A. Belin, N. Mekareeya, S. Pasquetti, S. Penati, A. Tomasiello, A. Zaffaroni

The String Theory Group studies fundamental interactions, focusing on quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and the AdS/CFT correspondence.
Their research covers renormalization group flows, IR dualities, emergent phenomena, and conformal field theories. They also investigate defects and anomalies in quantum field theories involving generalized symmetries, using exact methods such as localization and superconformal indices in supersymmetric gauge theories.
A key area of interest is black hole physics, particularly the microscopic origin of black hole entropy and its role in quantum gravity.
The group also explores the landscape of consistent quantum gravity theories. In string theory, this involves studying different compactifications, especially those that could lead to de Sitter solutions.
Additionally, they examine the deep connections between geometry and physics in string theory compactifications, analyzing fluxes, dualities, and their broader impact on theoretical physics.

S. Alioli, C. Oleari, E.Re, L. Rottoli

The phenomenology group at University of Milano‑Bicocca works on a broad range of topics in collider theory, with a strong emphasis on precision predictions for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Members of the group are leading experts in advancing the precision frontier of Standard Model (SM) predictions for collider observables. Their research spans the computation of high-order fixed-order perturbative predictions for key SM processes, such as Drell–Yan process and Higgs boson production, as well as the all-order resummation of logarithmically enhanced contributions using modern techniques based also on Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET).

A central component of the group’s activity is the development of Monte Carlo event generators, which are essential tools for both high-precision studies and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. By consistently combining high-order fixed-order calculations with all-order resummation of logarithmically enhanced terms, these frameworks provide accurate and flexible predictions for a wide variety of collider observables. Members of the group play a leading role in advancing the theoretical accuracy of Monte Carlo generators within the POWHEG BOX and Geneva Monte Carlo framework. Recent efforts include extending these tools to processes involving light jets in the final state, incorporating electroweak corrections, and developing systematic predictions relevant for future lepton colliders.

In parallel with methodological developments, the group investigates the phenomenology of several important Standard Model processes, including Higgs, di-Higgs, top-quark pair, and diboson production at high-energy colliders.

While precision SM physics represents a major focus, the group is also actively engaged in exploring strategies for discovering signals of physics beyond the Standard Model. This includes studying subtle kinematic features of collider events to enhance sensitivity to new phenomena and to improve the determination of fundamental parameters.

The group maintains an extensive international network of collaborations, including partnerships with researchers at CERN, DESY, Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Zurich, as well as several institutions in Italy. Locally, the group interacts closely with the phenomenology community at University of Milan and with the experimental CMS Collaboration and LHCb Collaboration groups within the department.

M. Bruno, M. Cè, M. Dallabrida, L. Giusti, M. Pepe

We study relativistic quantum field theories non-perturbatively. This is required for the theoretical understanding of many phenomena in Physics where the interactions among the fundamental constituents are strong.
In the Standard Model of Particle Physics, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the fundamental theory of the Strong Interactions that describes the dynamics of quarks and gluons: it determines, for instance, the properties and the structure of hadrons, the features of the quark-gluon plasma at high temperature, and in flavour physics it is instrumental in the derivation of precise predictions from the Standard Model and beyond. We are particularly interested in processes that may shed light on several weaknesses of the Standard Model, and possibly reveal the existence of new fundamental degrees of freedom in Nature, such as the anomalous magnetic moment of leptons, rare hadronic decays, weak and strong CP violation. In order to define non-perturbatively the relevant quantum field theories, the four-dimensional space-time has to be discretized on a lattice. Once the quantities of interest have been defined non-perturbatively in a rigorous way, they are computed on the fastest High-Performance Computers (HPC) made available by the European supercomputing centers. To this aim specialized algorithms and computational strategies are constantly developed within our group, together with highly-optimized codes and software which are created, tested and refined on locally assembled and managed small-scale HPC clusters.

M. Giovannini

In the last thirty years gravitation, high-energy physics, astrophysics and cosmology experienced a progressive unification that produced a new paradigm for the description of the observed universe. Dark matter and dark energy, big bang nucleosynthesis, baryogenesis (i.e. the origin of matter-antimatter asymmetry), magnetogenesis (i.e. the origin of large-scale magnetism): all these problems cannot be treated today with the techniques belonging to a single discipline. Various speculations on the early universe have today empirical evidences thanks to the observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. The analysis of the diffuse backgrounds of relic gravitons will provide in the future even more stringent information on the early stages of the evolution of the plasma.

My research interests are driven by the interplay between gravitation, quantum field theory, observational cosmology, and high-energy physics, with the aim of understanding the physical conditions of the early universe in the stages that precede and follow the big bang.
These conditions remain today the subject of ongoing debate; they depend on the space-time evolution of curvature (and its presumed singularities) near the Planck scale. I am interested in understanding how the spectra of relic gravitons can provide information about the inflationary and post-inflationary phases of the universe, the dominance of dark energy, and, above all, the physics beyond the Standard Model. For these reasons, I work on the quantum theory of relativistic fluctuations of geometry and on the mechanisms through which hypermagnetic fields may be amplified during an inflationary stage of expansion and influence the evolution of the primordial plasma: this is the broad field of magnetohydrodynamics with anomalous currents, in short anomalous magnetohydrodynamics.

I am also interested in the alternatives to the inflationary paradigm, such as the bouncing scenarios. In addition, I work on several problems related to the electroweak phase transition, the generation of the baryon asymmetry, the synthesis of light nuclei (in the presence of antimatter domains) and the roles of sterile neutrinos. In the past I liked to speculate on the physics of extra dimensions (both compact and non- compact) and on the impact of higher-dimensional defects (both topological and non-topological) for the localization of gravity and gauge interactions in four-dimensions. More recently, I have been working on quantum thermodynamics and on the Landauer limit.