Category: News

The Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council and the University of Valencia, celebrated on Monday, 24 November, the institutional ceremony marking its 75th anniversary, an event held in the Marie Curie Auditorium of the University of Valencia’s Science Park.

The ceremony was conducted by Blanca Vicent Beneito, a member of IFIC’s Communication and Outreach Committee, and featured the prominent presence of the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant; the President of the CSIC, Eloísa del Pino; the Rector of the University of Valencia, María Vicenta Mestre; the Regional Secretary for Universities of the Generalitat Valenciana, María Esther Gómez; and the IFIC management team.

The authorities were welcomed by the institute’s management before the official programme began. The opening ceremony started at 12:00 and brought together more than two hundred attendees, including representatives from the scientific, academic and political spheres, as well as institute staff.

One of the central elements of the day was an emotive journey through the history of IFIC and the recognition of its scientific achievements, from its earliest developments and pioneering research lines to its participation in major international collaborations in particle and nuclear physics. Nuria Rius and Sergio Pastor, representing the management team, explained the evolution of the institute over seven and a half decades and its impact on science both within and beyond Spain.

The programme also included a roundtable on particle and nuclear physics, moderated by Blanca Vicent Beneito. Participants included Carmen García, CSIC research professor and 2024 National Research Award laureate in Physical Sciences ‘Blas Cabrera’; María José Costa, CSIC research professor and director of the National Centre for Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN); César Domingo, CSIC senior scientist; and Avelino Vicente, IFIC researcher and permanent faculty member at the University of Valencia.

Additionally, as part of the anniversary celebration, the institute premiered its new corporate video, an audiovisual production that presents IFIC as a pioneering international research centre and highlights its significant contributions to society. IFIC is accredited as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, the highest distinction for scientific excellence awarded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities in Spain, and it is composed of nearly 400 professionals from 38 countries, including more than 100 doctoral students.

During the closing speech, Minister Diana Morant emphasised the role of science as “the great hope to solve all the challenges of humanity and society” and praised IFIC as a pioneering centre of excellence in particle, nuclear and astroparticle physics: “Without your work, our country would not be able to bring light into the shadows for society.” Morant also described IFIC as “an example of the success of joint centres, where combining capabilities multiplies them and enables stronger science with greater impact on the regions.”

Along the same lines, both the President of the CSIC, Eloísa del Pino, and the Rector of the University of Valencia, María Vicenta Mestre, highlighted that IFIC is a clear example of the success of joint centres, with research groups largely made up of members from both institutions and with shared resources.

For their part, the institute’s management expressed their gratitude to all the people, within and beyond IFIC, “who have contributed to making this celebration, so important for us, a success.” “Thank you very much for your participation and support. We are more motivated than ever to face the challenges of the future with the collaborative spirit and enthusiasm that have driven us for these 75 years, and will continue to be our hallmark,” they stated.

At the end of the ceremony, a cocktail reception was offered to attendees, conceived as a space for meeting and celebration among institutional representatives, researchers and collaborators.

From 20 to 24 October, the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia hosted the tenth edition of the Quantum Information in Spain conference (ICE-10), the annual meeting of the Spanish Quantum Information Network (RITCE), which brings together national and international researchers in the fields of quantum computing, communications, metrology and thermodynamics, among other related areas.

The ICE conference derives its name, “Quantum Information in Spain”, from the meeting at which the Spanish Network of Quantum Information and Technologies was founded. Today, it is a benchmark event for the international community, aiming to strengthen the national quantum ecosystem and promote the participation of young researchers across all areas of quantum science and technologies.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr Joaquín Aldas, Vice-Rector for Planning, Quality and Technologies of the University of Valencia (UV), and featured contributions from the organisers: Mr Armando Pérez (UV and IFIC), Mr Manuel Gessner (UV and IFIC), Mr José Manuel Claver (UV) and Mr Jorge Mocholí, Deputy Director-General for Science and Research of the Generalitat Valenciana. All of them highlighted the relevance of quantum technologies and their transformative potential for society and science.

The ICE-10 meeting brought together more than 150 researchers in the field, who throughout the week presented their advances in 56 scientific talks and two poster sessions.

