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Full Technical

Full Technical Report
ICTP 2013
Full Technical Report 2013
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
ISSN 2079-9187
Compiled by the ICTP Public Information Office
May 2014
Cover design by Advocacy International
Public Information Office
The Abdus Salam International Centre
for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Strada Costiera, 11
I - 34151 Trieste
Italy
pio@ictp.it
www.ictp.it
THE ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS
FULL TECHNICAL REPORT 2013
ISSN 2079-9187
Compiled by the ICTP Public Information Office
May 2013
Cover design by Jordan Chatwin
Public Information Office
The Abdus Salam International Centre
for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Strada Costiera, 11
I - 34151 Trieste
Italy
pio@ictp.it
www.ictp.it
INTRODUCTION
This document is the full technical report of ICTP for the year 2013. For the non-technical
description of 2013 highlights, please see the printed “Summary of Activities 2013” book.
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ICTP Full Technical Report 2013
CONTENTS
Research
High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (HECAP) ................................................................... 9
Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics (CMSP) ....................................................................................... 22
Mathematics ............................................................................................................................................................. 33
Earth System Physics (ESP) ................................................................................................................................ 48
Structure and Nonlinear Dynamics of the Earth (hosted activity) ................................................ 75
Applied Physics
Telecommunications/ICT for Development Laboratory (T/ICT4D) ......................................... 91
Physics of the Living State ..................................................................................................................... 97
Medical Physics ...................................................................................................................................... 104
Fluid Dynamics ....................................................................................................................................... 106
Anchor Optics Research (AOR) Programme ................................................................................... 108
Synchrotron Radiation Related Theory ............................................................................................ 109
Multidisciplinary Laboratory (MLab) ............................................................................................... 111
New Research Areas
Renewable Energy and Sustainability ............................................................................................... 117
Quantitative Biology .............................................................................................................................. 120
Computational Sciences ......................................................................................................................... 122
Director's Research Group – String Phenomenology and Cosmology .................................................. 123
Training and Education Programmes
Pre-PhD Level
Postgraduate Diploma Programme ................................................................................................................. 127
ICTP-IAEA Sandwich Training Educational Programme (STEP)........................................................ 130
Joint Programmes in Higher Education
Laurea Magistralis ................................................................................................................................. 133
PhD Programme in Environmental and Industrial Fluid Mechanics ....................................... 134
Joint International ICTP/SISSA PhD (JIISP) Programme
in Physics and Mathematics ................................................................................................................ 136
Joint ICTP/Collegio Carlo Alberto Program in Economics ....................................................... 137
Master’s in the Physics of Complex Systems .................................................................................. 138
Career Support
Associateship Scheme .......................................................................................................................................... 139
Federation Arrangements Scheme .................................................................................................................. 144
Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) .............................................................................. 146
ICTP-ELETTRA Users Programme ............................................................................................................. 149
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SESAME Project .................................................................................................................................................. 150
Training and Education in Developing Countries
Office of External Activities (OEA) ................................................................................................................. 152
Activities in Developing Countries
ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR) ........................................ 155
Prizes and Awards
ICTP Dirac Medal................................................................................................................................................ 157
ICTP Prize ............................................................................................................................................................. 157
ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo Award.............................................................................................................. 157
Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians
from Developing Countries ................................................................................................................................ 158
Scientific Support Services
Marie Curie Library ............................................................................................................................................. 160
Science Dissemination Unit .............................................................................................................................. 162
Information and Communication Technology Section (ICTS) ................................................................ 168
Multimedia Publications Office ........................................................................................................................ 169
The African Review of Physics ............................................................................................................................. 170
Appendices
Scientific Papers:
High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics .......................................................................... 173
Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics.............................................................................................. 181
Mathematics ................................................................................................................................................... 185
Earth System Physics .................................................................................................................................. 188
Structure and Nonlinear Dynamics of the Earth ............................................................................ 193
Applied Physics .....................................................................................................................................................
Telecommunications/ICT for Development Laboratory ............................................................. 195
Physics of the Living State ................................................................................................................... 196
Synchrotron Radiation Related Theory............................................................................................ 197
Multidisciplinary Laboratory .............................................................................................................. 197
New Research Areas.............................................................................................................................................
Renewable Energy and Sustainability ............................................................................................... 201
String Phenomenology and Cosmology ................................................................................................... 201
Science Dissemination Unit ......................................................................................................................... 202
ICTP Statistics 2013 ..................................................................................................................................................
Visits to Research and Training Activities, 2013 ................................................................................. 204
Summary of Research and Training Activities, 2013 .................................................................... 214
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Visitors and Person-Months by Country, 2013 ..................................................................................... 215
Region of Origin, ICTP Visitors, 2013 ................................................................................................... 220
News from ICTP-SAIFR, 2013 .............................................................................................................................. 221
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RESEARCH
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HIGH ENERGY, COSMOLOGY AND
ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (HECAP)
Introduction
There are four broad research areas in the High Energy Section:
I. Phenomenology of Particle Physics,
II. Cosmology,
III. LHC, and
IV. Gravity, String and Higher Dimensional Theories.
Phenomenology of Particle Physics
The results achieved by the group in 2013 covered various topics in high energy and LHC
phenomenology, neutrino, dark matter and astroparticle physics.
1. Energy frontier and LHC phenomenology
a)
Many experimental facts hint towards the existence of new physics beyond the Standard
Model. Understanding where the new physics scale lies is of paramount importance for guiding
collider searches and planning future experimental efforts. The absence of the expected new physics
in the recent data from the LHC started raising strong doubts about "naturalness", the guiding
principle that has dominated high energy searches in the last century. Whether this fact represents a
paradigm change in our view of fundamental interactions or it is just due to an accident of the
underlying theory is one of the main problems the LHC and future colliders are called to address in
the coming years. We studied the implications of the latest LHC searches for the physics beyond the
Standard Model, assessing the status of a number of supersymmetric theories, and how well they can
explain the current experimental situation. The main result is that even if new physics will be
discovered in the next LHC run naturalness will not emerge triumphant.
b)
Recent developments in the understanding of theories of quantum gravity and their vacuum
structure opened the possibility of an alternative solution to the naturalness problem. When applied
to the supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model this new solution naturally points towards
a scale not far beyond the reach of current particle colliders. We explored the phenomenological
implications of this idea, new types of experimental signals to be looked for and various ways to
distinguish this new framework from ordinary supersymmetric theories. Finding experimental proof
of such a scenario would radically change our view of fundamental interactions.
2. Neutrino
Physics potential of huge atmospheric neutrino detectors:
a)
Multi-megaton mass scale under ice and underwater detectors of atmospheric neutrinos
(PINGU, ORCA) open up new possibilities in the determination of neutrino properties. Various ways
to enhance the discovery potential of these detectors have been explored. In particular, it has been
shown that measurements of inelasticity in neutrino interactions allow partial separation of the
neutrino and antineutrino signals, improve reconstruction of neutrino direction, and consequently,
substantially enhance the sensitivity to the mass hierarchy.
b)
Effects of possible non-standard neutrino interactions on the oscillations of atmospheric
neutrinos inside the Earth have been explored. We also showed that IceCube and DeepCore
experiments have unprecedented sensitivity to the strength of these interactions.
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Bounds on the strength parameters have been obtained analyzing events from IceCube-79 and the
DeepCore. Future measurements by DeepCore will allow to further improving the bounds by a
factor of 2-3.
Checks of possible existence of sterile neutrinos with the eV-scale mass hinted by LSND,
MiniBooNE, reactor and gallium experiments is of paramount importance for theory
phenomenology and future experimental programs. In this connection, the possibilities of IceCube
measurements of atmospheric neutrinos have been explored in detail. Dependence of the active-tosterile neutrino oscillation effects on mixing schemes and CP phases have been studied. It is found
that inclusion of the energy information improves the sensitivity to sterile neutrinos drastically.
Lepton mixing and flavor symmetries:
a)
Lepton mixing can originate from the breaking of flavor symmetry in different ways. We
derived the symmetry group condition that allows getting relations between the lepton mixing
elements directly. An extension of this framework has been proposed. It is shown that relatively
small corrections to these lowest order results can produce the required mass splitting and mixing.
b)
Probing the origin of neutrino mass by disentangling the seesaw mechanism is one of the
central issues of particle physics. We address it in the minimal left-right symmetric model, enabling
predictions for a number of high and low energy phenomena.
3. Dark matter, dark sectors and astroparticles
a)
We demonstrated that sterile neutrinos could be consistent with cosmological bounds from
CMB and structure formation, if the neutrinos are charged under a hidden interaction mediated by a
light particle. This also helps solve the small-scale structure problems of dark matter if dark matter
couples to this hidden interaction.
b)
We showed that a comparison of the gamma-ray signals of the Galactic center and the
isotropic extragalactic gamma ray background can break the degeneracy between the dark matter
annihilation cross section and the boost-factor due to dark matter clustering.
c)
A comprehensive interpretation of the highest energy neutrino events at around 1 PeV, seen
in IceCube in 2012, has been achieved. We argued that the source ought to be extraterrestrial and
should have a spectrum that falls roughly at 1/E^2.
d)
We found that axion models have an undiscovered new symmetry that can stabilize a heavy
particle. This leads to two dark matter candidates in these axion models - a light ultracold axion and
a heavy cold WIMP. This scenario leads to a smoking-gun double-detection of dark matter in direct
detection experiments, e.g., XENON-1T, and axion experiments, e.g., ADMX.
e)
We showed that new neutrino interactions mediated by a light vector boson could be
strongly constrained using electroweak decays and scattering. These constraints have important
implications for some neutrinophilic dark matter models.
f)
We showed that rotating proto-neutron stars produce GeV energy neutrinos through a
magnetic wind that could be detectable in upcoming experiments, e.g., Hyper-K and PINGU. These
neutrinos would be a signature of quasi-thermal acceleration processes and allow us to explore a
completely new energy regime in neutrino astronomy.
Cosmology
In 2013, the primary research activities of the Cosmology group were in the following directions:
1. Non-perturbative results in LSS (Paolo Creminelli). Using techniques borrowed from early
cosmology, we showed some exact results for the distribution of matter in the universe. A very
long wavelength mode induces a homogeneous gravitational field and its effect on shorter scales
can be captured using the Equivalence Principle independently of all the details of the problem,
including non-linearities, baryons and bias effects. These results can be related to the previously
derived consistency relations for inflation and extended to observations in redshift space. Given
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that they are rooted in the Equivalence Principle they can be used as a smoking gun to detect its
violation on cosmological scales.
2. Non-linear realization of space-time symmetries (Paolo Creminelli, Marco Serone). Non-linearly
realized spacetime symmetries are very relevant in cosmology and condensed matter systems.
There are some differences with respect to internal symmetries: for example, the number of
Goldstone bosons is less than the number of broken generator. We explored different realizations
of the conformal and Galileon group finding an unexpected relation among apparently unrelated
theories. We then addressed the general question of whether different realizations give rise to
equivalent theories, as it occurs for internal symmetries. It turns out that the notion of locality is
different so that different realizations give rise to physically inequivalent theories.
3. Quantum-field theory in curved space (Diana Lopez-Nacir). The study of QFT in curved space, in
particular de Sitter space, is very important in cosmology since we believe the initial conditions
for the universe are set up by quantum fluctuations during inflation. We developed a nonperturbative approach using the Hartree approximation that is useful, for example, to understand
infrared effects during inflation.
4. Bremsstrahlung processes in Dark Matter (Gabrijela Zaharijas). In the context of indirect Dark
Matter detection, we discussed the importance of Bremsstrahlung gamma rays. This effect is
relevant especially for light dark matter, and it must be consistently taken into account for the
DM interpretation, though its estimate depends on astrophysical uncertainties. G. Zaharijas is a
member of the Fermi-LAT collaboration.
5. Large scale structure. In 2012, we showed how to merge two separate research streams into a
single powerful study of how the abundance and spatial distribution of galaxy clusters encodes
information about the initial conditions, the expansion history of the universe, and the nature of
gravity (Marcello Musso, Aseem Paranjape, Ravi Sheth). 2013 saw a number of further
developments of the upcrossing approach developed in 2012: extension to smaller masses
(allowing the approach to be used to model galaxies as well as galaxy clusters), to arbitrarily nonGaussian fluctuation fields (so the method can be used in the late time highly nonlinear field as
well as the initial one), and tests in simulations of the accuracy of a new cross-correlation
technique, which our analysis had uncovered, for quantifying how the spatial distribution of halos
is biased with respect to the underlying matter field. This included an essentially exact solution of
a first passage problem first posed in 1974.
In 2012, we had shown that the tidal/shear field leads to qualitatively new signatures in the spatial
distribution of clusters. In 2013, we provided a more general formulation of the stochasticity in halo
formation, which is associated with such effects and its consequences (Emanuele Castorina, Ravi
Sheth).
On-going collaboration with the Trieste Observatory, initiated in 2012, led to a few papers
illustrating the accuracy of a fast algorithm for generating mock galaxy catalogs. Scaling-up the
approach so that it becomes the leading mock-making factory for the next generation of surveys such
as Euclid is in progress (Emiliano Sefusatti, Ravi Sheth).
A new collaboration with the Trieste Observatory led to a number of papers on the role of neutrinos
in cosmology (Emanuele Castorina, Emiliano Sefusatti, Ravi Sheth). We demonstrated that cluster
abundances and clustering in neutrino cosmologies are most easily (and accurately!) described by
treating the neutrinos as modifying the background cosmology within which the cold dark matter
component clusters. Not doing so potentially introduces systematic biases in constraints on
cosmological parameters from datasets such as Planck and BOSS.
LHC
2013 was as another amazing year for the CERN Large Hadron Collider experiments (as were 2011
and 2012!). In 2013, the CERN experiments (including ATLAS) confirmed that the new particle
which was discovered was indeed the famous Higgs boson which was hypothesised in the early
1960's to be responsible for giving mass to elementary particles like electrons, quarks and W-bosons
and to play a crucial role in the Standard Model developed by Salam and Weinberg.
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The ICTP-Udine ATLAS group continued from strength to strength, solidly contributing to many
analyses, which were published by ATLAS in 2013. This includes measurements involving both the
top quark, the Higgs boson as well as searches for supersymmetry.
Former ICTP diploma student (Muhammad Alhoroub from Palestine) was funded by a CERN-INFN
fellowship. Together with former UTrieste PhD student Michele Pinamonti, who is a postdoc at
SISSA, they have been developing the ATLAS measurement of the production of the Higgs boson in
association with top quarks. Postdoc Umberto de Sanctis also obtained a fellowship to allow him to
be stationed at CERN where he worked with ICTP postdoc Kate Shaw on the measurement of the
charge asymmetry in top-antitop quark production, which was published in a paper at the end of the
year.
Loan Truong (former ICTP diploma student and now SISSA/ICTP PhD student) began working in
earnest on another Higgs measurement: namely, the measurement of the rate at which the Higgs
boson decays into particles (such as neutrinos or dark matter) that escape the ATLAS detector.
These so-called invisible Higgs decays are extremely important to ascertain whether the Higgs
boson is actually the Higgs boson of the Standard model or if its properties indicate that there is new
physics. In addition, Rachik Soualah, also a postdoc in the group, contributed to all of these studies in
various ways.
On average, during 2013, the group had five postdocs and two PhD students.
All the postdocs and students presented talks and/or posters at international conferences in 2013. In
2013, ATLAS published (and submitted for publication) a total of 88 papers and over 100 conference
notes.
The presence of the ICTP ATLAS group continues to provide an added visibility to ICTP at CERN,
and this has helped catalyse other activities such as the African School in Fundamental Physics.
String Related Topics
In 2013, the activities in string related topics in our group have been mainly in the following
directions:
1)
String realization of Nekrasov partition function
During the last 10-15 years there has been remarkable progress in obtaining exact results in
4-dimensional N=2 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories using localization techniques. In particular,
Nekrasov was able to solve the theory exactly including two deformation parameters (called Omega
deformations).
While one of these parameters is known to correspond to anti-selfdual Graviphoton
background, the meaning of the second parameter was less clear. We showed that certain
generalized higher derivative F-terms in the string effective action reproduce both the perturbative
and non-perturbative parts of the Omega deformed Yang-Mills partition functions in the appropriate
field theory limit, with the second parameter being identified with self-dual field strength of a
particular Vector multiplet (Kahler modulus of the torus in Heterotic theory).
2)
Holography:
a) One area of study was on the holographic realization of superfluidity, specifically, solutions in 5dim gauged supergravity resulting from a consistent reduction of Type IIB theory.
The corresponding solutions for superfluid velocities below a critical value are charged AdS
domain wall solutions that are shown to demonstrate Quantum criticality in the infrared region.
b) In a particular model of holographic QCD with N_f flavours and N_c colours in the large N_c and
N_f limit keeping the ratio N_f/N_c fixed, it is shown that below a critical value of this ratio the
spectra are discrete and gapped while near the ctritical point where the theory becomes conformal
and all the masses go to zero uniformly. The physics of this study is important for possible
applications to technicolour theories.
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c)
It is known (particularly through the recent works of Komargodski and Schwimmer) that
when an RG flow interpolates between two conformal field theories by some operator acquiring a
vacuum expectation value, there is an associated goldstone boson (called dilaton). This dilaton field
in the holographic description of such RG flows was identified as a normalizable zero mode
corresponding to the scale factor in the holgraphic flow solution.
3)
Higher order corrections:
Several works on obtaining tree level higher derivative corrections to the D-brane effective
actions for both supersymmetric and non supersymmetric cases were carried out. In particular 4point functions involving a closed string (RR) field and 3 open string fields such as gauge fields,
massless scalars and tachyons (in the non-supersymmetric case).
Studying these amplitudes in the factorization limit yields infinite set of higher derivative
terms. It was remarkable to realize that the pattern of these higher derivative corrections is
universal, a fact that cannot be understood from any known duality symmetries of string theory.
4)
Topological Field Theory:
An exact evaluation of the path integral for Chern-Simons theory for smooth 3-manifolds,
which are non-trivial circle bundles over 2-dimenional orbifolds, was obtained. Technically this
requires avoiding the singular space of flat connections altogether and an application of
Abelianization.
5)
Mathematical Physics:
Hyper-Kahler manifolds abound in string theory as well as in topological field theory and
one of the issues that is of interest, also mathematically, has to do with involutions. Following an
approach due to Beauville, we find conditions on the holomorphic symplectic manifolds, which admit
involutions with middle dimensional fixed point set.
Training Activities
MatKematica School in Theoretical Physics: Advanced Topics in Conformal Field
Theory 11-16 March
Organizers: N. Gromov, K.S. Narain, P. Vieira
Spring School on Superstring Theory and Related Topics
18-26 March
Organizers: E. Gava, S. Minwalla, K.S. Narain, S. Randjbar-Daemi, E. Silverstein
Summer School on Particle Physics
10-21 June
Organizers: G. Isidori, M. Shaposhnikov, A. Smirnov, G. Villadoro
Higgs and Beyond the Standard Model Physics at the LHC
24-28 June
Organizers: B. Acharya, A. de Roeck, J. Ellis, M. Kado
New Light in Cosmology from the CMB - School and Workshop
22-26 July / 29 July - 2 August
Organizers: C. Baccigalupi, P. Creminelli, R. Sheth, A. Zacchei
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From Majorana to LHC: Workshop on the Origin of Neutrino Mass
2-5 October
Organizers: F. Ferroni, C. Leonidopoulos, F. Nesti, G. Raffelt, G. Senjanovic, F. Vissani
Workshop on the Future of Dark Matter Astro-Particle Physics: Insights and Perspectives
8-11 October
Organizers: M. Boezio, M. Cirelli, J. Edsjo, F. Longo, P. Serpico, P. Ullio, G. Zaharijas
Workshop on Galaxy Bias: Non-linear, Non-local and Non-Gaussian
8-11 October
Organizers: R. Scoccimarro, E. Sefusatti, R. Sheth
Outside Activities
Seventh Crete Regional Meeting in String Theory
16-23 June
Organizers: F. Ardalan, I. Bakas, E. Kiritsis, D. Luest, K.S. Narain, E. Rabinowici, S. Wadia, E.
