Research
My research is focused on the open problems of particle physics and the fundamental interactions.
Recently, I have been working at the interface between two main topics: Scattering Amplitudes and Effective Field Theories, with emphasis on the universal low-energy properties of gravity and its interplay with the so-called "swampland" program.
A great challenge is to understand the origin of the four fundamental forces of nature, and possibly to unveil an underlying unifying principle. Related questions are the origin of masses, i.e. the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism of the Higgs sector, and the hierarchy problem* of the observed scales. Another, but perhaps related, class of puzzles arises from cosmology: dark matter, the cosmological constant problem and the acceleration of the universe, black holes and the primordial universe.
You can find my publications on inSpire and Google-Scholar.
Take a look at the slides of my talks to get the feeling of what I do.
*one of my favorite divulgative explanations of the hierarchy problem is provided by this quote from Cliff Cheung: "When you lift a paper clip off a table with a small magnet, you're accomplishing a remarkable feat: the tiny magnet is overcoming the gravitational pull from the entire Earth. Why does gravity seem so weak compared to electromagnetism and the other fundamental forces of nature? This vast discrepancy in scale—how a small magnet can beat out a whole planet—is related to what physicists call the hierarchy problem".
Previous Grant:
A New Strong Force, the origin of masses and the LHC.
a research project funded by the MIUR-FIRB grant RBFR12H1MW
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, with its collisions of unprecedented high energy, has started exploring a new microscopic scale of nature that corresponds to about 1/1000 of the radius of the proton. One of the main goals of the LHC program is to shed light on the mechanism of the Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) which is ultimately responsible for the generation of the masses of the elementary particles.
This project aims to contribute to the theoretical interpretation of the LHC experimental results. The final goal is to develop, with the help of the data, a clear picture of the mechanism of EWSB.
In this project we focus on strongly-coupled models of EWSB, where a new strongly-coupled sector is ultimately responsible for the breaking of the EW symmetry. This idea can be realized in models with a Composite Higgs, a scenario where a spin-zero particle exists with a phenomenology similar to the Higgs of the Standard Model (SM). Contrary to the SM, this particle is a composite object i.e. the bound state of the new strong dynamics.
The research team consists of three units located at the university of Padova, at the INFN in Florence, and the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.
members:
Brando Bellazzini (PI and national coordinator)
Enrico Trincherini (coordinator at Scuola Normale Superiore)
Michele Redi (coordinator at INFN-FI)
Andrea Wulzer (U. of Padova)
Fabio Zwirner (U. of Padova)
Luca Vecchi (postdoc at U. of Padova and SISSA)
Eugenio Del nobile (postdoc at U. of Padova)
Alexandra Carvalho (postdoc at U. of Padova)
Oleg Antipin (postdoc at INFN-FI)
Diego Becciolini (postdoc at INFN-FI)
Christopher Murphy (postdoc at Scuola normale Superiore)
former members:
Javi Serra (now postdoc at CERN)
David Pirtskhalava (now postdoc at the EPFL)