download report - Sapienza

Scientific Report 2007-2009
Particle physics
Particle Physics
1 Particle Physics
Particle and Astroparticle Physics aim to give an answer to the most fundamental questions Nature
has presented to us:
• does the Higgs Boson exist ?
• is there New Physics at the TeV scale ?
• how has the matter-antimatter asymmetry been generated ?
In connection with these questions there are other fundamental pieces missing:
• what is the Dark Matter ?
• is the neutrino a Dirac or a Majorana particle ?
• is CP violated in the neutrino sector and can this be the origin of the matter dominated
universe ?
A comprehensive answer to these fundamental questions requires studies in
a framework constituted by three interrelated frontiers of particle physics:
the Energy Frontier, the Intensity Frontier
and the Cosmic Frontier.
The experiments performed for this kind of
searches are usually huge and require internationally
coordinated efforts. They are carried
on in large laboratories that offer first class
infrastructure and finally they call for substantial
resources, human and money-wise.
The Physics Department of Sapienza University,
one of the largest in Italy, operates in
this field in complete synergy with the Istituto
Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) local
unit. The unit with its personnel, infrastructure
and facilities is physically hosted in
the Department buildings. People involved in
High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments here
are (approximately) 42 Faculty, 30 INFN research
staff, 15 engineers and 20 technicians.
Currently we have 10 post-docs and about the
same number of PhD students. Just as an indication,
the budget granted to the research
group in this discipline can be evaluated at
the level of 4.5 MEuro/year.
Although a lot of design, prototyping,
Figure 1: Courtesy of DOE
preparation and even construction is carried
on in the Department most of the experimental activity in the phase of experiment mounting, commissioning
and running is worldwide spread in the main existing laboratories. Given the sizable
dimension of the Department its research personnel is involved in many of the most prestigious
laboratories in the world. We give a list here, associating experiments to laboratories.
Sapienza Università di Roma 101 Dipartimento di Fisica