Witten
African School of Fundamental Physics and its Applications - Kumasi, Ghana
15 July - 4 August
Organizers: B. Acharya, K. Assamagan, C. Darve, J. Ellis, S. Muanza
Participation in International Programmes
European Contract “UNILHC” - “Unification in the LHC Era”
Services
B.S. Acharya
Organizer of Higgs and Beyond the Standard Model Physics at the LHC
Organizer of the School on Supersymmetry and Unification of
Fundamental Interactions (Pre-SUSY) and the 21st International
Conference on Superymmetry and Unification of Fundamental
Interactions (SUSY 2013)
Supervisor of 8 Postdocs
Supervisor of 1 Diploma Programme student
Supervisor of 1 PhD student at SISSA/ICTP, 3 PhD students at King's
College, London, 1 at Laboratoire de l'accélérateur linéaire (LAL),
France, 1 at U. Michigan, US, and 6 undergraduate students (King's
College)
Taught Elementary Particle Physics at King's College, London
Taught a full 35 hour lecture course to undergraduate/masters students
14
at Birzeit University in Palestine (together with Kate Shaw)
Awarded external research grant: King's College Department fellowship
to partially fund one ICTP diploma student's PhD studies
STFC grant to fund particle phenomenology research, including
collaboration with the ICTP
EPSRC funding to collaborate with Imperial College Geometry group
on G2-manifolds
Served on committee to investigate and implement the “INDICO”
system at the ICTP (to replace the “AGENDA” system)
Preparations for the 2014 African School in Fundamental Physics and its
Applications including a one week site visit to Dakar to ensure that the
necessary infrastructures are in place for the school which takes place in
August 2014
Have collaborated with ATLAS and CMS experimental groups in Africa
and South America: advised on how to maximize potential, funding
opportunities and have directly collaborated
Developed a detailed funding proposal for Kings-ICTP collaboration,
which will be submitted, to various funding agencies in early 2013. Met
with UK Science Minister to discuss the project which is being redrafted to be submitted again
Organized the programme for LHC masterclasses in Algeria and
Palestine which were delivered by ICTP postdocs (Shaw, Soualah and al
Horoub) as well as other collaborators
D. Arean
Co-supervisor of ICTP STEP student (I. Salazar, Argentina)
Arranged String Theory group seminars
B. Dasgupta
Arranges Phenomenology group seminars
Tutorials on Particle Physics for the Diploma Programme
Scientific Secretary of the Workshop on the Future of Dark Matter
Astro-Particle Physics: Insights and Perspectives
Scientific advisory committee member for Numerical Relativity
Workshop, ICTS, Bangalore
P. Creminelli
Lectured on General Relativity for the Diploma Programme
Lectured on Cosmology for the Diploma Programme
Course on Non-gaussianity at Les Houches, France
Course on Inflation at SISSA
Organizer of the School & Workshop New Light in Cosmology from the
CMB
Interactions (SUSY2013)
Supervisor of one Diploma Programme student and examiner for thesis
defence
15
Supervisor of 2 PhD students from SISSA
Supervisor of 1 PhD student visiting from IPM, Iran
Supervision of 1 HECAP Postdoc
Member of the Committee for the selection of OEA P1 position
E. Gava
Organizer of the Spring School on Superstring Theory and Related
Topics
Lectured on Relativistic Quantum Mechanics for the Diploma
Programme
Supervisor of one PhD SISSA student
Examiner for thesis defense of Diploma Programme students
R.K. Gupta
Arranges String Theory group seminars
Tutorials on Quantum Field Theory for the Diploma Programme
E. Hatefi
Chairman of String Theory Journal Club
D. Hernandez Diaz
Tutorials on General Relativity for the Diploma Programme
Scientific Secretary of the Summer School on Particle Physics
D. Lopez Nacir
Arranges Cosmology group seminars
Scientific Secretary of the School & Workshop on New Light in
Cosmology from the CMB
K.S. Narain
Head of the High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Section
Head of the Postgraduate Diploma Programme
Coordinator of the Postgraduate Diploma in High Energy Physics
Lectured on Quantum Field Theory for the Diploma
Supervisor of one Diploma Programme student and examiner for thesis
defence and three PhD SISSA students
Organizer of the Matematica School in Theoretical Physics: Advanced
Topics in Conformal Field Theory
Organizer of the Spring School on Superstring Theory and Related
Topics
Organizer of the Workshop on Geometric Correspondences of Gauge
Theories
16
Organizer of the Seventh Crete Regional Meeting in String Theory
M. Nemevsek
Tutorials on The Standard Model for the Diploma Programme
Arranged Phenomenology Group seminars
Scientific Secretary of From Majorana to LHC: Workshop on the Origin
of Neutrino Mass
E. Sefusatti
Organizer of the Workshop on Galaxy Bias: Non-linear, Non-local and
Non-Gaussian
G. Senjanovic
Lectured on The Standard Model for the Diploma Programme
Supervisor of four Diploma Programme students and examiner for thesis
defence
Organizer of From Majorana to LHC: Workshop on the Origin of
Neutrino Mass
K. Shaw
Scientific Secretary of Higgs and Beyond the Standard Model Physics at
the LHC
Project collaborator, ATLAS Experiment, CERN
Postdoctoral supervisor for PhD student
Taught Masters course in Particle Physics with B. Acharya at Birzeit
University, Palestine
Taught Master classes in Particle Physics in Algeria
R. Sheth
On leave in 2013
Organizer of the School & Workshop New Light in Cosmology from the
CMB
Organizer of the Workshop on Galaxy Bias: Non-linear, Non-local and
Non-Gaussian
Senior Associate Scientist: ICTS, Bangalore, India
Senior Visiting Scholar: AIMS, Cape Town, South Africa
Visiting Researcher: LUTh - Meudon Observatory, France (June 2013)
Visiting Professor: Institut Henri Poincare, France (November 2013)
Member: IAU-OAD Task Force 1 (Research and Universities)
Member: Kaufman Science Advisory Board
Member: NASA grant review panel (October 2013)
Lecturer: Large Scale Structure, Institut Henri Poincare (November
2013)
Collaborated with: Junior Associate S. Movahed; Postdocs S. Anselmi, A.
Paranjape, E. Sefusatti; Visitor S. Nadkarni-Ghosh
Hosted IAU-OAD Associates: A. Hakobyan, B. Sabra
17
Supervised SISSA PhD students: N. Frusciante, E. Castorina
External PhD examiner/reviewer: J. Carreteros (Barcelona), R. Gupta
(UPenn), G. Miller (UPenn), J. Mosher (UPenn)
A. Smirnov
Lectured on Introduction to Particle Physics for the Diploma
Programme
Supervisor of two Diploma Programme students and examiner for thesis
defense
Supervision of three High Energy post-docs
Collaboration with four High Energy invited guest scientists
Organization of the Phenomenology activities within the High Energy
Section
Organizer of the Summer School on Particle Physics
Participation in the following conferences and educational activities:
"Neutrino oscillations: basic formalism", lecture, and "Resolving the
neutrino mass hierarchy with atmospheric neutrinos", talk at Heraeus
workshop "Exploring the Neutrino Sky and Fundamental Particle
Physics on the Megaton Scale", the Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef,
Germany, 20- 23 January 2013
"Neutrinos: Flavors of the Invisible", Schuster Colloquium, University of
Manchester, February 13, 2013, and "Neutrino physics in ice and water"
seminar at University of Manchester, February 14, 2013
"Neutrino mass hierarchy and matter effects", talk at 'XV International
Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes' Venice, Italy, March 12-15, 2013
"Neutrinos: Flavors of the Invisible", ICTP Colloquium, March 20, 2013
"Neutrinos: inverting mass hierarchy, talk at BLV2013 workshop on the
Baryon and Lepton Number Violation, MPIK, Heidelberg, April 8-11,
2013
"Oscillation physics with big neutrino telescopes", talk at the workshop
'Exotic Physics with Neutrino Telescopes 2013' Marseille University,
France, April 2013
"Neutrinos: race for the mass hierarchy", Particle physics theory
seminar, Würzburg University, Germany April 18, 2013
"Neutrino Physics: status and prospect", talk at Latsis Symposium 2013
“Nature at the energy frontier”, June 3-6, 2013 at ETH Zurich,
Switzerland
"Theory of neutrino masses and mixing", talk at the Pontecorvo100
Symposium, Pisa, Italy, September 18-20 2013
"Neutrino physics in ice", seminar at Blackett Lab., Imperial College,
London, November 13, 2013
"Neutrino mixing: symmetry or no symmetry", talk at the workshop
"Towards the Construction of the Fundamental Theory of Flavour",
TUM, Munchen, Germany, December 8-13, 2013
Editor of JHEP (Journal of High Energy Physics) and JCAP (Journal of
Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)
Member of the European network INT "Invisibles"
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Member of Advisory committees of several international conferences
including "Neutrino-2014"
G. Thompson
Head of ICTP Office of External Activities
Lectured on Lei Groups and Lie Algebras for the Diploma Programme
Lectures series on Topological Field Theory at ICTP
Lecture series School in Dubna, Russia
Organizer of the Workshop on Geometric Correspondences of Gauge
Theories
Undertook complete reorganization of TRIL and its incorporation into
the OEA Office
Introduced a new on-line application scheme for TRIL
Together with Uli Singe changed the procedure for payments of visitors
to the ICTP
Together with Uli Singe continuously involved in the introduction of
the portal concept
Was active in obtaining a contribution from Armenia to the ICTP
Endowment fund
Part of Delegation to Rwanda and follow up on ICTP East Africa
Chairman of ICTS Board
Chairman of committee on the Library
Chairman of committee on the Info Point
Chairman of Committee to look at IOS recommendation on contractual
obligations
Chairman of Outreach Strategy Committee
Member of Fund raising Committee
Member of 50th Anniversary Committee
Member of Committee to consider the UNESCO Steps, Perfoweb and
Tulip systems
Member of Committee on MLAB
Member of Committee to consider audit recommendation on central
database and filing system for all legal, financial and logistical
arrangements, agreements and commitments
Member of SAC for the position of Advancement Officer
Member of SAC for Astronomy for Development position
G. Villadoro
Lectured on Quantum Electrodynamics for the Diploma Programme
Organizer of the Summer School on Particle Physics
Supervisor to 2 PhD students
19
Organization of ICTP Colloquium
Organization of Joint Phenomenology Journal Club
Member of ICTP prize committee
Member of ICTP committee on overheads
Member of selection committee for new P3 HECAP staff member
Referee for OEA Scientific Meetings
Selection of Postdocs, Visitors and Associates for HECAP section.
Invited talks: “To Split or Not To Split” - SNS Pisa, Apr. 4
“SUSY after LHC8” - U. of Firenze – Apr. 10
“SUSY after the 8 TeV run of the LHC” - DaMeSyFla group meeting, U.
of Padova, Apr. 11-12
“SUSY after the LHC-8” - Probing the Standard Model and New
Physics at Low and High Energies, Portoroz – Apr. 14-18
“To Split or Not To Split” - U. of Barcelona – May 2
“SUSY dopo il Run a 8 TeV di LHC” - VI Workshop Italiano sulla Fisica
p-p a LHC, Genova – May 8-10
“To Split or Not To Split” - U. of Roma III - May 16
“Is Natural SUSY Expired?” - Beyond the Standard Model after the first
run of the LHC, GGI Firenze, July 9-12
“SUSY and the Higgs” – “Why mH=126 GeV”, UAM Madrid - Sept 2527
“SUSY after LHC8” - Solvay Workshop on "Exploring Higher Energy
Physics", Brussels – Nov. 4-6
G. Zaharijas
Organizer of the Workshop on the Future of Dark Matter AstroParticle Physics: Insights and Perspectives.
Mentoring of a student from Mexico for a summer project on behalf of
the Office of the Director.
Staff and Long-Term Visitors
Professional Staff
Bobby Acharya, UK
Paolo Creminelli, Italy
Kumar S. Narain, India
Goran Senjanovic, Croatia
Ravi Sheth, USA
Alexei Yu. Smirnov, Russian Federation
George Thompson, Australia
Giovanni Villadoro, Italy
20
Consultants
Postdoctoral Fellows
Edi Gava, Italy
Daniel Arean, Spain
Xiaoyong Chu, China
Visiting Scientists (2 months or more)
Basudeb Dasgupta, India
E. Akhmedov, Russian Federation
Rajesh K. Gupta, India
Stefano Anselmi, Italy
Ehsan Hatefi, Iran
Dimitar Bakalov, Bulgaria
Daniel Hernandez Diaz, Cuba
Razieh Emami Meibody, Iran
Vid Irsic, Slovenia
Cristine Ferreira Nunes, Brazil
Diana Lopez Nacir, Argentina
Elena Pierpaoli, Italy
Daniele Musso, Italy
Gor Sarkissian, Armenia
Miha Nemevsek, Slovenia
Emiliano Sefusatti, Italy
Kate Shaw, UK
Zhibin Zhang, China
Gabrijela Zaharijas, Serbia
Funding
Mathematica School in Theoretical Physics: Advanced Topics in Conformal Field Theory
Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN)
Spring School on Superstring Theory and Related Topics
Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP)
Summer School on Particle Physics
Higgs and Beyond the Standard Model Physics at the LHC
New Light in Cosmology from the CMB - School and Workshop
From Majorana to LHC: Workshop on the Origin of Neutrino Mass
Workshop on the Future of Dark Matter Astro-Particle Physics: Insights and Perspectives
Workshop on Galaxy Bias: Non-linear, Non-local and Non-Gaussian
Postdoctoral fellow: D. Musso
21
CONDENSED MATTER AND
STATISTICAL PHYSICS (CMSP)
Permanent and Temporary Staff and Visitors in 2013
The permanent staff of the Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics (CMSP) Group consisted of 7
staff members (see Annex), the same as in 2012.
The total number of postdoctoral fellows and long-term (> 3 months) visiting scientists in 2013
was 19 (20 in 2012). Of them, 11 were nationals of developing countries, and 8 (6 of them are from
Italy) were nationals of developed countries (including 2 who were paid by the EC grants and a
cost-free sabbatical visitor). The total number of months spent at ICTP by this category of
scientists was 167 (158 in 2012), and the average (per 12 months) number of temporal research
staff was 14 (13 in 2012). There are also 6 PhD students from Joint ICTP-SISSA PhD Programs
supervised by CMSP Staff Members.
The total number of visits to the CMSP Group in 2013 was 215 (232 in 2012) from 53 countries of
the world (93, by scientists from developing countries, including 23 scientists from Africa, 26 from
East Europe and 96 from developed countries, including 43 from Italy).
In addition, 3 senior postdoctoral fellows, 2 staff associates and 5 consultants took an active part in
the research and training activities.
Research Directions
Traditionally, the scientific activities of the CMSP group follow four major directions:
1. Physics of Disordered and Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, including theoretical
nanophysics, localization, quantum systems out of equilibrium, low-dimensional systems with
interaction, strong electron correlations in new materials, disordered superconducting and
superfluid systems, cold bosonic and fermionic atoms.
This direction was represented by the activities of the staff members V.E. Kravtsov, M.N.
Kiselev, M. Müller, A. Scardicchio; staff associates A. Nersesyan and V. Yudson, long-term
visiting scientists M. Palassini and S. Pilati; consultants B.L. Altshuler, G. Santoro, A. Silva,
E. Tosatti and a number of post-doctoral fellows (E. Fratini, J. Goold, Y. Iqbal, S. Mandal, T.
Song, V. Varma, H. Xie).
2. Statistical Mechanics and Applications, including cooperative phenomena in complex adaptive
systems, statistical mechanical description of complex networks and financial markets,
application of statistical mechanics to computer science, optimization problems in genetics and
biophysics, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and quantum computing.
Within this direction a new initiative on Systems Biology has been recently launched with M.
Marsili as the Coordinator.
This direction was represented by the activities of the staff members M. Marsili (Coordinator),
M. Müller and A. Scardicchio, consultant G. Mussardo, long-term visiting scientist M.
Budinich and a number of postdoctoral fellows (M. Bahrami, M. Bardoscia, W. Clifford-Brown,
A. Haimovici, G. Livan).
3. Electronic Structure and Condensed Matter Computer Simulations, including simulations of
condensed matter at high pressures, new materials, ab-initio calculations of properties of nanoand bio-systems, catalysis and surface physics, and physics of friction and lubrication.
Within this direction a new initiative on computational materials science for renewable energy
applications has been recently launched with R. Gebauer as the project coordinator.
22
This direction was represented by the activities of the staff members: R. Gebauer, S. Scandolo;
consultants E. Tosatti, G. Santoro, long-term visitors N. Seriani and A. Hassanali and a
number of postdoctoral fellows (Y. Crespo, O.E. Gonzalez Vazquez, L. Grisanti, M.T. Nguyen,
A. Raji).
4. Quantum Theory of Friction and Related Phenomena.
This direction was represented by the activities of E. Tosatti and G. Santoro and their
collaborators, in particular scientists visiting ICTP (O. Braun, M. Urbakh).
Research Accomplishments
Publications
The research activities along the above directions resulted in 59 publications (51 in 2012) in the
major peer-reviewed journals in 2013. They include 8 papers published in The Physical Review
Letters; 20 papers in The Physical Review; 5 papers in Journal of Statistical Mechanics, 3 in Europhysics
Letters, and one review paper in Review of Modern Physics.
36 papers written in 2013 are in press or submitted to be published.
Seminars
The intensity and diversity of scientific life inside the group is illustrated by the number (80 in
2013) and the subjects of research seminars: seminars on Disorder and Strongly Correlated
Systems (29 in 2013), Joint ICTP-SISSA seminar on Statistical Physics (28 seminars in 2013), Joint
ICTP-SISSA Condensed Matter Colloquia and Condensed Matter seminars (7 in 2013). In
addition, there were 13 informal seminars and special seminars and 3 Associates Seminars.
Invited Talks
The members of the CMSP group gave 56 plenary or invited talks in major international meetings
in 2013, highlighting the results of the group’s research.
Main Research Results
The main results obtained in 2013 in the field of Physics of Disordered and Strongly Correlated
Electron Systems are:
1. Counter-intuitive: Increase of superconducting/superfluid transition temperature by disorder
or repulsive interaction. (A. Scardicchio, S. Pilati)
Interplay of disorder and repulsive (Coulomb) interaction is known to suppress the
superconductivity. Repulsive interactions are also known to lead to the superfluid-to-Mott
insulator transition in a system of interacting bosons in a periodic (lattice) potential. In two
separate and completely independent researches it was shown that the
superconducting/superfluid transition temperature can be increased by disorder or by
repulsive interactions. A. Scardicchio and co-workers undertook an inter-disciplinary research
suggesting a solvable model of a holographic superconductivity of strongly correlated
particles subject to a certain disorder. They have shown that, similar to the system of
fermions with attractive interaction near the Anderson localization transition, the
superconducting transition temperature increases with disorder. S. Pilati with co-workers has
shown that, using exact continuous-space quantum Monte-Carlo method, going beyond the
standard one-band approximation for bosons in a periodic potential leads to the sharp increase
of the superfluid transition temperature just before the quantum phase transition to the Mott
insulator phase as the strength of repulsive interaction increases.
2. Many-body localization without disorder. (M. Müller)
23
Many-body localization (MBL), or localization in the Fock space of many-body states of noninteracting fermions or bosons, reflects itself in the vanishing conductance or in the
incomplete thermalization of an isolated system of interacting particles at finite temperatures.
By common wisdom it requires a discrete spectrum of local density of states, which is caused
by disorder that Anderson-localizes single-particle states, while interaction tends to delocalize
the many-body states. M. Müller and his coworkers have shown that disorder is not a
necessary ingredient of the MBL. The ergodicity and translational invariance may break
down spontaneously, driven entirely by quantum effects.
