2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics awarded to LHC experiments

The prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded this year to experiments at CERN's large particle collider, the LHC, including the ATLAS experiment, in which the University of Coimbra participates. The award statement highlights the contributions of the ATLAS experiment to particle physics, including measurements of the properties of the Higgs boson, and studies of rare processes and the asymmetry between matter and antimatter.

Professors Ricardo Gonçalo, Filipe Veloso and Helmut Wolters from the Department of Physics at the University of Coimbra, together with several postgraduate students, took part in obtaining several of the physics results now awarded (related to the properties of the Higgs boson and the quark top), as well as in developing the tools needed to obtain them, namely the trigger system (an indispensable part of the data acquisition system), the hadronic calorimeter (a crucial component of the experiment which was also partly built in our department) and the Grid (the advanced computing infrastructure used by the experiment).

The Physics Department's ATLAS group is now also dedicated to building a new and challenging component of the experiment, for the LHC's high-luminosity phase, due to start in 2030.