QMUL Centre for Theoretical Physics and Astronomy News

QMUL joins the Einstein Telescope collaboration

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

QMUL has joined the Einstein Telescope (ET) collaboration with a new ET Research Unit supported by School of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences. ET is a European project, driven by an international collaboration, for an innovative gravitational-wave observatory. It will be part of a third-generation of gravitational-wave detectors which is poised to revolutionise our comprehension of the Universe and the fundamentals of gravity, while pushing the boundaries of technology.

Dr Heli Hietala appointed as Guest Investigator on Mercury mission

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Dr H. Hietala, Senior Lecturer in Space Plasma Physics at QMUL, has been appointed a Guest Investigator on the BepiColombo mission. BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury consisting of two spacecraft. Launched on 20 October 2018, it will arrive at Mercury in November 2026, with science operations starting in early 2027. In March 2026, ESA, JAXA, and NASA appointed 11 Guest Investigators: 5 from ESA member states, 5 from the USA, and 1 from Japan. Dr Hietala will use Mercury's small bow shock and magnetosphere as a unique Solar System laboratory to study shock dynamics in high magnetic fields and strong driving close to the Sun. She will also combine BepiColombo with SolarOrbiter and ParkerSolarProbe missions to obtain multi-point measurements of the propagation of large-scale interplanetary shocks driven by solar eruptions before they impact Earth.

Queen Mary Astronomy Unit awarded £1.5 million for astrophysics and space science research

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Researchers in the Astronomy Unit (AU), in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, have been awarded a total of £1.5 million from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to fund 3 research projects over the next 3 years. The research grants cover Queen Mary's internationally leading research in space plasma physics, planetary science, and cosmology and will support 3 postdoctoral researchers and 4 academic staff in the AU. The funded projects are: a project, led by Dr Christopher Chen (PI), Dr Heli Hietala (Co-I), and Dr Davide Manzini (RIA), to understand how multi-scale plasma processes in near-Earth space work together to shape the energy transfer and control the dynamics in this key environment. a project, led by Dr David Mulryne (PI) and Dr Laura Iacconi (RIA), to connect inflationary cosmology to observations on all scales by confronting the interplay between predictions for large-scale structure observations and small-scale gravitational waves and primordial black holes. a project, led by Prof Richard Nelson (PI) and Dr Eleftheria Sarafidou (RIA) to investigate how planets interact with the protoplanetary discs in which they are born during the epoch of planet formation. This project is an essential step in understanding what determines the architectures of planetary systems and will play a central role in comparing the predictions of models of planet formation with forthcoming discoveries of exoplanet systems. In a funding round that was particularly competitive this year, this is a significant achievement that reflects Queen Mary's leading Astronomy research.

Queen Mary to host Amplitudes 2026

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The Centre for Theoretical Physics and Astronomy at the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences is delighted to announce that Queen Mary University of London will host Amplitudes 2026, the international conference on scattering amplitudes, from 29 June to 3 July 2026. Amplitudes is an annual international conference series focused on scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory, string theory, and related areas of high-energy theoretical physics. The series has become since its inception in 2009 a central meeting point for researchers developing modern analytic and geometric methods for computing amplitudes, including unitarity techniques, bootstrap approaches, on-shell methods, twistor and geometric formulations, and connections to gravity and cosmology. The conference brings together leading experts, early-career researchers, and students to share recent advances, foster collaboration, and chart new directions in the study of fundamental interactions. Queen Mary will be the first institution to host Amplitudes twice, having previously held the conference in 2010. An Amplitudes 2026 Summer School will take place the week after the conference, from 6 to 10 July 2026, at the University of Southampton. Both events are funded by SAGEX, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network funded by the European Commission. For more information, visit the conference website here.

