Status of the Future Circular Colliders Feasibility Study at CERN

• Michael Benedikt (CERN)

**Abstract** The Future Circular Collider (FCC) program, proposed at CERN, consists of a luminosity-frontier electron-positron collider (FCC-ee) as first stage, followed by an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh) as second stage, and promises the most far-reaching physics program for the post-LHC era. FCC-ee is a precision instrument to study the Z, W, Higgs and top particles, and offers unprecedented sensitivity to signs of new physics. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure can later be reused for the subsequent hadron collider, FCC-hh. The FCC-hh provides proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 100 TeV and can directly produce new particles with masses of up to several tens of TeV. The 2020 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics requested a feasibility study of the FCC colliders and related infrastructure to be established as a global endeavor and completed on the timescale of the next Strategy update by 2026. A key challenge when preparing the construction of a new 92 km circumference tunnel for a future collider is the optimization of layout and implementation, by balancing scientific excellence with territorial and environmental constraints and geological conditions and risks. Developing cutting-edge technologies for the sustainable construction and operation of the future research infrastructure also offers numerous opportunities for training the next generation of scientists and experts in the different areas covered by the FCC study. The presentation will summarize the status of implementation and infrastructure studies, the conceptual designs of FCC-ee and FCC-hh, covering the machine concepts, the R&D for key technologies and a possible implementation schedule. **Speaker bio** Michael Benedikt obtained his PhD degree from Vienna University of Technology and joined CERN’s Accelerator Operation Group in 1997. From 2008 until 2013 he was project leader for the design and construction of the accelerator for the Austrian carbon-ion cancer therapy centre MedAustron in Wiener Neustadt. In autumn 2013 Michael Benedikt was appointed study leader for the Future Circular Collider Study at CERN with the mandate to develop conceptual designs for future energy-frontier circular colliders for the post-LHC era and to proof the technical and financial feasibility of the project. Aside of his activities at CERN, Michael Benedikt is professor for accelerator physics at the Vienna University of Technology. In 2019 Michael Benedikt was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.