3. Non-ergodicity of extended states in hierarchical systems. (B.L. Altshuler, V.E. Kravtsov, A.
Scardicchio)
Anderson localization is a quantum transition from extended to localized in space states. In
3D systems extended states occupy all the available space and thus are ergodic. The localized
states occupy only a finite set of sites and are maximally non-ergodic. The states at the
transition point are extended (occupy infinite set of sites in the thermodynamic limit) but nonergodic (the fraction of the occupied sites is zero). It was shown by the authors that on
hierarchical lattices like Bethe lattice all the extended states are non-ergodic, multifractal.
This observation is important for understanding the many-body localization, as the Fock space
of Slatter determinants is hierarchical in character.
4. SU(3) Landau-Zener transitions. (M. Kiselev)
M. Kiselev and co-workers propose a universal approach to the Landau-Zener problem in a
three-level system. The problem is formulated in terms of Gell-Mann operators, which
generate SU(3) algebra and map the Hamiltonian on the effective anisotropic pseudospin 1
model. The vector Bloch equation for the density matrix describing the temporal evolution of
the three-level crossing problem is solved analytically for the case where the adiabatic states of
the SU(3) Hamiltonian form a triangle. The model demonstrates oscillation patterns, which
radically differ from the standard patterns for the two-level Landau-Zener problem. The
triangle works as an interferometer and the interplay between two paths results in formation
of "beats" and "steps" pattern in the time-dependent transition probability.
5. Energy flow affected by a non-potential force: giant enhancement of electron-phonon cooling
by magnetic field. (V. Kravtsov )
The inefficiency of cooling of hot electrons by phonons at low temperatures causes
overheating and thermal bi-stability of conductors and weak insulators under voltage bias.
The authors have shown that the electron-phonon cooling rate in dirty metals and weak
Anderson insulators can be greatly enhanced in a moderately strong magnetic field. The effect
is due to the possibility for a phonon to excite a slow spin density diffusion mode, which is
strongly retarded compared to the driving force caused by electron-phonon interaction.
The main results obtained in 2013 in the field of Statistical Mechanics and Applications are:
1. Power laws at work against financial fraud ( M. Marsili)
M. Marsili and co-workers have analyzed a data set of the largest global firms. This revealed
that, while the distribution of asset sizes follows a power law in most of the range, a cut-off has
appeared in the last decade. This cutoff, that occurs on the scale of 2-3 trillion USD, is largely
unexpected as models of proportional random growth that generate power law distributions
are expected to work in the whole range. This deviation is related with the emergence of the
shadow-banking sector and, in this way, the authors derived an indicator to predict its size
that is in remarkably good agreement with the estimates of the Financial Stability Board.
2. Towards quantum satisfiability problem: K-AdSAT. (M. Bardoscia, A. Scardicchio)
The authors studied a classical computational problem known as K-AdSAT, which has deep
implications in the contest of the quantum satisfiability problem. The authors proved that for
24
K = 2, the problem belongs to the complexity class P. For K = 3, the problem is investigated
numerically, showing a sharp transition between a phase in which an instance of the problem
is almost surely satisfiable and a phase in which it is almost surely unsatisfiable. An upper
bound on the density of clauses at which the transition occurs was suggested which is much
stricter than previous results.
3. Thermodynamics of non-abelian Chern-Simons particles: What is in common with bosons and
fermions? (G. Mussardo)
The thermodynamic properties of an ideal gas of non-Abelian Chern-Simons particles have
been studied, in particular determining the second virial coefficient by means of general softcore boundary conditions for the two-body wave function at zero distance. At the lower order
of the virial expansion it was found that the relation between the internal energy and the
pressure is the same as was found (exactly) for 2D Bose and Fermi ideal gases. This turns out
to be a very general thermodynamic result, which can be traced back to the absence of any
microscopic scale.
The main results obtained in 2013 in the field of Electronic Structure and Computer Simulations
are:
1. Water at extreme conditions. (S. Scandolo, A. Hassanali, O. Gonzalez-Vazquez)
The self-dissociation of water plays a fundamental role in many natural and technological
processes. It controls the acidity of a solution, the rate of aqueous reactions, and the
conductivity of liquid water. At ambient conditions, water dissociation occurs through the
reaction 2H2O <-> OH- + H3O+ and it is a rare event: a randomly chosen water molecule
dissociates only once every 11 hours, corresponding to the well-known value of the logarithm
of the dissociation constant pKw = -log10[OH-][H3O+] = 14. Experiments and computer
simulations suggest that, as temperature and pressure are increased, self-dissociation occurs
more frequently. At the conditions of pressure and temperature found in the water-rich
planetary interiors of Uranus and Neptune, water is essentially a fully dissociated fluid
corresponding to a change of more than a dozen orders of magnitude for the dissociation
constant. How this limit is reached is not yet fully understood. S. Scandolo and co-workers
have proposed a new method to calculate the dissociation constant of water. The method is
based on the evaluation of the free-energy of dissociation using the coordination number of
one of the oxygen atoms as reaction coordinate. The authors have verified that the method
gives excellent results at ambient conditions (predicted pKw of about 13) and are now
extending the method to extreme conditions.
A. Hassanali and O. Gonzalez-Vazquez studied the ionization of water molecules and their
subsequent recombination using both ab initio molecular dynamics simulations as well as
classical empirical potentials developed in the group of S. Scandolo. Some of the preliminary
results indicate that there are long-range hydrogen bond correlations that exist between the
hydronium and hydroxide ions, which in turn facilitate the process of recombination.
25
Final configuration of a simulation with 256 water molecules, showing the presence of the pair OH- and
H3O+
2. A new Natural-Orbital-Functional Theory, OP-NOFT. (R. Gebauer)
R. Gebauer and co-workers developed a new natural-orbital-functional theory, OP-NOFT, in
which the basic variables are the NO’s and their occupation numbers, as in one-particle density
matrix (1-DM) theories, plus their joint occupation probabilities (OP), which allow to
represent the 2-DM accurately. In its simplest formulation it retains the scaling of HartreeFock (HF) energy-functional minimization, albeit with a higher prefactor. Yet it describes the
dissociation of simple diatomic molecules and multi-atom chains with an accuracy comparable
to that of DOCI, which uses a compact basis of Slater determinants (SD) but retains
exponential scaling. OP-NOFT is powerful at high correlation, i.e. at intermediate and large
interatomic separations where HF fails due to the multi-reference character of the groundstate wavefunction. There OP-NOFT outperforms HF, Density Functional Theory and
quantum chemistry methods such as (single-reference) coupled cluster with single, double and
perturbative triple electron-hole excitations.
3. Realistic materials for photocatalysis and design of lithium batteries. (R. Gebauer, N. Seriani,
M.T. Nguyen, Y. Crespo, S. Mandal)
In the field of photocatalysis, the focus is on materials that convert solar energy into chemical
energy by splitting water and/or reducing carbon dioxide. A system composed of TiO_2 and
Cu has been investigated. The effect of copper on the atomic structure and the electronic
structure of titanium dioxide has been studied in the cases when copper is employed as a
doping element, as small clusters and as nanometric particles at a titania surface. The atomic
structure of this systems has been studied, as well as the relation between atomic and
electronic structure. Finally, water adsorption and dissociation have been simulated on a
nanometric copper particle supported on a titania surface. This gives insight into the role of
Cu, in particular on the role of particle shape and its orientation with respect to the titania
support, in water dissociation, which is the first step of the hydrocarbon production.
Regarding lithium batteries, most of the research has involved the characterization of
materials for the cathode of lithium-air batteries. The focus was on alpha-MnO_2 and on the
interaction of lithium peroxide (Li_2 O_2) with the graphitic material, which constitutes most
of the cathode. The characterization of alpha-MnO_2 as a catalyst for the reversible formation
of Li_2 O_2 has been performed using the density functional theory and through the use of
the spin lattice models able to describe the essential features of the magnetic behavior.
The main result obtained in 2013 in the field of Quantum Theory of Friction is:
26
1. Scaling theory of friction (E. Tosatti)
The finite size scaling laws are formulated and verified, capable of describing whether the
infinite size system will exhibit stick-slip or smooth sliding.
Vortices in a Charge Density Wave (CDW) as a source of nano-friction. (G. Santoro).
G. Santoro and co-workers have shown that the physics behind the giant dissipation peaks
observed when an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) tip approaches the surface of Nb Se_2, a
system known to possess a Charge Density Wave.
The authors argued that the dissipation peaks are due to the generation of phase-vortices in
the underlying surface CDW.
Vortex in a charge density wave probed by AFM tip.
External Funding
The group staff members are involved in a number of international scientific projects/networks:
•
EU-FP7 Collaborative Project “ADGLASS” (S. Scandolo)
•
International Council for Science (ICSU) grant to support African scientists (S. Scandolo)
•
I2CAM program (M. Kiselev)
•
ISCRA (Italian SuperComputing Research Allocation) and PRACE Computational Grants
(R. Gebauer, N. Seriani)
•
FOODCAST grant from SISSA NETADIS EU Initial Training Network (M. Marsili)
•
INET grant with University of Auckland and Bank of Canada on "Safe Assets and the
Evolution of Financial Information" (M. Marsili)
Training Activities
ICTP training activities
The condensed matter related training activities in 2013 included 17 Schools and Conferences (14
in 2012), including 4 held in developing countries (see appended list). In all these, the members and
consultants of the CMSP Group acted as directors or local organizers.
27
Teaching at ICTP
Seven staff members (R. Gebauer, V. Kravtsov, M. Kiselev, M. Marsili, M. Müller, S. Scandolo, A.
Scardicchio), 3 consultants (G. Mussardo, G. Santoro, A. Silva), 1 Staff Associate (A. Nersesyan), 3
long-term visiting scientists (A. Hassanali, N. Seriani S. Pilati) and postdoctoral fellows (M.
Bardoscia, E. Fratini, O. Gonzalez Vazquez, G. Livan, M.T. Nguyen) took part in teaching and
tutoring in the ICTP Diploma Programme, the Joint ICTP-SISSA PhD Programme on Statistical
Physics and the Programme for Master in Complex Systems.
Teaching and Lecturing in Africa, Asia and Latin America
The CMSP section organized 4 Regional Schools in Singapore, Shanghai and Hanoi and took part
in the teaching:
28
!
School on “Modern Topics in Condensed Matter Physics” (Singapore-Singapore) – M.
Müller
!
Joint ICTP-NSFC School and Advanced Workshop on Modern Electronic Structure
(Shanghai-People’s Republic of China) – R. Gebauer
!
Joint ICTP-VAST-APCTP Regional School and Conference on Topological Phases and
Quantum Computation (Hanoi-Vietnam) – A. Scardicchio, G. Mussardo.
!
Winter School in Quantitative Systems Biology (Bangalore - India) - M. Marsili
!
N. Seriani held lectures and hands-on sessions on first-principles simulation methods at the
1st Khartoum Workshop on Advances in Materials Science (KWAMS'13), in Khartoum
(Sudan), 19th-26th January 2013 and at the Third LinkSCEEM General User Meeting at
the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria (Egypt), 25th-27th June 2013.
!
M. Marsili taught series of lectures at School on Financial and Actuarial Mathematics: 29
April to 11 May 2013, Buea ( Cameroon).
!
R. Gebauer gave an invited talk at the Meeting with senators of the Nigerian Senate,
Abuja (Nigeria). Title: ICTP Initiative in Energy and Sustainability. February 11th, 2013;
taught at "Kathmandu Summer School on ab initio Simulation of Solids", Kathmandu
(Nepal), April 2013 and at "Joint ICTP-NSFC School and Advanced Workshop on Modern
Electronic Structure Computations", Shanghai (China), July 2013.
Service outside ICTP
R. Gebauer
Member, Editorial Board, Solid State Communications, Elsevier
M. Kiselev
Associate Editor, The African Review of Physics, Associate Editor of
Nanomechanics
M. Marsili
Organized the International Master's Program on the Physics of
Complex Systems (SISSA, Politecnico di Torino)
S. Scandolo
Member, Editorial Board, High Pressure Research, Taylor &
Francis
Member, Editorial Board, The African Review of Physics
Member, Steering Committee, Psi-K European Network
Vice-chair, IUPAP Commission on Physics and Development
(C13)
Reviewer for Nature, Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys Rev. B, J. Chem. Phys.,
etc
External reviewer for PRACE (EU) and NRF (South Africa)
Chair, Beamtime Review Committee, European Synchrotron
Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France)
Member, Advisory Board, Centre for Science at Extreme
Conditions (CSEC), Edinburgh, UK
Member, Executive Board, African School Series on Electronic
Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA)
29
Scientific Staff and Visitors
Professional Staff
Long-Term Visiting Scientists
R. Gebauer, Germany
Senior Postdoctoral Fellows:
M. Kiselev, Russian Federation
A. Hassanali, Tanzania
V.E. Kravtsov, Russian Federation
S. Pilati, Italy
M. Marsili, Italy
N. Seriani, Italy
M. Müller, Switzerland
S. Scandolo, Italy
Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Scientists
A. Scardicchio, Italy
M. Bahrami, Iran
M. Bardoscia, Italy
M. Budinich, Italy
Staff Associates
W.E. Clifford-Brown, UK
A.A. Nersesyan, Georgia
Y. Crespo Hernandez, Cuba
V.I. Yudson, Russian Federation
E. Fratini, Italy
O.E. Gonzalez Vazquez, Cuba
J. Goold, Ireland
Consultants
L. Grisanti, Italy
B.L. Altshuler, USA
A. Haimovici, Argentina
G. Mussardo, Italy
Y. Iqbal, India
G. Santoro, Italy
G. Livan, Italy
A. Silva, Italy as of 1 July 2012
S. Mandal, India
E. Tosatti, Italy
M.T. Nguyen, Vietnam
M. Palassini, Italy
A. Raji, Nigeria
T. Song, Korea
V. Varma, India
H. Xie, China
Summary of 2013 in numbers
Publications in peer-review journals: 59
Invited talks (excluding seminars): 56
Schools, Workshops and Conferences organized: 17
Visits to the Group (excluding lecturers and participants of training activities): 215
Seminars: 80
30
Funding
ICTP funding in 2013 was: total of 565K Euro for the Condensed Matter (470K) and Statistical
Physics (95K) activities (excluding special funding for Energy Research). External funding was 110K
Euro.
Condensed Matter Related Activities 2013
smr2549
18 February - 21 February
ADGLASS Winter School on Advanced Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Organizer(s): L. Colombi Ciacchi (University of Bremen). Local organizer: S. Scandolo (ICTP)
smr2449 25 March - 27 March
38th Conference of the Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics - MECO38
Organizer(s): A. Gambassi (SISSA), M. Marsili, M. Müller, and A. Scardicchio (ICTP).
smr2451
8 April - 12 April
Workshop on Interferometry and Interactions in Non-equilibrium Meso- and Nano-systems
Organizer(s): Y. Gefen (Israel), S. Ludwig (Germany), C. Marcus (Denmark), F. von Oppen
(Germany). Local Organizer: M. Kiselev
smr2462 13 May - 17 May
Workshop on Ultracold Atoms and Gauge Theories
Organizer(s): J. Dalibard (ENS, Paris), M. Lewenstein (ICFO, Barcelona), G. Mussardo (SISSA,
Trieste), C. Sa de Melo (Georgia Tech, Atlanta), A. Trombettoni (CNR-IOM DEMOCRITOS &
SISSA, Trieste). Local Organizer: M. Müller
smr2461 20 May - 14 June
Spring College on Physics of Complex Systems
Organizer(s): S. Franz, E. Trizac, J.-B. Fournier, M. Ben Amar, A. Gambassi, G. Martinelli, M.
Marsili, R. Zecchina, Al. Pelizzola. Local Organizer: M. Marsili
smr2469
1 July - 5 July
Workshop and Conference on Geometrical Aspects of Quantum States in Condensed Matter
Organizer(s): Dam Thanh Son (USA), A. Ludwig (USA), P. Wiegmann (USA). Local Organizer:
V.E. Kravtsov
smr2475
6 August - 15 August
Hands-on Workshop on Density Functional Theory and Beyond: Computational Materials Science
for Real Materials
Organizer(s): C. Baldauf (FHI, Berlin), V. Blum (FHI, Berlin), R. Gebauer (ICTP, Trieste), M.
Scheffler (FHI, Berlin)
smr2477 19 August - 23 August
Advanced Workshop on Non-equilibrium Bosons: From Driven Condensates to Non-Linear Optics
Organizer(s): B.L. Altshuler (USA), S. Flach (New Zealand), A. Imamoglu (Switzerland), A. Kavokin
(UK), V. Yudson (Russia). Local Organizer: M. Kiselev
smr2445
9 September - 13 September
Frontiers of Nanomechanics
Organizer(s): M. Blencowe (USA), J. von Delft (Germany), I. Favero (France), K. Lehnert (USA), F.
Marquardt (Germany), E. Weig (Germany). Local Organizer: M. Kiselev
smr2486 24 September - 26 September
ICTP LEMSUPER Conference on Mechanisms and Developments in Light-Element Based and
Other Novel Superconductors
Organizer(s): P.B. Littlewood UK), K. Prassides (UK), Y. Iwasa (Japan), E. Tosatti (SISSA). Local
31
Organizer: S. Scandolo
smr2493 14 October - 18 October
Conference on: Ultrafast Dynamics of Correlated Materials
Organizer(s): M. Fabrizio, C. Giannetti, M. Marsi. Local Organizer: M. Müller
smr2497
5 November - 8 November
Conference on Friction and Energy Dissipation in Man-made and Biological Systems
Organizer(s): E. Meyer (Switzerland), M. Urbakh (Israel), Local Organizer: E. Tosatti
smr2498 11 November - 15 November
Conference on Frontiers of Condensed Matter Physics
Organizer(s): A. Fasolino (The Netherlands), M. Parrinello (Switzerland), G. Kotliar (USA), G.
Santoro (SISSA), M. Capone (CNR). Local Organizer: S. Scandolo
HELD OUTSIDE TRIESTE
smr2504 28 January - 8 February
School on Modern Topics in Condensed Matter Physics (Singapore - Singapore)
Organizer(s): A.H. Castro Neto, M.A. Cazalilla, L.C. Kwek, M. Müller, C. Panagopoulos, K.K. Phua
smr2509
8 July - 12 July
Joint ICTP-NSFC School and Advanced Workshop on Modern Electronic Structure Computations
(Shanghai - People's Republic of China)
Organizer(s): S. Baroni (SISSA), R. Gebauer (ICTP), Xin-Gao Gong (Fudan University), S. Piccinin
(CNR); Local Organizers: X.G. Gong, H. Wu, H.J. Xiang
smr2515
4 November - 8 November
Regional Workshop on Materials Science for Solar Energy Conversion (Cape Town - South Africa)
Organizer(s): D. Egbe (Austria), M. Maaza (South Africa), R. Gebauer (ICTP), N. Seriani (ICTP).
ICTP Local Organizer: R. Gebauer
smr2518
9 December - 20 December
Joint ICTP-VAST-APCTP Regional School and Conference on Theoretical Physics in Topological
Phases and Quantum Computation (Hanoi - Viet Nam)
Organizer(s): Tran Minh Tien (IOP, Hanoi), Ho Trung Dung (IOP-HCM, Ho Chi Minh City), G.
Mussardo (SISSA, Trieste), A. Scardicchio (ICTP, Trieste) and P.B. Wiegmann (Chicago). Local
Organizers: Nguyen Hong Quang (VAST, Hanoi) and Nguyen Ai Viet (IOP-VAST, Hanoi) .
32
MATHEMATICS
Introduction
Starting January 1, 2014 Fernando Rodriguez Villegas took over as head of the Mathematics Section
after the former head Ramadas T. Ramakrishnan moved back to India. Villegas was part of ICTP
delegations in various official trips:
• Panama, Costa Rica: Fernando Rodriguez Villegas and Claudio Procesi (from the University La
Sapienza of Rome) visited Panama and Costa Rica giving talks (in Spanish) entitled El Espíritu del
Algebra and El álgebra y el mundo real respectively, to young students (including high-school
students in the case of Costa Rica).
Later in the trip, they participated in meetings with mathematicians to discuss a project for creating
a regional Doctorate in Mathematics, in which ICTP has been involved.
