China’s Potential for Building the World’s Largest Particle Accelerator: A Debate Over Funding Priorities and Scientific Potential

The Chinese government has yet to approve the construction of a circular electron positron accelerator (CEPC), despite its potential to revolutionize particle physics and enable groundbreaking discoveries for decades. Physicist and Nobel laureate Yang Chen-ning has been a vocal opponent of the project, citing economic development and environmental protection as more pressing issues.

Despite this opposition, Eliezer Rabinovici, a professor emeritus of physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and president of CERN, believes that China has the capacity to build the largest particle accelerator on Earth. Currently, CERN operates the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is limited in size and power compared to the proposed CEPC.

The debate over whether China should build the world’s largest particle accelerator has been ongoing for nearly a decade. Wang Yifang, director of IHEP, proposed the CEPC project in 2012 following the discovery of the Higgs boson in Europe. By accelerating electrons and positrons to high energies and colliding them, the CEPC would enable scientists to make new discoveries beyond the standard model of particle physics.

While Rabinovici acknowledges that constructing such an expensive machine may raise questions about funding priorities, he emphasizes that investing in scientific research can have long-term benefits for society as a whole. If approved by Chinese authorities, construction could begin within three years pending government licenses and funding.

The potential impact of building such an advanced machine cannot be understated, as it would allow scientists to study fundamental particles at unprecedented energies and open up new avenues for research into areas like dark matter and antimatter physics. This could lead to significant advancements in our understanding of how particles interact with each other on a subatomic level.

In conclusion, while there are certainly concerns about funding priorities when it comes to building large-scale scientific infrastructure projects like this one, Rabinovici’s belief in China’s scientific potential rings true. As he pointed out during his visit in April 2021: “China has made tremendous progress in science over recent years,” he said. “I am confident that they will continue to do so.”