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Motivation and design of a yotta-eV $τ^+τ^-$ collider

Matt Bellis, Matthew Carberg, Chester Gould, Jackson Ingenito, Fasiha Khaliq, Emely Kintzel, Shane Kirschmann, Neha Matta, Sophia Pavia, Emmett Pearl, Payton Ramsdill, Grace Scherer, Cullen Wright

Abstract

Two significant goals of the particle physics community is the precision study of the Higgs boson and the search for new particles. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the current high-energy collider, soon to be superseded by the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). Much of the community has rallied around a muon-collider, though that is most likely 25 years in the future. In this paper, we argue for a bolder approach: {\it a tau-collider}, in which oppositely-charged $τ$-leptons are collided with energies on the yotta-eV scale and a potential radius that places it in the Oort cloud. Given the long time-scale and significant construction challenges, we strongly suggest the focus of the community shift to this discovery machine. We acknowledge that the technology necessary may require humanity to evolve to a Kardashev Level-I or Level-II civilization, which is all the more reason to begin R\&D now.

Motivation and design of a yotta-eV $τ^+τ^-$ collider

Abstract

Two significant goals of the particle physics community is the precision study of the Higgs boson and the search for new particles. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the current high-energy collider, soon to be superseded by the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). Much of the community has rallied around a muon-collider, though that is most likely 25 years in the future. In this paper, we argue for a bolder approach: {\it a tau-collider}, in which oppositely-charged -leptons are collided with energies on the yotta-eV scale and a potential radius that places it in the Oort cloud. Given the long time-scale and significant construction challenges, we strongly suggest the focus of the community shift to this discovery machine. We acknowledge that the technology necessary may require humanity to evolve to a Kardashev Level-I or Level-II civilization, which is all the more reason to begin R\&D now.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 23 sections, 18 equations, 12 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Scientific motivation
  3. Benefits of a muon collider
  4. The $\tau$ lepton
  5. History and discovery of the $\tau$
  6. A $\tau^+\tau^-$ collider
  7. Linear vs.Circular Accelerator
  8. $\tau$ lifetime and relativistic effects
  9. Engineering challenges
  10. Electric fields
  11. Magnetic fields
  12. Dangers? The Ring of Death
  13. Producing the $\tau$ leptons
  14. Neutrino Beams
  15. Preferred $\tau$-production approach: asymmetric $Z$-boson production
  16. ...and 8 more sections

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: Map of locations of previous colliders.
  • Figure 2: History of previous colliders showing years of operation and energies achieved.
  • Figure 3: Radiative corrections to the mass of the Higgs boson from quantum loops containing fermions or bosons.Beyond
  • Figure 4: Supersymmetry effect on the mass of the Higgs boson.BSM
  • Figure 5: The Standard Model with Supersymmetric extension.BSM
  • ...and 7 more figures