Boom in enrolment this year for the International Masterclasses in Lombardy: over 200 students of the high schools in Lombardy who, from 24 February, starting from Pavia, will be able to experience first-hand how the research of CERN in Geneva works, as well as particle physics and its applications in medicine. The University of Pavia, the University of Milan and the University of Milano-Bicocca, despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are collaborating again this year in the organisation of the international Masterclass initiative, coordinated in Italy by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN).
It starts on 24 February in Pavia and on 25 February in Milano-Bicocca, while on 21 March it will be the turn of the University of Milan. In Pavia, the events continue on 2 March and 8 April, while in Milano Statale on 18 and 28 March.
Thanks to this initiative, young men and women will be accompanied by researchers on a journey to discover the properties of particles and explore the secrets of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as the applications of particle physics in medicine.
For the Masterclasses dedicated to the CERN, the programme includes lectures and seminars on the fundamental topics of particle physics, followed by computer exercises on one of the experiments of the LHC particle accelerator, the 27 km tunnel under Geneva, in which the particles collide almost at the speed of light. Young students, simultaneously from countries around the world, will analyse the data from the LHC experiments: ATLAS, ALICE or LHCb. They will be able to use the real data of the LHC to simulate in the exercises the epochal discovery of the Higgs boson, which took place in 2012, but also that of the W and Z bosons (precisely those that in 1984 earned Carlo Rubbia the Nobel Prize), they will be able to learn about other particles and explore their peculiar characteristics and properties.
At the end of each day, just like in a true international research collaboration, there will be a video-conference link with CERN and among young Masterclass participants from around the world to discuss the results of the exercises together.
On 18 March, instead, in Milan and on 8 April in Pavia, the Masterclass in Particle Therapy will take place, including a video-link with the CNAO – National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy.
The initiative, now in its 18th edition, is part of the international Masterclasses organised by IPPOG (International Particle Physics Outreach Group) and, in Italy, by the INFN. The Masterclasses take place simultaneously in 60 different countries, involving over 200 of the most prestigious research institutions and universities in the world and over 13,000 high school students. For the National Institute of Nuclear Physics this year there are the sections of Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Cosenza, Ferrara, Florence, Genoa, Lecce, Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Naples, Padua, Parma, Pavia, Perugia, Pisa, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome Tor Vergata, Roma Tre, Salerno, Turin, Trieste, Trento and Udine, and the National Laboratories of Frascati (LNF).
Dates and local contacts:
Milano Statale (21 and 28 March, 18 March): Università Statale di Milano, via Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan (Sala Consiglio), Dr. Francesco Tartarelli: ([email protected]) 0250317651 or 3488593165 and Prof. Leonardo Carminati ([email protected])
Milano-Bicocca (25 February): University of Milano-Bicocca and INFN (Building U9, Hall 06) Viale dell’Innovazione 10, 20126 Milan.
Hours: 10:00-17:30
Web page: http://masterclass.mib.infn.it
Contacts: prof. Marta Calvi 0264482408, 3404147396, prof. Maurizio Martinelli [email protected], 0264482407.
Pavia (24 February, 2 March, 8 April): Department of Physics of the University of Pavia, via Bassi 6, Pavia. Hours: 9:00-17:00
Contacts: Dr. Susanna Costanza ([email protected]) tel. 0382 987952, Francesca Ballarini ([email protected])
Information on the Masterclasses:
Italian Masterclasses: http://masterclass.infn.it/
International Masterclasses: http://physicsmasterclasses.org/neu/