News and Views (3&4)

1 Ultracold research confirms pseudogap pairing due to strong attraction by Hui Hu

Chinese physicists have made a new experimental observation, confirming the many-particle pairing of fermions, before they reach a critical temperature and exhibit remarkable quantum superfluidity.

In a paper published in Nature [1], researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) observed and quantified the pseudogap pairing in a strongly attractively interacting cloud of fermionic lithium atoms, which may help unlock the mysterious microscopic mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.

Quantum superfluidity/superconductivity is the most intriguing phenomenon of quantum physics. In the superfluid state, quantum particles collectively flow in a frictionless way without losing any kinetic energy. High-temperature superconducting materials therefore hold the prospect of solving the current world’s energy crisis. However, despite substantial efforts spanning the past 38 years, the origin of high-temperature superconductivity, especially the emergence of an energy gap in the normal state preceding superconductivity, continues to elude researchers.

This energy gap without superconducting is the well-known pseudogap, whose origin is controversial and is the subject of a long-lasting debate in the condensed matter community. In one of the two mainstream interpretations, the scenario of preformed pairs, the pseudogap is produced by incoherent fluctuations of the pairing field that describes the entangled fermions due to attraction; however, superfluidity does not arise because large phase fluctuations of the pairing field cannot allow quantum particles to march in the exact same manner above the critical temperature.

The central aim of the USTC researchers’ work was to quantum emulate a simple text-book model to examine the scenario of preformed pairs, by using a table-top system of ultracold atoms.

Quantum simulation using ultracold atoms is a rapidly developing field that was established following the Nobel Prize-winning research on laser cooling of atoms in the late 1980s and on Bose-Einstein condensation in 1995. A cloud of atoms can be cooled down to incredibly low temperatures of a billionth of a degree Kelvin, just above absolute 0. At these temperatures, fermionic atoms in different hyperfine states, as the atomic analog of electrons and protons which are the building blocks of all matter, can bind together due to attraction to form Cooper pairs and consequently condense into a macroscopic quantum state, precisely following the rule of quantum mechanics.

The unique advantage of ultracold atoms is their unprecedented controllability. By utilizing Feshbach resonances and applying a magnetic field at the right strength, interactions between atoms can be controlled with great precision—from arbitrarily weak to arbitrarily strong. This allows scientists to monitor, step by step, the emergence and the evolution of the pairing field in a strongly interacting Fermi cloud of about a million atoms, with decreasing temperature.

At USTC, Professor Xing-Can Yao, Professor Jian-Wei Pan, and their colleagues confined strongly attracting fermionic lithium-6 atoms into a uniform box potential and cooled them down to near absolute 0. By developing a novel technology of momentum-resolved microwave spectroscopy with high energy resolution, the pseudogap pairing above the critical superfluid transition temperature was clearly revealed for the first time.

The investigation of pseudogap pairing with ultracold atoms was attempted in 2010. However, at that time the cloud of fermionic atoms was not homogeneously distributed, leading to an inhomogeneity-related spectral broadening in the spectroscopy. Moreover, atoms that were experimentally probed suffered from some additional, unwanted interatomic collisions during the spectroscopic imaging. The two obstacles made the previous observation of pseudogap inconclusive.

In the USTC experiment, state-of-the-art methods were utilized for preparing the homogeneous Fermi cloud and for removing unwanted interatomic collisions, with ultra-stable magnetic field control at unprecedented levels of a quarter of ppm (i.e., less than one millionth). As a result of these technical advances, the suppression of spectral weight near the Fermi surface in the normal state was unequivocally revealed in microwave spectroscopy. This is the smoking gun of a pseudogap, without the need to invoke any specific microscopic theories to fit the experimental data.

This discovery will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for the future study of strongly interacting Fermi systems and could lead to potential applications in future quantum technologies.

An immediate application is to probe the long-sought inhomogeneous Fermi superfluidity in a spin-population imbalanced Fermi gas, where the standard pairing field will be modified and become spatially inhomogeneous. This exotic pairing scenario was proposed by Fulde, Ferrell, Larkin, and Ovchinnikov 60 years ago. It may underlie the imbalanced nucleon superfluidity of neutron-proton pairs at the core of neutron stars and may have some relevance in explaining the sudden variations (glitches) in the rotation periods of pulsars.

2 The 2023 AAPPS-APCTP C. N. Yang Award by Rajdeep Singh Rawat (Chair of the C. N. Yang Award Committee)

The 2023 AAPPS-APCTP C. N. Yang Awards were presented to three outstanding and prospective young scholars, Danfeng LI (City University of Hong Kong), Li LI (Chinese Academy of Science), and Liyong ZHANG (Beijing Normal University). A total of 26 nominations were received from nominees of eight different nationalities, with representation in nine different sessions of the Asia Pacific Physics Conference (APPC-15) (see Table 1). Out of a total of 26 nominations, 21 nominations were from AAPPS member societies and AAPPS divisions while the remaining 6 were individual nominations. Compared to 2022, 2023 saw a drop in overall nomination numbers (from 31 to 26), with a drop in nominations from AAPPS member societies and AAPPS divisions (from 27 to 21), while the individual nominations increased (from 4 to 6). However, all nominations, being highly selective from AAPPS member societies, AAPPS divisions, and from high profile eligible experts, were of excellent quality, which made the selection process highly challenging.

The C. N. Yang Award was established to honor and encourage young researchers with prominent research achievements and to promote the next generation’s leading scholars in physics in the Asia-Pacific region. This award was presented during the Asia Pacific Physics Conference (APPC), which has been held approximately every three years. Notably, starting in 2019, the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) and the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) jointly established the AAPPS-APCTP Chen-Ning Yang Award (C. N. Yang Award) to make it an annual event. The C. N. Yang Award Committee consists of members from the AAPPS Council, AAPPS Divisions, and renowned scholars recommended by APCTP. For 2023, the awards were presented at a special award ceremony held in Gyeongju, Korea on Monday, November 6, 2023.

The C. N. Yang Award selection process is a multi-step, highly vigorous, and challenging process, requiring careful and detailed evaluations at each step. The originality of the candidates’ works, the novelty and impact of their research, and their likely prospects were some of the important areas of consideration. The citations and the briefings for the C. N. Yang 2023 awardees are listed below.

Danfeng Li, City University of Hong Kong

“For his discovery and synthesis of the first nickel oxide superconductor.”

Dr. Danfeng Li obtained his BEng from Zhejiang University and MPhil from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD in 2016 from the Department of Quantum Matter Physics at the University of Geneva and then joined Stanford University as a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow. He has been an assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong since November 2020. Dr. Li’s main research interests span across condensed-matter physics and materials science, focusing on atomic-scale fabrication of oxide heterostructures and nanomembranes, kinetic-based synthesis of unconventional quantum materials, low-dimensional superconductivity, and oxide interfaces for emergent states. In 2019, Dr. Danfeng Li and Professor Harold Hwang at Stanford University announced a groundbreaking discovery of a thin-film nickel oxide (nickelate) superconductor Nd0.8Sr0.2NiO2 (Nature 2019, 572, 624), which shattered the boundaries of conventional wisdom and ignited a new era of research on nickelate superconductivity. This discovery marked the end of a long and arduous journey in search of a new class of high-temperature superconducting materials, offering an important vehicle to test theories of high-temperature superconductivity. For Dr. Li’s pioneering contribution to the field of “nickelate superconductors,” he was recently named by MIT Technology Review in the article, “35 Innovators Under 35 (China)”.

Li Li, Chinese Academy of Science

“For his research on theoretical aspects of black holes, gauge/gravity duality, and cosmology. His works not only enabled a better understanding of the nature of gravity and black holes, but also shed new light on the properties of quantum matter and complex systems.”

Dr. Li Li is currently a full professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing. He received his BSc (2009) from the China University of Mining and Technology and his PhD (2014) from the Institute of Theoretical Physics, CAS, Beijing. Before joining the Institute of Theoretical Physics, CAS, Beijing as an associate professor in 2019, he did postdoctoral research work at the University of Crete, Greece, and at Lehigh University, USA. He is currently leading the group “Integrated Quantum Optics Lab” at the Physics School of Peking University. Dr. Li’s research interests focus on black hole physics, gauge/gravity duality, and cosmology. His research has resulted in 55 high-quality peer-reviewed papers, published in journals including Science Advances, Physical Review Letters, and the Journal of High Energy Physics. The citations of his publications are over 2000 with an h-index of 27. He is an experimental nuclear astrophysicist, who has been engaged in experimental research on nuclear celestial bodies for many years. His main research focus is the measurement of key nuclear reactions in the evolution of celestial bodies. For example, recently he and his collaborators established the black hole no Cauchy horizon theorem [JHEP 03, 263, 2021], and set strict restrictions on the number of black hole horizons based on energy conditions [Class. Quant. Grav. 39, no.3, 035005, 2022]. The work revealed that matter not only promotes the formation of an event horizon but also prevents the appearance of multiple horizons inside black holes. Dr. Li’s other important research works include the prediction of novel behavior of amorphous solids [Sci Adv 2022] and uncovering the existence of universal mechanisms in the out-of-equilibrium behavior of strongly coupled fluids [PRL 2022].

Liyong Zhang, Beijing Normal University

“For his pioneering research of heavy element synthesis in the first stars via nuclear reaction in a deep underground laboratory.”

Dr. Liyong Zhang received his BSc in applied physics in 2008 from Hebei University of Science and Technology, China and his PhD in 2013 in nuclear astrophysics from the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China. He did his postdoctoral research at the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, UK, and then joined Beijing Normal University, China as an associate professor in May 2019. He has been a full professor at Beijing Normal University since July 2022.

Dr. Zhang is a brilliant young researcher who has made significant contributions to the frontier field of nuclear astrophysics through his work done at the Jinping Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA) project for many years, making substantial contributions to our understanding of nuclear astrophysics through direct reaction measurements down to the Gamow window. His remarkable achievements in the JUNA project include his work on the ¹⁹F(p, γ)²⁰Ne experiment [Nature 610, 656, 2022]. Through this project, he and his collaborators discovered a new resonance at 225 keV and incorporated this result into Pop III stellar evolution calculations. The outcome of their work revealed that ⁴⁰Ca can be produced in reasonable amounts during the static hydrogen burning stage, as opposed to the explosive burning stage, which was previously predicted in models of massive stellar evolution. Another noteworthy research result of Dr. Zhang’s work is his contribution to the ¹⁹F(p, αγ)¹⁶O experiment, wherein he and his team succeeded in providing, to date, the most precise reaction rate [PRL 127, 152702, 2021]. The experiment measured the reaction cross-section for the first time down to the Gamow window energy.

Table 1 The nationalities and the sessions of the 2023 C. N. Yang Award nominees

3 18th ANPhA Board Meeting and Symposium by Byungsik Hong (Chair of AAPPS-DNP)

The 18th board meeting of the Asian Nuclear Physics Association (ANPhA) was held at the Institute of Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, Korea on November 10, 2023. ANPhA also serves as the Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) for AAPPS. ANPhA’s board meetings were held online from 2020 to 2022, and this year’s meeting was the first in-person meeting after the COVID-19 pandemic. The venue was the Institute for Rare Isotope Science (IRIS) at IBS, where the new radioactive ion beam (RIB) facility RAON (Rare isotope Accelerator complex for ONline experiments) is being constructed. A total of 26 individuals, including 15 board members, 5 observers, and 6 invited guests, attended the meeting. The board meeting was followed by the ANPhA Symposium the next day.

3.1 ANPhA Board Meeting

Several important subjects were discussed, and decisions were made in this year’s board meeting. The applications by Uzbekistan and Singapore were discussed. Bakhadir Irgaziev of the National University of Uzbekistan and Andrew Anthony Bettiol of the National University of Singapore gave overview presentations of the activities in nuclear physics and the applications of their respective countries. Both applications were unanimously approved by the board members, and Uzbekistan and Singapore were admitted as the respective 13th and 14th ANPhA member countries or regions.

