Scientific activity
My scientific activity has been mainly in the field of experimental fundamental physics with particle accelerators, in medical physics and in physics teaching.
I have been involved in e+e- physics at LEP (Large Electron-Positron) with the DELPHI experiment (DEtector for Lepton, Photon and Hadron Identification) and now I am involved in the maintenance of the muon chamber apparatus of the CMS experiment (Compact Muon Solenoid), at the proton-proton collider LHC (Large Hadron Collider) of CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research).
I have also dedicated myself to the design of new detectors with neutrino beams for the study of new physics, to the physics of flavors with the SuperB flavor factory and I have carried out research in the field of medical physics with low-energy accelerators.
I am working on the proposal of a beam-dump experiment at CERN-SPS called SHADOWS (Search for Hidden And Dark Objects With the SPS). The experiment will search for several weakly interacting particles, produced in the interactions of the 400 GeV proton beam with high-Z material target.
I participated in the L3IA (Line for Laser driven Light Ion Acceleration) experiment. The experiment aimed to explore the various applications of high-power lasers. In particular, I was working on the simulation of the acceleration of ions in the TNSA (Target Norma Sheath Acceleration) regime, excited by a plasma wave produced by the laser pulse on a thin metal target.
I was also involved in the optimization of the muon detector for a new experiment dedicated to the search for hidden particles, SHIP (Search for HIdden Particles) at the SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) of CERN.
I have been interested in medical physics, with research activities within the MC-INFN (Monte Carlo-INFN) group to validate and improve some of the main simulation codes at very low energies. I have also devoted myself to the development of a Cerenkov radiation detector applied to medical physics devices.
I participated in the proposal of the SuperB experiment, working on the optimization of the IFR (Instrumented Flux Return) detector, in particular with simulations and experimental models of different fiber and scintillator configurations, to optimize the light production and the response time while maintaining the detector's cost-effectiveness.
I have been involved in the realization, implementation and testing of the software for the integration of the device called ‘Sector Collector', an electronic decision board of the large-angle muon detector DT (Drift Tubes) built at the Bologna section of the INFN, in the global trigger control system of CMS.
I contributed to the proposal of the C2GT experiment (CNGS to the Gulf of Taranto). This experiment aimed to use the muon neutrino beam that CERN is aiming at Gran Sasso by placing a detector underwater in the Gulf of Taranto at a depth of at least 1000 m. The original geometry, with the detector off the beam axis ('off-axis' technique) that allows to have an almost monochromatic neutrino beam, the detector, very efficient in collecting the Cherenkov light produced by the decay of neutrinos and the unusual possibility of movement of the detector, made it possible, by observing the oscillation of neutrinos, to explore important parameters of new physics, such as the measurement of the mixing angle θ_13 and Delta (m_23)^2, unknown at the time.
In particular I was responsible for the simulation of the entire acceleration and neutrino production chain, with the aim of optimizing all the parameters to have the maximum number of muon neutrinos that hit the detector ~ 1200 km away.
Production of approximately 185,000 cathodes for the muon chambers of the CMS experiment at the IHEP (Institute for High Energy Physics) laboratory in Protvino, Russia. Responsible for the test area, I was responsible for managing the control programs of the two machines for the construction of the cathodes designed and built in Bologna since their first operational tests, for the installation and management of dedicated PCs, as well as for the electronics of the data acquisition of the two quality control systems for the cathodes produced. I also created the system for analysis and decision-making on the quality of the cathodes and the system for controlling humidity and temperature in the sterile environment of the Russian laboratory, where the quality control tests were carried out.
Project Associate at CERN in '98. The project I worked on consisted, among other things, in studying the possibility of introducing in Italy, within the INFN, and in other European institutions and laboratories, an integrated environment for all those who use personal computers, as already happened in the Geneva laboratory.
Coding of procedures for the production of simulation jobs, dedicated to the parameterization of the drift time of the muon detection chambers of the CMS experiment. Design and writing of a series of procedures for the offline analysis of the data collected at the H2 test beam at CERN, to study the characteristics of the muon chamber prototypes of the CMS experiment. Configuration of the DELPHI offline environment on the computers of the INFN section of Bologna, for the production of Monte Carlo events necessary for the analysis.
Search for the lightest chargino, following the predictions of the Standard Supersymmetric (SUSY) Minimal (MSSM) Model, in the case in which this is degenerate in mass with the lightest neutralino. In particular, we focused on regions with low ΔM (0.5 ≤ ΔM ≤ 3 GeV/c^2), looking for chargins accompanied by a photon in the initial state. The research was later extended to regions with ΔM < 0.5 GeV/c^2. In '96, a proposal was made to create a display for the visualization of scientific information and for the reconstruction of events in high-energy physics with new technologies.
The WIRED (WWW Interactive Remote Event Display) project, in addition to being important and innovative from the point of view of experimental research, allowed students and teachers to observe particle interactions a few minutes after they had actually occurred in the CERN laboratories.
Member of the Italian CMS calculation commission. Based on the needs imposed by the analysis and the amount of data that will be collected, the commission defined the calculation model to be adopted for the CMS experiment, taking into account the architecture of the software that will have to be created and the hardware resources that will have to be acquired. I contributed, within the commission, to the definition of the experiment's calculation model and to the programming of the resources needed for offline use in the following years.
ISHTAR (Innovative Software for Higher-education Telematics Applications R & d) server was born in 1995. I coordinated the project that, using the nascent Web technology, aims to teach basic physics with multimedia tools on the Internet to first-year university students and to provide teachers with technologically advanced tools for teaching.
I analyzed the data coming from the DELPHI 'local trigger Supervisor' (Pandora) control cards for their validation. The cards, in normal working conditions, were synchronized with the e^+ and e^- beams circulating in the LEP accumulation ring and generated the timing and synchronization signals between the various data acquisition devices of the experiment.
Since July '94 member of the Bologna group for the construction of the muon chambers of the central part of CMS. Responsible for the simulation of the chambers as part of their design and optimization.
Contribution to the analysis of e+e- --> Z^0 --> τ+τ- events. The study of the production of τ and its polarization was of great importance for a better understanding of electroweak interactions. The polarization of τ was revealed by the analysis of its decay products. In particular, the τ --> π(K)ν channel was chosen, since a priori the energy spectrum of π had the greatest sensitivity to the value of the polarization.
Since October '90, member of the DAS (Data Acquisition System) group of DELPHI. I created part of the algorithms of the ‘Data Logger' of the experiment, which controlled the management of the data flow in the final part of the acquisition. Later responsible for the realization and implementation of the code for the Slow Control management of the various subdetectors of the experiment, which after analyzing their messages (alarms, errors, warnings software, hardware, gas, voltages, etc.) started the most appropriate action. I managed this part of DELPHI slow control for the entire duration of the experiment.
I contributed to the design and optimization of the electronics used for the second trigger level of the electromagnetic calorimeter HPC (High-density Projection Chamber), which covered the central region of DELPHI, participating in the data taking and dealing with the data analysis on the prototype of the board.
I also created the 'online display' program of the events for the control of the HPC electromagnetic calorimeter. Several graphic images were built, to have a view (even event by event) in the three dimensions of the calorimeter.
Doctor of Physics, in July '89 at the University of Bologna, discussing an experimental thesis entitled: A system of proportional chambers for the reading of the DELPHI time projection calorimeter. Supervisor: Prof. F. L. Navarria, co-supervisor: Dr. T. Camporesi
While I was a summer student at CERN I contributed to the acquisition and analysis of test data from a calorimeter made of lead glass tubes. The calorimeter was built in collaboration with researchers and technicians from the University and INFN of Pisa.
Scientific publications
Currently about 1650 refereed publications on international
journals and various publications on national journals,
internal notes, etc..
A list (not exhaustive) of the international publications can be
found following this link: INSPIRE papers list
More detailed publications lists can be found here.