#particle-physics — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #particle-physics, aggregated by home.social.
-
The Cuts to LHCb – Guest Post by William Barter
The following is a guest post by William Barter, who recently finished a term as the ‘physics coordinator’ of LHCb-UK.
–o–
The European particle physics community recently undertook a two-year process to update our strategy – setting out the things that we, as a field, choose to prioritise. The highest priority in that update was “the full exploitation of the physics potential of the Large Hadron Collider”. Despite our consensus, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has decided to pull UK funding for the next-generation upgrade of LHCb, one of four large experiments at the LHC. This decision was made for financial reasons; the science case for the upgrade is not in question, and current LHCb operations are fully funded. With this cut, we are experiencing the same pain as many of our astrophysics colleagues. Our plans and ambitions have been hit by self-defeating decisions from the same funding body.
For decades we have known that our current theory of fundamental quantum physics – the Standard Model of Particle Physics – is incomplete, but a fuller picture eludes us. The LHCb Upgrade offers a unique way to explore this science. Our experiment, operated by around 2000 scientists from 28 countries, is dedicated to the study of beauty and charm quarks, fundamental particles whose behaviour can be measurably influenced by Beyond Standard Model phenomena. Through these studies we hope to unlock a new understanding of how nature works at its most fundamental levels. The upgrade, planned for the 2030s, would enable us to take five times more data than is possible with our current experiment.
LHCb has a tremendous record of success. We are responsible for discovering more particles than any other particle physics experiment in history, including new forms of matter: pentaquarks and tetraquarks. The LHCb Upgrade would be the only experiment capable of finding many more. That’s not all. One of the only things we know about the physics that lies beyond the Standard Model is that we expect it to introduce differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter, in order to explain why our universe is made out of particles rather than antiparticles. LHCb is uniquely able to make the dedicated and precise measurements needed to probe this physics in the quark sector. Measurements at LHCb are also directly sensitive to the quantum imprints of new fundamental particles. We are able to explore energy scales far beyond those directly accessible at the LHC. In the same way that the discovery of radioactivity gave us key insights into the weak force more than 80 years before the observation of the fundamental particle responsible, the W boson, new fundamental particles can also influence our measurements of beauty and charm quarks. It will take us at least another 50 years to reach the same energies that LHCb probes using future particle colliders. Put simply: the LHCb Upgrade offers a unique and compelling physics programme that complements and extends what is possible at the other LHC experiments.
These opportunities were already recognised by UKRI, who had previously committed to funding the upgrade. In addition to making physics sense, this investment met UKRI’s funding strategy. UKRI has the goal of securing “an average of £3 of additional investment for every £1 of public funding”. International partners were expected to contribute their share of the overall cost of the project on top of the UK contribution, leveraging almost five times the UK contribution. Given the widespread international support for the project, it was no surprise when the previous executive chair of STFC, the part of UKRI responsible for funding particle physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics, included the fact that he had “secur[ed] the UK’s investment in the LHCb Upgrade” in his successful government-backed manifesto for the CERN Director General role. The recent backpedalling from UKRI therefore has broader consequences: it has raised difficult questions about which promises our international partners can trust the UK to keep. It’s hard to see how we can be relied on in future international collaborations if we are the reason that the LHCb Upgrade falls apart now.
And there are other, potentially larger, ramifications. Other future projects across the STFC remit have seen similar cuts. The decisions amount to a lack of ambition for fundamental research in the 2030s. One of the key purposes of STFC is to fund research over long timescales, understanding that Big Science areas like particle physics and astronomy require a stable approach that goes beyond any individual government spending review period. However, the decision to resile from new particle physics goals and commitments for the 2030s because of claimed cost overruns in the next few years completely rejects this mission. This will have a lasting impact: LHCb is simply one of the first examples, with the UK programme in particle physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics due to contract significantly in the coming years as a result of UKRI’s choices.
So, where does this leave things? All is not lost. These decisions were communicated to us by UKRI at a strange moment, when the UK government was handing over between Sir Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham, while DSIT – the government department that oversees UKRI – was being disbanded, and while its replacement, BIST, was being set up. We know that Big Science is key to the UK’s scientific strategy: our work enthuses and inspires the next generation of scientists and researchers. The people we train enter the workforce skilled in modern data science techniques, ready to tackle the biggest problems with new approaches. There is still a window of opportunity for BIST to act and find a solution to the problem they’ve been handed. When news of the UKRI cuts broke, the incoming Secretary of State, Jonathan Reynolds, committed to investing in “the next generation of scientific facilities and infrastructure”. We now wait to see whether he means what he said, and if he will save UK particle physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics from the self-defeating damage unleashed by UKRI.
