Three doctoral researchers from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) are part of the international scientific collaboration behind Francis Halzen’s 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics, highlighting India’s growing participation in neutrino research even as the country’s proposed underground neutrino observatory remains unrealised.

Anuj Kumar Upadhyay, Gopal Garg and Krishnamurthy Jayakumar are members of the IceCube Collaboration, which operates a neutrino observatory embedded deep beneath Antarctic ice. Halzen, a Belgian-American physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received the Nobel Prize on October 6 for his decisive contributions to the facility and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos originating from astrophysical sources.

The AMU connection offers a window into how Indian researchers participate in international experiments investigating some of the universe’s most energetic phenomena. It also highlights the distinction between contributing to a global research facility and building the domestic infrastructure needed to expand India’s independent capabilities.

Mohammad Sajjad Athar, chairman of AMU’s Department of Physics and the doctoral researchers’ supervisor, said the recognition was significant for the university’s neutrino physics programme.

“The recognition is particularly significant for AMU’s neutrino physics program and highlights the university’s sustained engagement with one of the most exciting frontiers of modern particle physics,” Athar told Awaz the Voice.

How IceCube Uses Antarctic Ice to Detect Cosmic Neutrinos

Halzen’s Nobel-winning work centres on neutrinos, electrically neutral subatomic particles with extremely small masses that can travel through matter with very little interaction. Because they rarely collide with atoms, detecting them requires enormous instruments capable of capturing the faint signals produced when interactions do occur.

Halzen proposed using the exceptionally deep, transparent ice at the South Pole to detect these signals. IceCube, completed in 2011, occupies approximately one cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice, with more than 5,000 light sensors installed at depths reaching about 2,500 metres.

When a neutrino interacts with matter near or within the detector, it can produce charged particles that emit detectable light. Researchers use these signals to investigate where high-energy neutrinos originate and what processes generate them.

Reuters reported that IceCube has established that high-energy neutrinos come from within the Milky Way as well as from beyond our galaxy. Such observations offer scientists a way to investigate extreme cosmic environments, including regions associated with black holes and other energetic astronomical objects.

The observatory is designed to complement conventional astronomy by detecting particles that can travel across vast cosmic distances without being deflected by magnetic fields.

India’s Neutrino Observatory Faces Infrastructure Challenges

India’s involvement in IceCube comes as the country continues to pursue its own India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), a proposed underground research facility intended to advance the study of neutrinos.

The project received Union Cabinet approval in 2015 with an estimated cost of ₹1,500 crore. Its proposed location in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district has faced environmental objections and opposition over the site, delaying construction.

The project had yet to secure the conditions needed to begin construction, although efforts to establish an underground laboratory continued.

The distinction matters because participation in IceCube gives Indian researchers access to an established international experiment, while a domestic observatory could provide additional infrastructure for long-term research and training.

The next phase of IceCube itself is also being planned. IceCube-Gen2, an expanded facility expected to become operational in 2033, is designed to cover approximately eight cubic kilometres of ice and substantially increase the number of neutrinos researchers can detect.

For India, the Nobel recognition is more than an institutional milestone for AMU. It underscores the value of training researchers who can contribute to major international experiments, while the country can overcome infrastructure delays.