This edition was organised by professors and researchers from the University of Valencia and the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council and the University of Valencia), and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), with the support of several public projects and institutions that foster the development of quantum research in Spain: the Spanish Network of Quantum Information and Quantum Technologies and the CSIC Quantum Technologies Platform.

A team from the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia (UV), is leading a new initiative in the fight against cancer from the field of medical physics. This is the AIDER project (Advanced Imaging Detector for targeted Radionuclide therapy), coordinated by researcher Gabriela Llosá, whose goal is to develop a medical imaging tool for targeted therapy using radioactive atoms or radionuclides. Four European academic groups, one company, two hospitals and a patient association form the consortium that will collaborate on this effort for four years.

Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) uses radiopharmaceuticals to selectively deliver radiation to cancer cells within specific target organs. Radionuclides (radioactive atoms) emit radiation as they decay and destroy the cancer cells. Accurate quantification of the radiation dose delivered to lesions and to organs at risk is essential for improving patient safety and reducing side effects.

The AIDER project will build an imaging system based on technology initially developed by the IFIC IRIS group, enhancing its performance through the integration of state-of-the-art detectors and electronics. It will also improve image quality and treatment dosimetry. The system, which will be tested in the hospitals of the consortium, will represent a major step forward towards the clinical application of this technique and will strengthen this research line at the international level.

The consortium brings together experts from Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 and its affiliated institutions CNRS and INSA Lyon; the Centre Léon Bérard Hospital in Lyon and the company DAMAVAN Imaging (France); the Politecnico di Milano (Italy); the Institute of Medical Engineering at Universität zu Lübeck (Germany); and the La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Valencia, as well as the Association of Parents of Children with Cancer of the Valencian Community.

AIDER is a European collaborative project funded by the Horizon Europe programme.

More information:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101165088

The work titled “X-ray simulations with gVirtualXray in medicine and life sciences,” developed by researchers Francisco Albiol, member of the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (joint center of CSIC and the University of Valencia), Alberto Albiol, researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and Alberto Corbi, who completed his doctoral thesis at IFIC, has been honored with the third Dirk Bartz Prize 2025 during the prestigious Eurovis Conference, organized by the Eurographics Association (EA).

The award recognizes significant advances in computational visualization applied to medicine and life sciences. In this instance, the jury particularly valued the open, versatile, and innovative approach of the gVirtualXray (gVXR) tool, an open-source platform capable of simulating real-time X-ray projections using GPU technology and high-performance rasterization algorithms.

A notable strength of gVXR is its validation against Monte Carlo simulations, a widely used method in medical physics known for its high precision in modeling the behavior of X-rays passing through different tissues. These simulations use random numbers to mimic millions of possible particle paths, providing highly reliable outcomes, albeit at high computational cost. The tool developed by the awarded team achieves a balance between realism and efficiency, making it particularly useful in contexts requiring rapid and interactive responses.

Beyond its accuracy, gVXR has proven effective in educational settings as well as advanced medical physics applications, enabling students and professionals to explore complex clinical scenarios within realistic, interactive virtual environments.

Key achievements stemming from the project include international collaboration with various academic and clinical centers to validate and apply the system; development of immersive virtual reality educational applications for radiological technique training; publication of scientific articles; obtaining several patents related to using simulations for generating densitometric images and clinical applications; and technology transfer to applied innovation projects, including collaboration with the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV) on particle detector environment recognition systems, utilizing gVXR’s capabilities as a synthetic projection generator.

“I consider it important to strengthen our community and show support for initiatives like gVirtualXRay, which help us advance and share knowledge. I am confident that in the future we can better coordinate these moments to maximize communication opportunities, especially knowing that these tools are widely used by our researchers daily and represent an additional opportunity for visibility,” said researcher Francisco Albiol.

This international recognition highlights not only the scientific and technical quality of the work but also its cross-cutting impact on sectors such as medical physics, higher education, clinical simulation, and the development of new data science tools in medical imaging.

A team from the ITACA Institute at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), in collaboration with the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia (UV), has developed a methodology that makes it possible to calculate the pollutant gas emissions generated by traffic on each street of the city of Valencia, hour by hour. The system combines information collected by the traffic sensors already installed throughout the city with standardized and internationally recognised emission models.

