Ana Cueto, Ramón y Cajal researcher in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and CIAFF member, has been awarded one of the prestigious Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) for her project "Plusphoton". These highly competitive grants support outstanding early-career researchers in launching their own projects and building independent teams.

Cueto’s project lies within the field of experimental high-energy physics and will analyze data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The initiative aims to redefine the photon isolation criteria used in proton collisions. This adjustment could significantly improve precision measurements of the Standard Model, particularly in processes involving photons with low transverse momentum. More ambitiously, the project may also open the door to identifying new Higgs boson production mechanisms that have not yet been observed. Such a breakthrough would deepen our understanding of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism that shaped the early Universe and is fundamental to explaining the origin of particle mass.

The ERC Starting Grant provides around €1.5 million over five years, enabling young researchers to establish their own teams and pursue their most promising scientific ideas. In the latest call, 478 researchers from 51 countries were selected, with 42% of the awarded projects led by women.

Congratulations, Ana!

Read more at UAM News: UAM – Ana Cueto receives ERC Starting Grant