FCC: A particle accelerator of superlatives is being created in Switzerland

The CERN research centre in Switzerland has the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world — the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In its 27-kilometre-long ring, protons and heavy ions collide with each other at almost the speed of light and with about 13 teraelectronvolts of energy. Now the LHC is to have a successor: the 91-kilometre-long Future Circular Collider (FCC). This is to be built from 2030 and first used to allow electron…