Philip Burrows

Abstract:

A large, world-wide community of physicists is working to realise an exceptional physics program of energy-frontier, electron-positron collisions with the International Linear Collider (ILC). This program will begin with a central focus on high-precision and model-independent measurements of the Higgs boson couplings. This method of searching for new physics beyond the Standard Model is orthogonal to and complements the LHC physics program. The ILC at 250 GeV will also search for direct new physics in exotic Higgs decays and in pair-production of weakly interacting particles. Polarised electron and positron beams add unique opportunities to the physics reach. The ILC can be upgraded to higher energy, enabling precision studies of the top quark and measurement of the top Yukawa coupling and the Higgs self-coupling. The key accelerator technology, superconducting radio-frequency cavities, has matured. Optimised collider and detector designs, and associated physics analyses, were presented in the ILC Technical Design Report, signed by 2400 scientists. There is a strong interest in Japan to host this international effort. A detailed review of the many aspects of the project is nearing a conclusion in Japan. Now the Japanese government is preparing for a decision on the next phase of international negotiations, that could lead to a project start within a few years. The potential timeline of the ILC project includes an initial phase of about 4 years to obtain international agreements, complete engineering design and prepare construction, and form the requisite international collaboration, followed by a construction phase of 9 years.

Abstract:

The Compact Linear Collider, CLIC, is a proposed e+e− collider at the TeV scale whose physics potential ranges from high-precision measurements to extensive direct sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model. This document summarises the physics potential of CLIC, obtained in detailed studies, many based on full simulation of the CLIC detector. CLIC covers one order of magnitude of centre-of-mass energies from 350 GeV to 3 TeV, giving access to large event samples for a variety of SM processes, many of them for the first time in e+e− collisions or for the first time at all. The high collision energy combined with the large luminosity and clean environment of the e+e− collisions enables the measurement of the properties of Standard Model particles, such as the Higgs boson and the top quark, with unparalleled precision. CLIC might also discover indirect effects of very heavy new physics by probing the parameters of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory with an unprecedented level of precision. The direct and indirect reach of CLIC to physics beyond the Standard Model significantly exceeds that of the HL-LHC. This includes new particles detected in challenging non-standard signatures. With this physics programme, CLIC will decisively advance our knowledge relating to the open questions of particle physics.