Phan Viet Cuong from Vietnam requested support from ANPhA for the Network of National Nuclear Research Institutes (NNRI). NNRI is a regional cooperative agreement for research, development, and training related to nuclear science and technology for Asia and the Pacific region by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In principle, the board members agreed that NNRI would be helpful to promote regional cooperation among ASEAN countries for nuclear physics. However, as the program is supported by the IAEA, some participants raised the concern that complications in basic nuclear physics research might be introduced. It was decided that the proponent would provide more detailed supporting documents for further discussion.

Tomohiro Uesaka proposed to form an “A3 consortium” under ANPhA. The A3 foresight program “Nuclear Physics in the 21st Century”, supported by the funding agencies of China (NSFC), Japan (JSPS), and Korea (NRF), started in 2019. The aim of the program is to promote joint experiments based on the existing facilities and the facilities in construction in the three countries and to encourage theoretical collaboration in order to solve key questions in low-energy nuclear physics. To realize these goals, annual meetings to discuss progress and plans for the future were organized. Although the program was seriously affected by COVID-19, it has succeeded in strengthening the collaboration, improving coherence and synergy among the three countries. Some examples are the development of the nuclear-theory library “A3lib” for nucleosynthesis in the Universe, the construction of the detector-array TOGAXSI for the inverse-kinematics knockout reaction studies at RIBF, the DRHBc Mass Table Collaboration, a joint project to develop the collinear laser spectroscopy (CLS) technique and to study the multi-nucleon correlations at various PF and ISOL facilities, and the formation of a pool for state-of-art detectors, such as HPGe, LaBr₃, and TPC, that can be shared in A3’s leading projects.

The A3 consortium proposal suggested to use of the current A3 scheme as a basis to share the status and planning of accelerator facilities, to promote joint developments of experimental devices and theoretical models by combining common interests and complementary expertise, to encourage the exchange of scientists, to continue the efforts to secure funds to exchange human resources, to bridge young-scientist fostering programs, to link the educational programs, and to examine a way to extend the membership to countries other than the present three countries. In general, the board members agreed on the potential benefits of such a group in ANPhA and suggested creating this unit in a Working Group (WG) format. The proponent plans to clarify the role of the “A3 consortium” and its relation to ANPhA in a written document in the future.

Yet another important discussion focused on the long-range plan (LRP) of ANPhA. All board members agreed about the usefulness of creating a LRP for ANPhA. However, the contents of the document might be different from those from NSAC or NuPECC because the target audiences are different. Some examples of the proposed ideas for the contents were focusing on educational aspects and providing comprehensive facility information to enhance collaboration among the member countries. All agreed to form a dedicated preparation group, chaired by Kazuhiro Tanaka, to discuss and determine the character of an LRP that would be suitable for ANPhA.

In the afternoon, all participants of the board meeting had a tour of RAON. Under the guidance of Taeksu Shin, they visited the accelerator control room, injector system, part of the ISOL system, the SCL3 superconducting (SC) linear accelerator (linac), and the KoBRA recoil spectrometer. All were impressed by the achievements of the last 12 years and wished the completion of the high-energy SCL2 linac as planned. The board members decided to have the next board meeting in 2024 in Chinese Taipei. It was also decided that China would host the meeting in 2025 in Huizhou, where HIAF is under construction. Recently, the venue for the 2024 meeting was decided to be in Huizhou City, China and that for the 2025 meeting to be in Chinese Taipei.

3.2 ANPhA Symposium

The ANPhA Symposium was held at the IBS Science Culture Center, located on the main campus of IBS in Daejeon on November 11, 2023. It consisted of talks on the facilities and national activities on nuclear physics. Seung-Woo Hong, director of IRIS, reported the status of RAON. He presented the status and commissioning efforts of the injector system, cryogenic system, ISOL system, and low-energy SCL3 SC linac of RAON. He also showed the successful beam commissioning procedure using the entire SCL3 modules done at the end of May 2023, which accelerated Ar⁹⁺ beams up to 16.4 MeV per nucleon and delivered the beams to KoBRA.

Wen-Chen Chang of Academia Sinica gave a national report on the activities of nuclear physics in Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei groups are participating in the experiments at several accelerator facilities worldwide: e.g., Spring8 and J-PARC in Japan, FNAL and JLab in the USA, and CERN for the structure of hadrons. He also introduced the TEXONO low-energy neutrino and dark matter physics program at Kuo-Shen Reactor Neutrino Laboratory (KSNL). In terms of hardware, the Chinese Taipei Instrumentation Detector Consortium (TIDC) has contributed Si sensors to several experiments, such as STAR, sPHENIX, ePIC at BNL, and CMS at CERN.

Kazuhiro Tanaka introduced a forthcoming heavy-ion program of J-PARC in Japan. A proposal for heavy-ion acceleration at J-PARC was submitted to the Nuclear Physics Committee and the Japanese Science Council and accepted as one of the next generation’s big projects. The acceleration of heavy-ion beams in J-PARC requires a dedicated heavy-ion linac and a booster ring. The proposal plans to build the booster ring in two phases: recycling the KEK-PS booster accelerator with a diameter of 12 m in the first phase and building the dedicated heavy-ion booster with a diameter of 50 m in the second phase. The intensity of Au beams in the first phase is expected to be about 10⁸ Hz, which will be enhanced to 10¹¹ Hz in the second phase.

Vandana Nanal of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) introduced the Indian facilities for nuclear physics. In India, there are three accelerator centers, which are the BARC-TIFR Pelletron Linac Facility in Mumbai, the Inter University Accelerator Center (IUAC) in New Delhi, and the Variable Energy Cyclotron Center (VECC) in Kolkata. The combination of the BARC-TIFR Pelletron accelerator and SC linac accelerates the ion beams up to ~ 10 MeV per nucleon. The research focuses on the nuclear structure, reactions, and hyperfine interactions. VECC is equipped with K = 130 cyclotron and K = 500 SC cyclotron. It also has a dedicated medial cyclotron, which can accelerate protons up to 30 MeV with a current of 500 μA.

