A Quantum Diaries Survivor

The National Academic of Sciences released yesterday a 140 pages document titled "Revealing the Hidden Nature of Space and Time". You can download a copy at the web page of the committee, following this link:

 http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/EPP2010.html

Basically, a large committee, mostly composed of scientists - not only particle physicists, but almost exclusively from the US - got together during the last couple of years to discuss a 15-year plan for particle physics at the TeraelectronVolt scale, with the quite explicit aim, if you read beyond the apolitical title, of bringing back in the hands of the United States a leading role in Particle Physics in the forthcoming years.

Do not be scared by the length of the paper - most of the meat is intelligently placed at the beginning, where important points are stressed in boldface. Let me quote a few:

"Given the globalization of particle physics (and with Europe investing twice as much as the United States and Japan investing nearly half ot the US annual budget for particle physics), identifying a compelling leadership role for the United States was not simple. Since the unfortunate (sic -TD) demise of the Superconducting Super Collider in the early 1990s and the subsequent stagnation of support for US efforts in particle physics, the US program has lacked a long-term and distinguishing strategic focus that would give it a competitive and distinctive position within the worldwide effort in particle physics."

Then a list of strategic principles is given. Interesting, but one gets the impression of reading a marketing plan from microsoft of something alike.

On page 18:

"Strategic Principle 2: the US program in elementary particle physics should be characterized by a commitment to leadership within the global particle physics enterprise."

On page 20, however, I was pleased to read that Fermilab will not die:

"Strategic Principle 6: A strong and vital Fermilab is an essential element of US leadership in elementary particle physics. Fermilab must play a major role in advancing the priorities identified in this report."

Action items are the most interesting. Let me just summarize them below:

- Action item 1: help realize the physics potential of LHC

- Action item 2: launch R&D for the international linear collider (ILC)

- Action item 3: show the teeth and claim the ILC has to be on US soil

- Action item 4: think at synergies between particle physics and astrophysics research

- Action item 5: study the neutrino with international collaborations

- Action item 6: put less emphasis (and money) on precision measurements seeking physics beyond the SM (such as g-2 or lepton flavor violation searches).

An interesting reading…