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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. 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.

High Energy Particle Physics with accelerators

Particle accelerators as the CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are perfect tools to test our current understanding of the microscopic description of the Universe, encoded in the so-called Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics. At the same time, we know the SM to be incomplete and accelerator experiments offer a unique guidance for theory development. Experiments at LHC can open a window to physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM), directly producing new particles at the energy frontier or observing small departures from known physics.

ATLAS, CMS, LHCb, MUonE, SHiP

Nuclear Physics

The study of nuclear reactions and the measurements of their cross sections offer a direct link to the comprehension of several astrophysical and cosmological mechanisms, such as the chemical evolution of the Galaxy and the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. In addition, the knowledge of how nuclei fragment when they interact has important implications for medical applications, such as hadrotherapy for oncological treatments. On a much larger energy scale, heavy ion collisions at the LHC are able to produce a peculiar nuclear state with very high energy densities – known as Quark Gluon Plasma – believed to have existed in the very first instants of the Universe.

ALICEFOOT, FAMU,  n_TOF, NUCL-EX

Neutrino Physics

The discovery of non-zero neutrino masses provided the first direct evidence of physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). This calls for precise measurements of the new fundamental parameters of the SM and for an investigation of the mechanisms able to generate such tiny masses. In particular, the experimental quest for the intrinsic nature of neutrinos could shed light on the mechanisms connected to the unification of fundamental interactions at very large energy scales.

CUORE, ENUBET, NU@FNAL

Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology

The cosmos is a gigantic laboratory that enables us to probe the fundamental laws of physics using a complementary approach to accelerator-based experiments. Underground, underwater and space-born experiments are conceived to answer some of these fundamental questions: which cosmic engines are able to produce ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos? Which elusive form of matter constitutes the bulk of the content of the Universe? What kind of energy is responsible for the acceleration of the Universe?

AMS, DarkSide, EUCLID, KM3, LVD, XENON

Detector R&D, Technology Transfer and Computing

The intrinsic complexity of fundamental physics experiments requires operating at the technology frontier and history witnesses that research output is beneficial to society in the long run. Detectors with ever-increasing spatial and timing resolutions are currently built to cope with the requirements of nuclear and subnuclear physics experiments. This in turn requires reconsidering new electronics technologies able to handle the enormous data flows and the development of new software and computing solutions able to sustain the new challenging conditions.

OPH, TIMESPOT

People

keywords: High-energy physics, Future circular collider, IDEA detector concept, KEY4HEP, Simulation
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Andrea Alici

Associate Professor

keywords: LHC, high-energy physics, heavy-ion collisions
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Silvia Arcelli

Associate Professor

keywords: Experimental Subnuclear Physics, Quark Gluon Plasma, Quantum Chromo Dynamics, Serches beyond the Standard Model,
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Giuseppe Baldazzi

Associate Professor

keywords: Multi-Energy monochromatic beams Radiology, X and gamma radiation Detectors, X-ray Linear Absorption Coefficient,
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Daniele Bonacorsi

Full Professor

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Giuseppe Carratta

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: CERN, ATLAS, High energy physics, Exotic Physics, Physics Beyond Standard Model, Silicon Detector

Manuel Colocci

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

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Andrea Contin

Full Professor

keywords: deep inelastic scattering, nuclear and subnuclear experimental physics, astroparticle physics, hadron colliders,
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Elena Cuoco

Full Professor

keywords: gravitational waves, artificial intelligence, signal processing

Stefano De Castro

Assistant professor

keywords: Heavy flavor production, GRID computing, Search of supersimmetries, Search of Higgs boson
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Tommaso Diotalevi

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: high energy physics, CMS, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data analysis, ICSC: Spoke 2, Software & Computing
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Francesca Ercolessi

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

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Laura Fabbri

Associate Professor

keywords: Large Hadron Collider - LHC, high energy phisics, phisics with accelerators, luminosity measurement, elementary
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Alessandra Fanfani

Associate Professor

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Fabio Ferrari

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: INFN, LHCb, Flavor physics, Quarks, CKM, CERN
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Paolo Finelli

Associate Professor

keywords: Hypernuclei, Nuclear parity violation, In-medium chiral dynamics, Exotic nuclei structure, Nuclear mean field model,
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Matteo Franchini

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Higgs, top, Exotic, BSM, Heavy neutrino, seesaw, Majorana neutrino, LHC, CERN, ATLAS, boosted, Kalman Filter, particle
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Alessandro Gabrielli

Full Professor

keywords: Firmware Design, Pixel Detectors, Trigger ans Data Acquisition (ATLAS TDAQ), Networking, High Energy Physics
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Domenico Galli

Associate Professor

keywords: Distriduted computing, Experimental trigger, Control systems, Unitarity triangle, Computational grid, CP symmetry
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Luigi Guiducci

Associate Professor

keywords: higgs, lhc, cms, trigger, muons
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Giuseppe Levi

Assistant professor

keywords: Silicon Photomultiplier, Astroparticle physics, SiPM, ZEUS, AMS-02, Neutrino
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Giacomo Levrini

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Data Science and Computation, Networking, ATLAS experiment, TDAQ
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Marco Lorusso

PhD Student

keywords: High energy physics, Machine Learning, Field programmable gate array, CMS Level-1 trigger
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Giovanni Malfattore

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

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Cristian Massimi

Associate Professor

keywords: Nuclear Astrophysics, s process, Neutron physics, Cross section measurements, Emerging nuclear technology
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Nicoletta Mauri

Associate Professor

keywords: Neutrino physics, neutrino oscillations, DUNE, Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology, Euclid
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Riccardo Ridolfi

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: hadrontherapy, nuclear physics, radiobiology, data analysis, data acquisition, FOOT, radioprotection
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Lorenzo Rinaldi

Associate Professor

keywords: Particle Physics
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Tiziano Rovelli

Associate Professor

keywords: particle detector, muons, metabolic radiotherapy, imaging, neutrino, scintillator, hyperthermia, Moodle, E-Learning,

Gilda Scioli

Associate Professor

keywords: particle physics, meson spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, standard model
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Maximiliano Sioli

Full Professor

keywords: High Energy Physics, Beyond Standard Model Physics, Collider Physics, Neutrino mass models
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Gian Piero Siroli

Assistant professor

keywords: Computing in High Energy Physics, CMS, LHC, High Energy Physics, Particle detectors, Computer and network security,
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Eugenia Spedicato

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

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Maurizio Spurio

Full Professor

keywords: Multimessenger aspects of neutrino astrophysics, Particle physics
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Sara Valentinetti

Associate Professor

keywords: ATLAS, Luminosity, Data acquisition systems, Hadrontherapy
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Mauro Villa

Full Professor

keywords: heavy flavour, Luminosity, Hadrotherapy, particle physics, Space radioprotection, Nuclear and subnuclear physics, Higgs
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Iacopo Vivarelli

Full Professor

keywords: BSM, Collider, Calorimetry, LHC, Standard Model, Top quark, Long Lived Particles
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Roberto Zarrella

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: FOOT, Nuclear fragmentation, Data analysis
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Antonio Zoccoli

Full Professor

keywords: Fast trigger systems, Artificial Intelligence, Heavy flavor studies, Electromagnetic calorimetry, Search of