CERN Courier Jan/Feb 2021

Artistic interpretation of a precision Higgs factory
Artistic interpretation of a precision Higgs factory (Image: CERN)

Welcome to the digital edition of the January/February 2021 issue of CERN Courier.

The 2020 update of the European strategy for particle physics (ESPP) concluded that an electron–positron Higgs factory is the highest priority collider after the LHC. The ability to produce copious quantities of Higgs bosons in a very clean environment would help tame the “wild west” scalar sector of the Standard Model Lagrangian, and impact many others, as physicists seek to venture beyond the well signposted environs of the Standard Model.

This issue looks at the physics capabilities of the various Higgs-factory proposals, in terms of their reach on the Higgs boson (p23) and beyond (p29, 35, 39). We also look at the role of CERN in implementing the broader ESPP recommendations (p43), a priority being a technical and financial feasibility study for a 100km future circular hadron collider at CERN with a Higgs and electroweak factory as a possible first stage (p20). Meanwhile, efforts are under way to identify R&D synergies between the Higgs factories (p44), and mechanisms are being strengthened to take on board the views of early-career researchers about the future of their field (p50).

Elsewhere in this issue: counting down to LHC Run 3 (p7); anomalies and new multi-quark states at LHCb (p12); CMS targets Higgs-boson pair production (p15); the latest on long-lived particles (p19); CERN’s new director for research and computing (p45); and, last but not least, the solution to the Courier’s end-of-year crossword (p62)

j CERN Courier Jan/Feb 2021