• Nigeria, South Africa: the ICTP delegation visited several institutions including the main
headquarters of AIMS (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences) in Cape Town.
• Argentina: Villegas with the Director visited the University of Buenos Aires and met the Minister
of Science and Technology to discuss a possible regional branch of ICTP in Argentina. The
discussions were positive and the initiative was given the OK. We are still waiting for Argentina to
produce a draft of an accord.
He also took part in the conversations with a delegation from Rwanda about the project to host a
regional branch of ICTP there. The Math Section would participate in helping set up a one-year
program of “Basic Mathematics” in Rwanda, similar to that of “Basic Physics” that took place at
ICTP recently. The Section will seek to collaborate with SIDA on this project as they already have
something in place in Rwanda.
In the summer of 2013, two high-profile mathematicians visited the Section for a few weeks: Don
Zagier and Sasha Beilinson. The primary goal of their visit was to explore the possibility that they
could be associated to ICTP in some capacity on a regular basis. In the case of Don Zagier, the
conversations continued and it is now clear that there will be some such arrangement with the
complete details still to be hammered out. At the very least he will spend a few weeks a year at
ICTP giving seminars, interacting with students, postdocs, visitors and staff, and, possibly, (co)teaching a concentrated course at SISSA.
Within the Section, we started a weekly reading seminar on Quivers with talks given by postdocs
and staff of the Section; the seminar audience includes a sizable SISSA contingent. We also
organized a few informal talks on the topic of Persistent Homology, which is the application of
homological techniques to the analysis of big data. We also had several informal seminars, while
Prof. Narasimhan was visiting last summer, on Deligne’s recent lectures at IHES on his works on
counting l-adic sheaves.
L. Göttsche gave a series of six lectures on his recent work with Schende and others on "Refined
Curve Counting." Sergei Pilyugin (St. Petersburg State University, Russia) gave a series of six
lectures on Shadowing in Dynamical Systems.
The Math Section’s website has been thoroughly revised and updated. It now includes information
on staff associates, scientific collaborators and graduate students as well as a blog with updates on
the Section’s activities. We will soon install a touch-screen in the corridor in the Leonardo Building
near the Section’s main office to replace the poster with photographs of its members now in place.
The screen will allow access to the Section’s websites providing basic information on its current
composition and activities..
Research Activities
33
Staff
Claudio Arezzo
1. Finding new functionals, defined on the space of metrics on a compact
Riemannian manifold, whose critical points are exactly algebraic
cycles, i.e., integral combinations of currents associated to
holomorphic submanifolds.
2. Using a moment map construction, opposite to the classical one, to
construct via symplectic quotients new solutions to special PDEs on
the quotient induced from the covering space. This is dual to the
classical picture, where one lifts (e.g., Gibbon-Hawking ansatz)
solutions to the Ricci flat equation to a covering space.
3. Studying special solutions (“solitons”) to the mean curvature flow in
arbitrary codimension, trying to generalize some deep results known
for hypersurfaces.
Lothar Göttsche
Göttsche has continued his work on refined curve counting on surfaces. In
collaboration with Shende he has introduced refined invariants of surfaces
using Hilbert schemes of points, defined refined Severi degrees, and gave a
precise conjectural relationship between these. They also determined the
refined invariants for abelian and K3 surfaces, partially determining their
generating series for all surfaces. In collaboration with Block he gave a
tropical interpretation to refined Severi degrees and used this to compute
them in terms of an action of a Heisenberg algebra. Together with
Schroeter he worked on a generalization of the refined Severi degrees,
which also generalize the so-called broccoli curves (generalizations of
tropical curves used in counting real algebraic curves satisfying both real
and complex point conditions).
Stefano Luzzatto
Geometric and statistical properties of nonuniformly hyperbolic systems:
1. A fairly major project was completed in collaboration with J.F. Alves
(visitor), C. Dias, V, Pinheiro on geometric structures of partially
hyperbolic systems. A preprint has been submitted to publication.
2. A joint paper with PhD student Marks Ruziboev is almost complete on
decay of correlations for direct product dynamical systems.
3. Two joint papers with PhD students Khadim War and Sina Tureli are
in progress on the existence of invariant foliations for partially
hyperbolic systems.
Prevalence of stochastic dynamics:
A significant amount of work was carried out with A. Golmakani and P.
Pilarczyk, both of whom visited ICTP, on some rigorous numerics for the
estimation of the probability of stochastic dynamics in the quadratic
family.
Ramadas T.
Ramakrishnan
Ramadas has succeeded in formulating certain chiral quantum field
theories in terms of rational functions (rather than formal power series).
This leads to reformulations of the basic definitions and results of vertex
algebras as well of conformal blocks and the connection described from
different points of view by Knizhik-Zamoldchikov.
Axelrod-Dellapietra-Witten, Hitchin and Tsuchiya-Ueno-Yamada. It is
hoped that this will also yield a natural proof of the unitarity of this
connection.
All of the above should be thought of constructing certain natural objects
34
on the complex projective line. There are extensions of many of the ideas
to higher genus curves.
Fernando Rodriguez
Villegas
Villegas continues to pursue two main themes:
1. Geometry of quiver and character varieties. This is a joint project with
T. Hausel and E. Letellier and is an ongoing effort to use techniques of
number theory, combinatorics and representation theory to uncover
features of the geometry of these varieties. Particularly because of its
close connection to the moduli space of Higgs bundles on a curve our
work has implications to various research areas. For example, our
conjectural description of the mixed Hodge polynomial of the
character varieties has been reformulated in terms of wall-crossing
formulae by the physicist Diaconescu at Rutgers and his collaborators;
it was also refined by G. Laumon and P.-H. Chadouard of Orsay in
terms of Arthur’s trace formula.
2. Hypergeometric Motives. This topic is also part of an ongoing
research project involving several people (including the ICTP postdoc
A. Mellit). The plan is to write up the main results of this project by
the end of 2014 in a book with contributions by various combinations
of the participants. It was the main subject of the school/workshop coorganized by Villegas at ICTP in June 2012 and will also figure
prominently in an activity at ICTP in early September 2014. This
latter activity is 2/3 funded by an EPSRC grant based at Warwick and
Bristol, whose main goal is to contribute to the L-functions and
Modular Forms database.
35
Consultants
G. Bellettini
Bellettini works on aspects of geometric partial differential equations. In particular, his research is
focused on mean curvature flow of hypersurfaces, anisotropic mean curvature flow, ill-posed
parabolic differential equations, and their approximation. His most recent work concerns the area of
the graph of a map from the plane to the plane with a line discontinuity and similar problems.
Staff Associates
Lassina Dembélé
Lassina works on aspects of computational number theory, specifically, on computational aspects of
modular forms.
Mod p Langlands correspondence for GL2. The mod p Langlands correspondence for GL2 is a vast
generalisation of the (classical) Serre conjecture to the framework of the Langlands Programme. He
has a joint project, with Fred Diamond and David Roberts, which aims to provide explicit examples
and numerical evidence for this correspondence for GL2 over totally real number fields.
Higher rank algebraic automorphic forms. He is currently working on developing algorithms for
higher rank automorphic forms on algebraic groups that are compact at infinity. These algorithms
will be useful in testing many conjectures that arise from the Langlands Programme.
Maria José Pacifico
Pacifico works in the general area of Dynamical systems. She is currently interested in the theory of
expansive homeomorphisms and in giving rigorous approximations to certain invariants that have
been thoroughly studied from a theoretical point of view but not so much numerically. In particular,
she is pursuing rigorous approximations for the invariant measures of the Lorenz attractor.
Shiing-Shen Chern Senior Postdoctoral Fellow
Chen, Qingtao
Chen’s interests fall into two main areas. The first area concerns mathematics related to
supersymmetric quantum field theories, concretely, elliptic genera, K-theory and Atiyah-Singer
index theory. The second area concerns mathematics related to topological quantum field theories
and its applications to quantum group invariants of knots and links. His recent paper Recursion
formulas for HOMFLY and Kauffman invariants joint with his thesis advisor N. Reshekethin is
already generating significant interest in the field.
Postdoctoral fellows
Tarig Mahgoub Hassan Abdelgadir
Abgelgadir’s research is in the areas of algebraic geometry and representation theory. He uses the
language of homological algebra to express interactions between these two branches of mathematics
via quiver representations and their moduli. His current ongoing projects are one on the McKay
correspondence and the other is on an attempt to understand ‘noncommutative’ cubic surfaces via
quivers.
Xin Li
Xin Li has begun a collaboration with Luzzatto on the construction of Markov partitions for nonuniformly hyperbolic systems. As an initial step of this project she has been reading several
background texts on non-uniform hyperbolicity and in particular a recent research paper by O. Sarig.
She has also given several presentations on these readings to the other Dynamical Systems students.
36
Anton Mellit
Mellit has broad interests in Mathematics. His main interest is the explicit theory of motives. In
particular, he studies explicit constructions of motives such as hypergeometric motives, motives
coming from Laurent polynomials and motives related to mirror symmetry. One of the goals is to be
able to compute all realizations of a motive, so that one can construct its L-function and check the
expected functional equation. He is a good speaker and in 2013 he gave, at the request of the
section’s head, two survey talks: one on Persistent Homology and the other on Horn’s problem.
Al-hassem Nayam
Nayam’s research interests are in shape optimization problems, Modica-Mortola and Mumford-Shah
functionals. In shape optimization one deals with shapes of higher co-dimensions namely zero and
one-dimensional subsets of an open bounded set in Euclidean space. More precisely, he studies the
asymptotic behavior of various shapes and some related constants. The Modica-Mortola functional
arises in several models of phase transition in material science. The aim is to perform higher order
expansions and provide a variational counterpart of some dynamical results. Lastly, he has worked
on the celebrated Mumford-Shah functional with the goal of proving that the regular tripod is a local
minimizer.
Suhas Jaykumar Pandit
Pandit works on geometric group theory; in particular, he studies the automorphism group of the
free group in n generators as well as the group of its outer automorphisms. Following a current
approach to study these groups, he has found several different geometric incarnations as
automorphisms of simplicial complexes.
Maxim Smirnov
Smirnov’s interests are in algebraic geometry and mathematical physics. In particular, GromovWitten theory, quantum cohomology, derived categories and mirror symmetry. His research is
concentrated around the so-called Dubrovin’s conjecture that relates the properties of the quantum
cohomology and the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves for a smooth projective variety.
During the past year at ICTP, he has been mostly working on extending the definition of the
quantum product to the derived category level. The aim is to bring both sides of Dubrovin’s
conjecture onto the same footing.
37
Long-term visitors
Sudarshan Gurjar
Gurjar’s research concerns vector bundles. During his stay at ICTP he proved that a semistable
(resp. stable) principal bundle with a reductive structure group when restricted to a sufficiently
general, high multi-degree, complete-intersection curve remains semistable (resp. stable). This
generalizes the analogues result on vector bundles by V. Mehta and A. Ramanathan. He worked on a
couple of questions on Higgs bundles with Prof. Ugo Bruzzo obtaining some partial results.
Riccardo Lena
Lena completed his PhD at SISSA supervised by C. Arezzo. He stayed on as a visitor at ICTP during
which he wrote two papers extracted from his thesis. In the first one, to be written in collaboration
with C. Arezzo and L. Mazzieri (SNS), they prove an existence theorems for Kaehler metrics of
constant scalar curvature on resolution of orbifolds with isolated quotient singularities. This
generalizes the known analysis for smooth blow ups. A new algebraic obstruction arises in this case,
and many new examples are constructed. The second one, to be written alone, solves the same
problem for the more general extremal case. In this case the obstruction relaxes.
Ayesha Asloob Qureshi
Qureshi’s research is in combinatorial commutative algebra. In a joint paper with V. Ene and A. Rauf
they investigate questions concerning regularity of the so-called Hibi ring associated to a
distributive lattice; they characterize the distributive lattices for which associated Hibi ring has a
linear resolution. In a joint paper with Jürgen Herzog and Takayuki Hibi they study the polarization
on Koszul cycles whose homology classes form a basis of the Koszul homology of a monomial ideal I,
as an application they studied the depth function of the powers of edge ideals of whisker graphs. In a
further joint paper with Takayuki Hibi and Akihiro Shikama they investigated Koszul filtrations for
second squarefree Veronese subring in n variables that is the edge ring of the complete graph with n
vertices. They prove that every second squarefree Veronese subring possesses a Koszul filtration.
Martin Siewe Siewe
Siewe-Siewe works on non-Linear Science with applications to physics, biology, civil engineering,
Electro-Mechanics Systems. He submitted three papers while visiting ICTP (one has since been
accepted).
El Hadji Yaya Tall
Tall was a student in the ICTP Diploma in 2012. On his way to join the PhD program in IMPA he
was a visitor at ICTP for a few months. He worked on extending his diploma thesis and completing
a reading of Bowen’s construction of Markov partitions for uniformly hyperbolic systems as a way of
strengthening his foundations before starting his PhD studies in March.
Stefano Vidussi
Vidussi is a well-established researcher who works in low dimensional topology. The problems he is
interested in arise from the study of the connections between three-dimensional topology and
symplectic topology of certain families of four-manifolds. Vidussi was visiting ICTP while on
sabbatical leave from the University of California at Riverside.
38
Training Activities
1. Advanced School and Workshop in Real and Complex Dynamics ICTP-ESF School and
Workshop in Dynamical Systems (20 - 31 May)
Organizers: M. Lyubich, J. Smillie, S. Van Strien
Local Organizer: S. Luzzatto
2. 5th Women in Mathematics Summer School on Mathematical Theories towards Environmental
Models (27 May - 1 June)
Organizers: L. Fajstrup, S. Hittmeyer, R.A. Khanum, E. Mezzetti, M-F Ouedraogo, M-F Roy, S.
Terracini
Local Organizer: L. Göttsche
3. ICTP-SISSA-Moscow School on Geometry and Dynamics (3-14 June)
Organizers: A. Agrachev, A. Bufetov, V. Timorin
Local Organizer: S. Luzzatto
4. Advanced School and Workshop on Matrix Geometries and Applications (1 - 12 July)
Organizers: R. Bhatia, P. Semrl
Local Organizer F. Rodriguez Villegas
5. School and Workshop on "Geometric Measure Theory and Optimal Transport" (15 July - 2
August)
Organizers: L. Ambrosio, T. Colding, C. De Lellis
Local Organizer: C. Arezzo
6. Advanced School and Workshop on Random Matrices and Growth Models (2 - 13 September)
Organizers: T. Grava, B. Schlein, A. Soshnikov
Local Organizer: R. Ramakrishnan
7. School and Workshop on Geometric correspondences of Gauge Theories (9 - 13 September)
Organizers: A. Belavin, G. Bonelli, L. Göttsche, K. Narain, A. Tanzini, G. Thompson
8. CIMPA-ICTP Research School "Algebraic Curves over Finite Fields" (22 July - 2 August)
(External School in Manila - Philippines)
ICTP Local Organizer: R. Ramakrishnan
9. CIMPA-ICTP Research School on "Numerical Methods in Fluid Mechanics, Mathematical
Epidemiology and Reaction- diffusion Systems" (2 - 13 September)
(External School in Saint-Louis, Senegal)
ICTP Local Organizer: R. Ramakrishnan
C. Arezzo
Co-organizer of the following international conferences/schools/events:
Conference on “Complex Analysis and Geometry - XXI”, Levico Terme
(Trento), Italy, 2 - 7 June 2013
(http://www.science.unitn.it/cirm/ComplexGeometry2013.html)
Workshop “Extremal Kähler Metrics”, CRM Montreal, 27 May - 1 June,
2013 (http://www.crm.umontreal.ca/2013/Metrics13/index_e.php)
ICTP School and Workshop on "Geometric Measure Theory and Optimal
Transport" (15 July - 2 August)
Mediterranean Youth Mathematical Championship, Roma, 18-19 July
2013
39
Invited talks:
Cambridge Algebraic Geometry seminar (15 May 2013)
University of Cagliari (September 2013)
CIRM, Trento (10 October 2013)
G. Bellettini
Invited talks:
Levico Terme (Italy)
Oberwolfach (Germany)
Madrid (Spain)
Chen Qingtao
Talks:
“Generalized Witten genus and stringc structure”, Workshop on
Mathematics of String theory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China (30
June - 2 July 2013)
“Orthogonal quantum invariants of links and its infinite product
structure”, Fourth Conference of Tsinghua Sanya International
Mathematics Forum, Sanya, China (18 - 22 December 2013)
L. Démbelé
Invited talks:
August 25-30, 2013, Effective methods for Darmon points, Centro de
Ciencias Pedro Pascual in Benasque, Spain.
July 22-26, 2013, Sage Days: Algorithms in Arithmetic Geometry,
Lorentz Institute, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands.
May 20, 2013, Colloquium talk, Durham University, Durham, UK.
May 6-10, 2013, Algorithms for lattices and algebraic automorphic forms,
AIM, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
April 22-26, 2013, Caculs effectifs en th !eorie de Hodge p-adique, CIRM
Luminy, Marseille, France.
April 9, 2013, Sheffiel Number Theory Seminar, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield, UK.
March 18-22, 2013, Explicit Methods for Modular Forms, Warwick
University, Coventry, UK.
L. Göttsche
Conferences organized:
Workshop on Geometric Correspondences of Gauge Theories, ICTP, 9
September - 13 September, 2013
Organizers: A. Belavin, G., L. Göttsche, K. Narain, A. Tanzini, G.
Thompson,
Local Organizer of ICTP "5th Women in Mathematics Summer School on
Mathematical Theories towards Environmental Models (27 May - 1 June)
Invited talks:
Invited lecturer: Mini-course (12 hours): Hilbert schemes of points, and
enumerative geometry of curves, at IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, 13 - 26 January
2013
Algebraic, Analytic, and Tropical Geometry, Ein Gedi, Israel, 28 April -
40
3 May 2013
Hilbert schemes, sheaves and representations. 2013 meeting of the Vector
Bundles on Algebraic Curves Group, SISSA, Trieste, 17 - 21 June 2013
ERC Research Meeting Donaldson Thomas Theory and related topics,
Pavia, 25 - 27 June 2013
Moduli, Operads, and Dynamics, Kongsberg, Norway 9 - 12 July 2013
Graduate School: New aspects on Singularity Theory. ICMAT, Campus
de Cantoblanco, Madrid (Spain). 16-27 September 2013. Invited lecturer
for mini-course (8 hours): Hilbert schemes and enumerative geometry of
curves.
S. Luzzatto
Advanced School in Real and Complex Dynamics, ICTP, 20 - 31 May
ICTP-SISSA-Moscow School in Geometry and Dynamics, ICTP, 3 - 14
June
Invited talks
Conference on Complex Geometry, Dynamical Systems and Number
Theory. Cuernavaca, Mexico. January 2013
Conference on Hyperbolic Dynamics, Large Deviations and Fluctuations,
Lausanne, March 2013
Conference on Ergodic Theory, University of Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
March 2013
M.J. Pacifico
Conferences:
Second Palis-Balzan Symposium on Dynamical Systems, IHP- Paris,
France, June 2013
International Conference on Dynamics, Bifurcations and Strange
Attractors, Nizny Novigorod, Russia, July 2013
XIII Escuela em Sistemas Dinâmicos, Universidade do Norte, Regional
Norte, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, July 2013
Geometric and Dynamics, Cuernavaca, Mexico, July 2013
Mathematical Congress of the Americas, Guanajuato, Mexico, August
2013
Primeiro Evento de Pós Graduação da UFBA, Salvador, Brazil, September
2013
Beyond Uniform Hyperbolicity, Bedlewo, Poland, June 2013
Talks:
Flows with equilibria attached to regular orbits, UFBA
Beyond Expansiveness, Second Palis-Balzan Symposium on Dynamical
Systems,
Beyond Flows with equilibria attached to regular orbits, International
Conference on Dynamics, Bifurcations and Strange Attractors
Flows with equilibria attached to regular orbits, XIII Escuela em Sistemas
Dinâmicos
41
Flujos con equilibrios atachados las órbitas regulares, Geometric and
Dynamics
R.T. Ramakrishnan
Gave a Lecture course at the Mathematical Science Centre of Tsinghua
University, P.R. China.
