Project description
Reimagining particle physics with smarter, faster simulations
Understanding the universe’s most fundamental mysteries, ranging from the Higgs boson to dark matter, depends on precise particle simulations. While these simulations are essential for designing experiments and analysing vast amounts of data, they are becoming too slow and resource-intensive to keep up with scientific needs. With this in mind, the ERC-funded LEGO project aims to introduce a groundbreaking next-particle prediction approach. Inspired by how language models predict words, this method combines speed with intelligence to make simulations thousands of times faster while maintaining accuracy. LEGO is expected to open new possibilities across physics, engineering, and medicine.
Objective
"Answering the deepest questions in particle physics, from the laws governing the Higgs boson to the true nature of dark matter, relies crucially on particle transport simulation. Simulation is the best way to create the required pattern recognition algorithms to make sense of our data and to design precision experiments.
But the field is at an impasse: Physics insight scales with simulation, but after allocating billions of hours to this task, we are reaching a resource limit. Missing discoveries due to suboptimal algorithms or detector designs is a real danger for two reasons: Simulators are not only excruciatingly slow but also ""probabilistic black boxes"" that fail to extract the best information when it comes to algorithm training.
With LEGO, I will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers in Munich to re-imagine particle transport. Just as AI language models can create any text with ""next-word prediction,"" I will establish a new simulation model around ""next-particle prediction."" By predicting instantly what otherwise would take thousands of steps, LEGO will be the first ultra-fast simulation that retains the general-purpose nature of traditional simulators. LEGO will also be the first ""smart simulator"" in particle physics that provides access to probability and gradient data of the internal evolution of particle showers. This data enables us to extract more information without more simulation and is the key to reaching ultimate physics performance.
Smarter and faster simulations combine for an orders-of-magnitude more effective modeling of particle detectors. I will demonstrate the impact of such an advance for key applications for future colliders. In light of the European Strategy Update and AI advances, I exploit a crucial time window to create the best foundation for algorithm and detector design. As particle transport is crucial for fields far beyond particle physics, such as medicine, LEGO will open the door to a broad set of new applications."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics particle accelerator
- social sciences law
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80333 Muenchen
Germany
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