#CERN #LHCb #ParticlePhysics #ScienceAndTechnologyFacilitiesCouncil #STFC #STFCCrisis #WilliamBarter -
The 6th annual Canadian Astroparticle Summer Student Talk Competition (CASST), hosted by SNOLAB last week, attracted a record 54 undergraduate and two high school students from across Canada. #CASST #StudentsRock #ParticlePhysics
www.snolab.ca/news/snolab-...
SNOLAB hosts record Canadian A... -
Inside the Experimental Traps Scientists Set for Ghostly Neutrinos
-
New CMS paper out: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10148 #particlephysics #paperday
My team at DESY was deeply involved in this analysis. It is also the first of my CMS papers that is truly a DESY product since my move to Hamburg a few years ago through the Helmholtz Association recruitment initiative.
-
Have Scientists Stuck the Landing on the Glueball Discovery?
-
Glueball Is Real: Scientists Just Found Particle X(2370) Made Entirely of Force
-
🔬 After 50 years of searching, physicists confirmed the existence of a glueball — a particle made entirely of pure force with no matter inside.
Unlike every other known particle, a glueball contains no quarks. It is made purely of gluons — the force-carriers that normally bind quarks together. Gluons are unique because they attract each other, and the glueball is what happens when enough of them bind into a single particle.
The BESIII collaboration at China's Beijing Electron Positron Collider spent 15 years analyzing 10 billion particle collisions to prove X(2370) is a glueball. Its mass, quantum numbers, and flavor-singlet nature all match theoretical predictions. The results were announced Aug 5 at ICHEP 2026 in Brazil.
-
🌍 Supporting Organization Spotlight
Thank you to the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) for supporting ICHEP 2026.
ICTP has spent more than 60 years promoting scientific excellence through research, education, and international collaboration, helping scientists worldwide build lasting connections and advance fundamental physics.
-
We're proud to recognize Perimeter Institute as a Supporting Organization of #ICHEP2026.
Perimeter Institute is a world-leading centre for theoretical physics, advancing research in particle physics, quantum information, cosmology, and gravity.
Thank you for supporting ICHEP 2026!
#PerimeterInstitute #ParticlePhysics #TheoreticalPhysics #Science #Research
-
CERN Experiments Detect Signs of the Universe’s Primordial Matter
Collisions between oxygen and neon nuclei at the Large Hadron Collider are revealing signs of quark–gluon plasma, the…
#NewsBeep #News #Physics #CERN #Gluons #LargeHadronCollider #Nuclearphysics #particlephysics #Science #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/723580/ -
🙈 New preprint, Part V: *What the Higgs Potential Cannot See*.
If you build gauge–Higgs unification models: there is a discrete choice you may be scanning over for nothing. On \(T^2/\mathbb{Z}_2\) each bulk multiplet carries boundary signs \(\eta_0,\eta_1\). For a whole class of bulk matter, the product \(\eta=\eta_0\eta_1\) has no observable consequence in the Higgs sector at one loop. Not suppressed. Identically zero.
Why. The one-loop Wilson-line potential is one operator traced twice. Even windings give a graded dimension, odd windings an index:
\[\Sigma_\lambda=s_\lambda(1,1,t,t^{-1}),\qquad D_\lambda=s_\lambda(1,-1,t,t^{-1}),\]
and AHMN's \(\{A+B(-1)^{k_2}\}\) is exactly \((\Sigma\pm D)/2\). \(\Sigma\) has non-negative coefficients and can never cancel; \(D\) can. η multiplies \(D\) and nothing else — so η is invisible exactly where \(D_\lambda\equiv 0\).Which matter is blind is a parity condition you read off the Young diagram: \(\lambda_1\not\equiv\lambda_2\not\equiv\lambda_3\not\equiv\lambda_4\), or \(\lambda_i+\lambda_{5-i}=c\) odd. Counted in closed form — \(\lceil (k+1)^2/2\rceil\) at \(\lambda_1=2k+1\), none for \(\lambda_1\) even — and machine-checked in Lean 4, sorry-free. A second, disjoint cause: only \(\lfloor (N+1)^2/2\rfloor\) of the \((N+1)^2\) boundary-condition classes of \(SU(N)\) have a coset sector at all, for every \(N\).
Anchored, not fitted: twelve printed coefficients of arXiv:2312.08608 come out exactly, and two further published potentials follow from the same mode counts.
