(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- The Chinese Academy of Sciences expects to have its Circular Electron Positron collider, a cutting-edge particle collider that could help answer so-far unanswered physics questions, up and running in 2030.

Construction of the collider, which has a 100 kilometer perimeter, will begin in 2022, Wang Yifang, director of the academy's high energy physics institute, said at a press briefing yesterday while unveiling a conceptual design report for the equipment, which could cost around CNY30 billion (USD4.3 billion) to build.

The collider, known as CEPC, is a major international project that could help physicists better understand a series of unsolved scientific questions related to Higgs boson particles, the early evolution of the universe, the loss of anti-matter and the search for dark matter. It could also help define new physical laws.

"Before construction begins, research of key technologies must be completed," Wang said. "The research team will build a series of important component prototypes in the next four years to verify the feasibility of related technologies and large-scale industrial processing."

The academy has not yet decided where to base the CEPC, but regions in the running include Qinhuangdao in Hebei province, Shen-Shan Special Cooperation Zone in Guangdong, Huangling in Shanxi, Huzhou in Zhejiang and Changchun in Jilin. The final location will depend on the geology, costs, transport, environment and local economy in each region.

The equipment will comprise an accelerator to generate collisions under extreme conditions, and a detector that can take high-precision pictures at speed. It will use the latest in software, big data and machine learning technology, said Ruan Manqi, a researcher who works under Wang.

Editor: James Boynton