This proposal is a request to the NSF for partial support of the activities of the North American Regional Director for the International Linear Collider (ILC). The physics goals of the ILC are ambitious and compelling. In recent years, a world consensus has developed that the ILC should be the next major facility for high-energy physics. Here in the U.S., the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) identified the linear collider as the highest priority for the U.S. program in elementary particle physics. At the national level, the U.S. Department of Energy announced inclusion of the ILC in its 20-year plan for new facilities, according it the highest priority among the mid-term projects under consideration.
To provide a framework around which the worldwide particle physics community can organize its efforts to design and build the ILC, in 2002, the International Committee for Future Accelerators formed the International Linear Collider Steering Committee (ILCSC). Last year, the ILCSC created the International Technology Recommendation Panel, which successfully made the choice of the technology for the main linear accelerator of the ILC. Earlier this year, the ILCSC created an organization to lead the next steps in the design effort for the machine: this organization is called the Global Design Effort (GDE). The GDE will establish a Central Team and three Regional Teams, one each from Asia, Europe, and North America and each one guided by a Regional Director. The Central Team is the focal point for ILC project planning.
Since this proposal supports a key element in the realization of the ILC, its broader impact is that of the ILC itself. The ILC is one of the most exciting new projects in the physical sciences. The accelerator physics R&D required for the ILC will push the state of the art in many areas that have applications across the whole spectrum of accelerators. Benefits will accrue to fields, such as materials science, condensed matter physics, biophysics, and medical science, which utilize accelerators as their front-line research tools. In addition, training opportunities will be provided that can begin to address the current national shortage of accelerator physicists.
