The MURAVES muon telescope: technology and expected performances

The MURAVES project aims to study the inner structure of the upper part of the Mt. Vesuvius volcano by muon radiography (muography) technique. Very high energy muons, produced by cosmic rays in the at- mosphere, can penetrate large thickness of rocks. By measuring the at- tenuation of the muons flux trough the volcano cone is possible to obtain a 2D image of the density structure. Internal discontinuities, with a spa- tial resolution of about 10 m, can be, in principle, resolved. An absolute average density measurement can be provided too. The project, funded by the Italian Ministry of University, Research and Education (MIUR), is led by INGV and INFN. In this article the mechanical structure of the de- tectors and background suppression techniques are reported

Measurement of gravitational and thermal effects in a liquid-actuated torsion pendulum

We describe a proof-of-principle experiment aiming to investigate the inverse-square law of gravitation at the centimeter scale. The sensor is a two-stage torsion pendulum, while actuation is accomplished by a variable liquid mass. The time-varying gravitational force is related to the level of the circulating fluid in one or two containers at a short distance from the test mass, with all moving mechanical parts positioned at a large distance. We provide a description of the apparatus and present the first results. We identified a systematic effect of thermal origin, producing offsets of few fNm in torque and of about 10 pN in force. When this effect is neutralized, the measurements agree well with the predictions of simulations. We also discuss the upcoming instrument upgradations and the expected sensitivity improvement that will allow us to perform measurements with adequate accuracy to investigate the unexplored regions of the α−λ parameter space of a Yukawa-like deviation from the Newtonian potential

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

TITAFORM - precision hot forming, development of innovative hot-forming processes of aeronautical components in ti-alloy with low buy/fly ratio: An italian example of cooperation between academy and industry

In the paper the description of the project TITAFORM is provided. The project has been financed on the call "PON Linea 1" of the Italian government and represents an effective example of cooperation between academy and industry. The project is focused on the beta forging and hot stretch forming operations of titanium alloys. �� 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Muography of the Puy de Dôme

Muon radiography is an imaging technique that relies on the transmis- sion of cosmic muons through matter. It allows the measurement of den- sity maps of large structures such as volcanoes. During the second half of 2013 the MURAY detector prototype carried out a data taking at the Puy de Dôme in the framework of the scientific collaboration with the experiment TOMUVOL in order to compare the results and performance of the two different detectors. Both experimental apparatuses measure a muon transmission of some orders of magnitude higher than that ex- pected highlighting a background that perturbs these measures

A ring lasers array for fundamental physics

After reviewing the importance of light as a probe for testing the structure of space-time, we describe the GINGER project. GINGER will be a three-dimensional array of large size ring-lasers able to measure the de Sitter and Lense-Thirring effects. The instrument will be located at the underground laboratory of GranSasso, in Italy. We describe the preliminary actions and measurements already under way and present the full road map to GINGER. The intermediate apparatuses GP2 and GINGERino are described. GINGER is expected to be fully operating in few years.Comment: 11 pages, in Comptes Rendus Physique, Special Issue "The Sagnac effect: 100 years later

Muography of the Volcanic Structure of the Summit of Vesuvius, Italy

In the context of recent developments in volcanic muography, we describe an experiment at Vesuvius, the volcano near Naples that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum (Italy) in 79 CE. This volcano is about 1,200 m high with a typical summit caldera formed by Mount Somma. Vesuvius is among the highest-risk volcanoes in the world due to its highly explosive eruptive style and the high population density of the area where it is located. Volcanoes are generally fragile geological structures, prone to produce partial collapse and large landslides that can affect the style of eruptions. Moreover, the knowledge of the internal structure is fundamental for understanding past eruption activity and for constraining eruption models. For these reasons, studying the internal structure of the “Gran Cono” (great cone) of Vesuvius and the physical characteristics of its rock is important and led us to design a muography experiment at Vesuvius. This experiment, which is currently in progress, is based on three scintillator detectors with a surface of 1 m 2 each. These detector features have been implemented to overcome the problems related to the large thickness of rock that form the “Gran Cono” of Vesuvius and the effects that can be a source of error in data processing. These aspects represent an open challenge for the muography of large volcanoes, which today constitutes the frontier of research in the field of volcanic muography

NA62 Technical Design

NA62 technical design repor

Production and validation of industrially produced large-sized GEM foils for the Phase-2 upgrade of the CMS muon spectrometer

The upgrade of the CMS detector for the high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will include gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors in the end-cap muon spectrometer. Due to the limited supply of large area GEM detectors, the Korean CMS (KCMS) collaboration had formed a consortium with Mecaro Co., Ltd. to serve as a supplier of GEM foils with area of approximately 0.6 m$^{2}$. The consortium has developed a double-mask etching technique for production of these large-sized GEM foils. This article describes the production, quality control, and quality assessment (QA/QC) procedures and the mass production status for the GEM foils. Validation procedures indicate that the structure of the Korean foils are in the designed range. Detectors employing the Korean foils satisfy the requirements of the HL-LHC in terms of the effective gain, response uniformity, rate capability, discharge probability, and hardness against discharges. No aging phenomena were observed with a charge collection of 82 mC/cm$^{2}$. Mass production of KCMS GEM foils is currently in progress