Two important steps taken in recent days by Italy and Argentina intensify the existing cooperation between the two countries in the field of nuclear and astroparticle physics.
In Buenos Aires, representatives of the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA) and INFN have signed a cooperation agreement for research in nuclear, particle and astroparticle physics. The agreement envisages scientific and technological cooperation in basic and applied research activities and the development of technology transfer initiatives for advanced computing, the development and application of particle accelerators and nuclear medicine. In particular, the agreement will allow the fruitful cooperation in place between CNEA and INFN Pavia on research in the field of BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) – for cancer therapy – to be intensified, facilitating the exchange of young researchers.
A second important commitment has been taken by INFN, and by the main research agencies and institutes worldwide, in the study of high energy cosmic rays. At the Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargue, the largest and most important cosmic ray observatory in the world, the refinancing of the project for the next ten years has been signed. The new operational phase of the observatory, renamed AugerPrime, has as its primary objective the investigation of the composition of cosmic rays produced at the highest energy levels of the entire visible universe. This will provide information on collisions between elementary particles at energy levels much higher than those achievable in large accelerators, such as the LHC.
