LUISA CIFARELLI — Centro Fermi, Rome (IT)

European Physical Society

University & INFN, Bologna (IT) — CERN, Geneva (CH)

SECONDA CONFERENZA DEI PROGETTI DEL CENTRO

FERMI

ROMA, 19 – 20 APRILE 2012 

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Mission

CENTRO FERMI is a research institution devoted to multidisciplinary studies.

It aims to integrate the knowledge generated in different fields, and to promote discussion among top scientists with different areas of expertise, in order to create what Enrico Fermi would have liked to realise in Italy: a centre dedicated to frontier research in physics and to its wide applications for the benefit of humankind.

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Main ActivitiesThe activities of CENTRO FERMI characterize its uniqueness:1. Grants, for "New Talents” and Senior/Junior

researchers, to study original and interdisciplinary research topics;

2. Research Projects, including those defined as Strategic Projects, for the realization and promotion of interdisciplinary original research;

3. Activities for the Dissemination of Scientific Culture and Historic Memory, through the restoration of the “Monumental Complex” of Via Panisperna, the old Institute of Physics which has an extraordinary historical value, to be used in part for the Museum.

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1. GRANTS

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Grants• CENTRO FERMI Grants – Fermi Grants – are

competitive to European scholarships for prestige and amount.

• 198 annual Fermi Grants have been awarded since 2002.

• Candidates are proposed by scientists belonging to prestigious Universities and major international Institutions.

• A candidate may be appointed a Fermi Grant for typically 3 years, up to a maximum of 5 years.

• Most of the Fermi Grant awardees have won competitions for prestigious (permanent) positions in Universities or Research Institutes in Italy or abroad.

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Grants• Fermi Grants are awarded for:

– CENTRO FERMI research (Strategical) Projects;

– free individual research topics.• In 2012:

– 37 Fermi Grants awarded (new Grants or renewals);

– 11 Fermi Grants (≈ 1/3) focused on individual topics.

• A list of some of the already assigned topics since 2002 follows variety & interdisciplinarity.

• First Stars and Early Galaxy Formation.• Statistical Physics for Cosmological Structures.• Phenomenology of Fundamental Interactions at

present and future Colliders.• Superconductivity at High Critical Temperature

and Electronic Correlation.• Non-Adiabatic Superconductivity and

Microscopic Mechanisms in High Critical Temperature Superconductors.

• Complex Systems Dynamics: High and Low Frequencies close to the Vitreous Transition.

• Analysis of Phase Transition Signals of Hadron-Quark Gluon Plasma in Ultra relativistic Heavy Ion Experiments.

• Supergravity and String and their consequences on Elementary Particle Physics.

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Grants

awarded on

Individu

al Topics

• Algorithms and Architecture in Advanced Object-Oriented Languages for simulation and reconstruction of Big Complexity Events.

• Study of Quarks Structure of Nuclear Matter.• Communication and Auto-organization in

Biological, Technological and Social Systems.• Experimental Quantum Information in High-

Dimension Hilbert Spaces.• QCD at High Energy Density.• From the Planck Scale to the Hubble Radius.• Superstrings: Quantization and Applications.• Light and Complexity.• Geofluid-dynamics on the Big Conveyor Belt

and Climate Implications.

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Grants

awarded on

Individu

al Topics

• Quark Gluon Plasma Advanced Computing.

• Gravitational Waves from Oscillations of Rotating Compact Stars.

• Search for New Physics Signal with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS).

• Quantum Information: distribution and conversion on multi-systems.

• Noncommutative Gauge Theories and Geometry of Fluxes.

• Hadron Physics into the GeV Region and Lepton Physics into the TeV Region beyond the Standard Model.

• Dirac Fermions with Zero effective Mass in Condensed Matter.

• Attractor Mechanisms and Space-Time Singularities.9

Grants

awarded on

Individu

al Topics

• Numerical Calculation of (ge-2) to the Perturbative Eighth Order.

• New Physics Signals and Standard Model backgrounds at the LHC.

• High Energy String Interactions in Curved Space-Time and applications to Gauge Theories.

• Beyond the Bethe Approximation.• Universal quantum simulator with cold atoms in

optical lattices.• Synchrotron Radiation Spectroscopies and the

Physics of Strongly Correlated Electron Systems.• Supersymmetry, Black Holes and Quantum

Gravity.• Applications of String Techniques to Quark-Gluon

Plasma Physics and Condensed Matter Physics• Entanglement: from Small to Large Systems

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Grants

awarded on

Individual Topic

s

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2. PROJECTS

Strategic Projects1. Extreme Energy Events - Science in Schools;

2. Quark-Gluon Coloured World - ALICE and beyond;

3. Non Invasive Technologies for Neuroscience - Magnetic Resonance;

4. Energy, including: 4.1 Concentration Photovoltaic System at High Efficiency for Production of Electricity;

4.2 Intrinsically Safe Reactors;

5. Environment and Cultural Heritage, including: 5.1 Scientific-Technological Foundations of Meteorology and Climate;

5.2 Innovative Diagnostic Tools for Arts and Cultural Heritage. 12

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Extreme Energy Events (EEE) - Science in Schools

An Advanced Laboratory for the Study of Cosmic Rays is made available to High Schools.

Teachers and students build their own detectors at CERN, in order to participate directly in the realization of the Project.

In collaboration with:• INFN• CERN• MIUR• EMFCSC• High Schools

EEE Telescope

A telescope consists of three MRPCs, that can be placed at varying distances between them, to allow students and teachers to experiment with various configurations.

MRPCs are also used in ALICE@LHC

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High Schoolsin Italy

At present, 33 High Schools are involved. They are mostly distributed in clusters in the whole Italian territory.

2 Telescopes are at CERN, 2 at INFN Bologna and Catania

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EEE

• The data collected in the Schools are an asset for a truly original scientific research on cosmic radiation since the EEE telescopes are distributed over an area of about 1 million km2.

• In 2012: 11 new High Schools involved in the Project;6 Junior Grants awarded.

1 staff technologist involved (EEE and QGCW).

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Quark-Gluon Coloured World - ALICE and beyond

• Ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions at LHC offer the unique opportunity to probe highly excited dense nuclear matter under controlled laboratory conditions.

• An entirely new form of matter made of deconfined quanta may be created from such reactions: QGCW.

• Deconfined quanta are not directly observable because of the fundamental confining property of the physical QCD vacuum.

• What is observable are hadronic and leptonic residues of the transient QGCW state.

• Study the properties of this “new world” through identified hadrons.

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Quark-Gluon Coloured World - ALICE and beyond

CENTRO FERMI is part of the ALICE experiment at LHC and its contribution is crucial in terms of:• current and future issues of physics

(QGCW).• technological developments with the

invention and the installation of the large area detector with record time resolution: the time of flight detector (TOF).

New timing/synchronization challenges for detectors & accelerators for a future experiment at LHC are also envisaged in the Project.

4 Junior Grants and 1 collaborator are involved in the Project.

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Non Invasive Technologies for Neuroscience - Magnetic Resonance

• This Project aims to investigate human brain in vivo by means based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR MRI).

• The analysis of the functional imaging sessions can allow a formulation of new models for the cerebral cellular energetic and for the spontaneous brain activity, in the absence of external stimulation (resting state).

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Non Invasive Technologies for Neuroscience - Magnetic Resonance

Many sessions of functional imaging were performed, and the considerable amount of data has been analyzed with the equipment provided by CENTRO FERMI.

In collaboration with• Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma,• Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche dell’Università di Roma “La Sapienza”,• Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo (I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed) Isernia,• Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia,• Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Minneapolis (USA)• Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston (USA).

3 Junior Grants, 5 collaborators are involved in the Project.

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Concentration Photovoltaic System (CPS) at High Efficiency for Electricity

Production

• The aim of the Project is to develop a prototype of a concentrating solar module capable of producing electricity from solar energy at a lower cost than other technologies currently in use.

• Various combinations of optical and mechanical properties will be made to study the technology associated with the use of these solar modules both in terms of efficiency and production cost.

3 Junior Grants are involved in the Project.

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• This Project will start in 2012.• Two research lines proposed in collaboration

with Bologna University and INFN.

1. Applications of MRPM (Magnetic Resonance for fluids in Porous Materials)– Development of Relaxometry and Imaging NMR

techniques to evaluate conservation status of various types of porous materials (paper, frescos, wood, terracotta, stones, etc.)

– Systematic characterization of hydrorepellent protective products

Innovative Diagnostic Tools for Arts and Cultural Heritage

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Innovative Diagnostic Tools for Arts and Cultural Heritage

2. Applications of TAC (X-ray tomography)

– Recovery of hidden treasures from existing stored archeological “earth pies” after excavations (containing bronze objects, coins, jewels, etc.) with a portable TAC system (micro-tomograph).

– Feasibility study of an innovative high-energy X-ray TAC system (for large bronze or marble monuments).

2 Junior Grants foreseen for this Project.

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Other Research Projects

1. Hadrontherapy – Innovative Non-Invasive Imaging of Dose Release

2. Cosmic Silence 3. Optical Microresonators 4. Acoustic Black Holes 5. Complexity: from Nanometric to

Cosmic Structures

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Hadrontherapy - Innovative Non Invasive Imaging of Dose Release

• An emerging technique in cancer therapy is performed by means of hadron beams (protons or carbon ions) used to treat many different types of cancer.

• Using hadron beams, new techniques must be developed to accomplish the special requests for the amount of dose release.

• The project aims at the development of an apparatus that combines the techniques of TOF and PET during the irradiation of the patient.

3 Junior Grants are awarded for this Project.

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Cosmic Silence • The Project aims to investigate about the

role of the radiation in life evolution, both regarding cosmic radiation and the one produced by the matter where man lives.

• Experiments are performed at INFN LNGS (Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso) which are highly screened with regard to cosmic radiation.

2 Junior Grants are awarded for this Project.

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Optical Microresonators • Resonators are circuits that are widely used in

electronics, in microwave devices and in optics.

• The research group at the Optoelectronic Technologies Laboratory of the Institute of Applied Physics IFAC-CNR has started, in collaboration with research centers and universities of Europe, a study of advanced applications of spherical dielectric microresonators, both for new microlasers and for innovative biosensors.

2 Junior Grants are awarded for this project.

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Acoustic Black Holes

• This Project investigates, in the condensed matter field, the supersonic configurations of quantum fluids, which mime black hole behaviour.

• The aim is to find evidence in these systems, not only a theoretical but also an experimental one, of the so-called Hawking Radiation.

1 Junior Grant awarded.

Complexity: from Nanometric to

Cosmic Structures • The Project investigates

different types of Complex Systems, like large-scale universe structures, complex networks, self-similar networks, self-organization in biological and technological systems.

1 Researcher involved on large-scale universe structures.

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Progetti Premiali 2011Applications were made for the “Rewarding financing of specific programmes and projects – 2011”, according to art. 4, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree no. 213/2009.

1. Study of functional brain networks via NMR;2. Real-time multisource dose imaging for

hadrontherapy;3. Construction of a Concentration Photovoltaic

System (CPS);4. Cosmic silence; 5. Resonant structures for precursory sepsis

biomarkers.

These Projects are extensions of existing CENTRO FERMI Projects.

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Projects Completed

The following Projects were developed in the last few years at Centro Fermi.These are now considered as completed:

• Flame Detectors• Heart Sounds and Clinical Diagnosis • Minimal Life• Numerical Simulations• Picometry• Photonics of Complex Systems

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3. DISSEMINATION OF SCIENTIFIC CULTURE AND HISTORIC MEMORY

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Dissemination of Scientific Culture

• CENTRO FERMI has recently organized an exhibition on the discoveries and inventions of Enrico Fermi, paying particular attention to technological applications and implications for the civil and social progress of humanity, made possible by the "Nuclear Fire of Peace”.

• A second exhibition, dedicated to the figure of Galileo Galilei "Divine Man", was held inside the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs in Rome.

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The New Website

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Historic Memory

The Monumental Complex of Via Panisperna, whose restoration work is underway, will be made available in 2014.

This includes the recovery of various elements in the proper historical context, such as the celbrated goldfish Fountain, the Great Hall, the Library.

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StaffAt present, the Permanent Staff (5 units)consists of:• 1 Researcher (III level)• 1 Technologist (II level)• 1 Administrative Officer (IV level)• 1 Administrative Officer (V level)• 1 Assistant Administrative Officer (VII level)

But Centro Fermi involves altogether about 80-100 physicistsplus hundreds of students & teachers acting in the EEE Project

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Publications

• In ISI Thomson database since 2002: 371 publications with authors from Centro Fermi

• In the last 5 years: 50 publications/yr

• Publications quoted 4755 times with increasing rate

n. of quotations/yr versus yr

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Three-year Plan 2012-2013-2014• Increasing Budget request

w.r.t. 2 M€ in 2012≈ by 20% in 2013≈ by a factor 2.5 in

2014

• Increasing Staff request w.r.t. 5 units in 2012

+ 1 Researcher (2012)

+ 5 Researchers (2013)+ 2 Technologists (2013)

+ 5 Researchers (2014)+ 1 Administrative Officer (2014)+ 1 Assistant Administrative Officer (2014)

20 units in 2014

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New funding sources

New funding sources are presently being explored:

• PRIN (Programmi di ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale)

• FIRB (Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base – Futuro in Ricerca 2012)

• Progetti Premiali 2012 (7% of FOE)• EU FP7 (7th Framework Programme)

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VQR and ANVUR

CENTRO FERMI is currently part of the evaluation VQR 2004-2011 (Valutazione Qualità della Ricerca) carried on by ANVUR (Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca).

CENTRO FERMI should submit a self-assessment report on Scientific Activities by the end of May 2012 by its CIV (Comitato Interno di Valutazione). II CONFERENCE OF CENTRO FERMI PROJECTS