Tag Archives: Evento scientifico

INFN has a long-standing tradition in the use of synchrotron radiation and in the construction of accelerators dedicated to its use. The tradition started with the use of the ADONE 1.5 GeV electron storage ring up to 1993 and continued with the DAFNE electron-positron 0.5 GeV collider. INFN is now developing at Frascati a new user facility EuPRAXIA@SPARC_Lab based on plasma acceleration. This new facility in the framework of the EuPRAXIA EU project should produce FEL radiation beams for a wide range of applications. During this workshop the story of synchrotron radiation at Frascati from its early beginnings (e-synchrotron) up to nowadays will be reported with talks related to the past and to all the people who made it possible, to the present and to the future scientific activities.

Speaker: Gia Dvali (LMU and MPP. Munich) In this talk we first review why the CP-violating θ-vacuum is a built-in feature of QCD and how the mass of the η′-meson provides a direct experimental evidence for it. We then explain how the axion protects CP dynamically and define the axion-quality measure. This discussion, in particular, will make it transparent that the η′-meson is nothing but a poor-quality axion. Next, we introduce the so-called gauge formulation of axion in which the axion emerges as intrinsic part of QCD gauge redundancy without the need of any anomalous global symmetry. By the power of gauge symmetry, the gauge axion has an exact quality, as it is protected agains arbitrary continuous deformations of the theory. Next, we show that in a generic gauge theory the elimination of the θ vacua by an anomalous symmetry is correlated with the existence of a pseudo-scalar particle that non-linearly realizes that symmetry. Applied to the electroweak sector, this implies the existence of a new particle, a so-called ηw-meson, which is sourced by the B+L-anomaly and gets its mass from the topological susceptibility of the electroweak vacuum. We then discuss how gravity opens up a whole new perspective on the axion, promoting it into a consistency issue. Namely, once coupled to gravity, every topologically non-trivial gauge sector must be accompanied by the axion of exact quality. This requirement must be fulfilled by gravity itself which, due to Eguchi-Hanson instantons, possesses the CP-violating θ-vacuum. Strikingly, this implies the existence of …

The Workshop on Light Dark Sectors @ LNF (LDS@LNF) will gather researchers to discuss recent progress in the study of light dark sectors (covering light dark matter, axion-like particles, dark photons, and related scenarios). The program will cover topics ranging from theoretical motivations to novel experimental strategies, with the aim of encouraging exchanges and fostering collaborations within the community. This workshop is also supported by the PRIN2022K4B58X project “AxionOrigins: Towards a Complete Theory for the Origin of the Axion” (PI: L. Di Luzio), a collaborative effort involving INFN, the University of Padua, and Sapienza University of Rome. The meeting serves as the closing event of this initiative. The workshop will take place in the Salvini Auditorium (Building 36, access via the LNF secondary entrance at Via E. Fermi, 60 – see map). (Talks by invitation only)

Speaker: Laura Miller The nature of dark matter remains one of the largest open questions in particle physics. Despite numerous theories and experimental searches, both small-scale and large-scale, it has so far remained unobserved at the particle level. The DarkLight experiment located at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada aims to leverage the ARIEL electron linear accelerator to search for a new dark sector force carrier in the 10-20 MeV range. Such a force carrier could undergo kinetic mixing with Standard Model photon, and thus could provide possible explanations for experimental anomalies such as the X17. As the DarkLight experiment has recently been installed and has begun commissioning, this talk will primarily focus on progress up to this point and future plans.  

Speaker: Shaikh Saad (Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana) Next-generation experiments like DUNE and NNBAR will greatly enhance sensitivity to neutron–antineutron oscillations, a direct probe of baryon number violation ($\Delta B = 2$) beyond the Standard Model. This talk discusses such oscillations in unified frameworks that also explain fermion and neutrino masses via seesaw mechanisms. Two scenarios will be discussed: (1) Type II seesaw with two color-sextet scalars, realizable in $SO(10)$/Pati–Salam models, and (2) Type III seesaw with a sextet scalar and color-octet fermion, naturally embedded in $SU(5)$. In both cases, the same dynamics linking fermion masses induces baryon violation, tying oscillations to flavor structure. Upcoming searches can probe new colored states up to $10^{11}$ GeV—far beyond collider reach—making $n$–$\overline{n}$ oscillations a rare low-energy window into grand unification and ultra-heavy new physics.

The workshop “The meV Mass Axion Frontier: Challenges and Opportunities” will gather experts in theory, cosmology, astrophysics, and experiment to assess the motivations, probes, and detection strategies for axions in the meV mass range. Topics of discussion will cover cosmological and astrophysical sources, current experimental efforts, and innovative approaches at the THz frontier. With generous time allocated for open discussion, the workshop aims to identify key challenges and opportunities in the field and to produce a report that will serve as a foundation for a future community roadmap. This workshop is supported by the COST Action CA21106 COSMIC WISPers  (PI: A. Mirizzi). This COST Action  focusses on very weakly interacting slim (m<GeV) particles (WISPs) which emerge in several extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We also acknowledge DOT4-GR2 (Pi.  M. Angelucci) for providing local support. The workshop will take place in the Salvini Auditorium (Building 36, access via the LNF secondary entrance at Via E. Fermi, 60 – see map). (Talks by invitation only)

Speaker: Agostino Marinelli (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) Attosecond XFELs are the subject of an intense research program at LCLS and other laboratories worldwide. I will discuss recent advances in the field: from the extension of attosecond science to high-repetition rate XFELs, to the demonstration of attosecond hard x-ray pulses using amplified stimulated emission in atomic lasers.

Speaker: Gino Isidori (University of Zurich) What is the origin of the different masses for quarks and leptons is one of the big open questions in particle physics. I will briefly review this problem, illustrating its central role in achieving a deeper understanding of fundamental interactions. I will also outline some recent theoretical ideas on how to address it, focusing in particular on the concept of “flavor deconstruction”, and finally discuss how these ideas can be tested through current and future flavor-physics experiments.

Accelerator-based particle physics research is entering a momentous phase. The update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics is now under way, with the goal of submitting the community recommendation for the next flagship project to the CERN Council next year. Several different projects are currently under evaluation. Moreover, next year the LHC will enter its third long shutdown in order to be upgraded to the HL-LHC. In this mini-workshop we will focus first on the FCC-ee, and then more broadly on the role of the upcoming precision physics program. The first presentation will be from Frank Zimmermann and Michael Benedikt from CERN, who will discuss the technical aspects related to the construction of the FCC-ee collider. The second contribution will be from Pier Monni, also from CERN, who will discuss the role (and the challenges) of the precision physics program at the FCC, as well as at the HL-LHC. If you are coming from outside LNF, please register so that we can arrange permission for you to enter the campus. Contacts: Manuela Boscolo (manuela.boscolo@lnf.infn.it) and Emanuele Bagnaschi (emanuele.angelo.bagnaschi@lnf.infn.it) Secretariat: M. Legramante (maddalena.legramante@lnf.infn.it)  

Speaker: Elisabetta Manca (UCLA) The W boson mass is measured using proton-proton collision data at corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 16.8 inverse fb recorded during 2016 by the CMS experiment. The W boson mass is obtained from a fit of the two dimensional pT-η distribution in a sample of W→μν decays, categorized by charge, yielding one of the most precise measurements of the W mass to date.