Bing Guo of the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) gave an overview of the Jinping Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA) experiment and some recent results. Located 2400 m underground, JUNA achieved, to date, the lowest background levels, which allows the experiments to measure key cross sections down to the fb level at stellar energies. JUNA took its first beam data from 2020 to 2021 and published papers that are influential for nuclear astrophysics. A few examples are the discovery of the new resonance at 225 keV in ¹⁹F(p,γ)²⁰Ne and the first measurement of ¹⁹F(p,αγ)¹⁶O in the Gamow window. JUNA will be upgraded to Super JUNA, increasing the beam energy and current by a factor of two, respectively, to cover various unexplored channels in nuclear astrophysics.

As the chair of NuPECC, Marek Lewitowicz at GANIL overviewed the European LRP for nuclear physics, which will be finalized in 2024. The LRP will review all nuclear physics facilities and major achievements, and then identify opportunities and priorities for nuclear science in Europe. The LRP provides national funding agencies, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), and the European Commission (EC) with a framework for coordinated advances in nuclear science in Europe.

Tomohiro Uesaka of RIKEN presents the highlights of low-energy nuclear physics in Japan. Some examples are the discovery of ³⁹Na on the neutron dripline, the precise measurement of nuclear masses using the Multi-Reflection Time-Of-Flight (MR-TOF) technique, the molecular structure of ¹⁰Be, evidence of the tetraneutron state, the first observation of ²⁸O, the deduction of the amount of the chiral condensate using the pion as a probe, and the first electron-RI scattering at SCRIT.

Hideyuki Sakai of RIKEN summarized the ongoing effort to search for superheavy elements (SHE) at RIKEN. In 2016, RIKEN discovered ²⁷⁸Nh with Z = 113 using a cold fusion reaction. As the next step, RIKEN plans to discover Z = 119 elements using a hot fusion reaction. For this purpose, the RIKEN Linear ACcelerator (RILAC) and GAs-filled Recoil Ion Separator (GARIS) were upgraded to SRILAC and GARIS-III, respectively. In addition, the SC ECR ion source was added for generating high-intensity beams. The target was prepared in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA. The measurement has started in 2020.

Kevin Insik Hahn of IBS introduced the research activities of the Center for Exotic Nuclear Studies (CENS), which consists of four groups: nuclear astrophysics, structure, reaction, and theory. CENS is preparing several detector systems such as the position-sensitive silicon detector system (STARK), super-clover gamma-detection array (ASGARD), and active-target time projection chambers (TexAT_v2 and ATOM-X). CENS is expected to play leading roles in the experiments at RAON as well as other RIB facilities.

Hirokazu Tamura of Tohoku University overviewed the hadron experimental facility of J-PARC and the status of high-energy nuclear physics in Japan. The extension of the hadron experimental facility of J-PARC was selected as the top priority project at KEK, and the construction is expected to start in ~ 2029. After the extension is completed, an additional production target and four new beamlines will be available. He also summarized the Japanese activities in ALICE at LHC, CERN, and Beam-Energy Scan (BES) program of STAR and sPHENIX at RHIC, BNL.

Taku Gunji of the Center for Nuclear Study, at the University of Tokyo summarized the Asian collaboration for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at BNL, USA. Recently, researchers from China, India, Japan, Korea, and Chinese Taipei, who are interested in the EIC project, formed the EIC-Asia Collaboration. The goal of the regional collaboration is to organize the various areas of expertise on detector technologies and to play a leading role in the various projects. Presently, the collaboration is concentrating on developing and building the Si tracking detectors, particle identification (PID) detectors, and calorimeters for the ePIC detector system. The EIC-Asia Collaboration organizes regular workshops and monthly online meetings.

There were four theory-based talks during the symposium. As the first speaker, Furong Xu of Peking University presented Ab initio Gamow shell model calculations, considering the continuum effect. He applied this model to weakly bound or unbound nuclei. The result showed the importance of the coupling to continuum and three-nucleon forces, and to predicting the resonances in tetraneutron and ²⁷,²⁸O states. The second talk was given by Denny Sombillo of the University of the Philippines. He discussed ambiguity in the interpretation of scattering line shapes. In hadron spectroscopy, most of the resonances are observed near the two-hadron thresholds, and they could be explained by different models. He used the uniformized S-matrix and investigated the ambiguity introduced by the pole structure. With a related topic, Atsushi Hosaka of the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University discussed the structure of exotic hadrons near the threshold. The data requires not only the molecular states but also the compact quark states near the threshold regions. The final speaker, Anthony Thomas of the University of Adelaide, argued that the global QCD analysis of the deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) data from around the world provides a strong hint for the existence of dark photons in the few GeV regions.

4 The Physical Society of Japan: The 5th (2024) Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize by JPS

The late Fumiko Yonezawa, emeritus professor of Keio University, made major contributions to physics, such as the development of the coherent potential approximation, and the theory of the metal–insulator transition in liquid selenium. Prof. Yonezawa served as the first female president of the Physical Society of Japan (JPS) and as the president of the Society for Women Scientists for a Bright Future, she also promoted women scientists.

JPS has established the “Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize” to celebrate the achievements of Prof. Yonezawa and to honor and encourage the activities of the women who are members of JPS.

Several prize winners are selected once a year, with a maximum of about five recipients. The prize ceremony is held during the annual meeting of JPS. The prize recipients give commemorative lectures at JPS meetings within a period of one year after receiving the prize. Winners receive items such as certificates and honorary shields, as well as additional prizes, namely: (1) paid attendance fees for JPS meetings for the next three years; and (2) an exemption, of up to 200,000 JPY (yen), from publication fees and open access fees for the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan and from the article processing charges for the journal, Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, which is valid for submissions up to three years after the prize is received.

The citations of the winners of the 5th (2024) Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize are listed below.

Tomoko Ariga

Associate Professor, Division for Experimental Natural Science, Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University

Exploring three-flavor neutrino experiments at a particle collider

Dr. Tomoko Ariga’s work has studied neutrinos by using emulsion films.