Queen Mary hosts international PLATO Theory Meeting as ESA's exoplanet mission approaches launch

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Queen Mary's Astronomy Unit (AU) has just hosted the third PLATO Theory Meeting, bringing more than 70 researchers to Mile End to discuss how the community can make the most of ESA's forthcoming exoplanet mission, PLATO. The meeting, held from 12–14 January 2026, was organised by the AU's Exoplanets and Planet Formation group and took place in the Mathematical Sciences building. It brought together theorists and observers working across the full breadth of exoplanet science, with a shared focus on turning PLATO's expected discoveries into reliable physical understanding. Researchers came from institutions across Europe and beyond, reflecting the breadth of international interest in the mission. PLATO, which is scheduled for launch towards the end of 2026, is designed to deliver a large, well-characterised sample of planetary systems, including Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars. Its particular strength will be the combination of planet detections with precise stellar characterisation — including masses, radii, ages and orbital architectures — enabling population-level questions about how planets form, migrate and evolve to be addressed with statistical power that has not previously been possible. The mission's expected bounty of thousands of new exoplanets promises to transform our understanding of planetary demographics across the galaxy. Against that backdrop, the meeting followed a clear narrative arc: from protoplanetary discs and the earliest stages of planet formation, through disc–planet interactions and migration, to mature system architectures, interiors, tides and long-term dynamical evolution. The format deliberately prioritised discussion, with short talks and poster contributions feeding into structured sessions aimed at identifying shared priorities and practical next steps for the PLATO theory community. The meeting was chaired by Professor Richard Nelson, who leads the Exoplanets and Planet Formation group at Queen Mary. "PLATO represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put planet formation theory to the test at scale," said Professor Nelson. "Bringing together the theory community now — before the data arrive — means we can coordinate our efforts, identify the key open questions, and make sure we're in the best possible position to extract the most science from the mission." The group that organised and hosted the meeting is one of the most active in the UK in the fields of planet formation and exoplanet science. Professor Nelson's own research focuses on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems, including the migration of planets through protoplanetary discs — a key process that shapes the architectures PLATO will observe. Dr Tom Haworth, a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, holds a €2m European Research Council Consolidator Grant to investigate how the radiation environments around young stars drive the evolution of planet-forming discs, work that is central to understanding how the diversity of planetary systems we observe ultimately originates. Dr Ed Gillen, a Reader in Astrophysics, was awarded a €1.5m ERC grant to study how planetary systems evolve during their early lives by detecting and characterising young exoplanets — research directly complementary to what PLATO will deliver for older systems. Dr Andrew Winter, a Royal Society University Research Fellow, is investigating how the large-scale star formation environment shapes the properties of exoplanet populations, linking the conditions in which stars are born to the planets they end up hosting. Together, the group spans the full chain from disc physics and planet birth to the mature systems that missions like PLATO will characterise in unprecedented detail, making Queen Mary a natural home for this kind of community-wide planning meeting. For QMUL, the meeting underscored both the strength of the Astronomy Unit's planets programme and its capacity to convene and lead international scientific activity. Further details, including the full programme, are available on the meeting webpage.

Building the European Heliophysics Community

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Heliophysics is a broad discipline studying the Sun, its sphere of influence, and how it affects the bodies in the solar system – our space environment. Heliophysics is inherently cross-disciplinary, and includes components of solar physics, space plasma physics, ionosphere-thermosphere physics, magnetospheric physics, planetary physics, small body physics, and space weather. The physics of ionized and partially ionised plasmas is common across these components. Space plasma physicists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) are playing key roles in a community-building effort to foster strategic coordination, collaboration, and growth within the European Heliophysics Community (EHC). A white paper presenting a vision for the future of Heliophysics in Europe and outlining the initial steps towards establishing the EHC has just been published in Annales Geophysicae. Dr H. Hietala, Senior Lecturer in Space Plasma Physics at QMUL and one of the authors of the paper, was also interviewed for the blog of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), for her motivation and ambitions in driving Europe's heliophysics efforts. She said: "Heliophysics is both a science of connections and a science that connects. The EHC embodies this spirit by bringing people together across specialties, career stages, and geographical boundaries." QMUL Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow Dr F. Koller gave the first presentation in the new EHC online seminar series HelioMeet on "Connecting Solar Wind Drivers to Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics".

