Frederico Fiúza, a full professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN), was one of the four winners of the 2024 Lev D. Landau and Lyman Spitzer Jr. Award for outstanding contributions to Plasma Physics. This award is jointly attributed by the American Physical Society and the European Physical Society.

The Lev D. Landau and Lyman Spitzer Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Plasma Physics is given to an individual or group of researchers for outstanding theoretical, experimental, or technical contribution(s) in plasma physics and for advancing the collaboration and unity between Europe and the United States of America by joint research or research that advances knowledge which benefits the two communities in a unique way.

In 2024, the award was given to a group of researchers: Frederico Fiúza (Instituto Superior Técnico), Anna Grassi (Sorbonne University, France), George Swadling (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) and Hye-Sook Park (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) “for the critical advancement in the understanding of the particle acceleration physics in astrophysically-relevant shocks through theoretical analysis and experiments at the National Ignition Facility”, according to the award committee.

The work that has now been recognised “has allowed us to better understand the physics of particle acceleration in astrophysical shock waves through theoretical analysis and experiments carried out in the world’s largest laser system, the National Ignition Facility (NIF), at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory”, explained Fiúza.

Frederico Fiúza became interested in the subject to “better understand how these particle accelerators work”. At the time, he was working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where “the NIF laser system had just been developed” (the world’s most energetic laser) and there was interest “in understanding whether these lasers could be used for other types of studies, particularly in astrophysics”. After returning to Técnico in 2023, the physicist continues ” collaborating on the theoretical and experimental studies” that began 12 years ago.

Regarding this distinction, the Técnico researcher says “being recognised by one’s peers is a source of pride, especially because it is associated with two such brilliant and influential researchers”. ” IPFN and Técnico are an example of how it is possible to carry out high-quality international research in Portugal”, he adds.

The award is named after pioneering physicists Lev D. Landau and Lyman Spitzer Jr., with Landau renowned for his contributions to quantum mechanics and condensed matter physics, and Spitzer celebrated for his visionary work in astrophysics and the development of space telescopes.

Frederico Fiúza’s research: opening new windows to the study of cosmic accelerators

The shock waves associated with the explosion of stars (supernova) are seen as accelerators of ultra-powerful cosmic rays (particles charged with electrons and protons). These waves will generate the most energetic particles from the Milky Way.

Cosmic rays have energies up to 100 times higher than those of the particles accelerated in the LHC (Larger Hadron Collider) at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. Despite the importance of these cosmic accelerators, it is still unclear how they work and what will make them so much more efficient than the accelerators built on Earth. Much of the difficulty lies in the fact that it is not possible to study them directly, given their great distance from Planet Earth – it is only possible to see the light emitted by the high-energy electrons.

Frederico Fiúza’s team has been trying to open a new window into the study of these accelerators by creating the relevant conditions to study their physics in the laboratory with very energetic lasers. In this way, scientists can test theoretical models for the acceleration processes and validate the numerical simulations to describe these astrophysical systems.

In recent years it has been possible for the first time to generate shock waves under conditions relevant to those generated by star explosions, something that had been attempted for decades – to observe the acceleration of electrons in these waves and to improve theoretical models for the acceleration mechanisms based on experimental results and comparison with numerical simulations.

In 2022, Frederico Fiúza was one of the researchers awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants.

*This text was written in collaboration with the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN)