2020 will remain a defining year for the ILC collider project in Japan: the Japanese government has finally taken ownership of the project, the US government has publicly declared that it wants to see it happen, and the new European roadmap for particle physics advocates the creation of a “Higgs Factory” to succeed the LHC. The ICFA (International Committee for the Accelerators of the Future) has mandated a new international body, called the International Development Team (IDT), to set up a structure, the “Pre-Lab”, supposed to lead international thinking on ILC until a concerted decision on its eventual realization. The “Pre-Lab” should be launched in 2022 and last 4 years.
The IDT is chaired by Professor Tatsuya Nakada (ETH Lausanne) and has 3 working groups (WG1, WG2, WG3), which divide up the tasks of setting up the “Pre-Lab”, finalizing activities relating to the accelerator and those concerning experiments (detectors, physics). IJCLab is represented in WG2 by Angeles Faus-Golfe (Physical Accelerators Pole, BIMP Team) and in WG3 by Roman Pöschl (PHE Pole, ILC Team). WG2 will ensure that the R&D necessary for the complete engineering plans of the accelerator is completed, so that its eventual construction can be discussed internationally with full knowledge of the details behind its realization. The activities of WG3 cover a wide range of subjects, involving physics studies, computer tools, R&D and the design of experiments as well as their interface with the machine.
All of the IDT's tasks should lead to the creation of the “Pre-Lab” from 2022. IJCLab will bring its expertise to it and find a privileged framework to show its ability to play a leading role in large-scale projects infrastructure where the future of the discipline is played out.