Executive Summary
The Story So Far
Why This Matters
Who Thinks What?
China’s ambitious multibillion-dollar project to construct the world’s largest particle collider, the Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), appears to have been omitted from the nation’s upcoming five-year plan. This development, confirmed by lead scientist Wang Yifang of Beijing’s Institute of High Energy Physics, casts uncertainty over China’s quest to lead global basic research into the “God particle,” the Higgs boson. The CEPC, designed to precisely study Higgs bosons by smashing electrons and their antimatter counterparts, carries an estimated cost of 36.4 billion yuan (US$5.1 billion).
Project Background and Debate
Wang Yifang told CERN Courier that despite the setback, the institute plans to resubmit the CEPC proposal in 2030. However, he indicated that Chinese physicists would instead seek to join Europe’s similar Future Circular Collider (FCC) project if it receives official approval before then.
Proposed in 2012 following the Higgs boson’s discovery, the CEPC has been a subject of intense debate within China’s scientific community. Supporters, including mathematician Shing-Tung Yau, championed the collider as a magnet for leading international scientists and a catalyst for technological innovation.
Conversely, Nobel laureate Chen-ning Yang, who passed away in October, repeatedly voiced strong opposition. He argued that China should not rush into such an expensive undertaking, questioning its scientific payoff and warning it could become a “bottomless pit” for national resources.
During a 2019 public talk in Beijing, Yang famously stated that “The party is over” for particle colliders, expressing relief that the Chinese government had not “fallen for it” despite China’s financial capacity.
Technical Details and Future Outlook
Both the CEPC and Europe’s FCC were envisioned as next-generation “Higgs factories” to probe the fundamental particle responsible for giving matter its mass after the Big Bang. The CEPC was designed with a 100km (62 miles) circumference, slightly larger than the FCC’s proposed 91km ring.
Technically, the CEPC project was considered mature, with key design milestones, including a conceptual design report in 2018 and technical design reports in October, already completed. It had garnered involvement from thousands of scientists across nearly 160 institutes in 39 countries.
Despite the CEPC’s high internal evaluation scores within China’s high-energy physics community, the Super Tau-Charm Facility in Hefei has reportedly been shortlisted for further consideration in the nation’s next five-year plan.
Wang’s team intends to compile the CEPC’s engineering design report by 2027. Meanwhile, a feasibility study for Europe’s FCC was released in March, with member states expected to decide on its progression around 2028, potentially leading to construction in the 2030s.
Implications for Global Science
The decision to exclude the CEPC from China’s next five-year plan signals a potential shift in the nation’s approach to large-scale, high-cost fundamental research projects, leaving the future of its “God particle” quest uncertain and potentially reliant on international collaboration with European initiatives.
