Nuclear Physics at INFN Padova

A Padova la Fisica Nucleare è presente fin dalla fondazione dell’INFN nel 1951, grazie alle ricerche sulla radioattività del gruppo di via Panisperna: l’interesse degli scienziati su questo nuovo campo avrebbe di lì a poco portato alla scoperta di vari elementi radioattivi ed infine della fissione nucleare grazie alla tecnica dei neutroni lenti.

Oggi la linea di ricerca sulla fisica del nucleo, propria della Commissione Scientifica Nazionale 3, ha esteso i suoi interessi a un intervallo di energia molto ampio, che permette di studiare dai meccanismi che regolano la vita delle stelle alle condizioni dell’universo pochi istanti dopo il Big Bang. La missione di esplorare la fisica del nucleo è ormai interpretata in senso molto ampio, includendo ad es. studi sulla differenza tra materia e antimateria, la distribuzione dei quark all’interno dei nucleoni oppure lo studio del nucleo come sistema complesso a multicorpi alla scala mesoscopica.

La sezione di Padova dell’INFN partecipa ad alcune di queste attività coprendo un ampio spettro di interessi e arricchendo i percorsi principali di ricerca con attività di sviluppo di applicazioni, di divulgazione e di ricerche ad alto impatto sociale.

Qui sotto si può trovare una presentazione delle attività.

AEGIS Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy

is an experiment aimed at answering the question of whether antimatter falls in the Earth’s gravitational field with the same value of acceleration “g” as ordinary matter. The existence of an asymmetry in the free fall of matter and antimatter could help explaining the apparent scarcity of antimatter in the known universe (baryonic asymmetry).

ALICE A Large Ion Collider Experiment

is a multi-purpose detector designed to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) formed in collisions of heavy nuclei at the Large Hadron Collider. In this primordial form of matter, that only existed for a few tens of microseconds after the Big Bang, quarks and gluons are not confined into composite particles, such as protons or neutrons.

AsFiN AstroFisica Nucleare

The AsFiN (AstroFisica Nucleare) research group is active in the field of experimental nuclear astrophysics. The main goal is the measurement of astrophysically relevant nuclear reactions by means of indirect methods, in particular, the Trojan Horse Method (THM). This indirect method has been adopted for shedding light on primordial nucleosynthesis, light-element burning, neutron sources in stellar evolution, advanced stellar phases nucleosynthesis and explosive nucleosynthesis. The experimental activity is carried out at INFN-LNS (Catania), INFN-LNL (Legnaro) and in international laboratories (Riken-Tokyo, ASCR-Prague, FSU- Tallahassee, TRIUMF-Vancouver, …).
The group has been organizing the biennial school “European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics” since 2001.

EIC net Electron Ion Collider Network

How do the macroscopic properties (mass, spin,…) of the proton arise from the dynamics of its constituents? How the interaction of quarks and gluons is modified inside the nuclear medium, and how this interaction creates the nuclear binding?

The purpose of the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is to answer these questions and revolutionize our understanding of the internal structure of ordinary matter in terms of its elementary constituents mapping the quark-gluon structure of nucleons, both alone and inside nuclei.

LUNA Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics

is a nuclear astrophysics experiment running at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratories. The aim of the experiment is to measure directly the cross sections of the most important fusion reactions for stellar hydrogen burning and nucleosynthesis as well as Big Bang nucleoynthesis at astrophysical temperatures.

Nucl-Ex

The goal of the NUCL-EX collaboration is to study the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions in a wide energy range, taking advantage of different detectors (OSCAR, ATS, GARFIELD, FAZIA) which are operating in several laboratories in Italy (Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro and Laboratori Nazionali del Sud) and in Europe (GANIL France).

PRISMA

is an experiment devoted to the study of heavy-ion reactions around the Coulomb barrier, particularly fusion and two-body reactions like multi-nucleon transfer. In this energy range, the reaction dynamic is strongly affected by the structure of the interacting nuclei, leading to complex and interesting phenomena. Fusion and two-body reactions have different requirements concerning the detection techniques and consequently, the experimental activity of PRISMA relies on two different set-ups: an Electrostatic Deflector for fusion measurements and the Magnetic Spectrometer PRISMA (the collaboration’s namesake) for two-body reactions.

METRICS

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METRICS

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus tincidunt congue ante, nec hendrerit turpis sodales et. Maecenas ullamcorper, nisi sed fermentum egestas, felis eros tempor lacus, eget ornare lacus dui sed dui. Suspendisse potenti. Pellentesque nibh ipsum, tempor at odio id, lacinia semper tortor. Integer sollicitudin ante sed ex hendrerit gravida. Cras quis elementum ex, vel rhoncus risus. Morbi.

METRICS

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus tincidunt congue ante, nec hendrerit turpis sodales et. Maecenas ullamcorper, nisi sed fermentum egestas, felis eros tempor lacus, eget ornare lacus dui sed dui. Suspendisse potenti. Pellentesque nibh ipsum, tempor at odio id, lacinia semper tortor. Integer sollicitudin ante sed ex hendrerit gravida. Cras quis elementum ex, vel rhoncus risus. Morbi.