The experiment took place at the Large Hadron Collider, where beams of atomic nuclei can be accelerated to nearly the speed of light before being directed into head-on collisions. At energies of 5.36 teraelectronvolts per nucleon pair, oxygen-16 and neon-20 nuclei were smashed together under conditions of extraordinary temperature and energy density. For an instant, the protons and neutrons inside the nuclei were no longer the dominant structures. Instead, their fundamental constituents—quarks and gluons—were able to move within a tiny, rapidly expanding region of deconfined matter.

This state, known as quark-gluon plasma, is thought to have existed during the first millionth of a second after the Big Bang. The early Universe was then far hotter than any environment found naturally today, and ordinary atomic nuclei had not yet formed. Quarks and gluons moved through a dense, fluid-like medium before the Universe expanded and cooled enough for them to become bound into protons and neutrons. Eventually, those particles formed atomic nuclei, atoms, stars, planets and the material from which life emerged.

For decades, researchers generally associated the creation of quark-gluon plasma with collisions between the heaviest available nuclei, particularly lead. Heavy-ion collisions produce large amounts of energy and many interacting particles, making them favorable environments for generating the plasma. The new ALICE result challenges the assumption that such extreme conditions require the largest nuclei. By observing collective patterns in the particles produced after oxygen-oxygen and neon-neon collisions, the researchers found signs that the smaller systems can also behave like rapidly expanding droplets of strongly interacting matter.

The plasma itself cannot be photographed or detected directly because it disappears almost immediately after the collision. Instead, scientists reconstruct its properties from the thousands of particles created as it cools. One of the most informative signals is anisotropic flow, the uneven distribution of particles emerging at different angles around the collision axis. This flow reflects how the original collision zone was shaped and how the hot medium expanded. If the matter behaves collectively, its final particle pattern preserves a memory of the geometry and pressure gradients present at the instant of impact.

The neon results were especially revealing because the neon-20 nucleus is not perfectly spherical. Its internal structure is expected to be elongated, resembling a microscopic bowling pin rather than a ball. When two such nuclei collide, their orientation and shape can influence the geometry of the region where the plasma forms. Oxygen-16, by comparison, produces a more rounded collision profile. The differing flow patterns measured by ALICE therefore act like shadows cast by invisible objects: although the nuclei cannot be observed in their high-energy collision state, their shapes can be inferred from the motion of the particles they generate.

“The particles from the primordial matter are directly governed by the geometric shape of the atomic nucleus,” explains Emil Gorm Dahlbæk Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute, a co-author of the study. In a spherical collision, the pressure gradients tend to generate one characteristic pattern, while an elongated collision creates another. As the plasma expands, those gradients convert the initial spatial asymmetry into momentum anisotropy. By measuring this angular distribution, physicists can connect the final-state particles to the nuclear geometry that existed before the collision.

The finding also reaches into one of nuclear physics’ oldest questions: how protons and neutrons are arranged inside atomic nuclei. Nuclear shape is not merely a visual description. It reflects the balance between the strong nuclear force, collective motion and the quantum structure of the nucleons. The strong force binds quarks inside protons and neutrons and also governs how those composite particles interact within a nucleus. Traditional experiments often probe nuclear shapes at relatively low energies through rotational spectra, electromagnetic transitions and other carefully controlled measurements. The ALICE approach offers a radically different method, using the expansion of ultra-hot matter as a high-energy probe of nuclear structure.

You Zhou, who led the work and was until recently affiliated with the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, says the experiment pushes the lower boundary for the size of a nuclear system capable of producing primordial matter. The precise threshold remains unknown, however. A central challenge for future research will be determining whether the same collective behavior survives in still smaller collisions. The collaboration plans to investigate lighter systems, potentially including helium-4, to discover where the transition between plasma-like collective behavior and ordinary particle production occurs.

That question matters because small collision systems can behave in surprisingly complex ways. In a large lead-lead collision, the presence of a dense, extended medium makes collective effects comparatively easier to identify. In oxygen or neon collisions, the system is much smaller and exists for an even shorter time, so alternative processes must be examined carefully. The new measurements nevertheless show that nuclear geometry can leave a measurable imprint even at this scale. If confirmed and developed through additional experiments and theoretical calculations, the method could become a new tool for studying exotic nuclei that are difficult to investigate with conventional techniques.

The results, published in Physical Review Letters as an Editors’ Suggestion, demonstrate how research into the birth of the Universe can intersect with the detailed study of matter at the nuclear scale. The same collision can function as a cosmic time machine and a microscope: it recreates conditions associated with the earliest moments of existence while revealing information about the shape and organization of atomic nuclei. Each microscopic “Little Big Bang” lasts less than the blink of an eye, but the particles it produces carry traces of the event long enough for detectors to record them. By decoding those traces, physicists are narrowing the gap between the first moments of the cosmos and the forces that still shape matter today.

Subject of Research: Quark-gluon plasma, nuclear geometry, anisotropic flow, and oxygen-oxygen and neon-neon collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

Article Title: Evidence of Nuclear Geometry-Driven Anisotropic Flow in O+O and Ne+Ne Collisions at √sNN = 5.36 TeV

News Publication Date: 17-Aug-2026

Web References: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/gymp-vp87

References: Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/gymp-vp87

Image Credits: ALICE@CERN

Keywords

Quark-gluon plasma, Big Bang, CERN, Large Hadron Collider, ALICE collaboration, oxygen-16, neon-20, nuclear physics, anisotropic flow, atomic nuclei, strong force, primordial matter, particle collisions, Niels Bohr Institute

The $1 million prize highlights the transformative impact of the ATLAS collaboration’s groundbreaking research, which notably led to the confirmation of the Higgs boson particle in 2012. Often referred to as the “God particle,” the Higgs boson is crucial in explaining how elementary particles acquire mass, a cornerstone in the Standard Model of particle physics. This monumental discovery reshaped the understanding of matter at its most fundamental level and secured the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for the theorists behind the particle’s prediction.