Invited talks
Workshop at the MSC in honour of Prof. Looijenga on October 12, 2013
F. Rodriguez
Villegas
Clay Mathematics Institute. Workshop "Number Theory and Physics"
October, 2013
Advanced School and Workshop on Matrix Geometries and Applications
ICTP, July 2013 - Local Organizer
Invited talks:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 2013
Workshop on DT invariants, Univ. Paris VI, June 2013
Explicit methods in Number Theory, Oberwolfach, Germany July 2013
Mathematics Conference of the Americas, Guanajuato, Mexico, Aug 2013
Hamiltonian PDEs, Frobenius Manifolds and Deligne Mumford Moduli
Spaces. SISSA workshop, Trieste.
Clay Mathematics Institute Conference, Oxford.
Number Theory Seminar, ETH, Zürich
Services
Within ICTP
C. Arezzo
Until July 2013, served as Chairman of the Faculty Meeting.
Various meeting with middle/high schools of Trieste area visiting ICTP.
Trieste Researcher’s Night, 27 September 2013.
Students supervised:
Ph. D. students:
Riccardo Lena (SISSA), discussed his PhD Thesis on 8 December 2013.
Got the degree with Laude.
Supervision of post-docs:
Della Vedova A. worked under his direction up to 15 September at the
Universita’ di Parma under a Marie Curie Agreement (see below).
Sun J. worked under his direction up to 15 December at CIRM (Trento).
Other visitors:
Ernani De Sousa Ribeiro Junior
Xiaoli Han
Evgeny Malkovich
Lorenzo Mazzieri
42
Reza Mirzaei
Harish Seshadri
Stefano Vidussi
G. Bellettini
Teaching:
Functional Analysis and Partial Differential Equations, ICTP.
Diploma students Batzorigh, U. and Ngartelbaye, G.
Nayam, Al-hassem
Chen Qingtao
Teaching:
One PhD course at SISSA: Characteristic Classes
L. Göttsche
Teaching:
Algebraic Topology, Diploma Course (second semester) joint with
Villegas
Algebraic Geometry, Diploma Course (second semester)
Abstract Algebra, Diploma Course (first semester)
A series of 6 lectures: "Refined curve counting" at ICTP
Diploma students Rizal Afgani and Carlos Vivares Parra
Maxim Smirnov
Tarig Abdelgadir
Coordinator of the Diploma programme in Mathematics
Chairman on the Ramanujan Prize committee
Member of the Faculty Board
S. Luzzatto
Teaching:
MTH-ODE II Diploma Course, February 2013
MTH-ERG Diploma Course, April 2013
MTH-ODE I Diploma Course, November 2013
43
Ph. D. students Marks Ruziboev (ICTP-SISSA), Khadim Mbacke War
(ICTP-SISSA), Sina Tureli (SISSA)
Diploma students: Rachidi Bolaji Salako, El Hadji Yaya Tall, Abdoulaye
Thiam, Shohruh Kholmatov.
Li Xin
Other visitors:
Warwick Tucker (Uppsala) April 2013
Ali Golmakani (Rio de Janeiro) May-August 2013
José F, Alves (Porto) June-July 2013
Elio Mazzeo (Toronto) June 2013
Pawel Pilarczyk (Porto) June & August 2013
Sergei Pilyugin (St Petersburg) September 2013
David Burguet (Paris) October 2013
Contracts Committee
Talk for High School students at ICTP, May 2013
R.T. Ramakrishnan
Oversight of the Associates Office at ICTP.
Organizer of the Mathematics Seminar at ICTP.
Participated in an SAC.
Library Committee.
F. Rodriguez
Villegas
Teaching:
Algebraic Topology (joint with Göttsche) at Postgraduate Diploma
Programme
Quiver and Character Varieties - graduate course at SISSA
Diploma students: Tran Manh Hung and Fantahung Bogale Meaza
A. Mellit
M. Smirnov
Other visitors:
A. Beilinson
44
T. Chinburg
T. Hausel
D. Roberts
M. Watkins
D.B. Zagier
HPC SISSA-ICTP Committee:
Part of ICTP delegations to: South Africa, Nigeria, Argentina, Costa Rica,
Panama, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi
Committee to evaluate Publications Office at ICTP
Committee to consider the switch from Agenda to Indico
Outside ICTP
G. Bellettini
Ph. D. students
Amato, S. (SISSA), Tealdi, L. (SISSA)
Other students:
Palandra, L. (Rome II); Piergentili, F. (Rome II); Marra, M. (Rome II);
Capotorto, G. (Rome II)
Teaching:
Analysis I, Rome II
Variational Models depending on curvatures in image segmentation,
SISSA
L. Göttsche
Editor of Geometry and Topology.
Editor of Rendiconti dell’Istituto di Matematica dell’Università di Trieste.
Member of the scientific advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for
Mathematics, Bonn, Germany.
Member of the Programme Committee of ICMS, Edinburgh, UK.
Member of the Board, ICMS, Edinburgh, UK.
S. Luzzatto
PhD Examination Panel, University of Porto. Li Xin. October 2013
Laurea Magistralis Admission Committee, SISSA
Editorial Board, Journal of Dynamics and Control Theory. Springer.
Editorial Board, Rendiconti del Dipartimento di Matematica Trieste.
R.T. Ramakrishnan
Member, Editorial Board, Mathematical Proceedings of the Indian Academy of
Sciences.
Member, Editorial Board,
dell’Università di Trieste.
Rendiconti
dell’Istituto
di
Matematica
Member, Committee on Developing Countries of the European
45
Mathematical Society.
Member, Advisory Board, Pan-African Centre for Mathematics.
Adjunct Faculty, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
Seminars
Fifty-one Mathematics seminars were organized during the year.
Staff and Long Term Visitors
Professional Staff
R.T. Ramakrishnan, India
C. Arezzo, Italy
L. Göttsche, Germany
S. Luzzatto, Italy
F. Rodriguez Villegas, Argentina/USA
Long-term Visiting Scientists
S. Gurjar, India
R. Lena, Italy
A.A. Qureshi, Pakistan
M. Siewe Siewe, Cameroon
E.H. Y. Tall, Senegal
S. Vidussi, Italy
Consultant
G. Bellettini, Italy
Staff Associates
M.J. Pacifico, Brazil/Italy
L. Dembélé, Ivory Coast
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow
Chen Qingtao, China
T.M.H. Abdelgadir, Sudan
X. Li, China
A. Mellit, Ukraine
A. Nayam, Chad
S.J. Pandit, India
Additionally, there were 90 short-term visitors. The total number of research visitors during 2013,
including ICTP Associates and Affiliates, was 106, of whom 67 were from developing countries, and
21 were women. The number of Associates was 28.
Funding
C. Arezzo's external research grants:
1) Marie Curie PIOF-GA-2009-255579-CAMEGEST “Extremal Kaehler Metrics and Geometric
Stability”, [Postdoctoral fellowship for Dr A. Della Vedova, joint Parma-Princeton Program, C.
Arezzo scientific supervisor]
Started September 2010, 3 years-project, total amount ! 228,804.70.
This Grant expired on 15 September 15 2013.
2) FIRB 2008, "Future in Research" Project of the Italian Government: “Geometria Differenziale
Complessa e Dinamica Olomorfa”, Started in the Fall 2010, 4 years project, total amount !
190,800.00.
This Grant is still active and will expire in December 2014.
S. Luzzatto, scientific coordinator for Brazilian-European Partnership in Dynamical Systems
(BREUDS) within the framework of the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES)
46
within the FP7 People Programme. The visits of Ali Golmakani and Pablo Guarino were supported
with this grant.
F. Rodriguez Villegas holds an NSF grant: 1101484, "Character and Quiver Varieties" DMS,
Algebra, Number Theory and Combinatorics, University of Texas at Austin. This grant was used to
fund a number of visitors at ICTP.
Clay Mathematics Institute Research Fellowship.
47
EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS (ESP)
Introduction
The ESP section conducts research and organizes educational and outreach activities in both solid
and fluid Earth physics (atmosphere and ocean). Specifically, multiple research lines are conducted in
the section, each lead by scientific staff members in collaboration with others. The current primary
ESP research lines are: Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC), Natural Climate Variability and
Predictability (NCVP), Climate Impacts (CI), Aerosols, Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate
(AACC), Oceanography (OCE) and Mechanics of Earthquakes and Tectonophysics (MET). The ESP
section currently includes 6 P-staff members, one PA contract (P2 level) and additional 15-20
members on term contracts (post-doctoral fellows and long term scientific visitors). No new staff
positions were opened in 2013, however a part-time consulting contract was activated with C.
Solidoro from OGS to add expertise on marine biogeochemistry and ecosystem modeling previously
missing in the section. ESP relies heavily on external funding (see below), which currently provides
more than half of the general expenditure budget of the section and covers most of the section’s
long-term visitors and post-docs. A G5 position filled by S. Henningsen provides administrative
support to the section for external grants.
The ESP research lines can be briefly described as follows:
• The ACC research line aims at improving the understanding of anthropogenic climate change.
Within this area, the section investigates the global and regional climate response to increased
atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and the effects of land use modifications. These issues
are addressed with a range of modeling tools, the central one being the regional climate modeling
system RegCM, which has been developed for over a decade and is maintained for community use.
The ESP section also coordinates the Regional Climate Research NETwork, or RegCNET, a
network of scientists mostly from developing countries involved in regional climate research,
which includes more than 900 participants.
• The NCVP research line focuses on fundamental research on natural climate variability and
predictability at temporal scales from intra-seasonal/seasonal to multi-year/multi-decadal.
Particular attention is devoted to tropical variability processes, such as the El-Nino Southern
Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and the monsoon systems, and how
they interact with extratropical variability and flow regimes (e.g., the North Atlantic Oscillation,
or NAO). To study climate variability and predictability, the section utilizes a range of modeling
and observational tools and products (e.g., the SPEEDY intermediate complexity model and
ECHAM5 global climate model).
• The CI research line investigates the effects of climate variability and anthropogenic climate
change on human activities and natural ecosystems. In particular, currently the focus is on human
health, agricultural productivity, water resources and forest response. The issue of climate
impacts is addressed via the use of different impact models: the hydrological model CHYM, the
crop model GLAM, the malaria model VECTRI and the forest model FOREST-SAGE. These
impact models take as input climate information and can be used for wide variety of applications
and regional settings, from studies of disease outbursts to the investigation of the agricultural
effects of long-term climate change and land use change. They are also made available for use by
the outside scientific community.
• The AACC research line investigates the interactions between atmospheric aerosols, air quality
and climate, including aerosols and pollutants of both anthropogenic and natural sources. This is
accomplished through the development and use of coupled climate/aerosol/chemistry models,
with particular emphasis on the regional scale. This research line also aims at a better
understanding of the Earth’s bio-geochemical cycles and how they are affected by and influence
global and regional environmental changes.
• The OCE research line is devoted to understanding the dynamics of climate variability and
48
change on interannual, decadal and centennial time scales, with a special interest in the role
played by the ocean in shaping the earth’s climate, in present and future climate conditions.
Research focuses on both natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, most of
which is done in close collaboration with NCVP activities. OCE is devoted to both global and
regional aspects of ocean and climate dynamics, as well as fundamental and state-of-the-art
numerical modeling. To carry out this research, a combination of theory and models is used, from
ocean-only to coupled, of different complexity.
• The MET research line investigates the way earthquake faults develop in time and how the Earth
Interior deforms, with emphasis on the physics of crust-upper mantle interactions. It relies on
geophysical methods blending space geodesy, seismology and tectonics, tied through realistic
physical numerical modeling. This contributes to the physical understanding of the length and
time scales of earthquakes and to a more realistic simulation of earthquake hazards. In addition, a
new research line devoted to the understanding of volcanic processes has been recently initiated.
It is envisioned that the MET research line will enhance collaboration with the fluid Earth lines,
for example in studying the mutual relationships between climate and tectonics through changes
in glacier mass and the effects of global change on natural hazards.
Research Activities
A. Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC)
A.1 Regional climate modeling (Giorgi, Coppola, Solmon, Sylla, Elguindi, Diro, Mariotti, Turuncoglu +
visitors)
Development of the ESP regional climate modeling system, now at version RegCM4, continued in
2013. Specifically, the model was augmented in its description of convective cloudiness and planetary
boundary layer, coupling was initiated with the advanced land surface module CLM4.5 and the
regional ocean model MIT-OGCM, and implementation took place of a new detailed cloud
microphysics scheme (by the PhD student Rita Nogherotto). The base of model users, organized
through the ICTP-coordinated Regional Climate Research NETwork (RegCNET), continued to
grow and to use the model for a wide range of applications. The model was used within the context
of several European and other international projects (ACQWA, QWECI, HEALTHY FUTURES,
PAPRIKA, CASPIAN, SOCOCA, CLIMRUN, ATOPICA, NextDATA, CORDEX). Work also
continued on the development of a new non-hydrostatic dynamical core based on a semi-Lagrangian,
semi-implicit, discontinuous Galerkin scheme, in particular towards its extension to a three
dimensional grid. This new dynamical core will constitute the basis for the development of the next
generation model version, RegCM5, expected to be completed in 2016. The RegCM system is
incrementally evolving towards a fully coupled regional Earth system modeling framework.
A.2 Applications, in particular to the International CORDEX project (Giorgi, Coppola, Mariotti, Diro,
Fuentes-Franco, Torma, Diallo + visitors)
Work has continued in 2013 on the analysis of the ensemble of the scenario simulations completed
within the framework of the international project CORDEX (COordinated Regional climate
Downscaling Experiment). CORDEX is aimed at producing a new generation of scenarios using
regional climate models and statistical downscaling techniques. An unprecedented ensemble of 33
climate scenario simulations (1970-2100) were completed with RegCM4 over 5 CORDEX domains
(Africa, Mediterranean, South America, Central America and South Asia) using different model
configurations, greenhouse gas concentration pathways (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5) and driving GCMs.
These simulations compose the so-called Phase I RegCM CORDEX hyper-Matrix (CREMA)
experiment and students and postdoctoral fellows from institutions in Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Mexico
and Hungary. Much of the 2013 activities within the ACC research line were devoted to the analysis
of these runs and to the completion of a series of papers, which constitute a Special Issue of the
international journal Climatic Change.
49
Figures A1)-A2) provide two examples of results obtained as part of the CREMA experiment. Figure
A1 shows Hovmoller diagrams (time-latitude sections) of the precipitation change _2070-2099 minus
1976-2005) in the RegCM4 and GCM ensembles of simulations over the Africa CORDEX domain,
showing decreases of precipitation in the onset and receding phases of the monsoon over the
equatorial regions. This suggests a lengthening of the dry season and shortening and intensifications
of the wet seasons over central equatorial Africa, a new result compared to previous studies.
A
B
Figure A1. Hovmöller diagram of the precipitation change (2070-2099 minus 1976-2005; colour shading)
over sub-Saharan Africa, land only, in % of present day values. The left column shows the RegCM4
simulations while the right column is for the GCMs. The blue contour lines represent the mean precipitation
(in mm/day) for the present day period (1976-2005). The red lines indicate the latitude boundary for Sahel
(West and East Sahel), Equatorial and Southern Africa regions (from Mariotti et al. 2013).
Figure A2 shows Tropical Cyclone (TC) tracks simulated by the RegCM4 driven by the MPI global
climate model in present day and future climate conditions (from Diro et al. 2013). This study
showed that the RegCM4 model can reproduce realistic TC statistics over the Eastern Equatorial
Pacific and Western Equatorial Atlantic basins. It also showed that in future conditions, over the
Atlantic basins the total number of TCs decreases and TC tracks are moved to the north compared
to present day conditions, while the TC tracks increase in the Pacific. These results gave extremely
encouraging indications on the use of RegCM4 for TC studies in different basins.
50
Figure A2. Present day (1982-2003, left panel) and future (2077-2098, right panel)
tropical cyclone tracks as simulated by the RegCM4 driven by the MPI global model over
the Central America CORDEX domain (from Diro et al. 2013).
The model was also applied for regional climate studies by various students in other domains, such
as the Caspian Sea region (Turuncoglu), Southern Africa (I. Diallo), and tropical band mode (M.
Zaroug). For example the STEP student Diallo ran the RegCM4 coupled to a distributed onedimensional lake model over the lake Malawi region, this being the first coupled climate-lake model
run for this basin. Figure A3 compares observed (Arclake) and simulated lake surface temperature
over lake Malawi in a multi-decadal present climate simulation, sowing a remarkable performance by
the coupled model system.
Figure A3. Comparison of observed (Arclake) and simulated surface lake temperature for Lake Malawi for
the October-November-December and January-February-March seasons.
51
B. Natural Climate Variability and Predictability (NCVP)
B.1 Interannual to decadal variability of the tropical ocean-atmosphere system (Kucharski, Farneti, Molteni,
Kang+ visitors)
In 2013, the development of an ICTP Earth System model for targeted use in developing countries
has continued. In particular the model developed in the previous years (the atmospheric model
ICTPAGCM coupled to the NEMO/OPA ocean model with the OASIS3 coupler), was further
augmented to include a dynamic sea ice component many century-long simulations have been
performed in order to verify the model performance in reproducing climate mean state and
variability. Figure B1 shows how the model reproduces the northern hemispheric sea ice
climatology. The model is currently being used by to investigate causes of the latest ‘Climate Shift
that occurred at the end of the 20th Century and had world-wide consequences. One result of this
research is the hypothesis that the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) has been an important
contributor to the alteration of the tropical Pacific mean state and ENSO variability (No et al.,
submitted).
Figure B1. December to March sea ice concentration (in %) climatology from observations (bottom) and the
ICTP Earth System Model (SPEEDY-NEMO).
Work on the influence of the tropical Atlantic on the tropical Pacific interannual variability has
continued. Using the observational data and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
52
Coupled model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) dataset, it was shown that the ‘Atlantic
Nino’ has modified Pacific ENSO variability in the 20th Century (Kucharski et al., submitted). Also,
multi-decadal variations of the tropical Atlantic-Pacific connection have been analyzed (Martin-Rey
et al., submitted, Polo et al., submitted).
East African monsoon variability, predictability and its relation with the Indian Ocean Dipole and
ENSO have been addressed in the PhD work of a STEP student (Bahaga et al., in press; see Fig. B2).
It was demonstrated that there is substantial predictability of the East African monsoon rainfall, and
causes for decadal modulations of the predictability are being investigated.
Figure B2. a) Climatological mean vertically integrated moisture flux convergence (shaded), vertically
integrated moisture flux (vector) from and its convergence for ICTPAGCM. b) Indian Ocean Dipole
composite of vertically integrated moisture flux convergence (shaded), vertically integrated moisture
flux (vector) from ICTPAGCM. Units are mm (day) !1 for moisture flux convergence and kg m!1
s!1 for moisture flux.
Climate variability in the Arabian Peninsula was also investigated in collaboration with the staff
associate I.S. Kang (Kang et al., submitted). It was demonstrated that the ENSO influence on
Arabian Peninsula winter rainfall increased in the recent 30 years. As potential candidates for this
modulation, the increase of ENSO variability itself as well as its teleconnection to the Indian Ocean
have been identified.
Finally, within the WAMME project, the ability of the ICTP AGCM SPEEDY to simulate basic
53
aerosol impacts of climate was tested. Idealized sensitivity simulations with and without aerosol were
performed and submitted to the WAMME database. Analysis of these results is currently in
progress.
B.2 Tropical-extratropical Teleconnections (Kucharski + visitors)
Regarding the research on tropical-extratropical teleconnections, the impact of transient Eddy
feedbacks on the extratropical response to ENSO has been investigated (Abid et al., to be submitted).
