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CERN Finds Statistical Hints of Higgs Boson Pair Production

Physics teams at CERN have recently found statistical hints of Higgs boson pair production in data analysis from the Large Hadron Collider. Researchers analyzed millions of collision results over eight years at the collider, with the findings presented at the ICHEP conference and published as two preprints. The figure shows schematic diagrams of events involving the production of two Higgs bosons as observed by ATLAS (left) and CMS (right) CERN The Higgs boson was discovered in 2012, and since then physicists have continuously measured its interactions with other elementary particles to test the Standard Model's explanation of the origin of mass. However, the self-interaction of the Higgs boson has not yet been directly observed.

2026-09-02

XENONnT Dark Matter Detector Captures Faintest Solar Neutrino Signal Ever Observed

September 1 news - The XENONnT dark matter detection experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy has achieved new progress. The XENON collaboration research team announced that the detector has captured low-energy solar neutrino collision signals never observed before, lowering the neutrino detection energy threshold to approximately 17 kiloelectron-volts (keV). The research team's analysis indicates that the probability of the signal being merely a statistical fluctuation is less than one in a million. Neutrinos are elementary particles with no electric charge and extremely small mass, which can be produced in processes such as nuclear fusion reactions in the solar core, supernova explosions, and nuclear fission in reactors. Due to the extremely weak interaction between neutrinos and matter, vast numbers of neutrinos can pass through the Earth, which also makes detection...

2026-09-02

Kazakhstan Plans to Expand Researcher Participation in CERN High-Energy Physics Projects

Sayasat Nurbek, Acting Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan, recently held talks with Mark Thomson, Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), during which the two sides exchanged views on deepening scientific and technological cooperation between Kazakhstan and CERN, with a focus on expanding cooperation in the field of high-energy physics and promoting researcher participation in CERN projects. According to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh government and CERN signed an international cooperation agreement in 2018, laying the foundation for a long-term scientific research partnership between the two sides. At present, the two sides have drafted a supplementary protocol to the agreement, which plans to further specify the participation of Kazakh researchers in CERN...

2026-09-01

Japan Plans to Introduce Physical AI into Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Decommissioning

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are preparing to introduce Physical AI technology into the decommissioning operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to enhance the autonomous operational capabilities of robots in high-radiation environments. This technology enables artificial intelligence to autonomously control robots based on on-site conditions, performing tasks such as inspection, data collection, and cleanup. To advance this effort, an advisory organization involving the government, businesses, universities, and research institutions is planned to be established within the year, with discussions centered on technology development, equipment application, and on-site verification. The organization is expected to be led by relevant government ministries and TEPCO, and will include AI startups, robot manufacturers, and university researchers.

2026-09-01

CERN Accelerator Complex Enters Full LS3 Shutdown for Upgrades, Paving the Way for the High-Luminosity LHC Era

On the morning of August 31 local time, the injector complex and the Antimatter Factory at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) ceased operation after completing their final beam deliveries, officially entering the third Long Shutdown (LS3) phase. Earlier, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) had been closed in June, marking the flagship accelerator as the first to kick off LS3 upgrade work at the center. Bettina Mikulec (left), head of the Operations Group at CERN, handed a symbolic baton—a miniature superconducting magnet from the LHC—to Jean-Philippe Tock (right), head of the LS3 Coordination Group, with CERN Director-General Mark Thomson (second from left) and Oliver Brüning (third from left), head of Accelerators and Technology, in attendance.

2026-09-01

U.S. Heavy-Ion Collision Research Suggests Protons and Neutrons May Not Be Just "Three Quarks"

The STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory recently proposed, based on heavy-ion collision data studies, that baryons such as protons and neutrons may not be simply composed of three valence quarks, and that their baryon number may be more closely related to "baryon junctions" in the gluon field. The findings were published in the journal *Science*. In the traditional valence quark model, each quark is assigned a baryon number of 1/3, so baryons such as protons and neutrons, composed of three quarks, carry a baryon number of +1. However, this model is not a fundamental requirement of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). As early as the 1970s, alternative explanations had been proposed in the theoretical community; in 1996, Dmitri Kharzeev proposed a model suggesting that the baryon number is not necessarily carried by the quarks themselves, but may instead be concentrated at the Y-shaped junction formed by the gluon field—the "baryon junction."

2026-08-31

Russian Research Team Proposes New Method for Measuring Proton and Deuteron Electric Dipole Moments in a Single Storage Ring

Physicists from several Russian research institutions have proposed a new method for searching for the electric dipole moments of protons and deuterons, potentially enabling the study of both particle types in a single storage ring. The participating institutions include the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The research was published in the journal *Nuclear Science and Technology* and was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. The electric dipole moment reflects whether there is a tiny asymmetry between the internal charge distribution of a particle and its spin direction. According to Standard Model predictions, the electric dipole moments of the proton and deuteron are nonzero but extremely small, on the order of 10...

2026-08-31

U.S. Electron-Ion Collider ePIC Detector Completes First Batch of Lead Tungstate Crystal Procurement and Acceptance

The U.S. Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) project recently achieved its first long-lead procurement milestone: 1,069 custom lead tungstate crystals for the new ePIC detector have been delivered, tested, and accepted. These crystals will be used in the Electron Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEEMCAL) to help precisely measure the energy of scattered electrons during collisions. The EIC is being built by the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The facility will circulate electron and ion beams in opposite directions, colliding them inside the ePIC detector. The ePIC detector records information about particles produced in the collisions, providing data for studying the fundamental constituents of visible matter...

