Contents - Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi

Contents

A small institute and a great opportunity 1

The Institute 3The historical building of Via Panisperna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Governance and Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Research Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7External Project Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Postdoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9PhD Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Quantum photonic technologies,artificial intelligence and complexity 12Introduction, CREF as a pole of attraction for photonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12New Classic/Quantum Hybrid Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12A national workshop on quantum technologies in Via Panisperna . . . . . . . . . 13New laboratories and new experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Ultra-fast optical computation and neuromorphic computation . . . . . . . 14Quantum transmission: a link from via Panisperna to Sapienza . . . . . . . 15Photonics quantum technologies e Machine Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Quantum causality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Complexity in soft matter 18Soft Matter: frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Soft Matter and Machine Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

From Education to Innovation and Development 21Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Social and Economic Complexity 24The new challenges and opportunities of the hyper connected world . . . . . . . 24The Science of Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25An Example of the New Strategy: Economic Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Big Data—between Opportunity and Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Reinventing Economic Theories and Practices at the Time of COVID-19 . . . . . 29The Dynamics of Information in the Social World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Creativity and Science: An Opportunity for Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Relations with Political Institutions and with the Productive World . . . . . . . 31International Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Present and Future Collaborations and Synergies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Editorials (international journals) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Editorials (national journals) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Web sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

iii

iv CONTENTS

Complexity and Artificial Intelligence to Meet the Chal-lenges of Sustainable Development Goals 38Areas of Application and Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Sustainable cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

New mobility ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40The dynamics of information and social dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

The study of new critical information phenomenologies . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Improving the information ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Society and Complexity 47Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Complexity in Self-Gravitating Systems 51Relaxation to equilibrium of a self-gravitating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Cosmological galaxy formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53The speed field of the Milky Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Velocity fields of external galaxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Large Scale Structure of the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Design of New High-Tc Conventional Superconductorswith Material Informatics 58Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Extreme Energy Events (EEE)—Science inside Schools 61Data Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Upgrade of the EEE Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Data Analysis and Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62PolarquEEEst Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Neuroscience and Quantitative Neuroimaging 67Connectomics and brain networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Dynamics of Brain Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Plasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Metabolism of Brain Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Physics for Cultural Heritage 75Archaeometry at CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Teaching activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Small projects 81Highspins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81The double copy paradigm : (gauge)² = gravity ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Hadrontherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Open Problems in Quantum Mechanics (PAMQ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Fundamental Physics in Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

CONTENTS v

In the Footsteps of the “Boys of via Panisperna”: Between Scientific Research andCivil Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

The Physics Institute of Rome between the Wars: Orso Mario Corbino and EnricoFermi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

A science museum dedicated to Enrico Fermi 94Stages of the Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

1. Fermions and bosons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962. Beta rays theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963. A full italian Nobel prize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974. Italian navigator landed in the new world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975. The mistery of cosmic rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976. Accelerators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977. The Fermi’s last present to Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98A creative environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Brilliant life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Implementation and updating activities of the Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Communication and dissemination activities related to the museum . . . . . . . . 99

vi CONTENTS

A small institute and a great opportu-nity

The Enrico Fermi Research Center (CREF) was founded in 1999, but only recently thecomplete restoration of the famous building in Via Panisperna was completed so that it canbe used for scientific purposes. The goal was to return the famous building in Via Panispernato a scientific use that would honor the memory of the fundamental discoveries of Fermi’sgroup that took place in this very building. The first step was to establish a museum withthe original finds of Fermi’s experiments showcased via appropriate modern audio–videosystems that would make the meaning of these historical events readily understandable tonew generations as well.

In addition to this dutiful homage to the heritage of seminal events, however, somethingmore original and current was also thought of. Fermi was a scientist oriented to the futureand to a particularly innovative vision of science. From this perspective it was decidedthat, in addition to the historical aspect reflecting the past, CREF also has its own researchactivity oriented to the present and the future. As in Germany, for example, the memoryof Max Planck is mainly honored by a large network of prestigious scientific institutes, soit was proposed that CREF also become a nucleus of particularly original and innovativeresearch, precisely in the spirit that characterized Enrico’s activities.

The CREF must not merely replicate or collaterally support activities already beingcarried out by other institutions. When seeking to do something original and on a highlevel, even if on smaller dimensions, it is natural to focus on the new scientific issuesthat are appearing on the horizon with increasing frequency. Often these clusters areinterdisciplinary in nature and often related to the field of Complex Systems.

Figure 1: Front view of the Institute and the historical fountain

1

CREF - Enrico Fermi Research Center 2

In the Italian scientific world, disciplinary groupings tend towards a sectorization ofresearch that does not favor interdisciplinarity. On the other hand, it is clear that a smalland agile CREF can play the role of quickly orienting itself towards new, particularly currentand innovative activities. CREF can therefore seize this strategic opportunity to be aninstitution that stimulates innovative scientific issues, that is, an incubator for start-ups ofa scientific nature. The elements that enhance this opportunity are the undoubted prestigeof the CREF and its headquarters and also its limited size, which becomes an advantage toenable quick and effective decisions in identifying new strategic issues. From this point ofview, however, the idea is to be totally open to new developments and proposals that canalso come from the outside. As for the specific issues, it is clear that reference will be madeto the principles and methods of physics but interpreted in a modern key and with a focuson social relevance and possible collaboration with companies and other institutions.

For example, Ettore Majorana, of the Fermi group, wrote an article in 1930 entitled “TheValue of Statistical Laws in Physics and Social Sciences”. This visionary article, publishedposthumously in 1942, posed a challenge that is particularly relevant today, especiallywhen considered from the perspective of Big Data. Therefore, in addition to themes thatare characteristic of more traditional physics but selected for their originality, we intend todevelop themes such as data science, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, amongwhich Complexity and Economic Fitness represent a very current example.

2

The Institute

The historical building of Via PanispernaThe Enrico Fermi Research Center (CREF) was founded by decree-law in 1999 but therestoration work of the historical building in Via Panisperna has only recently been com-pleted, thus allowing access and use for its scientific objectives and the dissemination ofscientific culture. The original idea behind the foundation of CREF was to restore thebuilding in Via Panisperna to a scientific use that would honor the memory of the fun-damental discoveries of the Fermi group that took placethere. The first action was to setup a museum with the original findings of Fermi’s experiments integrated with appropriatemodern audio-video systems that would make the understanding of these historical eventsaccessible to the new generations. In addition to this dutiful homage to the memory ofprestigious past events, it was decided to combine them with more original and currentactivities. Fermi was a scientist oriented to the future and to a particularly innovativevision of science. In this perspective it was decided that, in addition to the historical aspectoriented to the past, CREF also had its own research activity oriented to the present andthe future. Similarly to what happens in Germany, where Max Planck’s memory is honoredmainly through a large network of prestigious scientific institutes, CREF has been estab-lished to develop a nucleus of particularly original and innovative research, in the spiritthat has characterized the activities of Enrico Fermi.

The CREF today does not intend to be a small replica or collateral support of theactivities already carried out by other institutions. Wanting to carry out original and high-level activities even with limited dimensions, it was natural to focus on the new scientificissues that appear on the horizon with increasing frequency. Often these issues are of aninterdisciplinary nature and generally fall within the area of Complex Systems. In theItalian scientific world, disciplinary groupings tend to a sectoralization of research thatdoes not favor interdisciplinarity. On the other hand, it is clear that the small and agileCREF can quickly move towards new, particularly current and innovative activities. CREFcan therefore seize this strategic opportunity: that of being an institution that stimulatesinnovative scientific issues, an incubator for start-ups of a scientific nature. The elementsthat favor this opportunity are the undoubted prestige of the CREF and its headquartersand its limited size which becomes an advantage in being able to make quick and effectivedecisions and in identifying new strategic issues. As for the specific issues, it is clear thatreference is made to the principles and style of Physics but interpreted in a modern key

Figure 2: Historical building of Via Panisperna, in the center of Rome, where Enrico Fermi andhis group were working in the thirties.

3


Figure 3: Enrico Fermi Lecture Hall

and with attention to social relevance and possible collaborations with companies and otherinstitutions.

Governance and Advisory Boards

President

The President has the legal representation of Institue, ensures the scientific direction, super-vises the activities and is responsible for national and international relations. The Presidentis appointed by the Minister of University and Research and remains in office for four years.

Luciano PietroneroProfessor of Condensed Matter Physics, Uni-versity of Roma “La Sapienza”. Founder andformer director of the CNR Institute of Com-plex Systems (ISC).

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors has policy and strategic planning skills relating to the acts oforganization, operation, administration and management of the Institute. The Board ofDirectors is composed by the President and two other members chosen from among expertsof high national and international scientific qualification and/or high administration.

4

5 CREF - Enrico Fermi Research Center

Tiziana Di MatteoFull Professor of Econophysics, Department ofMathematics King’s College London.

Roberto BenziFull Professor of Theoretical Physics, Depart-ment of Physics Tor Vergata University.

Scientific Director

The scientific director is responsible for coordinating the Museum and Research Structure,coordinating the interdisciplinary projects of the CREF and implementing them as wellas enhancing and disseminating the results of research activities and the coordination andenhancement of the activities of the Historical Museum of Physics.

Andrea GabrielliAssociate Professor of Physics, EngineeringDepartment, University “Roma Tre”.

Science Board

The principle role of the Science Board is to advise the President and the Board of Trusteeson matters of scientific strategy for the Institute. This advice includes identification ofmajor new scientific directions for the Institute, identification and nomination of potentialResident and External Professors, and providing assistance to the President in review of theInstitute’s scientific programs. The Science Board performs a general advisory role to thePresident. Members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the ScienceBoard and normally serve for renewable three-year terms.

Eugenio GaudioPresident

Former Rector of Sapienza University ofRome.

5


Ruth DurrerMember

Full Professor of Astroparticle Physics, De-partment of Theoretical Physics, University ofGeneva.

Fernando FerroniMember

Full professor of Physics, Gran Sasso ScienceInstutute.

Marco TrombettiMember

Co-Founder and CEO of Pi Campus andTranslated.

Stefano ZapperiMember

Full Professor of Theoretical Condensed Mat-ter Physics, Coordinator of the Center forComplexity and Biosystems, University of Mi-lan.

Science Steering Committee

The Science Steering Committee reviews and makes recommendations to the President onall faculty appointments, workshops, ongoing research activities, and policy issues whichaffect how science is conducted at CREF.

Itamar ProcacciaDirector

Professorial Chair in Chemical Physics, De-partment of Chemical Physics of The Weiz-mann Institute of Science.

6


Yi-Cheng ZhangMember

Full Professor of Theoretical Physics, Depart-ment of Physics, Fribourg University.

Lucilla De ArcangelisMember

Lucilla de Arcangelis, Full Professor of The-oretical Physics, Department of Engineering,University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli".

Research Staff

Researchers

Fabrizio CoccettiDirector of Research

Francesco Sylos LabiniDirector of Research

Federico GioveFirst Researcher

Giulia FestaResearcher

Miriam FocacciaResearcher

Ivan GnesiResearcher

Marco GarbiniResearcher

Michela MarafiniResearcher

Claudio ParisResearcher

Silvia PisanoResearcher

7


Kristian PiscicchiaResearcher

External Project Leaders

Fundamental Physics in Space

Ignazio CiufoliniSalento University

History of Physics

Francesco GuerraSapienza University

Nadia RobottiUniGe

Quantum photonics

Claudio ContiISC-CNR

Fabio SciarrinoSapienza University

Social and economic complexity

Claudio CastellanoISC-CNR

Andrea ZaccariaISC-CNR

Society and complexity

Walter QuattrociocchiSapienza University

Suistanable goals

Vittorio LoretoSapienza University, SonyLab

Francesca TriaSapienza University

8


Superconductivity

Giovanni BacheletSapienza University

Lilia BoeriSapienza University

Postdoc

Fauzia Albertin Mauro Di Nuzzo

Dario Francia Eugenio Gamba

Alessio Marrani Marta Moraschi

M. Paola Pannetta Claudia Scatigno

PhD Students

Giambattista Albora Giordano De Marzo

Antonio Desiderio Lavinia Rossi Mori

Matteo Straccamore

9


BudgetTable 1 summarizes CREF resources in the period 2015 - 2019. The personnel expenditure

SUMMARY OF THE RESOURCES ALLOCATED TOCREF

Year FOE (e) Projects (e)2015 1,791,566.00 539,697.002016 1,863,783.05 753,961.002017 1,877,735.05 927,020.002018 2,005,554.00 1,078,118.002019 2,290,932.00 130,200.00

Table 1: FOE corresponds to the yearly budget provided by the Ministry of University andReserach.

is shown in Table 2. The Enrico Fermi Research Center defines its own needs of personnelin the three-year reference period grounding on the intense research activity of the newResearch Projects, and of the delivery of the monumental building of via Panisperna, in-stitutional headquarters, and in compliance with the relative spending limits. The overallobjectives are the following:

• Improve the operational aspects of the scientific projects that will be carried out atthe institutional site. This will be done also by strengthening the collaborations withother scientific institutions, in order to exploit at best the new headquarters makingof it the real heart of the Center’s research activity;

• Cope with the multiple administrative burdens envisaged by the current legislationand with the greater workload resulting from the expansion of activities related tothe preparation and management of the new headquarters, offices, laboratories andthe historical museum;

• Guaranteeing the constant activity of the Historical Museum, which is already oper-ative and which had more than 500 visitors in the first two months of activity;

• Support the stable functionality of the management and the maintenance of the dis-plays of the exhibitions, the organization of guided tours in particular for students,and of meetings, workshops, masterclasses, etc .;

• Hosting events, shows, conventions and conferences, both for scholars and connoisseursof the subject, and for the general public, making the Via Panisperna headquartersa true center of scientific culture, as conceived at the time of the birth of the EnricoFermi Research Center (also thanks to the availability of a new Aula Magna, alreadyoperational).

SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURES FOR CREF STAFF

Year

Perman

ent

positions

Tem

porary

positions

Gen

eral

Director

Tem

porary

positionsin

external

projects

Grantsan

dpost-docs

2015 180,626.00 0.00 26,735.00 38,535.00 774,845.002016 172,911.00 3,639.00 100,299.00 2,781.00 605,233.002017 358,628.00 34,792.00 117,350.00 184,326.00 1,246,078.002018 529,748.00 39,874.00 117,350.00 104,497.00 610,626.002019 709,311.00 36,132.00 141,456.00 45,991.00 693,077.00

10


(a) (b)

Figure 4: (a) View from the top floor. (b) From right to left: Enirco Fermi, Franco Rasetti,Edoardo Amaldi, Emilio Segrè and Oscar D’Agostino

In the three-year period 2020-2022 it is crucial to give a more stable vertical structure tothe Institute, which allows permanent staff to acquire the responsibilities necessary to givea scientific and technological direction to the Center.

11

Quantum photonic technologies,artificial intelligence and complexity

Keywords: quantum information, photonics, machine learning

Project Coordinator: Claudio Conti, Fabio Sciarrino

Introduction, CREF as a pole of attraction for photonicsCREF as a refer-ence center and dis-tributed laboratoryfor new quantumtechnologies.

This activity is carried out in collaboration with Prof. Sciarrino (www.quantumlab.it) andProf. Accounts of the Physics Department of Sapienza,"New Talents" of the CREF in theyears 2005–2008. This line of research aims to strengthen collaboration with leading groupsin the field of quantum technologies and applications related to artificial intelligence, aswell as with regard to the involvement of students and the PhD course in the Departmentof Physics of Sapienza. The main objectives are the realization of new computationaland quantum information experiments with photonic technologies, with strong support inrelated theoretical and computational studies.

Quantum technologies are undoubtedly one of the fields attracting the greatest strategicinterest in the world. Witness the enormous investment by the United States, China,and the European community, with the involvement of large industrial companies such asIBM and Google. There are numerous open problems related to quantum technologies,both from a fundamental and an applicative point of view. Despite a growing numberof researchers and an increasingly active community, this research has not yet reachedthe stage of maturity to concretely impact society, or to radically change the paradigmsof modern physical science. However, the impressive developments and convergence inquantum technologies of disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, photonics and complexsystems, open horizons that cannot be overlooked.

In this context, CREF can play a strategic role at the national and international levels,thanks to the strong link with the Department of Physics of Sapienza where some of theleading scientists of the field are active (many of whom are former grantees of the Institute)with a promising community of students and young researchers. CREF can be a referencecenter for the development of new concepts and new experiments, and also a nucleus ofaggregation, thanks to its history and the facilities it makes available, for conferences andnewly launched laboratories. The mix with other nearby realities, such as Sapienza Uni-versity, CNR, and INFN, can create a center for highly innovative photonics with a highscientific impact due to coordination at Via Panisperna.

This line of research is framed in this context and begins an ambitious path to create alarge-scale reality. The starting point is a new laboratory shared between CREF and theDepartment of Physics of Sapienza that envisages as its first objectives the creation of newcomputational machines at the frontier between classical and quantum systems to solveproblems of social interest, such as those related to economics or to the optimization ofcomplex systems, and to address the many fundamental aspects that quantum technologiesopen up.

New Classic/Quantum Hybrid ComputersEnrico Fermi was a pioneer in the creation and use of calculating machines, key examplesof which are displayed in the CREF Museum. It is often argued that quantum systems cansolve combinatorial optimization problems in a time that varies in a polynomial way with

12


the size of the system. This possibility is often referred to as Quantum Advantage or evenQuantum Supremacy. However, the practical implementation of these machines shows thata series of physical effects (such as the excitation of spurious energy states) makes the law ofscale exponential, as in classical computers. The question then arises whether there is a realadvantage in quantum computation applied to combinatorial problems. The solution to bepursued is the development of hybrid computational machines that use photonic quantumsystems to accelerate the computation, but that provide the result of the computation in arobust classical form, which is not subject to decoherence and therefore can be immediatelyinterfaced with traditional calculators. The first experimental evidence of this possibilityhave been reported by the participants in this project, who, thanks to photonics, havepreliminarily demonstrated optical calculations with 105 spins [7], a scale never reachedbefore. These "proof-of-concepts" will be developed extensively within the CREF leadingto a new realization of photonic calculators. The fundamental physical problems related tothe classical quantum interface, the role of entanglement in many-body photonic systems,nonlinear effects and the collective modes of the systems that are intended to be used forthe calculation will also be addressed.

The guideline in this context is the interdisciplinary use of notions from apparentlydistinct fields, such as artificial intelligence, photonics, physics of nonlinear systems andobviously quantum information. It is becoming increasingly clear that the use of machinelearning is changing the way experiments are carried out in the laboratory. The complex-ity of experiments involving different interacting systems (electronic, optical, quantum) onvarious spatial and temporal scales, pushes scientists to an increasingly "data-driven" ap-proach, which follows the trend observed in other fields such as economics and networktheory. A practice increasingly in use is to enrich an experimental apparatus with a layerof artificial intelligence, aimed not only at the optimization of the observation parameters,but also at guiding the researcher in the most promising direction for observation and toreport aspects that are not provided. The availability of novel computational resourcesand new paradigms leads to the design of experiments with a growing degree of innovation.Examples are large-scale experiments such as the “Big-Bell test,” [6] or innovative concepts,such as Ising machines [7]. The development of experimental physical techniques in thefield of photonics, supported by machine learning with paradigms such as "ReinforcementLearning, will be one of the main objectives.

This line is part of a strongly international context mediated by initiatives such asthe European Flagship for Quantum Technologies, or projects of the European ResearchCouncil and Future Emerging Technologies. The participants of this line develop theirresearch in the context of collaborations involving major universities and research centers.Another objective is the substantial involvement of students and the scientific community.The planned initiatives include workshops at the CREF, guided visits to the laboratories,internships, granting of degree and doctoral theses.

A national workshop on quantum technologies in ViaPanispernaThis line of research, intended to strengthen the scientific community on quantum technolo-gies around the time of CREF Annual meetings will be organized at the CREF, involvingthe leading scientists of the field and numerous students. The purpose of the meetings willbe to identify the guidelines of greatest interest, new challenges, and the development ofnew experiments and initiatives, such as research projects, with a view to incubate newscientific ideas in which the new CREF stands. Awards will also be created for promisingyoung researchers and researchers.

New laboratories and new experimentsThe greatest challenge is the setting up of new laboratories at the CREF for newly conceivedexperiments in the field of quantum technologies and also in direct connection with the

13


Figure 5: The figure shows examples of photonic quantum circuits based on different manufactur-ing principles, such as integrated optics or spatial light modulators. The lower panels schematicallyshow the computational models that can be implemented in quantum neuromorphic computationexperiments.

laboratories and students of the Physics Department Physics of Sapienza University degreecourse. Among the laboratories to be set up, we highlight, in particular:

• Quantum Causality and Technologies (QCT) laboratory: a compact and bright sourceof entangled states will be developed. This source will be used both for educationalpurposes related to the activity of the Centro Fermi Museum and for research activi-ties. In particular, various quantum causality schemes will be created, and the QCTLaboratory will serve as a node within a network connected with the Department ofPhysics—Sapienza University of Rome.

• Laboratory of Classical and Quantum Optical Computing: computational machineswith photonic technologies will be developed that also aimed at dissemination andresearch. In particular, various systems will be created with the paradigms describedlater and made available for the various applications, including for educational pur-poses.

The developments obtained by both laboratories will then be combined to carry out opticalcomputation experiments using quantum states of light as a resource.

Ultra-fast optical computation and neuromorphic computation

Hybrid quantum and classical computing systems are explored to develop and experimentaltest new computational paradigms applied to real world data-driven combinatorial prob-lems. The construction and implementation in the spirit of Fermi of actual computersbased on optical technologies is expected to be put online and made accessible to all fordifferent applications. Among the planned activities is the construction of Ising machines

14


on a scale never achieved before. Ising machines solve combinatorial optimization by map-ping computational problems, such as the factorization of integers in the minimization ofmany-body Hamiltonians. New photonic technologies involve the use of large-scale opticalsystems, in which spins are the polarizations of photons in a laser beam. Through the useof new optical devices and nonlinear apparatuses controlled by artificial intelligence, theywill prove to be ultra-fast optical computers on the scale of millions of spins.

Neuromorphic computation is an emerging paradigm in the context of new models ofneural networks. The problem that today limits the hardware of neural networks is the costof training these models (used, for example, for language translation or for tracking objectsin 3D environments). The required energy and environmental impact of training largeneural networks for complex activities is the main difficulty. If we consider the currentconsumption of tens of billions of kWh worldwide by large data-processing centers, weunderstand how it is increasingly important to develop new calculation models in whichtraining is not so intense and onerous. New computational models and new, more efficienthardware need to be identified. A paradigm that is emerging is the so-called neuromorphiccalculation, inspired by the efficient functioning of the human brain. In neuromorphicnetworks, most of the weights are not optimized, and training takes place only in the inputand output if the network is large enough, it can be shown that the computational potentialsare comparable to standard models. Furthermore, the neuromorphic schemes are directlyimplementable with photonic hardware in which light replaces the electronic current forprocessing. In this optical hardware, power consumption is drastically reduced becauseonly passive components are used, the processing speed is the maximum possible and thescale of problems currently reaches 106 spins and is set to multiply rapidly in the future.Within the Fermi Center, following some proposals of the participants[5], new classical andquantum photonic neuromorphic calculators will be created. It is a new class of experimentsand devices that opens up many theoretical and application challenges.

Quantum transmission: a link from via Panisperna to SapienzaThe idea is to create the first link, via fibers or open air, of quantum information that linksthe original institute in Via Panisperna with the Physics Department of Sapienza. It is arevolutionary experiment potentially with great historical impact, which can also representthe first step towards a quantum network on a larger scale. Furthermore, this link can beintegrated with computational machines to test the role of entanglement and quantum non-locality, also in the context of studies on the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.

Photonics quantum technologies e Machine LearningQuantum technologies have the potential to profoundly influence various aspects of modernsociety. Relevant examples are the simulation of quantum systems, materials engineering,nanotechnologies and internet commerce. Machine learning is a vibrant area of researchthat has progressed very rapidly in recent years: Its applications are ubiquitous and rangefrom e-commerce, healthcare, neuroimaging, and particle physics to fundamental science.The purpose of this line of research is therefore to work experimentally on the connectionbetween quantum information and machine learning. Both an integrated hybrid photonicplatform and a “bulk” optical platform will be exploited.

1. We will demonstrate that quantum walk-based photonic platforms can be effectivelyadopted to implement Quantum Machine Learning protocols. Several quantum ma-chine learning demonstrations will be carried out to demonstrate the ability of quan-tum agents to learn physical characteristics not accessible through classical techniques.As a paradigm of reference, we will exploit the quantum-computing reservoir basedon a photonic platform.

2. We will use machine-learning techniques to certify the correct functioning of quantumdevices. The certification of quantum devices is an element of fundamental impor-tance, in particular, in a regime where the system solves a classically intractableproblem. The ability of machine-learning techniques to deal with large amounts ofdata, and to find recurring patterns within them, can therefore represent a powerfultool for validating both communication protocols and quantum algorithms [1; 4].

15


Quantum causalityCausal inference starting from experimental observations appears to be of primary impor-tance in various scientific fields. The theory of causality has in fact become a fundamentaltool for a wide range of applications, such as statistics and machine learning, and throughthese, in genetics, social studies and economics. It has been found that our basic notionsof cause and effect are incompatible with quantum phenomena citechaves2018quantum,poderini2019exclusivity. Causation theory provides a powerful new tool for addressingquantum-information problems. Recently it has been shown that quantum causality allowsthe development of new protocols based on fewer constraints, unlike those implementedpreviously. Relevant examples are the certified generation of purely random numbers [2] orthe generation of quantum effects within a network between different laboratories [9]. Thisline of research is intended to take this activity to the next level, attaining breakthroughs forboth theorists and experimentalists on the experimental basis and implications of quantumcausality. In particular, the following objectives will be pursued:

1. To analyze the emergence of new types of non-classical behavior in various types ofcausal networks never before considered. This includes the use of remote connectionsvia optical fiber and/or free-space between two or more nodes.

2. To develop new quantum-information protocols for quantum networks comprisingmultiple participants.

3. Take advantage of machine-learning techniques for the analysis of data obtainedthrough complex experimental structures.

Summary

This activity is carried out in collaboration with prof. Sciarrino(www.quantumlab.it) of the Department of Physics of Sapienza and prof.Conti, director of the Institute of Complex Systems of the CNR, New Talentsof the CREF in the years 2005-2008. This Research line aims to strengthen thecollaboration with leading groups in the field of quantum technologies and todevelop applications related to artificial intelligence, with the involvement of PhDstudents from the Physics department of Sapienza University. The main objectivesare the realization of new experiments of quantum computing and information withphotonic

Bibliography[1] I. Agresti, N. Viggianiello, F. Flamini, N. Spagnolo, A. Crespi, R. Osellame, N. Wiebe,

and F. Sciarrino. Pattern recognition techniques for boson sampling validation. Phys-ical Review X, 9(1):011013, 2019.

[2] I. Agresti, D. Poderini, L. Guerini, M. Mancusi, G. Carvacho, L. Aolita, D. Cavalcanti,R. Chaves, and F. Sciarrino. Experimental device-independent certified randomnessgeneration with an instrumental causal structure. Communications Physics, 3(1):1–7,2020.

[3] R. Chaves, G. Carvacho, I. Agresti, V. Di Giulio, L. Aolita, S. Giacomini, and F. Scia-rrino. Quantum violation of an instrumental test. Nature Physics, 14(3):291–296,2018.

[4] T. Giordani, F. Flamini, M. Pompili, N. Viggianiello, N. Spagnolo, A. Crespi, R. Osel-lame, N. Wiebe, M. Walschaers, A. Buchleitner, et al. Experimental statistical signa-ture of many-body quantum interference. Nature Photonics, 12(3):173–178, 2018.

