Report of the 2021 U.S. Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021)
In 2019, with the construction of the projects supported by the 2014 P5 process well underway or in an advanced stage of planning, the Division of Particle and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society (APS) began to prepare a new community study of U.S. high energy physics (HEP) for the decade of 2025 – 2035, and beyond. This “Snowmass 2021” HEP Community Planning Exercise began formally with a kick-off meeting at the 2020 APS April Meeting and a Community-wide Planning Meeting in October of 2020. The exercise was to conclude in July of 2021 with a workshop in Seattle hosted by the University of Washington. The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted these plans. Work was paused from January to September of 2021 to lighten the burden on our younger scientists. We resumed work by September of 2021 and, despite the continuing challenges of COVID-19, our community was well prepared for the Seattle meeting, which had been rescheduled for July 17–26, 2022.