CERN releases report on the feasibility of a possible Future Circular Collider

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

LHC Track Record and Expectations

  • One camp sees the LHC as underwhelming post‑Higgs: no SUSY, no clear “new physics,” and questions whether a bigger machine is just “hoping something shakes out.”
  • Others argue the LHC produced many important results: precise measurements, many hadrons, and statistically significant hints of Standard Model deviations.
  • The absence of expected SUSY or other particles is itself viewed as a meaningful (if negative) discovery that killed dominant BSM scenarios, though some call this “weak” progress given the cost.

Purpose and Design of the FCC

  • Clarification that the flagship near‑term project is an electron–positron collider (FCC‑ee) for precision Higgs and electroweak measurements; only later (around 2070) would the tunnel host a 100 TeV proton collider (FCC‑hh).
  • Supporters emphasize:
    • e⁺e⁻ collisions at high energy give much cleaner measurements than proton–proton.
    • The main aim is to nail down anomalies and parameters in the Standard Model, not blindly hunt for unknown particles.
  • Critics point out that official FCC documents do still talk about possible discoveries of dark matter candidates, axions, SUSY partners, etc., and see that as speculative padding.

Theory vs Experiment

  • Debate over whether “theory should precede experiment.”
    • Some argue building a huge machine without a tight set of target theories is bad science and bad value.
    • Others note historically experiment has often led theory (e.g., anomalies prompting new particles), and that precision tests of an incomplete theory are valid science.

Cost, Funding Priorities, and Opportunity Cost

  • Concern that a multi‑tens‑of‑billion project will “strangle” other areas of physics and neighboring fields for decades; suggestions to prioritize theory, novel accelerator R&D, or other sciences (materials, cancer research).
  • Counter‑argument: spread over ~12 years, ~1–1.3B/year is modest versus national budgets and various political boondoggles; if we can waste that on less productive things, why not on core physics?
  • Some former insiders now question whether such distant-from-application science is the best use of constrained university and research budgets.

Media, Public Perception, and HN Culture

  • A popular YouTube critic of particle physics is heavily cited; several comments accuse her of algorithm‑driven contrarianism and oversimplification, while others defend her long‑standing skepticism.
  • A linked Nature piece is used to show that doubts about the FCC are mainstream, not just YouTube drama.
  • Meta‑thread laments perceived “anti‑intellectualism” and clickbait‑driven understanding of complex scientific policy.