions on the following days, five working groups would come up with a series of recommendations on “opportunities for advancements in accelerator technologies” for DOE’s Office of Science .

The groups would also review impacts accelerators would have in basic research and applications “so that investments in accelerator R&D can be directed to best meet the needs of the Office of Science and the Nation” in a series of fields such as medicine and biology, energy, environment, national security, and industrial applications and production.

The Director of the Office of Science, William Brinkman, told attendees that his office spends approximately $500 million annually on Fermilab’s Tevatron , CERN’s Large Hadron Collider , and R&D on advanced accelerator technology.

Speaking of the proposed International Linear Collider , which reports indicate could cost $25 billion, Brinkman said “the science community can’t afford this thing.” New accelerator approaches are needed, Brinkman said, listing five “promising emerging accelerator technologies” such as Wakefield technology that could bring the cost down.

Norman Augustine expressed concern about a drop in physical sciences funding after the economic stimulus funding is spent, warning that science could be worse off than it was before these one-time funds were made available.

Federal funding of basic research is especially important, he emphasized, since private industry concentrates its spending on applied research.

The role of accelerators

Frederick Dylla , CEO of the American Institute of Physics (which publishes Physics Today), described the unique role that accelerators play as a discovery tool, with benefits that are less obvious to the general public.

The accelerator community needs to do a better job of communicating the value of accelerator research to the public, he said, citing the comments made during the House hearing . Dylla spoke of the importance of new technologies in lowering the cost of accelerators, citing the average $150 million cost to build a medical accelerator that is based on a fifty-year-old design.

The common theme running through the remaining public presentations was the important role that accelerators do play and potentially make in areas such as the prevention of nuclear terrorism, fusion, clean water, and better medicines.

While there are many opportunities, there are also challenges—one speaker expressed concerns about the decreasing number of university accelerators and the impact this is having on the future accelerator workforce.

Originally published as FYI’s Symposium on “Accelerators for America’s Future” written by Richard M. Jones. Edited by Paul Guinnessy