The SLAC Linear Collider (SLC)

In 1989, the world's first linear collider, featuring beams of electrons and positrons (anti-electrons), began operating at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) was based on new accelerator technology and offered the possibility of reaching higher-energy electron collisions in a more cost-effective manner than conventional ring designs. In 1998, the first "disruption enhancement" was achieved, in which beam density is high enough to cause the beams to shrink during the collision, an effect that doubles luminosity. Because of the high electron beam polarization and very small beam size at the collision point, SLC was able to make the world's most precise measurements of several key electroweak parameters—elements of the Standard Model, physicists' current understanding of matter and the forces of nature. Since then, a circular electron-positron collider has been built at the limit of energy possible for such a design. Operating at its highest energy, this machine may have seen evidence of the Higgs boson, the last missing piece of the Standard Model.

Scientific Impact: The SLC enabled precision studies that have contributed to important recent advances in physics. This prototype linear collider also points the way to a larger collider that would enable precision studies of the Higgs boson and other ultraheavy particles thought to have existed in profusion during the Big Bang creation of the universe.

Social Impact: Such facilities help answer questions about the constituents and history of the universe, extending human understanding of nature and contributing to improvements in science education. The development and use of such facilities often has practical implications; accelerators have contributed to medical treatments, for example.

URL: http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/experiments/slc.html

Technical Contact: Dr. Martin Breidenbach, mib@slac.stanford.edu

Press Contact: Jeff Sherwood, DOE Office of Public Affairs, 202-586-5806

SC-Funding Office: Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics