INFN: Searching for new physics
The numerous achievements made by particle physicists in recent years have raised interest and triggered high expectations not only among physicists around the world, but also outside the circle of insiders. The hope for 2012 is to be able to meet as many of these expectations as possible.
Layout of the new SuperB facility.
Answers to some of the current questions will come from data collected by the LHC, which will tell us definitively if the Higgs boson exists and, if it does, what its mass is. However, the LHC may present us with surprises in the form of signatures of new physics that nobody can currently predict. Certainly a significant part of the resources and focus of Italian physicists, and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), will continue to be directed towards Geneva.
However, we could come across new physics through two other research fields: the search for signals of dark matter; and investigations into neutrino physics, a field that continually seems to hold surprises. Experiments at the Gran Sasso Laboratory and on satellites orbiting the Earth are looking for feeble signals from weakly interacting particles. These experiments will also help us find a more precise way to search for dark matter. In the cosmic silence of the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, attention will also be paid to the study of the double beta decay, which may enlighten us about the real nature of neutrinos. Not to be neglected, of course, is the verification of the surprising results of the speed of neutrinos produced at CERN.
Funding has recently been granted to the INFN for the construction of a large submarine infrastructure off the shores of Sicily that will study cosmic neutrinos. The new experiment will provide an extraordinary antenna to European physicists, constantly searching for cosmic signals. Though of a different nature, cosmic gravitational waves examined by the EGO interferometer based in Pisa are equally important for widening our horizons.
Moreover, 2012 will see the construction of the international laboratory dedicated to Nicola Cabibbo, which will provide the infrastructure for the new SuperB accelerator. The high expectations of a large international community and the INFN will keep this project in the spotlight over the coming years.
We do not yet know where the signs of new physics will come from; nor do we know what discoveries are on their way. As seen from Italy the future of particle physics looks bright.