In graduate school, she worked on the DONUT (Direct observation of the nu tau, E872) experiment at Fermilab in the USA by utilizing 800 GeV protons. Using a new analysis method that she developed, she increased the number of observed tau neutrino (which is one of the three kinds of neutrinos) events from 4 to 9, and she was the first to ever measure the cross-section of tau neutrinos.

After receiving her PhD, she joined the OPERA experiment at CERN in Europe and searched for events in which muon neutrinos changed to tau neutrinos due to oscillations between the two quantum states. Before her analysis, three events had been observed, but with her further analysis, she observed the fourth event and raised the significance of the observation of the oscillation from 3 sigmas to 4.2 sigmas.

After OPERA, she has been working on the CERN FASER experiment to observe TeV-order neutrinos produced by high-energy proton-proton collisions. Within this experiment, she proposed an experiment called FASERν as a co-spokesperson, received approval from the laboratory, and prepared the experiment. She first ran a test experiment by placing emulsion films in the experimental hall and demonstrated that neutrino events could be detected even in a high-background-rate environment. This also demonstrated for the first time that high-energy proton colliders can be used as neutrino sources. The FASERν group then collected data with the proposed detector. At an international conference in 2023, Dr. Ariga gave an invited talk showing the group’s first result from their experiment, where they observed 7 events. By analyzing the remaining data, the number of events is expected to increase by a factor of 100. This will open a new window to study neutrinos in the TeV energy region.

As described above, Dr. Ariga has taken a leadership role in large international collaboration experiments and pursued studies on neutrinos by utilizing emulsion film technology. Dr. Tomoko Ariga thus deserves to receive the Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize of the Physical Society of Japan.

Mari Einaga

Assistant Professor, KYOKUGEN, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University

Experimental study of hydrides showing high-temperature superconductivity under high pressure

Room temperature superconductivity is one of the biggest goals for modern physics. It is an especially topical subject these days because some hydrides have exhibited much higher superconducting critical temperatures (Tc) at high pressures than the highest previous Tc on the order of 100 K for cuprate superconductors. Dr. Mari Einaga experimentally showed for the first time that sulfur hydride, which was found to have very high Tc above 200 K, is H₃S with a body-centered cubic structure, through electron transport measurements combined with crystal structure analysis using synchrotron radiation. She further confirmed this conclusion by measuring high-purity H₃S samples produced by laser heating at high pressures. These findings have been lauded as important results for the study of superconductivity and have led to further research in the search for room-temperature superconductivity. In addition to these remarkable achievements, Dr. Einaga has made many contributions to the study of pressure-induced superconductivity for various materials, including bismuth telluride and lanthanum hydride. Further significant contributions to condensed matter physics are expected from her excellent experimental techniques and ongoing domestic and international collaborations. Dr. Einaga thus deserves to be awarded the Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize of the Physical Society of Japan.

Rina Tazai

Assistant Professor, YITP, Kyoto University

Study of quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated metals with geometrical frustration

Dr. Rina Tazai has made remarkable achievements in several phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems, where the effects of electron–electron interactions dominate, and where it is necessary to go beyond the conventional mean-field treatment and incorporate higher-order corrections in the electron-correlation effects. Specifically, using functional renormalization group theory, she has numerically demonstrated orbital ordering in transition-metal compounds due to higher-order electron correlations and unconventional superconductivity due to orbital fluctuations. In particular, she proposed a mechanism of s-wave superconductivity in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCu₂Si₂, in which multiple degrees of freedom are prominent, due to the attractive interaction caused by electric hexapole fluctuations, and explained the reported experiment by another group. The fact that the experimentally observed s-wave superconductivity was explained by her theory is a highly original achievement, despite the fact that d-wave superconductivity has been considered to occur in CeCu₂Si₂ before the observation and her explanation. In terms of specific calculation methods, she has developed an original method that effectively calculates orbital ordering. The improvement of the program and the physical exploration of the program are remarkable in the field of condensed matter theoretical research, and we commend her for being worthy of the Fumiko Yonezawa Memorial Prize of the Physical Society of Japan.

5 The Physical Society of Japan Announces the Recipients of the 29th Outstanding Paper Award by JPS

In recognition of important achievements toward progress in physics, the Physical Society of Japan (JPS) annually selects outstanding papers from original research articles published in the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Progress of Theoretical Physics, Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, and JPS Conference Proceedings. The selection committee has chosen four papers for the 2024 award based on 18 nominations (for 18 papers) made by the editors of the JPS journals and representatives of the 16 divisions of the JPS.

   The 2024 award ceremony will be held at noon on September 18, 2024.

   The titles of the four selected papers, together with their citations, follow below.

Superconductivity of 2.2 K under Pressure in Helimagnet CrAs

J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 83, 093702 (2014)

Hisashi Kotegawa, Shingo Nakahara, Hideki Tou, and Hitoshi Sugawara

Quantum-critical phenomena are one of the central issues in condensed matter physics, and research continues to progress. The authors reported for the first time that by applying relatively low pressure to CrAs, known as a helical magnetic material, a superconducting state appears with the suppression of the magnetic phase. This is the first example of superconductivity observed in a chromium-based material. It is also interesting that superconductivity appears in the vicinity of the helical magnetic phase. This result is based on the successful synthesis of high-quality crystals and the utilization of precise electrical resistance measurements under pressure. The data quality is extremely high and the paper’s overall value is even stronger when we consider that this paper introduced a clear pressure–temperature phase diagram. In addition, while similarities in phase diagrams with unconventional superconductors such as iron-based superconductors were demonstrated, this compound has differences in the dimensionality of electronic states between other materials, promoting the subsequent search for new superconducting materials and research on quantum critical phenomena. Indeed, pressure-induced superconductivity has been discovered in chromium- and manganese-based compounds having magnetic structures similar to those of CrAs, Furthermore, new physical properties of CrAs, such as quasilinear quantum magnetoresistance, were revealed. These results are noteworthy in the research of quantum critical phenomena. Therefore, this paper deserves the Outstanding Paper Award from the Physical Society of Japan.

Detection of Phase Transition via Convolutional Neural Networks

J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 86, 063001 (2017)

Akinori Tanaka and Akio Tomiya

In recent years, machine learning has often been used in physics research. This paper presented one methodology for detecting phase transition temperatures of statistical mechanical models by machine learning using convolutional neural networks.

Since the two-dimensional Ising model targeted in this paper has an exact solution, the exact value for the phase transition temperature is also known. The authors constructed a neural network that predicts the temperature from the spin configuration and further showed that the phase transition can be detected by using the weight parameters of the neural network to define new order parameters that are different from those usually used. The obtained ferromagnetic phase transition temperatures are generally consistent with the exact solution; however, when compared to the best numerical calculations, they do not exhibit the highest accuracy.

This work is recognized as one of the early papers that demonstrated the usefulness of machine learning in physics. It is also recognized as pioneering in that it proposed a method that utilizes the weight parameters of a neural network rather than treating it as a black box. This paper has made a significant impact on subsequent research. For these reasons, this paper deserves the Outstanding Paper Award from the Physical Society of Japan.

Topological Hall Effect from Strong to Weak Coupling

J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 87, 033705 (2018)

Kazuki Nakazawa, Manuel Bibes, and Hiroshi Kohno

This paper studies the topological Hall effect, which is an electron transport phenomenon in magnetic textures such as magnetic skyrmions. The authors applied a spin gauge field and linear response theory to calculate the Hall effect in wide parameter ranges. In the strong coupling region, the Hall effect is determined by the Berry phase of magnetic textures, as previously understood, but in the weak coupling region, the Berry phase is diluted because of spin diffusion, and the Hall effect differs strongly depending on the parameter region. This paper is important in that it provides a unified theoretical description that covers weak to strong coupling regimes. The results are not only greatly helpful for the interpretation of experiments but also deepen our understanding of the phenomenon. This is an outstanding achievement that deserves the Outstanding Paper Award of the Physical Society of Japan.

Unique Helical Magnetic Order and Field-Induced Phase in Trillium Lattice Antiferromagnet EuPtSi

J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 88, 013702 (2019)

Koji Kaneko, Matthias D. Frontzek, Masaaki Matsuda, Akiko Nakao, Koji Munakata, Takashi Ohhara, Masashi Kakihana, Yoshinori Haga, Masato Hedo, Takao Nakama, and Yoshichika Ōnuki

This paper presents the antiferromagnetic order and field-induced magnetic structure in the rare-earth intermetallic compound EuPtSi, which possesses an urmanite-type structure. These characteristics were revealed through single-crystal neutron diffraction. Additionally, this study reports the discovery of an order that corresponds to a magnetic skyrmion lattice.

Magnetic skyrmions are vortex-like aggregates of spins, known for their topologically protected stability. This stability has led to their use in innovative magnetic storage devices. In 2009, a triple-q structure on a two-dimensional triangular lattice was observed in the chiral 3D electron system of MnSi. This structure demonstrated the topological Hall effect and garnered significant attention. Following this discovery, similar phenomena were observed in other 3d-electron compounds, leading to research focused on practical applications. However, in 2018, an unusual anomalous Hall effect was reported in the antiferromagnet EuPtSi. This finding hinted at the potential for the first magnetic skyrmion lattice in a 4f electron system. Due to the lack of microscopic observations, further verification of this phenomenon was necessary.

This paper details a microscopic study that combines various neutron diffraction techniques to investigate magnetic structures. A key finding is the significant difference in the size of the magnetic skyrmion lattices between MnSi and EuPtSi. In MnSi, the diameter of the lattice is approximately 180 Å, while in EuPtSi, it is markedly smaller, around 18 Å, an order of magnitude less. This smaller size in EuPtSi is noteworthy as it suggests a larger emergent magnetic field due to the magnetic skyrmions, which could lead to a greater topological Hall effect. Indeed, an increase in the topological Hall effect has been observed in EuPtSi.

This study is particularly groundbreaking as it is the first to microscopically capture magnetic skyrmion lattices in rare-earth compounds. It provides vital insights into the formation mechanisms and complex physical properties of these lattices. The paper’s contributions to the field, especially in guiding subsequent explorations and theoretical studies of magnetic skyrmion lattices in rare-earth compounds, are significant. It is due to these substantial contributions that this paper is deemed an outstanding accomplishment and is deserving of the JPSJ Best Paper Award.

Non-invertible topological defects in 4-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ pure lattice gauge theory

Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2022, 013B03

Masataka Koide, Yuta Nagoya, and Satoshi Yamaguchi

The generalization of the notion of symmetry in quantum field theory has been studied from various angles in recent years. In particular, the importance of expressing generalized symmetries in terms of topological defects has been realized, and at the same time the existence of 'non-invertible symmetries', which, unlike the case of groups, do not have inverse elements, has become apparent. In this paper, by extending the method of topological defects in the two-dimensional Ising model with Kramers-Wannier duality and Z₂ symmetry, concrete examples of topological defects and non-invertible symmetry in four dimensions are given constructively for the first time. Specifically, in a four-dimensional Z₂ lattice gauge theory with Kramers-Wannier-Wegner duality and 1-form Z₂ symmetry, the topological defects associated with this duality and symmetry are derived, and their commutation relations and the existence of non-invertible symmetry are explicitly given. This paper is recognized as an achievement worthy of the Outstanding Paper Award of the Physical Society of Japan, as it has triggered a significant acceleration in the study of non-invertible symmetries in four-dimensional field theories with duality.

6 An Overview of Thai Research in Physics: Achievements and Roadmaps for the Future by TPS (Boonrucksar Soonthornthum, Dheerawan Boonyawan and Duangmanee Wongratanaphisan)

Introduction

Physics research and its applications have developed significantly in Thailand during the past decade. The importance of physics as a basic science platform for the sustainable development of technology and high-performance personnel and for making substantial contributions to the socio-economic development of Thailand is clear.

To make policy-driving and actionable plans in a manner that encourages sustainable development, organizations involved in policy-making and researchers have joined together to define the key research areas and specific high-priority problems for physicists in Thailand.

