Determine whether to proceed with the Forward Physics Facility

Determine whether to proceed with construction of the proposed Forward Physics Facility, a dedicated underground cavern for large far-forward experiments during the HL-LHC era.

Background

The Forward Physics Facility is proposed as a large underground cavern approximately 627 m from the ATLAS interaction point, intended to host complementary detectors including FASER2, FASERν2, FLArE, and FORMOSA. For neutrino physics, it would provide substantially larger detector masses, improved shielding, and event samples significantly larger than those expected from upgrades at the existing tunnel sites.

The paper reports that geological, background, and LHC-interference studies have not identified decisive obstacles, but emphasizes that a timely decision is required for the facility to benefit from the full HL-LHC running period. The proposal therefore remains undecided.