University of Glasgow physicists among winners of prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Published: 10 April 2025
Scientists from the University of Glasgow are among the thousands of researchers worldwide honored with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the ATLAS and LHCb Collaborations at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alongside their sister experiments ALICE and CMS.
Scientists from the University of Glasgow are among the thousands of researchers worldwide honored with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the ATLAS and LHCb Collaborations at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alongside their sister experiments ALICE and CMS.
The prize was awarded to the collaborations for the papers based on LHC Run-2 data which 'detailed measurements of Higgs boson properties confirming the symmetry-breaking mechanism of mass generation, the discovery of new strongly interacting particles, the study of rare processes and matter-antimatter asymmetry, and the exploration of nature at the shortest distances and most extreme conditions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.'
The University of Glasgow has played an important role in both ATLAS and LHCb since before the start of the LHC. ATLAS is a general-purpose detector designed to explore the high energy collisions provided by the LHC.
Glasgow physicists played a key role in several important measurements using the Run-2 data, including the first direct observation of the interaction between the Higgs boson and the top quark, the first observation of the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b-quarks and the first observation of quantum entanglement at high energy.
Professor Mark Owen, who leads the ATLAS team in Glasgow, said: “The Run 2 results have seen a transformation from seeing the very first Higgs boson events to being able to make precise measurements and see rare processes. It is wonderful to see the work of so many people recognised by the prize."
The LHCb experiment is designed to study particles containing beauty and charm quarks at the LHC. Glasgow researchers have made important contributions across the LHCb physics programme during Run 2, including the discoveries of new hadronic particles, searches for, and observations of, differences between matter and antimatter, and searches for new physics through semi-leptonic beauty meson decays.
Dr Lucia Grillo, leader of the Glasgow LHCb group, said “We are immensely proud of the LHCb Run 2 results, for which members of the Glasgow group played key roles in different areas, from the data acquisition through to data analysis. We now eagerly await the incredible precision of results from Run 3 data and beyond."
The detailed measurements extracted from the LHC Run-2 data relied on the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) infrastructure that is used to process and analyse the recorded data, and to generate and analyse the vast amounts of simulated data that is essential in order to understand the detector and backgrounds.
Professor Dave Britton from the University of Glasgow, who leads the UK part of WLCG, said “The Run-2 results from all four experiments are all the more impressive when you consider both the volume and complexity of the data that had to be analysed. The global computing infrastructure that underpins this work is a testament to the ingenuity, collaboration, and dedication of many people across the world.”
While the ATLAS and LHCb Collaborations celebrate the recognition of the Breakthrough Prize, their focus remains firmly on the future. The third operation period of the LHC is currently underway and preparations for the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade are advancing rapidly.
University of Glasgow physicists and engineers are currently assembling and testing silicon detector modules for the new ATLAS inner tracking detector that will be installed during the LHC shutdown starting in 2026. This detector is essential for ATLAS to deal with the tenfold increase in the collision rate that the High-Luminosity LHC will provide.
Dr Richard Bates, who leads the production of the silicon pixel modules that will be closest to the LHC beams said “The present silicon detector of ATLAS, built with leading contributions from the Glasgow team, has delivered excellent physics results. After 15 years of R&D, again with significant Glasgow leadership, we are in the production phase for the new ATLAS tracker, the ITk, which will deliver the next chapter of exciting breakthrough physics.”
In parallel the Glasgow team are now ramping up effort towards the LHCb Upgrade 2 project, with a focus on the Mighty Tracker that will be installed for LHC Run 5 and producing simulations to guide the design of such detectors.
First published: 10 April 2025