Descrizione dei finanziamenti attivi e informazioni su programmi di finanziamento disponibili
The production of neutron beams with optimal energy and angular distributions is crucial for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). While the 7Li(p,n) reaction is well established, the 9Be(p,xn) reaction is characterized by scarce data and inaccurate descriptions. We developed a model for the beryllium reaction that incorporates two dominant channels: (p,n), supported by experimental data, and...
Quantum computing is often presented as a route to solving classically intractable problems, yet this promise is fundamentally constrained by limited hardware resources. This poster explores how this tension can be addressed across quantum simulation, quantum chemistry, and quantum machine learning.
In quantum simulation, key challenges lie in the efficient preparation of physically...
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are widely used in biomedical applications, including their role as hyperthermic agents for tumor treatment via Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia (MFH) and as tracers in Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM).
In MFH, MNPs exposed to an alternating magnetic field generate localized heat within pathological tissues, enabling targeted thermal therapy. QSM is an...
We demonstrate that bound states in the continuum (BICs) can arise in plasmonic metasurfaces and enable a strong chiral optical response. The metasurface consists of a gold film on glass patterned with a square lattice of nanoholes whose shapes are deformed from circular to oval. Symmetry breaking induces a quasi-BIC in the absorption spectrum on the low-energy side of the...
The MANIFOLD project (Multidimensional nANodevice archItectures For lOw-perturbation singLe ion Detection) introduces a cutting-edge detector for low-perturbation, high-resolution sensing of diluted H/He ion beams (100 keV–2 MeV). Using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), it delivers submicrometric resolution with negligible beam disturbance.
Ions or single particles traverse a MWCNT-lined...
Positive non-decomposable maps play a fundamental role in quantum information theory, as they provide a tool to detect entanglement beyond what is possible with decomposable maps.
Despite their importance, relatively little is known about the structure of positive non-decomposable maps or systematic methods to generate them. In this work, we present a fully differentiable optimization...
We report on the non-volatile control of the electronic ground state of octahedral TiSe$_{2}$ by means of electric field-driven hydrogen intercalation via ionic liquid gating. Based on measurements of electrical transport, dc magnetometry, and muon-spin rotation, we demonstrate that charge-density wave and superconductivity coexist in H$_{x}$TiSe$_{2}$ through most of the electronic phase...
A number of numerical approaches has been developed to study quantum field theories in non-perturbative regimes. One method consists in confining space-time to a finite volume and discretizing it, allowing for ab initio simulations. In the case of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), this framework is known as Lattice QCD. Another strategy is to numerically diagonalize the Hamiltonian of the theory,...
Boron$~$Neutron$~$Capture$~$Therapy$~$(BNCT)$~$delivers$~$tumor-selective high-LET damage through a mixed radiation field in which $^{10}$B(n,α)$^7$Li products coexist with photons and protons. At the University of Pavia, we integrate radiobiological experiments with detailed Monte Carlo dosimetry to improve mixed-field dose response modeling and strengthen the photon iso-effective dose...
This study’s aim is to explore the use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) nanowires (NWs) for photoelectrochemical water splitting. GaN's wide bandgap may offer a route for hydrogen production using solar energy. However, growth challenges, such as high defect densities, hinder its efficiency. Nanowire structures offer a solution due to their low defect density and efficient strain relaxation. We grew...
Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols take at least two advantages from high-dimensional (HD) systems: the secret key rate scaling as the dimension and the opportunity of exploiting more than two mutually unbiased bases (MUBs). Indeed, if the dimension d of the system is a prime power, then d+1 MUBs exist. Here, we retrieve analytic key rates for a BBM92-like protocol, where the...
The MUonE experiment proposes a novel spacelike determination of the hadronic leading-order contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment by measuring the running of the electromagnetic coupling, $\Delta\alpha_{had}(t)$, through high-precision μe elastic scattering at CERN. Achieving the target 10 ppm accuracy on the differential cross section requires a dedicated Monte Carlo event...
Il Laboratorio di Servizio Elettronica beneficia della collaborazione di personale afferente all’INFN Sezione di Pavia, al Dipartimento di Fisica e al Centro Grandi Strumenti dell’Università di Pavia. Si dedica allo sviluppo di circuiti analogici, digitali e di potenza e al supporto di attività di ricerca locali, nazionali ed internazionali. È infatti inserito in un contesto di collaborazione...
Photonic crystal (PhC) slabs, namely 1D or 2D periodic photonic structures embedded in slab waveguides, are at the heart of research in nanophotonics. We present a guided-mode expansion (GME) approach – and the corresponding free python software named Legume – that allows calculating photonic mode dispersion and radiative losses in dielectric photonic crystal slabs. The code can be employed...
Iron oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are exploited as Contrast Agents (CAs) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The magnetic nature and high magnetization values induce sizable inhomogeneities in the local magnetic field, perturbing the surrounding hydrogen nuclei present in the biological tissues according to their bio-distribution. The perturbations at nuclear sites shorten the...
The proton is the most common element of the visible universe, yet we
don't know how to reconstruct its macroscopic properties (mass, spin,..)
from the elementary degrees of freedom of the Strong Interaction, the
quarks and gluons (collectively, partons) of QCD. Partons are not
visible, they are confined inside hadrons because at hadronic mass
scales QCD is highly nonlinear and not...
Muonic atoms are formed after the capture of negative muons in atomic orbitals, followed by de-excitation through the emission of characteristic X-rays. In high-Z atoms, nuclear capture can occur, producing gamma rays with energies strongly dependent on nuclear structure.
The FAMU experiment at RAL (UK) aims at measuring the ground-state hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen to extract the...
Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs), depending on the molecular ligand, experience a different interaction (exchange and spin orbit/phonon coupling, crystal-field effects, etc.). Their main drawback is the presence of multiple relaxation pathways accelerating magnetization loss and limiting the blocking temperature. We report our investigation on local spin dynamics of two isostructural...
The production of the theranostic radionuclide 155Tb is under the spotlight of the nuclear medicine community for its dual role in SPECT imaging and Auger electron therapy, as well as its complementarity with other terbium isotopes (149Tb, 152Tb, 161Tb). We investigated three alternative production routes, using natural targets and different beams (protons, deuterons and α particles), to...
Medical image analysis provides a non-invasive framework to investigate disease-related imaging patterns. Our work focuses on radiomics applied to Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data, extracting quantitative features to study their association with biomarker expression and with different disease phenotypes and subtypes. These approaches aim to complement...
Visual information can be manipulated in terms of images, usually captured and then processed through a sequence of computational operations. Alternatively, optical systems can perform such operations directly, reducing computational overhead at the cost of stricter design requirements. We discuss this workflow in the context of quantum technologies. First, we introduce a quantum algorithm...
Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors are widely used in major CERN experiments as muon triggers due to their excellent time resolution. However, the gas mixtures employed in RPCs contain greenhouse gases (R134a - SF₆), contributing significantly to environmental emissions; during Run 2, about 85% of particle detector emissions were due to RPC gas leaks. Therefore, environmentally friendly...
The production of a $W$ boson in association with a $c$-quark is a key process to probe the $s$-quark content of the proton. Dominated by strange–gluon scattering, its cross section provides direct sensitivity to the strange parton distribution function. Previous ATLAS and CMS measurements were consistent with theoretical predictions, but higher-statistics studies are required to improve...
We propose a low-cost experiment to test the transient water flow from a pipe connected to a tank, in the time interval between the opening of a valve and the onset of steady state, as predicted by the unsteady Bernoulli's equation. Data are collected with the help of the open-source video analysis software Tracker, and the experiment is suitable for an undergraduate laboratory project. It is...
During the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) program, the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) muon spectrometer will face challenging conditions. The instantaneous luminosity will increase up to approximately ten times the value expected when CMS was originally designed. To ensure redundancy in the region closest to the beam line and to extend the detector coverage, three new stations...
The vast disparity between the LHC collision rate (∼40 MHz) and data storage capacity (∼1 kHz) forces the ATLAS Trigger to implement stringent cuts on high transverse momentum. These restrictions, such as the prescale on single-jet triggers severely limit physics sensitivity and discard many low-mass events (e.g., dijet below 1 TeV).
To recover these signatures, ATLAS implemented the...
Electromagnetic interactions provide one of the cleanest probes of the proton’s internal structure. A particularly rich class of processes involves two photons, such as Compton scattering $\gamma^{(*)} p \to\gamma^{(*)} p$, where either photon may be real or virtual. By varying the photon energy and virtuality, different pictures of the proton emerge.
At low virtuality, the proton responds...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into medical physics, offering powerful tools for enhancing treatment planning. In Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), a promising radiotherapy that selectively targets tumors using boron-containing drugs and neutron irradiation, AI can support precise treatment. My work presents a novel Treatment Planning System (TPS), IT_STARTS,...
At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Vector Boson Scattering (VBS) occurs when quarks from colliding protons radiate vector bosons (𝑉 = 𝑊, 𝑍), which then interact to produce various final states. My project focuses on the ZZ final state in its fully leptonic decay (𝑝𝑝 → 𝑍𝑍𝑗𝑗 → 𝑙𝑙𝑙′𝑙′𝑗𝑗), where both 𝑍 bosons decay into electrons or muons. Starting from the significance measured in the 2021 CMS...