Thanks to this work, it has been possible to identify the areas most affected by traffic-related pollution. The most polluted areas are the northern (Av. de Catalunya, Av. Hermanos Machado) and western (Av. del Cid, Tres Forques entrance) access points of the city. Other streets with a high traffic density, such as Pérez Galdós and Giorgeta avenues, also stand out for their high emission levels.

According to the study, in 2021 road traffic generated more than 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases in Valencia, as well as pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter.

The impact of bike lanes

The method developed by the team at the ITACA Institute of the UPV and IFIC (CSIC-UV) allows the impact of new sustainable urban mobility measures to be assessed. As an example, the ITACA team analysed the effect of converting a traffic lane into a bike lane on Avenida Reino de València. After the intervention, emissions in that section were reduced by more than 45% during peak traffic hours.

“The model makes it possible to directly estimate the impact of specific measures, with a level of detail that was previously unattainable. This allows us to simulate which measures would have the greatest effect on reducing emissions, and thus invest available resources as efficiently as possible,” says Edgar Lorenzo Sáez, researcher at the ITACA institute.

Reduction of emissions between 2016 and 2021

Furthermore, the study carried out by the UPV and IFIC team shows a progressive reduction of emissions in Valencia between 2016 and 2021. In this period, pollutants such as carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds decreased by more than 30%. According to the study, this decline is linked to the reduced presence of diesel vehicles and the still limited but growing increase in hybrid and electric vehicles.

A more precise system

Until now, air quality control in Valencia relied on data from nine fixed stations distributed around the city. “These stations do not provide a complete picture of the city. Our system enables full coverage of the entire urban area, including streets and neighbourhoods without direct monitoring stations,” explains Jose Vicente Oliver, professor at the UPV and researcher at the ITACA institute.

“This capacity for detailed analysis is especially useful for designing low-emission zones, prioritising interventions in sensitive areas (such as schools or healthcare centres), and checking whether certain measures displace pollution to other areas or time slots. This ensures that a measure does not simply shift emissions from one part of the city to another, causing environmental injustice,” adds Javier Urchueguía, professor at the UPV and researcher at the ITACA institute.

IFIC collaborated in processing the data collected by the more than 3,500 electromagnetic loops distributed throughout the city to measure the passage of cars, bicycles and scooters. “Modern data analysis techniques have been essential for refining, validating and structuring the enormous volume of information generated by the traffic management system,” says Miguel García Folgado, CSIC researcher at the Institute for Corpuscular Physics. “Thanks to this, it has been possible to study the impact of traffic on urban pollution with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution, precisely identifying critical emission hotspots.”

To carry out this study, the UPV and IFIC team worked with the collaboration of the Valencia City Council, which provided access to traffic management system data, and with the funding of the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) under the AVI AirLuisa project.

Reference:
Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez, Javier F. Urchueguía, Miguel García Folgado, Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva, Methodology development for high-resolution monitoring of emissions in urban road traffic systems, Atmospheric Pollution Research, Volume 16, Issue 9, 2025, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2025.102600

Two teams from the Gamma and Neutron Spectroscopy Group at the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia, GN-Vision and LINrem, have been awarded €20,000 each in the final of the CSIC’s Activa-T Hackathon, held on Friday, June 13, at the CSIC’s Casa de la Ciencia in Seville.

CSIC selected GN-Vision, LINrem, OncoLiCure, and Selva-Si as winners of this edition, recognizing their high innovation potential and supporting their journey to market. Each project will receive financial support and mentoring to help turn their business idea into a spin-off company.

The two IFIC teams that reached the final Pitch Competition were: GN-Vision, led by Víctor Babiano Suárez and Jorge Lerendegui Marco, and LINrem, represented by Ariel Tarifeño-Saldivia.

This initiative is part of Converge, CSIC’s open innovation hub that fosters the creation of startups based on in-house scientific knowledge.

During the hackathon, participants refined and validated their business proposals with guidance from business acceleration experts and mentors from Andalucía Emprende and Sevilla Emprendedora. In the final round, eight teams presented their Elevator Pitch before a panel of expert judges.