The goal is to support research areas where Thai researchers would have opportunities to initiate and collaborate on cutting-edge research projects in physics, and those research areas should be based on the existing strengths of the scientific infrastructures and human resources, including some related fields.

The Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP Center), established in 2007 under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation, addresses the shortage of physicists in Thailand. Evolving into a hub for physics expertise in ASEAN, the ThEP Center collaborates globally on theoretical and applied problems, fosters partnerships, and positions Thai scientists as global leaders. This initiative underscores the ThEP Center’s pivotal role in advancing physics for Thailand’s sustainable development.

Finally, the Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI) Funding Agency under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MHESI) has established a strategic plan for a Thailand Frontier Research Roadmap (2020–2027) and granted financial support to promote potentially fundamental research areas in three particular platforms in physics, namely quantum technology (QT), earth as space system (ESS) and high energy physics (HEP).

A White Paper and Action Plans on Thailand Frontier Research Roadmap:

Thailand’s frontier research has been endorsed as one of the important Action Plans of TSRI’s policy and strategy (2021–2027), in which annual budgets have been secured through managing the Program Management Unit (PMU). A white paper on the Thailand Frontier Research Roadmap has been set up to identify and initiate concrete ecosystems of frontier research in Thailand, i.e., to foster cooperation among the existing national and international research units/organizations, to provide opportunities for Thai researchers to participate in groundbreaking research projects, and to support education and technological development with the goal of self-reliance and ownership of critical technologies. Correspondingly, with the development of new technologies, the creation of new industries is anticipated, which would strengthen the long-term and sustainable development of Thailand Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

White papers on three Thai frontier research areas in physics [1]

Quantum technology

Quantum technology is anticipated to be one of the key driving technologies in the future. Approaching the quantum era, major geopolitical players have joined together and developed their respective prototypes of quantum computers. Quantum technology will have future global implications for science and technology as a whole, and investment in quantum technology is anticipated to lead to opportunities for many novel innovations.

Thailand has also realized how important it is to keep up with global development in quantum technology. Currently in Thailand, approximately 200 researchers and new PhD graduates work in universities and research institutes conducting research on the development of quantum technologies. In 2018, Thailand made headlines with the launch of the Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) Research Network. TSRI brought together researchers from the network to collaborate in formulating strategies and action plans for quantum technology by setting up a roadmap for the development of the following 3 areas of research:

• 1. Quantum computing and simulation

• 2. Quantum Communication

• 3. Quantum metrology and sensing

Figure 2 provides an overview of the 10-year roadmap for the development of the three research areas listed above, which TSRI has approved.

Fig. 2

The three pillars of quantum technology development in Thailand [1]

In the research area of quantum computing and simulation, university research institutes, including the Quantum Technology Foundation of Thailand (QTFT), have joined together in “Work Integrated Learning (WIL)” programs for Thai students in order to enhance their education in quantum technology and to provide networking opportunities for them as they work with experts who are currently involved in the commercial development of quantum technology.

Thailand has also made significant progress in the field of quantum communication. Thailand aims to develop a quantum key distribution system, which allows the secure distribution of encryption keys between two locations. The quantum key distribution system is expected to be the keystone of a comprehensive framework for future Internet network data security.

Quantum metrology and quantum sensors are areas of interest and development in Thailand’s quantum technology landscape. Thailand has been actively involved in research and development efforts to advance quantum sensors and metrology tools to improve the precision and sensitivity of sensors for various applications.

Earth and space system

Thailand has developed a strategic roadmap for the “Earth and Space System.” The program focuses on the intelligent use and distribution of infrastructures and human resources, the development of public policy, the support of novel research, and the examination of new business models for utilizing observations of the Earth and space technology to benefit Thailand. More concretely, the anticipated benefits to Thailand are sustainable development, and the enhancement of national security and quality of life for Thai people, via food and energy safety, cities and societies safety, disaster climate safety, space safety and security, and space technology and missions.

The Thai Space Consortium (TSC) is a collaboration between several organizations in Thailand, notably the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI), the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), and many more research academic institutes under a MoU signed in April 2021. The collaboration aims to promote space technology development and research in the country, fostering knowledge sharing among its members and international organizations. Small TSC satellites, namely TSC Pathfinder and TSC-1, are under construction in collaboration with the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) and the China National Space Agency (CNSA). The primary payloads of TSC-1, such as cosmic ray detectors, hyperspectral imaging for observations on Earth, and space weather, are developed in advanced laboratories in Thailand. The new development of TSC-2 and some primary payloads are planned, with a goal to probe the Moon and achieve space communication by 2030 Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

The strategic roadmap on Earth and space system [1]

High energy physics

Thailand has been actively involved in high-energy physics research and collaborations, contributing to global advancements in this field. The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) signed an MoU with Deutsches Elextronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in November 2015 for astroparticle physics collaboration and became a full member of a European megaproject called the “Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).” To become a full member of CTA, Thailand made an in-kind contribution to the construction of a mirror coating machine for the thin-film coating of approximately 6400 mirrors used in the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project, which is planned to be operated in 2024 for the detection of high energy gamma-ray radiated from distant celestial gamma-ray sources. The Thai-CTA consortium organized by Thai high-energy physics groups has made a research roadmap and produced new physics research with CTA publications.

In March 2009, Thailand, through the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI), signed the “Expression of Interest (EOI)” with “The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)” project, a general-purpose detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of CERN. Thai researchers have opportunities to be trained and involved in several research projects at CERN. Summer Schools at CERN and DESY also provide opportunities for teachers and school students from Thailand to participate annually.

Proton therapy is an effective technique using high-energy physics for cancer treatment. Thailand's first proton therapy system was installed at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH) in 2019. KCMH has collaborated with Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) to explore the possibility of developing a proton computed tomography (pCT) prototype [2]¹. According to the roadmap, the pCT prototype is expected to be designed and installed in 2026. The pCT prototype will be one of Thailand's flagship projects in high-energy physics in Thailand, which will enhance the development of Thai scientists and engineers in high-energy physics.

