Overview of Linear Collider Studies

Abstract

Against the background of the well-known Livingston diagram, the current status and complementarity of the hadron collider projects SSC, LHC and Eloisatron, the lepton collider projects LEP and SLC, and the hybrid collider HERA are reviewed. Whereas future hadron colliders have no clear technological limit, lepton colliders are at an important turning point and the search for new techniques in the direction of linear colliders is in full flood. A natural approach is to extrapolate parameters for normal conducting structures to fit the special requirements of linear colliders. Superconducting accelerating structures, the use of pulsed rather than harmonic RF power with optoelectric switches, wake fields and the plasma beat-wave scheme are some of the new ideas which are reviewed in this paper. Much of what is included comes from the findings of the Long Range Planning Committee established by the CERN Council under the chairmanship of C. Rubbia.