SECONDA CONFERENZA
DEI PROGETTI DEL CENTRO FERMI
ROMA, 19 – 20 APRILE 2012
LUISA CIFARELLI — Centro Fermi, Rome (IT)
European Physical Society
University & INFN, Bologna (IT) — CERN, Geneva (CH)
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 Activities
The 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.
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Grants awarded on Individual Topics
• 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 Individual Topics
• Algorithms and Architecture in Advanced ObjectOriented 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 Individual 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.
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Grants awarded on Individual 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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2. PROJECTS
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Strategic Projects
1. 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.
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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
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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
High Schools
in 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
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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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Innovative Diagnostic Tools for Arts
and Cultural Heritage
• 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
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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.
Complexity: from
Nanometric to
Cosmic Structures
• The Project investigates
different types of Complex
Systems, like large-scale
universe structures,
complex networks, selfsimilar networks, selforganization in biological
and technological systems.
 1 Researcher involved on
large-scale universe
structures.
 1 Junior Grant awarded.
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Progetti Premiali 2011
Applications 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
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Projects.
Projects Completed
The following Projects were developed in the last few
years at Centro Fermi.
These are now considered as completed:
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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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Staff
At present, the Permanent Staff (5 units)consists
of:
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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 80100 physicists
plus hundreds of students & teachers acting in
the EEE Project
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This report reflects citations to source items indexed within Web of Science. Perform a Cited Reference Search to include cit
indexed within Web of Science.
Publications
Published Items in Each Year
Citations in Each Year
• 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).
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