🔬 Awarded IFIC Projects

GN-Vision is a patented (WO2021229132A1), portable and scalable device that revolutionizes the characterization of radioactive waste by overcoming the limitations of current instrumentation. This cutting-edge solution integrates advanced computational imaging and artificial intelligence techniques to identify and locate radioactive sources, generating high-resolution gamma-neutron images and enabling in situ, non-invasive isotope identification. It transforms waste classification into a safer, more efficient process, allowing operators to work remotely and obtain instant graphical results—optimizing resources and protecting personnel in a critical sector.

Researcher Víctor Babiano Suárez, project spokesperson, stated: “We are immensely happy and proud to receive this recognition. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Gamma and Neutron Spectroscopy Group. This award is highly meaningful, as it not only highlights our institute’s work but also underlines our strong commitment to transferring scientific knowledge from research to society.”

LINrem is a joint development between IFIC and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. The LINrem dosimeters represent an innovative technology in the field of neutron dosimetry and radiation protection, offering improvements in portability, energy sensitivity, and temporal resolution compared to current technologies on the market. LINrem addresses a key challenge: monitoring secondary neutron doses in cancer treatments using proton therapy. The aim is to integrate these optimized technologies into therapy centers, supporting clinical decision-making during treatment planning to reduce the long-term risk of secondary cancers.

Ariel Tarifeño-Saldivia, spokesperson for the project, commented: “The Hackathon experience in Seville was incredible. We went through very intense days, working against the clock with business mentors, developing a business model, creating audiovisual materials, and competing with truly brilliant projects from across CSIC. We learned a lot. I also believe this program has significantly improved our approach to knowledge transfer and the potential formulation of a technology-based company (TBC) for each of our projects.” The researcher also emphasized that the results are great news for IFIC, a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence, as they bring visibility to the transfer work being carried out at the institute—especially in front of the CSIC’s Vice Presidency for Innovation and Knowledge Transfer.

📌 Program

The CSIC Activa-T program aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurship throughout Spain and foster networking with the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In the 2025 edition, 18 teams from across CSIC were selected in the first phase, including 3 from the Valencian Community—among them, the two winning IFIC teams.

València, April 7, 2025 – The first Annual Meeting of the Innoagents Network, held at the Palacio de Comunicaciones in València, brought together nearly 200 innovation specialists to highlight the key role of this technical personnel in connecting the scientific-technological ecosystem with the productive fabric of the Valencian Region.

Throughout the event, the achievements of the Innoagents during 2024 were showcased: a year in which they helped mobilize nearly 960 innovation projects with a total estimated budget of around 195 million euros. These agents, deployed across universities, technology centers, business associations, and research entities, carried out more than 3,500 actions aimed at identifying business needs, initiating collaborative projects, and facilitating effective knowledge transfer.

In this context, the Regional Minister for Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism, Marián Cano, announced a new funding line that will allow the incorporation in 2025 of a new figure: the proximity innovation agents. With a budget of 1.2 million euros, this initiative aims to boost innovation in industrial areas and rural zones through a closer and more contextualized approach.

“The creation of this new proximity figure reflects the Regional Government’s commitment to the growth and consolidation of the network,” stated Cano. “We want to leverage the deep knowledge that these entities have of the real needs of the territory to promote R&D&I projects with direct impact on the competitiveness and sustainability of our companies.”

Currently, the Innoagents Network includes 55 specialists distributed across 16 business groups, 2 technology institutes, 5 health research centers, 7 universities, and 3 CSIC centers. Their mission is focused on actively listening to both business and research environments, identifying collaboration opportunities, and supporting project feasibility through technical advice and funding guidance.

The event also featured remarks by Juan José Cortés, Director General for Innovation, who emphasized that the network is not only economically profitable, but also accelerating the transformation of traditional sectors such as textiles, agri-food, and footwear, while promoting new strategic areas such as biotechnology, health, and photonics.

The meeting included roundtable discussions with companies and collaborating entities, which shared successful case studies developed in cooperation with the Innoagents, and discussed their role in driving key tools such as Innovative Public Procurement.

