HADRON-2030

Access to physics with hadrons at the frontier of knowledge: fundamental research and applications

The strong interaction is one of the cornerstones of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, and its experimental and theoretical study attracts an active community of about 2.500 researchers in Europe. The list of open fundamental questions at the frontier of our current knowledge in the strong interaction is very rich. It includes (i) the structure of hadrons, (ii) exotic hadron states, (iii) properties of dense quark matter, (iv) hot and dense quark-gluon plasma, and (v) precision tests of the SM in the quest for physics beyond the SM. Such research topics are studied with particle accelerators from very low energies up to the high energies in the multi-TeV regime at the LHC. The consortium includes 15 transnational facilities located in Europe and the United States, out of which 3 are ESFRI landmark infrastructures. It includes also six Virtual Access infrastructures and 49 academic or research organizations.

HADRON-2030 aims at critically advancing our fundamental understanding of the strong interaction by offering Transnational Access (TA) to flagship facilities and by coherent development of the research resources, thereby increasing knowledge exchange between EU groups and maximising scientific progress. The project also exploits the innovation potential in applied research by engaging with EU industry for the production of detector systems and by developing applications beyond fundamental physics, e.g. for medical imaging.

HADRON-2030 will lead to enhanced coordination within the European hadron, nuclear and particle physics communities, leveraging EU and national resources. The project will explore the limits of our current understanding of the strong interaction and hadrons, develop novel detector technologies, and will provide access to the world-class infrastructure, benefiting thousands of researchers participating in ongoing and future fundamental physics projects, and contributing to maintaining Europe’s leadership in the field.

HADRON-2030 receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101292522.

Keywords: Advanced computing, particle physics, hadron physics, nuclear physics, strong interaction, heavy ion collisions, quark-gluon plasma, Quantum Chromodynamics, fundamental symmetries, accelerator infrastructures, detector development

Project ID

101292522

Programme

HORIZON

DG / Agency

REA

Topic

HORIZON-INFRA-2025-01-SERV-03

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them