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Thesis Opportunities in FAMU

One intriguing question of modern atomic physics is the discrepancy in the determination of the proton charge radius extracted from measurement of transition frequency in hydrogen atom and a recent measurement of the Lamb shift in muonic hydrogen. The discrepancy is the socalled proton radius puzzle.

The FAMU (Fisica degli Atomi MUonici – physics of muonic atoms) experiment aims to determine the Zemach radius of the proton by measuring the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen ground state.

Up to know, the Zemach radius has been measured only in ordinary hydrogen. Hopefully, this measurement with muonic hydrogen will shed some light on the proton radius puzzle.

The INFN section of Bo is in charge for the development of the main detector, consisting of several single units of fast and high energy resolution spectrometry.

In this context, there are two research works that can engage two undergraduates for their Thesis in Physics:

  • Study of new, advanced detectors for X and g  spectrometry with high energy resolution and high count-rate for the FAMU experiment, development and characterization of test units.
  • Development of new firmware algorithms for 1 GS/s Digital Signal Processing for Nuclear Physics applications.

Furthermore, a third topic, with a technological impact, is strongly requested in the medical area:

  • Application of a new detector for X and g spectrometry with high energy resolution and high count-rate for the characterization of X-ray beams for clinical diagnostics.