High-energy Particle Colliders: Past 20 Years, Next 20 Years, And Beyond

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evolution of high-energy particle colliders over the past 20 years, discusses current projects, and explores future paradigm shifts needed for breakthroughs in collider technology and physics research.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of collider development, current projects, and proposes future paradigm changes for advancing high-energy physics.

Findings

Accelerator technology has advanced significantly over 20 years.

Current collider projects are under development for near-term goals.

Future breakthroughs require fundamental paradigm shifts in collider design.

Abstract

Particle colliders for high-energy physics have been in the forefront of scientific discoveries for more than half a century. The accelerator technology of the colliders has progressed immensely, while the beam energy, luminosity, facility size, and cost have grown by several orders of magnitude. The method of colliding beams has not fully exhausted its potential but has slowed down considerably in its progress. This paper briefly reviews the colliding beam method and the history of colliders, discusses the development of the method over the last two decades in detail, and examines near-term collider projects that are currently under development. The paper concludes with an attempt to look beyond the current horizon and to find what paradigm changes are necessary for breakthroughs in the field.