CERN Council reviews feasibility study for a next-generation collider

Summary

At a dedicated meeting of the CERN Council on 6-7 November, delegates from CERN’s Member and Associate Member States reviewed the outcome of the Feasibility Study for the proposed Future Circular Collider Particle colliders are unique instruments that allow the smallest constituents of matter and the laws of the universe to be studied at the most fundamental level. CERN and its partners in Europe and worldwide are currently working to identify the next collider that would succeed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) after the latter reaches the end of operations in 2041. In line with the recommendations of the 2020 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP), CERN has conducted a study to assess the feasibility of a possible Future Circular Collider (FCC). The study has been undertaken in collaboration with many institutions in CERN’s Member and Associate Member States and beyond and its report was issued on 31 March 2025. Following review by the CERN Council’s subordinate bodies, the Scientific Policy Committee and the Finance Committee, and by independent expert committees, the Council delegates examined the FCC Feasibility Study report at a dedicated meeting held at CERN on 6 and 7 November 2025. The independent expert committees stated that, based on the documentation presented, the FCC appears technically feasible, no showstoppers having been identified so far. In its conclusions, the CERN Council restated its commitment to maintaining CERN as a world leader laboratory in science and technology. It considers that the FCC would provide the platform for a visionary physics programme addressing many of the open questions in particle physics, notably on the Higgs boson, that are critical to understanding the foundations of the Standard Model and to opening up opportunities for discovering new physics beyond the Standard Model, while at the same time driving the development of new technologies that will have a significant positive impact on society. "The ...