In this work it is shown, using the ICTP AGCM that the transient eddies get organized in response
to ENSO and feedback positively on the response in the Pacific North American region
C. Climate Impacts (Tompkins, Coppola, Caporaso, Colon-Gonzales + visitors)
C.1 Climate impacts on health (Tompkins, Colon-Gonzales, Asari)
Climate-health driven research has continued in ESP supported by two grants from the European
Union in which ICTP plays a key role. The projects aim to disentangle the effects of climatic,
socioeconomic, demographic and behavioural factors to increase our understanding of how climate
impacts the prevalence of the disease, to be able to predict its occurrence months in advance, or its
potential distribution under future climate conditions. Current research in the area focuses on
malaria. ESP section scientists have used both statistical and dynamical methods to model malaria
transmission in southern and east Africa, focussing on Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda where
potentially the most comprehensive district level databases are presently available. The studies and
model developments represent the first time that a combined statistical and dynamical modelling
approach has been applied and evaluated at a sub-national health district level.
In addition to the statistical modelling of disease, ICTP has developed a novel framework that aims
to isolate the climate signals in health data by filtering out some of the non-climatic noise that may
arise from changes in other determinants of disease occurrence such as socioeconomic development
or interventions as well as automatically filtering out bad data entries. This framework is still under
evaluation but promises to furnish health Ministries with a set of tools that enhances their capacity
to understand spatial and temporal trends in disease incidence in their countries.
A major step forward in the modelling capacity of malaria has also been made with the development
of the “vector borne disease community model of ICTP”, more commonly referred to as VECTRI1.
The model development started in 2011 and was reported in some detail in the 2012 annual report.
VECTRI is the first dynamical, spatially explicit malaria model that can operated at high resolutions
accounting for the impact of the following factors on malaria transmission: Climate (temperature
and precipitation), Population density (differences between rural and peri-urban transmission
environments), Surface hydrology (the way precipitation drives surface pools).
Evaluations in West Africa against field research data were extremely promising. ICTP is also
conducting a validation exercise comparing the VECTRI model outputs against both the malaria
dataset obtained from the Uganda Ministry of Health (UMOH), and a recently retrieved dataset for
six sentinel sites from the Uganda Malaria Surveillance Project (UMSP) and data from the ministry
of health in Rwanda. Unlike the UMOH data, which exclusively comprises suspected malaria cases,
the UMSP data only contains information about laboratory confirmed cases. Preliminary results are
encouraging as they indicate a fair agreement between the malaria indicators estimated by VECTRI
and the UMSP data in some endemic areas. The VECTRI outputs agree to a lower extent with the
UMOH data (Figure C1).
54
Figure C1: Comparison between the estimated VECTRI output and observed malaria data. The figure shows
time series of the VECTRI-estimated logarithm of the entomological inoculation rate (Ln-EIR)
against suspected and confirmed malaria cases in the Ugandan district of Kanungu. The VECTRI
model was driven by the ERA-Interim reanalysis.
Further developments are in an advanced stage to allow the model to account for land use change
(LUC) and population immunity to the disease. Also, the simple hydrological scheme of the model is
being modified and evaluated in detail using remote sensing and high-resolution hydrological
models. The first overview paper of the model was published early in 2013, and since then the model
has been applied to both seasonal forecasting applications and projections of the disease over longer
timescales.
Seasonal Forecasting of malaria involves the instigation of a new integrated system consisting of the
monthly and seasonal forecasting ensembles of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather
Forecasts coupled to the VECTRI model to provide season long forecasts of malaria. The system is
currently under evaluation in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya and initial results are very promising,
with the ability to predict variability in malaria transmission 3 to 4 months in advance, including the
major outbreak documented in the Kenyan and Ugandan highlands in January to March of 1998 in
response to the major El Nino event. Ongoing work is attempting to incorporate the effects of
recently ramped up intervention activities partly funded under the roll back malaria campaign and
work to incorporate these and vulnerability indicators together in an integrated operational decision
support system.
Climate projections of malaria focussed on driving the VECTRI model with output from global or
high-resolution regional climate models as part of a wider ensemble of malaria modelling tools. The
pilot studies were conducted as a contribution to the ISIMIP project, and lead to 3 high profile
publications in the Proceeds of the National Academy of Sciences in late 2013. These studies showed
how the malaria modelling systems agreed that highland areas were liable to increased risk of future
55
transmission but also highlighted the disagreement between the various modelling. The study was
the first time the VECTRI model was applied globally to the task of modelling falciparum malaria.
The extent of malaria transmission depends on climatic factors, which impact both the distribution of
malaria-carrying mosquitoes and the length of the season in which those mosquitoes are active. The
ISIMIP models consistently predicted a future malaria risk increase in the tropical highland regions
of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, however the models did not agree regarding malaria
risk and changes in epidemic transmission in a number of other regions. While the future increase in
risk in tropical highlands regions appears robust, the articles argue that research is required to
improve malaria impact models and reduce uncertainties in projections in other regions, such as
improving the representation of socioeconomic factors involving land use and population change in
the models. It is emphasized that the ICTP VECTRI model was the only spatially explicit fully
dynamical model to participate in the study.
C.2 LUC Modeling - FOREST-SAGE (Tompkins, Caporaso, Biondi, Bell)
Deforestation has long been considered a critical issue for the future preservation of ecosystems and
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation estimates are uncertain and vary considerably
despite inexorably improving remote sensing, but the consensus is that tropical forest systems are at
risk. Evaluating factors that drive deforestation is also difficult, since these can vary from region to
region and are multiple and interacting. Drivers of deforestation can work on the local scale, such as
the distance to tracks, roads, markets, villages and towns, which increase agriculture land value, as
do soil quality, topography, and suitability of the climate to high value crops. Existing forest
degradation and fragmentation increase access and thus deforestation rates. In terms of national
legislation, granting of logging concessions or conversely instigation of national parks or other
protective measures is very important. To complicate matters further, macroscopic factors are also at
play with global economic conditions and regional legislation and policy driving external
deforestation demand. Many models of deforestation are derived for a specific region using
regression techniques and can’t be easily applied on a wider scale. This is why many climate
investigations of land-use change use highly idealized scenarios involving step changes in landcover, which are unable to reveal the nature of the complicated and nonlinear relationship between
land-surface cover and climate. For example it is possible that the climate regime in certain locations
has 'tipping points', flipping between alternative regimes at a certain critical level of deforestation.
Figure C2: FOREST-SAGE and local drivers of deforestation.
To address these issues scientists in the ESP section have developed a new model called the
dynamical deFORESTation ScenArio Generator, or FOREST-SAGE, which is coupled to a widely
56
used land-surface scheme CLM, employed in the group's regional climate model REGCM, as well as
numerous global circulation models. The model accounts for both local factors in a generic
algorithm, but combines this with macro-scale economic and legislative scenarios to produce
potential deforestation pathways. The model has been evaluated using MODIS-VCF (i.e. Vegetation
Continuous Field) available for the last 10 years (Fig. C2) and the comparison shows that FORESTSAGE correctly predicts the general spatial pattern of deforestation. The deforestation spatial
variability appears to be primarily driven by population density and forest accessibility, in particular
the deforestation is clearly more accentuated along the Congo River.
Figure C3: MODIS and FOREST-SAGE trend years 2001-2010. In the northern part of the region
(latitude > 0), deforestation rates are higher due to population pressures while in the south (latitude
< 0) deforestation is smaller in magnitude and the model performs less well in the absence of clear
local drivers.
Moreover a set of possible scenarios has been used to provide a range of possible pathways for the
evolution of land-use change over the Congo Basin. These experiments demonstrate the flexibility of
FOREST-SAGE to address questions about policy decision.
Three possible scenarios have been used:
• Business-as-Usual scenario (BAU)
• Optimistic scenario (ODS)
• Pessimistic scenario (PDS)
The BAU analyzes the evolution of land-use until 2030, under the hypothesis of continuing current
trends in deforestation reported by the FAO (0.23% year 1). In practice it explores the situation
when no further policies are implemented beyond the year 2010. The assumptions underlying the
ODS leads to very low deforestation rate (0.1% year-1 in 2030) due as example to the enforcement of
environmental policies, while the PDS was the most aggressive scenario of deforestation simulated
(0.5% year 1 in 2030). All simulated policy-sensitive scenarios show a similar spatial pattern change
of land-use mainly due to the lack of drivers that change through the time (except the forest cover
itself). This is one aspect of future model development that will attempt to increase road structures
and population centres in response to population growth by coupling to the WISDOM model
described below.
57
Figure C4: Future deforestation projections for 2030. Panel a: Ensemble mean FOREST-SAGE 20302010 under BAU scenario; panel b: ensemble mean difference PDS-BAU for year 2030; panel c:
ensemble mean difference ODS-BAU.
C.3 Population modeling - WISDOM (Tompkins)
In late 2013, work has started on a new research line in ESP to develop a fully dynamical model of
population for developing regions. The model defines employment classes in rural and urban
environments along with a generic spatial model for migration and living cost to simulate cyclic and
permanent migration flow networks on a sub-national scale and is thus referred to as the “Wealth
Indexed Socio Demographic model Of Migration” or WISDOM. Under current active development,
the first version due for completion in spring 2014 will concentrate on urbanisation and will use
UNEP projections of urbanisation rates as boundary conditions to provide spatially explicit maps of
population density in Africa to 2050. However, the simple derivation of the UNEP rates, which are
based on extrapolation techniques of observed urbanization pathways, will be replaced in WISDOM
by the incorporation of a spatially-generalized N-class implementation of the classic two-class
economic development migration model of Todaro and Harris. The WISDOM model will be used in
early 2014 to provide dynamic population input to the VECTRI and other disease models in the
EUFP7 HEALTHY FUTURES project, and has also been invited to contribute to the Gates funded
HIV Modelling Consortium led by Imperial College in London. Over the longer term, the aim is to
couple WISDOM to the land use, vegetation and regional/global climate models of ICTP in a fully
integrated socio-economic-climate modelling framework. In this way, for example, the simulation of
climate extremes in the future would drive migration through its impact on yields, production, food
prices and rural casual employment opportunities.
C.4 Hydrological impacts (Coppola + visitors)
Hydrologic model activities have continued as part of the ACQWA project, in which the Po River
was selected as a case study. This river is a crucial resource for the Italian economy, since 40% of the
gross domestic product derives from this area. Quantification of the impacts of climate change on the
water resources associated with the Po River is thus crucial for planning future water use. Within
this project a mini ensemble of 8 hydrological simulations with the hydrological model CHYM were
completed by ICTP from 1960 to 2050 under the A1B greenhouse gas emission scenario, by using as
input climate forcing fields from two regional climate models (REMO and RegCM) at two different
resolutions (25 km -10km and 25km-3km). The river discharge at the closing point of the basin
shows a change in the spring peak of the annual cycle, with a one month shift from May to April
(Figure C5). This shift is entirely due to the change in the snowmelt timing, which drives most of the
discharge in this period of the year. Other important changes are an increase of discharge in the
wintertime and a decrease in fall from September to November. The spring shift and the fall decrease
of discharge imply an extension of the hydrological dry season and thus an increase in water stress
over the basin. The spatial distribution of the discharge changes are in agreement with what is
observed at the closing point and the uncertainty associated with these changes are proportional to
the amplitude of the signal. In addition, an analysis of the changes in the anomaly distribution of
58
discharge shows that either the increase or decrease of seasonal discharge is tied to the changes in
the tails of the distribution, namely to the increase or decrease of extreme events.
Figure C5: Change of Po river discharge annual cycle for the future period 2020/50 compared to the
reference period 1960/90 in different scenario simulations with the hydrologic model CHYM. Units
are percentage of reference value.
D. Aerosol, Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate (Solmon, Giorgi, Elguindi, Shalaby, Liu +
associates/visitors)
The main goal of this activity is to improve the understanding and modeling of the evolution of
chemical compounds and their environmental feedbacks under the influence of climatic change and
anthropogenic activities (mainly through emissions and land use modification). To reach this goal a
range of models are used and/or developed from the global to the local scale. For 2013 the main
achievements were the following:
D1. Development of a coupled regional chemistry-climate model (Solmon, Giorgi, Shalaby + visitors)
The development of a coupled climate chemistry model (RegCM-CHEM) based on the ICTP
RegCM4 has continued. Major developments in 2013 have consisted in:
Interfacing of IASA global chemical emission inventories with RegCM4 for the study of past,
present and future interactions of climate and atmospheric chemistry. A new chemical lumping
method for representing specific emissions sectors (e.g. transport, industry,) was applied.
Inclusion of a pollen emission and transport model within RegCM4 to study interactions between
59
climate, land use change and pollen concentrations in Europe (ATOPICA EU program).
Developments of pollen production modeling and its relation to vegetation primary production have
also started.
Inclusion and testing of a thermodynamical equilibrium model for gas-aerosol partition
(ISORROPIA), leading to an improved representation of Sulfate-Nitrate-Ammonium system and
alkaline aerosol. The inclusion of a representation of gas-aerosol partition for semi-volatile organic
species (using the SORGAM module) was also started.
Beside specific model developments, we initiated or contributed to different projects dealing with
aerosol climate interactions and aerosol impacts:
D2. Aerosol climatic impact over the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas (Solmon, Giorgi + visitors)
In the context of the PAPRIKA program (Italian/French project) and following our activities in
2012, in 2013 we focused on characterizing natural vs. anthropogenic aerosol impacts on the Indian
monsoon dynamics and precipitation over the Himalaya. Results of this study have notably pointed
out the potential importance of the observed increasing dust trends over Arabia, which could impact
mid-troposphere circulations over the north-western Indian Ocean and could affect monsoon
dynamics and precipitation in southern India (Figure D.1).
850 hpa circulation dif. (nat-noaer) m/s
precip dif. (nat-noaer)
mm/day
!"#$%&"'&()*+"'%"'%,)*-%+#./&-*%%
Figure D1: (a) Dust-induced anomaly on the 850 hpa India monsoon wind circulation (JJAS 2000-2009
average). (b) Dust-induced anomaly on India monsoon precipitation (JJAS 2000-2009 average, red
contour = statistically significant levels).
60
D3. Impact of Climate on Ambrosia pollen concentrations (Solmon, Giorgi, Liu)
In the context of the ATOPICA EU program our aim is to study the links between climate, land use
and ecological changes on Ambrosia pollen emissions and concentrations as well as the related health
impacts. Towards this purpose we introduced a pollen emission/ transport parameterization in
RegCM4. We first performed hindcast simulations (driven by the 2000-2011 ERA-Interim reanalyses), which were used to calibrate, optimize and validate simulated pollen concentrations over
an ensemble of Ambrosia pollen observations in Europe. This work showed the capability of our
modeling system to represent observed pollen concentrations for present day conditions (e.g. Figure
D2) and its potential for predicting future climate evolution impacts on pollen levels. We also
performed an historical simulation driven by dynamical output from the HadGEM global circulation
model, which will also be used for future climate boundary conditions. Comparison of historical and
hindcast runs showed a good consistency. In addition, an online calculation of pollen production,
linked to seasonal and interannual vegetation cycles, was developed in RegCM4-CLM. This should
allow us to reproduce the climatic effects on vegetation primary production and how this controls
pollen production inter-annual variability.
High concentration case
Low concentration case
Figure D2: Simulated and observed evolution of Ambrosia pollen concentration for two European stations in
Hungary and Italy and for different years.
D4. Impacts of dust in the Caspian and Aral Sea region (Solmon, Elguindi)
During 2013, a research project was initiated to explore the impacts of dust aerosol in the Caspian
and Aral Sea region using RegCM4. This work is important because to date very little is known
about the region's dust characteristics in terms of concentrations and variability, as well as the effect
that the dust has on the surrounding climate. Some of the research goals associated with this project
include:
1) Set-up and validate RegCM4 coupled to the dust emission transport model over the region of
interest. Evaluate the region's dust climatology and interannual variability.
2) Quantifying the impacts of dust on the Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea level (CSL) is highly
sensitive to climate change and as a result has undergone major fluctuations in the past which
have proven socially and economically disastrous for the surrounding region and local industries.
Hence, given the prominent threat of anthropogenically induced global warming, there is
enormous concern regarding the impact changes in the basin's hydroclimatology will have on the
CSL in the next few decades. Numerous studies have attempted to simulate projections of these
changes using climate models of varying complexity, however, none have included the radiative
effects of dust which can have a significant affect on net sea evaporation. Our preliminary results
show that when dust is included in the model simulation, sea surface temperatures are
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significantly cooler and biases are reduced compared to simulations which do not include dust
(Figure D3). More importantly, this translates into a difference in evaporation over the Sea of
approximately 20 cm year-1, demonstrating how crucial it is to include the impacts of dust in
simulations that project changes in the CSL.
3) Explore the contribution of the desiccation and desertification of the Aral Sea to dust in the
region: The Aral Sea, which lies just to the east of the Caspian Sea, has been shrinking since the
1960's due to human intervention. As a result, the region has experienced significant
desertification and satellite observations showed that the Aral Sea basin has become a dust
emission hot spot. Dusts are also associated to contaminants accumulated in the Aral Sea
sediments over the years and newly exposed to wind erosion. One of the goals of this project is to
simulate this process and to quantify the effects in terms of the impacts on dust climatology and
dust storms in the region.
4) Explore the effects of land use change in dust in the surrounding region of the Caspian Sea:
Previous studies have shown that the desert and semi-desert region of Turkmenistan has
undergone significant land use change in recent decades due to inappropriate land use practices.
A goal of this project is to identify these changes using available satellite data, and attempt to
model the impact these changes have on dust in the region.
Preliminary results from this project presented at the Annual American Geophysical Union
meeting in San Francisco in December 2013 drew the attention of scientists in charge of the
global AERONET aerosol observational network maintained by NASA, who recognized the lack
of ground based aerosol radiative measurements in the region. As a positive implication of this
project, we are currently in the process of facilitating a possible scientific collaboration between
NASA and local scientists (Turkmenistan) to reinforce observational network in the Caspian/
Aral dust region.
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Figure D3: Seasonally averaged observed and simulated Caspian Sea surface temperatures for the period
1995-2008 for different RegCM4 experiments.
D5. Climate chemistry studies over the Mediterranean region (Solmon + visitors).
Through a collaboration with CNRS and Meteo France, Toulouse, our goal is to characterize
atmospheric chemistry and climate interactions in the Mediterranean basin by confronting our
regional model simulations to experimental observations collected as part of the CharMEx
campaign. In 2013 RegCM4 was notably used to participate in a model inter-comparison exercise
simulating an observed case of dust storm event over the Mediterranean basin, and showed its
capability to reproduce realistically intense aerosol emission, transport and optical properties
associated to severe wildfires in Greece.
E. Oceanography (Farneti, Kucharski, Solidoro, Sitz + visitors)
E1. Ocean and coupled model development: Global and regional (Farneti, Kucharski, Solidoro, Dwivedi,
63
Fuentes-Franco, Sitz)
OCE develops and maintains an ICTP version of the ocean climate model MOM, which participates
in international collaborations and multi-model intercomparisons. The model is also used by
associates and visitors on different projects. On the regional scale, a fine-resolution regional
modelling initiative is being coordinated, in close collaboration with the ACC research line, and with
the help of post-docs and associates. Fig. E1 shows an example of an oceanic regional domain for the
Caribbean Sea (or CORDEX Central America domain) presently tested. The ocean model will soon
be coupled to the regional atmospheric model RegCM4 developed by ICTP and will serve as a tool
for studying present and future climatic conditions in many regions within a coupled framework.
Ocean-atmosphere coupled models are also used and developed by OCE and NCVP scientists. An
intermediate-complexity coupled model is used for studies in climate dynamics, model development,
theoretical and curiosity-driven research (e.g., Farneti and Vallis, 2013; Fûckar et al, 2013). In
collaboration with scientists from the NCVP group and external scientists, a new coupled model is
being developed. The model comprises the ICTP atmospheric model SPEEDY, developed and
maintained by the NCVP group, and the NEMO ocean model. The coupled model will serve as a fast
but comprehensive tool for studies of present, future and past climates. Finally, both global and
regional coupled models are expected to develop into Earth System Models, including
biogeochemistry and land models.
Figure E1: A monthly mean surface ocean speed snapshot (in m/sec) from a 1/4 degree global ocean model.
