Latest press releases
‘The Colors of Science’ by the Institute of Nuclear Physics, PAS – on the 70th anniversary of its founding
17 December 2025
Anniversary publications are often associated with dry lists of dates and facts. ‘The Colors of Science,’ an e-book prepared to mark the 70th anniversary of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN), breaks with this convention. Rather than focusing on chronology, the freely available publication seeks above all to convey the passion for discovery that drives Cracow-based scientists to uncover new secrets of nature.
LHC data confirm validity of a new model of hadron production – and test the foundations of quantum mechanics
3 December 2025
Boiling sea of quarks and gluons, including virtual ones – this is how we can imagine the main phase of high-energy proton collisions. It would seem that particles here have significantly more opportunities to evolve than when less numerous and much ‘better-behaved’ secondary particles spread out from the collision point. However, data from the LHC accelerator prove that reality works differently, in a manner that is better described by an improved model of proton collisions.
Nonlocality inherent in the nature of identical particles
6 November 2025
At its deepest physical foundations, the world appears to be nonlocal: particles separated in space behave not as independent quantum systems, but as parts of a single one. Polish physicists have now shown that such nonlocality – arising from the simple fact that all particles of the same type are indistinguishable – can be observed experimentally for virtually all states of identical particles.
LHCb: Triplets born from proton collisions are correlated with each other
15 October 2025
For the first time, by studying quantum correlations between triplets of secondary particles created during high-energy collisions in the LHC accelerator, it has been possible to observe their coherent production. This achievement confirms the validity of the core-halo model, currently used to describe one of the most important physical processes: hadronisation, during which individual quarks combine to form the main components of matter in the Universe.
Key diagnostic system for ITER reactor nears completion
10 September 2025
In the Universe, thermonuclear fusion is a common reaction: it is the source of energy for stars. On Earth producing energy using this process is difficult due to problems with controlling the plasma emitting significant amounts of energy. Of critical importance here is the knowledge of the current state of the plasma and the power released in nuclear reactions. In the ITER reactor this knowledge will be gathered by a sophisticated neutron flux diagnostic system.