Evidence for a new Higgs boson decay

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Physicists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), together with international collaborators, have found evidence of the decay of Higgs bosons to muons. Muons are particles typically found in cosmic rays and have a low mass, and because of this the Standard Model of particle physics predicts that this decay is very rare. Because of this, this new result offers a unique test of the predicted properties of the Higgs boson: so far this decay is every bit as rare as expected, but now that it has been seen the team is working toward further detailed measurements. The ultimate goal is to find discrepancies between the Higgs and predictions, which would provide clues to new theories Beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The article, "Evidence for the Dimuon Decay of the Higgs Boson in pp Collisions with the ATLAS Detector" was published in Physical Review Letters, one of the most distinguished journals in the field. The significance of this evidence and the strength of the analysis earned the paper a Viewpoint selection by the journal's editors, a distinction awarded to only around 0.2% of its published articles. This recognition highlights both the scientific importance of the measurement and the impact of the collaborative contributions that made it possible.  At the Particle Physics Research Centre at QMUL, a dedicated team worked with international collaborators on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The QMUL team contributed key advances that strengthened ATLAS's sensitivity to the Higgs decay into two muons. Led by academics Dr Ulla Blumenschein and Dr Seth Zenz, together with Dr Christos Vergis and PhD student Arnav Avad, the group focused on improving analyses of Higgs production associated with W and Z bosons. The team refined the analysis through updated event selections, improved background-rejection strategies, and advanced AI techniques that enhanced the discrimination between signal and background. They developed a novel search channel in which the Higgs is produced with a Z boson that decays invisibly into neutrinos, extending ATLAS's reach into previously unexplored territory. These QMUL-driven innovations sharpened the precision of this measurement, enabling the Higgs decay to muons to be identified. For the researchers involved, the motivation behind this effort is both scientific and personal. As Dr Blumenschein notes, confirming the Higgs–fermion interaction beyond the third generation remains a central question: "So far we have confirmed the Higgs interaction with fermions only for third-generation fermions. The Higgs might still be a Beyond the Standard Model Higgs that does not interact with the first two generations. So it is very important to check whether it couples to second-generation fermions as expected from the Standard Model."  For Arnav Avad, the project has been as much about discovery as it has been about growth. Working on the Higgs to dimuon analysis exposed him to reconstruction tools, machine-learning methods and even hands-on hardware responsibilities within the ATLAS experiment. As he explains, "I enjoy exploring different methods and tools that help us identify the Higgs boson more clearly when it decays into two muons. QMUL has a close, supportive community where everyone works together to contribute to the ATLAS experiment." Reflecting on his own highlights, he adds, "Publishing a paper in PRL where I made major contributions is very fulfilling… being part of an institution that allows me to review papers and provide feedback is equally enjoyable, as it ensures that all research released to the public from ATLAS meets the highest standards."  The QMUL team is already working on further refinements and new analysis techniques, which will enable even more precise tests of the 2nd generation Higgs interactions in the Standard Model.

Dr Christopher Chen appointed as a Fellow of the American Physical Society

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 23:00:00 +0100

We are delighted to announce that Dr Christopher Chen, Reader in Space Plasma Physics in the Astronomy Unit of the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, has been made a Fellow of the American Physical Society. This prestigious honour recognises Dr Chen's "…outstanding use of in-situ solar-wind spacecraft observations to probe the detailed physics of turbulence and kinetic processes in astrophysical plasmas, bridging observational space plasma physics and fundamental plasma theory." Dr Chen was selected to be an APS fellow for his research in Plasma Astrophysics - an interdisciplinary field at the intersection between fundamental plasma physics and astronomy. His research involves using spacecraft throughout the solar system to study how the different processes in the solar wind work at a fundamental level, how these control the variety of conditions in the space environment, and how they impact space weather. He said: "It's a great honour to be selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. I'd like to thank the APS Topical Group in Plasma Astrophysics and my colleagues for supporting my work through the years. I will continue to do my best to advance Plasma Astrophysics and promote the values of the APS for the benefit of science and society."