Additionally, a continuous training plan was presented for the agents, including bi-monthly workshops, best-practice exchanges, and joint sessions with companies to strengthen the network and maximize its impact.

This first Annual Meeting marks a new milestone for the Innoagents Network, which aims not only to continue growing but to firmly establish itself as an essential instrument for bridging the gap between science and business, fostering more inclusive, territorial, and strategic innovation.

Source: IFIC News

 

The artificial intelligence infrastructure Artemisa, installed at the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia, has been awarded funding for the acquisition of scientific and technical equipment under the State Subprogram for Infrastructure and Scientific-Technical Equipment. This grant, co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Universities, CSIC, and IFIC, is part of the State Program for Promoting Scientific-Technical Research and Its Transfer, which aims to strengthen research capacity in centers and foster the development of advanced technologies.

Thanks to this grant, Artemisa will expand its advanced computing and data processing capabilities, establishing itself as a reference in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applied to particle physics and other scientific disciplines. In particular, the investment will enable the acquisition of new servers with next-generation Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), as well as improvements in data storage and connectivity infrastructure. The obtained funding (€1.2M) will allow Artemisa to double its current computing capacity.

This enhancement of Artemisa’s equipment will contribute to the execution of high-impact scientific projects, facilitating data analysis in high-energy physics experiments, the development of AI models for medical research, and the study of advanced computational simulation techniques. Additionally, the improved infrastructure will encourage collaboration with other national research centers, boosting knowledge transfer and the application of AI across multiple disciplines.

“The awarding of this grant highlights the commitment of IFIC and the scientific community to the development of cutting-edge infrastructures, essential for advancing research in Spain and strengthening its position internationally,” says José Enrique García, IFIC researcher and head of Artemisa.

About the Infrastructure:

The Artemisa infrastructure was created to meet the growing need for a dedicated AI infrastructure within the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC). Although initially reserved for internal use, by 2021 the increasing academic demand for such infrastructures led to its expansion, making it available for a wide range of studies and research centers. More recently, as a fully consolidated infrastructure, its use has been extended to companies (SMEs) through the European “Digital Innovation Hub” (InnDIH) program.

Artemisa currently hosts 23 servers equipped with NVIDIA GPU Volta V100 processors, 11 servers featuring a NVIDIA Ampere A100 GPU, and a server with 8 GPUs of the same model. These servers are specifically designed for AI-related computations. In addition to these batch-processing servers, two interactive user interfaces are available for preliminary testing of programs. Furthermore, Artemisa features a state-of-the-art storage system and high-performance CPUs.

Germán Rodrigo, researcher at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) and senior scientist at CSIC, along with the innovation agents of the Business Scientific Innovation Unit (UCIE) at IFIC, participated on March 27 in the Spain Quantum Network event, held in Madrid and organized by Itecam (Industrial Technological Center of Castilla-La Mancha). This national forum brought together quantum computing experts from research centers, universities, and tech companies to foster collaboration and the development of innovative projects in this emerging field.

During the event, Germán Rodrigo presented his research at IFIC on the use of quantum vacuum fluctuations to develop algorithms that improve predictions in particle physics. This line of research has great potential to revolutionize the simulation of quantum processes in accelerators such as the LHC, as well as open new avenues for the development of quantum computing applications. Meanwhile, the UCIE representatives highlighted IFIC’s role in transferring knowledge to the business sector, promoting synergies between fundamental research and applied innovation.

The Spain Quantum Network featured presentations and six group dynamics, gathering nearly 100 technologists to discuss key issues and advances in quantum computing. The sessions, moderated by experts like Javier Mas Solé (TalentQ Quantum Spain) and Pilar Troncoso (QCentroid), facilitated the exchange of ideas and the creation of new collaborations.

This event was framed within Quantum Spain, a national initiative crucial for advancing quantum computing in the country. In this context, the QUORUM project was presented, a collaboration ecosystem involving entities such as FIDESOL, Gradiant, Itecam, CESGA, Fujitsu, and QCentroid, aimed at promoting quantum technologies innovation in Spain. QUORUM, supported by European funds under Next Generation EU and the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, and financed by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), seeks to generate knowledge, transfer technology, and develop talent in this emerging field.

