On Friday 19 June 2020, researchers from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters the thousandth scientific article obtained by the Collaboration. CMS is the first experiment in the history of high energy physics to reach this impressive milestone, all the more surprising if one thinks that it was obtained using only a modest fraction of the data that is expected to be produced by the LHC. The accelerator, in fact, will run for another two decades and the data collected should increase by about a factor of 20 when the LHC moves to a new phase called the high luminosity LHC.
“A thousand of very high-quality scientific papers in a decade is an amazing result, a testimony of the rich physics spectrum provided by the LHC data, the versatility of our experiment and the ingenuity and dedication of our collaborators,”, said CMS Collaboration spokesperson Roberto Carlin. A demonstration of how single last generation “multipurpose” experiments are able to obtain a great deal of new results in many different physics sectors, like Higgs boson physics, stringent tests on the predictions of the Standard Model, search for new particles and signals of “non-standard” physics, heavy quark physics, Quark-Gluon plasma formation. Only a few years ago, they would have required dedicated experiments to be obtained.
In the thousandth article, the CMS Collaboration reports the first experimental observation of events containing three weak vector bosons, ie of the WWW, ZWW, WZZ and ZZZ type. These are very rare events, but essential to test the validity of the Standard Model, which requires them. The statistical significance of the signal relating to the combined production of three weak bosons is 5.7 standard deviations and the corresponding measured cross section is in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction.

For more informations
https://cms.cern/news/cms-collaboration-celebrates-1000th-paper?fbclid=IwAR1z1eCGe2P01vJ4nFTMku6OlQsbORT7JpZ7K-hbY7nHkWG1B0cBJB6J7DI

The discovery of the Quark world and leptons with real data

An IPPOG (International Particle-Physics Outreach Group) initiative created in Bologna by the local INFN section with the participation of the University of Bologna

»February 26, 2020

»February 27, 2020

»February 28, 2020

Designed to give secondary school students an opportunity to personally discover the world of particle physics, the International Masterclasses involve around 13,000 students from 55 countries every year. Each of the 225 universities or research centers participating in the initiative organize a “full immersion” day of lessons, exercises and measurements of physical quantities using the real data collected from experiments that study the fundamental constituents of the matter and the forces that govern them.
During the morning, researchers working in the field of particle physics will hold introductory seminars. Later in the afternoon the students, assisted by tutors, will carry out practical exercises on the computer using the same interactive graphic programs that are currently used by elementary particle physicists.

This year students who participate in the Bologna Masterclass will have the opportunity to choose between

February 26, 2020 – examine real events collected by the ATLAS experiment to rediscover the Z boson and other known particles, to search for the Higgs particle and finally to exalt possible evidence of particles still unknown.

or

February 27, 2020 – examine real events to look for strange particles (particles that contain the strange quark) produced in LHC collisions and revealed by the ALICE experiment. This research is based on the recognition of two different types of decay: those called ‘V0’ and ‘cascade’. An abundance of strange quark production could indicate a plasma quark-gluon formation signal.

or

February 28, 2020 – examine real events collected by the LHCb experiment to determine the best candidate events with D0 particles (particles that contain the charm quark) in order to study some important properties. LHC is not only a useful tool to search for new particles, but also a factory of particles already observed, but of which all the characteristics are not known.

At the end of the day the students will connect by videoconference with various European and non-European offices to discuss the results obtained.

In Bologna the “Teachers Day” will be organized at the same time as the students’ days and will be addressed to accompanying teachers. Together, teachers and students, they will carry out the planned exercises and activities. Only the teachers who will participate in the complete program will receive a certificate of participation.

The buffet lunch will be offered by the Bologna Section of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics.

Telling particle physics on social media to involve and reach even the students of the many Italian schools currently closed, and answer their questions on fundamental physics.
The direct Facebook of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics continues, which organizes, with its scientists, a new appointment entitled

“Particle Land: discovering the wonderful world of nuclei and beyond”

designed for secondary school girls and boys and their teachers.
It is possible to connect from home and already send the questions directly on the INFN Facebook and Instagram profile specifying the class, school and city. Our researchers will answer questions during the live broadcast.

  The next appointment is for Tuesday 17 March at 11:30 on the Facebook profile “INFN – National Institute of Nuclear Physics”
  with Marco Selvi, researcher of the INFN section of Bologna on the topic of Dark Matter research.

The “Marcello Conversi” Award, which is awarded annually by the INFN National Scientific Commission 1 for the two best doctoral theses in high energy physics, was awarded this year to Dr. Federico Betti (University of Bologna and INFN Section from Bologna). INFN recalls with this Award the figure of the distinguished physicist Marcello Conversi, who passed away 32 years ago, who with Ettore Pancini and Oreste Piccioni carried out a fundamental experiment in 1945 which is considered a milestone in the history of high energy physics, with which the nature of the muon was determined for the first time.
Dr. Betti received the prestigious Prize for a thesis entitled “CP violation in D0 → K + K- and D0 → π + π- decays and lepton-flavor universality test with the decay B0 → D * ντ”. thesis led to the first observation of the violation of the matter-antimatter symmetry (CP symmetry in technical jargon) with the charm quark, using the data of the LHCb experiment at CERN in Geneva. In particular, the asymmetry was observed in decays of particles containing a charm quark comparing them with the analogous decays of the respective antiparticles containing an anticharm quark The data analysis was carried out within the activities of the LHCb group of the INFN Section of Bologna and announced through press releases from CERN and the ‘INFN in March 2019. This measure opens the way in search of possible new processes of violation of CP symmetry in charm particles, with the aim of highlighting new fe nomenes that go beyond the current Standard Model of elementary particles.
As soon as the health emergency permits, Dr. Betti will have to present his work at a meeting of the National Scientific Commission 1.
In the photo, Dr. Betti – the top five from the left – toasts after his speech at the Moriond Electroweak 2019 conference, along with other physicists present at the event (credits L. Fayard).

Martedì 12 maggio, all’interno della trasmissione “Italiani” condotta da Paolo Mieli, andrà in onda, in prima assoluta, alle ore 21.10 su Rai Storia (canale 54), il docu-film “Una cattedra per Laura Bassi. Bologna 1732”, dedicato alla prima donna che ha avuto una cattedra universitaria.

L’INFN di Bologna ha partecipato alla realizzazione con il contributo della Dott.ssa L. Malferrari, del Dott. F. Odorici e della Dott.ssa C. Sbarra.