Nobelists urge reversal of UKRI’s Cern funding withdrawal

Leading scientists have urged the UK government to reverse the decision to withdraw funding from an upgrade to an experiment at Cern, Europe’s world-leading particle physics facility.

An open letter to the government, coordinated by an early career theory physicist, has expressed “deep concern” about the funding cut to a detector on the Large Hadron Collider called the LHCb.

Physics Nobelists David Politzer and Giorgio Parisi have signed the letter, alongside former Cern director-general Luciano Maiani and more than 400 other senior UK and international physicists.

Until UK Research and Innovation made the decision to cut the promised funds in January, the UK was leading on the programme called LHCb Upgrade II.

Matthew Kirk, postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology at Durham University, coordinated the letter as a final plea asking the government to “reconsider this decision”.

Kirk told Times Higher Education: “My letter shows the strong support from my colleagues across the community who believe that progress in theoretical physics across Europe will be set back for a generation if the cut is not reversed.”

The letter states: “LHCb delivers data that is essential for testing our most fundamental theories, which cannot be obtained anywhere else in the world. However, this all hinges on the LHCb Upgrade II programme.

“It is therefore inconceivable that previously awarded funding has been cut when its capabilities are so irreplaceable.”

Kirk said that “unless the UK government changes course soon, even the best-case scenario for the future of the LHC will leave fundamental questions only partially answered”.

In July UK scientists said a three-year pre-construction phase for the LHCb had been completed, building on prior technical design reports, accounting for £5 million of the planned £49.4 million upgrade. 

Chinese scientists and television physicist Brian Cox have previously condemned the UK’s decision to withdraw funding from the project. China is one of many other countries participating in the LHCb upgrade, 40 per cent of which was due to be funded by Italy and the UK; now Italy’s contribution also looks uncertain.

THE understands that there are concerns within the Cern council that China will take over the LHCb upgrade leadership, despite the power not paying a membership fee to Cern.

The letter warns: “The withdrawal of funding gravely weakens the UK's scientific leadership in an area where it has been historically world leading.”

It explains that the UK “forms a key part of the scientific base of the LHCb experiment – researchers at UK institutions account for 15 per cent of the collaboration, and both of the experiment’s two principal leadership roles are currently held by British scientists”.

Some particle physicists and early career researchers have already indicated that they would like to leave the UK because of a wider funding crisis. Going ahead with this decision would exacerbate this effect, Kirk warned.

The letter also says it is “staggering” that, 10 months after the initial cut was announced, UKRI and its Science and Technology Facilities Council are “unable to communicate a clear reason for the decision”.

Its signatories have “urged the government to in publish full the scientific basis on which the decision to cut funding from the LHCb Upgrade II programme was taken”.

A UKRI spokesperson said that it was taking forward “an exciting portfolio of new infrastructure investments, which include projects in clean energy, medical imaging and cultural heritage”.

“However, as usual, there were more exciting applications for funding than we were able to support,” UKRI said.

The spokesperson stressed that the UK “remains a fully engaged member state” of Cern as its second largest contributor, with an annual membership subscription of approximately £175 million per year.

frances.jones@timeshighereducation.com