The model will be used as initial and lateral boundary condition for the regional model
configuration of the Central America CORDEX domain.
E.2 Ocean modelling intercomparisons (Farneti)
The ocean model developed and maintained at ICTP participates in the Coordinated Ocean-Ice
Reference Experiment (CORE). CORE is an experimental protocol for ocean-ice coupled simulations
forced with interannually varying atmospheric data sets for the period 1948-2007. This effort,
involving several centers around the world, is coordinated by the CLIVAR Working Group on
Ocean Model Development (WGOMD). The hindcast simulations provide a framework for model
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evaluation and for studying variability and change at seasonal to decadal time scales. Several
regional studies are underway in North and South Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans
(e.g., Danabasoglu et al., 2014; Downes et al, 2014; Griffies et al, 2014). CORE studies provide a
valuable comparison with available observations, mechanistic understandings of recent oceanic
trends and variability, as well as stimulate further model improvements among the community.
E.3 Role of the ocean in interannual to multi-decadal variability and predictability (Farneti, Kucharski)
OCE has continued to work on several aspects of variability and predictability of the coupled oceanatmosphere system at interannual, decadal and longer time scales. A particular focus was devoted to
the Pacific sector and the possible interactions involving both ocean and atmosphere leading to
tropical-extratropical Pacific variability on decadal time scales. The study that links to the NCVP
section used idealized and state-of-the-science simulations involving both the ICTP atmospheric
model and the ICTP ocean general circulation model. In Farneti et al. (2014a), it was found that
equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are responsible for driving a weakening of the
Hadley cell and atmospheric meridional heat transport. The atmosphere is then shown to produce a
significant response in the subtropics, with wind stress curl anomalies in phase with the
climatological mean but of opposite sign, consistent with a weakening of the oceanic subtropical gyre
(STG). The ICTP ocean model was then forced with the atmospheric decadal anomalies. In the
northern Pacific, the shallow subtropical cell (STC) was shown to spin down and the meridional heat
transport was reduced, resulting in positive equatorial SST anomalies.
The coupled mechanism was further explored with the help of an idealized theoretical model. Farneti
et al (2014a) argue that equatorial SST decadal variability stems from the forcing of the Pacific
subtropical gyre through the atmospheric response to ENSO. The conclusions of the study are that
extratropical atmospheric responses to tropical forcing have feedbacks on ocean dynamics that lead
to a time-delayed response of the tropical oceans, giving rise to a possible mechanism for
multidecadal ocean-atmosphere coupled variability. The study was extended in Farneti et al. (2014b),
where model results were shown to agree well with observed estimates of STC transport and
equatorial SST anomalies. Farneti et al. (2014b) thus tries to explain the equatorial Pacific lowfrequency variability of the last century, and provides a mechanism that could potentially predict
some of the future Pacific climate variability. Extratropically-forced STC variability is identified as a
major player in the generation of equatorial Pacific SST anomalies, pacing tropical Pacific climate
variability on inter-decadal time scales, as observed in historical records.
E.4 Energy transport in the climate system (Farneti)
The partitioning of meridional energy transport between the atmosphere and ocean, and the possible
compensation between the two, is an important problem both at fundamental and practical levels.
Variations in such transport may lead to variations in climate on decadal and longer timescales, and
to possible predictability of the climate system. With a combination of theory and numerical
simulations, Farneti and Vallis (2013) aimed at better understanding the processes that determine
energy transport variability and compensation. Fig. E2 shows an example of how mass transport in
the ocean can be partitioned following a 'heat coordinate', and later analyzed with respect to mass
and heat transports in the atmosphere. The authors find that, on decadal time scales, a high degree of
compensation between the energy transport in the atmosphere and ocean is found for the Northern
Hemisphere in the Atlantic sector, a feature sometimes referred to as 'Bjerknes' compensation'. The
low-frequency variability of the system is rooted in the ocean, and more precisely in the Atlantic
meridional overturning circulation. A proper understanding and representation of this circulation in
climate models is therefore necessary for generating a correct low-frequency climate variability in
both ocean and atmosphere.
This research is now being extended by analysing the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), a large dataset of state-of-theart climate ocean-atmosphere models. The new research focuses on the mechanisms leading to
meridional energy transport variability and compensation across models and climate scenarios. The
intercomparison will determine how Bjerknes compensation is affected in a warming climate.
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24
22
Warm Cells
Potential temperature θ [C]
20
18 Intermediate
16 Cells
−6 6
−4
3
7
14
12
10
Cold Cells
8
6
−3
4
6
11
2
0
60S
40S
20S
0
Latitude
20N
40N
60N
Figure E2: The oceanic overturning circulation (in Sv; 1 Sv = 10^6 m^3/sec) in potential temperature
space for the model used in Farneti and Vallis (2013). The circulation divided into temperature classes helped
in elucidating the different spatio-temporal relationships with atmospheric fluxes.
E5. Southern Ocean climate and global implications (Farneti)
Because the Southern Ocean surrounding the Antarctic is the primary window through which the
vast volume of oceanic water masses interacts with the surface layer of the ocean and thus the
atmosphere, this region has a profound influence on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems. Indeed,
prior modeling and observational studies suggest that, despite occupying just over a quarter of the
surface ocean area, the Southern Ocean accounts for up to half of the annual oceanic uptake of
anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Vertical exchange in the Southern Ocean
supplies nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) that fertilize three-quarters of the biological production in
the global ocean. The Southern Ocean accounts for about 70% of the excess heat that is transferred
from the atmosphere into the ocean each year and which is currently slowing the rate of global
warming.
In 2013, OCE maintained a large effort in modeling and understanding the Southern Ocean, and
continued its research on Southern Ocean variability and change by analyzing state-of-the-science
climate model simulations (Downes et al, 2014) and performing idealized and theoretical studies
(Kwon et al., 2013). OCE is also leading the CORE intercomparison on Southern Ocean dynamics
and recent evolution (see Research Activity E.2), which will spawn several scientific papers.
E6. South Atlantic variability (Sitz, Farneti)
In 2013, a new post-doc joined the OCE research line. The Argentinean scientist Lina Sitz focused
her research on the analysis and interpretation of the variability of the South Atlantic Circulation
and its impact on the global ocean circulation. In order to identify the main factors that link changes
in the South Atlantic with global and abrupt climate changes, we analyzed the evolution of heat and
salinity fluxes, mass transport and velocity fields in three different models for the past sixty years.
As the South Atlantic connects the North Atlantic with the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it is
considered both a vital conduit between ocean basins as well as a source of variability and change in
water masses, leading to the propagation and redistribution of climatic anomalies throughout the
World Ocean. Scientists from different Institutions in Argentina and the United States are
66
collaborating on this project, and a workshop on this topic will take place in Buenos Aires in the fall
of 2014. A scientific publication detailing our results is underway.
E7. Marine ecosystem modeling (Solidoro)
A new line of research within OCE is marine ecosystem modeling. In particular, Solidoro has been
contributing to research on assessing and modelling potential effects of cumulative impact of
multiple stressors - such as climate, pollution, fishery and aquaculture - on relevant marine
organisms, on marine ecosystems state and on related good and services that include fishery,
aquaculture and carbon sequestration. Further, Solidoro has applied his research to exploring the
effects of implementation of alternative management options on coastal and marine ecosystems.
F. Mechanics of Earthquakes and Tectonophysics (MET)
F.1 Rayleigh waves in orthotropic fluid-saturated porous media (Giang, Aoudia, Vinh)
Elastic surface waves, discovered by Rayleigh more than 120 years ago for compressible isotropic
elastic solids have been studied extensively and exploited for a wide range of applications in
seismology, acoustics, geophysics, telecommunications industry and materials science. For the
Rayleigh waves, their dispersion equations in explicit form are very significant in practical
applications. They can be used for solving direct (forward) problems, such as the effects of material
parameters on the wave velocity, and especially inverse problems, e.g., determining material
parameters from the measured values of the wave speed. Thus, the secular equations in explicit form
are always the main purpose for any investigation of Rayleigh waves. In 2013, we investigated the
propagation of Rayleigh waves in elastic half-spaces coated by thin elastic layers. By applying the
effective boundary conditions method some explicit secular equations were derived. We also studied
the propagation of Rayleigh waves in orthotropic fluid-saturated porous half-spaces, a problem
significant in geophysics. By employing the matrix formulation along with the method of
polarization vector, we have obtained the explicit secular equation of the wave. Interestingly, the
obtained secular equation is not a complex equation as the implicit secular equation that was
previously derived.
F2. Shear-wave velocity models along the Atlantic Margin from ambient noise tomography (Lbadaoui,
Guidarelli, Aoudia)
Ambient Noise Tomography is a methodology that provides a powerful tool for sampling the Earth’s
shear-wave-velocity structure. Correlation of noise between pairs of stations at tens of km spacing,
stacked over many months, provides Green’s functions of wave propagation between the stations,
largely surface waves. These signals are most robust at 5-20 s periods where fundamental-mode
Rayleigh waves sample the crust and uppermost mantle, allowing 3D imaging at these depths.
Thanks to the availability of seismic stations in Morocco, Spain and ocean bottom seismometers in
the Atlantic ocean, we decided to use data recorded from these stations to obtain information about
the shear wave velocity structure of the crust in the area. We used data recorded by 70 seismic
stations belonging to different networks (Figure F1):
• 24 Ocean bottom seismometers deployed in the gulf of Cadiz by the NEAREST project.
• 13 broadband seismic stations in Portugal.
• 34 short period seismic stations in Morocco.
• 5 broadband seismic station in Spain.
The first step of the study, started in late 2013, was the collection and preprocessing of seismic data
from the 70 seismic stations. The activity in progress is now the cross correlation between of all the
station pairs, after which we plan to use tomography and inversion techniques to obtain first group
velocity tomographic maps and then shear wave velocity models of the area under study. The new
velocity models will provide new information about the crustal structure of Morocco, Spain and the
Atlantic margin, a region where the inhomogeneous distribution of seismicity and the past scarcity
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of seismic stations (especially the oceanic margin) heavily limited the knowledge in the past.
Figure F1: Networks of broadband and short period seismic stations used in this study
F.3 Seismic studies of the East African and Red Sea rift (Guidarelli)
The Afar depression is an ideal location to study the role of extension and magmatism as rifting
processes to seafloor spreading. The Afar region marks the intersection of the southern Red Sea rift,
the Gulf of Aden Rift and the Main Ethiopian Rift, forming an archetypal rift-rift-rift triple junction.
The Afar sector is the most mature part of the East-Africa Rift system, which divides the Nubia,
Somalian and Arabian plates. Recent active rifting and dyke injection has focused scientific attention
on this area. An understanding of the crustal structure in the region provides insights into the
thermal structure needed to understand passive margin development and the processes involved
with the transition from continental rifting to the formation of new oceanic crust. Opposite to the
Afar region, the Red Sea rift began about 30 million years ago, separating the western edge of the
Arabian Plate from Africa. The Red Sea is flanked by the Arabian Peninsula, which is composed of
the western Arabian Shield and the eastern Arabian Platform. Numerous studies have provided
details on the crustal and upper mantle structure beneath the Arabian Peninsula, but a full
understanding of the local scale structure has yet to be obtained, especially because to the scarcity of
data in the past decades. Here we used the methodology of ambient noise tomography to obtain
information of the shallow structure in the Afar region and in the Arabian Peninsula.
Surface wave tomography using ambient noise is a rapidly expanding imaging technique. The reason
for its importance is that it provides significant advantages compared to conventional earthquake
tomography. Tomography using ambient noise produces surface wave dispersion maps with
unprecedented horizontal resolution; it can be applied to regions with sparse, inhomogeneously
distributed, or even non-existent seismicity, and produces reliable measurements at periods below 10
seconds. Therefore this methodology appears to be suitable to image the crust beneath the active
volcanic segments (1) in Afar given the presence of a local network of broadband instruments and a
clustered and non-homogeneously distributed seismicity; (2) in the Arabian Peninsula where the
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recent and rapidly developing network Saudi National Seismic Network (SNSN) can provide new
sets of data. The resulting tomographic images show the presence of low velocity anomalies directly
beneath the main volcanic segments in Afar and a clear boundary between the Arabic Shield and the
Arabic Plateau. These group velocity maps represent the starting point for future interpretations of
the structure and evolution of the rifting process in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Figure F2: Rayleigh wave group velocity map of the Arabian Peninsula at the period 10 s.
F.4 Crustal structure of the Friuli region (north-east Italy) from ambient noise tomography (Guidarelli,
Aoudia)
The Friuli region, in the north-eastern part of Italy, is characterized by a compressional tectonic
regime, evident from both geological and seismological observations, and related to the convergence
of the Eurasian and Adriatic plates. Seismicity is episodic and characterized by long quiescent
periods. Historical records show only two large events, in 1348 and 1511, with estimated magnitudes
greater than 6.0. The most recent big earthquake, the event in 1976, was the reason for starting an
intensive study of the area from the geological and the geophysical point of view but probably the
main consequence of the earthquake was the establishment of a regional seismometric network to
monitor the seismic activity in the Friuli area. Past studies showed that crust is characterized by
69
sharp lateral and deep seismic velocity anomalies that are associated with the complex geological
structure and highly fractured zones related to the main faulting pattern. The velocity images show
a high-velocity body below 6 km depth in the central part of the Friuli area, and this is interpreted as
a tectonic wedge. Nevertheless, a full characterisation of the crustal and upper mantle structure in
the Friuli region in still missing. For this reason we decided to use the data from the continuously
developing seismic networks in Friuli and surrounding countries and to apply the methodology of
ambient noise tomography to investigate the crustal and upper mantle structure. The study is in
progress: data have been collected and preprocessed; cross correlation of seismic waveforms have
been computed and we plan to produce the seismic velocity maps of the region very soon.
F5. Seismic vs. geodetic strain around the Gonave Microplate in the Caribbean (Gonzales, Aoudia)
Kostrov summation theory and CMT, ISC catalog are used to determinate apparent velocities
around the Gonave microplate that are then compared whit GPS data. Zones of seismic deficit
around the Gonave microplate are clearly highlighted with obvious implication on the earthquake
hazard in the Caribbean.
Figure F3: Zones of seismic deficit around the Gonave microplate.
F6. Past activities still ongoing in 2013:
1- GPS geodesy and transient deformation using GPS geodesy (Borghi, Aoudia)
2- Mechanics of the earthquake cycle using rates and state friction laws (Farhan, Aoudia)
3- InSAR, GPS and Earth structure along the North African plate boundary (Hamling, Borghi,
Guidarelli, Aoudia)
4- Seismic tomography across the Himalaya (Kumar, Aoudia)
Training Activities
At ICTP
Diploma Course in Earth System Physics (F. Kucharski, coordinator)
School on Modelling Tools and Capacity Building in Climate and Public Health
15 - 26 April 2013
70
Organizers: R. Lowe, M. Sa Carvalho, G. Mantilla.
ICTP Local Organizers: A. Tompkins, F. Colon Gonzalez
Workshop on Mathematical Models of Climate Variability, Environmental Change and Infectious
Diseases
29 April - 10 May 2013
Organizers: A.P. Dobson (USA), G.A. Canziani (Argentina), G.A. Leo (USA), M. Pascual (USA).
ICTP Local Organizers: A. Tompkins, M. Marsili
2nd Workshop on Water Resources in Developing Countries:
Planning and Management in a Climate Change Scenario
6 - 17 May 2013
Organizers: S. Sorooshian (Univ. of California, USA), M. Verdecchia (Univ. L’Aquila, Italy). ICTP
Local Organizers: : E. Coppola, L. Mariotti Co-sponsor: the International Union of Geodesy and
Geophysics - IUGG
Earthquake Tectonics and Hazards on the Continents
17 - 28 June 2013
Organizers: J. Jackson (UK), P. England (UK), ICTP Local Organizer: A. Aoudia
Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar:
A Global Solution for Monitoring Geological Disasters
2 - 6 September 2013
Organizers: I. Hamling (GNS-New Zealand), T. Wright, (Leeds).
ICTP Local Organizer: A. Aoudia
Cosponsor: International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)
WCRP-World Climate Research Programme: 1st CORDEX Workshop on Statistical Downscaling
26 - 27 September 2013
Organizer(s): William J. Gutowski (Iowa State University, USA), Bruce Hewitson (University of
Cape Town, South Africa), Rasmus Benestad (Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Norway), ICTP
local organizer: F. Giorgi
Funded by World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
Joint ICTP-IAEA Advancing Modelling of Climate, Land-use, Energy and Water (CLEW)
Interactions
7 - 11 October 2013
Organizers: T. Alfstad & M. Nguyen, IAEA - Vienna;
ICTP Local Organizer: A. Tompkins
School and Workshop on Weather Regimes and Weather Types in the Tropics and Extra-tropics:
Theory and Application to Prediction of Weather and Climate
21 - 30 October 2013
Organizers: D. Straus, F. Molteni, S. Corti. ICTP Local Organizer: F. Kucharski
Co-sponsor: Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions (COLA) - George-Mason-University,
USA.
2nd VALUE Training School: Statistical and Dynamical Downscaling of Extreme Events
21 - 31 October 2013
Organizers: J.M. Gutierrez Llorente, D. Maraun, E. Hertig, M. Widmann.
ICTP Local Organizer: E. Coppola
Funded by European Cooperation in Science and Technology - COST
VALUE: COST ACTION ES 1102 (2012-2015) Validating and Integrating Downscaling Methods
for Climate Change Research
2nd CLIM-RUN School:
Building Two-way Communication: A Week of Climate Services
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2 - 6 December 2013
Organizers: Paolo Ruti, ENEA, Italy. ICTP, Local Organizers: E. Coppola
Funded by EC/FP7 project CLIM-RUN
Outside Activities
Targeted Training Activity (TTA):
Intraseasonal Monsoon Predictability and Prediction (Pune - India)
14 January - 25 January 2013
Organizers: B.N. Goswami, J. Shukla, S. Anguluri. ICTP Local Organizer: F. Kucharski
Extreme Weather and Climate Events in the Southern Caucasus - Black Sea Region (Tbilisi Georgia)
3 - 7 June 2013
Organizers: N. Meskhidze (USA), M. Elizbarashvili (Georgia).
ICTP Local Organizer: F. Solmon
Fundamentals of Ocean Climate Modelling at Global and Regional Scales (Hyderabad - India)
5 -14 August 2013
Organizers: M. Ravichandran (INCOIS), V. Balaji (GFDL).
ICTP Local Organizer: R. Farneti
Capacity Building Workshop on Modeling of Regional Climate and Air Quality for West Africa
(Abidjan - Cote d'Ivoire)
7 - 11 October 2013
Organizers: A. Konare. ICTP Local Organizers: F. Giorgi, F. Solmon
Climate and Impact Modeling for Eastern Africa: Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Health (Addis
Ababa - Ethiopia)
28 October - 8 November 2013
Organizers: G.T. Diro (UQAM,Canada), G. Mengistu (AAU, Ethiopia).
