President of INFN, the Italian research institution engaged in the field of nuclear physics, elementary particles and more recent astroparticle physics, Antonio Zoccoli graduated in physics at the University of Bologna, where he is now full professor of physics experimental. Since 2005 he has been a member of the ATLAS collaboration at CERN which, together with the CMS collaboration, announced the first observation of the Higgs boson in July 2012. Guest of honor in our virtual living room, Professor Zoccoli told us about his journey and some of the most important moments of his scientific career, with a look at the future of INFN.
Professor, when did your passion for science mature?
Mathematics has intrigued me since I was a child but I developed a real passion for science during my high school years. As a boy I attended classical high school and, although I did very well in Greek and Latin, it was at that time that I realized that I was more attracted to scientific subjects. I began to be passionate about the history of the Universe, I was curious to understand how stars and galaxies were born. In those years, moreover, there was a television broadcast which, in an episode, spoke of Einstein and the Theory of Relativity. I saw it and was fascinated by it; finished high school, I enrolled in the Faculty of Physics.
Was there an event that was particularly decisive for you in your professional career?
There were two of the most significant moments in my research path. The first is represented by an experiment in which I participated at the Desy laboratory in Hamburg, Germany, which, in competition with another American test, sought to measure in a specific type of quark, the so-called quark beauty, the violation of the symmetry CP, a phenomenon that could help explain the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe.
On that occasion I coordinated a group of more than five hundred researchers. Our team was the only Italian to participate and, although in the end the experimentation did not reach its main objective, many lessons were learned from that experience on technologies, on data analysis but also on the management of a vast collaboration. It was a very stimulating and engaging experience both from a scientific point of view and for the human relationships that have developed.
The second moment that particularly struck me dates back to my participation in the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC accelerator in Geneva, where we discovered the Higgs boson. In particular, I had collaborated in the preparation phase of the experiment, building a part of the apparatus and participating in its calibration and setup. After a year spent collecting data, within a few months, in 2012, it was possible to detect the signal of what has become known as "the God particle". Achieving this result has been a unique experience for me.
Considering that the Higgs boson was theorized in 1964, what does it mean to have finally proved its existence?
It is impressive to think that it took 50 years to verify this hypothesis. It was necessary to build the most complex machine in the world: a particle accelerator equipped with cutting-edge technology. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of scientists, who collaborated both in setting up the accelerator machine and in conducting the experiments, the hypothesis turned out to be true. During the scientific seminar in which the results of the discovery of the Higgs boson were presented, Higgs, present in the room, was asked what he felt. He, very moved, said "I never thought, when I formulated this hypothesis, that it could be true". In my opinion, this is the beauty of science: many hypotheses are made but the right one can be distinguished only through the experimental method, a very powerful weapon of knowledge.
What scientific research are you engaged in recently?
Currently I am still a member of the ATLAS project and I follow PhD students. Before being invested with the office of President I had launched an initiative that was very far from the research carried out up to then, aimed at deepening the theme of lethargy. After speaking with a physiologist who was in charge of it, together we decided to conduct an interdisciplinary study to verify whether animals in that state were less prone to radiation damage. He has always fascinated me the mechanism through which some mammals go into hibernation, remaining totally defenseless for a period of time. Aspects such as the slowing down of the metabolism, or linked to the fact that diseases such as tumors do not develop in this condition, have stimulated my curiosity. Although hibernation is a well-known phenomenon, in fact, we still know little about it. I am currently following this study whose results can have a series of applications between medicine and physics.
What is the branch or theory of physics that still fascinates you the most today?
Definitely particle physics and, connected to it, astrophysics.
It fascinates me that we don't know how to answer simple and fundamental questions like "What is the universe made of?".
Today there are radio telescopes located on the ground, astronomical observatories positioned on mountain tops and satellites through which we can admire the beauty of the cosmos, galaxies and stars.
What we see, however, represents only 5% of the universe; the remaining 95% is composed of dark matter and energy and to date we do not know what they are.
In the same way we don't know why there is no antimatter in the universe, or at least until now it hasn't been found. When the Big Bang happened, energy was converted into matter; but according to the laws we know and according to what we observe in the collisions between particles in our accelerators, originally an equal amount of matter and antimatter should have been produced. However, if we observe the cosmos we see only matter… and where has the antimatter gone? Why does it seem to be gone?
These are fundamental questions that we have not yet been able to answer. Even though we are technologically advanced, we still know very little about the universe and the laws that govern it.
On September 30, the National Institute of Nuclear Physics celebrated its 70th birthday. What is the future of INFN in your opinion?
The future of INFN will be to continue investigating the mysteries of the universe to answer the big questions"What is matter composed of and what are the laws that govern it?”.
To do this, the Institute must act on two tracks. First, it must develop cutting-edge technologies to continuously improve its experiments and measurements. Among these technologies, for example, there are some emerging ones such as quantum ones, a field in which we will engage.
At the same time, it is necessary to invest in large research and research support infrastructures, such as the INFN National Laboratories, the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, and those of Frascati, Legnaro and Catania with their particle accelerators, or such as the interferometers for gravitational waves, one of which, Virgo, is located in the Cascina countryside, in Tuscany, or our computing infrastructure distributed throughout Italy and capable of analyzing all the large amounts of data produced by the CERN experiments and other large international experiments in which we participate.
Well, all these infrastructures must evolve, a fundamental aspect for a country because they represent the backbone of research, and also act as a catalyst for processes of technological innovation, industrial development, economic and social growth. A country with research infrastructures has a future, just as a research institution like INFN has a future.
In our laboratories, researchers from all over the world work side by side. Attracting brainpower and researching our area: these are the lines we will invest in.
Let's talk about the Research system in Italy: what is missing and what do you think is expected?
In my opinion too often attention from our rulers has been lacking. Investments are scarce and research is generally not considered a strategic activity. This opinion is wrong because research is, for example, able to anticipate the development of technologies that will subsequently have profound effects on society. With the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) it seems that the government is giving more weight to the basic research sector, I hope it will continue in the coming years.
Furthermore, we must be attractive and give young people a perspective, make them understand that research is a fundamental activity where they can succeed; the Italian school has nothing to envy to the American, German or Japanese ones and provides an excellent preparation.
Finally, we must also be able to attract young people from abroad, but to do so it is essential to be able to offer them large research infrastructures and cutting-edge laboratories.
In your role as a professor, what would you advise a girl or boy who wants to pursue a career in physics?
I would suggest following your dreams. If physics is one's passion, one must take the plunge; in my opinion, research in this field is one of the most beautiful activities in the world.
The subject is fascinating, there are so many things to discover and for a physicist one of the most beautiful aspects of one's job is solving problems, and being able to give answers to questions that no one had been able to answer before.
Finally, I would suggest not being put off by the massive presence of mathematics. It is a difficult course of study but it can be overcome if there is enthusiasm.
The INFN, with the data made available by the Civil Protection, carries out statistical analyzes to help better understand the evolution of the Covid19 epidemic in Italy. From a statistical point of view, what have we understood so far?
We have been studying the pandemic data from a statistical point of view since March 2020. At the time, a lot of information was arriving from the media and it was not clear what was happening, so with a group of colleagues we decided to analyze the data on Covid made available by the Civil Protection. We started studying the data and producing graphs to understand how the epidemic was evolving, so as to provide support to the INFN internal crisis committee for the health emergency. But this work and the information that could be drawn from it, for example on when the contagion peaks would be reached and on what was the trend of employment in hospitals and intensive care units, could also be useful and relevant at another level : thus was born the project of a website, easily accessible by everyone, which could be of public utility.
We are currently witnessing the positive effect of vaccines: at a time when infections are rising again, our hospitals and intensive care units are still under control. The more we are vaccinated, the better.
How has the COVID 19 pandemic affected the Institute's activities?
We had to face a unique situation for the company and our strategy was not to close the INFN trying to keep the laboratories and infrastructures active, obviously at a minimum presence.
Over 90% of the staff worked in smart working while some teams worked in shifts in the laboratories to keep the computing centers and research infrastructures open.
This situation has implied a great deal of reorganization of all our activities in digital mode: we have held training courses, developed new methods of sharing scientific material, conducted coordination meetings via videoconference and we have also thought about moments aimed at maintaining relations and team spirit among people so they don't feel alone at home.
Furthermore, we immediately created online dissemination programs aimed at schools, and also at the public, to provide a support tool for teachers and students in Dad, providing them with high-level scientific material. And there was no lack of seminars on Covid 19 to ensure updates on the progress of the epidemic and on vaccines.
Since June 2020 we have slowly brought people back to the office, and now we are about 80% of the staff who work in person.
If I compare what we have done in Italy and at INFN with the work of other countries on the front of the health emergency, I would like to give a very positive opinion: we must be proud!
In conclusion, what is the result you would like the INFN scientific community to achieve?
I wish we could make a Nobel Prize discovery in one of our laboratories. We rejoiced for the Nobel prize awarded to Professor Giorgio Parisi, a theoretical physicist who began his career at INFN, because it represents great recognition to the scientist, and also to the Italian school of physics, whose value is well known and recognized at a international. Now it would be nice to be able to win the Nobel for an experimental result, for a great discovery, perhaps made by one of the experiments of our Gran Sasso National Laboratories, I would be very happy.
Ed, the interview was carried out in November 2021