This proposal requests support from nineteen U.S. university groups that have banded together to form the University Consortium for Linear Collider (UCLC) R&D. This collaborative effort responds directly to the recent recommendations of the U.S. High Energy Physics Advisory Panel that a high-energy electron-positron linear collider should be the highest priority in the U.S. program in elementary particle physics. The work proposed here comprises 27 specific projects, spanning a broad range of issues in both accelerator and detector R&D for a linear collider. Twelve of the projects pursue important issues in accelerator physics and technology and the other fifteen projects are directed at linear collider detector R&D.
A number of broader impacts are to be expected from this proposal. The accelerator physics R&D will push the state of the art in many areas (such as diagnostics) that have applications across the whole spectrum of accelerators. The detector R&D is similarly often of a generic nature, and complements well the detector development done for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. This proposal will also provide significant benefits in the training of accelerator physicists. By supporting accelerator physics at universities, this proposal will provide training opportunities that can begin to address the current national shortage of accelerator physicists.
Finally, the collaborating groups that form the UCLC have a strong history of outreach to undergraduates and K-12 students and teachers. The work supported by this proposal will be integrated into these outreach efforts. The dissemination of the concepts explored by basic research in high-energy physics to students in their developing years will provide for an increased understanding of the field by the general public, and will foster the public's interest in science in general.