IFIC’s participation in this forum reaffirms its commitment to technological leadership and its exploration of new opportunities in quantum computing, actively contributing to scientific progress and the growth of the tech sector.

An International Team Led by the Institute for Corpuscular Physics Develops an Algorithm for More Accurate Representations of Collisions in Accelerators Like the LHC

An international team led by researchers from the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia, has developed an algorithm that enhances the accuracy of predictions regarding the behavior of elementary particles in accelerators like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This new method is based on quantum vacuum fluctuations—an intriguing phenomenon in physics that paradoxically enables more precise mathematical representations of physical processes. The method, published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters, has been implemented for the first time on a quantum computer, a breakthrough detailed in another article published in Quantum Science and Technology.

In quantum physics, the vacuum is a concept as fascinating as it is perplexing. Far from being an empty space devoid of content, it is a dynamic arena where particles and antiparticles constantly emerge and annihilate, guided by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. These quantum vacuum fluctuations, though fleeting, leave an indelible mark that significantly improves theoretical predictions about the behavior of subatomic particles—an essential aspect for interpreting data from experiments such as those conducted at the LHC.

Traditionally, theoretical models predicting this behavior have relied on diagrams introduced by Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, which graphically and concisely depict interactions between a set of initially colliding particles and those that emerge as a result. However, the mathematical formalism employed in these models can, in certain cases, allow for the production of some of these particles with exactly zero energy or in the same direction.

Although these configurations are mathematically valid, they lack physical meaning. This phenomenon highlights a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics: the number of particles is not fixed and can change due to quantum fluctuations. This complexity introduces significant theoretical challenges, often leading to mathematical infinities that hinder precise results.

The IFIC-led research proposes an innovative approach: basing theoretical calculations on vacuum amplitudes—that is, diagrams that exclude external particles and focus on the intrinsic fluctuations of the quantum vacuum. This strategy eliminates the difficulties associated with infinite values and provides more accurate mathematical representations of real physical processes.

As Germán Rodrigo, principal investigator of the LHCPHENO group at IFIC and leader of the study, explains: “When a mathematical formalism leads to unnecessary complications, it is often a sign that a more elegant and direct approach exists to obtain the result. The method we have developed explicitly incorporates the fundamental physical principle of causality, or cause and effect. In addition to enabling more advanced theoretical predictions, it offers a new perspective on understanding the enigmatic quantum properties of the vacuum,” says the CSIC physicist.

Applications in Quantum Computing

The absence of infinities, combined with the intrinsic quantum nature of particle physics, has allowed researchers to successfully implement their new algorithm on a quantum computer. This milestone has facilitated the first-ever prediction of the Higgs boson decay rate on such platforms at second order in quantum field theory—a theoretical framework that merges quantum mechanics and special relativity to describe how elementary particles interact.

This represents a significant breakthrough, as high-order calculations in quantum field theory—where each new order significantly refines system descriptions—are extremely complex and require substantial computational power. Achieving this result on a quantum computer not only validates its capability to tackle advanced theoretical physics problems but also opens new possibilities for applying quantum computing to elementary particle simulations and other high-energy physics applications.

Jorge Martínez de Lejarza, a PhD student at IFIC and one of the authors of the latest study, states: “Quantum computers promise to revolutionize computing in the 21st century, surpassing classical computers in solving certain specific problems. In particle physics, we face some of the greatest scientific challenges, and our mission is to reformulate them to enable execution on quantum computers, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the universe.”

This advancement paves the way for new applications in quantum computing and marks a significant step forward in exploring the frontiers of particle physics. The research was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of Salamanca, the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (Mexico), and CERN’s Quantum Technologies Initiative.

References:

S. Ramírez-Uribe, P.K. Dhani, G.F.R. Sborlini, and G. Rodrigo, Rewording Theoretical Predictions at Colliders with Vacuum Amplitudes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133 (2024) 211901. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.211901

J.J. Martínez de Lejarza, D.F. Rentería-Estrada, M. Grossi, and G. Rodrigo, Quantum Integration of Decay Rates at Second Order in Perturbation Theory, Quantum Sci. Technol. 10 (2025) 2, 025026. DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/ada9c5