2026-08-31

Japanese team achieves high-precision mass measurements of argon isotopes, revealing variations in the strength of the new magic number N=32

An international collaborative research team comprising RIKEN and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), among others, conducted high-precision mass measurements of short-lived argon isotopes far from the line of nuclear stability, using the superconducting RI beam generation and separation device BigRIPS at the RI Beam Factory (RIBF) of RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, as well as the CRISMASS system, a stationary slow radioactive isotope precision mass spectrometer jointly developed by the two institutions. The research team directly measured the mass of argon-50 (^50Ar, 18 protons, 32 neutrons) for the first time, and improved the mass measurement precision of argon-49 (^49Ar) by approximately 250-fold compared to previous measurements, providing insights into the energy of the two-neutron shell gap near the new magic number N=32. The results have been...

2026-08-31

South Korean survey shows 80% of respondents support including new nuclear power plants in power planning

An energy public perception survey released by the Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation on August 28 showed that 82.9% of respondents believed it is necessary to include plans for new nuclear power plants in the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand currently being formulated, in response to future growth in electricity demand. The survey was commissioned by the Korea Energy Information Culture Foundation and conducted by Korea Research International via telephone interviews from June 12 to 15, targeting 2,000 adults aged 18 and above. The response rate was 10.0%, with a sampling error of...

2026-08-30

Japan's Tokai No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant Seawall Reinforcement Plan Receives Basic Approval

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) held a review meeting on the 27th local time and basically approved the seawall structural modification plan for the Tokai No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant submitted by Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC). The plant is located in Tokai Village, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, and the relevant seawall is an important component of the safety measures required for restart, with foundation defects having been discovered during construction. According to JAPC's explanation, the modification plan does not remove the underground foundation where defects were found, but instead adds pile foundations around it and uses cement-based materials to reinforce the ground. Regarding this plan, JAPC submitted an assessment of the seawall's seismic and tsunami resistance performance after modification, concluding that the structurally adjusted seawall can still fulfill the functions required of a tsunami protection facility.

2026-08-28

Sichuan Huadu Nuclear Energy Wins Control Rod Drive Mechanism Orders for 4 Nuclear Power Units

On August 24, news came from Sichuan Huadu Nuclear Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd., located in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, Sichuan, that the company has won the orders for control rod drive mechanisms for 4 units among the first batch of nuclear power units approved for construction during the 15th Five-Year Plan period in China, with a total new contract value of 504 million yuan. The winning projects include Units 3 and 4 of Zhejiang Jinqimen Nuclear Power Plant, as well as Units 1 and 2 of Phase I of Liaoning Zhuanghe Nuclear Power. According to the previous approval arrangement by the State Council Executive Meeting, the new batch of nuclear power projects involves a total of 4 projects and 8 units, including Phase II of Zhejiang Jinqimen Nuclear Power, Phase III of Guangdong Taipingling Nuclear Power, Phase I of Liaoning Zhuanghe Nuclear Power, and Phase I of Shandong Laiyang Nuclear Power, all adopting China's self-developed third-generation nuclear power technology...

2026-08-27

U.S. STREAMLINE Project Advances Nuclear Quantum Many-Body Research with Artificial Intelligence

On August 25, 2026, a new project named STREAMLINE is combining artificial intelligence, machine learning, and supercomputing to address the nuclear quantum many-body problem in nuclear physics research, aiming to more accurately simulate the interactions between protons and neutrons within atomic nuclei and provide theoretical support for frontier topics such as neutron stars and fundamental interactions. The difficulty of the nuclear quantum many-body problem lies in the fact that as the number of particles increases, the possible interactions among them grow rapidly, and traditional computational methods quickly hit the ceiling of computing power. Even with high-performance supercomputers, only quantum systems of relatively limited scale can typically be handled. The STREAMLINE project hopes to...

2026-08-26

Lancaster University in the UK receives EPSRC funding to study antimatter production in intense laser pulses

Christopher Arran, a lecturer at Lancaster University and the Cockcroft Institute in the UK, has recently been awarded a three-year New Investigator Award from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to study electron-positron pair production in the extremely intense electromagnetic fields of high-power lasers. The research focuses on matter-antimatter production processes under intense laser pulse conditions. Similar interactions are believed to exist in extreme cosmic environments, such as near pulsars and black hole accretion disks. Previously, such interactions had only been measured at large particle accelerator facilities such as Stanford University and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), but the electric and magnetic field strengths used in those experiments were far weaker than the strong-field conditions achievable with current high-power lasers.

2026-08-26

Rare Germanium Isotope Infrared Spectral Signatures Elucidated in Detail for the First Time

The press service of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science reported on August 25 that scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University, in collaboration with an international research team, have for the first time conducted a detailed study of the infrared spectra of two rare germanium isotopes and identified characteristic spectral signatures that can be used to recognize the relevant isotopes in complex gas mixtures. The research team selected two highly enriched isotopes—germanium-72 and germanium-73—as the subjects of the study, recording their spectral information using a high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer. This instrument is capable of resolving closely spaced spectral lines, providing the conditions for analyzing subtle spectral changes induced by isotopic substitution. The researchers stated that precise spectral data for different germanium isotopes remain relatively scarce in the scientific literature, and such data are of significant importance for identifying molecules in planetary atmospheres and for producing ultra-pure germanium isotopes for quantum technologies and modern electronics.

2026-08-26