Four European LHC Accelerator Experiments Involving University of Tsukuba Win Breakthrough Prize - Including ATLAS and ALICE

The Breakthrough Prize, a science award established by the founders of Google, Inc., and others, was announced on April 5. Four teams won in the fundamental physics category, including international collaborative experiments ATLAS and ALICE, which used the Large Hadron Collider LHC at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, to elucidate the properties of elementary particles and quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

The ATLAS experiment has pushed the boundaries of fundamental physics to unprecedented levels through precision measurements of the Higgs boson. These measurements have helped to elucidate the origin of elementary particle mass and the mechanism of symmetry breaking. They have also revealed strong constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles, such as dark matter, supersymmetry, and extra dimensions.

The ALICE experiment pushed the boundaries of fundamental physics to unprecedented levels by exploring and measuring the state of "quark-gluon plasma (QGP)," a substance that existed in the early universe.
The University of Tsukuba has been participating in the ATLAS experiment since its establishment and has made significant contributions, including the construction and operation of high-precision particle track detectors using silicon semiconductors, precise measurements of the properties of the Higgs boson, and the search for new particles. Currently, about 10 people are participating in the research, including faculty members (UKEGAWA Fumihiko, SATO Koji, and HIROSE Shigeki) from the Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences and the Tomonaga Center for the History of the Universe, as well as graduate students from the Degree Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences. The High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) is scheduled to begin operations in 2030, and we are also focusing on enhancing the internal tracking detector in preparation for the experiments that will be conducted there.

The University of Tsukuba has participated in the ALICE experiment since before its launch, constructed and operated the EMCAL/DCAL detector that can measure jet energy with high precision, led various physics analyses, and contributed significantly to the creation and characterization of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the early matter of the universe. Currently, about 15 researchers are involved in the project, including Professor CHUJO Tatsuya, Researcher SAKAI Shingo, Professor Emeritus MIAKE Yasuro of the Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences, and Professor INABA Motoi (Tsukuba University of Technology) along with graduate students in Degree Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences. The University of Tsukuba is leading a new detector, the Forward Calorimeter Detector FoCal, which aims to use FoCal to unravel new mysteries such as color glass condensation (CGC) and the formation mechanism of the QGP. We are also actively developing a new detector for the future ALICE3 project, using a high-resolution quantum semiconductor detector (MAPS).