Chinese scientists release design on huge collider

BEIJING - A Chinese research team Wednesday unveiled its concept design of a huge electron positron collider, which could be used in solving many problems in physics.

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), with a perimeter of 100 km, could help scientists study the properties of the Higgs particle, the early evolution of the universe, the loss of antimatter and search for dark matter, said Wang Yifang, director of the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The discovery of Higgs particle on the Large Hadron Collider in Europe in 2012 ushered in a new era of particle physics. After that, Chinese scientists from IHEP proposed the construction of CEPC that consists of two parts: an accelerator for high-speed collision of electrons and a detector which works like a high-speed super microscope.

Many physicists believe the high-energy collider will help reveal many of the mysteries of nature. But whether China should invest a huge amount of money in constructing it has aroused controversy in academic circles.

The research team from IHEP plans to develop the prototypes of a series of key components of the collider by 2022 to validate the technical feasibility of the project.