Cornell physicist shares in 2026 Breakthrough Prize | Cornell Chronicle

""I am proud of the major roles that our Cornell group played in the measurement. Our success was possible because of the amazing Cornell students and postdocs. The award underscores the importance of smaller, high-precision measurements in our exploration of particles and the search for the origin of dark matter.""

"For more than six decades, scientists and engineers from the three collaborating organizations have pursued extreme precision in experiments seeking an important number - the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon."

"The collaboration sought to capture how the muon's magnetic strength is subtly affected by the 'foam' of virtual particles constantly popping in and out of empty space around it."

"Measuring the muon's magnetism and comparing it to theoretical predictions enabled physicists to test whether any unknown particles or forces are hidden in this foam."

Lawrence Gibbons, a professor of physics, was awarded the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his contributions to the muon g-2 collaborations at CERN, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Fermilab. His research focuses on precision measurements in particle physics, particularly the muon's anomalous magnetic moment. The collaboration's work revealed significant deviations from the Standard Model, suggesting the presence of unknown particles or forces. Gibbons emphasized the importance of high-precision measurements in exploring fundamental particles and dark matter origins.

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