DOE Accepts “Vision for the Future of High-Energy Physics” Recommendations
On June 14, the House Subcommittee on Science held its second hearing on the future of the U.S. high energy physics program. Testimony centered on the report, “High Energy Physics Advisory Panel’s Subpanel on Vision for the Future of High-Energy Physics.” As was true at the May 23 hearing, reactions to the Drell subpanel report were positive and enthusiastic.
Subcommittee chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) opened the hearing by calling the report’s funding recommendations “modest and well-reasoned.” He announced that Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) will join him in introducing legislation to reauthorize DOE’s high energy physics program along the lines of the Drell report. This bill will also reauthorize DOE’s nuclear physics program. The first witness, Martha Krebs, Director of DOE’s Office of Energy Research, said the report “is well thought out, thorough, and represents a consensus of the community.” She continued, DOE “accepts the basic recommendations of the Drell subpanel report. These recommendations, in our opinion, represent a balanced approach to maintaining the health and vitality of the current U.S. program while at the same time advancing it to the next energy frontier.”
Krebs was guarded in her testimony about the report’s budget recommendations. She cautioned that providing the recommended $50 million bump for each of three years (see FYI #80) is “not an easy thing to do,” saying, “I am not going to guarantee” what the outcome will be. The outlook should be clearer in six months. Under persistent questioning from Boehlert, Krebs said “it’s my job...a measure of my success” to secure the funding recommended in the report. If this funding cannot be secured, Krebs said another subpanel should review the high energy physics program and recommend “appropriate changes and sacrifices.” Also discussed was U.S. participation in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In her prepared testimony, Krebs stated, “It is our intent to take the necessary steps to pursue a U.S. role in the construction of the LHC project at CERN and exploration of its physics capabilities.” She will meet CERN Director-General Chris Llewellyn Smith in July “to explore his views on what the U.S. role might be in such a collaboration.”
All three physicists on the second panel generally supported the Drell report recommendations. Dan Amidei, University of Michigan, was concerned about the impact of LHC participation on the DOE base program if funding is constrained. Marjorie Shapiro, UC-Berkeley, said it would be essential for the community to reach a consensus about the future program if the funding bump was not provided. Michael Witherell, UC-Santa Barbara, concluded his testimony by stating, “We have received the message that we need to find a way of doing science at the level of the best in the world with much less money than we were planning on a few years ago. The community of high energy physicists is dedicated to that goal, and is working with you to find a way of achieving it.”