[5] G. Marcucci, D. Pierangeli, and C. Conti. Theory of neuromorphic computing bywaves: machine learning by rogue waves, dispersive shocks, and solitons. Physicalreview letters, 2020, To be published.

16


[6] M. Mitchell. Challenging local realism with human choices the big bell test collabora-tion (vol 557, pg 212, 2018). Nature, 562(7727):E23–E23, 2018.

[7] D. Pierangeli, G. Marcucci, and C. Conti. Large-scale photonic ising machine by spatiallight modulation. Physical review letters, 122(21):213902, 2019.

[8] D. Poderini, R. Chaves, I. Agresti, G. Carvacho, and F. Sciarrino. Exclusivity graphapproach to instrumental inequalities. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.09120, 2019.

[9] D. Poderini, I. Agresti, G. Marchese, E. Polino, T. Giordani, A. Suprano, M. Valeri,G. Milani, N. Spagnolo, G. Carvacho, et al. Experimental violation of n-locality in astar quantum network. Nature communications, 11(1):1–8, 2020.

[10] J. Wang, F. Sciarrino, A. Laing, and M. G. Thompson. Integrated photonic quantumtechnologies. Nature Photonics, pages 1–12, 2019.

17

Complexity in soft matter

Keywords: Soft Matter, critical phenomena, caos theory

Project Coordinator: Roberto Benzi

One of the most deeply rooted ideas underlying the scientific revolution of the last fewcenturies is that natural phenomena, as they appear to us, are understandable on the basisof well-defined rules. Natural rules or laws are therefore seen in antithesis to chaos ordisorder. Discovering and validating natural laws is the aim of science as we understand ittoday. Yet the complexity of the world we observe is clearly at odds with the simplicity ofnatural laws that scientists were first able to understand.

In the second half of the last century, these two aspects, the complexity of naturalphenomena and the simplicity of the underlying laws, were somehow reconciled thanksto the discovery that chaos is inherent in the laws themselves. Chaos theory explainswhy chaos is an integral part of natural law, and understanding it has produced a profoundconceptual revolution in science [1; 7]. Along with quantum mechanics and relativity theory,chaos theory is one of the three great scientific paradigms that have changed the way we seeand understand our surroundings. Beyond physics, chaos theory finds application in almostall scientific disciplines, including economics and the social sciences. It is almost impossibleto make a somewhat exhaustive summary of the problems that are being faced and partlysolved in the various disciplines. However, it is possible to understand how, also thanks tochaos theory, the way of doing research has partly changed and what are, potentially, theroutes and directions that today we think can yield significant results.

Chaos theory has made a fundamental contribution to the development of the conceptof a complex system. In reality, there is no shared definition of what is meant by a complexsystem. There are various definitions, each depending on the point of view. For some, acomplex system is a system whose behavior depends crucially on the details of the systemitself. On the other hand, a computer simulation of a chaotic system is not exact but rep-resents an approximation of the exact solution and of the rules that govern it. Under theseconditions, we can understand what are the general characteristics of the system, i.e., theprobability distribution that characterizes it, and which, to some extent, are independentof the details themselves.

Soft Matter: frontierSoft-Matter is ahighly interdisci-plinary science thatranges from physicsto chemistry, frombiology to socialsciences.

In this context, also thanks to technological developments (e.g., supercomputers) and newexperimental investigation techniques, scientific interest in the study of the physical char-acteristics of “soft” matter has developed and it is rapidly growing. The research activityin this area takes the name, perhaps an understatement, of “Soft Matter”, and it does notonly concern physics, but it is highly interdisciplinary involving biology, chemistry, ecology,geophysics, medicine and the social sciences.

Within physics, the term “Soft Matter” applies to systems such as the behavior ofcomplex fluids, amorphous materials (e.g., emulsions, glasses, granular systems, etc.)

The studies related to the chemical-physical behavior of macromolecules, to the studyof cell membranes, to the dynamics of populations and related genetic evolution, to thedevelopment of models of neural networks are inserted between biology and physics.

Concerning Soft Matter, CREF intends to pursue the development and applicationof numerical simulations suitable for reproducing some of the most relevant phenomenaand possibly predicting new ones. It should be emphasized that some of the simulation

18


(a) (b)

Figure 6: (a) The figure shows the density field of an emulsion, where the dark part is slightlydenser than the light one, obtained using a numerical simulation based on Boltzmann’s equationson the lattice and implementing the molecular interaction forces at the mesoscopic level. Thistype of simulation enables study of the dynamic behavior of emulsions when external forces act [2].(b) Probability distribution of the time elapsed between one avalanche and the next as observedexperimentally in granular systems (symbols with circles and diamonds) in numerical simulationsof emulsions (symbols with triangles) similar to those reported in Fig. 6a and as observed in thestatistics of seismic events (Corral distribution solid black line). This figure is a typical example ofan interdisciplinary study in the Soft Matter sector where numerical simulations and / or laboratoryexperiments can be used to understand some geophysical phenomena [4].

techniques developed in the last twenty years have been conceived and developed by groupsof excellence in scientific research operating in Italian universities and/or institutes and inparticular in the Roman area. Collaborations with these research groups are therefore thefirst step to be implemented to give substance to this activity.

Soft Matter and Machine Learning

Figure 7:Numerical sim-ulation of theevolution of twobacterial populations(green and purplecolors). Position onthe x axis, time onthe y axis.

In addition to the computational component, another sector that is emerging significantlyat an international level concerns the application, in the context of soft matter, of newartificial intelligence technologies and in particular of the vast class of techniques containedunder the name of Machine Learning [7]. The need for the development and application ofthese techniques is motivated by the fact that the traditional tools of data analysis (evenenriched with new concepts developed by scientific research) are not always able to quanti-tatively identify some phenomena (for example the recognition of the spatial configurationsof an amorphous system close to a crisis event). In other cases, such as the behavior of“active” particles within a fluid, Machine Learning techniques allow the development oflearning protocols suitable for promoting particular functions and of fundamental impor-tance in many applications (for example drug delivery). Finally, these techniques can assistthe possibility of predicting “critical” phenomena within the system in question. The de-velopment and application of Machine Learning techniques is the second research activityof the Fermi Center in the context of Soft Matter.

Given the number and complexity of possible phenomena on which to focus research inthe coming years, it is necessary, also through collaborations with other universities andresearch institutes, to circumscribe a more specific field on which the CREF can producesignificant results in realistic times. However, it is important to note that the researchactivities to be carried out are a natural terrain of trade-union within the three-year planwith the other projects of the Center (for example the study of the brain and EconomicComplexity) and that therefore they can be developed in a cooperative with the otherresearch lines identified.

19


Figure 8: Trajectory of a particle transported by a turbulent velocity field obtained from thenumerical simulation of the velocity field. The colors refer to the acceleration undergone by theparticle (in the simulation the maximum observed is about three orders of magnitude more intensethan the acceleration of gravity). This type of simulations is the basis of the study of the dynamicbehavior of macromolecules within a moving fluid and has applications in various research fieldssuch as, for example, atmospheric physics, industrial engineering, medicine and biology [6].

Summary

The aim of this project is to develop new numerical and data analysis techniques inthe context of “Soft Matter”, an interdisciplinary science that ranges from chemistryto geophysics. For this purpose, it will be essential to establish collaborations withRoman and Italian universities or institutes, which in the last twenty years producedimportant results in this sector. Particular attention will be paid to Machine Learn-ing, a fundamental tool for the analysis and forecasting of collective behaviors andcritical phenomena. These research activities represent a perfect trade-union withother projects of the CREF.

Bibliography[1] R. Benzi. La teoria del caos (lezioni di fisica #10). Le iniziative del Corriere Della Sera,

2018.

[2] R. Benzi, M. Sbragaglia, P. Perlekar, M. Bernaschi, S. Succi, and F. Toschi. Directevidence of plastic events and dynamic heterogeneities in soft-glasses. Soft Matter, 10(26):4615–4624, 2014.

[3] M. Buzzicotti, L. Biferale, and F. Toschi. Statistical properties of turbulence in thepresence of a smart small-scale control. Physical Review Letters, 124(8):084504, 2020.

[4] P. Kumar, E. Korkolis, R. Benzi, D. Denisov, A. Niemeijer, P. Schall, F. Toschi, andJ. Trampert. On interevent time distributions of avalanche dynamics. Scientific reports,10(1):1–11, 2020.

[5] A. Plummer, R. Benzi, D. R. Nelson, and F. Toschi. Fixation probabilities in weaklycompressible fluid flows. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(2):373–378, 2019.

[6] F. Toschi and E. Bodenschatz. Lagrangian properties of particles in turbulence. Annualreview of fluid mechanics, 41:375–404, 2009.

[7] A. Vulpiani. Determinismo e caos. La nuova Italia scientifica, 1994.

20

From Education to Innovation and De-velopment

Keywords: innovation and technology, training dynamics

Project Coordinator: Fabrizio Coccetti, Francesco Sylos Labini,Andrea Zaccaria

The objective of this project is part of a broader study, both national and international,of the productive, scientific, and technological development of nations that we have carriedout based on industrial, scientific, and patent-production data disaggregated respectivelyby industrial categories, scientific fields, and technological codes [1–4; 6]. We are nowconsidering extending these methodologies on a more detailed geographical level, studyingwhat is happening in different areas of the various countries. As for Italy, this impliesthe study of individual regions for which we have already obtained data on industrialand technological production. To gain a broader and more precise perspective on thedevelopmental prospects of the various Italian regions at the same time, we would like tocorrelate the data on industrial and technological production with those concerning theproduction of human capital of the population segment that engages in advanced studiesand which is necessarily the main actor of scientific and technological development and,therefore, also related economic activity. The main sources of data to which we alreadyhave access are: Scival and Microsoft Academic Graph for scientific production, Patstat forpatents, Istat for industrial production at national and regional levels and Comtrade of theUnited Nations for industrial production in various countries.

In this context, Almalaurea’s data and analyses play a key role because they makeit possible to disaggregate the flows of production and use of knowledge not only in thevarious scientific and technological sectors but also in the various geographical areas of thecountry. Founded in 1994, Almalaurea is an Interuniversity Consortium which represents 76universities and monitors about 90% of the overall graduates who leave the Italian universitysystem every year. In particular, Almalaurea annually carries out two census surveys onthe profile and employment status of graduates one, three, and five years after graduation,monitors the study paths of students, and analyzes the characteristics and performance ofgraduates on both the academic and employment front, enabling the comparison betweenvarious courses and study locations. To date, Almalaurea has built a database of more thanthree million graduates. Starting from these data, we would like to understand in particularwhich are the scientific sectors, and more generally the academic ones, that contribute most,in the various geographical areas, to the production of human capital and which are thescientific and technological areas, on a regional level, that have more potential for growthin light of the flow of specific knowledge developed there.

In this context, the Almalaurea data represent the magnifying glass that allows usto understand the key role of training as a driving force for economic development. Inparticular, it is our intention also to cross the Almalaurea data with the data provided bythe Statistical Office of Italian Ministry of University and Research 1 son the structuralspecificities of the various universities: This comparison can enable us to understand thecriticalities and strengths of the various universities and geographic regions. Through theAlmalaurea data that provide the socioeconomic profiles of students and their distributionat the end of the university course and several years after graduation, we can correlate thedata of university users, the heterogeneity of the educational offerings, and the statuses oftechnological and industrial areas of each geographical area with the different professionaloutlets and the employment situation. For this purpose, we need access to the disaggregated

1Available at http://ustat.miur.it/opendata

21


and anonymized data of Almalaurea to create groupings on the regional and municipallevels.

MethodsWe intend to characterize the trajectories of training and employment of students for thedual purpose of:

• Identifing the most relevant variables and combinations of variables to predict studenttrajectories

• Producing personalized recommendations on the choice of study path, conditioned bythe starting conditions, professional aspirations, and geographical contexts.

To this end, the Almalaurea data will be combined with multiple additional sourcesof socioeconomic, geographical, innovation, and university characteristics data, which willserve to deepen the starting context, the university pathway, and the entry into the labormarket with geographical and economic sectors. A schematic representation of the approachwe plan to apply to the problem is presented in the accompanying figure.

From a methodological point of view, we intend to use statistical, network theory andMachine-Learning approaches to select and build the most relevant combinations of vari-ables in terms of trajectory-prediction skills.

The research group, based at CREF, will also be composed of researchers from theCNR and from the Physics Department of Sapienza University. This group, as a whole,has already conducted many studies regarding the characterization of the level of economic,technological, and scientific development of the various countries, about which we includea list of relevant references in the scientific literature.

Summary

This research activity, which is part of a wider study on the production, scientificand industrial level of nations of the world, aims to analyze at regional and mu-nicipal level the interconnections between technological / industrial production andhuman development. For this purpose, we want to integrate Scival and MicrosoftAcademic Graph data for scientific production, Patstat for patents, Istat for indus-trial production at national and regional level and United Nations Comtrade for theindustrial production of the different countries, with Almalaurea data, which providea detailed image of knowldege production and flows. This analysis, carried out withmodern Machine Learning techniques, will ultimately allow to provide personalizedrecommendations on the choice of study path, starting from personal aspirationsand the geographical context.

ProjectsIn recent years we have coordinated several scientific projects both in Europe and nationallyon these issues:

•• GROWTHCOM: “Growth and Innovation Policy-modelling: Applying Next Genera-tion Tools, Data, And Economic Complexity Ideas” Funding Body: European Com-mission FP7-ICT-2013-10 (Challenge 5.4 for Governance and Policy Modelling) (2013-2016, EUR 2M) cordis ISC Coordinator: Luciano Pietronero/Andrea Gabrielli.Web Site: http://www.growthcom.eu

•• “CRISISLAB: Analytics for crisis prediction and management” , ISC Coordinator:Luciano Pietronero, National Coordinator: Luciano Pietronero, Funding Body: Ital-ian Government (Progetti di Interesse CNR) Partners: IMT - Institute for AdvancedStudies Lucca (Italy)

22


Bibliography[1] G. Cimini, A. Gabrielli, and F. S. Labini. The scientific competitiveness of nations.

PloS one, 9(12):e113470, 2014.

[2] G. Cimini, A. Zaccaria, and A. Gabrielli. Investigating the interplay between fun-damentals of national research systems: Performance, investments and internationalcollaborations. Journal of Informetrics, 10(1):200–211, 2016.

[3] M. Cristelli, A. Gabrielli, A. Tacchella, G. Caldarelli, and L. Pietronero. Measuringthe intangibles: A metrics for the economic complexity of countries and products. PloSone, 8(8):e70726, 2013.

[4] A. Patelli, G. Cimini, E. Pugliese, and A. Gabrielli. The scientific influence of nationson global scientific and technological development. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4):1229–1237, 2017.

[5] E. Pugliese, G. Cimini, A. Patelli, A. Zaccaria, L. Pietronero, and A. Gabrielli. Un-folding the innovation system for the development of countries: coevolution of science,technology and production. Scientific reports, 9(1):1–12, 2019.

[6] A. Tacchella, M. Cristelli, G. Caldarelli, A. Gabrielli, and L. Pietronero. A new metricsfor countries’ fitness and products’ complexity. Scientific reports, 2:723, 2012.

23

Social and Economic Complexity

Keywords: Economic Complexity, Big Data, Covid-19

Project Coordinator: Luciano Pietronero, Andrea Gabrielli,Andrea Zaccaria, Claudio Castellano

Ettore Majorana in 1930 wrote an article entitled: “The Value of Statistical Laws inPhysics and Social Sciences“. This visionary article, published posthumously in 1942, poseda problem that is particularly relevant today, especially when considered from the perspec-tive of Big Data. The article discusses the following problem: To what extent can therigorous methodology of physics be exported to other disciplines to make them more sci-entific and objective? Perhaps not all the rigor of physics is exportable, but these otherdisciplines, such as economics, have great importance for our society, as well as a greatintellectual value. So even if the degree of rigor rate is only partial, an increase in scientificin these disciplines would be a result of the utmost importance. Furthermore, from anintellectual and scientific point of view, a link would be created between the disciplines ofthe so-called hard sciences and those of the socioeconomic sciences which in itself wouldhave great cultural and scientific value. This is one of the areas that we intend to explorefrom the concrete perspective of the science of complexity

The new challenges and opportunities of the hyper con-nected worldIn recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of completely unexpected phenomenawith respect to which traditional disciplines and analyses appear completely inadequate.

• Internet, Google, and the digital economy

• Facebook, social media, and the dynamics of information and disinformation

• The economic and financial crisis of the past ten years

• The remarkable and surprising growth of the Chinese economy

• Disintermediation and the development of the blockchain

• Sustainability, real well-being, social inequalities, and green and circular economies

• Smart Cities e Smart Nations

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

• COVID-19, a tragic crisis but also an opportunity to rethink the economy

The common elements of the listed phenomena are an integration of connections andevents on a planetary level and the speed with which they evolve and develop unpredictableemergent properties. The inadequacy of traditional concepts and analyses is evident, andthe need for new scientific methodologies for the analysis, understanding, and control ofthese phenomena is clear. The aim is to understand and monitor society in a conscious wayto transform these challenges into opportunities. The fundamental idea is to treat thesephenomena with original methods, overcoming disciplinary barriers and interacting acrossthe spectrum with academic and political institutions and with the productive world ofcompanies.

24


The Science of ComplexityThis scientific area is somewhat complementary to elementary particle physics which isbased on a “reductionist” approach. In fact, the traditional approach of physics is to considerrelatively simple and isolated systems and study them in great detail. We therefore considerthe elementary “bricks” that are the constituent elements of matter. This reductionist viewcan be successfully applied to many situations and implies the existence of characteristicscales: the size of an atom, a molecule, or a macroscopic object. However, there are manysituations in which knowledge of the individual elements is not sufficient to characterize theproperties of the entire system. Moreover, when many elements interact in a nonlinear way,they can give rise to complex structures and properties that cannot be directly connectedto the properties of the constituent elements. In these cases, we can think of a sort of“architecture” of nature that depends in some way on the individual elements but alsomanifests some properties and fundamental laws that cannot be deduced from the knowledgeof the microscopic elements that compose it.

“Techno-social” systems is the term commonly used to identify socioeconomic systemsin which technology blends in an original and unpredictable way with cognitive, behavioral,and social aspects of human beings. The new communication and information technologies(ICT) play an increasingly pervasive role in our culture and our daily life. This revolutionobviously does not come without contraindications, and in our complex societies new globalchallenges are constantly emerging that constantly require new paradigms and originalthinking to address.

In recent years, the science of complexity has shown that it can play an important rolein understanding social and economic dynamics. However, we believe that this is only thebeginning and that this field will develop in a powerful way into a new and fascinatingscientific adventure with radically new transdisciplinary characteristics that are difficult toframe in traditional contexts. For this, one needs a specific point of reference with newskills and characteristics suitable for the new situation.

This opens up perspectives, unimaginable until a few years ago, that skillfully mix di-verse disciplines and factors. On the one hand, we can consider the theoretical and modelingtools of the physics of complex systems connected to the ability to analyze, interpret, andvisualize complex amounts of data in an original way. On the other hand, the true essenceof techno-social systems provides a unique opportunity to exploit new ICT technologies tomonitor and quantify the digital traces of human behavior and collective social and eco-nomic phenomena with unprecedented resolution. This situation also involves an originalsynergy between scientific and humanistic disciplines that aims to produce concrete anddirectly useful results.

Italy can play an important role in these developments for various reasons. On theone hand, the science of complex systems is well present and widely recognized. On theother hand, the elements of creativity and originality associated with these developmentsare also one of our strengths. Finally, these activities do not require particularly expensiveinfrastructures and can give rise to important scientific and practical results in a relativelyshort time.

An Example of the New Strategy: Economic FitnessAn innovative ap-proach to forecast-ing the economicdevelopment of na-tions, recognized bythe world’s lead-ing economic insti-tutions

Economic Fitness and Complexity (EFC) consists of a radically new methodology thatdescribes economies as evolutionary processes of ecosystems of industrial and financialtechnologies and infrastructures that are globally interconnected. The approach is mul-tidisciplinary and addresses emerging phenomena in economics from various points of view:Analysis of complex systems; systems-science methods and the recent perspectives in aBig Data context (on the imprint of Google Page Rank and Machine Learning) offer newopportunities to constructively describe technological ecosystems, analyze their structures,understand their dynamics, and introduce new metrics. This approach provides a newparadigm for data-driven, non-ideological, fundamental economics.

A crucial element is a radically new approach to the Big Data problem. Big Data is

25


Figure 9: •

often associated with “big noise” and a subjective ambiguity on how to structure data andhow to assign a value that in practice corresponds to the introduction of many arbitraryparameters, often over 100 for the evaluation of a country’s industrial competitiveness. Akey point of the ECF approach is to pass from 100 parameters to zero parameters andtherefore to unique and testable results with a significant increase in level of the scientificapproach. This is done by focusing on data where the signal-to-noise ratio is optimal andby developing iterative algorithms in spirit, but different from Google, and optimized forthe economic problem in question.

The general scheme is not limited to the economy and can be adapted to other issuesrelated to Big Data, such as the social dynamics of information and biological ecosystems,among others. In essence, the Economic Fitness method is based on a series of radicallyinnovative elements oriented towards the goal of making these analyses reproducible, asscientific as possible and testable in detail with the available data. The main elements are:

• Focus on connections rather than individual subjects. This is a typical feature ofcomplex systems seen as global networks and was the basis for Google’s developmentof the Page Rank algorithm

• Strategic and hierarchical selection of data with respect to the signal-to-noise ratio.Elimination of the subjective arbitrariness of the analysis to obtain scientific andverifiable results.

• Construction of the fitness–complexity algorithm. Each problem requires the devel-opment of an appropriate algorithm. From this perspective, Big Data represents anoriginal field where considerable creativity is required.

• The dynamics that emerge from the PIL-Fitness space are highly heterogeneous. Thisimplies that the analysis and predictions must be done not with the usual regressionsbut with methods inspired by the dynamics of complex physical systems

• All of this provides a better forecasting methodology than the standard money-marketfund but with vastly less resources in terms of data and personnel.

• This whole procedure can then be replicated with data from patents and scientificpublications, giving rise to technological fitness and scientific fitness. These dataallow a complete and original analysis of the economic competitiveness (products andservices) of countries and their prospects (technology and science)

• he product taxonomy network is built for each country, including temporal develop-ment. From this, through appropriate Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligencealgorithms, the production probabilities of new products can be identified. In thisway, the possible development trajectories for each country are identified.

26


• Finally, radical innovations (products that have never appeared before) are identi-fied as the combination of technologies that have never appeared before in the sameproduct. Also, in this case, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence methods areused.

This series of innovative and trans-disciplinary elements has made possible an analysisand forecast of the economic growth of countries at a higher level of accuracy than tradi-tional analyses. Over the past three years, the World Bank (IFC-World Bank) has showngreat interest in these new methods and has established an intense collaboration with ourgroup. Five people of the group have been appointed official consultants of IFC-Worldbank, and for some months the fitness method has been officially present on the WorldBank website2. IFinally, the Joint Research Center of the EU Commission has recentlyadopted these new methodologies for the analysis of the competitiveness of EU countriesand for the optimal development and planning of innovation.

UA Bloomberg Views editorial commented on these developments: “New research hasdemonstrated that the ‘fitness’ technique systematically outperforms standard methods,despite requiring much less data.”. Recently, together with the World Bank, we presentedthe EFC method to a Chinese government think-tank (State Information Center) whichis considering these methodologies for planning and optimizing Chinese industrial devel-opment. In fact, another important result is the analysis of China’s growth over the past30 years. Traditional analyses over the past 20 years have been expecting this growth tocollapse. Fitness, on the other hand, allows us to understand the reason for this great eco-nomic success in China and to predict several years of strong development. Since 2014, adebate has been opened on these issues with Larry Summers (former US Treasury Secretaryand former Harvard Rector) who has so far confirmed the greater predictive capacity of ouranalyses.

We believe that, from the example of the Fitness method, it is possible to learn in-teresting concepts that can be applied more or less directly to the other fields mentionedat the beginning of this article. It should be noted that the most successful algorithmsfor Artificial Intelligence (those developed for chess and Go) are also based on methodsother than brute force and structured in a way similar to Fitness. In fact, it starts witha restricted selection of the optimal data, then an algorithm is developed, and only at theend is Machine Learning used. This introspective structure of the approach also has theadvantage of making the analysis relatively transparent and interpretable instead of relyingblindly on a black box.

27


Figure 10: The figure shows the temporal evolution of wealth (GDP per capita) in the ordinateand of Fitness (abscissa) for various countries. For low Fitness values (left side of the graph), themotion is chaotic and irregular, while, for countries with high Fitness (right side), a regular upwardflow is observed, indicating the fact that various countries are growing in a systematic. This typeof approach, different in spirit and methodology than traditional economic analyzes, allows usto make very good long-term forecasts and to indicate the optimal strategies for improving theindustrial competitiveness of the various countries with optimized strategies for each country andindustrial sector.

Big Data—between Opportunity and MythThe immense accumulation of data in all fields represents a new phenomenon with greatpotential but which sometimes leads to excessive and even mythical expectations. The orig-inal strategy behind this proposal is to develop quantitative tools that go beyond standardMachine Learning to increase our ability to understand and use these immense amounts ofinformation. The idea is to develop a scientific, transparent, and testable approach. Thisphilosophy has already found concrete application in the development of the Economic Fit-ness method. The use of machine-learning algorithms and methods must be adapted andoptimized for each class of problems to identify and understand the essential elements ofthe various phenomena. In general, the data do not speak for themselves, and there is nouniversally valid recipe.

The fundamental point is to overcome the mere accumulation of data but rather to focuson the optimal analysis of the available data from the perspective of the relationship betweensignal and noise. In fact, the idea that more data necessarily give rise to better analysesand forecasts is, in general, invalid. This phenomenon is well-known in the physics ofdynamic systems in which the increase in the dimensionality of space implies an exponentialincrease in the necessary data. In practice, this is a very general problem: If heterogeneousdata describing the productive structure of a nation, such as education and pollution, areadded together, arbitrary weights must inevitably be assigned. The strategy will be toscientifically evaluate these issues. This represents an original but essential element of our

2https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/economic-fitness

28


approach to introduce verifiable scientific elements in the field of Big Data. In practice,the idea is to reduce or eliminate the subjective and arbitrary elements and treat the datain a hierarchical and systematic way. This leads to considerable advantages in terms ofscientificity and predictive capacity, as demonstrated by the Economic Fitness method.

Reinventing Economic Theories and Practices at the Timeof COVID-19

COVID-19 hasshown that thereis no universal eco-nomic theory. TheEconomic Com-plexity providesspecific economicplans.

The tragic events of COVID-19 lead to a situation in which government intervention willinevitably be the protagonist of socioeconomic reconstruction. Even the staunchest sup-porters of the free market seem to agree on this point. The fundamental lesson we mustlearn from these events shows that it is illusory to seek an ideal economic theory, valid forany situation. This implies that, in the historic debate between the state and the market, itwas the question that was wrong more than the possible answers. A paradigm shift thereforeappears necessary in which we start from a detailed analysis of the situation and considerthe possible trajectories for its development. The essential elements of this approach are acritical analysis of all past events and a scientific approach to verify ideas and hypothesesobjectively and without a priori ideologies. Some of these new concepts have already beenformulated: In particular, the “New Structural Economics” (NSE) developed by the JustinLin group and our “Economic Fitness and Complexity” share some important general ele-ments developed in different perspectives. The two approaches are indeed complementary,and their unification can give rise to a new vision for economic theories and practices. Theproject aims to realize these developments that have as a natural consequence an innova-tive and interdisciplinary analysis based on modern scientific data and the methods of thefield of Complex Systems (networks, algorithms, Machine Learning, etc.) to objectivelydefine the state of an economy and its possible development paths. The economic recov-ery from COVID-19 can be optimized with the methodologies that can provide scientificand informed and transparent analyses for the political decision maker and for society in

29


general.Over the past 50 years, many developing countries have tried to improve their economies

with strong government leadership. In most cases, they have failed. But classic examplesof pure free market policies, such as Chile in the 1960s and others, have also failed. Sofrom these examples, it would appear that both theories are wrong. On the other hand, inthe few successful cases, both elements of both the state and the market can be identified.An excellent example is China which, since 1978, has adopted a gradual transition froma planned economy to a market economy, in which the important roles of both the stateand the free market can be clearly identified. A similar argument, albeit in a completelydifferent context, can also be made for Silicon Valley.

Considering the inevitable role that government interventions for COVID-19 will have toplay, it is particularly important to critically analyze the reasons for the numerous failuresof government strategies in various past examples and learn important lessons from these.The essential point has been the inability of governments to establish effective criteriato identify the appropriate industrial sectors with respect to the actual capacities anddevelopment potential of a given country.

In fact, in an editorial in The Economist (January 9, 2016) it is argued that “growthis devilishly hard to predict”. Clearly we must expect these same difficulties to apply forplanning after COVID-19, and it is therefore essential to try to remedy these problems withnew scientific and interdisciplinary methods.

The new methodologies of NSE and EFC propose a paradigm shift in which the questionis changed rather than looking for an answer that cannot exist. From the traditionaldilemma on the search for a unique and perfect economic theory, we move on to a radicallydifferent question: “What is the economic theory and interventions that are appropriate forthis country, for this industrial sector, and in this period? Just as in medicine there is nosingle cure that is valid for every disease, so in economics there cannot be a single theoryor practice that is valid for every country and at every moment. In this sense, the varioustheories and strategies can all have some validity in a specific context, but none can be thecorrect one for each country and each period.

So the essential point is to scientifically focus and characterize the heterogeneity of thevarious situations and then identify the appropriate interventions that will necessarily bedifferent and dependent on the different situations. In this way, it is proposed to overcomethe ideological debate in a scientific perspective, as in medicine we have passed from mirac-ulous potions to true medical science. The fundamental point of view for these analysesis therefore a detailed characterization of the situation of a country and its current andpotential industries. Most of the industrial policies that have failed have set themselves theobjectives of industrial sectors that were not compatible with the industrial ecosystem ofthe country in terms of comparative advantage. The possibility of a scientific analysis ofthese elements allows for a realistic assessment of whether it will be possible to have accessto certain technologies and products and what is the gain in terms of the complexity of theeconomic ecosystem and its possible developments.

This project aims to create a national and international hub for the development ofNSE and EFC methodologies in the direction of a paradigm shift and a new scientificapproach to economic theories but also to provide concrete and scientific analyses for thedevelopment of the country, especially in the difficult post-COVID-19 period. Both therecovery of industrial capacities and the orientation towards new socioeconomic balancescan obtain concrete and relevant information on the various scenarios from these studies.The idea is to create a center located in the CREF that serves as the coordinator of theseactivities at the national level, acquiring all the possible skills that can be useful from theuniversity system, from research institutions and also from the private sector with whichwe have already developed excellent collaborations.

The Dynamics of Information in the Social WorldSocial networkspose new chal-lenges, such asfake news and echochambers, whichcan be addressedthrough the Scienceof Complexity.

Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and inform ourselves, becomingthe main source of information for most users. Facebook has more than two billion users,who generate more than three million posts per minute, informing themselves and inform-

30


ing without the intermediation of journalists and experts, thus actively participating inthe production and dissemination of news and content. Recent studies have shown howuser groups are concentrated in echo chambers that formulate and confirm their favoritenarratives, systematically countering any dissident information. In this situation, the ef-fectiveness of fact-checking and debunking is highly questionable; instead, innovative toolsare needed that address the problem of fake news using methods based on data analysisand the formulation of specific and dedicated algorithms. The proposing group intends toapply the same criteria of scientific and methodological rigor that led to the introductionof the Economic Fitness methodology to the problem of (dis-) information online, to thestudy of the diffusion of contents, to the analysis of the formation of echo chambers, andto study of the dynamics that lead users to the spiral into echo chambers.

Creativity and Science: An Opportunity for ItalyCreativity is increasingly seen as the engine of progress in all sectors of human activity: art,science, technology, economics, business, and social policies. Creativity is clearly connectedto how people explore, individually or collectively, the space of accessible possibilities.This method of exploration is the new way to create added value for oneself and for thecommunity. The goal of this institute is to combine these creative elements with the utmostscientific rigor by overcoming the barriers inherent in individual disciplines. This situationof increased creativity can be seen as the combination of human and Artificial Intelligence.

At the same time, in fact, artificial intelligence alone is extremely powerful for “difficult”and well-posed problems, but it is difficult to imagine strategies that could be effective ina volatile and constantly evolving environment. It is even more difficult to imagine the ap-plication of Artificial Intelligence methods in situations in which the space of possibilities isnot only very vast and complex but also, to some extent, indefinite. This implies a paradigmshift: inventing new solutions instead of looking for new solutions. It is evident that thissituation is quite common for the problems of complex societies, for scientific research, forthe development of new products and services, and clearly for economic development. Ar-tificial Intelligence and Big Data are essential to each other, but they are optimal only forthose problems that can be mathematized in a precise way, and in general this is not thecase in many of the complex systems we intend to consider. We therefore propose to usethem in an original way to increase our understanding of the social and economic systemsfor which large amounts of data are available.

In this sense, our proposal is configured in an original manner compared to those ofthe USA, China, Germany, France and many other countries to which enormous resourcesare assigned but within a relatively traditional AI vision. We therefore believe that Italyhas all the elements to create something original in this field even with limited resources,as happened with the economic forecasts of the Fitness method compared to those of theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)..

Relations with Political Institutions and with the Pro-ductive World

Economic Fitness asa guideline for anew economic andsocial developmentof our country.

The activities will be integrated with the dynamics of political action, and the Fitnessanalysis already allows a certain number of observations and suggestions. For a high-quality and structurally stable economy, originality and innovation are essential elements ofdevelopment and growth. The Fitness analysis enables us to identify the current degree ofcompetitiveness and its prospects for concrete development in the various industrial sectorsof a country. In this sense, it is essential for the development of tomorrow’s companies aswell as providing valid and concrete information support to them today.

In this sense, it is essential to have a clear separation between important and urgentissues. The economic success of a country cannot happen only with short-term financialtransactions, but it is also essential to have a long-term strategic vision that focuses onthe innovation and quality of future companies. To this end, we have already begun a

31


detailed analysis of the products and services of the Italian regions to identify the bestdevelopment strategies. This type of analysis also provides important information for theproduction world and companies and also various collaborations in this field are alreadyactive that will be systematically increased. Of course, these elements are also integratedinto an analysis of both environmental and social sustainability with attention also to thegreen and circular economy.

Finally, the Economic Fitness method focuses on the essential elements of a country’seconomic and social development and identifies them in the development of quality productsand services that require long-term strategies rather than on immediate and short-termfinancial elements. The development of Silicon Valley and recently of China representimportant examples of this interpretation.

Even for immediate perspectives, a more objective and scientific analysis is essential tounderstand, control, and give the appropriate weight to the various elements at stake. Forexample, various origins can be attributed to the current crisis in Italy: The financial crisisoriginated by the Lehman bankruptcy, Europe, and the Euro; China’s growth and compet-itiveness; bureaucracy; justice; immigration, etc. At the moment, the weights attributedto these various phenomena essentially depend on the narrative within which they are de-scribed and therefore on emotional and rhetorical elements. Instead, it would be essential tounderstand the real role of these various phenomena and move from an essentially narrativeanalysis to one that is as objective and scientific as possible. We believe that CREF canmake an important contribution in this direction.

From this same perspective of scientific objectivity, we believe we can consider fun-damental problems such as pollution, sustainability, social well-being, and the green andcircular economies. This does not mean reducing the space for political decisions but pro-viding an information framework that makes these decisions more based.

International Collaborations

Of course, the CREF will also be an international interlocutor with prestigious institutionsthat will concretely collaborate in the development of the project.

• For over two years, the World Bank in Washington has been using our ECF method-ologies for the development and monitoring of over 30 countries. We can thereforeguarantee the very concrete involvement of the World Bank in this project, both interms of ideas and applications but also in terms of resources and personnel. TheInstitute for New Structural Economics of Peking University, founded and directedby Prof. Justin Lin, is a natural partner for this project. It should be noted that thisinstitution is particularly influential on the Chinese government’s strategies.

• The Joint Research Center of the EU Commission has also expressed interested inthese methodologies through funding it with a special project, while starting to adoptthem for its strategies.

In addition to these three main partners, we also intend to develop many other collabora-tions at European and international level with many research groups that already use thesemethodologies and with others who consider doing so.

32


Summary

The traditional measure of countries’ wealth, gross domestic product (GDP) doesnot reveal whether wealth is produced by selling natural resources or by produc-ing high-end technology goods: yet, the difference between countries that get theirwealth with petroleum or by building electric cars is crucial to understanding theirproductive structure and their economic future. If the problem is to identify usefulinformation on the actual production capacity of a complex economic system, suchas that of an industrialized country, it is necessary to consider different elementsthan GDP. To do this, economists usually consider many economic parameters thatdescribe the degree of development of a country with the idea that, putting themtogether, it is possible to build a reliable assessment of industrial competitiveness.However, the choice of these parameters and their relative weight remains arbitraryand often ideological. To improve this situation we have therefore developed aninnovative methodology that allows to uniquely and scientifically identify a globalindicator able to describe the intrinsic productive capacity of a country. This vari-able, called “economic fitness” (EF), takes into account the economic competitivenessof a nation by measuring, at the same time, the level of diversification and complex-ity of the products exported from that country: a country with high EF producesmany technologically complex products and a product is complex if it is made onlyby countries with high EF.

Present and Future Collaborations and SynergiesAt the moment, the proposing group can already count on collaborations and supportfrom many institutions. However, it is intended to broaden the spectrum of collaborationsand constitute a national and international hub for these activities at a scientific level, forpolitical planning and for the production world and companies.

•• IFC-World Bank, Washington (Masud Cader, Leader Country analytics)

•• Sony Lab, Parigi (Vittorio Loreto, director)

•• CNEL, MIUR, MISE, MAE: Italian political institutions we already collaborate with

•• Joint Research Center, EU (Vladimir Sucha, general director)

•• Luohan Academy e Ant Financial, Alibaba, Hangzhou (Ted Chu, Chief Economist)

•• Boston Consulting Group, New York and Paris (Martin Reeves, strategic institute)

•• Assoknowledge, Confindustria (Laura Deitinger, President)

•• Incubatore di Start Up (Cristiano Esclapon, banker)

•• Vola Gratis (Marco Corradino, CEO, entrepreneur)

•• PI-CAMPUS (Marco Trombetti, CEO, entrepreneur

•• Università Sapienza, Dipartimenti di Fisica, Informatica, Economia e Statistica

•• Università LUISS

•• Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi del CNR

•• Università Tor Vergata

•• Università Statale di Milano

•• Università Cattolica di Milano

•• Università Bocconi, Milano

33


•• Università Politecnica delle Marche

•• University College, London

•• Kings College, London

•• Imperial College, London

•• ETH Zurich, CH

•• University of Zurich, CH

•• University of Friburg, CH (Y.C. Zhang)

•• Complexity Science Hub Vienna (S. Thurner)

•• Columbia University, NY (Joseph Stiglitz)

•• Harvard University, Boston (Larry Summers)

•• Oxford University, UK (Eric Beinhocker)

•• Tokyo University of Technology (M. Takayasu)

Impact

Video

•• Global Innovation Forum 2019

•• L’economia in mano agli algoritmi

•• New metrics for economic complexity (Systems Analysis 2015)

•• Conference “Emerging Patterns”

•• An interview with professor Luciano Pietronero (JICA Ogata Research Institute)

•• Come far ripartire l’Italia? 4 chiacchiere con Luciano Pietronero

•• Scienza, Scienziati e Pandemie...con Luciano Pietronero

Editorials (international journals)

•• Mark Buchanan, “Witness the fitness”, Nature Physics, vol.14, August 2018, 773

•• Bob Yirka, “Using physics to make better GDP estimates”, PhysOrg 31 July 2018

•• “A new technique for forecasting economic growth”, Nature Physics, July 31 2018

•• Chris Lee, “Physicists’ simple spanks economists’ complex in economic growth fore-casts”, Ars Technica, 8/2/2018

•• Michael Lucy “Physicists barge in on economists. Predictions ensue” Cosmos, July30, 2018

•• Tyler Cowen, “Applying Physics to GDP Forecasting”, Marginal Revolution 3 August,2018

•• Mark Buchanan, “A better way to make economic forecast” Bloomberg View, 2 Oc-tober 2017

•• Luciano Pietronero, “Big Data and Economic Complexity: Opportunity and Myth”,Aspenia January 3, 2015

34

https://youtu.be/cEDFyH3JIqo

https://youtu.be/LEe43oevaos

https://youtu.be/BUs0L5XJn58

https://youtu.be/P4raTXiRAFo

https://youtu.be/N1zm7qdsFj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvyIdDxQdQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51ZSASkkcQ

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-018-0245-2

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-physics-gdp.html

https://www.natureasia.com/en/research/highlight/12622/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/physicists-simple-spanks-economists-complex-in-economic-growth-forecasts/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/physicists-simple-spanks-economists-complex-in-economic-growth-forecasts/

https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/physicists-barge-in-on-economists-predictions-ensue

https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/physicists-barge-in-on-economists-predictions-ensue

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/08/applying-physics-gdp-forecasting.html

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/08/applying-physics-gdp-forecasting.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-10-01/a-better-way-to-make-economic-forecasts

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-10-01/a-better-way-to-make-economic-forecasts

https://aspeniaonline.it/articolo_aspenia/big-data-and-economic-complexity-opportunity-and-myth/

https://aspeniaonline.it/articolo_aspenia/big-data-and-economic-complexity-opportunity-and-myth/


•• Brian Wang, “Having a wider range and more sophisticated production predicts morefuture gdp growth” Next big Future, October 5 2017

•• Mark Buchanan, China might still be booming, Bloomberg View, March 2, 2015

•• “Physicists make weather forecast for economies in EU-funded project GROWTH-COM” European Commission Projects 25 February 2015

•• Richard Van Noorden, Physicists make weather forecasts for economies, Nature 23February 2015

Editorials (national journals)

•• Forbes: Tre fisici italiani hanno scoperto un modo migliore per prevedere il Pil. Cel’hanno spiegato

•• L’Indro: PIL cresce chi esporta complesso

•• Repubblica: Si chiama export complesso l’ultima frontiera del business

•• L’Espresso: Quali Paesi cresceranno di piu’ in futuro?

•• Fanpage Scienza: L’algoritmo italiano che dice qual e’ il potenziale economico deipaesi

•• Corriere della Sera: I fisici del CNR inventano l’algoritmo che prevede il PIL e Alibabalo adotta

•• Tom’s Hardware: L’Italia e’ competitiva, dice l’algoritmo del CNR, ma ci frega lacorruzione

•• Il Fatto Quotidiano: Quando crescera’ il PIL?

•• Il Fatto Quotidiano: L’economia e’ un biosistema

•• Il Sole 24 Ore: Sul podio mondiale l’Italia dell’Export

•• Il Mondo: Fisici oltre il PIL, l’idea di Pietronero

•• Il Mondo: Soros va a lezione da Pietronero

•• Il CREF sul Sole 24 ore: obiettivi scientifici e complessità in economia

Conferences

•• Economic Fitness Workshop a CCS2018

•• Economic Fitness presso IFC

•• JRC science lecture: Economic Fitness and Complexity

•• Economic Complexity Talks presso OECD

Books

•• Complessità e altre storie, Luciano Pietronero

•• Economic Complexity: Measuring the Intangibles, Matthieu Cristelli, Andrea Tac-chella e Luciano Pietronero

Web sites

•• lucianopietronero.it

•• https://www.economic-fitness.com/it

35

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/10/having-a-wider-range-and-more-sophisticated-production-predicts-more-future-gdp-growth.html

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/10/having-a-wider-range-and-more-sophisticated-production-predicts-more-future-gdp-growth.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-03-01/china-might-still-be-booming

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news/physicists-make-weather-forecasts-economies-eu-funded-project-growthcom

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news/physicists-make-weather-forecasts-economies-eu-funded-project-growthcom

https://www.nature.com/news/physicists-make-weather-forecasts-for-economies-1.16963

https://www.nature.com/news/physicists-make-weather-forecasts-for-economies-1.16963

https://forbes.it/2018/08/12/tre-fisici-italiani-hanno-scoperto-un-modo-migliore-per-prevedere-il-pil-ce-lhanno-spiegato/#2e3f2db83b46

https://forbes.it/2018/08/12/tre-fisici-italiani-hanno-scoperto-un-modo-migliore-per-prevedere-il-pil-ce-lhanno-spiegato/#2e3f2db83b46

https://www.lindro.it/pil-cresce-chi-esporta-complesso/

https://www.repubblica.it/economia/rapporti/osserva-italia/trend/2015/04/13/news/si_chiama_export_complesso_la_nuova_frontiera_del_business-111829775/

https://espresso.repubblica.it/plus/articoli/2015/04/08/news/quali-paesi-cresceranno-di-piu-futuro-ricerca-italiana-rivoluziona-previsioni-1.206750?ref=HEF_RULLO&preview=true

https://scienze.fanpage.it/l-algoritmo-italiano-che-dice-qual-e-il-potenziale-economico-dei-paesi/

https://scienze.fanpage.it/l-algoritmo-italiano-che-dice-qual-e-il-potenziale-economico-dei-paesi/

https://www.corriere.it/economia/15_marzo_18/i-fisici-cnr-inventano-l-algoritmo-che-prevede-pil-alibaba-adotta-big-data-economic-complexity-pietronero-luciano-fitness-nature-plos-one-ed24e288-cd79-11e4-a39d-eedcf01ca586.shtml

https://www.corriere.it/economia/15_marzo_18/i-fisici-cnr-inventano-l-algoritmo-che-prevede-pil-alibaba-adotta-big-data-economic-complexity-pietronero-luciano-fitness-nature-plos-one-ed24e288-cd79-11e4-a39d-eedcf01ca586.shtml

https://www.tomshw.it/altro/litalia-e-competitiva-dice-lalgoritmo-del-cnr-ma-ci-frega-la-corruzione/

https://www.tomshw.it/altro/litalia-e-competitiva-dice-lalgoritmo-del-cnr-ma-ci-frega-la-corruzione/

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/03/09/quando-crescera-pil/1488208/

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/06/17/leconomia-e-biosistema/628084/#.Ub68fHaL6vw.facebook

https://st.ilsole24ore.com/art/commenti-e-idee/2012-11-06/podio-mondiale-italia-export-080610.shtml

https://www.economic-fitness.com/assets/media/2f6759p1.pdf

https://www.economic-fitness.com/assets/media/1wje7pp1.pdf

https://www.cref.it/il-cref-sul-sole-24-ore-obiettivi-scientifici-e-complessita-in-economia/

https://www.economic-fitness.com/en/publications/economic-complexity-workshop-at-ccs2018

https://www.economic-fitness.com/en/publications/economic-fitness-evolving-economic-complexity-for-developement

http://www.lucianopietronero.it/jrc-science-lecture-economic-fitness-complexity/

https://www.oecd.org/naec/Insights%20into%20Complexity%20and%20Policy.pdf

https://www.direnzo.it/it/prodotto/complessita-storie/

https://books.apple.com/us/book/economic-complexity-measuring/id855100721

https://books.apple.com/us/book/economic-complexity-measuring/id855100721

lucianopietronero.it

https://www.economic-fitness.com/it


Bibliography[1] O. Angelini, M. Cristelli, A. Zaccaria, and L. Pietronero. The complex dynamics of

products and its asymptotic properties. PloS one, 12(5):e0177360, 2017.

[2] M. Buchanan. The social atom. Bloomsbury, New York, NY, USA, 2007.

[3] G. Caldarelli, M. Cristelli, A. Gabrielli, L. Pietronero, A. Scala, and A. Tacchella. Anetwork analysis of countries’ export flows: firm grounds for the building blocks of theeconomy. PloS one, 7(10):e47278, 2012.

[4] C. Castellano, S. Fortunato, and V. Loreto. Statistical physics of social dynamics. Rev.Mod. Phys., 81:591–646, May 2009. doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.81.591.

[5] D. Centola. The spread of behavior in an online social network experiment. Science,329(5996):1194–1197, 2010. ISSN 0036-8075. doi: 10.1126/science.1185231. URLhttps://science.sciencemag.org/content/329/5996/1194.

[6] R. D. Clemente, G. L. Chiarotti, M. Cristelli, A. Tacchella, and L. Pietronero. Diver-sification versus specialization in complex ecosystems. PLOS ONE, 9(11):1–8, 2014.

[7] R. Crane and D. Sornette. Robust dynamic classes revealed by measuring the responsefunction of a social system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(41):15649–15653, 2008.

[8] M. Cristelli, M. Batty, and L. Pietronero. There is more than a power law in zipf.Scientific reports, 2:812, 2012.

[9] M. Cristelli, A. Gabrielli, A. Tacchella, G. Caldarelli, and L. Pietronero. Measuringthe intangibles: A metrics for the economic complexity of countries and products. PloSone, 8(8):e70726, 2013.

[10] M. Cristelli, A. Tacchella, and L. Pietronero. The heterogeneous dynamics of economiccomplexity. PloS one, 10(2):e0117174, 2015.

[11] R. Di Clemente and L. Pietronero. Statistical agent based modelization of the phe-nomenon of drug abuse. Scientific Reports, 2:532, 2012.

[12] R. Gallotti, F. Valle, N. Castaldo, P. Sacco, and M. De Domenico. Assessing the risksof" infodemics" in response to covid-19 epidemics. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.03997,2020.

[13] F. Garzarelli, M. Cristelli, G. Pompa, A. Zaccaria, and L. Pietronero. Memory effectsin stock price dynamics: evidences of technical trading. Scientific reports, 4:4487, 2014.

[14] A. Helmstetter and D. Sornette. Subcritical and supercritical regimes in epidemicmodels of earthquake aftershocks. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 107(B10):ESE–10, 2002.

[15] F. Y. K. Kossio, S. Goedeke, B. van den Akker, B. Ibarz, and R.-M. Memmesheimer.Growing critical: self-organized criticality in a developing neural system. Physicalreview letters, 121(5):058301, 2018.

[16] K. Lerman and R. Ghosh. Information contagion: an empirical study of the spread ofnews on digg and twitter social networks. In in Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Weblogs andSocial Media (ICWSM), pages 90–97, 2010.

[17] D. Notarmuzi and C. Castellano. Analytical study of quality-biased competition dy-namics for memes in social media. EPL, 122(2):28002, 2018.

[18] F. G. Operti, E. Pugliese, J. S. Andrade Jr, L. Pietronero, and A. Gabrielli. Dynamicsin the fitness-income plane: Brazilian states vs world countries. PloS one, 13(6):e0197616, 2018.

36

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/329/5996/1194


[19] R. Pastor-Satorras, C. Castellano, P. Van Mieghem, and A. Vespignani. Epidemicprocesses in complex networks. Rev. Mod. Phys., 87:925–979, Aug 2015. doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.87.925.

[20] E. Pugliese, G. L. Chiarotti, A. Zaccaria, and L. Pietronero. Complex economies havea lateral escape from the poverty trap. PloS one, 12(1):e0168540, 2017.

[21] A. Sbardella, E. Pugliese, and L. Pietronero. Economic development and wage inequal-ity: A complex system analysis. PloS one, 12(9):e0182774, 2017.

[22] A. Tacchella, M. Cristelli, G. Caldarelli, A. Gabrielli, and L. Pietronero. A new metricsfor countries’ fitness and products’ complexity. Scientific reports, 2:723, 2012.

[23] A. Tacchella, D. Mazzilli, and L. Pietronero. A dynamical systems approach to grossdomestic product forecasting. Nature Physics, 14(8):861–865, 2018.

[24] L. Weng, A. Flammini, A. Vespignani, and F. Menczer. Competition among memes ina world with limited attention. Scientific Reports, 2:335, Mar 2012.

[25] A. Zaccaria, M. Cristelli, A. Tacchella, and L. Pietronero. How the taxonomy ofproducts drives the economic development of countries. PloS one, 9(12):e113770, 2014.

37

Complexity and Artificial Intelligenceto Meet the Challenges of SustainableDevelopment Goals

Keywords: complexity, sustainability, information dynamics

Project Coordinator: Vittorio Loreto, Francesca Tria

This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Sony Computer Science Lab(Sony-CSL, https://csl.sony.fr/) in Paris, led by Prof. Loreto of the Physics Departmentof Sapienza University of Rome. The Sony CSL has been engaged for years in issuesrelated to the goals of sustainable development, and this strategically important project isproposed for the creation of a new joint laboratory that can combine in a single space thesciences, the arts, and the business world for pushing innovation and aiming for concrete andapplicable solutions on a large scale. Our environment and our societies are clearly in dangerand are undergoing major structural transformations, particularly through climate change,globalization, and digitalization. In this context, the ongoing crisis linked to COVID-19 hasdone nothing but make the proposals related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs)even more urgent and pressing. Although the paths out of the current situation are not yetvisible, it is clear that the crisis we are experiencing has the potential to profoundly changeour habits and our lives. This complex system of challenges requires the development of newtools and methods to devise new solutions, plan optimal solutions, and effectively manageemergencies.

Areas of Application and ImpactThe project will focus on the global innovation agenda, aiming to impact in this wayvarious sectors linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, due tothe growing level of urbanization globally, many SDGs are destined to address issues relatedto urban spaces to: improve accessibility and mobility (SDG 11.2, 11.7); optimize logisticsand waste management (SDG 12.4); enhance inclusion (SDG 10.7, 11.7); and promote agreen transition (SDG 13.2). Another set of relevant challenges is related to disinformation.In addition to the damage to social dialogue, disinformation can have a strong impact onseveral SDGs. For example, disinformation is undermining awareness about vaccinations(SDG 3: Good health and well-being), is hindering decision-making on climate change(SDG 13: Climate action) and is threatening the democratic process and social cohesion(SDG 16: Strong institutions for peace and justice).

MethodologyThis project will set a research agenda aimed at:

• sdeveloping data-driven, reliable modeling schemes for the problems underlying theSDGs;

• developing new AI tools for exploring the space of solutions to the problems underlyingthe SDGs;

• developing and implementing platforms that make it possible for all stakeholders toview the current state of the systems and to conceive and explore new scenarios,testing their effectiveness in real contexts.

38


Figure 11

The cited tools aim to accelerate the rate of innovation through assisted co-creation and co-design processes. The diagram shown here schematically illustrates the interaction betweenthe various different activities that the project will carry out.

The structure in the figure revolves around the following three pillars, whose constantinteraction represents the real novelty of the approach. Appropriate and accurate modelingschemes will be devised, exploiting statistical inference approaches, data-driven modeling,and machine learning, through a combination of human intuition and automatic inference.AI assistants will help devise relevant solutions in complex landscapes. Interactive platformswill constitute an interface for users, stakeholders, and decision makers to understand thepresent and to evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of specific solutions.

1. Tools for evaluation and prediction: The project will develop data-driven modelingaimed at reconstructing the complex set of couplings between the layers and thecharacteristics that characterize a given problem. For example, these include, for acity, all the couplings between different areas and different layers (census, marketforces, housing, public policies, services, etc.). Based on the detailed knowledge ofthe interaction patterns, specific indicators will be devised and tested to evaluate thepresent and predict the likely evolution. Being able to accurately predict the mostlikely evolution of complex systems is the key to creating validated scenarios to sharewith stakeholders and decision makers.

2. AI Assistants: The project aims to implement a new generation of context-aware, ar-tificially intelligent assistants to support real-time interactivity in modeling, problem-solving, and researching new strategies and solutions. AI and machine-learning toolswill help humans find their way into the complex space of possible solutions to agiven problem. AI assistants will be in constant dialogue with human users andserve multiple purposes: To enable human users to better understand the complexityof problems, to help infer suitable modeling schemes, and to seek relevant solutions(sweet spots) in high-dimensional space.

3. Interactive platforms: the project’s goal is to implement interactive platforms, adaptedto the specific context of the relevant SDGs, to evaluate and visualize the presentand develop what-if scenarios. The charaterisation of the present will be carried outthrough the visualization of appropriate significant observables. The platforms willenable users to take actions to change scenarios, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking.In this way, users will have the opportunity to explore and evaluate the validity ofnew solutions. The platforms will also make possible applications to a panoply of casestudies in real contexts. An example, linked to mobility in urban spaces, is representedby the Citychrone platform (http://whatif.cslparis.com/citychrone.html).

39

http://whatif.cslparis.com/citychrone.html


Figure 12

Sustainable citiesUrbanization

represents a newchallenge to befaced with cutting-edge techniques,such as the scienceof complexity andartificial intelli-gence.

Urbanization is an irreversible trend in global demographic dynamics. The World Eco-nomic Forum (WEF) predicts that, by 2050, 68% of the world’s population will live incities. While cities can be more energy efficient, this poses a number of challenges due tothe high concentration of people and the resulting demand for resources, congestion, socialdivisions, and other issues. Cities today are undergoing significant changes that requireinformed and strategic thinking to achieve the SDGs. Urban phenomena (e.g., social exclu-sion and gentrification, mobility and accessibility, management of public events, recoveryfrom natural disasters, redesign and planning of city boundaries and functional areas) actall on very different spatial and temporal scales Fig. Figura 13

The response to the challenges of urban sustainability can only come from a coordi-nated and multidisciplinary approach that operates on very different spatial and temporalscales—from the short time scale of the present to long-term strategic thinking and fromthe microscales of intervention on the ground (transport systems, logistics, etc.) to thelarge scale of the more complex characteristics (inclusion, gentrification, vocation of spe-cific areas). The project will contribute to these challenges through the development ofcutting-edge methods, merging the sciences of complexity, artificial intelligence, machinelearning, and data science into a single approach. Furthermore, it will aim to create met-rics and visualizations, modeling tools, and AI assistants whose impact will consist of theiradoption by institutional agencies and policy makers around the world, to plan local inter-ventions and remodel the cities of the future.

New mobility ecosystems

A specific example of the approach just described is represented by ecosystems related tomobility. Far from being only linked to travel between two physical places, this constitutesa tool to open up new opportunities—education, work, leisure—and to enrich our humanexperience and the potential of our communities. However, very often freedom of movementhas never been accompanied by the right to mobility. In large urban areas (> 100,000inhabitants), mobility solutions are far from optimal (urban centers are too dense anddisorganized, while the suburbs are isolated) and have a negative impact on our lives.The recent COVID19 epidemic has spawned enormous challenges to the reorganization oftransport services, which are linked to the massive potential change in individual habits.

The need for physical distance between individuals is a variable that has never before en-tered the manuals of transport, architecture, urban planning, or work organization. Today,

40


Figure 13: The challenges of modern cities range from short to long time scales (right to left inthe figure) and from the micro to the macro level (from bottom to top). Tackling this great varietyof issues requires a multiscale and interdisciplinary approach

the meaning of this constraint is extending the meaning of the term "safety" of transportphenomena. The term security now also acquires the meaning of "the possibility of min-imizing the risk of physical contact with potentially infected individuals". Public healthsafety is a driver of change for mobility ecosystems. Rethinking mobility in the summerof 2020 also means conceiving a "post-covidic" era in which the theme of movement willintertwine with public health safety.

The interplay between innovative transport and potential new behaviors will revolu-tionize the way individuals move around the city and reshape the socioeconomic structureof the city itself. Regulating and supervising this transition is a significant challenge thatrequires a substantial and timely interdisciplinary effort.

Planning tools can now exploit a large amount of longitudinal GPS data, making possiblehigh-resolution and real-time monitoring of individual habits, together with socioeconomicindicators and the states of the infrastructures. In parallel, the modeling schemes havereached maturity to support the conception of new scenarios. In this framework, the presentproject aims to play a central role in implementing this agenda, developing algorithmic andanalytical tools capable of merging information from heterogeneous data sources to enablethe orchestration of validated scenarios for the now unavoidable transition to new mobilitysystems for both developing and developed countries.

The main objectives of the project can be summarized as follows:

• WHO and WHY: Rethinking mobility needs and corresponding priorities. This im-plies understanding who has to move (WHO) and for what reasons (WHY). All thesestudies will be the basis for the conception of new mobility models that combinesafety, inclusiveness, and sustainability.

• WHERE and WHEN: A crucial element in planning the transition to the mobility ofthe future will be a careful monitoring of the demand for mobility, i.e., understandingwhere people have to go and when and under what constraints, such as costs, duration,security, etc. In this context, the project aims to provide: (i) a reference frameworkin which data can be collected and organized in such a way as to be able to answerquestions related to the fine-grained resolution levels affecting both the spatial andtemporal domain; (ii) a set of tools to expand the set of observables for mobility toinclude, for example, safety distance factors.

• HOW: Once the mobility question has been assessed, it must be investigated whetherand how this question can be satisfied or not. In this context, the extraordinary

41


explosion of means or modes of transport must be taken into consideration. Sharedmobility is now a reality that encompasses a variety of modes of transport, includingcar-sharing, bike-sharing, peer-to-peer ride-sharing, on-demand services, microtransit,and other modes, not to mention electric vehicles (EVs), semi-autonomous or fullyautonomous vehicles (AV) and all the hybrid variants of these technologies.

• Conceive new solutions for safe, inclusive and sustainable mobility through a modular"what-if" platform (see for example the what-if machine platform developed by SonyCSL-Paris: http://whatif.cslparis.com/) to conceive new possible solutions for thetransition of mobility and to validate them through a rigorous data-driven modelingof the complex phenomena underlying mobility. To this end, it will also be importantto evaluate the models of individual and collective adoption of the new solutions, i.e.the integration of the new solutions into the fabric of the needs and habits of users.

• Conceive orchestrated scenarios for a transition to a new mobility. This objectivecomprises the synthesis of all the previous objectives and consists of the orchestrationof new global mobility scenarios. The scenarios will be presented through the onlineinteractive platform and discussed in depth with scholars, planners, stakeholders, anddecision makers.

The dynamics of information and social dialogueSocial networks

have changed thedynamics of infor-mation: a study ofthe phenomenon isnecessary to avoidthe proliferation offake news and echochambers.

During the COVID-19 crisis, we have seen yet another confirmation of how crucial informa-tion and information technologies (Internet, social media, etc.) are in the life of a country.Particularly in countries with high levels of democracy, where the political class is stronglylinked to the opinions of the population, the information enjoyed by the population is thesource from which many mass behaviors arise, as well as the selection of the political classitself. However, if information technologies have radically changed the dynamics accordingto which these mechanisms historically occurred, they have also opened this process to newinfluences and new phenomenologies.

It is quite evident that in the last century the conflicts between states that previouslytook place mainly on the military level have been transferred mainly to the economic level.A recent and striking example of this is the trade war between the United States andChina, 3, which is actually part of a wider conflict for world economic hegemony. However,if the competition on the economic level is clear, another fundamental conflict level stillin the shadows is that of information. Information technologies, which, in democraticcountries, have reached very high levels of penetration, represent the new battlefields ofworld conflicts. However, the clashes are no longer between armies, but between narratives.There are many documented cases of attempts to influence democratic life during crucialand delicate moments, as in the case of Brexit4 or the US elections of 2016 and 2020.5.

However, it would be superficial to reduce the impact of social media on political dis-course to attempts at external influences (which in fact have always existed since propa-ganda exists, but in other forms). The speed and interconnection capacity of new media,new technological tools for content creation, and new platforms have created a vast plethoraof new phenomena, as well as changed the dynamics of historically known phenomena, evenwithout the intervention of external influences. For example, the unprecedented interac-tion of confirmation bias with the gargantuan availability of content and resources madepossible by the various platforms is one of the phenomena behind the rise of the so-calledecho chamber. Another phenomenon of interest is the use of bots to "dop" the visibilityof a profile or the dissemination of some news for commercial purposes, or the explosion ofhate speech and trolling phenomena linked to the crisis of trust on the part of social mediausers.

All this vast and heterogeneous phenomenology has three main ingredients in common:

3https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/china-us-trade-war-trump-tariffs.html4https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/russian-influence-brexit-vote-detailed-us-senate-report5https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53702872

42

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/china-us-trade-war-trump-tariffs.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/russian-influence-brexit-vote-detailed-us-senate-report

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53702872


• human cognitive and communicative abilities, with their peculiarities and their biases,which have always influenced social interactions, have now fallen into a new contextwith consequences that are only minimally understood;

• the new information technologies, which not only offer an unprecedented speed andcapacity of use and dissemination of resources, but which are also made up of algo-rithms and systems to manage the exploration of these resources that heavily affectthe dynamics of exploration and fruition;

• the emergence of collective phenomena from individual behaviors mediated by newtechnologies, which occurs in a rapidly evolving manner but which the new availabilityof data and experimental possibilities, makes it possible to study from an absolutelyunprecedented quantitative point of view.

It is the co-occurrence of these elements that makes the collaboration between the CREFand the Sony CSL in Paris the ideal convergence to scientifically address the issues relatedto the new dynamics of information. The collaboration aims to address the problems setout on two different but parallel directives.

The study of new critical information phenomenologiesThe first directive consists of a tactical approach for the frontal study of critical phe-nomenologies such as:

• lmisinformation, and in particular the spread of fake news;

• the creation and dissolution of the echo chambers and more generally the phenomenaof polarization of opinions;

• hate speech and trolling;

• the use of bots on social networks;

• the competition between conflicting narratives;

• information imbalances, i.e., the overabundance of information on some topics asopposed to the lack of information in others.

In recent years, these research topics have been attracting growing interest from both thescientific community and the institutions, which have understood their crucial importancefor democratic stability and the health of public discourse. The study of these issueswill be addressed thanks to the scientific advancement of the techniques of modeling theDynamics of Opinion, Network Theory, Machine Learning and, in general, the technicalarmamentarium of Data Science. The purpose of this directive is first of all to offer adeep scientific understanding of these phenomenologies that increases the transparency ofthe public debate. Secondly, this understanding will give rise to real-time monitoring anddisclosure tools to verify and make visible, in a transversal and transparent manner, thestate of health of the public debate both to the population and to policy-makers.

Improving the information ecosystemFrom a more strategic point of view, the collaboration aims to improve public discoursethrough the study of the conditions in which this occurs and through the proposal of newtools to avoid vicious circles and enhance virtuous behavior. The study subjects will be,for example:

• gthe algorithms for selecting and filtering resources on social media (the so-calledrecommendation systems) and their impact on the dynamics of exploration and for-mation of opinions. Such systems have often been linked to the creation of echochambers due to their drive towards the preferences expressed in the past by users.Therefore, the strategic objective will be to verify this effect and develop new systemsthat can help the user in exploring new content without making the experience lesspleasant, thus playing on the border of the so-called comfort zone.

43


• reputation systems to improve the dynamics of trust in information sources. Para-doxically, we have information aggregated and organized into reviews and ratings onalmost any type of content available on the net (movies, music, etc.) but not on theinformation sources themselves. The strategic objective consists of the study of thesereputation systems and the experimental introduction of these systems, appropriatelyadapted, in the context of information sources. In fact, the aggregation systems of theevaluations will necessarily have to be adapted to compensate for the effects due tothe echo chambers, avoiding that each "supporter" validates their own source of trust,by attributing a privileged weight to the transversality of the evaluations. These sys-tems will be able to play a strategic role in building healthier and more transparentinformation dynamics.

These two directives, parallel but communicating, consist of pure research activities, aswell as experimentations and case studies. This is also why the axis between Centro Fermiand Sony CSL in Paris is fundamental, as a collector of skills, experiences, and know-howthat cover both the scientific and technological aspects. In addition, the Sony CSL inParis boasts a historic collaboration with AGCOM (Italian Communications Authority),with several active projects on topics close to those explained. AGCOM is a partner ofexceptional value because it has standing with both with the community of informationprofessionals, with the stake-holders, and with the policy-makers, whose strategic value,both for theoretical and more experimental initiatives, has a very high impact.

Summary

Our environment and societies are clearly in danger and are undergoing major struc-tural transformations, particularly through climate change, globalization and digi-talization. In this context, the ongoing crisis linked to COVID-19 has done nothingbut make the requests related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) evenmore urgent and pressing. Although the ways out of the current situation are not yetvisible, it is clear that the crisis we are experiencing has the potential to profoundlychange our habits and our lives. This complex system of challenges requires thedevelopment of new tools and methods to devise new strategies, plan optimal solu-tions and effectively manage emergencies. This project aims to develop such tools -data-driven models, artificial assistants to explore the space of solutions, interactiveplatforms - that allow scientists, stake-holders and policy-makers to visualize thepresent state of systems and to conceive and explore new scenarios, testing theireffectiveness in real contexts.

Collaborations•• IFC-World Bank, Washington (Masud Cader, Leader Country analytics)

•• Complexity Science Hub Vienna

•• Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimenti di Fisica e Matematica

•• Università LUISS e LUISS Business School

•• Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi del CNR

•• Università Statale di Milano

•• University College, London

•• Kings College, London

•• ETH Zurich, CH

•• PI-CAMPUS (Marco Trombetti, CEO, entepreneur)

•• LUISS Enlabs

44


•• AGCOM (Autorità per la Garanzia nelle Comunicazioni)

•• Camera di Commercio di Roma

•• Roma Servizi per la Mobilità

•• Comune di Roma

•• Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale

•• MAXXI, Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI Secolo

•• PALAEXPO – Arte e Cultura a Roma

•• Fondazione FIMINCO – France

•• EU-STARTS program

Bibliography[1] I. Biazzo, B. Monechi, and V. Loreto. General scores for accessibility and inequality

measures in urban areas. Royal Society open science, 6(8):190979, 2019.

[2] M. R. Ferreira, N. Reisz, W. Schueller, V. D. Servedio, S. Thurner, and V. Loreto.Quantifying exaptation in scientific evolution. arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.08144, 2020.

[3] P. Gravino, B. Monechi, V. Servedio, F. Tria, and V. Loreto. Cross-ing the horizon: exploring the adjacent possible in a cultural system. InProceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computational Creativ-ity, Paris. Retrieved from http://www. computationalcreativity. net/iccc2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Crossing-the-horizon. pdf, 2016.

[4] P. Gravino, B. Monechi, and V. Loreto. Towards novelty-driven recommender systems.Comptes Rendus Physique, 20(4):371–379, 2019.

[5] P. Mastroianni, B. Monechi, C. Liberto, G. Valenti, V. D. Servedio, and V. Loreto.Local optimization strategies in urban vehicular mobility. PloS one, 10(12):e0143799,2015.

[6] B. Monechi, V. D. Servedio, and V. Loreto. Congestion transition in air traffic networks.PloS one, 10(5):e0125546, 2015.

[7] B. Monechi, P. Gravino, V. D. Servedio, F. Tria, and V. Loreto. Significance andpopularity in music production. Royal Society open science, 4(7):170433, 2017.

[8] B. Monechi, P. Gravino, R. Di Clemente, and V. D. Servedio. Complex delay dynamicson railway networks from universal laws to realistic modelling. EPJ Data Science, 7(1):35, 2018.

[9] B. Monechi, G. Pullano, and V. Loreto. Efficient team structures in an open-endedcooperative creativity experiment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,116(44):22088–22093, 2019.

[10] B. Monechi, M. Ibáñez-Berganza, et al. Hamiltonian modeling of macro-economicurban dynamics: Supporting information. arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.05725, 2020.

[11] R. S. Nickerson. Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Reviewof general psychology, 2(2):175–220, 1998.

[12] G. Rodi, V. Loreto, V. Servedio, and F. Tria. Optimal learning paths in informationnetworks. Scientific reports, 5:10286, 2015.

[13] G. C. Rodi, V. Loreto, and F. Tria. Search strategies of wikipedia readers. PloS one,12(2):e0170746, 2017.

45


[14] J. Sakellariou, F. Tria, V. Loreto, and F. Pachet. Maximum entropy models capturemelodic styles. Scientific reports, 7(1):1–9, 2017.

[15] A. Sîrbu, M. Becker, S. Caminiti, B. De Baets, B. Elen, L. Francis, P. Gravino,A. Hotho, S. Ingarra, V. Loreto, et al. Participatory patterns in an internationalair quality monitoring initiative. PLOS one, 10(8):e0136763, 2015.

46

Society and Complexity

Keywords: digital information, echo chambers, social dynamics

Project Coordinator: Walter Quattrociocchi

Social media has revolutionized, in particular, the way we communicate and inform our-selves, becoming the main source of information for most users. Facebook has more thantwo billion users, who generate more than three million posts per minute, informing them-selves and informing without the intermediation of journalists and experts, thus activelyparticipating in the production and dissemination of news and content. Recent studieshave shown how user groups are concentrated in echo chambers that formulate and confirmtheir favorite narrative, systematically countering any contradictory information. In thissituation, the effectiveness of fact-checking and debunking is highly questionable; instead,innovative tools are needed that address the problem of fake news using methods basedon data analysis and the formulation of specific and dedicated algorithms. The proposinggroup intends to apply the same criteria of scientific and methodological rigor that led tothe introduction of the Economic Fitness methodology to the problem of (dis-) informationonline, to the study of the diffusion of contents, to the analysis of the formation of echochambers, and to study of the dynamics that lead users to spiral into echo chambers.

There seems to be a strong co-relationship between topics that polarize public opinionand the spread of false news and trends. Some studies have tried to exploit this peculiarityby monitoring the evolution of the online debate through particular parameters [14].

In this direction, we have also tried to understand how different ways of reporting anews can influence the reactions of users and possibly reduce online polarization. Theexperiment carried out with some national newspapers addressed the issue of immigrationon social media. The results show that it is very difficult to circumvent the mechanismsleading to polarization [13].

These mechanisms of user polarization and consequent closure in the echo chamber seemto be a very important and characteristic trait of online interaction. To this end, we beganto explore the role of the various platforms in the dynamics of polarization and a veryjagged picture emerges: There seems to be a general tendency to polarization, but eachplatform, through its algorithms, determines a different reification [5].

MethodologyWe will try to better understand which mechanisms dominate the formation of echo cham-bers, the polarization and the diffusion and emergence of different online narratives. Theapproach will mainly focus on 4 aspects:

1. The theorization, implementation and validation of new metrics to characterize onlinesocial dynamics with particular reference to the phenomena of information use andinteraction with other users.

2. The analysis of the characteristics of each individual community with particular ref-erence to the type of language used and the specific traits of each individual group inorder to predict its evolution.

3. Implementation of metrics designed to evaluate the patterns of information productionby newspapers on various social media (Facebook, Twiiter, Youtube, Instagram etc)in order to understand how the business model and publication strategies influence

47


Figure 14: Consumption of newspapers on Facebook.

perception and use of online content. (To do this, specific activities are planned withthe participation of the major national newspapers).

4. Metrics for the classification and prediction of hate speech both from an algorithmicand regulatory point of view. The activity involves collaboration with the guarantorauthority for communications.

To facilitate the implementation of the project, the implementation of a permanentdata monitoring platform and comparison and dissemination activities aimed at raisingawareness of the issue of data and the impact of social media on our society is envisaged.

Summary

The analysis of social behaviors, with the advent of big data, can be addressedalso through data science, but without getting lost in the reductionist approach.The study of information consumption, of the dynamics of public opinion, or ofdebates is central and of primary interest for our society. The systematic study ofsocial processes, carried out in a quantitative and timely manner, has considerablyincreased the potential for investigation. In this context, with the current project weintend to propose, through a highly quantitative and empirical approach, a targetedstudy of the effect of platforms on the dynamics of online polarization, to addressthe issues the world of journalism is facing during this technological change and tobetter understand the deepest social processes of our era.

Project•• Arena Project https://www.lse.ac.uk/iga/arena/research?from_serp=1

•• QUesT Project https://questproject.eu/project-partners/

•• IMSyPP Project http://imsypp.ijs.si

48

https://www.lse.ac.uk/iga/arena/research?from_serp=1

https://questproject.eu/project-partners/

http://imsypp.ijs.si


Collaborations•• Autorità per le garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, Italia

•• Joseph Stefan Institute, Slovenia

•• London School of Economics

•• Boston University

Bibliography[1] A. Bessi, F. Zollo, M. Del Vicario, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli, and W. Quattrociocchi.

Trend of narratives in the age of misinformation. PloS one, 10(8):e0134641, 2015.

[2] E. Brugnoli, M. Cinelli, W. Quattrociocchi, and A. Scala. Recursive patterns in onlineecho chambers. Scientific Reports, 9(1):1–18, 2019.

[3] M. Cinelli, E. Brugnoli, A. L. Schmidt, F. Zollo, W. Quattrociocchi, and A. Scala.Selective exposure shapes the facebook news diet. PloS one, 15(3):e0229129, 2020.

[4] M. Cinelli, S. Cresci, A. Galeazzi, W. Quattrociocchi, and M. Tesconi. The limitedreach of fake news on twitter during 2019 european elections. PloS one, 15(6):e0234689,2020.

[5] M. Cinelli, G. D. F. Morales, A. Galeazzi, W. Quattrociocchi, and M. Starnini. Echochambers on social media: A comparative analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.09603,2020.

[6] M. Del Vicario, A. Bessi, F. Zollo, F. Petroni, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli, H. E. Stanley,and W. Quattrociocchi. The spreading of misinformation online. Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences, 113(3):554–559, 2016.

[7] M. Del Vicario, G. Vivaldo, A. Bessi, F. Zollo, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli, and W. Quat-trociocchi. Echo chambers: Emotional contagion and group polarization on facebook.Scientific reports, 6:37825, 2016.

[8] M. Del Vicario, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli, H. E. Stanley, andW. Quattrociocchi. Modelingconfirmation bias and polarization. Scientific reports, 7:40391, 2017.

[9] M. Del Vicario, F. Zollo, G. Caldarelli, A. Scala, and W. Quattrociocchi. Mappingsocial dynamics on facebook: The brexit debate. Social Networks, 50:6–16, 2017.

[10] J. A. Everett. The 12 item social and economic conservatism scale (secs). PloS one, 8(12):e82131, 2013.

[11] M. Mazza, S. Cresci, M. Avvenuti, W. Quattrociocchi, and M. Tesconi. Rtbust: Ex-ploiting temporal patterns for botnet detection on twitter. In Proceedings of the 10thACM Conference on Web Science, pages 183–192, 2019.

[12] A. L. Schmidt, F. Zollo, M. Del Vicario, A. Bessi, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli, H. E. Stanley,and W. Quattrociocchi. Anatomy of news consumption on facebook. Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences, 114(12):3035–3039, 2017.

[13] A. L. Schmidt, A. Peruzzi, A. Scala, M. Cinelli, P. Pomerantsev, A. Applebaum, S. Gas-ton, N. Fusi, Z. Peterson, G. Severgnini, et al. Measuring social response to differentjournalistic techniques on facebook. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications,7(1):1–7, 2020.

[14] M. D. Vicario, W. Quattrociocchi, A. Scala, and F. Zollo. Polarization and fake news:Early warning of potential misinformation targets. ACM Transactions on the Web(TWEB), 13(2):1–22, 2019.

49


[15] A. Zaccaria, M. Del Vicario, W. Quattrociocchi, A. Scala, and L. Pietronero. Poprank:Ranking pages’ impact and users’ engagement on facebook. PloS one, 14(1):e0211038,2019.

[16] F. Zollo, P. K. Novak, M. Del Vicario, A. Bessi, I. Mozetič, A. Scala, G. Caldarelli,and W. Quattrociocchi. Emotional dynamics in the age of misinformation. PloS one,10(9):e0138740, 2015.

50

Complexity in Self-Gravitating Systems

Keywords: complexity, dark matter, gravity

Project Coordinator: Francesco Sylos Labini

Dark matter (DM) plays a central role in modern physics. It was first introducedto explain the motion of galaxies in a cluster and then to explain the speed of stars inindividual galaxies. In both cases, the measured speeds were too high to be balanced bythe mass estimated by the light emission. The cosmological picture provides different,complementary, albeit indirect, evidence of the need to introduce DM: In this case, DM isnecessary to relate the tiny temperature fluctuations in the cosmic background radiationto the distribution of visible mass in the universe. Cosmological DM must be of a non-baryonic nature because its interaction with photons must occur only through the force ofgravity, otherwise fluctuations of the cosmic background would be too large compared toobservations. In fact, to have nonlinear perturbations today that correspond to galaxiesand clusters of galaxies, it is necessary that when decoupling between matter and radiationoccurred (at redshift 1, 000) fluctuations in the matter density field were 1/1, 000. However,if the DM were baryonic, these fluctuations would correspond to fluctuations of the sameorder in the radiation field, while in the latter the observed fluctuations are 100 timessmaller, i.e., 1/100, 000. With non-baryonic DM, this important problem is solved at theprice of introducing a large quantity (in the current model called LCDM, it represents about25% of the matter of the universe and about five times more than the baryon) of which atthe moment there is no direct experimental direct trace.

The major effort, both theoretically and experimentally, concerns the search for galac-tic DM that does not necessarily have the same non-baryonic nature as cosmological DM.To this end, large collaborations have been developed between particle physicists and as-trophysicists: Since the mid-1980s, dozens of projects have sought the rare interactionsbetween DM particles and normal matter envisaged by different theoretical approaches.However, the most recent DM research just concluded, like all other previous DM detectionexperiments, did not report evidence of the existence of DM particles. Furthermore, neitherthe Large Hadron Collider nor the large experiments to detect DM (such as those performedat the Gran Sasso) have observed any particle beyond the Standard Model, of the type ofparticles that should constitute cosmological DM. Of course, these negative results do notexclude the existence of DM, and indeed the theories of DM particles have become moreand more sophisticated: To evade the conflict with experimental null results, theorists nowassume that particles interact with normal matter even less often than initially thought.This proliferation of invisible particles has become so common in the literature that it hasbeen given a collective name: the “hidden sector”. An alternative idea to solve the hiddenmass problem has been proposed in the literature since the 1980s: an ad-hoc modificationof Newton’s gravity. In particular, in this approach, instead of invoking more mass in theform of unknown particles, the gravitational force is increased in intensity for the samedistance by a law of decay less rapid than the inverse of the radius squared, i.e., as theinverse distance.

Relaxation to equilibrium of a self-gravitating systemThis project, based on ideas and insights at the interface of statistical physics and as-trophysics, proposes a new attempt to understand the problem of galactic DM, which ismotivated by the recent observational results of the Gaia mission (still ongoing). This has

51


Figure 15: The initial condition is represented on the left and the result of self-gravitatingevolution on the right. The color code is proportional to the density. [3]

just produced the largest and most accurate census of stellar positions, velocities and otherproperties for over a billion stars in our galaxy. Maps published by the Gaia collaborationshow that the velocity field of stars in the galactic disk has an unexpected complexity: Thecollective motions of stars are observed in all three velocity components and show struc-tures with a variety of morphologies whose nature implies that the galactic disk is in astate of imbalance. The extent of the deviation from equilibrium is now one of the mainobservational issues that will be clarified in the near future in the forthcoming publicationsof Gaia’s data. These observations suggest considering a third theoretical possibility toexplain the relationship between the speed of stars and their mass.

This concerns a fundamental problem involving classical Newtonian physics and ordinarymatter (i.e., stars and gases) and which has been neglected in the literature: the relaxationtowards equilibrium of a system consisting of many self-gravitating particles, which is aproblem that is part of the physics of systems with long-range interaction. In other words,in a given system, it is possible to simply correlate the rotational speed to the mass only ifthis is in a stationary situation in which, for example, the centrifugal force is balanced bythe centripetal force due to gravity, which is the basic assumption used to estimate DM.Our goal is instead to study under what conditions a stable equilibrium state is reached ina self-gravitating system, how long it takes to relax in such a configuration from genericout-of-equilibrium initial conditions and, from an observational point of view, whether thevelocity fields of both our galaxies and the outer ones are compatible with such a situation.egalassie e quelli esterni sono compatibili con una situazione del genere.

Theoretically, the dynamic evolution of many particles that interact only with New-tonian gravity is a fundamental paradigmatic problem in physics that remains equallyessential for the modeling and interpretation of astrophysical structures. A distinctive fea-ture of long-range interacting systems (such as gravity) is that, instead of relaxing to astate of thermodynamic equilibrium through two-body collisions such as those with short-range interaction, they reach, guided by a dynamic of non-relaxation, mean-field collision,a so-called quasi steady state (QSS). This configuration represents a collective and globalbehavior that emerges from the complex dynamics of a large number of elements interactingin a nonlinear way. In most systems of astrophysical interest, relaxation of two bodies oc-curs on a time scale longer than the Hubble time. Therefore, the stationary solutions of theBoltzmann (or Vlasov) equation without collisions, plus the Poisson equation, represent themain analytical framework to describe such QSS; models derived in these approximationsrepresent the key tool for comparing stellar dynamics or galactic theory with observations.In particular, the assumption of stationarity is crucial to the interpretation of the obser-vations from which we want to estimate the distribution of mass on a galactic scale: Itis under this assumption that the interpretations of the rotational curves of the galaxy interms of DM or of modified Newton’s dynamics are constructed.. While the assumptionof stationarity is generally taken for granted, the time scale for complete relaxation from a

52


Lopez-Corredoira & Sylos Labini: Gaia-DR2 extended kinematics

Fig. 16. As in Fig. 8, this time introducing a correction to the zero-point bias of parallaxes !c = ! + 0.03 mas.The data used to make these plots are publicly available in the files fig16 VR, fig16 Vphi and fig16 VZ of the URLwww.iac.es/galeria/martinlc/codes/GaiaDR2extkin/.

19

Lopez-Corredoira & Sylos Labini: Gaia-DR2 extended kinematics

Fig. 16. As in Fig. 8, this time introducing a correction to the zero-point bias of parallaxes !c = ! + 0.03 mas.The data used to make these plots are publicly available in the files fig16 VR, fig16 Vphi and fig16 VZ of the URLwww.iac.es/galeria/martinlc/codes/GaiaDR2extkin/.

19

Figure 16: Left panel: radial speed in the disk of our galaxy. Right panel: azimuth speed in thedisk of our galaxy. The color code is proportional to the speed module [9].

generic configuration out of equilibrium to a QSS is scarcely limited, both from a theoreticaland numerical point of view.

To study these issues, controlled numerical experiments are generally considered, inwhich a system is initially prepared in a certain relatively simple initial condition, andthen evolves numerically through gravitational dynamics with an N-body code that solvesthe equations of motion for a large number of particles. In this way, we have recently [2,3] studied the gravitational collapse of isolated over-densities of self-gravitating particleswith a small initial rotational speed. We have shown that collective relaxation brings thesystem closer to virial equilibrium, but also generates quite generically, when the initialcondition breaks the spherical symmetry, long-lasting non-stationary structures with a richmorphological variety and characterized by spiral arms, bars and even ring structures inspecial cases, qualitatively similar to spiral galaxies. In these systems the particles do notfollow circular and stationary orbits but instead form long-lasting transients that have theshape of spiral arms with bars or rings, dominated by radial movements that prevent re-laxation towards an equilibrium configuration. Therefore, a central objective of the presentproject is to obtain a systematic understanding of the relaxation times of a QSS, start-ing from an initial generic out-of-equilibrium condition; furthermore, we wish to considernon-gravitational physics (such as gas dynamics, star formation etc.) and study the impactof such dissipative effects on purely gravitational dynamics to link our results to a morerealistic and complete theory of the formation of galaxies.

Cosmological galaxy formationA new approachto the formationof cosmic struc-tures: top-downcollective relax-ations as opposedto the bottom-upaggregation process

We also aim to develop complete cosmological simulations in which such systems can formin a complex environment (i.e., when non-isolated systems are considered). In particular,our goal is to modify the properties of the correlation of density fluctuations in standardcosmological models so that monolithic “top-down” collapses, of the same type that occurin the case of isolated over-densities, can occur: This is in fact the key dynamic featurethat involves a collective relaxation process, giving rise to the variety of structures we haveobserved in isolated collapses. Such simulations must therefore have initial conditions thatare qualitatively different from the typical ones used in cosmological literature (i.e., thosewith cold DM, etc.) in which the aggregation proceeds in a “bottom-up” manner and thegalaxies are formed through the aggregation of smaller systems. In this type of dynamicprocess, there is no collective relaxation, and, as long as only non-dissipative effects areconsidered, no spherical symmetry breaking mechanisms are active: In fact, spherical-likesystems are formed (the so-called DM halos) which are believed to surround spiral galaxiescharacterized by the presence of a disk. A careful study of the numerical resolution effectsis necessary to correctly simulate these systems [2].

53


The speed field of the Milky WayThis theoretical work will have to be accompanied by observational studies of galacticvelocity fields, a context in which there is an increasing amount of data. In this context, wehave recently developed a method for the statistical reconstruction of the distances of thestars of the Milky Way that has allowed us to reach a distance almost three times deeperthan the official maps of Gaia [5]. In this way, we have detected large gradients in all thevelocity components, and we have concluded that these data question the most elementaryhypothesis of stellar dynamics, namely, stationarity: In fact, they show that the modeling ofthe galactic disk as a symmetrical system with respect to the rotation as time independentis definitely wrong. The key question that remains open and that can be clarified byforthcoming publications of the Gaia satellite data concerns the amplitude of the radialvelocities in the outermost part of the disk. These measurements will allow us to quantifythe deviation from stationarity, thus allowing corrections to simple relationships, basedon the assumption that the system is stationary, between mass and velocity as normallyadopted. In fact, the deviations from equilibrium are expected to be relevant especially inthe ultra-peripheral regions of galaxies, where stellar revolution time approaches the orderof the Hubble time [10].

Velocity fields of external galaxies

Figure 17: Velocityfield along the lineof sight of NGC 628(F. Sylos Labini,D. Benhaiem,S. Comeron, M.López-Corredoira,Astron.Astrophys.622, A58 (2019))

The more detailed analysis of the two-dimensional high-resolution maps of the velocity fieldsof the line of sight of external galaxies would allow determining the possible “footprints”typical of large-scale radial velocities. In this regard, it is worth underlining that, also forexternal galaxies, the quantity of DM is estimated in the first order, assuming that theobserved velocity field corresponds to purely circular movements. The radial velocities arethen measured as residuals between a spinning disk model and the actual data. However,the situation in general can be more complex than that, especially if the galaxy has no axialsymmetry [7]. In this regard, we have shown that in this situation the radial speeds can beconfused with the circular ones, so that the standard methods used for the estimation of thetwo-dimensional speed can be distorted by the inconsistent assumption of axial symmetry. Acareful study of the velocity fields of external galaxies and the adaptation of their propertiesto a model that allows non-axis-symmetrical shapes are therefore necessary to understandthe nature of the kinematics of these galaxies. For this purpose, we intend to consider two-dimensional velocity field data from different datasets that map the ultra-peripheral regionsof galaxies (i.e., using high-resolution HI observations such as Things and Little Things)and merge the velocity data to intensity profiles to calculate the contribution of light massto the velocity field and the possible effect of radial velocities. These analyses will allowdetermination of not only the fraction of DM, but also and in particular, its distribution,or whether it is associated or not with the distribution of visible matter.

Large Scale Structure of the UniverseI cataloghi tridimensionali di galassie rappresentano una delle pietre angolari della cos-mologia moderna. In past decades, we have participated in surveys of the exponentiallygrowing galaxy- redshift data, which have revealed that galaxies are organized in a largescale network of filaments and voids. Statistical analyses that we have performed of thesesurveys have shown that the galaxy distribution is characterized by power-law correlationsin the range of scales [0.1− 20] Mpc/h with a correlation exponent of 1, corresponding to afractal dimension D = 2. Furthermore, we found that the density depends, for 20 < r < 80Mpc/h, only weakly on the system size, i.e., D = 2.7, but density fluctuations are notself-averaging which implies that the size of structures is of the same order of the samples,and thus it is not possible to average out fluctuations. Correspondingly, we have found thatdensity fluctuations follow the Gumbel distribution of extreme-value statistics, differentfrom a Gaussian distribution that would arise for a homogeneous spatial galaxy configu-

54


Figure 18: Density field of galaxies reconstructed from the SLOAN Digital Sky Survey catalog.

ration. Whether or not, on scales r > 80 Mpc/h, correlations decay and the distributioncrossovers to uniformity are still matter of considerable debate. This debate was originatedfrom the use of various statistical methods to measure two-point correlations, to estimatestatistical and systematic errors and to control the selection effects that may be presentin the data. In particular, the critical points concern the a priori assumptions that areusually used, without being directly tested, in the statistical analysis of the data and thea posteriori hypotheses that are invoked to interpret the results. Among the former, thereare the hypotheses of spatial homogeneity and of translational and rotational invariance(ie statistical homogeneity) which are assumed in the definition of the standard estimatorsof correlations between galaxies. While these estimators are certainly the correct ones touse when checking for statistical and spatial homogeneity, it is simply not evident that thegalaxy data satisfies these properties in the available samples where galaxies are observedto be organized in a network of structures, such as clusters, filaments and voids, with largefluctuations for which it is not obvious a priori that spatial or statistical homogeneity issatisfied in an arbitrary small sample. Ongoing galaxy surveys, such as the Dark EnergySurvey, will create in the next few years the largest three-dimensional map of galaxies todate that, covering a contiguous large spatial volume and controlling for luminosity selec-tion effects, will allow the study of galaxy correlations on scales larger than 100 Mpc/h.Analyses of such sample represent one key objective of our activities.

55


Summary

This project aims to: (i) understand the basic physical mechanism of collective re-laxation in a self-gravitating system and the emerging of a QSS from a complex col-lective dynamics; (ii) understand the effect of gas dynamics and other dissipationalprocesses in the collapse of an isolated, non-spherical and rotating over-density;(iii) understand the properties of cosmological initial conditions that are compatiblewith the occurrence of a monolithic collapse of the type happening for an isolatedover-density; (iv) obtain the most complete picture of the kinematics of our galaxy;(v) constrain the velocity fields of external galaxies estimating the effect of radialvelocities for non-axisymmetric systems; and (vi) obtain a more reliable estimationof the DM fraction and distribution both in our galaxy and in external ones thatcan provide crucial information for DM search experiments.

Projects•• DYNamics and non-equilibrium states of complex SYStems: MATHematical methods

and physical concepts" INFN Research Network. Iniziative Specifiche della CSN4/INFNIstituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare.

•• HPC resources of The Institute for Scientific Computing and Simulation, projectEquip@Meso (Università Pierre et Marie Curie, Parigi, Francia)

Collaborations•• Istituto de Astrofisica de Canaries (La Laguna, Tenerife, Spagna)

•• Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Parigi, Francia)

•• Dipartimento di fisica Università di Roma Sapienza

•• Dipartimento di fisica Università di Firenze

•• Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi CNR (Firenze)

•• Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (Firenze)

•• Physics Department University of Saint Peresbourg

Bibliography[1] D. Benhaiem, M. Joyce, and F. S. Labini. Transient spiral arms from far out-of-

equilibrium gravitational evolution. The Astrophysical Journal, 851(1):19, 2017.

[2] D. Benhaiem, M. Joyce, F. Sylos Labini, and T. Worrakitpoonpon. Particle numberdependence in the non-linear evolution of n-body self-gravitating systems. MonthlyNotices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 473(2):2348–2354, 2018.

[3] D. Benhaiem, F. S. Labini, and M. Joyce. Long-lived transient structure in collisionlessself-gravitating systems. Physical Review E, 99(2):022125, 2019.

[4] A. Gabrielli, F. S. Labini, M. Joyce, and L. Pietronero. Statistical physics for cosmicstructures. In Statistical Physics for Cosmic Structures. Springer Verlag Inc., 2005.

[5] F. S. Labini. Inhomogeneities in the universe. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 28(16):164003, 2011.

56


[6] F. S. Labini, D. Tekhanovich, and Y. V. Baryshev. Spatial density fluctuations andselection effects in galaxy redshift surveys. Journal of Cosmology and AstroparticlePhysics, 2014(07):035, 2014.

[7] F. S. Labini, D. Benhaiem, S. Comerón, and M. López-Corredoira. Nonaxisymmetricmodels of galaxy velocity maps. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 622:A58, 2019.

[8] M. López-Corredoira. Tests and problems of the standard model in cosmology. Foun-dations of Physics, 47(6):711–768, 2017.

[9] M. López-Corredoira and F. S. Labini. Gaia-dr2 extended kinematical maps-i. methodand application. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 621:A48, 2019.

[10] M. López-Corredoira, F. S. Labini, P. Kalberla, and C. A. Prieto. Radial velocities inthe outermost disk toward the anticenter. The Astronomical Journal, 157(1):26, 2019.

57

Design of New High-Tc Conventional Su-perconductors with Material Informat-ics

Keywords: superconductivity, machine learning, material infor-matics

Project Coordinator: Lilia Boeri, Giovanni Battista Bachelet

The hope of identifying superconductors (SC) that can operate at, or close to, ambienttemperature was revamped five years ago by the discovery of superconductivity in a sul-fur superhydride (SH3) at megabar pressure.[1]. Not only did SH3, and, later, LaH10 10Fig. 19a , set new Tc records (203 and 260 K, respectively), but it also indicated a newavenue for SC discovery: In fact, for the first time in over one century, the experimen-tal reports were anticipated by accurate theoretical predictions. Crucial developments inab-initio methods for Xtal-structure prediction and superconductivity in the last ten yearsFig. 19b had enabled calculate on a computer phase diagrams and the Tc of most conven-tional SC with an accuracy that is often comparable to experiments. The SH3 discoveryhas been followed by a “hydride rush”, in which more than 100 new H-based binary SChave been predicted and, in many cases, experimentally synthesized[3]. The discovery ofsuperhydrides is of great fundamental, but little practical, importance, due to the high pres-sures involved (1Mbar = 106 atmospheres). Therefore, the next challenge in the field is toidentify materials, where high-Tc superconductivity may be realized at ambient pressure1.

This is the goal of the present project, where the problem will be tackled using a com-bination of state-of-the-art ab-initio (DFT-based) and machine-learning methods (MaterialInformatics). Our group is perfectly placed to meet this challenge, having recognized expe-rience in ab-initio calculations for SC and Xtal-structure prediction. In the last five years,we have published more than 15 papers on superconductivity at high pressures, includ-ing an invited review [3], and have been invited to present our results at more than teninternational conferences, including the APS March Meetings of 2020 and 2021.

Research QuestionsSuperhydrides represent an unprecedented starting point to understand the key factorsunderlying high-Tc superconductivity. At variance with other classes of high-Tc supercon-ductors, such as Fe pnictides and cuprates, for which no universally accepted theory ofSC exists, superhydrides are phonon-mediated (conventional) superconductors, describedin broad terms by Migdal–Eliashberg theory. Several anomalies exist, concerning the roleof anharmonicity, non-adiabatic corrections to electron–phonon interaction, and Coulombinteraction [2], that need to be addressed for a quantitative theory of superconductivity.The first question is (Q1) :

1) is how good is our current description of high-Tc superconductivity in high-pressurehydrides?

Superhydrides form highly symmetric hydrogen sublattices, held together by metallic co-valent bonds, which are key factors to boost the Tc. After five years, binary hydrides havebeen fully explored computationally, and it is clear that these conditions can only be real-ized at extreme pressures (> 100 GPa), and only for a few elements that lie in two “sweetspots” of the periodic table. However, it is reasonable to assume that the same factorsleading to high-Tc superconductivity in superhydrides may be realized in other systemsthat require lower stabilization pressures. Strong candidates are ternary hydrides:

58


(a)

(b)

Figure 19

Figure 20

2) can ternary hydrides improve over binary hydrides?

3) is it possible to find other compounds that realize high-Tc conventional superconduc-tivity?

In fact, light electronegative elements like boron, carbon, and nitrogen can form covalentmetals, with high phonon frequencies, such as MgB2, alkali-doped fullerites, graphane,LiBC, and, for some of these, Tcs as high as 120 K have been predicted. Using computa-tional methods for XSP and SC, it is in principle possible to verify whether any of thesesystems could host high-Tc SC and to propose meaningful synthesis routes via inexpensivecomputer experiments. However, it is unthinkable to perform a brute-force scan of all pos-sible compositions because the complexity of the chemical space, even for a limited set liketernary hydrides, is too large.

Machine-learning methods will be employed: to reveal patterns and correlations in thedata generated by computational experiments; and to help and steer the search in promisingdirections,

4) what are the descriptors of high-Tc conventional superconductivity?

MethodsComputational SC design will follow a simple four-step procedure or feedback loop:

1. The phase diagrams for selected elemental combinations will be constructed usingstate-of-the-art computational methods for XSP, such as evolutionary algorithms and

59


minima hopping. XSP algorithms use efficient methods to sample the free-energy sur-face of a system and locate the (local)global minima, corresponding to its (meta)stablestructures;

2. Superconducting properties will then be computed from first-principles at differentlevels of theory, eventually including anharmonic, non-adiabatic, or Coulomb correc-tions, employing ab-initio Migdal–Eliashberg theory and/or Superconducting DensityFunctional Theory[4]

3. The data thus generated will be organized into DB, which also contain other physicaland structural properties of the structures that may be indicators (descriptors) of Tc,using ad-hoc developed scripts [3]

4. Once a sufficiently large DB has been generated, we will employ standard Pythonlibraries for data handling and machine learning (Panda, sci-kit learn), to perform astatistical analysis of the database. This information will be used to identify the mostpromising regions to explore in the chemical space

Summary

In this project, inspired by the revolutionary discovery of superconductivity at ambi-ent temperature in high pressure superhydrides, we will combine advanced computa-tional methods for ad-initio design of materials and data science techniques, with theaim of identifying new superconductors with a high critical temperature under pres-sure environment. We will focus on ternary hydrides and light element compounds,which are two promising classes of materials for conventional superconductivity athigh Tc. Compared to just 10 years ago, the progress of first-principle computa-tional methods is today such that it is possible to obtain computer prediction ofthe superconducting phase diagram of any combination of elements. Nevertheless,the complexity of the problem is too great for one to think of carrying out a carpetexploration of all possible combinations of elements. In order to narrow the searchspace, machine learning techniques will be applied. Indeed, the synergy of differentcomputational methods for the targeted discovery of new materials, is one of theemerging trends in condensed matter research (material informatics).

Bibliography[1] A. Drozdov, M. Eremets, I. Troyan, V. Ksenofontov, and S. I. Shylin. Conventional

superconductivity at 203 kelvin at high pressures in the sulfur hydride system. Nature,525(7567):73–76, 2015.

[2] L. Pietronero, L. Boeri, E. Cappelluti, and L. Ortenzi. Conventional/unconventionalsuperconductivity in high-pressure hydrides and beyond: insights from theory and per-spectives. Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations, 5(1):5–21, 2018.

[3] S. Saha, S. Di Cataldo, M. Amsler, W. von der Linden, and L. Boeri. High–temperatureconventional superconductivity in the boron-carbon system: Material trends. PhysicalReview B, 102(2):024519, 2020.

[4] A. Sanna, C. Pellegrini, and E. Gross. Combining eliashberg theory with density func-tional theory for the accurate prediction of superconducting transition temperaturesand gap functions. Physical Review Letters, 125(5):057001, 2020.

60

Extreme Energy Events (EEE)—Scienceinside Schools

Keywords: cosmic rays, extreme events, science and school

Project Coordinator: Marco Garbini, Silvia Pisano, Ivan Gnesi,Fabrizio Coccetti

The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project is a joint effort between CREF and INFN.It is a scientific experiment with a twofold goal: on the one hand, it is devoted to the studyof the secondary cosmic radiation at the ground level and on the other to the disseminationof science in high schools. The peculiarity of the EEE project is its geographical extension:The detectors are distributed throughout the whole Italian territory. EEE is also the largestexperiment—in terms of total surface—based on the Multi-Gap Resistive Plate Chamber(MRPC) technology. However, the most relevant feature characterizing the uniquenessof this project is represented by the participation of secondary school students, who aredirectly and actively involved in all the phases of the experiment.

The EEE network currently includes 59 cosmic muon tracking telescopes, each consistingof three MPRC detectors (arranged one above the other at a distance of 50 cm). TheMRPC detectors are built at CERN by teams of teachers and students and installed inhigh schools, universities and public research centers (CREF, INFN sections), spread outin the across the breadth of Italy. The data acquired by the individual telescopes enablesstudy the characteristics of the local flux of secondary cosmic rays because of variationsas a function of environmental parameters—temperature and atmospheric pressure—orparameters associated with solar events, such as absorption effects due to nearby or moredistant obstacles (e.g., the Moon or the Sun), or to the east–west asymmetry.

The EEE Project telescopes are equipped with a GPS receiver that associates an abso-lute time to each detected cosmic ray, making possible, in this way, time synchronizationbetween various telescopes. Thanks to the synchronization, it is possible to study extensiveair showers and then search for events in time coincidence between stations at distancesup to a few km. The detectors are distributed throughout Italy in clusters or in single sta-tions. The large area covered by the network provides the possibility, unique in the world,to search for correlations between stations located hundreds of km apart. Any correlationsignal from a distant telescope would be a direct indication of the production mechanismshypothesized, but not yet experimentally verified, such as the Gerasimova–Zatsepin effect.The EEE experiment can also provide a contribution in multi-messenger astronomy, basedon the simultaneous detection of different signals produced by the same astrophysical ob-ject or phenomenon, such as photons, charged and neutral particles, or gravitational waves.In fact, the EEE network can detect anomalies in the cosmic ray flux simultaneous toevents of astrophysical interest such as, for example, the emission of gravitational waves orsupernovae explosions.

The EEE Project plays, in an innovative way, an important role in the disseminationof scientific culture, involving students and teachers of more than one hundred Italian highschools in all phases of the experiment: from the construction of the detectors at CERNto their maintenance once installed in the schools, as well as in the data acquisition andanalysis phase. Currently, more than a thousand students from all over Italy participate inthe EEE project each year.

61


Figure 21: A NASA image of an extensive air shower.

Data AcquisitionSince 2014, the experiment has been organized in coordinated phases of data taking calledRun. The duration of each Run coincides temporally with the school year. During the Run,all the telescopes remain in data-acquisition mode, and the data are directly transferredto the CNAF storage center in Bologna. All the participants work actively to ensure themaximum efficiency of the network. Run-5 of the EEE Project started in October 2018and finished in May 2019: more than 100 billion reconstructed tracks have been collected.At the end of Run-5, a maintenance phase of the EEE telescopes began as the stationshave been in operation for several years. This maintenance was divided into a series ofinterventions, which involved all the telescopes, with the goal of improving the performanceof any single station and, consequently, of the whole network.

Upgrade of the EEE Network

Figure 22:Distribution ofthe EEE telescopesin Italy.

A total of 14 new MRPC detectors were built at CERN in 2019, bringing the numberof MRPC built during the upgrade phase to 50. The construction of the chambers isalways carried out by students and teachers from Italian high schools participating to theproject. The new detectors will be used either for the installation of new EEE stationsor to replace old chambers. The activity will continue during the next years. In October2019, on the occasion of the opening of the institutional headquarters of the Enrico FermiResearch Center in the historic building in via Panisperna, three detectors were used toinstall a telescope at CREF that started its operation during the opening event. It hadbeen equipped to be usable also for demonstration purposes, as part of the guided toursof the "Fermi Museum" housed in the historic building. Further network upgrades andmaintenance activities include the study at CERN of new gas mixtures to be used in thedetectors to improve their performance and to limit supply costs. Studies intended toidentify alternative solutions for the detector power-supply system are also ongoing, as wellas the commissioning phase for the new trigger/GPS cards.

Data Analysis and PublicationsIn 2019, the data analysis of the PolarQuest2018 mission (discussed later in this passage)was completed and analyzed to identify long-distance correlations continued. From thepoint of view of the instrumentation, a technical article on the new trigger/GPS board that

62


(a) (b)

Figure 24: (a) Cosmic ray particle rates measured by POLA-01 during the PolarquEEEst2018mission superimposed on a map showing the route of the Nanuq sailboat. (b) Image of theinstallation location of the POLA detectors in Ny-Alesund.

equips and synchronizes the individual stations was published in an international journal.The collaboration also worked on the analysis of the data acquired, in parallel, by an EEEtelescope and a detector of the PolarQuest Project, the goal of which is the study of thestability of buildings using cosmic muons; muon tomography, which exploits the differentabsorption of muons from different materials, represents in fact one of the techniques tostudy diverse structures, from civil constructions to volcanoes. In the work carried out, theEEE Collaboration the characteristics of the detectors were used to monitor the alignmentand possible long-term deformations of large structures; the results have been published inan international journal. In parallel with the data analysis, the development of a detailedMonte Carlo simulation of the detectors continued, in order improve the description of thetelescope performances, and to get a deeper understanding of the systematic uncertaintiesthat characterize the various measurements. The collaboration participated in various na-tional and international conferences, both with oral presentations and posters, followed bythe publications in the proceedings of the conferences.

PolarquEEEst Expedition

Figure 23: EEEtelescope at CREF.

The experience of the PolarQuest2018 expedition6, which sparked the EEE collaborationto the design and construction of a cosmic ray detector installed on board the ship Nanuq,continued in 2019 with fresh measurements of cosmic ray flux. The POLA-01 detector,which showed high reliability and efficiency during the PolarQuest2018 mission, was usedto continue the cosmic-ray flux measurement campaign in Italy (Bologna, Cosenza, Erice,Catania), in Germany, and in Switzerland. These measurements allowed the study of thevariation of the cosmic ray flux as a function of latitude. In May 2019, the POLA-01,POLA-03, and POLA-04 detectors (the latter built in the first months of the year) wereinstalled at the Ny Alesund international scientific station, located in the Svalbard Islands,while POLA-02 remained in Oslo (where it was installed in 2018), serving as a reference.Thanks to the collaboration with the CNR, which carries out various scientific activitiesin Ny Alesund, the POLA detectors were installed at the Gruvebadet laboratory, near theAmundsen–Nobile tower for the study of climate change and at the Italian Station “DirigibleItalia”. The three detectors will make it possible to study the cosmic ray flux on a large timescale, in a latitudinal region where there are have not been any experimental measurements.Having three detectors at a distance of about 1 km from each other will make it possibleto study extended showers at arctic latitudes.

6http://www.polarquest2018.org

63


Figure 25: Tenth Conference of CREF Projects - EEE Project, Aula Magna of the CavallerizzaReale, Turin, 6-8 March 2019.

Dissemination

The EEE Project was conceived to bring a real scientific experiment inside Italian highschools. During the school year, about 1,000 students are directly involved in the experi-ment. In the schools where EEE telescopes are installed, the students are responsible forthe proper operation of the detector. The work is organized locally and supervised by theresearchers involved in the EEE Project. The schools participating in the experiment canaccess the data acquired by the network even if they do not have a telescope itself: Allschools are therefore engaged in data-analysis activities, both independently and with thesupervision of scientific personnel. The EEE collaboration organizes monthly meetings viaa videoconference system (forming more than 100 connections with schools) during whichstudents can participate in masterclasses and present their work to the entire collaboration.In addition to the monthly online meetings, CREF organizes in-person workshops dedi-cated to the discussion of the project. The 10th Conference on CREF Projects dedicatedto EEE was held on 6–8 March 2019, at the Cavallerizza Reale complex of the Universityof Turin; a total of 160 participants from 40 schools from all over Italy participated in thisevent. Students, teachers, and researchers met to discuss the status of the project and todefine the future strategy of the EEE observatory. The main theme of the conference wasthe measurement of time, and the central role it plays in the EEE project. In view of thestrong interdisciplinarity and to encouraging and support collaboration between variousItalian Public Research Bodies, CREF invited researchers from the time–frequency sectionof the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM) to the event. The latter in-troduced the participants to the fundamental aspects of time measurement and the use ofGlobal Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for the synchronization of atomic clocks atgreat distances, involving students in real "field experiences". In 2019, multiple initiativesof Alternanza Scuola Lavoro were carried on. On the international side, over 1–5 April,13 schools of the EEE network participated in the International Muon Week, with stu-dents engaged in measuring the cosmic muon velocity of cosmic rays. Later that year, on6 November, International Cosmic Day—the best-known educational event in the field ofcosmic rays,¬ organized by the Desy Laboratory—took place. Hundreds of students in theEEE Project, located in ten different Italian locations, joined the initiative, confirming theinternationalization process underway in the EEE Project.

64


Summary

The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project combines research and scientific dis-semination, representing a unique example in the world. Through a network of 59Multi-Gap Resistive Plate Chambers telescopes, distributed throughout the nationalterritory inside high schools and research institutes, it offers the possibility to studythe flux of secondary cosmic rays and to detect, over a region of hundreds of km,the possible appearance of extended events. About a thousand students per yearare involved in all stages of the process, from the construction of telescopes to theanalysis of the collected data, and participate in video conferences, workshops, andmasterclasses. The know-how developed as part of this project made possible thecreation of sophisticated, portable cosmic-ray detectors, used in the PolarQuest2018and PolarquEEEst-2019 expeditions. These detectors will make it possible to carryout new experimental measurements at arctic latitudes.

Bibliography[1] M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Batignani, M. Battaglieri,

S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, A. Chiavassa, et al. First results from the upgradeof the extreme energy events experiment. Journal of Instrumentation, 14(08):C08005,2019.

[2] M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Batignani, M. Battaglieri,S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, C. Cicalo, et al. The eee mrpc telescopes as trackingtools to monitor building stability with cosmic muons. Journal of Instrumentation, 14(06):P06035, 2019.

[3] M. Abbrescia et al. Gli studenti del progetto eee sulle orme di eratostene per la misuradel raggio della terra. Giornale di Fisica, 60(107), 2019.

[4] Cicalò et al. The extreme energy events experiment. In ICRC, volume 36, page 389,2019.

[5] D. De Gruttola, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, G. Batignani,M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, et al. Performance of the multigapresistive plate chambers of the extreme energy events project. Journal of Instrumen-tation, 14(05):C05022, 2019.

[6] M. Garbini, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Batignani,M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, et al. Performance of the multigapresistive plate chambers of the extreme energy events project. Nuclear Instrumentsand Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectorsand Associated Equipment, 936:474–475, 2019.

[7] M. P. Panetta, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Baldini, G. Batignani,M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, et al. The new trigger/gps modulefor the eee project. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 936:376–377, 2019.

[8] C. Pellegrino, F. Noferini, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. Baldini Ferroli,L. Batignani, M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, et al. First results from polarqueeest.In ICRC, volume 36, page 371, 2019.

[9] S. Pisano, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Batignani,M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, et al. New eco-gas mixtures forthe extreme energy events mrpcs: results and plans. Journal of Instrumentation, 14(08):C08008, 2019.

[10] M. Trimarchi, M. Abbrescia, C. Avanzini, L. Baldini, R. B. Ferroli, L. Batignani,M. Battaglieri, S. Boi, E. Bossini, F. Carnesecchi, et al. Test of new eco-gas mixtures

65


for the multigap resistive plate chambers of the eee project. Nuclear Instruments andMethods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors andAssociated Equipment, 936:493–494, 2019.

66

Neuroscience and Quantitative Neu-roimaging

Keywords: brain networks, metabolic dynamics, brain plasticity

Project Coordinator: Federico GioveThe Neuroscience and Quantitative Neuroimaging (NQN) project is aimed at the study

of brain function and some neurological and psychiatric pathologies. The project associatestechnological development and applications for the characterization of brain networks andmetabolic dynamics on the functional, structural, and molecular levels. The general aimsof the project include the determination of the relationships between brain function andits physiological and biochemical substrates, or more generally between function and struc-ture. The dominant view is that the structure conditions, but does not uniquely determine,the function. Regardless of the controversial philosophical and evolutionary aspects, ourapproach is eminently multimodal and interdisciplinary. It deals with Magnetic ResonanceImaging (MRI), image processing and computational modeling techniques, and fully ex-ploits the intrinsic multi-parametric properties of (MRI). It is difficult to overestimate theimportance of MR-based neuroimaging for the advancement of neuroscience, and more gen-erally for the understanding of the human brain and how it is capable of generating behavior.In this interdisciplinary and frontier field, no other technology has had a greater impactin quantitative and also qualitative terms. From a quantitative point of view, the expo-nential growth of the number of scientific publications associated with functional imagingis eloquent enough (see accompanying figure). The qualitative importance derives insteadfrom the unique properties of MRI. On the one hand, MRI is completely non-invasiveand can therefore be extensively applied to humans, even for repeated and longitudinalstudies. On the other hand, it is characterized by being an intrinsically multiparametrictechnique. Through appropriate manipulation of nuclear spins, MR imaging can in factbe sensitized to multiple phenomena of interest for neuroscience. Thanks to these prop-erties, MRI has totally revolutionized medical diagnostics and offers an important set ofquantitative and non-invasive investigation methods, which give information that are bothfunctional (blood flow, oxygen consumption, temperature, pH, metabolic dynamics), struc-tural (images weighted in parameters related to rapid molecular dynamics, called T1 e T2)and microstructural (water diffusion, slow molecular dynamics).

The functional neuroimaging methods, in particular thanks to the BOLD (Blood Oxy-genation Level-Dependent) contrast, initially made it feasible to identify the areas “acti-vated” during the performance of motor, sensory, or cognitive functions. The BOLD effectenables indirect study of brain function through its hemodynamic and metabolic correlates.Electrophysiological activity is indeed associated with a localized increase in blood flow andvolume, and with an increase in oxygen consumption. The hemodynamic modulations arein fact over-compensatory compared to the increase of aerobic metabolism, which causes afocal increase in blood oxygenation, which in turn can be revealed by rapid fMRI (functionalMRI) techniques. Since 1995, it has been understood that the areas that are presumed tocooperate during function, responding to it with a measurable increase in activity, showslow oscillations of the BOLD signal even in the absence of stimulation. In other words, thecortex constantly maintains a low level of activity, with apparently random but spatiallycoherent temporal characteristics.

Connectomics and brain networksThe first sector that we intend to develop in the three-year period is the study of theproperties of brain networks using fMRI and associated techniques. The study of brain

67


Figure 26: Pubmed hits (June 2020) for the key “functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging” orfMRI. The vertical line identifies the invention of modern functional imaging, based on BOLD(Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) contrast, and therefore ideally marks the transition betweenthe search for a valid method and its development in terms of technology and applications

connectivity is continuously expanding its scope and scale, on the one hand, towards theinvestigation of connectivity on the cortical layer level, and on the other hand, with the useof connectomics on a global level, for example, for early fingerprinting of neurological dis-eases or psychiatric. In any case, the connectomic analysis is based on the characterizationof differences with respect to a reference. These changes can be induced by a pathology,or simply a statistical comparison with a blank. This is a complex procedure and proneto false positives. In fact, it should be remembered that connectomic analysis techniques,being based on the appreciation of the covariance structure of the data, are sensitive tocoherent spurious signals, including the so-called “physiological noise” (i.e., the variationsinduced by physiological rhythms such as breathing, movement, or heartbeat).

Dynamics of Brain NetworksBrain networks areglobally stable, butundergo short-termplastic remodelingphenomena.

A first line of activity, which we intend to complete within a year, is the development ofmethods for the mitigation of physiological noise. At the same time, we will deepen thedynamic characterization of the signal. The relationship between plastic modulation ofnetworks and behavior is a question of utmost importance in terms of basic knowledgeof brain function and its implications for the understanding of major neurological andpsychiatric pathologies. Our group is among the first to have studied the issue of thedynamic modulation of brain networks induced by brain function, in multiple experimentalmodels, as shown in the figure.

In particular, we confirmed that the topology of the resting brain networks is globallyconserved during the execution of a continuous cognitive task. However, we have highlightedtwo phenomena that deserve further study. The first is that a small number of brain networknodes actually change their topological relationships during activity, suggesting that thenetworks are globally stable, but undergo short-term plastic remodeling phenomena. Weplan to investigate this modulation, both in terms of the modalities with which it occurs,and in terms of functional significance.

The second point that we will study is the significance of the amplitude of the mod-ulation of functional connectivity in MRI (fcMRI). As can be clearly seen in the figure,intranetwork connectivity, which is normally higher than connectivity between networks,

68


Figure 27: Left: brain networks during spontaneous pupillary diameter modulation associatedwith a visual attention task. Right: Granger causality analysis between the rate of variation of thepupillary diameter dP/dT and the brain networks. Although Locus Coeruleus is physiologicallyassociated with pupil diameter, Granger Causality indicates the presence of a complex pattern ofinterdependence between networks, with LC and pupil diameter separated by numerous stages ofcortical processing (DiNuzzo et al. 2019).

Figure 28: Correlation matrix at rest (top left) and during a cognitive task (bottom), and t-test(unthresholded) on the difference between the two (top right (Tommasin et al. 2018)).

tends to decrease during tasks, while the opposite occurs for connectivity between networks.With our work, we have shown that the functional connectivity variation as a function ofresting connectivity FCR is well-described by a simple linear model. Interestingly, the am-plitude of this modulation is irrelevant from a behavioral point of view (percentage of exactresponses during the cognitive task), while the slope β shows a significant inverse correla-tion with cognitive performance in some areas involved in the execution of the task. Theseresults indicate that, without proper normalization, the amplitude of connectivity changescould be an irrelevant parameter from the physiological point of view. This result wouldhave a significant impact, considering the increasing use of this parameter to study neu-rodegeneration. We will then investigate the physiological origins of stimulation-inducedmodulation of fcMRI to identify the determinant of the behaviorally irrelevant component.It is important to note that vascular reactivity is a potent modulator of fMRI response,and vascular reactivity has been reported to spatially modulate functional connectivity atrest and the amplitude of fluctuations. We believe we can hypothesize a role of vascularreactivity and/or the autonomic system in determining the connectivity changes associatedwith activity. If this hypothesis, subjected to experimental verification, proves to be correct,we will develop methods of renormalization of the signal aimed at excluding the vascularcomponent from the analysis.

69


PlasticityThe second line is partially linked to the first and, in particular, aims to investigate themechanisms of plasticity induced by electrical stimulation. This is a study in collaborationwith the Santa Lucia Foundation (Prof. Marangolo), aimed in particular at studying theeffects of transpinal electrical stimulation in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia(AD). Transpinal direct-current stimulation is a non-invasive stimulation tool that involvesthe application of a weak electric current (1–2 mA) using electrodes applied to the back. Thecurrent modulates neuronal excitability, with protracted effects similar to the mechanisms oflong-term enhancement and depression. While there is some fMRI evidence of the plasticeffect in the case of cortical stimulation, the effects of transpinal stimulation on brainnetworks are still unknown. In this series of experiments, we intend first of all to study thefocal effect of tsDCS as such, by means of task-based studies, and secondly to determineits plastic-type effects and the relative temporal duration (a relevant characteristic fortherapeutic applications). To this end, we will develop a technique capable of taking intoaccount the spatial scale of the modulations. In fcMRI studies, the nodes of the networkare identified a priori, and the evolution of the branches is studied, often assuming thespatial stationarity of the network. However, plastic phenomena occur at multiple scales,starting from the minimum functional unit (canonical microcircuit), and can modulateby definition the physiological substrate of the network. We will therefore develop twooptimized approaches to characterize plasticity by fcMRI:

1. u1) a method based on the extraction of exemplary dynamic components by con-strained Independent Vector Analysis (SED-cIVA), adapted to the very high tem-poral resolution data that we will acquire through multiband approaches (0.8 s ascompared to the ordinary 2–3 s). SED-cIVA is an iterative approach, which in a firstphase extracts models with independent component analysis approaches (ICA), andin a second phase determines the spatiotemporal dynamics by means of fit on a slidingwindow.

2. We will then develop a univariate approach based on the connectivity radius. Thetechniques to identify fMRI networks are usually of multivariate nature. In this way,it is inherently difficult to define the location and directionality of the modulations.Preliminary tests conducted over the past year suggest that a metric based on theaverage of the Fisher transformation of the correlation coefficients of a voxel with thevoxels included in spherical shells of increasing radius has the potential to capturelocal modulations of connectivity. We therefore propose to develop this metric andshow its adequacy to describe phenomena of neuronal plasticity.

Metabolism of Brain FunctionDevelopment ofcompartmentalizedmodels in whichcellular componentsare described bydetailed metabolicnetworks at thegenomic level inorder to implementsimulations of brainmetabolism with alevel of detail neverreached before

Brain activity is mainly based on oxidative metabolism. For this reason, the measurementof the metabolic oxygen-consumption rate (CMRO2) is an excellent biomarker for the quan-tification of brain activity and the physiological state of tissues, with potential applicationsin the early diagnosis of carcinomas, strokes, neurological, and neurodegenerative diseases.Currently, positron emission tomography techniques based on oxygen isotopes are the goldstandard for obtaining CMRO2 maps of the whole brain. However, the technical complex-ity of the tests and the level of invasiveness of the same constitute a huge limit to theiruse. There are several MRI methods for measuring CMRO2, based on different technolog-ical approaches and physiological characteristics. For example, we cite the exploitation ofthe magnetic field differences associated with tissue differences between the superior sagit-tal sinus or main veins and the surrounding parenchyma, the T2 oxygenation calibrationcurves with speed selective techniques, or the quantification approaches of venous oxygensaturation through the T2 of venous blood.

Davis and Hoge introduced in the late 1990s another group of techniques, based onBOLD calibration methods, which aim to estimate CMRO2 from BOLD and ASL (Arte-rial Spin Labeling) signals, exploiting respiratory tasks (hypercapnia and hyperoxia) and

70


Figure 29: Left: brain metabolic network, including astrocytic and neuronal subcellular com-partments and extracellular compartments (extracellular matrix, vessels). The part subject to thelatest steady-state modeling studies (DiNuzzo et al. 2017) is highlighted in gray and amplified onthe right.

mathematical models that describe the complex relationship between oxygen metabolism,BOLD signals, and cerebral blood flow (CBF). CBF is a direct biomarker for cerebrovas-cular function and neurovascular health, and the correlation between CBF, local neuronalactivity, and metabolism, known as neurovascular coupling, is a surrogate marker for brainfunction. Detecting CBF at rest without carrying out complex cognitive tasks is a fairlyeasy operation to conduct in clinical practice. For example, CBF can be measured withASL, perfusion, or phase-contrast MRI techniques. Recently, an extension of these tech-niques has made it possible to record, in the same experiment, the changes in CBF, inducedby hypercapnia, and in BOLD induced by hyperoxia (increased concentration of oxygen inthe blood), and to exploit them to characterize the cerebral metabolic state through the es-timation of various parameters, including the concentration of deoxyhemoglobin in venousblood, the fraction of oxygen extracted (OEF), the absolute CMRO2, the CBF, and thevascular reactivity (CVR). This innovative approach is called quantitative oxygen imagingor dual calibrated fMRI (dcfMRI) and overcomes one of the basic problems of the methodinitially proposed by Davis and Hoge, namely, the dependence on an unknown parameter,the signal baseline M. The dcfMRI techniques have technological requirements that can bematched with those of vascular reactivity techniques (described in the paragraph Dynam-ics of Brain networks), therefore the development of both techniques has clear synergisticaspects. In this part, the tissue-segmentation work based on AI methods developed incollaboration with the University of Kuopio will also be exploited, to obtain structurallyhomogeneous areas with which to average the signals.

The quantification of CMRO2 will enable us to continue the study of the metabolicdynamics that has characterized the activity of our group from the beginning. Many ofthe problems we have successfully studied actually concern the functional characterizationof the cells (neurons and glial cells) of the nervous system in biophysical and biochemicalterms. Neurons are the components of neural circuits, whose task is to process specifictypes of information, whose integration represents the substrate of brain function. Glialcells, which are in a 10 : 1 ratio with neurons, have functions that are not yet completelyclear, but which certainly include the modulation of nutrient transport, ionic homeostasis,and the modulation of cellular excitability.

From the experimental point of view, we have in the past focused attention on lactate.The importance that lactate plays in the functional metabolism of the brain derives from theparadigm shift that has invested this scientific field after the introduction of the hypothesisof the lactate shuttle, Astrocyte–Neuron Lactate Shuttle (ANLSH), proposed by Pellerinand Magistretti in 1994. This hypothesis has revolutionized the concept that neuronsexclusively use glucose, while providing a nutritional role for astrocytes (a type of glialcell). According to ANLSH, astrocytes would couple the increase in electrical activity ofneurons to the absorption of glucose from the blood for production of energy. In other

71


words, ANLSH affirms that the primary energy substrate of neurons would not be glucose,but the lactate produced by astrocytes at activity-dependent rate.

We have repeatedly challenged the ANSL hypothesis on experimental and modelinggrounds, associating the increase in lactate that is observed during stimulation with a gen-eralized increase in metabolic intermediates during the rapid increase in aerobic metabolism.However, there is no direct experimental demonstration that the change in lactate in vivois associated with oxygen consumption. We therefore intend to carry out a combined spec-troscopy and CMRO2 experiment aimed at functionally characterizing the link betweenCMRO2 and lactate.

From the modeling point of view, the basic idea is to continue past efforts by capitalizingon the research of the last ten years in the field of kinetic and stoichiometric models, researchthat has been the focus of strong interest in the scientific community and has recently led toimportant strategic collaboration with Yale School of Medicine.centemente alla importantecollaborazione strategica con Yale School of Medicine.

In particular, the aim is to formalize compartmentalized models (neuron, astrocyte, ex-tracellular space, perivascular space, vessels) in which the cellular components are describedby detailed metabolic networks on the genomic level to implement simulations of cerebralmetabolism (with significant impact also on the interpretation of MRS and fMRI signals)with a level of detail never achieved before (side figure). This effort is aimed among otherthings at clarifying the role of astrocytic glycogen, for which our group first hypothesizedand modeled a modulatory role. This research activity would also allow to acquire generalskills in the study of metabolic networks from a more purely bioinformatic point of view(in particular, systems biology). In turn, this would foster the birth of new internationalcollaborations and the expansion of the research line towards biotechnology. The modeldevelopment will initially focus on the determination of metabolic fluxes at steady state(Flux Balance Analysis). Our methodology proved to be qualitatively superior to the stan-dard algorithms used to estimate the distributions of metabolic flows. On the other hand,the computational efficiency of our method is lower, and the first step will be aimed atoptimizing and implementing strategies, many of which are already known, to reduce thecomputational load of our method.

Summary

The Neuroscience and Quantitative Neuroimaging (NQN) project studies the dy-namics of brain networks using quantitative experimental approaches based on nu-clear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), combined with biophysical models. Theexperimental activity is focused on studying the properties of spontaneous coher-ent fluctuations in cerebral blood oxygenation - which indirectly reflect the networkproperties of brain function - particularly in the presence of functional dynamicsprovoked by sensory (vision) or cognitive (memory, perception) stimulations. Tothis end, NQN promotes innovation in the field of MRI technologies, such as theoptimization of acquisition processes, and the development of new methods of mul-timodal analysis. The project has a strong interdisciplinary connotation, and aimsto contribute to the development of advanced and optimized diagnostic tools at theindividual patient level for the characterization, diagnosis and treatment of neuro-logical and psyciatric diseases.

Collaborations

•• University of Minnesota, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR), Min-neapolis. (Prof. S. Mangia)

•• Yale University, Magnetic Resonance Research Center, New Haven. (Prof. D. Roth-man)

•• University of Eastern Finland, A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, Kuopio.(Prof. O. Gröhn, Prof. J. Tohka)

72


•• Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma (Prof. M Bozzali, Prof. P Marangolo)

•• Università di Chieti-Pescara, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Chieti (Prof. R. G. Wise)

•• Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimenti di Ingegneria dell’Informazione Elettron-ica e Telecomunicazioni (Prof. F. Frezza) e di Fisica (Prof. S. Giagu)

•• IMT Lucca (Dr. T. Gili)

•• CNR, Istituto dei sistemi complessi, (Dr. S. Capuani) e Istituto di Nanotecnologia(Dr. M. Fratini)

Projects•• 2015–2019 H2020 MSCA-RISE 691110 “MICROBRADAM: Advanced MR methods

for characterization of microstructural brain damage”.

•• 2015–2018 Regione Lazio POR-FESR 2014-2020 RU-2014-1092, “PAMINA: Piattaformaper l’Analisi Multimodale Integrata in Neuroscienze Applicate”.

Bibliography[1] P. Bednařík, I. Tkáč, F. Giove, M. DiNuzzo, D. K. Deelchand, U. E. Emir, L. E.

Eberly, and S. Mangia. Neurochemical and bold responses during neuronal activationmeasured in the human visual cortex at 7 tesla. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow &Metabolism, 35(4):601–610, 2015.

[2] P. Bednařík, I. Tkáč, F. Giove, L. E. Eberly, D. K. Deelchand, F. R. Barreto, andS. Mangia. Neurochemical responses to chromatic and achromatic stimuli in the humanvisual cortex. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 38(2):347–359, 2018.

[3] M. DiNuzzo, S. Mangia, B. Maraviglia, and F. Giove. Changes in glucose uptakerather than lactate shuttle take center stage in subserving neuroenergetics: evidencefrom mathematical modeling. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 30(3):586–602, 2010.

[4] M. DiNuzzo, S. Mangia, B. Maraviglia, and F. Giove. Glycogenolysis in astrocytes sup-ports blood-borne glucose channeling not glycogen-derived lactate shuttling to neurons:evidence from mathematical modeling. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism,30(12):1895–1904, 2010.

[5] M. DiNuzzo, F. Giove, B. Maraviglia, and S. Mangia. Computational flux balance anal-ysis predicts that stimulation of energy metabolism in astrocytes and their metabolicinteractions with neurons depend on uptake of k+ rather than glutamate. Neurochem-ical research, 42(1):202–216, 2017.

[6] M. DiNuzzo, D. Mascali, M. Moraschi, G. Bussu, L. Maugeri, F. Mangini, M. Fratini,and F. Giove. Brain networks underlying eye’s pupil dynamics. Frontiers in Neuro-science, 13:965, 2019.

[7] S. Mangia, M. DiNuzzo, F. Giove, A. Carruthers, I. A. Simpson, and S. J. Vannucci.Response to ‘comment on recent modeling studies of astrocyte—neuron metabolic in-teractions’: Much ado about nothing. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism,31(6):1346–1353, 2011.

[8] D. Mascali, M. DiNuzzo, T. Gili, M. Moraschi, M. Fratini, B. Maraviglia, L. Serra,M. Bozzali, and F. Giove. Intrinsic patterns of coupling between correlation and ampli-tude of low-frequency fmri fluctuations are disrupted in degenerative dementia mainlydue to functional disconnection. PLoS One, 10(4):e0120988, 2015.

73


[9] D. Mascali, M. DiNuzzo, L. Serra, S. Mangia, B. Maraviglia, M. Bozzali, and F. Giove.Disruption of semantic network in mild alzheimer’s disease revealed by resting-statefmri. Neuroscience, 371:38–48, 2018.

[10] F. A. Massucci, M. DiNuzzo, F. Giove, B. Maraviglia, I. P. Castillo, E. Marinari, andA. De Martino. Energy metabolism and glutamate-glutamine cycle in the brain: astoichiometric modeling perspective. BMC systems biology, 7(1):103, 2013.

[11] S. Tommasin, D. Mascali, M. Moraschi, T. Gili, I. E. Hassan, M. Fratini, M. DiNuzzo,R. G. Wise, S. Mangia, E. Macaluso, et al. Scale-invariant rearrangement of restingstate networks in the human brain under sustained stimulation. Neuroimage, 179:570–581, 2018.

74

Physics for Cultural Heritage

Keywords: Cultural Heritage, machine-learning, archaeometry

Project Coordinator: Giulia Festa

What is the recipe for the first permanent ink in history with which the ancient Egyp-tians painted linen fabrics so that it would not fade with washing? Why do some ancientplasters apparently resist much longer than modern ones? Can we ‘see’ the contents of asealed ancient jar without having to open it? These are some of the questions that can beanswered by following a scientific approach to archaeometric investigations. While the useof a single technique provides specific information, often partial, about the object underinvestigation, an integrated approach can be more effective by using several techniques andinnovative methods of analysis for the interpretation of the results.

Archaeometry at CREFArchaeometry atCREF: physics andmachine-learningfor the study andconservation ofcultural heritage.

The laboratory currently under development at CREF is dedicated to the study of histori-cal and artistic objects, through advanced instrumentation and an integrated approach toaddress archaeological and conservation problems. The laboratory, housed in the basementrooms of the Palazzina in via Panisperna, aims to provide a combination of portable instru-mentation and consolidated experience in the use of european large-scale facilities throughaccess programs to advanced neutron and synchrotron radiation instrumentation. Startingin 2019, the first portable instrumentation for integrated analyses of X-ray fluorescence andRaman spectroscopy was installed and tested at the laboratory. During the second half of2019 and into 2020, the requirements relating to radioprotection and fire prevention for thelaboratory were finalized. Specific documentation was then sent to competent authorities,and currently the instrumentation is fully licensed to be also used outside the laboratoryto provide in-situ measurements such as at museums, restoration laboratories, and otherinterested locations in the context of scientific research collaborations. Furthermore, thefirst studies of organic and inorganic pigments were carried out for the identification ofthe optimal instrument set-up and the creation of a specific pigment database (XRF andRaman), through the analysis of powder samples of known composition also used in ancienttimes. The final determination of the detection and quantification limits of the X-Ramaninstrumentation is still underway through the continuing analysis of ad-hoc samples. Mea-surements of real samples were also carried out, including the study of metal coins from theRoman period, fragments of polychrome plasters, and glass from the Punic age.

Together with research activities carried out using portable instrumentation, experi-ments were also carried out at large-scale facilities such as the ISIS Neutron and MuonSource. These addressed application such as: new dimensions in forensic profiling; imagingburned human bones at IMAT; the study of chronic mercury exposure in ancient pop-ulations from the cinnabar mining; and Bronze Age metalwork at the British Museum.Data analyses of measurement campaigns carried out in previous reference periods are alsoongoing.

In the next three years, we will focus on the development of the laboratory to expand theinstrumentation available, together with the full implementation of research and scientificdissemination activities in the context of the study of materials of historical and artisticinterest. The strengthening and expansion of the laboratory’s network including museums,on the regional, national, and international levels, as well as other research and culturalinstitutions, will be carried out through new agreements aimed at joint research activities.

75


Figure 30: X-ray fluorescence spectrum of mineral pigments.

The expansion of the laboratory dedicated to cultural heritage will be carried out in theframework of the financed regional project ISIS@MACH (MAteriali Compositi, Hub of ISISPulsed Neutron and Muon Source, Oxfordshire (UK)). In this context new, compact andportable instrumentation such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-raydiffraction, and an X-ray tomograph will be installed. We also intend to continue workregarding the establishment of a database for organic and inorganic pigments by means ofportable instrumentation and the study of the detection limits of the machines, as well asthe development of new analytical procedures.

New measurement campaigns will be planned at European research facilities for neutronand synchrotron radiation and will be integrated into the study of objects of historical andartistic interest at the CREF laboratory through experiments in collaboration with themuseums and associated stakeholders.

Given the current developments in machine learning applied to cultural heritage, CREFhas also started collaborations with international organizations operating in the researcharea, to meet the challenges of cultural heritage in an innovative way. Artificial intelligence(AI) has a growing impact in diverse technological areas such as speech recognition, au-tomation, economics, etc. Machine learning (ML) is a current application of AI based onthe concept by which the system is able to learn from example and experience, withoutbeing explicitly programmed.

The approach is to provide data to a generic algorithm, and, through such algorithms,machines create the logic based on the data provided. Machine-learning algorithms gener-ally operate through the use of large data sets (also known as Big Data) and designed tolearn through associations on the data set which can also be applied to solve problems in-herent to cultural heritage. The CREF, in line with the current trends of multidisciplinaryresearch for cultural heritage, has started collaborating with international organizationsworking in the fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence, complexity, and data sci-ence. Outreach activities are also ongoing for the study of polychromies (Project InvisibleColors) for the realization of an educational event helded online the 9th of December Re-garding scientific dissemination activities, CREF received funding from the Lazio Regionfor the VEROSH—Virtual ExploRation Of Science History project for the developmentof an immersive virtual-reality experience to be integrated into the museum. Given theaffinity between the activities of this project in the framework of the CREF Museum andthe technological skills of the laboratory, the activities will be carried out jointly.

76


Figure 31: Study of archaeological bone finds through an integrated approach of vibrational andneutron spectroscopies [G. Festa et al, “First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remainsprobed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy”, Science Advances 5, eaaw1292 (2019)].

Summary

The project studies cultural heritage in an innovative way through the synergisticuse of tools in the CREF laboratory, still under construction, and access to largescale European facilities. For this purpose, it will be essential to strengthen andexpand contacts with both national and international museums, so as to carry outjoint research activities. Particular attention will be dedicated to the innovativetechniques of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, in order to face the newchallenges of cultural heritage in an efficient and innovative way.

Collaborations•• Anthropological Service – Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell’Etruria Merid-

ionale

•• Bauart – Basel (Switzerland)

•• British Museum (London, UK)

•• Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Venezia)

•• Centro Restauro Venaria Reale (Torino)

•• ICTP - International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste)

•• ISIS Spallation Neutron Source (Oxford, UK)

•• Museo Archeologico Lilibeo (Trapani)

•• Museo Egizio (Torino)

•• Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Firenze)

•• Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen – Switzerland

•• PICAMPUS (Roma)

•• Sapienza Università di Roma (Roma)

77


•• Sony Computer Science Lab (Parigi, Francia)

•• Università di Coimbra (Portogallo)

•• Università di Siena

•• Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”

Projects•• Lazio Region Project: ISIS@MACH. The ISIS@MACH project provides funding

for the purchase of equipment and preparation of the laboratory and the inclusion ofthe laboratory in the nascent ISIS@MACH distributed infrastructure. ISIS@MACHis conceived as a node of an international infrastructure for the characterization ofmaterials in partnership with the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and the neutronsource ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source based in Oxfordshire (UK).

•• Project INVISIBLE COLOURS: financed by European Physical Society.The "Invisible Colors" project provides for the organization of an event for the generalpublic to be held via videoconference and concerning "color" from a physical point ofview, light and colors and the techniques used for the study of ancient pigments.

•• VEROSH - Lazio Region Project VEROSH (Virtual EploRation Of ScienceHistory). “Virtual Imaging to better understand the history of the via PanispernaHistorical building, interacting with avatars of the most important people who workedat the Institute of Physics.” The project concerns the development and setting up ofa new section of the CREF Museum through innovative approaches such as virtualreality, interactive museum setting, etc. The acquired know-how will also be used tovisualize the scientific results of the CREF cultural heritage laboratory.

Conferences•• ‘Dalla Conoscenza alla Valorizzazione: il Ruolo dell’archeometria nei Musei’, As-

sociazione Italiana di Archeometria, Reggio Calabria, 27 – 29 Marzo 2019, MuseoArcheologico Nazionale.

•• FameLab 2019 – Selezioni Locali Roma, 26 febbraio 2019.

•• Special Session “Neutron Methods for Cultural Heritage” at IMEKO TC-4 Interna-tional Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage”, Florence, 4-6dicembre 2019

•• Special Session “HANDHELD ANDMOBILE INSTRUMENTATION IN CULTURALHERITAGE RESEARCH” at IMEKO TC-4 International Conference on Metrologyfor Archaeology and Cultural Heritage”, Trento, 22-24 October 2020

•• G. Festa “Neutrons for Cultural Heritage”, European Conference on Neutron Scatter-ing (ECNS) 2019. San Pietroburgo, 30 giugno – 5 luglio 2019 (invited talk)

Teaching activityIn the last 3 years, training and research activities with Italian and foreign universities havebeen launched, and are still ongoing, briefly described below:

•• Research and training activities within the Master (SEAHA - Center for DoctoralTraining in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage and Archeology, http://www.seaha-cdt.ac.uk/) and PhD Thesis from University College London (Convention for researchand training activities between Univ. Tor Vergata, CREF, University College London(London, UK))

78


Figure 32: Investigations on Ancient Egyptian fabrics [G. Festa et al, “Egyptian metallic inks ontextiles from the 15th century BCE unravelled by light and neutron probes.” Scientific Reports, 9,Article number: 7310 (2019)].

•• Study of the state of conservation of Roman bronze coins from an excavation in thePalatine area (Curiae Veteres - "Attendance of the sanctuary in the Late Republicanage", study conducted by the Dept. of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome) ,degree thesis at the Univ. of Bologna)

•• Advanced training course "Analytical Probing with Neutrons" within the "Schoolof Neutron Science and Instrumentation", G. Festa (co-director), Ettore MajoranaFoundation and Center for Scientific Culture, Erice scheduled for 12-17 July 2020 andpostponed to a later date due to the COVID-19 emergency

Bibliography[1] L. Arcidiacono, A. Parmentier, G. Festa, M. Martinón-Torres, C. Andreani, and R. Sen-

esi. Validation of a new data-analysis software for multiple-peak analysis of γ spectraat isis pulsed neutron and muon source. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in PhysicsResearch Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment,938:51–55, 2019.

[2] L. Arcidiacono, M. Martinón-Torres, R. Senesi, A. Scherillo, C. Andreani, and G. Festa.Cu-based alloys as a benchmark for t-pgaa quantitative analysis at spallation neutronsources. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 35(2):331–340, 2020.

[3] G. Festa, C. Andreani, M. Baldoni, V. Cipollari, C. Martínez-Labarga, F. Martini,O. Rickards, M. Rolfo, L. Sarti, N. Volante, et al. First analysis of ancient burned hu-man skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy. Scienceadvances, 5(6):eaaw1292, 2019.

[4] G. Festa, C. Andreani, M. Baldoni, V. Cipollari, C. Martínez-Labarga, F. Martini,O. Rickards, M. Rolfo, L. Sarti, N. Volante, et al. Old burned bones tell us about pastcultures. Spec. Eur, 31:18–21, 2019.

[5] G. Festa, C. Andreani, F. D’Agostino, V. Forte, M. Nardini, A. Scherillo, C. Scatigno,R. Senesi, and L. Romano. Sumerian pottery technology studied through neutrondiffraction and chemometrics at abu tbeirah (iraq). Geosciences, 9(2):74, 2019.

[6] G. Festa, T. Christiansen, V. Turina, M. Borla, J. Kelleher, L. Arcidiacono, L. Carte-chini, R. Ponterio, C. Scatigno, R. Senesi, et al. Egyptian metallic inks on textiles fromthe 15 th century bce unravelled by non-invasive techniques and chemometric analysis.Scientific reports, 9(1):1–8, 2019.

79


[7] G. Festa, S. L. Lämmlein, R. Senesi, J. Price, C. Chiesa, C. Scatigno, D. Mannes,L. Arcidiacono, R. A. Robinson, and C. Andreani. Effect of coating systems as abarrier to humidity for lutherie woods studied by neutron radiography. Journal ofCultural Heritage, 43:255–260, 2020.

[8] G. Festa, G. Romanelli, R. Senesi, L. Arcidiacono, and C. Scatigno. Neutron image ofthe month. Sensors, 20(2):502, 2020. URL https://www.radsci.co.uk/.

[9] G. Festa, G. Romanelli, R. Senesi, L. Arcidiacono, C. Scatigno, S. F. Parker, M. Mar-ques, and C. Andreani. Neutrons for cultural heritage—techniques, sensors, and de-tection. Sensors, 20(2):502, 2020.

[10] C. Scatigno, R. Senesi, G. Festa, and C. Andreani. Chemometrics tools for advancedspectroscopic analyses. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series, volume 1548, page012030, 2020.

80

https://www.radsci.co.uk/

Small projects

Highspins

Project Coordinator: Dario Francia

From Newton’s gravitational law to electroweak unification, the idea that the complexityof phenomena results from the infinite possibilities of manifestation of a few relatively simplelaws has successfully informed theoretical research for decades. Theories based on localsymmetries cover the range of known interactions, including electroweak and strong forces,as well as Einstein–Hilbert’s gravity, the latter based on the mathematical incarnation of theequivalence principle. The possibility of a complete quantum description of the gravitationalforce, on the other hand, remains one of the beacons of theoretical investigation. The projectis centered on the study of new, unexpected symmetries that emerge in various approachesaimed at exploring the meaning of gravity in the quantum regime, and it is divided intothree main strands:

1. The so-called “double copy relations” that point to the existence of surprising corre-spondences between interactions of completely different origin and meaning, such assubnuclear forces and gravitation. They show that gravity can be interpreted as theproduct of two Yang–Mills theories, at least in the sense that multiplying two scatter-ing amplitudes in the gauge theory setup reproduces an element of the gravitationalS-matrix. These relationships, now fully understood and formalized at tree level,extend to cover a vast range of options including theories with scalar particles only,nonlinear sigma models, and supersymmetric models, to form a multiplicative tableof unexpected correspondences [1]. However, their geometric, off-shell understandingat the Lagrangian level, which would allow in particular exploration and test bothexistence and meaning of double copy relations at the level of quantum corrections,is still missing [2].

2. The exploration of the links between infrared properties of gauge theories, scatteringamplitudes with emission of zero-mass particles in the “soft” limit, and asymptoticsymmetries for Yang–Mills theories and for gravity [3], as well as for theories includingarbitrary spin fields [4,5]. This type of investigation takes up and updates a long tra-dition of studies on the infrared behavior of QED amplitudes dating back to at leastthe 1950s. New motivations result in the possibility of associating directly observablequantities (so-called “memory” effects) with local transformations and, on a more spec-ulative level, in some conjectures on the potential role of such asymptotic symmetriesin determining the fate of information in the process of creation and evaporation ofblack holes. In addition, there are indications suggesting that asymptotic symmetriesmay be instrumental in defining and understanding holographic correspondences onasymptotically flat spaces [3]. Moreover, for scattering amplitudes involving stringstates in the very high energy limit, where the corresponding masses should be neg-ligible, the emergence of asymptotic symmetries for high-spin states should provideuseful signatures of the corresponding underlying geometry [4,5].

3. 3. The formulation of high-spin gauge theories, candidates to describe the high-energylimit of String Theory. The known fundamental interactions match the low-energyspectrum of String Theory, most of the excitations of which, however, are made upof massive particles of high spin. The latter are crucial to ensuring the soft ultravi-olet behavior of string amplitudes, instrumental in candidating String Theory as anultraviolet completion of General Relativity. On the other hand, the masses of theseinfinite excitations seem to emerge from a complex symmetry-breaking mechanism

81


Figure 33: From the Standard Model of Fundamental Interactions to Einstein’s gravity, our bestunderstanding of the laws underlying physical phenomena is based on the identification of thecorresponding symmetries. The challenge posed by quantum gravity requires the exploration ofnew and richer structures.

whose details are not yet understood. Massive resonances of spin greater than one (orgreater than ½, in the case of fermions), however, are common in hadronic physics.Conversely, in systems of this type with zero mass, profound difficulties are encoun-tered associated with the corresponding gauge symmetry. It is therefore natural toask which symmetries (and thus which interactions) can actually regulate the behav-ior of massive high spin states at very high energies, how their breaking occurs andwhat is the meaning of these broken symmetries, and of the corresponding interac-tions, in terms of geometry [6,7,8]. This line of investigation aims both at clarifyingthe geometric underpinnings of String Theory and, more generally, at shaping the ac-tual theoretical and phenomenological status of a whole class of possible UV-completetheories of gravity.

Collaborations

•• Andrea Campoleoni — Mons U, Belgium

•• Pietro Ferrero — Oxford U

•• Carlo Heissenberg — Nordita and Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and Up-psala U, Sweden

•• Karapet Mkrtchyan — Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

Bibliography

1. Z. Bern, J.J. Carrasco, M. Chiodaroli, H. Johansson and R.Roiban, “The DualityBetween Color and Kinematics and its Applications,” [arXiv:1909.01358 [hep-th]].

2. P. Ferrero, “On the Lagrangian formulation of gravity as a double copy of two Yang-Mills theories,” Master Thesis, Scuola Normale Superiore and Università di Pisa, 2018.Supervisor: D. Francia ETD

3. A.Strominger, “Lectures on the Infrared Structure of Gravity and Gauge Theory,”[arXiv:1703.05448 [hep-th]].

4. A. Campoleoni, D. Francia and C.Heissenberg, “On higher-spin supertranslations andsuperrotations,” JHEP 05 (2017), 120 [arXiv:1703.01351 [hep-th]].

82

https://etd.adm.unipi.it/theses/browse/by_author/f.html


5. A. Campoleoni, D. Francia and C. Heissenberg, “Asymptotic Charges at Null Infinityin Any Dimension,” Universe 4 (2018) no.3, 47 [arXiv:1712.09591 [hep-th]].

6. X. Bekaert, S. Cnockaert, C. Iazeolla and M. A. Vasiliev, “Nonlinear higher spintheories in various dimensions,” [arXiv:hep-th/0503128 [hep-th]].

7. M. Gaberdiel, M. A. Vasiliev (eds) “Higher spin theories and holography” J Phys A46 (2013) 21

8. D. Francia, G. Lo Monaco and K. Mkrtchyan, “Cubic interactions of Maxwell-likehigher spins,” JHEP 04 (2017), 068 [arXiv:1611.00292 [hep-th]].

83


The double copy paradigm : (gauge)² = gravity ?

Project Coordinator: Alessio Marrani

Figure 34: Einstein = (Maxwell)2? This is the question...

Gravitational physics has been related to gauge theories in a number of ways and in var-ious guises; as for instance in one the main topics of the current mainstream of high-energytheoretical physics, namely the holographic principle realized in terms of the AdS/CFTcorrespondence, whose amazing developments are affecting in depth our understanding ofboth gauge and gravity theories.

This project is focused on a research venue which can be summarized with the motto:“gravity = Yang-Mills x Yang-Mills”.

This may look as a provocative and unlikely proposal, since Einstein’s General Relativity(GR) and Yang-Mills (YM) gauge theories are very different theories in many regards,such as their symmetries and the fundamental degrees of freedom they take into account :while GR regards gravity as the very dynamics of the spacetime, YM theories are at thefoundation of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, describing strong, weak andelectromagnetic forces. Moreover, while the SM is renormalizable, a consistent theory ofquantum gravity is not yet formulated.

Despite such essential differences, nowadays a tantalizing amount of evidence has beencumulated in relating gravity, at least within certain regimes, to the “square” of YM theory.This evidence relies on a Lie-algebraic structure of certain kinematic building blocks in thediagrammatic presentations of gauge theory scattering amplitudes : they can be rearrangedto express the integrands of gravity amplitudes as double copies of the ones of gauge theory.

All this led to conjecture that, to all orders in perturbation theory, the on-mass-shellmomentum-space scattering amplitudes of certain gravity theories are the “double-copy”, ina precise sense, of gluon scattering amplitudes belonging to two independent YM theories.A prototypical example (which is also the simplest one, due to the high degree of symmetry)is provided by N = 8 supergravity as the “product” of two N = 4 YM theories.

In recent years, the double copy paradigm has been extended beyond amplitudes in avariety of directions, see e.g. [1],[2]. In particular, the double copy has been formulated at

84


the level of off-shell linearized supermultiplets in [3]-[5]. Furthermore, a double copy struc-ture relating classical solutions of gauge and gravity theories was identified, raising hopefor its application as a solution-generating technique for asymptotically-flat perturbativesolutions in GR [4]-[6].

Da ricordare è senz’altro la scoperta di relazioni di “doppia copia” tra le soluzioni clas-siche della GR e quelle delle teorie di gauge, che potrebbe portare alla formulazione ditecniche rivoluzionarie per determinare nuove soluzioni delle equazioni di Einstein [7].

Recently, great progress has been made to unravel the double copy structure of super-gravity theories in various dimensions, also highlighting the role of local supersymmetry[7]-[10].

The present research project is placed at the edge of the current efforts to shed light ontosuch a deep structure of gravitational theories, both at a fundamental level (unraveling newfacets of quantum gravity through the investigation of the double copy within supergravityand string theory) and at a phenomenological/computational level (investigating the ap-plication of the double copy factorization in scattering amplitudes of gravitons in variouscontexts, such as gravitational waves).

Collaborations

•• Gianguido Dall’Agata, UniPD

Bibliography1. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M. J. Duff, M. J. Hughes, S. Nagy, "Yang-Mills origin of

gravitational symmetries", Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 231606 (2014), doi: 10.1103/Phys-RevLett.113.231606.

2. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M. J. Hughes, S. Nagy, "Global symmetries of Yang-Millssquared in various dimensions", JHEP 1601 (2016) 148, doi: 10.1007/JHEP01(2016)148.

3. L. Borsten, M. J. Duff, "Gravity as the square of Yang-Mills?", Phys. Scripta 90(2015) 108012, DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/90/10/108012.

4. L. Borsten, M. J. Duff, M. J. Hughes, S. Nagy, "Magic Square from Yang-MillsSquared", Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 (2014), no. 13 131601, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.131601.

5. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M. J. Duff, M. J. Hughes, S. Nagy, "A magic pyramid ofsupergravities", JHEP 1404 (2014) 178, doi: 10.1007/JHEP04(2014)178.

6. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M.J. Duff, S. Nagy, M. Zoccali, "Gravity as Gauge The-ory Squared: A Ghost Story", Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 (2018) no.21, 211601, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.211601

7. A. Luna, R. Monteiro, I. Nicholson, A. Ochirov, D. O’Connell, N. Westerberg, C. D.White, "Perturbative spacetimes from Yang-Mills theory", JHEP 1704 (2017) 069,doi: 10.1007/JHEP04(2017)069

8. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M.J. Duff, M.J. Hughes, A. Marrani, S. Nagy, M. Zoccali,"Twin supergravities from Yang-Mills theory squared", Phys. Rev. D96 (2017) no.2,026013, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.96.026013.

9. A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M.J. Duff, A. Marrani, S. Nagy, M. Zoccali, "Are allsupergravity theories Yang–Mills squared?", Nucl. Phys. B934 (2018) 606-633, doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2018.07.023.

85


Hadrontherapy

Project Coordinator: Michela Marafini

Particle Therapy (PT), or Hadrontherapy, is an oncological technique for the treatmentof highly localized solid tumors that exploits therapeutic beams. The complete characteriza-tion of the emission spectrum of secondary products is of multiple interest: the productionof secondary particles must be studied with precision to enable the Treatment PlanningSystem (TPS) to take into account the additional dose, often not negligible, especiallywith therapeutic ion beams. On the other hand, the secondary fragmentation productscan be exploited to monitor, possibly online, the treatment verifying the compliance of theabsorbed dose with the expected one, optimized by the TPS.

The Dose Profiler is a tracker detector of charged secondary particles dedicated to thecontrol of the dose administered to the patient. It is currently under tested at CNAO(Centro Nazionale Adroterapia Oncologica, Pavia) through a clinical trial involving 40cancer patients being treated with proton beams and carbon ions.

While the charged fragmentation products have been studied with intense measurementcampaigns and the nuclear models have been able to fit with the experimental measure-ments, the knowledge of secondary neutron production is still very approximate. Moreover,the additional dose carried by the neutrons is particularly harmful because it is responsi-ble for energy releases even in organs far from the irradiated volume (in- and out-of-field).MONDO is a scintillating fiber tracker detector, currently under construction, dedicatedto the characterization (in terms of energy and direction) of the secondary neutrons pro-duced in PT. The first silicon sensor—SBAM1—that readout the scintillating fibers with acompact readout has been produced in 2019 and is under testing.

Figure 35: Left. Dose Profiler detector at the CNAO treatment room. Right. A small trackerprototype made with 250-micron scintillating fibers and the SBAM1 silicon sensor for the fibertracking- system readout

Collaborations

•• Vincenzo Patera, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

•• Alessio Sarti, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

•• Adalberto Sciubba, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.

86


•• Giacomo Traini, INFN.

•• Riccardo Mirabelli, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”

Bibliography1. Traini G., et al ; Review and performance of the Dose Profiler, a particle therapy

treatments online monitor, Physica Medica, Volume 65, September 2019, Pages 84-93, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.07.010

2. De Simoni M., et al.; In-room test results at CNAO of an innovative PT treatmentsonline monitor (Dose Profiler), Nuovo Cimento della Societa Italiana di Fisica, Volume41, Issue 6, November 2018, Article number 209, doi: 10.1393/ncc/i2018-18209-2

3. Mirabelli R, et al.; In-room performance evaluation of a novel online charged sec-ondary particles monitor of light ions PT treatments, 2018 IEEE Nuclear ScienceSymposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2018 - Proceedings Novem-ber 2018, Article number 8824552, doi: 10.1109/NSSMIC.2018.8824552

4. Rucinski A., et al.; Secondary radiation measurements for particle therapy applica-tions: Charged secondaries produced by 16O ion beams in a PMMA target at large an-gles, Physica Medica Volume 64, August 2019, Pages 45-53, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.06.001

5. E.Gioscio, et al. “Development of a novel neutron tracker for the characterisationof secondary neutrons emitted in Particle Therapy” under press on NIM A (2019)162862 doi:10.1016/j.nima.2019.162862

6. Rucinski A., et al.; Secondary radiation measurements for particle therapy appli-cations: Charged secondaries produced by 4He and 12C ion beams in a PMMAtarget at large angles, Physica Medica Volume 64, August 2019, Pages 45-53, doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.06.001

7. I.Mattei et al.; Scintillating Fiber Devices for Particle Therapy Applications, IEEETNS 2018 65 2054 doi:10.1109/TNS.2018.2843179

8. Giacometti et al.; Characterisation of the MONDO detector response to neutronsby means of a FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation, Radiation Measurements 2018 119144-149 10.1016/j.radmeas.2018.10.006

9. R. Mirabelli, et al.; The MONDO Detector Prototype Development and Test: StepsToward an SPAD-CMOS-Based Integrated Readout (SBAM Sensor) IEEE TNS 201865 2 744-751 10.1109/TNS.2017.2785768

87


Open Problems in Quantum Mechanics (PAMQ)

Project Coordinator: Kristian Piscicchia

Figure 36

The aim of the PAMQ project is to perform high sensitivity tests of:

1. The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons.

2. Models of wave-function collapse.

1) The VIP-2 experiment consists of two, intertwined and complementary research branches,each of them characterized by a set of dedicated experiments:1.1) VIP-2 Open Systems: is the most sensitive experimental test of the PEP for elec-trons, in the context of Local Quantum Field theories. Such models are constrained bythe Messiah–Greenberg (MG) superselection rule, which forbids transitions among stateswith different symmetry, and can then only be tested in open systems. Such a conditionis realized in VIP-2 by introducing new electrons in a pre-existing system of electrons andtesting the resulting symmetry state. The setups being used are characterized by: a) anelectrolytic copper target coupled to silicon drift detectors; b) an extreme radio-purity Ro-man target and high-purity germanium detectors. Both experiments are being conductedat the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory of (INFN), where the cosmic ray back-ground is reduced by about six orders of magnitude. Such an environment is ideal for themeasurement of extremely low-rate physical processes. The experiments set the most com-petitive upper limits on the PEP violation probability for the models introduced cited here.1.2) VIP-2 Closed Systems: VIP-2 Closed Systems: according to a large class of quantumgravity models, PEP should be violated at the non-commutativity scale of the space-timeoperators. Such models violate MG and can be tested with closed systems. We are presentlyrealizing a new apparatus that is based on broad-energy germanium detectors. Our goal isto improve our current limit of four orders of magnitude to be sufficiently sensitive to thenon-commutativity energy scale. This will either unveil a signal or lead to a falsification ofthe models.

2) Test of wave-function collapse models: the Continuous Spontaneous Localization(CSL) and the Diosi–Penrose (DP) models consist of nonlinear and stochastic modificationsto the Schrödinger equation, which induce the wave function collapse with a strength that isproportional to the collapsing quantum state’ mass. In both models, the collapse is relatedto unavoidable emission of a characteristic “spontaneous radiation”, which is not present

88


Figure 37

in standard quantum mechanics. We have recently falsified the DP model (gravity-relatedcollapse) and published the research in an article in Nature Physics. We also set the moststringent constraint on the CSL model in a broad range of the parameters’ space. A newstudy is presently ongoing to challenge the ultimate limit that is predicted by the CSL forthe spontaneous radiation rate.

Bibliography1. Donadi, S., Piscicchia, K., Curceanu, C. et al. Underground test of gravity-related

wave function collapse. Nat. Phys. (2020).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-1008-4

2. K. Piscicchia et al., Eur. Phys. J. C (2020) 80: 508https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8040-5

3. K. Piscicchia et al., Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 45https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020045

4. H. Shi et al., Eur. Phys. J. C (2018) 78: 319https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-5802-4

5. E. Milotti et al., Entropy 2018, 20(7), 515https://doi.org/10.3390/e20070515

6. C. Curceanu et al., Entropy 2017, 19(7), 300https://doi.org/10.3390/e19070300

7. K. Piscicchia et. al., Entropy 2017, 19(7), 319https://doi.org/10.3390/e19070319

89

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-1008-4

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8040-5

https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020045

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-5802-4

https://doi.org/10.3390/e20070515

https://doi.org/10.3390/e19070300

https://doi.org/10.3390/e19070319


Fundamental Physics in Space

Project Coordinator: Ignazio Ciufolini, Claudio Paris

The project Fundamental Physics in Space is based on the orbital analysis of the laser-ranged satellite LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), which was designed by our team andwas launched successfully by the Italian Space Agency in 2012, and of other three satellites:LAGEOS 1, LAGEOS 2, and the future LARES 2 (planned to be launched by the ItalianSpace Agency in 2021).

The goal of the project is the achievement of a series of experimental tests of General Rel-ativity, in particular, the measurement of the frame-dragging effect with an unprecedentedaccuracy, approaching one part per thousand, and a test of the equivalence principle andother phenomena. Such a precise measurement of frame-dragging will put limits on thevalidity of gravity theories alternative to General Relativity, such as the Chern–Simonsgravity theory, which was proposed to explain the quintessence and the accelerated expan-sion of the universe and is equivalent to type II string theories (heterotic). For comparison,the very costly NASA mission GRAVITY-PROBE B, which was designed to measure theframe-dragging effect with an error of few parts per thousand, published a result with anerror of about 20%. The frame-dragging effect is particularly important in astrophysics todescribe phenomenon around objects like rotating supermassive black holes and in the com-plex simulations used to describe how gravitational waves are generated during the collisionof rotating black holes that merge into a new rotating black hole (like the gravitational waveevent observed by LIGO in 2015) and during the collision of rotating neutron stars.

However, in the solar system, the frame-dragging effect is very weak and a direct mea-surement is particularly difficult to achieve. The LARES mission measures the frame-dragging created by the rotation of the heart, using methods developed by our team toextract the signal of the relativistic effect from the perturbations due to non-relativisticeffects. LARES is a spherical, passive satellite, manufactured from a single piece of high-density tungsten alloy, whose position is measured with extreme precision by means ofSatellite Laser Ranging (which is similar to Lunar Laser Ranging). The satellite was de-signed to minimize the effects of non-gravitational perturbations on its orbit. In 2019, thescientific team of LARES, by averaging the data analysis over a period of about seven yearsto eliminate the errors due, in particular, to tidal effects with a period of few years andother periodical perturbations, published a measurement with an accuracy of a few partsper hundreds, which is at the moment the most precise measurement ever done, improvingthe previous results of a level of 10% accuracy. To obtain the relativistic measurement, theorbital data of LARES are analyzed, together with the data from the LAGEOS (NASA)and LAGEOS 2 (ASI-NASA) satellites, using the models of the gravitational field of theEarth obtained from the GRACE and GRACE—Follow On missions (DLR–NASA).

LARES 2 is a satellite designed to be launched into a higher orbit than LARES, withan orbital inclination supplementary to the orbit of LAGEOS 1 satellite: the particularcombination of the orbits will drastically improve the precision of the measurement of theframe-dragging effect, by directly cancelling some of the largest non-relativistic gravitationalperturbations. The new satellite is not simply a copy of LARES because the design hasbeen optimized for the different orbit. LARES 2 employs a homogeneous distribution of303 Cube Corner Reflectors (CCRs) that are COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) items andwith a diameter of only 1 inch (25.4 mm), and it will be the first satellite of its kind toadopt this solution. The improvement in the measurement of satellite position will allow touse LARES 2 as a high-quality target for space geodesy. In addition to the tests of GeneralRelativity and fundamental physics, like tests of the equivalence principle, which is at thebasis of General Relativity and other viable theories, the orbital data of LARES 2 will beused for research into space geodesy, geophysics, and Earth science.

Bibliography

1. I. Ciufolini, A. Paolozzi, E.C. Pavlis, G. Sindoni, J. Ries, R. Matzner, R. Koenig,C. Paris, V. Gurzadyan and R. Penrose. An improved test of the general relativistic

90


Figure 38: Illustration of the LARES 2 mission. The orbit with a supplementary inclinationwith respect of the orbit of LAGEOS 1 will allow to directly cancel the dragging of the orbitalplane because of classical gravitational perturbations (ΩCL), leaving only the very small relativisticeffects produced by the rotation of the Earth (ΩCL or Lense-Thirring effect)

effect of frame-dragging using the LARES and LAGEOS satellites. THE EUROPEANPHYSICAL JOURNAL C, vol. 79, 872 (2019). DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7386-z

2. I. Ciufolini, R. Matzner, A. Paolozzi, E.C. Pavlis, G. Sindoni, J. Ries, V. Gurzadyan,and R. Koenig, Satellite laser-ranging as a probe of fundamental physics. SCIEN-TIFIC REPORTS-NATURE, 9, 1-10 (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52183-9

3. I. Ciufolini, A. Paolozzi, E.C. Pavlis, R. Koenig, J. Ries, V. Gurzadyan, R. Penrose, G.Sindoni, C. Paris, H. Khachatryan, S. Mirzoyan, A test of general relativity using theLARES and LAGEOS satellites and a GRACE Earth gravity model: Measurementof Earth’s dragging of inertial frames. EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL C, 76,120 (2016) DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-3961-8

4. A. Paolozzi, G. Sindoni, F. Felli, D. Pilone, A. Brotzu, I. Ciufolini, E.C. Pavlis andC. Paris, Studies on the materials of LARES 2 satellite. JOURNAL OF GEODESY,1-10 (2019). DOI: 10.1007/s00190-019-01316-z

91


In the Footsteps of the “Boys of via Panisperna”: Be-tween Scientific Research and Civil Commitment

Project Coordinator: Francesco Guerra, Nadia Robotti

Enrico Fermi and the “Boys of via Panisperna” are a notable example of the intertwiningof scientific research and civil commitment. We intend to continue the research, based onlyon primary sources and, in particular, on new archival material that has become available,such as the work of Emilio Segré at Berkeley, to clarify some further aspects of this generaltheme. In particular, the complex aspects of the discovery of the effects of slow neutrons andthe relative patent, the development of research in Rome during the war, the constructionof the solidarity chain between physicists, following the Diaspora due to racial laws, will beconsidered. We will also broaden the research concerning other physicists directly connectedto the Via Panisperna club, in particular, Aldo Pontremoli and Giulio Cesare Trabacchi.

By way of example, special attention will be paid to their involvement in the famouspolar expedition of the airship “Italia” directed in 1928 by General Umberto Nobile. If,on the one hand, Pontremoli was the “physicist on board”, in what was the first scientificexpedition to the North Pole, in which he tragically lost his life, on the other hand Trabacchiplayed an important role as Director of the Physical Laboratory of Public Health in viaPanisperna, providing the expedition some important measuring instruments, about all ofwhich we will reconstruct the history.

Figure 39: The airship “Italia” in one of the intermediate stages on the journey to the NorthPole. Source: ACS, Duce’s Secretariat, Reserved correspondence (1922–1943)

92


The Physics Institute of Rome between the Wars: OrsoMario Corbino and Enrico Fermi

Project Coordinator: Miriam Focaccia

The project, conceived in the context of the renewal of the historical site of the CentroStudi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, intends to retrace the history of the Institute of Physics from1918 to 1938. Starting with work focused on the scientific biography of the first director,Pietro Blaserna (1836–1918), we intend to deepen and expand the material on the workand character of his successor, the physicist Orso Mario Corbino (1876–1937), who directedthe Institute of Physics from 1918 to 1937, the year of his death, and who relocated it tonew headquarters within the University ‘cittadella’ of Sapienza. The goal is to focus onand retrace some particularly significant events related to Corbino’s management, both atthe institutional and organizational levels, starting from the intense relationship existingbetween Corbino and the group of young researchers led by Enrico Fermi—both in terms ofcommunication and dissemination of scientific culture, in particular, in the realm of physics.We’re studying the copious manuscripts and largely unpublished material preserved innational and international archives, libraries, and scientific institutions. Research materialsspan correspondence exchanges and scientific publications, consisting of both published andunpublished archival materials.

Collaborations

•• Raffaella Simili, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna

•• Giovanni Paoloni, Sapienza Università di Roma

•• Sandra Linguerri, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna

•• Giovanni Battimelli, già Direttore Museo di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma

Bibliography1. M. Focaccia, Pietro Blaserna and the Birth of the Institute of Physics in Rome -A

Gentleman Scientist at Via Panisperna, Springer Biographies, 2019;

2. G. Battimelli, G. Paoloni, University, industry and politics: Orso Mario Corbino asorganizer of physical research in Italy (1908–1937), Quaderni di Storia della Fisica,23/2020, pp. 79/89;

3. M. Focaccia, Orso Mario Corbino. Un manager della ricerca all’Istituto fisico di Roma.Antologia di scritti (in corso di stampa)

93

A science museum dedicated to EnricoFermi

Keywords: museum, Enrico Fermi

At the end of 2019 the "Enrico Fermi" Historical Museum of Physics and Study andResearch Center finally came into possession of the historic monumental complex in viaPanisperna, completely restored, as the definitive seat for its activities. The complex,inaugurated in 1881, was entirely designed by the Gorizia physicist Pietro Blaserna (1836-1918), who also supervised its total construction, to house the Royal Institute of Physics.

Called to Rome in 1872 to the chair of Experimental Physics and to the direction ofthe future Institute of Physics, as part of a larger project for ’Rome capital’ advocated byQuintino Sella, since then Blaserna has dedicated himself to the creation of an Institutebased on a side, on the centrality of the laboratory and experimentation; on the other,open and attentive to the programs and progress of international science. Thanks to thesepeculiarities, the Institute became a real ’creative environment’ and for decades representedan unavoidable point of reference for the most advanced Italian physics research.

Starting in 1918, the year of Blaserna’s death, it was Orso Mario Corbino who directedthe Institute: he too was a great organizer of research policy, in 1926 he managed to obtainthe establishment of the first chair of theoretical physics in Italy, on which called the youngEnrico Fermi.

It was precisely in this place that Fermi organized and prepared the conditions that ledto the birth of that group of young scholars who in the 1930s became famous as the "boysof Via Panisperna". Here, under his scientific guidance, within an exceptional season forItalian science, the first experiments on the phenomenon of neutron-induced radioactivitybegan, fundamental research for understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus, whosesuccess was crowned with the ’award to Fermi of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938.

By virtue of its ’double soul’ as a research center and museum, the "Enrico Fermi"Historical Museum of Physics and Research and Study Center is intensely dedicated tothe dissemination and promotion of scientific culture, with attention and commitment thatmake it a unique reality in Italy.

Its mission is therefore also to preserve and disseminate the memory of the life and worksof Enrico Fermi in Italy and around the world and to promote a wide dissemination andcommunication. This is made possible thanks to the setting up of the historical museum ofphysics ’The scientific legacy of Enrico Fermi’.

Starting from 2013, a working group was established, composed of physicists and his-torians of physics, with the task of defining the scientific contents of the future Museumbased in the monumental complex in Via Panisperna.

A path has been set up which, through about ten significant "stages", traces Fermi’s lifeand scientific discoveries, from Rome to America: the visitor can immerse himself in thisengaging and exciting ’adventure’ by combining objects in an innovative way and traditionalpanels with modern multimedia technologies, from graphic displays to interactive panels,from touch screens to holographic ones. The user is involved and passionate regardless oftheir specific scientific knowledge.

To evaluate the goodness of the solutions chosen, a temporary exhibition entitled "En-rico Fermi - A creative balance between theories and experiments" was set up in 2015,inaugurated as part of the Genoa Science Festival; with minor changes and the title "En-rico Fermi - A double genius between theories and experiments", the exhibition was thenopened from 10 February to 22 May 2016 in Bologna, at the former church of San Mattiawith the support of the Polo Museale of the Emilian city. Both exhibitions met with greatpublic success, with around 15,000 visitors each, including children from many schools, fromelementary to high school.

OToday, in its final location within the historical complex of via Panisperna, the exhi-bition has become a permanent historical museum of physics, housed on the ground floor

94


Figure 40: Plan of the Museum

of the building, where the greatness of Fermi, his extraordinary figure of master and gi-ant physics of the twentieth century, his formidable scientific achievements, the result ofan exceptional creative mind ’in balance’ between theories and experiments, are effectivelyillustrated in the course entitled: The scientific legacy of Enrico Fermi.

A path that in the new headquarters is enriched by his own home: the wonderful internalcourtyard is an integral part of it, in the center of which stands the famous fountain called’goldfish’ (historic site of the European Physical Society since 2012); the entrance staircase,immortalized in 1931 on the occasion of the first congress of nuclear physics which wasattended by the most famous theoretical physicists of the time; up to the wide corridorswith vaulted ceilings on the first floor, along which Fermi and his collaborators ran, whenthey were carrying out the famous experiments on neutron-induced radioactivity.

The Museum also houses original instruments of the Royal Institute of Physics, some ofwhich are directly used by Fermi and his collaborators; unpublished and first-hand docu-ments; historical relics (the tailcoat worn in Stockholm in 1938 on the occasion of the NobelPrize ceremony); works of art including two busts by the sculptor Ducrot portraying EnricoFermi and Ettore Majorana.

The Museum was presented to the public on October 28, 2019 and is now open, byappointment. In the 4 months of its opening (2 days a week), the Museum was visited byover 600 people, with a large turnout of students from secondary schools.

95


Figure 41: Royal Institute of Physics, Rome, 1931: Volta Conference on Nuclear Physics

Stages of the MuseumThe main stages of the Museum which correspond to as many rooms are illustrated below.

1. Fermions and bosons

Quantum physics divides the microscopic world into bosons and fermions. The elementaryconstituents of matter are fermions: the structure and impenetrability of bodies is due tothe electrons of the atoms that refuse to give space to their neighbours. The mediatingparticles of the fundamental forces are bosons.

Between 1923 and 1925 Fermi published important contributions to quantum theorywhich, at the beginning of 1926, led to the formulation of the statistics that bears his name.In this fundamental work, starting from ideas on the statistical mechanics of a system ofidentical particles – ideas that Fermi had already begun to develop at the institute directedby Paul Ehrenfest in Leiden – Fermi introduced into the description Pauli’s ‘exclusionprinciple’ , namely the selection rule hypothesized at the beginning of 1925, which allowedhim to found an exhaustive theory of the behavior of those particles which, from thatmoment on, will take the name of “fermions”.

A few months later, in a completely autonomous way, the English physicist Paul AdrienMaurice Dirac will come to the same conclusions. Today the theory bears the name of‘Fermi-Dirac statistics’.

2. Beta rays theory

In December 1933, Fermi formulated his revolutionary theory of beta decay. The nucleus,consisting of only protons and neutrons, undergoes beta decay when a neutron turns intoa proton, simultaneously emitting an electron, called a “beta ray”, and a neutrino, bothcreated during the decay process and previously not existing in the nucleus . Fermi thusintroduces a new type of fundamental interaction: the weak interaction. Fermi’s expla-nation of beta decay represents his major contribution to theoretical physics: both thepossibility that a particle changes its identity and the assertion that in addition to gravityand electromagnetism there is a third force, will be central to the development of nuclearphysics.

96


Figure 42: An interactive installation by the Enrico Fermi Museum.

3. A full italian Nobel prize

In March 1934 Fermi succeeds in a feat considered impossible. Using simple but ingeniousequipment, he discovers that some substances, irradiated with neutrons, acquire beta-typeradioactive properties. Later, in October of the same year, he discovers that the slowingdown of neutrons, through layers of paraffin or water, whose molecules are rich in hydrogen,can enormously increase their ability to induce radioactivity. This discovery will have anexceptional scientific and technological impact.

4. Italian navigator landed in the new world

On December 2 1942, in Chicago, Fermi built the first nuclear battery (CP-I). With thisdevice, for the first time in history, it is possible to produce a nuclear fission controlledchain reaction, using natural uranium as fuel and pure graphite as a moderator to slowdown the neutrons. This is a decisive step for the exploitation of nuclear energy.

5. The mistery of cosmic rays

Cosmic rays are particles from the Cosmos that continually bombard the Earth with verystrong energies. What are these powerful accelerators? Fermi replied in 1949. Cosmicaccelerators use gravitational energy. When a star of enough large mass has burned all itsnuclear fuel, it suddenly and violently collapses under its own weight. The outer layers,which are expelled, contain turbulent magnetic fields which, expanding, meet nuclei andprotons, transferring them a part of their enormous energy.

6. Accelerators

Fermi, in Chicago, focuses on subnuclear physics thanks to accelerating machines of grad-ually increasing energy particles. He contributed to the development of the cyclotron, thenthe most powerful in the world, and in particular to the creation of the great magnet ofthe machine. Studying the collisions with a hydrogen target of the pions produced by thecyclotron, Fermi in 1952 discovered the first example of a new category of particles, with avery short life, called “resonances”. This is the ∆ + + particle which will acquire a crucialrole for understanding the quark structure of particles and the strong interaction betweenquarks, called subnuclear “color” interaction.

97


7. The Fermi’s last present to ItalyAfter the war Fermi is interested in the revival of science and technology in Italy. In 1948he wrote to Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi in support of an increase in research funds.In 1949 he participated at a conference in Como and visited the Olivetti factories in Ivrea,drawing attention to the emerging electronic technology. In 1950 he held a series of seminarsin Rome and Milan. His memorable lectures at the Varenna School of the Italian PhysicsSociety in 1954, just a few months before his death, are part of Fermi’s latest scientific giftto Italy. These are the words of the physicist Giulio Racah, in a seminar in Pisa in 1958,to recall Enrico Fermi’s suggestion on how to use a considerable funding for the Universityof Pisa: “Make an electronic calculator”. The birth of computer science in Italy is thereforealso due to Fermi. While privileging physics, Fermi never underestimated the importanceof numerical computation. He was a pioneer in the use of electronic computers and one ofthe creators of numerical simulation methods.

A creative environmentThe new headquarters of the Physics Institute inaugurated in 1881 in via Panisperna inRome.

Here the first “practical school” of physics of the nation was launched, under the guidanceof the physicist Pietro Blaserna, first Director of the Institute, who had designed the entirestructure of the building in detail, within the larger project of strengthening and renewal ofthe University in Rome, started immediately after the Unification. An Institute that, likeother prestigious international realities, fully represented a creative environment becauseit managed, on the one hand, to combine individual skills and the scientific, political andsocial milieu; on the other, to carry out discoveries and innovations that allowed the broadestcultural advance.

Today the monumental complex in via Panisperna is an integral part of the museumitinerary, with the ‘fountain of goldfish’ –aqua fontis– where it is said that Fermi and hisgroup carried out experiments on slowing down neutrons; the staircase at the entrance,immortalized in 1931 on the occasion of the first international congress of nuclear physics;the monumental internal staircase and the corridors on the first floor, where the ‘Corbinoboys’ ran between the irradiation of one element and the other, with Fermi always in thelead!

Brilliant lifeAn original and exciting chapter of world science and physics is that linked to the life ofEnrico Fermi. Trained at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, after some stays abroad,in 1926 he held the first chair of theoretical physics in Italy at the Physics Institute in viaPanisperna in Rome. Here, in addition to formidable theoretical developments, he gavebirth to a brilliant group of young collaborators: Franco Rasetti, Emilio Segrè, EdoardoAmaldi, Ettore Majorana, Bruno Pontecorvo, Oscar D’Agostino.

His experimental research in nuclear physics, supported by Orso Mario Corbino andGuglielmo Marconi, was so avant-garde in the international field that it earned the NobelPrize in Physics in 1938.

Since 1938, his life took place in the United States, where he went following the shortageof university funding, but also the enactment of the racial laws affecting his wife.

Fermi first worked in the laboratories of Columbia University in New York, then in 1942he moved to Chicago where he built the first nuclear battery. During the war he participatedto the Manhattan Project. After the conflict, he embarks on new adventures by creating aschool in Chicago that will have an exceptional importance in the development of particlephysics. Temporarily returning to Italy, he gave some famous lectures in 1954, the year ofhis death.

98


Implementation and updating activities of the Museum

Figure 43: Fermireceives the NobelPrize.

• VEROSH-Virtual ExploRation Of Science History Project (participant in the PublicNotice "Research and development of technologies for the enhancement of culturalheritage" as part of the LazioInnova DTC and selected winner for a first phase ofdesign, for a total budget allocated equal to at € 73,840): immersive virtual realityexperience developed inside the Museum whose environments, through a detailed his-torical reconstruction and by virtue of the collaboration with virtual designers andexperts in the development of virtual reality and innovative interfaces, will becomevirtual and interactive theater in the which to observe and interact with the eventsand the great personalities that have followed one another over the years in order toenhance the history of the building in Via Panisperna in Rome. The technologicalimplementation will allow the creation of a genuine two-way relationship, with visitorsactively able to determine the agenda. The bidirectionality of the interaction consti-tutes an essential requirement in this regard, both from a technological-operationalpoint of view, and from a cultural point of view. From a technological point of view,the interaction with the visitor will allow to calibrate the virtual experience on thecharacteristics of the visitor himself (age, schooling, cultural environment, etc.), di-recting the museum experience towards a modern anthropocentric perspective.

• Fermi in popular culture: thanks to historical and archival research, a large amountof material has been found concerning the presence and image of Enrico Fermi and hisscientific achievements in popular literature, or in magazines, magazines and news-papers of his time. This provides a new and unprecedented point of view of Fermi’sreception in the collective imagination, which will be made available to the visitorthrough the creation of dedicated interim workstations, as well as through the pos-sibility of directly consulting the original material that will be placed and stored atthe inside the institution’s library.

• Reorganization of the entrance wing of the Museum with new contents: thanks tothe setting up of a new wall near the entrance of the museum itinerary and equippedwith capacitive buttons, it will be possible for the visitor to select informative andexplanatory contents about scientific life, to the discoveries and legacy of Enrico Fermithrough the choice of films, interviews, images that will scroll and be accessible froma dedicated touchscreen.

• OOrganization of a thematic library / reading room starting from the history of thePhysics Institute in via Panisperna (from its origins until 1936, when it was transferredto the new university city of Sapienza); of the group of ’via Panisperna boys’; by EnricoFermi; of Italian physics from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1940s. Thelibrary is meant to be ’in progress’ and will gradually be enriched with contents andmaterials, becoming an integral part of the museum itinerary itself.

• Project for the opening of a passage on Via Balbo to make access to the Museumindependent from the Viminale complex and the Ministry of the Interior and thereforemake it accessible to a greater number of visitors.

Communication and dissemination activities related tothe museum

• Presentation of the Museum in the new cref.it website, where a virtual tour has beenorganized which re-proposes, through images, writings and multimedia devices, thefundamental stages of the museum. In the Video Gallery, historical testimonies andoriginal films on the figure and legacy of Enrico Fermi have also been collected, andare being collected, in order to pursue one of the objectives of the Cref, namely tospread and promote the widest communication of the memory of Fermi’s life andworks, as well as the history of the historical complex of Via Panisperna.

99


• Conventions and agreements with other museums, research institutions, companieseuniversities, including:

1. can agreement has been activated with the Physics Department of SapienzaUniversity of Rome to be able to collaborate effectively both at the researchlevel, by virtue of the precious Amaldi Archive kept at this Department; both toorganize exchanges and loans of exhibition materials to be preserved the museumspaces in via Panisperna;

2. 4 PhD scholarships in Physics have been activated with Sapienza University ofRome and the University of Tor Vergata: the presence of the museum and expertsin the history of physics within the Cref represent an unprecedented resource ofundisputed value for the programs of the courses in question;

3. an agreement was signed with the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bolognato carry out research projects in the history of physics and projects for the highdiffusion of scientific culture;

4. with INFN the agreement was renewed to organize and implement the EEE-Extreme Energy Event project

• Organization of laboratories for students and / or visitors: it ranges from scientificresearch on cultural heritage, using the most modern chemical-physical techniques ofthe VIEWLAB laboratory; to study the composition and origin of cosmic rays, thanksto the installation, inside the building, of an Extreme Energy Event telescope

• Progetto Invisible Colours (selected by EPS Activity Project 2019): Invisible Colorsproject (selected by EPS Activity Project 2019): the project will set up innovativemultidisciplinary and interactive dissemination events aimed at the general public.The goal is to inform, but also to create an interactive and engaging approach tothe museum’s scientific collections, including through scientific research applied toarcheology and art. In this approach the keywords will be "curiosity", "creativity","inclusion" and "having fun with science".

• Dedicated courses for children through a fun approach to science through quizzes,games and exhibits

• Contacts with journalists and science communicators: from Rai Storia to TG3 Leonardo,up to the BBC. In particular, the Museum was among the protagonists of the NobelMinds docuflm Enrico Fermi and Emilio Segrè, which premiered on 23 June 2020within Italiani conducted by Paolo Mieli. CREF researchers and associates activelycollaborated on the program. Also for the docufilm A professorship for Laura Bassi.Bologna 1732, the contribution of the Cref was fundamental: both in terms of financ-ing the work and for the historical and scientific skills of some of its researchers andassociates.

• Organization of events (seminars, conferences, study days, film festivals) in the build-ing spaces (Fermi classroom, internal courtyard)

Summary

Fermi’s greatness, his extraordinary figure as a master and giant of 20th centuryphysics, his formidable scientific achievements, the result of an exceptional creativemind ’in balance’ between theories and experiments, are effectively illustrated withinthe path museum “ The scientific legacy of Enrico Fermi ”. A journey that, througha dozen significant “ stages ”, traces Fermi’s life and scientific discoveries, from Rometo America, through innovative multimedia tools, such as interactive panels, touchscreens and holographic screens. The monumental complex of via Panisperna is anintegral part of this route, with the famous “ fountain of goldfish ” - aqua fontis -where it is said that Fermi and his group carried out experiments on slowing downneutrons.

100


Bibliography[1] G. Battimelli and G. Paoloni. University, industry and politics: Orso Mario Corbino

as organizer of physical research in Italy (1908–1937). Società italiana di fisica, 2020.

[2] M. Focaccia. Pietro Blaserna and the Birth of the Institute of Physics in Rome. Springer,2019.

[3] M. Focaccia and O. Mario Corbino. Un manager della ricerca all’Istituto fisico di Roma.Antologia di scritti. In corso di stampa.

[4] F. Guerra and N. Robotti. The Lost Notebook of Enrico Fermi. Springer, 2018.

[5] M. Leone and R. Nadia. I fisici senatori: 1848-1943. Società italiana di fisica, 2019.

101


102


103


AcknowledgementsGraphic design and LATEX realization by Giordano De Marzo & Giulio

Iannelli.

104


105

Enrico Fermi was a scientist oriented to thefuture and to a particularly innovative vision ofscience. For this reason, it was decided that, inaddition to the historical aspect to which theMuseum is dedicated and the scientific dissemi-nation activity, CREF also had its own researchactivity oriented to the present and the future.As in Germany the memory of Max Planck ismainly honored by a large network of presti-gious scientific institutes, so CREF also wantsto develop a nucleus of particularly originaland innovative research, precisely in the spiritthat has characterized Enrico Fermi’s activities.Given its size, CREF may have the possibility ofquickly orienting itself towards new, particularlycurrent and innovative activities that develop inan interdisciplinary way in the area of complexsystems. Therefore, in addition to themescharacteristic of the more traditional physics,but selected for their originality, we intend todevelop research using the innovative methodsof data science, Machine Learning and ArtificialIntelligence in different fields: from complexityin social sciences, economics, in biology, in astro-physics to high temperature superconductivity,quantum information to neuroscience and to theapplications of physics in the field of culturalheritage.

The Royal Physical Institute of Via Panisperna inRome was inaugurated in 1881 and here Enrico Fermiorganized and prepared the conditions that led to thebirth of that group of young scholars who becamefamous as the “boys of Via Panisperna”. Here the firstexperiments on the phenomenon of neutron-inducedradioactivity began, the success of which was crownedwith the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics toFermi in 1938. At the same time the Institute wastransferred to the new university city of “ Sapienza ”and so the building in Via Panisperna was used for an-other function: from an international center of scienceto an archive of the State Police, then incorporatedinto the compendium of the Viminale. In 1999 theestablishment of the Enrico Fermi Research Center wasunanimously approved by Parliament. Twenty yearshave passed from the approval of the law to the momentthe building was physically delivered to the CREF: thepolice archive was moved to another location and thebuilding was renovated with the addition of an entirefloor.

Contents - Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi

Documents

Transcript of Contents - Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi