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News Sito Bologna in Inglese

Photo of Tiziano Peraro

ERC Startings Grants – Tiziano Peraro

Tiziano Peraro, researcher in theoretical physics at the University of Bologna and member of the research project QFT@Colliders of INFN, has been awarded one of the prestigious ERC Starting Grants 2021, by the European Research Council [1].

After obtaining his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and the TUM University in Munich, Tiziano worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Edinburgh, Mainz and Zurich. Since September 2020 he is researcher and teacher at the University of Bologna and INFN associate.

His scientific activity concerns the field of theoretical physics of fundamental interactions and related phenomenology, with the objective of finding the most fundamental constituents of nature – the so-called elementary particles – and understanding their interactions. His research project, for which he was granted 1.1 million euros, has the goal of developing new techniques for obtaining theoretical predictions at high precision and using them for studying the Higgs boson and the top quark.

These new predictions will be compared with high-precision measurements in high-energy scattering experiments, such as the ongoing ones at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, in Geneva. This will allow to either shed light on uncertain aspects of the Standard Model, or to find new physics, if present. The studies of Tiziano are about obtaining precise theoretical predictions, namely at a high perturbative order, especially for complex processes relevant for the LHC and involving many particles in the final state.

Tiziano developed new mathematical and computational techniques that led to huge progress in obtaining multi-loop amplitudes. Among these, finite fields and rational reconstruction techniques allow to replace complex algebraic calculations with much simpler ones involving “small” integers. Tiziano pioneered these techniques and their usage in the calculation of high-precision observables with many particles in the final state. Further development in these techniques will enable us to obtain high-precision theoretical predictions for key processes at the LHC, such as top quark pair production in association with a Higgs boson.

Tiziano’s research project will last five years and has several objectives, from the development of new cutting-edge techniques and computational methods, to the production of theoretical predictions to compare with experimental data, combining several fields of physics, mathematics and informatics. It is one of the 397 research projects (out of more than four thousand proposals) who won an ERC Starting Grant this year and the only one of these in the field of fundamental constituents of matter (PE2) hosted by an Italian institution.

 


[1] https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc_2021_stg_results_all_domains.pdf

Ukraine flag

FOR UKRAINE

The INFN Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics shares the strong and firm position of the European Union and of the Italian Government to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as well as any form of oppression among states and people, in the name of respect, confrontation and cooperation. These are the only and essential tools to have democratic states, guarantee the freedom of people, and achieve the progress of society. This is what science shows us every day as researchers, this is what we want to represent every day as a public scientific institution of a free and democratic State, these are our values.

In this deeply dramatic moment, which leaves all of us bewildered by its senselessness and brutality, we express our full solidarity with the Ukrainian people. And we assure our willingness to support the initiatives for peace and in support of people in difficulty that will be promoted by the Italian Government and the Ministry of University and Research. We are working to offer support to our Ukrainian colleagues with welcoming initiatives, and we will help to spread initiatives to help the Ukrainian population promoted by our local structures, our staff and the scientific community. INFN will also be aligned with the decisions of the Government and the Ministry of University and Research regarding the management of international scientific collaborations involving Russia. We would also like to express our deep sadness for the condition of Russian colleagues and their fellow citizens who suffer the tragic choices of their government. Science has been, is and will always continue to be, by its very nature, a place of freedom and a ground for dialogue and collaboration among people: we believe in this, as people and as scientists, and we work for this as INFN.

 

Event poster with N_TOF image experiment

Event for the 20th anniversary of n_TOF

The n_TOF facility at CERN, a project conceived by Carlo Rubbia in the late ’90s, started operations in 2001. In the occasion of its 20th anniversary, an event to mark the achievements and the future plans of the nuclear physics community working with neutrons worldwide, is organized by the n_TOF Collaboration at CERN. The event is an workshop NSTAPP – Neutrons is Science, Technology and Application, to be held at the Main Auditorium at CERN on 22th of November 2021.

NSTAPP will provide the opportunity to review the state of the art of neutron-induced reaction studies and their applications in science and technology. More in detail, after an overview of neutron facilities in the world, advancements in nuclear technology (energy production, nuclear waste transmutation and safety), formation of elements (Big Bang and stellar nucleo synthesis) as well as treatment of cancer with neutrons will be presented.

More details, including the program of the workshop, are available online at the https://indico.cern.ch/event/1073008/ webpage. It is possible to register and follow the event online.

We are glad to remind that the Bologna division of INFN is part of the international collaboration working at n_TOF since the beginning of the project.

More information on n_TOF: https://www.bo.infn.it/gruppo3/n_tof/

Contacts: Cristian Massimi massimi@bo.infn.it , Alberto Mengoni mengoni@bo.infn.it

Image of prof. Boscherini

Federico Boscherini has been appointed Chair of the Council of the XFEL laboratory

Professor Federico Boscherini, Deputy Director of the Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” at the University of Bologna  has been appointed Chair of the  XFEL, ( European X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility),with effect as of 1 July 2022 for a first term of two years.

The Council, is the supreme organ of the European XFEL, which decides on all important issues of the company (like the annual financial statement and the annual operation budget, and important personnel matters as well as the further development of the facility).

The European XFEL is located in the metropolitan area of Hamburg, Germany and is organized as a non-profit company under German private law (GmbH) that is publicly funded (total construction budget: 1.54 B€; operation
budget for 2022: 141 M€) through its international shareholders from 12 Europeancountries, including CNR and INFN from Italy.

Produzione di monopoli in collisioni di ioni pesanti di alta energia. Credits: James Pinfold - Collaborazione MoEDAL

MoEDAL: a new approach to the search for magnetic monopoles

The MoEDAL experiment at CERN‘s Large Hadron Collider recently published an article in  Nature on the search for magnetic monopoles generated in the strong magnetic fields – 10,000 times more intense than those present on neutron stars – produced in the collisions of Lead ions at LHC.

To know more:

Production of monopoles in collisions of high energy heavy ions. Credits: James Pinfold - MoEDAL Collaboration
Production of monopoles in collisions of high energy heavy ions. Credits: James Pinfold – MoEDAL Collaboration
Image of Maltoni

Fabio Maltoni appointed member of the Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) of CERN

On the 9th of Dec, Fabio Maltoni has been appointed to the Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) of CERN. The mission of the SPC is to make recommendations to the Council on the priorities of research programmes, on the annual goals of the various scientific activities, and the on scientific policy on the management and staffing of the Organisation. The appointments are “ad personam”, solely on the basis of scientific competence and not in representation of the states. The mandate, starting on 1st of Jan 2022, is for a period of three years, renewable once.
Image of the CERN of Geneva
 

Hands of two boys in front of a computer screen

OLIFIS ER-Marche summer school – 2021 edition

The 2021 edition of the Preparation Summer School  for the Physics Olympiad, addressed to 17-18  year-old students from the secondary schools in Emilia Romagna and Marche regions, will take place in Forlì at the Salesian Orselli Institute from August 30 to September 4.

Among the over 70 application forms, 32  students were selected on the basis of their school curriculum. The activities will include lectures and group activities on topics from previous editions of the Italian and International Physics Olympiad, with the support of about fifteen secondary school teachers.
The lessons will also be integrated with an afternoon visit to the former Caproni Galleries in Predappio for the presentation of the CICLoPE project and a visit to the Technopole of the University of Bologna at the Forlì Campus, for the presentation of the space missions in which Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering participates.

As part of the Summer School, two evening lectures-shows, with free admission (and reservation), will be offered to contribute to the dissemination of scientific culture in the area around Forlì.
The first appointment is “Space Toilets” by Paolo Attivissimo on Wednesday 1 September at 9.15 pm at the Teaching Hub in Forlì campus. Space exploration is certainly a fascinating adventure, but the zero-gravity experience requires to face few basic needs, such as going to the toilet, often with disastrous and very comical results.
The second evening conference will take us back to earth planet and its problems, with a very topical focus: global climate change. “GLOBAL PROBLEM” is the title of Federico Benuzzi’s show which will take place at the San Luigi movie palace in Forlì on Friday 3 September at 9.15 pm.

Since 2009, the Bologna division of the INFN has been promoting this summer school and contributing to its realization.
 

Photo Dr. Pietro Antonioli elected National Manager of EIC_NET

Pietro Antonioli has been elected National Coordinator of EIC_NET for a three year period, effective since November 1st

Pietro Antonioli has been elected National Coordinator of EIC_NET for a three year period, effective since November 1st.
EIC_NET is an initiative of CNS3, aimed to define INFN engagement in an international Collaboration of an experiment at the Electron-Ion collider at Brookhaven (USA), an accelerator approved by DoE in January 2020.
Congratulations to Pietro from the whole Section and “good luck” for the success of EIC_NET through next years challenges.

Picture on the presentation of Francesca Ercolessi awarded at the SQM conference with the "Andre Mischke Young Scientist Award"

Francesca Ercolessi’s talk awarded at SQM2021 with the “Andre Mischke Young Scientist Award”

INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia of University of Bologna stood out in the 19th edition of Strangeness in Quark Matter International Conference, which took place from 17 to 22 May 2021 (online)!
The topics which were discussed focus on new experimental and theoretical developments on the production of strange and heavy-flavour quarks in high energy heavy-ion collisions and in astrophysical phenomena, topics which are studied by the ALICE experiment at the LHC, in which INFN participates. The state of the art on these research topics was presented in 41 plenary session talks and 96 parallel session presentations.

This year experimental overview was presented by Francesca Bellini, who recently joined our Department.
Among the youngest speakers in the parallel sessions, Francesca Ercolessi, PhD student of the University of Bologna, was awarded with the “Andre Mischke Young Scientist Award”, for the best experimental presentation of a young scientist. In her talk [1], Francesca presented recent results which help better understand the origin of the increase in the production of particles containing “strange” quarks, observed in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, with the number of charged particles produced in the event, a result to which the Bologna group contributed in 2017 with a publication on Nature Physics [2].

 
[1] F. Ercolessi “Investigating the origin of strangeness enhancement in small systems through multi-differential analyses with ALICE” SQM2021 International Conference, 18 May 2021.

[2] ALICE Collaboration, Nature Physics 13, 535–539 (2017).

Event poster celebrating 10 years of operation of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer cosmic ray detector

10 years of AMS-02 on the International Space Station

On the 24th of May at 18:00 we will celebrate 10 years of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) on the International Space Station. We will have an open celebration on our AMS social pages (Facebook, Youtube).
Fifteen scientists of the AMS collaboration, from different Universities, the Italian Space Agency, and INFN, will discuss the history of the project, its detection principle, and its main results and answering to questions from the public. The event will be enriched by an open quiz on the Quizizz platform. The event will be held in the Italian language.