The 10 TeV Wakefield Collider Design Study

Since its inception, the field of Advanced Accelerators has regarded future particle-physics colliders as the ultimate application of gigavolt-per-meter accelerator technology. In recent years, rapid experimental and theoretical progress [1,2,3] has driven a conceptual evolution of future colliders based on Wakefield Accelerator (WFA) technology. The recent P5 Report [4] calls for “vigorous R&D toward a cost-effective 10 TeV pCM collider based on proton, muon, or possible wakefield technologies.” Specifically, the P5 Report requests “the delivery of an end-to-end design concept, including cost scales, with self-consistent parameters throughout.” This contribution outlines the opportunities, requirements, and challenges for a 10 TeV WFA collider, both as a standalone machine and as an upgrade to a future linear collider Higgs factory. We introduce a community-driven design process comprised of technology and component-specifc working groups, as well as performance metrics for the collider and a timeline with deliverables [5]. We will describe progress in the design study, including physics with e+e- beams at 10 TeV, beam-beam interactions, staging of wakefield accelerators, and beam delivery systems.

[1] C. A. Lindstrøm et al. “Beam-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration”, arXiv:2504.05558 (2025)

[2] E. Esarey et al. “Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators”, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1229 (2009)

[3] C. Jing “Dielectric Wakefield Accelerators”, Rev. Accel. Sci. Tech, 9, 127 (2016)

[4] P5 Report www.usparticlephysics.org/2023-p5-report/

[5] S. Gessner et al. "Design Initiative for a 10 TeV pCM Wakefield Collider", arXiv:2503.20214 (2025)