Speaker
Description
Ever since its discovery at the LHC in 2012, the Higgs boson is regarded as a messenger from yet charted realms of particle physics, beyond the so-called Standard Model. It is thus expected to play a unique role in understanding many open questions about our universe - from the electroweak phase transition and its relation to baryogenesis to the nature of dark matter and the origin of the mass and flavour hierarchy among quarks and leptons. A precise characterization of the Higgs boson's properties and interactions at a dedicated type collider, with capabilities complementary to those of the HL-LHC, will provide crucial clues to solving these puzzles. The technologically most mature project for such a "Higgs factory" is the International Linear Collider (ILC), a global project with strong ties to Japan. This contribution will review the physics program of the ILC, including the resulting challenges for the detectors and the status of the accelerator design.