UTA’s involvement in the ATLAS Experiment exemplifies a sustained scientific commitment that spans nearly 30 years. Hundreds of faculty members and students from the university have been extensively involved in the construction, maintenance, data analysis, and theoretical interpretation of experimental results. Kaushik De, a physics professor who has spearheaded the ATLAS project at UTA since 1995, emphasizes the pride and humility felt by the team in receiving such global recognition. Their relentless pursuit of knowledge has not only expanded the scientific frontier but has also cultivated a generation of physicists trained at the cutting edge of experimental particle physics.

The ATLAS detector itself is a marvel of engineering and physics innovation. Standing three stories tall, it is one of two massive detectors at CERN designed to sift through the debris produced from proton collisions at near-light speeds inside the LHC’s 27-kilometer circular tunnel. UTA’s contributions to building components of the detector for shipment to CERN involved meticulous assembly and coordination, with parts transported via more than 65 flights. Such logistical feats underpin the enormous collaborative scale of contemporary physics research, in which universities worldwide pool expertise and resources to decode nature’s deepest mysteries.

Beyond the initial discoveries, UTA’s role extends to the sophisticated computational frameworks that enable the global scientific community to analyze the colossal datasets generated at CERN. The university houses a world-class supercomputing center that supports collaborators from over 70 countries, facilitating the processing and interpretation of petabytes of collision data. One standout innovation is PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis), a cloud computing system co-developed by UTA researchers alongside Brookhaven National Laboratory. This software manages the enormous workload distribution and has been widely adopted by numerous scientific experiments beyond particle physics.

In addition to infrastructure and computational prowess, UTA physicists actively contribute to the next generation of detector technology and software upgrades for the future high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider upgrade slated to begin operation in 2030. These advancements are critical for increasing collision rates and the precision of measurement, thereby enhancing the search for new phenomena that could challenge or extend the Standard Model. Faculty experts such as Amir Farbin, Haleh Hadavand, and Andy Paul White bring deep expertise in detector physics and data analysis, augmenting the collaboration’s scientific output and technical capabilities.

The opportunity for students to engage directly in research at CERN offers unparalleled educational experiences, blending theoretical physics with hands-on experimentation. Generations of UTA students have traveled internationally to work alongside leading physicists, contributing to experiments and gaining proficiency in tools that sharpen their investigative acumen. Such experiential learning environments nurture the next cadre of innovators poised to unravel the universe’s enigmas.

The recognition by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation—a philanthropic organization founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki—reflects the profound societal and intellectual significance of curiosity-driven scientific inquiry. The prize not only honors the achievements in life sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physics but also encourages ongoing investments in basic research that fuels both technological innovation and humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.

UTA’s affiliation with the ATLAS Experiment highlights the increasingly international and interdisciplinary nature of cutting-edge scientific endeavors. Collaboration across continents and disciplines exemplifies how modern physics pushes boundaries to answer existential questions. This global synergy is essential for designing, constructing, and operating instruments the size and complexity of the LHC, evenly matched by the intellectual rigor required to interpret the energies unleashed at minuscule scales.

Looking forward, the advancements pioneered by UTA researchers in hardware, software, and human capital underpin the ongoing quest to detect hypothetical particles, elucidate dark matter candidates, and possibly unearth signals of physics beyond the Standard Model. The integration of novel accelerator physics, quantum mechanical frameworks, and data analytics continues to redefine the frontier, with UTA positioned as a leading institution contributing to these transformative scientific challenges.

Celebrating its 130th anniversary in 2025, The University of Texas at Arlington stands as a beacon of research excellence and educational leadership. As a Carnegie R-1 university and one of the nation’s top research institutions, UTA’s broad scientific portfolio and commitment to training diverse scholars exemplify the profound impact academia can have in driving discovery and technological progress. Its rich history of engagement in fundamental physics research personifies the vigor and vision required to propel humanity’s exploration of the fundamental laws governing reality.

In sum, the 2025 Breakthrough Prize is a testament to decades of rigorous scientific exploration, international collaboration, and innovative problem-solving by the ATLAS research community and The University of Texas at Arlington in particular. Their work not only affirmed essential theoretical predictions about the fabric of matter but also established new paradigms in experimental physics, computational science, and STEM education. As particle physics ventures into a new era with upgraded detectors and higher collision energies, UTA and its partners stand at the forefront, ready to decode the next chapter of the universe’s enduring mysteries.

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Subject of Research: Fundamental physics, particle physics, Higgs boson discovery, ATLAS Experiment at CERN
Article Title: University of Texas at Arlington Researchers Honored with 2025 Breakthrough Prize for Pioneering Work on the ATLAS Experiment
News Publication Date: 2024
Web References:
– https://atlas.cern/
– https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson
– https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?user=kaushik.de
– https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/abs/2019/19/epjconf_chep2018_03025/epjconf_chep2018_03025.html
Image Credits: UTA