There is the possibility that the International Linear Collider, a large-scale next-generation electron accelerator, could be constructed in Japan. The international project to explore the frontiers of particle physics will have strong and lasting influences on technology and international relations. Japan’s government and science community should encourage public discussions on bringing the ILC to Japan as the project will require much money and public support is indispensable.

Following 10 years of work by an international design team, it was announced Dec. 15 that the team had completed a detailed blueprint for the ILC — the third large-scale international science project after the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (now under construction in France) and the International Space Station.

The ILC will feature a straight tunnel 31 km in length. From each end, electrons and positrons will be propelled in beams and accelerated to close to the speed of light. Electrons and positrons will be collided to recreate the high-energy environment that existed just after the universe was formed 13.7 billion years ago by the Big Bang. It is theorized that soon after the universe formed, Higgs boson particles filled space and clung to other weightless particles moving at the speed of light. The latter is thought to have acquired mass through this interaction.