Nuclear geophysics; geoneutrinos; antineutrinos from reactors; nuclear technologies applied to the environment; gamma-ray spectroscopy in situ, in laboratory and airborne; remote sensing...

Short description of the research team

Thematic fields of interest/research areas: Nuclear geophysics; geoneutrinos; antineutrinos from reactors; nuclear technologies applied to the environment; gamma-ray spectroscopy in situ, in laboratory and airborne; remote sensing; Monte Carlo simulations applied to antineutrino and gamma-ray spectroscopy; geostatistics; UAV, proximal remote sensing; nuclear technologies applied to precision agriculture

Manager/head of the team: Prof. Fabio Mantovani, Department of Physics, UniFe

Team members: Dr. Matteo Albéri (UniFe), Dr. Enrico Chiarelli (UniFe), Dr. Michele Montuschi (UniFe), Dr. Kassandra Raptis (UniFe), Dr. Andrea Serafini (UniFe), Dr. Virginia Strati (UniFe)

 

Research infrastructures

  • At the Laboratory for Nuclear Technologies Applied to the Environment (Department of Physics, UniFe). HPGe detectors for high-resolution gamma ray spectroscopy; Radon detector for instantaneous or continuous measurement of radon gas activity and radon exhalation measurements from air, water and soil; Polarized microscopy for qualitative and quantitative petrographical analysis.
  • In situ: portable scintillation detectors having different volumes for both static and dynamic acquisitions; prototype designed for in situ measurements of radionuclide content; equipment for measuring radon in the environment, mines and for complementary investigations in buildings.
  • Airborne: a dedicated aircraft for multiparametric airborne acquisitions. The aircraft hosts an airborne gamma ray spectrometer (16 liters of NaI(Tl)), two cameras, an infrared camera, a thermographic camera, a network of GPS antennas, an inertial navigation system, a radar altimeter, a pressure and temperature sensor and the electronic system necessary for the automatic, simultaneous and independent use of each instrument.

 

Contacts: Fabio Mantovani - mantovani@fe.infn.it - +39 3200864636

 

    Prerequisites of the trainee researcher:

    Level of education: M.Sc./PhD in Physics or M.Sc./PhD in Earth Sciences, or related fields

    Research experience: Nuclear physics, Neutrino Physics, Geophysics, Geology

    Required working language: Italian and/or English

     

    Further useful information:

    The team has a well established scientific collaboration with the INFN Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL), the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS), the Center for GeoTechnologies (CGT) of the University of Siena, the Department of Natural and Territorial Sciences of the University of Sassari and with the Geomatics Laboratory of the Polytechnic of Milan. Research collaborations are ongoing also with industrial partners, such as Costruzioni Apparecchiature Elettroniche Nucleari (CAEN) S.p.A. and GeoExplorer S.r.l., and with foreign institutions, like the Department of Geology of the University of Maryland and the Faculty of Mathematical Engineering and Physics Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Tirana. The team is involved in the ITALRAD (ITALian RADioactivity) project, which aims at producing the first map of the distribution of concentration of natural radionuclides (40K, 238U and 232Th) in Italy by using gamma ray spectrometry measurements. The research group participates also to the NORM4BUILDING project, which stimulates the collaboration of scientists, industries and regulators to gather knowledge, experiences and technologies for promoting research on the reuse of residues containing enhanced concentrations of NORM.

     

    Topics:

    • Environment and society
    • Food Science, Agriculture, Forestry and Non-Medical Biotechnology
    • Particle and Nuclear Physics
    • Applied physics