Daniel BuenoChina plans to build a 52 km long underground particle accelerator by 2028. The proposal is backed by researchers at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, who have dubbed the project the “Higgs factory,” an allusion to the Higgs boson. The existence of that subatomic elementary particle was demonstrated in 2012 by experiments conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. Using an accelerator bigger than the one at CERN, the Chinese hope to study the Higgs Boson in much greater detail. They estimate that about $3 billion will be spent on building the collider, but physicists interviewed by the journal Nature have called that figure conservative and said the true cost will probably be much higher. China also hopes this will give it an opportunity to develop the next-generation collider—a supercollider called a proton-proton—in that same tunnel. If the project proves feasible, the achievement will represent significant progress for China. At present, that country’s biggest collider measures only 240 meters in circumference.
