February 20th kicked off a three-day international conference for the ILD (the detector to be used in the ILC particle collider) in Ichinoseki. Here, in the candidate site for the ILC, participants will talk through technical challenges as they prepare to realize the project.

The ILD meeting was last held in Iwate in Oshu City 4 years ago in 2014. At this year’s conference, there were 63 participants from 7 countries (Japan, USA, and European countries). The opening remarks were open to the media, where team leader Ties Behnke of DESY said, “This conference will be important to our ongoing preparations to get the ILC in the next 5-year European particle physics plan.”

According to Associate Professor Tomoyuki Sanuki of Tohoku University, the first day will see presentations on the technology behind the major parts of the detector device. In the following days, participants will deliberate on the efficiency of analysis of the physical reactions that will occur in ILC experiments, and Prof. Atsuto Suzuki will give a presentation on the preparations in Tohoku to host the project.

This was the first trip to Japan for DESY graduate student Jakob Beyer. “Japanese people are friendly and the area is surrounded with nature. In the future I want to conduct research at the ILC and I am really hoping for it to be built in Ichinoseki.”

The ILD is a voluntary organization recognized by the Linear Collider Collaboration, which is leading the ILC project. They will play a central role in detector research and development after the ILC is realized.