The aim of the DART WARS project is to boost the sensitivity of experiments based on low-noise superconducting detectors. This goal will be reached through the development of wideband superconducting amplifiers with noise at the quantum limit and the implementation of a… Read more quantum limited read out in different types of superconducting detectors. Noise at the quantum limit over a large bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for challenging future applications, like neutrino mass measurement, next generation x-ray observatory, cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurement, and dark matter and axion detection. The sensitivity and the bandwidth of microcalorimeter detectors such as Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) and Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) using dissipative readout are limited by the noise temperature and bandwidth of the cryogenic amplifier. Likewise, resonant axion detectors, such as haloscopes, must probe a range of frequencies of several GHz keeping the system noise to the lowest possible level. The need for a quantum limited microwave amplifier with large bandwidth operating at millikelvin temperatures is also particularly felt in many quantum technology applications, for example the rapid high-fidelity multiplexed readout of superconducting qubits. To this end, devices called traveling wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) are currently being developed. The nonlinear element of TWPAs is provided by Josephson junctions or by the kinetic inductance of a high-resistivity superconductor.The DART WARS project is a research effort to improve the performance and reliability of these amplifiers with the study of new materials and with improved microwave and thermal engineering. The long-term goal is to demonstrate, for the first time, the readout with different sensors (TESs, MKIDs, microwave cavities) opening the concrete possibility to increase the sensitivity of the next generation particle physics experiments.

MEETmeTONIGHT (MEET) – “Face to face with the research” is the proposal for the European Researchers’ Night in 2020, happening in the major Italian cities of Milan, Naples, Caserta and Padua, complemented by Brescia, Castellanza, Cremona, Edolo, Lecco, Lodi, Mantova,… Read more Monza, Sondrio (Lombardy region), Avellino, Portici, Procida (Campania region), Cassino, Frosinone, Gaeta, Ventotene (Lazio region) and Asiago (Veneto region). The goal is to realize a special occasion of meeting and interaction between the public at large and the world of research, where researchers – at the forefront of all the proposed activities – can show themselves and what they do, in a simple, spontaneous, informal and entertaining way, actively involving the public. People, by doing, find themselves learning, getting amused, and becoming aware of how much research is for everyone and all around us. All MEET activities aim at promoting research and its outcomes, researchers and their profession, with a special attention to the youngest generations on one side, and to the recognition of the role of Europe on the other. With one common macro-theme, detailed in five thematic areas and five slogans, MEET proposes interactive stands, hands-on experiments and live demos that reconstruct the research environment; conferences, video projections, interactive games; guided visits to scientific museums; meeting occasions with researchers; European Corners; live broadcast moments. A special attention is given to schools’ pupils, for which a number of dedicated activities are foreseen, at the goal of encouraging them to consider research career as a concrete option for their life, and to sustainability, one of the most important topics to be considered to achieve a better future.

1.1. State of the art, knowledge needs and project objectives: The aim of the project is to provide novel solutions for the two major societal challenges we are facing today; plastic waste (from food packaging) and food waste. The short… Read more to midterm goal of the project is to develop, test and demonstrate novel smart (active and intelligent) packaging solutions based on photothermal-nanomaterials for improved functionality of the food packaging. A schematic overview of the project is shown in figure 1. The project is subdivided into five distinct work packages (WP). A successful development and implementation of the proposed technology will be an important step towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, 14 and circular economy of food grade plastics. In the long term, the developed technology will enable decrease of food waste and packaging waste, ensure food safety and result in environmental and logistics benefits in the food supply chain. To achieve these goals, the tasks will be performed in close collaboration with both national and international partners.

This CREMLINplus project proposal is about European-Russian scientific and technical collaboration in the field of research infrastructures. It takes up and addresses all recommendations that have been worked out in close European-Russian collaboration within three years of the Horizon 2020 project CREMLIN. CREMLINplus… Read more is a voluminous project, a grand endeavour, setting out to fully implement jointly elaborated EuropeanRussian collaboration roadmaps and to ensure that the framework conditions will be improved and continually harmonized. The project will operate in two directions, following two main strategic goals: (1) CREMLINplus will strongly advance the five Russian megascience projects in close European-Russian collaboration. This objective refers to the technical preparation of the megascience projects for European and international utilisation. The project will allow European-Russian collaborative top teams to develop and deliver finest, novel cutting-edge technologies for both the Russian megascience projects and their European RI counterparts. (2) CREMLINplus will prepare a defined set of Russian research infrastructures, hosted at eleven laboratories, for not only Russian, but also European and international access and utilisation. For this purpose, suitable framework conditions for opening and accessing these Russian facilities will be developed and implemented. A comprehensive base of knowledge and expertise for RI managers and scientists at various levels will be created. The 35 European and Russian participants of the project have come together to build the broad and balanced consortium, connected through a history of trustful collaboration. They are the relevant entities in the domain of research infrastructures in Europe and in Russia, and thus provide the necessary strength, commitment and power to implement the project plan.

Galaxies reside within a web of gas that feeds the formation of new stars. Following star formation, galaxies eject some of their gas reservoir back into this cosmic web. This proposal addresses the fundamental questions of how these inflows and… Read more outflows regulate the evolution of galaxies. My research team will tackle two key problems: 1) how gas accretion regulates the build-up of galaxies; 2) how efficiently outflows are in removing gas from star-forming regions. To characterise these flows across five billion years of cosmic history, we will pursue cutting-edge research on the halo gas, which is the material around the central galaxies, within dark matter halos. We will focus on scales ranging from a few kiloparsecs, where outflows originate, up to hundreds of kiloparsecs from galaxies, where inflows and outflows have visible impacts on halos. We will attack this problem using both simulations and observations with the largest telescopes on the ground and in space. With novel applications of absorption spectroscopy, we will gain a new vantage point on the astrophysics of these gas flows. Exploiting unprecedented datasets that I am currently assembling thanks to ground-breaking developments in instrumentation, we will directly connect the properties of halo gas to those of the central galaxies, investigating the impact

The European Spallation Source being constructed in Lund, Sweden will provide the user community with a neutron source of unprecedented brightness. By 2025, a suite of 15 instruments will be served by a high-brightness moderator system placed above the spallation target. The… Read more ESS infrastructure, consisting of the proton linac, the target station, and the instrument halls, allows for implementation of a second source below the spallation target. We propose to develop a second neutron source with a high-intensity moderator able to (1) deliver a larger total cold neutron flux, (2) provide high intensities at longer wavelengths in the spectral regions of Cold (4-10 Å), Very Cold (10-40 Å), and Ultra Cold (several 100 Å) neutrons, as opposed to Thermal and Cold neutrons delivered by the top moderator. Offering both unprecedented brilliance, flux, and spectral range in a single facility, this upgrade will make ESS the most versatile neutron source in the world and will further strengthen the leadership of Europe in neutron science. The new source will boost several areas of condensed matter research such as imaging and spin-echo, and will provide outstanding opportunities in fundamental physics investigations of the laws of nature at a precision unattainable anywhere else. At the heart of the proposed system is a volumetric liquid deuterium moderator. Based on proven technology, its performance will be optimized in a detailed engineering study. This moderator will be complemented by secondary sources to provide intense beams of Very- and Ultra-Cold Neutrons. To perform the required development of advanced moderator and reflector materials, and find the best solutions for their implementation at ESS, the HighNESS consortium pursues an integrated approach, combining complementary expertise of its partners in simulations, neutronic design and engineering, material characterization using neutron scattering techniques, and the targeted scientific applications of slow neutrons

The LHCb experiment has shown an excellent performance in precision measurements of beauty- and charm-hadron decays during the LHC runs 1 and 2. Now, it is undertaking its first major upgrade, to face the challenges of a large increase in instantaneous luminosity,… Read more that implies augmented event complexity and background levels. This impacts the trigger, which needs to quickly and efficiently identify signals, while facing limits on the disk storage capacity. The proposed project aims at fighting these limitations in a new way for LHCb: performing a Deep Full Event Interpretation (DFEI) during trigger, where a deep neural network processes the low-level information from the detector and infers the heavy-hadron decays that occurred in the event. This allows to quickly identify different types of background and provides enhanced information on the mother particles. As a first application of DFEI, the first angular analysis of semitauonic decays at LHCb is proposed. Semitauonic decays are partially reconstructed in LHCb, due to the presence of neutrinos in the final state. This leads to high levels of backgrounds, hard to separate from the signal, which makes them a perfect validation bench for the power of DFEI. From a physics perspective, the recently-observed flavour anomalies defy the concept of Lepton Universality of the Standard Model (SM), and point towards potential beyond-the-SM effects in semitauonic B decays. The complementary aim of this project is to perform the first LHCb angular analysis of both B0 -> D+ tau- nu and B0 -> D*+ tau- nu decays, where D*+ -> D+ pi0 and tau- -> mu- nu nu. This analysis will provide crucial information to discriminate between different new models proposed to explain the anomalies. The ambitious projects in this proposal are solidly based on my experience with semitauonic decays, angular analyses and the creation of new software tools, as well as the broad experience of the host group in event reconstruction and data analysis.