CIPE ALLOCATES 4 MILLION EUROS TO THE ARIA PROJECT

The Italian Interministerial Committee on Economic Planning (CIPE) has approved funding for nine research projects considered to be of “strategic importance”, one of which is the INFN’s ARIA project. The projects will be funded through the Special Fund for Research (FISR). Led by the INFN with the collaboration of Princeton University (USA) and Sardinia Regional Council through Carbosulcis S.p.A., ARIA will lead to the construction of an innovative research infrastructure in Sardinia, in the Monte Sinni mine in the Sulcis coalfield area. The aim of the project is to separate the atmosphere into its fundamental components to obtain elements that can be used in various areas of research and technology. One of these components, argon-40, is an extremely precious material that will be used in the DarkSide experiment to develop an innovative system for studying dark matter at the INFN’s Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS).