A hybrid Asymmetric Linear Higgs Factory

07 Nov 2023
Seminars and colloquia
Time
Venue
Dennis Sciama Lecture Theatre
Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH
Speaker(s)

Professor Richard D'Arcy
University of Oxford

Seminar series
Experimental particle physics seminar
Knowledge of physics?
Yes, knowledge of physics required

Abstract

Construction of a Higgs factory is the top priority for particle physics in the next decades but the costs are prohibitively high. 
Plasma-wakefield accelerators (PWFAs) promise to drastically reduce the footprint and therefore the cost of such machines. However, while progress on electron acceleration is rapid, positron acceleration in plasma remains challenging. We propose a linear collider concept that bypasses the positron problem by using PWFAs to accelerate electrons and conventional RF accelerators to accelerate positrons. This hybrid scheme requires the beam energies to be highly asymmetric, and, we argue, benefits from the use of asymmetric bunch charges as well as asymmetric transverse emittances. This talk presents an overview of the HALHF concept and the R&D required to implement it.