It is expected that the further development of high-energy physics in Thailand will lead to novel research projects on high-energy physics and astrophysics, which could trigger the development of the HEP industry in Thailand by 2030 for advanced detectors and materials, big data and artificial intelligence, and beam therapy Fig. 4.

Fig. 4

The strategic roadmap on high energy physics [1]

Plasma physics and technology

Since the Thailand Tokamak-I (TT-1) was installed in early 2023 by the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT), plasma diagnostic systems have also been designed and implemented to conduct experiments in high confinement modes. Sector K is designated for the installation of the HIBP diagnostic system and can offer non-disturbing, local measurement of plasma electric potential and various plasma parameters as shown in Fig. 5. The HIBP system consists of two main components: (1) the primary beam injection, and (2) the detection of the secondary beam. In the injection system, the incident direction of the primary beam into the plasma is controlled by two pairs of electrostatic sweepers. For detecting the secondary beam, the electric field is produced by electrostatic sweepers, each with a length of 0.25 m and inclined at 30 degrees. Candidate ions, such as Cs + (n̄_e ≤ 1 × 10¹⁹ m⁻³), Rb + , and K + (n̄_e ≥ 1 × 10¹⁹ m⁻³), with varying energies, are evaluated for their suitability based on beam attenuation and plasma density conditions. This provides valuable insights for integrating the HIBP diagnostic system into TT-1, enabling investigations of H-mode plasma physics phenomena.

Fig. 5

The TT-1 vacuum vessel (top-view) for all diagnostic systems installation [3] with permission from Elsevier

Low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma is a new technology that is the alternative modality for treating many conditions, e.g., deducting the number of bacteria and their biofilm to heal chronic wounds for plasma medicine. There are forthcoming studies generating and characterizing plasma medical solutions (PMS) [4]. To optimize PMS for cancerous cells and anti-viral efficacy: in vitro before an in vivo biocompatibility and antiviral effect test. PMS could potentially be used for the treatment of respiratory infections, thus respiratory infectious virus treatment device through safety and efficacy verification in animal models before further pre-clinical evaluation of the PMS. Nightingale® is a pulse-controllable cold air plasma jet device using the surrounding air in the environment to generate reactive oxygen–nitrogen species (RONS), including nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻), hydroxyl (^.OH), free oxygen atoms (O), and ozone (O₃). These ions interact with surrounding H₂O molecules, forming hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), nitrite (NO₂⁻), nitrate (NO₃⁻), nitrous acid (HNO₂), and nitric acid (HNO₃). Applying cold air plasma to living tissue results in elevated intracellular nitric oxide (NO) and other RONS levels that might act as cellular signaling molecules that promote cellular survival and proliferation and stimulate factors for the tissue-healing process.

Other plasma technologies are based on a “solution plasma” process to circumvent complex preparation steps and offer an environmentally friendly approach, by applying a solution plasma in synthesizing efficient energy storage materials based on MnO₂ [5]. The method is extended to cover composites involving reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a starting precursor, an ordinarily complex precursor for preparing metal composites in an aqueous environment. A lab-scale prototype will also be developed to illustrate the potential of the solution plasma-synthesized rGO-MnO₂ composite and its promise for commercial prospects. Further, it investigates the effect of the annealing process at various temperatures and annealing times on the electrochemical properties and performance of the composites synthesized Fig. 6.

Fig. 6

Cyclic voltammograms for rGO-MnO2 composites prepared using different durations of solution plasma [5]. (Courtesy of P. Pakawatpanurut, with his permission)

ThEP center: physics hub for Thailand

The ThEP Center guides progress corresponding with the goals specified in the 13th National Economic and Social Development Plan driving advancements in physics, technology, innovation, and central research facilities. Concurrently, the research community at the ThEP Center investigates quantum materials like topological insulators, superconductors, magnetic materials, and 2D materials such as graphene (Fig. 7), applying findings to electronics, optics, and quantum technologies [6, 7].

Fig. 7

Graphene and reduced graphene oxide, synthesized by researchers within the ThEP Center Network. (Photo credit: King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang)

Advancements in many-body systems reveal unconventional states, laying the groundwork for quantum computing. Precision photonics and laser science use short-pulse lasers for ultrafast process decoding. A chapter on energy harvesting highlights perovskite solar cells and PEMFC for sustainable energy. Surface physics and nanotechnology enable atomic-level manipulation for diverse applications. The narrative concludes with central research facilities using femtosecond lasers and free electron lasers to probe ultrafast processes (Fig. 8). This reflects a commitment to innovation, anticipating quantum leaps in technology. Topics include superconductivity, surfaces, interfaces, thin films, dielectrics, ferroelectrics, semiconductors, and condensed fluids [8,9,10].

Fig. 8

The first research facility for infrared/THz free-electron laser in Thailand and South-East Asia. (Photo credit: Chiang Mai University)

Conclusion

In conclusion, through Thai national policies and with the ThEP Center’s impactful initiatives during the past decade, Thailand has initiated a platform on frontier scientific research areas such as quantum technology, earth and space systems, and high energy physics. Thailand has made significant contributions in these three particular fields and has had opportunities to be actively engaged in groundbreaking research in these fields.

In the field of quantum technology, Thai researchers have made significant contributions to the development of quantum research groups and laboratories on quantum computing, quantum internet, quantum metrology, and sensing. It is anticipated that their research outcomes will foster a positive socio-economic impact in various industries in Thailand.

In the area of the “Earth and Space System”, Thailand has focused on improving the understanding and monitoring systems to predict and manage food and energy safety, urban and societal safety, and disaster climate safety, including the development of space missions and supply chains for future space industries in Thailand.

Thailand has also made notable advancements in high-energy physics, particularly in particle physics and astrophysics. Thailand contributed to international collaborations with world-class institutes such as CERN, DESY, CTA, and JUNO. It is expected that Thailand will contribute quality research works and have more concrete involvement with world-class institutes for large-scale science projects in the future.

Overall, Thailand’s frontier research has been recognized as a national policy. This indicates the country’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of scientific research as a powerful tool for driving the development of economic growth and addressing societal challenges in Thailand and around the world.