Grateful for the warm welcome and ILC fervor of the region

(Interview abridged and paraphrased)

At LCWS, technical talks were held separately in each field, but the largest thing for the ILC was that we all shared a vision in “staging” the ILC. If we create a smaller collider in the beginning, we can ramp up the project in stages, which leads to the greatest reduction in construction costs.

Technological improvements would only lead to a cost reduction of about 10-20%. Staging the ILC could possibly reduce up to half the costs. Research at that first stage would be investigating the Higgs boson (the elementary particle thought to give mass to matter). After that we would develop the ILC to a more advanced level.

Up until now, we have only wanted the best of the best for the ILC – We would say, I want this! I want that! But now we are limited by reality. Our staging discussions have reached the point where we are discussing just what we can do in order to make the project a reality. So we are getting closer to the reality of the ILC.

During LCWS, the strong support and warm welcome from the Iwate people gave us researchers a lot of strength and courage.

We have been talking about the ILC for many years, so sometimes we can feel a bit down about the project. But after visiting the Kitakami site and meeting all these people, we see that we have to continue to work hard, and we feel that the ILC dream will come true. I am very grateful.

Prof. Hitoshi Yamamoto

Graduated from the Department of Science at Kyoto University, and received a PhD at the California Institute of Technology. He taught at Hawaii University and in 2001 became a professor at the Graduate School of Science at Tohoku University. His focus is on experimental particle physics. From Osaka City.