particle physics

Researchers have used a quantum computer to simulate how matter can emerge from pure energy, a process linked to pair production in which energetic particles such as photons convert into particle-antiparticle pairs. The demonstration shows how quantum hardware can model fundamental physics processes that are extremely difficult to capture with classical computers, offering a new tool for studying high-energy phenomena.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider is beginning its disconnection process, marking a pause in operations at the world's largest particle accelerator. The shutdown is part of the collider's planned cycle of maintenance and upgrades between experimental runs, allowing scientists to improve the machine before the next round of particle collisions. Observers are watching what the pause means for physics research.

The National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Poland is leading a study of neutrino scattering at the Large Hadron Collider. The work examines how neutrinos, particles that rarely interact with matter, behave during high-energy collisions, a field that has drawn growing interest since collider experiments began detecting neutrino interactions directly. Physicists see the research as a step toward understanding these elusive particles in an energy range never before accessible.

Scientists have deployed a system of 18 neutrino detectors near a nuclear reactor to study rare neutrino interactions with unprecedented sensitivity. Reactors produce vast numbers of antineutrinos, making them ideal sources for studying coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering and hunting for physics beyond the Standard Model. The multi-detector design helps reduce background noise and systematic errors. Physics observers are following the results closely, as any deviation from expectations could hint at new particles or forces.

Claude, the AI assistant developed by Anthropic, is claimed to have beaten a record associated with physicist Lance Dixon by computing a nine-loop physics amplitude. The claim suggests a major step for artificial intelligence in theoretical physics, where multi-loop amplitudes describe particle interactions and are notoriously hard to calculate.

Anthropic claims its Claude AI model computed a nine-loop particle physics amplitude, an extraordinarily complex calculation in quantum field theory that would normally demand enormous effort from human physicists. If verified, the result would mark a striking demonstration of AI capabilities in theoretical physics, and it is prompting debate among researchers about how the computation was performed and whether it can be independently confirmed.