Plan to internationalize U.S. project may face headwind

摘要

It's a gamble that leading U.S. particle physicists say they must take: To finally get started on their next megaproject at the United States' sole particle physics lab, they want to make it an international collaboration-even if that means ceding direct control to a council of member nations. Doing so could open the way to an ambitious effort to study elusive particles called neutrinos and ensure the future of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois. But the approach may not fly with Congress. The recommendation comes from a draft road map for U.S. particle physics presented on 22 May to a federal advisory panel in Bethesda, Maryland. The report of the ad hoc Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) strikes a decidedly more international tone than previous plans. It urges the government to "[p]ursue the most important opportunities wherever they are, and host unique, world-class facilities that engage the global scientific community."