In April, CERN and the US government released a joint statement of intent concerning future planning for large research infrastructures, advanced scientific computing and open science. The statement was signed in Washington, DC by CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and principal deputy US chief technology officer Deirdre Mulligan of the White House Office of Science and Technology.
Acknowledging their longstanding partnership in nuclear and particle physics, CERN and the US intend to enhance collaboration in planning activities for large-scale, resource-intensive facilities. Concerning the proposed Future Circular Collider, FCC-ee, the text states: “Should the CERN Member States determine that the FCC-ee is likely to be CERN’s next world-leading research facility following the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider, the US intends to collaborate on its construction and physics exploitation, subject to appropriate domestic approvals.” A technical and financial feasibility study for the proposed FCC is due to be completed in March 2025.
CERN and the US also intend to discuss potential collaboration on pilot projects to incorporate new analytics techniques and tools such as AI into particle-physics research at scale, and affirm their collective mission “to take swift strategic action that leads to accelerating widespread adoption of equitable open research, science and scholarship throughout the world”.
