JAPAN TIMES



 

An international team, including four Japanese researchers, has won the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for precisely measuring the magnetic moment of muons, tiny subatomic particles.

The announcement was made on Sunday. Among the Japanese award recipients is Akira Yamamoto, professor emeritus at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization.

Muons, which have been studied since the 1960s, are believed to be key to clarifying phenomena that cannot be explained by standard models of physics.

Yamamoto and his colleagues developed high-performance superconducting magnets used to precisely measure muons at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States.

The magnets contributing to a significant improvement in measurement accuracy.

The Breakthrough Prize was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and others to honor outstanding achievement in scientific research.