Queen Mary led team discovers warped planetary nurseries

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 23:00:00 +0100

New ALMA observations reveal that the discs where planets form are often slightly warped, challenging long-held assumptions and offering clues about the subtle misalignments seen in our own Solar System. The textbook picture of how planets form – serene, flat discs of cosmic dust – has just received a significant cosmic twist. New research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is set to reshape this long-held view. An international team of scientists, wielding the formidable power of the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA), has found compelling evidence that many protoplanetary discs, the very birthplaces of planets, are in fact subtly warped. These slight bends and twists in the disc plane, often just a few degrees, bear a striking resemblance to the subtle tilts observed among the planets in our own Solar System. This discovery suggests the initial conditions for planetary systems might be far less orderly than previously thought, with profound implications for how planets grow and settle into their final orbits. Dr Andrew Winter, the lead author of the study from Queen Mary University of London where he is Royal Society University Research Fellow in astronomy, said:"Our results suggest that protoplanetary discs are slightly warped. This would be quite a change in how we understand these objects and has many consequences for how planets form. Particularly interesting is that the couple of degree warping is similar to the differences in inclination between our own Solar System planets." To uncover these subtle twists, the team meticulously analysed Doppler shifts – tiny changes in the radio waves emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules swirling within the discs. These shifts act like a cosmic speedometer, revealing the gas's exact motion. As part of a major ALMA programme called exoALMA, researchers used this flagship observatory to map the gas's velocity across each disc in unprecedented detail. By carefully modelling these intricate patterns, they were able to detect when different regions of a disc were slightly tilted, thus revealing the warps. "These modest misalignments may be a common outcome of star and planet formation," Dr Winter added, noting the intriguing parallel with our own Solar System. The research not only provides a fresh perspective on the mechanics of planet formation but also raises new questions about why these discs are warped – a mystery the team is eager to unravel. Dr Myriam Benisty, director of the Planet and Star Formation Department at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said,"exoALMA has revealed large scale structures in the planet forming discs that were completely unexpected. The warp-like structures challenge the idea of orderly planet formation and pose a fascinating challenge for the future." Is it the gravitational pull of unseen companion stars, or perhaps the chaotic dance of gas and dust that twists these stellar cradles? The findings show that these subtle disc warps, often tilting by as little as half a degree to two degrees, can naturally explain many of the prominent large-scale patterns observed in the gas's motion across the discs. They even suggest these warps could be responsible for creating intriguing spiral patterns and slight temperature variations within these cosmic nurseries. If these warps are a key driver of how gas moves within the disc, it profoundly changes our understanding of critical processes like turbulence and how material is exchanged – ultimately dictating how planets form and settle into their final orbits. Intriguingly, the nature of these warps appears to be connected to how much material the young star is actively drawing in towards its centre. This hints at a dynamic link between the disc's innermost regions, where the star is fed, and its outer, planet-forming areas. This discovery offers a thrilling glimpse into the complex and often surprising realities of planet formation, fundamentally changing our cosmic blueprint and opening new avenues for understanding the diverse worlds beyond our Sun. This research was conducted by the 'exoALMA' collaboration that is an international collaboration of institutions including the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), University of Florida, Leiden Observatory (Leiden University), European Southern Observatory, Università degli Studi di Milano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Universidad de Chile, University of St. Andrews, Université Côte d'Azur, The University of Georgia, Monash University, University of Leeds, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Cambridge, Ibaraki University, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Wesleyan University, and The Pennsylvania State University.

New research reveals presence of helicity barrier in the near-Sun solar wind

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 23:00:00 +0100

New research utilising data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe has provided the first direct evidence of a phenomenon known as the "helicity barrier" in the solar wind. This discovery, published in Physical Review X by Queen Mary's Astronomy Unit researchers, offers a significant step towards understanding two long-standing mysteries: how the Sun's atmosphere is heated to millions of degrees and how the supersonic solar wind is generated. The solar atmosphere, or corona, is far hotter than the Sun's surface, a paradox that has puzzled scientists for decades. Furthermore, the constant outflow of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun, known as the solar wind, is accelerated to incredible speeds. Turbulent dissipation – the process by which mechanical energy is converted into heat – is believed to play a crucial role in both these phenomena. However, in the near-Sun environment, where plasma is largely collisionless, the exact mechanisms of this dissipation have remained elusive. This new study, led by AU PhD student Jack McIntyre and his supervisor Dr Christopher Chen, leverages data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which has become the closest spacecraft to the Sun, flying directly through the solar atmosphere. This unprecedented proximity allowed researchers to directly explore this extreme environment for the first time, providing critical data to unravel these mysteries. The paper presents compelling evidence that the "helicity barrier" is active and profoundly alters the nature of turbulent dissipation. This effect, previously theorised, creates a barrier to the turbulent cascade of energy at small scales, fundamentally changing how fluctuations dissipate and thus how the plasma is heated. Read the full story here

