The ENW board has approved sixteen applications in the ENW-M Open Competition. Nikhef researcher Melissa van Beekveld is one of the recipients, and will use this grant to work on a project in the field of computer simulations.
Van Beekveld’s project, titled “ESME Stays Positive”, will develop faster and more accurate computer simulations of particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. These simulations are vital for understanding experimental data and testing fundamental physics. A major problem with current tools is “negative-weight events,” which are unphysical, slow computations and make data-analysis harder. The new proposed method, ESME, eliminates negative weights entirely, is faster than existing methods, and reaches unprecedented accuracy. With this advance, researchers will be able to make more precise comparisons between theory and experiment, opening the door to new discoveries about the fundamental laws of nature.
Van Beekveld: “I am incredibly happy with this award! The plan is to make simulation code more efficient, and with this proposal, we could really make an impact on the LHC’s energy consumption, particularly in data analysis.”
About the NWO Open Competition Domain Science-M
M-grants are intended for realising non-programmed, curiosity-driven scientific research with impact. There are four categories of M-grants:
- ENW‑M‑1: one scientific position
- ENW‑M‑1X: one ENW‑M‑1 application with an additional investment component
- ENW‑M‑1‑Weave: Dutch main applicant with one or more co-applicants from Germany, Flanders Luxembourg (NWO as ‘lead agency’ and DFG, FWO or FNR as ‘partner agency’)
- ENW‑M‑2: Two scientific positions in collaboration.
Source: NWO – https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/sixteen-innovative-research-projects-awarded-through-open-competition-domain-science-m-programme
