A phenomenological cost model for high energy particle accelerators

Abstract

Accelerator-based facilities have enabled forefront research in high-energy physics for more than half a century. The accelerator technology of colliders has progressed immensely, while beam energy, luminosity, facility size, and cost have grown by several orders of magnitude. The method of colliding beams has not fully exhausted its potential but has slowed down considerably in its progress. In this paper we derive a simple scaling model for the cost of large accelerators and colliding beam facilities based on costs of 17 big facilities which have been either built or carefully estimated. Although this approach cannot replace an actual cost estimate based on an engineering design, this parameterization is to indicate a somewhat realistic cost range for consideration of what future frontier accelerator facilities might be fiscally realizable.