University of Liverpool Physicists celebrate Breakthrough Prize for Large Hadron Collider
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Physicists from the University of Liverpool are celebrating after CERN’s four major Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment collaborations — ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb — received the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
The Breakthrough Prize, often referred to as the "Oscars of science," honours significant advances in scientific understanding and was awarded for discoveries made using LHC Run-2 data up to July 2024.
The four LHC experiment collaborations, involving thousands of researchers from over 70 countries, were recognised for detailed studies of the Higgs boson, the discovery of new particles, investigations into matter-antimatter asymmetry, and the exploration of fundamental forces under extreme conditions.
University of Liverpool researchers played vital roles in three of the four experiments.
Over 100 Liverpool staff are listed as prize laureates - around 65 in ATLAS, 35 in LHCb, and 10 in ALICE – and we would also like to acknowledge the invaluable work of engineers, technician and computer scientists that have supported and make this work possible.
ATLAS
ATLAS studies the remnants of the highest-energy particle collisions ever created in a laboratory to test the Standard Model at extreme energies and search for new physics.
Liverpool researchers have led tests of the Standard Model, studies of the Higgs boson, and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. The team also plays a key role in developing the upgraded inner tracking detector for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC).
Professor Monica D'Onofrio was Liverpool’s ATLAS Team Leader from 2017 to December 2024 and is incoming UK spokesperson. She said: "This prize is a wonderful recognition of the tireless work of staff, researchers and PhD students that, at Liverpool and elsewhere, have worked hard during these years to perform precision measurements and search for the unknown."
Professor Carl Gwilliam, the former UK ATLAS Physics Coordinator and Liverpool’s current Team Leader, said: "The Liverpool ATLAS group will continue to play a major role, both in detector development and physics analysis. A factor of 20 times more data is expected by early 2040, allowing us to study, and hopefully answer, many of the fundamental open questions in physics."
LHCb
The LHCb experiment investigates subtle differences between matter and antimatter by studying the decays of beauty and charm hadrons. The University of Liverpool team has been deeply involved in detector development and data analysis, including rare decays and CP violation studies.
Professor Tara Shears is the UK spokesperson and Liverpool’s Team Leader for the LHCb experiment. She said: “LHCb has revealed so much forensic detail about the universe thanks to the many hundreds of scientists and engineers who designed it, built it and analysed the data. Our fantastic staff at Liverpool have been instrumental in enabling LHCb’s research, and we’re thrilled with this recognition.”
ALICE
ALICE investigates the quark-gluon plasma, an extremely hot, dense state of matter that filled the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
Liverpool physicists have led studies using heavy-flavour, jet, and substructure probes to examine the phase equilibria and dynamics of QCD matter at high temperature and near-zero net baryon density. They also played a key role in building the upgraded silicon inner tracking system now operating in the experiment, closely working with Daresbury.
Professor Marielle Chartier, Liverpool’s ALICE Team Leader and elected Chair of the ALICE International Collaboration Board, said: “Understanding how a strongly interacting fluid arises from an asymptotically free gauge theory remains a profound challenge. Solving it will depend on global collaboration, including the many early career researchers whose work I’m proud to see recognised with this prize.”
Prize ceremony
At a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles, the Breakthrough Prize was received by the spokespersons who led the collaborations during that time (see image).
Following consultation with the experiments’ management teams, the $3 million prize will be donated to the CERN & Society Foundation to support doctoral students from member institutions, allowing them to gain hands-on research experience at CERN.
LHC Future Plans
The LHC experiments have pushed the boundaries of knowledge in fundamental physics to unprecedented limits. They will continue to do so with the upcoming upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider — the High-Luminosity LHC — which aims to significantly increase the collider’s performance from 2030, boosting its potential for discoveries.
About the Breakthrough Prize
The Breakthrough Prize was created to celebrate the wonders of our scientific age by founding sponsors Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki.
Every year, six Breakthrough Prizes of $3 million are awarded in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics.