Title: Jet Reconstruction
Tutor: Dr. Pasquale Di Nezza (pasquale.dinezza@lnf.infn.it)

ALICE is an experiment at CERN which mainly studies the hot and dense matter created in heavy ion interaction at LHC. A huge number of particles are produced in each interaction and sometime a jet of particles is produced in a hard scattering. There are different possible options to reconstruct a jet of particles in the collected data and the Frascati group is responsible of this task within the ALICE collaboration. The student will work within the group developing the needed software tools.

Recommended period: June 1st - August 10th.

1 position: NA62 Experiment

Title: NA62 detector development
Tutor: Dr. Mauro Raggi (mauro.raggi@lnf.infn.it)

The goal of the NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS is to collect on the order of 100 events of the extremely rare decay K+ --> pi+ nu anti-nu. Because of the clean theoretical prediction for the branching ratio for this decay, a precise measurement of its branching ratio may shed light on physics beyond the Standard Model. Such a measurement is extremely challenging, since the predicted branching ratio is 8 x 10**-11. Sensitive photons detectors are needed to reject abundant decays such as K+--> pi+ pi0. A series of twelve photon veto detectors, to be installed in the experiment at CERN, are currently being assembled in Frascati. The detectors are cylinders, two meters in diameter, with 160 lead-glass crystal photodetectors arranged about the inside wall. During the summer the test of the first production of the VME 9U front-end electronic boards will be performed in Frascati. The student will participate in the assembly of the detectors and in the test stand for the front-end electronic boards.

Recommended period: June 1st - August 10th.

1 position: JLAB12 LNF

Title: RICH detector prototype
Tutor: Dr. Marco Mirazita (mirazita@lnf.infn.it)

The JLAB12 group participates into the physics program carried on at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Jefferson Laboratory (JLab). The program is focused on the precision study of the structure of the nucleon and the nature of the strong interaction. The Frascati JLAB12 group participates into the  physics program carried on in Hall B and its research field is focused on the study of the 3D-structure of the nucleon and its internal dynamics. This is achieved through the determination of  new parton distribution functions which include information not only on the longitudinal but also on  the  transverse distributions of partons in a fast moving hadron. This  information is encoded in the Transverse Momentum Dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). The study of the TMDs  is one of the flagship program of the 12 GeV upgrade of the Laboratory. To carry on this program the group is deeply involved also in hardware projects. Precisely, in the research and development of a RICH detector for the CLAS12 spectrometer of the Hall B.
There is the opportunity for students to contribute to the work for the construction of a RICH prototype which will be tested with electron and hadron beams in summer/fall 2012.
For further information see: http://clasweb.jlab.org/wiki/index.php/CLAS12_RICH

Recommended period: June 10th - August 10th.

Title: MoonLIGHT-ILN experiment
Tutor: Dr. Simone Dell'Agnello (simone.dellagnello@lnf.infn.it)

The goal of MoonLIGHT-ILN (Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity High-accuracy Tests for the International Lunar Network) is the development and space characterization of 2nd generation laser retroreflectors for the sub-mm-precision orbit determination of the Moon through a laser-pulse time-of-flight measurement, in order to achieve a high-accuracy test of General Relativity and new theories of gravity. This discipline, called Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), started 40 years ago, when the Apollo and Lunokhod missions deployed retroreflectors on the surface of the Moon. LLR data are freely available and provide the best overall test of General Relativity with a single experiment (weak and strong equivalence principle, PPN parameter beta, geodetic precession, deviations from the inverse-square law, time variation of the gravitational constant G, extensions of General Relativity). The experiment is an international collaboration between Italian and US institutions. The latter include: the University of Maryland at College Park, which was Principal Investigator of the 1st generation retroreflectors; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which has developed the powerful Planetary Ephemeris Program capable (among many other things) of accurately tracking the Moon orbit; the University of California at San Diego, which leads the best LLR ground station, located in the US, called APOLLO (Apache Point Observatory LLr Operation; http://www.physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/). The ILN is a concept study for a lunar geophysical network of four instruments (seismometer, laser retroreflector, thermal heat probe and electromagnetic sounder) promoted by Space Agencies of nine countries, including NASA and ASI (see http://iln.arc.nasa.gov/).

The student will participate in the: (1) thermal-optical-vacuum test and data analysis of the new payload funded by NASA and INFN, at the world-unique INFN-LNF “Satellite/lunar laser ranging Characterization Facility (SCF)”; and/or (2) analysis of LLR data acquired from existing Apollo/Lunokhod payloads for precision gravity tests.

Main reference: A Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector Array for the 21st Century, D. Currie, S. Dell’Agnello, G. Delle Monache, Acta Astron. 68, 667– 680 (2011).

Recommended period: June-July or September-October.

Title: Etrusco-2 project of tehnological development
Tutor: Dr. Simone Dell'Agnello (simone.dellagnello@lnf.infn.it)

The goal of ETRUSCO-2 (Extra Terrestrial Ranging to Unified Satellite Constellations - 2) is the development and space characterization of 2nd generation laser retroreflectors for the mm-precision orbit determination of the Global Navigation Satellite System through a laser-pulse time-of-flight measurement, in absolute terms, that is, with respect to the “International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS)” defined by the main geodetic techniques [1]. We have built and are operating a new experimental apparatus (our second), the “Satellite laser ranging (SLR) Characterization Facility optimized for Galileo and the GPS-3 (SCF-G)” to characterize and model the detailed thermal behaviour and the optical performance of cube corner GNSS Retroreflector Arrays (GRAs) in representative space conditions. The existing SCF facility and the new SCF-G are operated in an infrastructure owned by INFN-LNF, the SCF_LAB, which includes a dedicated clean room of class 10000 or better. We have worked on the SCF-Test of the first four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites directly for ESA [2]; while for the GPS-3, a collaborative effort with the US SLR community is in preparation.

The student will participate in the: (1) thermal-optical-vacuum test and data analysis of the new GRA payload targeted to Galileo and GPS-3, funded by ASI and INFN, at the world-unique SCF-G; and/or (2) analysis of SLR data acquired from existing GNSS constellations (including Galileo IOV and GPS-2).

Main references:
1. Creation of the new industry-standard space test of laser retroreflectors for GNSS and LAGEOS, S. Dell’Agnello, G.O. Delle Monache, D.G. Currie, R. Vittori, C. Cantone, M. Garattini, A. Boni, M. Martini, C. Lops, N. Intaglietta, R. Tauraso, D.A. Arnold, M.R. Pearlman, G. Bianco, S. Zerbini, M. Maiello, S. Berardi, L. Porcelli, C.O. Alley, J.F. McGarry, C. Sciarretta, V. Luceri, T.W. Zagwodzki, J. Adv. Space Res. 47 (2011) 822–842.

Recommended period: June-July or September-October.