In 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN jointly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson - a missing piece in the Standard Model of particle physics. Since beginning work, the teams have also observed never-before-seen quark states, ruled out different theories of new physics, and studied the properties of quark-gluon plasma, an exotic form of matter that filled the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
Now, ATLAS and CMS, along with ALICE and LHCb, have been awarded the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The collaborations involve more than 70 countries and thousands of researchers - including scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
ATLAS and CMS are both general-purpose detectors at the LHC, which accelerates protons to nearly the speed of light and then collides them at four locations around its ring. One of these collision points is the center of ATLAS, where beams of particles smash together to create new particles. The resultant debris is measured by ATLAS's subsystems. At another collision point, CMS hosts a cylindrical coil of superconducting cable that creates a huge solenoid magnet. The magnetic field bends the trajectory of the particles to identify their charge and momentum.
Researchers at LLNL have been active members of the ATLAS collaboration since 2017, and many hold key leadership roles. The Laboratory's high-performance computing capabilities and expertise have advanced data collection and improved measurements of particle energies at LHC. Livermore's prominence in studying matter at extreme conditions has also been instrumental for pioneering experiments at ATLAS.
"Receiving this prestigious accolade underscores the profound scientific impact of our collective efforts," said LLNL scientist and ATLAS collaborator Dhanush Hangal. "It further motivates us to pursue deeper insights into the most fundamental questions about the nature of our universe."
LLNL helped build and commission CMS and has contributed to the collaboration since 2005. Livermore researchers perform data collection and physics analysis at the accelerator and led the addition of one of the subsystems, the Proton Precision Spectrometer.
"We are very humbled to have won this award," said LLNL scientist and CMS collaborator Finn Rebassoo. "It is extremely gratifying to get recognition of this sort for the hard work and perseverance in making these extraordinary measurements."
In the coming year, LHC will pause operations for upgrades that will facilitate a much higher collision rate and enhanced data collection. These improvements will allow the accelerator to probe theorized processes like the Higgs boson interacting with itself, new particles, heavy-ion collisions, quark-gluon plasma formation, and nuclear structure.
The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was founded in 2012 and is open to all physicists working to unravel the mysteries of the universe. For 2025, the $3 million prize was donated to the CERN & Society Foundation, where it will be used to offer research grants to doctoral students.
Other LLNL collaborators include Doug Wright and Benjamin Gilbert.
