The Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare promotes, co-ordinates and carries out experimental and theoretical research in nuclear physics, elementary particles and their basic interactions.
Founded in 1951, at present it consists of 20 structures, located in the major Italian Universities, and 4 National Laboratories that closely collaborate with Universities and national and international Research Institutes.
Structures and Laboratories manage their resources with a high degree of autonomy. Scientific activities are planned, verified and checked by five national committees which play an important part with regard to the Institute’s scientific policies.
The Roma II Structure was established in 1989 at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. At present about 200 people are working there, of whom 50 are INFN staff and 150 professors, Ph.D. and senior undergraduate students of the University. Roma II is involved in many research activities.
There are experimental groups studying particle physics using accelerators (Atlas, G-Minus2, LHCb and NA62) astroparticle physics (AMS2, Auger, CTA_RD, Dama, Fermi, Gamma400, Jem-Euso_RD, Larase, Lhaaso, Limadou, Lisa Pathfinder, Virgo, Wizard) and nuclear physics (Jlab12, Mambo) an interdisciplinary physics.
In the field of theoretical physics very relevant is the involvement in String Theories and Lattice Gauge Theories.
There are also important contributions in interdisciplinary fields and in Research & Development activities, especially in the field of attractor neural networks, new acceleration techniques and high-level electronic technologies. Most of the research programmes are carried out in an international framework. At present, collaborations are established with:
- CERN, Geneva, especially for particle physics experiments
- ESRF, Grenoble, and BNL, Brookhaven, for nuclear physics, large observatories built in Tibet and Argentina, the Russian Space Agency, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute, for astroparticle experiments.
- NASA, Washington, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- CNRS, France, Centre national de la recherche scientifique