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Antonella Castellina was recently elected spokesperson of the Pierre Auger Observatory, which is managed by an international collaboration of more than 400 scientists from 17 countries in which INFN participates. The Observatory is dedicated to studying the origin of ultra-high energy astroparticles thanks to a large detector spread out across Argentina’s Pampas near the township of Malargüe, in Mendoza Province. On the occasion of her recent appointment, we asked Castellina to tell us about the observatory’s activities, which she coordinates, and its future goals.
Can you introduce us to the Pierre Auger Observatory? What are its goals?
The Pierre Auger Observatory is dedicated to studying extreme energy astroparticles, the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), with an energy greater than one trillion (1018) electronvolts. Very few particles with these energies reach the Earth.
The British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs died on 8 April at the age of 94. In 2013, Higgs received the Nobel Prize in Physics for having developed the hypothesis for the mechanism through which elementary particles acquire mass in 1964, as well as for the existence of the boson that now bears his name.
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration began the second part of its fourth observing run (O4b) on April 10th. The European detector Virgo in Italy, near Pisa, also joined the run, observing alongside two LIGO interferometers in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana in the US, which conducted the first part of the run (O4a) from May 2023 to January 2024.
As part of the mission to the United States, in Washington, of the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini, which took place between 8 and 10 April in the presence of an INFN delegation led by the president Antonio Zoccoli, two agreements were signed between the Department of Energy of the United States of America (DOE) and the Ministry of University and Research (MUR).
At the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory, the Cryogenic Observatory for Signatures seen in Next-generation Underground Searches, COSINUS, has been inaugurated on April 18th, marking a new frontier in the international quest to unravel one of the Universe's greatest mysteries: dark matter.
Recent progress and future developments of the feasibility study for the Future Circular Collider (FCC, the particle collider that could replace the High Luminosity LHC towards 2040), and other projects included in the European Strategy for Particle Physics, will be the focus of the national workshop “INFN and the European Strategy for Particle Physics”.
Observing the Universe from below to investigate the great mysteries of physics. This is the challenge of the new edition of the Erice School of Science Communication and Journalism , which offers 20 scholarships for journalists and communicators who will have the opportunity to participate in an international school for young professionals dedicated to science and communication.
RADIATION MONITORING: A PRESTIGIOUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR THE INFN SPIN-OFF BEAMIDE Understanding and monitoring the effects that radiation has on human beings, materials, and electronic systems is fundamentally important for developing successful space missions and for many other activities, from nuclear physics to IT and medicine. This is the main goal of the start-up Beamide, created as a spin-off of INFN at the end of 2021, which recently received a prestigious award from the Italy-USA Foundation, the “American Innovation Award”. The award was assigned last 14 March during a ceremony held in the Chamber of Deputies. Aimed at innovative and competitive start-ups in the global market, the award was given to Beamide for devising and producing software useful both in the aerospace sector and in the fields of medical and nuclear physics. The software simulates the effect of radiation on systems that are sensitive to it. The company's flagship project is actually the MRADSIM (Matter Radiation Interaction Simulator), easy-to-use software that also allows non-experts to simulate the negative effects of radiation on electronic and biological targets and those made from other materials. ...
A MAY OF EVENTS WITH GALILEO FESTIVAL, BOOK FAIR, PINT OF SCIENCE, PLAY MODENA Galileo science and innovation festival
From 2 to 5 May – Padua
From 2 to 5 May, Padua hosts the 'Galileo' science and innovation festival, which this year features an event on gravitational waves with Antonio Zoccoli, President of INFN, among the speakers.
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Observatorio Pierre Auger crediti Steven Saffi, Pierre Auger Collaboration
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