World will unite for gadget to replicate its birth,says top particle physicist

Heuer was at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai for a meeting of the Funding Agencies for Large Colliders (FALC) of which India is a member.

“We want the ILC to be the first truly global project where each country involved will stay responsible for its contribution and at one point come to an agreement on how to share the operating costs. The nations can keep their knowledge while working on the project in their own country where they can train young scientists,” said Heuer,adding that such challenging projects would attract more young minds

About 200 Indian scientists and other experts are already involved in the LHC,working either at CERN or elsewhere. Acknowledging the Indian contribution to the project,Heuer said it has been mainly towards large detectors,grid computing and data analysis.

The ILC is a next-generation particle accelerator to complement the LHC,so that together they can unravel the mysteries about the origin of the universe. Its design will be ready by 2012.

At the LHC,started after an initial hiccup in November 2009,scientists have started collecting data from initial collisions at low energy. High energy collisions will start in February.

Dismissing fears about a possible black hole with a strong gravitational force,Heuer said,“What we do at the LHC is what the universe has been doing for billions of years now. The linear collider is a precision machine that will substantiate the findings of the LHC.”

Heuer admitted the future of the ILC,estimated to cost Rs 6 billion,depends on funding agencies. Any region that wants to host it will have to put as much resources on the table,he said.

Heuer felt it was too early to predict the applications of the findings. “When Wilhelm Roentgen discovered the X-ray,he must have never thought about X-rays in applied science,” said Heuer,though he added the applications could range from medicine to solar panels.