📄 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21727094
💻 https://github.com/karlesmarin/higgs-blind-class#Physics #ParticlePhysics #HEP #BSM #Higgs #ExtraDimensions #Lean4
-
🔬 ICHEP 2026 is underway in Natal, Brazil!
The conference began with parallel sessions bringing together the global high-energy physics community for a week of new results, discussions and collaboration.
-
We're pleased to recognize the American Physical Society and Physical Review D as Supporting Organizations of #ICHEP2026.
For decades, Physical Review D has been a leading journal for particle physics, gravitation, cosmology, and field theory.
Thank you for supporting ICHEP 2026!
-
The mirror world hypothesis postulates a hidden universe composed of corresponding mirror particles that interact with ordinary matter almost exclusively through gravity or rare neutral particle oscillations.
#ParticlePhysics #TheoreticalPhysics #QuantumMechanics #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/phy07282601.html -
We’re pleased to recognize EMMI (ExtreMe Matter Institute) as a Supporting Organization of #ICHEP2026.
EMMI promotes international collaboration on matter under extreme conditions, connecting researchers across nuclear, particle, hadron, and astroparticle physics.
Thank you for supporting ICHEP 2026!
#EMMI #ParticlePhysics #Science #Research #InternationalCollaboration
-
We're pleased to recognize RENAFAE as a Supporting Organization of #ICHEP2026.
RENAFAE connects Brazil's high-energy physics community, fostering collaboration, education, and participation in international research projects.
Thank you for supporting ICHEP 2026!
-
One number, two universes
Physics' biggest headache: quantum vacuum predicts 10^{122} times more energy than we observe
My approach:
- Standard Model fermion spin degrees of freedom: 90
- Same number derived from dark energy / Planck density ratio: 90.077
They match with 0.086% accuracy.
No new particles. No extra dimensions. No fine-tuning.
Coincidence or clue?
Link + Preprint:
#Physics #Cosmology #DarkEnergy #StandardModel #ParticlePhysics #particlephysics
-
One number, two universes
Physics' biggest headache: quantum vacuum predicts 10^{122} times more energy than we observe
My approach:
- Standard Model fermion spin degrees of freedom: 90
- Same number derived from dark energy / Planck density ratio: 90.077
They match with 0.086% accuracy.
No new particles. No extra dimensions. No fine-tuning.
Coincidence or clue?
Link + Preprint:
#Physics #Cosmology #DarkEnergy #StandardModel #ParticlePhysics #particlephysics
-
We're pleased to recognize INCT CERN-Brasil as a Supporting Organization of #ICHEP2026.
INCT CERN-Brasil connects Brazilian institutions with CERN, promotes education and training, and strengthens Brazil's participation in international particle physics research.
Thank you for supporting ICHEP 2026!
-
ICHEP 2026 proudly thanks the International Institute of Physics (IIP) for supporting this year's conference.
Based in Natal, IIP promotes frontier physics through international collaboration, visitor programs, conferences, and advanced schools, bringing together researchers from around the world.
-
CERN + AI: A powerful partnership reshaping collision data analysis. This article examines how machine learning methods are helping physicists process LHC data more efficiently and uncover subtle signals. Must-read for data scientists and researchers: https://wix.to/L4eXpVA
#CERN
#Research
#Innovation
#DataScience
#ParticlePhysics
#MachineLearning -
Earth's largest particle accelerator opens new window into the early universe just after the Big Bang: 'A culmination of a decades-long quest'
-
ICHEP 2026 proudly thanks IFT-UNESP for supporting this year's conference.
One of Latin America's leading theoretical physics institutes, IFT-UNESP advances research in particle physics, cosmology, gravitation, and quantum field theory while fostering international scientific collaboration.
#ICHEP2026 #IFTUNESP #TheoreticalPhysics #ParticlePhysics #Physics
-
ICHEP 2026 proudly thanks ICTP-SAIFR for supporting this year's conference.
ICTP-SAIFR promotes frontier research, advanced training, and international collaboration in fundamental physics, bringing together scientists from across the globe.
-
The achromatic neutron lens is a novel optical device that brings a broad range of neutron wavelengths to a single focal point, allowing for sharp, magnified neutron imaging. It is the first lens of its kind to successfully focus neutrons, which are notoriously difficult to manipulate due to their weak interaction with matter.
#Optics #ParticlePhysics #CondensedMatterPhysics #MaterialsScience #Nanofabrication #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/phy07142601.html -
Particle physics (also known as high-energy physics) is the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and radiation, along with the interactions between them.
#ParticlePhysics #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/cat07132601.html
