Nuclear and subnuclear physics

In the Nuclear and Subnuclear physics group, we study the fundamental interactions of elementary particles and nuclei properties through experiments carried out at large national and international laboratories. Fundamental particles and force mediators are studied with large detectors at high-energy colliders like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Nuclear properties of matter and the formation of the quark-gluon plasma are also investigated in the same accelerator complex. Neutrinos have peculiar properties and their study requires dedicated facilities with long baselines. Another line of research uses natural particles produced in the Cosmos to study aspects of nuclear or subnuclear physics in a complementary way.

Gravitational waves produced by astrophysical sources also come from the cosmos and are searched for with extremely sensitive interferometers.

Most of the activities cover all the life stages of large experiments, with a time span of about 10-15 years: research and development of new devices for particle detection, design of experiments through feasibility studies and Monte Carlo simulations of the processes under investigation, implementation, testing and calibration of experimental tools, data taking and statistical data analysis. These research activities have the direct support of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN, National Institute of Nuclear Physics) which, thanks to the local Bologna section and the CNAF center, provides laboratories, detectors, instrumentation, computing power, funding and technical and research staff.

Projects

Research lines

People

Nuclear and subnuclear physics

Projects

Research lines

People