Japanese Taking Up Particle-Physics Slack?

With funding for high-energy particle physics being slashed in the United States and the United Kingdom, research organizations in Japan are pointing out that they, at least, are pushing ahead with ambitious plans.

Atsuto Suzuki, the director general of Japan's high-energy physics laboratory, KEK, has outlined a five-year plan that includes major investments in new facilities, and a strong commitment to the International Linear Collider. In both the US and UK, work on this cross-border, next-generation idea is losing funding for the rest of this fiscal year.

Physics World quotes an ILC-affiliated scientist, noting that the current climate makes it more likely that the ILC might ultimately be located in Japan. That prospect would be a deep disappointment to the American research community, which will see its own top laboratories outmatched when CERN's Large Hadron Collider opens later this year in Switzerland. From the Physics World article:

"Given the UK’s decision to pull out of the ILC and the funding debacle in the US, this report demonstrates the sustained commitment to high-energy physics of the Japanese — who, of course, are one of the leading contenders to host the ILC," says Brian Foster of
Oxford University and European director of the ILC global design effort.

Japan isn't the only country to be continuing its investment in bleeding-edge particle physics, however. Germany too broke ground late last yearon a new $1.8 billion accelerator facility.

Roadmap of KEK [KEK]
Japanese particle physics in good health [Physics World]

(Image: Part of a linear accelerator at Japan's Accelerator Test Facility. Credit: KEK)