Dr Florian Koller Awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to work in the QMUL Astronomy Unit

Thu, 29 May 2025 23:00:00 +0100

QMUL Astronomy Unit member Dr Florian Koller has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue working in the AU's space plasma group. Dr Florian Koller, a current postdoctoral researcher in the Astronomy Unit of Queen Mary University of London's Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded a highly competitive Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship for his project titled SHOCKWAVE – Spacecraft Heliospheric Observation of Collisions and Kinetic Wave Analysis in Various Environments. The MSCA Postdoctoral fellowships, awarded by the European Commission, support scientists' careers and foster excellence in research. A record number of 10,360 proposals from researchers across multiple disciplines applied for the fellowship in the latest call, making Dr Koller's selection a significant achievement. Dr Koller's project will investigate plasma shocks—ubiquitous phenomena in space that form when fast plasma flows encounter obstacles such as planetary magnetic fields or slower wind regions. These shocks vary in strength depending on the Mach number of the flow. While strong shocks have been extensively studied using spacecraft in Earth's vicinity, the lower Mach number range—characteristic of many astrophysical shocks—remains underexplored, particularly at high time resolution. This work will not only enhance our understanding of shock physics in the solar system but also contribute to broader astrophysical applications, including insights into the drivers of space weather events and geomagnetic storms. Commenting on the award, Dr Koller said: "I am beyond excited to receive this award and thank the European Commission for this opportunity. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Heli Hietala for agreeing to supervise this fellowship, and to my current supervisor, Dr Christopher Chen, for supporting my development as a space scientist at Queen Mary. I also thank my PhD supervisor, Dr Manuela Temmer from the University of Graz, for the invaluable mentorship that brought me to where I am today." The SHOCKWAVE project will be carried out over 24 months at QMUL in the Space and Astrophysical Plasma Physics group of the Astronomy Unit, a growing and dynamic research group tackling core phenomena that shape the behaviour of plasmas across the heliosphere and beyond.

A vast molecular cloud, long invisible, is discovered near the solar system

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 23:00:00 +0100

An international team, including members from the QMUL Astronomy Unit, uncovers a hidden celestial structure using innovative far-ultraviolet techniques. An international team of scientists, led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick astrophysicist and including Dr Thomas Haworth of Queen Mary University of London, has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the Sun and Earth ever detected. The vast ball of hydrogen, long invisible to scientists, was revealed by looking for its main constituent – molecular hydrogen. The finding marks the first time a molecular cloud has been detected using far-ultraviolet light and opens the way to further explorations with this approach. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud "Eos," after the Greek goddess of dawn. Their discovery is outlined in a study published in Nature Astronomy. Professor Blakesley Burkhart, associate professor at Rutgers University and research scientist at the Flatiron Institute, led the study. She said: "This opens up new possibilities for studying the molecular universe. The data showed glowing hydrogen molecules detected via fluorescence in the far ultraviolet. This cloud is literally glowing in the dark." Dr Thomas Haworth of Queen Mary University of London, a key contributor to the research, added: "In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes – detecting those smaller planets... those more distant galaxies. Yet here we had completely missed a cloud right on our cosmic doorstep, one that would appear huge in the sky if visible to the naked eye. The key to this discovery was searching for UV light, and it makes me excited about the future of UV space telescopes. Following this discovery, Suryansh Saxena, one of our fantastic MSc Astrophysics students, is now working with me and the team to determine whether star formation has already taken place within the Eos cloud." Dr Thavisha Dharmawardena, NASA Hubble Fellow at New York University and shared first author of the study, remarked: "The use of the far-ultraviolet fluorescence emission technique could rewrite our understanding of the interstellar medium, uncovering hidden clouds across the galaxy and even out to the furthest detectable limits of cosmic dawn." The crescent-shaped Eos cloud is located about 300 light-years from Earth, on the edge of the Local Bubble – a vast cavity of gas surrounding our solar system. Measuring roughly 40 moons in width across the sky and weighing about 3,400 times the mass of the Sun, Eos is expected to dissipate in six million years. The discovery was made using data from the far-ultraviolet spectrograph FIMS-SPEAR aboard the Korean satellite STSAT-1. Unlike traditional methods that rely on carbon monoxide signatures, this technique directly detected molecular hydrogen via far-ultraviolet fluorescence – a first in astronomical research. Eos provides a rare opportunity to study star formation up close. As Professor Burkhart explained: "When we look through our telescopes, we catch whole solar systems in the act of forming, but we don't know in detail how that happens. Our discovery of Eos is exciting because we can now directly measure how molecular clouds are forming and dissociating, and how a galaxy begins to transform interstellar gas and dust into stars and planets." The team is now searching for more molecular clouds using this technique, including potential discoveries with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Burkhart noted: "Using JWST, we may have found the very furthest hydrogen molecules from the Sun. So, we have found both some of the closest and farthest using far-ultraviolet emission." Other members of the scientific team included researchers from: Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel; Queen Mary University of London and University College London, both of London; University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, University of Science and Technology, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, all of Daejeon, South Korea; Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany; University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.; University of California, Berkeley; Université Paris Cité, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Columbia University, New York; and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. See here for an Astronomy & Geophysics article on the discovery: EOS: hiding in plain sight

