A very high energy hadron collider on the Moon

TL;DR

This paper explores the concept of building a 11,000 km circumference hadron collider on the Moon to achieve unprecedented collision energies of 14 PeV, discussing feasibility, design, and future implications.

Contribution

It introduces the idea of a lunar hadron collider, detailing its potential design, challenges, and role as a next-generation high-energy physics discovery machine.

Findings

Proposed a 14 PeV collision energy with a 20 T magnetic field.

Analyzed siting, construction, and powering challenges on the Moon.

Outlined machine parameters and future research directions.

Abstract

The long-term prospect of building a hadron collider around the circumference of a great circle of the Moon is sketched. A Circular Collider on the Moon (CCM) of $\sim$11000 km in circumference could reach a proton-proton center-of-mass collision energy of 14 PeV -- a thousand times higher than the Large Hadron Collider at CERN -- optimistically assuming a dipole magnetic field of 20 T. Several aspects of such a project are presented, including siting, construction, availability of necessary materials on the Moon, and powering, as well as a discussion of future studies and further information needed to determine the more concrete feasibility of each. Machine parameters and vacuum requirements are explored, and an injection scheme is delineated. Other unknowns are set down. Due to the strong interest from multiple organizations in establishing a permanent Moon presence, a CCM could be the (next-to-) next-to-next-generation discovery machine for high-energy particle physics and a natural successor to next-generation machines, such as the proposed Future Circular Collider at CERN or a Super Proton-Proton Collider in China, and other future machines, such as a Collider in the Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico. A CCM would serve as an important stepping stone towards a Planck-scale collider sited in our Solar System.