Queen Mary particle physicists lead pioneering study of high-mass W-bosons at CERN

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 23:00:00 +0100

Particle physicists at Queen Mary have used data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to help measure a key elementary particle, known as the W-boson, in mass regions never explored before. Their work explores previously uncharted mass regions, offering fresh clues about the forces that shape our universe. The current model of particle physics, known as the Standard Model, has been extremely successful in describing the subatomic world around us and providing predictions for physical phenomena, even before their experimental observation. However, the Standard Model is not the full story, as it fails to explain several important physics phenomena that we observe, such as the presence of dark matter. W-bosons play a vital role within the Standard Model, as they carry a fundamental force that affects the subatomic world, known as the weak force. Since their discovery in the 1980s, W-bosons have been extensively studied by physicists. Precise measurements of their properties help improve our understanding of the Standard Model and perhaps provide hints for what lies beyond it. Despite this intensive study, there's still much to uncover, as W-bosons are only well-understood at their mass of about 80 GeV (the "peak" region). It is possible, however (although very rare) to produce W-bosons that are much heavier than this. Physicists at Queen Mary have been working alongside colleagues from all over the world to achieve the first-ever measurement of W-boson production probability – or cross section – at masses far beyond the peak region. The measurement was performed by the ATLAS Collaboration, using data collected by the ATLAS detector. The detector measures the particles produced in high-energy proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. By carefully analysing the decay products of these proton collisions, physicists can reconstruct and perform systematic measurements of the W-bosons. So, how does the measurement compare to the prediction from the Standard Model? The measurement appears to be well in line with the Standard Model expectation, but the high precision of the measurement allows us to learn about the areas of the Standard Model we are less certain about. For example, all theoretical predictions at the LHC require knowledge of the internal structure of the proton. The proton is composed of a vast and dynamic sea of quarks and gluons, which are described by functions known as "parton distribution functions" (PDFs). The PDFs must be measured, and this new measurement provides vital information for constraining the PDFs, which in turn improves the accuracy of theoretical predictions for many future measurements at the LHC. Among the physicists involved in the measurement was doctoral student James Inglis, enrolled in the Data-Centric Engineering programme at Queen Mary, and Professor Eram Rizvi, Mr Inglis's supervisor and director of the DCE programme. Mr Inglis used the measurement to constrain extensions of the Standard Model: "By treating the Standard Model as a so-called effective field theory, it is possible to use the measurement to constrain a wide range of theoretical extensions of the Standard Model. The measurement has allowed us to provide world-leading constraints on certain types of interactions between leptons and quarks, pushing the boundaries of where new physics could still be hiding." This landmark measurement not only deepens our understanding of the proton's structure and electroweak interactions but also plays a vital role in the search for new physics at the highest energy scales. Queen Mary's involvement underscores its leading role in cutting-edge particle physics research. For further details, see: ATLAS Collaboration Briefing Full Research Paper (arXiv)