ICTP Local Organizer: A. Tompkins
School on Earthquake and Tsunami Hazard and Risk (Algiers - Algeria)
9 - 20 December 2013
Organizers: A. Yelles A. Harbi CRAAG, Algiers, D. Benouar, A. Ouabadi, M.S. Boughacha M. Ouyed
USTHB, Algiers, M. Belazougui CGS, Algiers, H. Aourag DGRSDT, Algiers. ICTP Local
Organizers: M. Guidarelli, A. Aoudia
Co-sponsors:
1- Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia (LR. 19/2000) in the framework of the Project SEPPTTA:
Sostegno ali'Educazione e alla Protezione del patrimonio ambientale e culturale nell'ambito della
Prevenzione di Terremoti e Tsunami in Algeria;
2- IUGG: International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy;
3- CRAAG: Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Geophysique, Algiers
4- USTHB Periperi U: 'Partners Enhancing Resilience to People Exposed to Risks'
International Projects and External Funding
Assessing Climatic Change and Impacts on the Quantity and Quality of Water - ACQWA, funded by
the EU, 2008-2013, 208,000 Euro. (Coppola, Giorgi)
Quantifying weather and climate impacts on health in developing countries - QWECI, funded by the
EU, 2010-2013, 353,700 Euro. (Tompkins, Lowe, Piani, Biondi, Caporaso, Colon Gonzalez)
Socioeconomic Consequences of Climate Change in Sub-equatorial Africa - SoCOCA, funded by the
Norwegian Research Council, 2009-2013, 102,000 Euro. (Giorgi, Sylla, Diallo)
SHARE-Paprika Italy, agreement with Comitato Ev-K2-CNR, Bergamo, Italy, 2010 - 2013, 75,000
Euro. (Solmon, Giorgi, Chiacchio)
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Health, environmental change and adaptive capacity: mapping, examining and anticipating future
risks of water-related vector-borne diseases in eastern Africa – HEALTHY FUTURES, funded by
the EU, 2011-2014, 229,300 Euro. (Tompkins, Tefera Diro, Li)
Climate Local Information in the Mediterranean region: Responding to User Needs –
CLIM-RUN, funded by the EU, 2011-2014, 251,200 Euro. (Giorgi, Coppola, Giuliani)
Atopic diseases in changing climate, land use and air quality - ATOPICA, funded by the EU, 20112014, 249,750 Euro. (Giorgi, Solmon, Torma)
Next Data: agreement CNR-ICTP, Italy 2013, 100,000 Euro. (Giorgi, Mariotti)
Earthquake and Tsunami hazards and preparedness, funded by the International Cooperation of the
Friuli Venezia Giulia autonomous government (2012-2014)(Aoudia, Guidarelli)
NERC Partnership for the Assessment and Mitigation of earthquake Hazard in the AlpineHimalayan Belt and central Asia, 2012 - 2016. (Aoudia)
Realtime seismology and Earth Structure at the junction between the Alps and Dindarides (20132014) Italian Civil Protection and University of Trieste (Guidarelli, Aoudia)
Earthquake Mechanics, funded by Cassa di Risparmio della Fondazione di Gorizia (Aoudia)
EU-Marie Curie fellowship (2013-2014), Alps vs. Himalaya (Kumar, Aoudia)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Giorgi)
World Climate Research program (WCRP) (Giorgi)
WCRP/CLIVAR Coordinated Ocean-Ice Reference Experiments (Farneti)
Coordinated regional climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) – WCRP (Giorgi, Coppola,
Mariotti, Sylla)
Climate of the 20th Century (C20C) Project, CLIVAR (Kucharski)
Natural Environment Research Council (UK) Earthquake Without Frontiers, 2012-2017. (Aoudia)
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Staff and Dong-Lerm Nisitors (3 months or more)
Professional Staff
Staff Associates
F. Giorgi, Italy, Senior Research Scientist (head)
C. Brankovic, Croatia
A. Aoudia, Algeria, Research Scientist
I.-S. Kang, Korea
E. Coppola, Italy, Research Scientist
R. Farnetti, Italy, Research Scientist
Consultant
F. Kucharski, Germany, Research Scientist
C. Solidoro, Italy
F. Solmon, France, Research Scientist
A. Tompkins, U.K., Research Scientist
F. Molteni, Italy, (collaboration ECMWF, U.K.)
I. Diallo, Senegal
R. Biondi, Italy
F. Raffaele, Italy
L. Caporaso, Italy
M.A.H. Zaroug, Sudan
M. Chiacchio, USA
S. Bacer, Italy, (junior visiting scientist)
F. Colon Gonzalez, Mexico
F. Di Sante, Italy, (junior visiting scientist)
G.T. Diro, Ethiopia
C. Yin, China (junior visiting scientist)
N. Elguindi, USA
R. Fuentes Franco, Mexico
PhD Students
G. Giuliani, Italy
R. Nogherotto, Italy
M. Guidarelli, Italy
A. Lbadaoui , Morocco
L. Liu, China
L. Mariotti, Italy
A. K. Shalaby, Egypt
L. Sitz, Argentina
C. Torma, Hungary
G. Tumolo, Italy
74
EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS
HOSTED ACTIVITY
STRUCTURE AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS OF THE EARTH (SAND)
Introduction
The research activities are divided into two main lines: Non-Linear Dynamics of the Earth's
Lithosphere (formerly led by Prof. V.I. Keilis-Borok, Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and
Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, IEPT RAS, Moscow, Russia) and Structure
of the Earth with Application to Seismic and Volcanic Risk Mitigation (led by Prof. G.F. Panza,
Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, DMG-UNITS, Italy).
Within the framework of the first line we aim at application of earthquake prediction algorithms for
a real-time intermediate-term middle-range earthquake prediction, seismicity models and their
application to earthquake prediction, morphostructural zoning and pattern recognition of
earthquake-prone areas,
Within the framework of the second line we aim at the study of earthquake sources, estimation of
seismic hazard and risks for Italy and other countries through the application of the neodeterministic approach.
Developed methodologies are transferred to scientists from developing countries through joint
research, with particular attention to training potential leaders, and combining the workshops and
training activities with subsequent individual projects. Special efforts are devoted to guarantee the
continuity of a collaborative research by exploiting currently available technologies for remote
interactions (i.e. the internet). The very positive outcome from past experience calls for an
improvement of such interactions; this is attained by integration and formalization of existing
scientific and computing networks, where ICTP plays a key role as the base for training and
dissemination, through regular schools and workshops.
Research Activities
Line of research: Nonlinear Dynamics of the Earth’s Lithosphere
Seismicity models and earthquake prediction
Predictive ability of a specific inter-event time model has been studied. This model was quite recently
suggested for dynamic probabilistic prediction of M ! 5.5 events in Italy
(http://earthquake.bo.ingv.it). Some aspects of both statistical estimation of the model and its
predictive ability were analysed. It has been found that more or less effective prediction is possible
within 4 out of 34 seismotectonic zones where seismicity rate or clustering of events is relatively
high. It has been shown that, in the framework of the model, one can suggest a simple zone
independent strategy, which practically optimizes the relative number of non-accidental successes, or
the Hanssen-Kuiper (HK) skill score. This quasi-optimal strategy shows alarm in a zone for the first
2.67 years just after the occurrence of each large event in the zone. The optimal HK skill score values
are: "26% for the 3 most active zones and 2-10% for the 26 least active zones. However, the number
of false alarm intervals per one event in each of these two groups of zones is unusually high: "0.7 and
0.8-0.95 respectively. These theoretical estimations are important for practical using predictions
obtained by means of the model under consideration because there is no experience of its application
for real-time earthquake prediction during a rather long period.
Earthquake prediction by M8 algorithm
The experiment aimed at a real-time intermediate-term middle-range earthquake prediction of the
largest (with magnitude M ! 8.0) earthquake at a global scale by means of the M8 algorithm has
75
been continued. Two such earthquakes occurred in 2013 (06.02.2013 with M = 8.0 at the Solomon
Islands and 24.05.2013 with M = 8.3 in the Sea of Okhotsk). Both events were ‘failure-to-predict’
(their epicentres were outside the alarm area predicted by the M8 algorithm). The first case can be
explained by the fact that perhaps the magnitude of this earthquake in the NEIC earthquake
catalogue is overstated because some agencies estimate it as 7.2. In the second case the depth of the
earthquake was about 600 km and the algorithm is not suited to predict earthquakes that deep.
Prospective testing of intermediate-term middle-range earthquake predictions in Italy by CN and M8S
algorithms
The routine analysis of Italian seismicity by CN and M8S algorithms has been continued, with
predictions updated according to a predefined schedule, that is every two months CN predictions (i.e.
on January, March, May, July, September, November) and every six months M8S predictions (i.e. on
January and July). In particular the update of real-time predictions of M5.5+, M6.0+ and M6.5+
earthquakes has been performed (http://www.mitp.ru/en/m8s/M8s_italy.html). Similarly, a
routinely updated archive of CN predictions has been made available on-line via the following
website: http://www.geoscienze.units.it/esperimento-di-previsione-dei-terremoti-mt.html, thus
allowing for rigorous validation and independent evaluation of the applied algorithms. No target
earthquakes occurred within the one-year period from January 1 to December 31, 2013, both for CN
and M8S algorithms.
Besides the systematic monitoring of precursory seismicity patterns, a set of stability tests has been
performed, with respect to the input data and their progressive revision (e.g., revision of ISC
bulletins, used to update the UCI earthquake catalogue). A preliminary comparative analysis of the
different earthquake catalogues for the Italian territory, made available within the framework of the
CSEP-TRI experiment (Collaboratory Study on Earthquake Predictability, Testing Region Italy),
evidenced the existence of relevant heterogeneities in the different instrumental data sets
(Romashkova and Peresan, 2013). The detected variability of magnitude estimates over different
time spans, has been corroborated by the recent analysis by Gasperini et al. (2013). The magnitude
heterogeneity evidenced so far, prevents the use of the national instrumental earthquake catalogue
for CN and M8S application in Italy and poses serious concern on the results that could be obtained
from CSEP-TRI testing based on such input data, as expressed by Peresan et al. (2012).
In addition to the standard CN and M8S application, some experiments have been performed to test
the possibility of using BSI data (Bollettino Sismico Italiano) to update the UCI catalogue from 2005.
The results of such experiments, are essential toward assessing the possible operational use of the
BSI data for real-time prediction testing, as described hereafter.
Analysis of the stability of M8S and CN results, obtained using different input data, and different updating
criteria.
Stability of prediction results has been tested against the use of different input data, namely using the
UCI catalogue and the catalogue obtained updating UCI by the Italian BSI bulletins since
16.04.2005. BSI is the authoritative catalogue to be used for CSEP testing over Italian territory;
remarkably such bulletins are available only since April 2005, whereas earlier data (i.e. bulletins from
ISIDE website) are discontinuous and heterogeneous, as described by Romashkova and Peresan
(2013).
A clear magnitude discrepancy is observed (Figure 1) between the UCI and BSI data during the
period of their overlapping, namely 2006-2012. BSI magnitudes are systematically lower than those
from UCI. The discrepancy seems to increase for larger earthquakes; in particular, the discrepancy
for earthquakes M5.5+, target of predictions by M8S algorithm, is about MUCI - MBSI = 0.2 ÷ 0.4.
The frequency-magnitude graphs (Figure 2) calculated for UCI for the periods before and after 16
April, 2005, and for the BSI catalogue from 16 April, 2005 confirms that BSI magnitudes are
systematically lower than the UCI ones. The observations above allow us to conclude that
straightforward updating of UCI by BSI starting from 16.04.2005 is not appropriate, in case the
catalogue is intended to be used for prediction purposes. Keeping this problem in mind, a test
application of M8S algorithm has been performed using the UCI+BSI catalogue, in order to check
76
the variability of the results depending on the input catalogue change. Since the area of the CSEP
region is smaller than that of the standard M8S Italy test, the M8S code has been modified so as to
be applied to this restricted area. The results of the standard and modified M8S tests have been
compared, evidencing that the outputs are different, although some similarity in alarm areas exists.
In general the volume of alarm in M8S-CSEP test is smaller than that of the standard one. So, for
example, M6.5+ test area is free from alarms starting January 2010 in M8S standard, and that
starting on July 2007 till now in M8S-CSEP test. The situation is pretty similar for M6.0+ and
M5.5+ magnitude ranges. The two strong earthquakes, which occurred during the period
investigated, namely on 4 April 2009 in Central Italy, and on 20 May 2012 in Northern Italy, are
unpredicted both in the M8S standard and M8S-CSEP test.
Similar results have been obtained for CN application using the composite UCI+BSI catalogue. The
analysis of the frequency-magnitude distributions within individual CN regions evidenced certain
spatial heterogeneity; namely, UCI (1965-2004) data are quite comparable with BSI (2005-2010) data
within the Central Region, whereas in BSI the seismicity rate is significantly lower than in UCI for
Northern and Southern Regions. Data discrepancies are particularly relevant within the CN
Southern Region. As a result, when using the UCI+BSI catalogue an increase in the rate of alarms is
observed in the Central Region, while in the Northern and Southern Regions it reduces at the rate of
additional failures to predict. Thus the use of BSI data causes a deterioration of prediction results,
with respect to those obtained by rigorous prospective testing, based on the UCI catalogue only.
Although the short time span of BSI data availability (about seven years) does not allow for a reliable
assessment of the related predictions, the results of the preliminary data analysis and the test
applications do not support the use of BSI data for update of UCI on regular basis.
1000
3.0_UCI
100
3.5_UCI
4.0_UCI
4.5_UCI
5.0_UCI
10
3.0_BSI
3.5_BSI
4.0_BSI
1
4.5_BSI
5.0_BSI
0
1972
1977
1982
1987
1992
1997
2002
2007
2012
Figure 1: Annual number of earthquakes above different magnitude thresholds versus time in the two
datasets: UCI2001, 1972-2012, and BSI, 2006-2012. Both are selected for CSEP collection region, depth 030 km. For UCI2001 magnitude Mmax is considered. The graphs for Mpriority are very similar to Mmax.
77
1000
100
BSI_0512
10
UCI_0512
UCI_7205
1
0
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
Figure 2: Annual frequency-magnitude graphs for two catalogues in different time intervals: BSI,
16.04.2005-2012; UCI2001, 16.04.2005-2012, and UCI2001, 1972-15.04.2005.o
Finally, the stability of the results has been checked by updating predictions (and the related
catalogue) with a predefined delay with respect to real-time predictions. In the case of CN algorithm
application, where predictions are regularly updated every two months, the 30 days delay proposed
for CSEP testing would imply missing half of the time of prospective testing. In fact half of the data
would no longer be considered independent, and this would greatly reduce the significance of testing.
As an example, the prediction of the 20th May Emilia earthquake (Figure 4), which refers to the CN
prediction time window 1 May – 30 June 2013, would have been obtained only on June 1st, thus
resulting in a “post-diction” of the event, with definitely lower scientific and practical interest. The
situation is slightly different for the M8S algorithm, whose predictions are routinely updated every
six months. The three standard M8S prediction tests: M6.5+, M6.0+ and M5.5, have been examined,
considering their results as on July 2012 and January 2013. The comparison was fulfilled between
the standard application, which uses UCI catalogue updated in real-time mode, and the “delayed”
application, but using the catalogue updated with two months delay. The experiment demonstrates a
fairly good stability of the results. From the results of the performed experiments it is possible to
conclude that waiting up to two months for updating the input catalogue does not significantly
change the M8S prediction output, but increases the risk of missing earthquakes, which may occur
within the delay period.
Analysis of precursory seismicity patterns in Zagros (Iran) by CN algorithm
The application of the CN algorithm has been carried out for the retrospective analysis of precursory
seismicity patterns in the Zagros region (Iran), an area characterized by a complex seismotectonic
setting and by remarkable seismic activity. Since CN is based on the quantitative analysis of
routinely compiled earthquake catalogues, to allow its application, the global and regional catalogues
available for the territory of Iran have been analysed. A data set sufficiently complete and
homogeneous over a time span of about 3 decades, as required for CN application, has been compiled.
In order to set up an appropriate application for prospective testing of CN algorithm in Iran, a
number of tests have been performed with respect to the input catalogue, assuming different
magnitude completeness levels as well as considering different magnitude thresholds for the
selection of target earthquakes. Various configurations of the regionalization have been outlined
according to the seismotectonic model, and it has been concluded that precursory seismicity patterns
for the largest events need to be searched within the whole Zagros tectonic domain (Figure 3).
Accordingly, an experiment was set up aimed at validation of intermediate- term middle-range
prediction of earthquakes with magnitude M! 6.0 in the Zagros region. Starting in March 2012, CN
prediction results have been routinely updated based on events with M!Mc=4.0 as they are reported
in the catalogue compiled by the International Seismological Centre, ISC. Further details about CN
application in Iran are available in Maybodian et al. (2013).
78
Figure 3: Regionalization in Zagros used for the application of the CN algorithm, along with the
seismotectonic zones defined for the seismic hazard analysis and active faults. Red dots indicate the epicentres
of earthquakes with M>4 that occurred in the period 1900–2011, as reported in the ISC catalogue.
Prospective testing of Pattern Informatics algorithm in Iran and Italy
In parallel, the application of further methods for the quantitative analysis of seismicity, has been
attempted in order to compare the information provided by different methods. Specifically, a
prospective testing of the Pattern Informatics, PI, algorithm has been set up aimed at prediction of
M!5.0 earthquakes for the territory of Italy and M!6.5 earthquakes in Iran, two regions
characterized by a different level of seismic activity and data completeness (Radan et al., 2013).
Figure 4: Forward forecast PI hotspot maps for M!6.5 earthquakes in Iran as on January-December
2013: a) PI-T version; b) PI-C version (Radan et al., 2013). Hot-spots (in red) and Moore-neighbors (in
yellow) are possible locations for target events. The blue circle evidences the epicentre of the predicted M=7.8
earthquake (indicated by a star).
The input data used for PI application on Italian territory consist from UCI catalogue, the same used
for CN algorithm (i.e. considering priority magnitude), whereas in Iran the ISC catalogue is used.
Maps corresponding to two variants of PI algorithm application on Italian territory, namely PI-T
and PI-C as defined by Radan et al. (2013), are routinely updated every year (at the beginning of
January). The M6.1 Emilia earthquake that struck Northern Italy on May 20 2012, as well as other
79
target events, were correctly located in the hotspots previously identified by PI method for Italy.
Remarkably, the testing allowed for prospective prediction of the large M7.8 earthquake, which
struck Iran on 16th April 2013, just after publication of the maps (Figure 4).
Determination of earthquake-prone areas (M " 5.0) in the Po plain by means of pattern recognition
The nodes (objects of recognition) have been defined based on the Morphostructural Zoning (MZ)
map of the region. In total, MZ delineates 102 lineament intersections and each one is treated as a
node. Formally the node is defined as a circle radius of R=20 km with the centre in the relevant
intersection point of lineaments. The nodes have been classified into the two following classes: (i)
class D containing nodes where earthquakes M5+ may occur (namely, the earthquake prone areas);
(ii) class N containing nodes where only smaller earthquakes may occur. The sample nodes for the
learning stage of recognition were selected using the information on the recorded events with M #
5.0 from the updated UCI0912 catalogue.
Figure 5: Earthquake-prone areas (M " 5.0) in the Po plain. Lines depict morphostructural lineaments.
Most thick lines mark first rank lineaments; thick lines show the second rank lineaments; thin lines depict
lineaments of third rank. Dashed lines show supposed lineaments. Dots mark epicentres M5+ from 1093 to
2012. Circles show recognized nodes prone to M5+.
These earthquakes correlate with the intersections of the morphostructural lineaments of (Figure 5).
Each node is described by a vector of values of morphometric, geological and gravity parameters
measured in the node and the pattern recognition algorithm is applied to these vectors. Before
application of the algorithm 102 nodes under consideration were separated into two groups: 60 nodes
located in lowland environments in interiors of the Po plain and 42 nodes sited on the first rank
lineaments that detach the Po plain from the surrounding mountain chains. The nodes from these
groups differ significantly by values of their parameters, first of all the morphometric ones.
Therefore the recognition was performed separately for each group. Figure 5 shows D nodes
recognized in the Po Plain.
Line of research: Structure of the Earth with Application to Seismic and Volcanic Risk Mitigation
Study of earthquake sources
Applicability of the software for moment tensor determination has been demonstrated for regional
events. The Baikal earthquakes 19 January, 2004 (Mw = 4.7) and 27 August 2007 (Mw=4.4) have
been considered.
80
Baikal earthquake, 27 August 2007. The values of the earthquake’s parameters were determined from
the analysis of amplitude spectra of fundamental Love and Rayleigh modes in the period band from
30 s to 60 s and from the analysis of first arrival polarities. The surface waves were localized on
seismic records by a program for frequency-time analysis. The source parameters estimates obtained
are shown in Figure 6. Figure 6.1 shows the distribution of seismic stations. Four equivalent
solutions obtained by inversion of surface wave amplitude spectra are presented in Figure 6.2. Two
double-couples shown in figure 6.3 are obtained by joint inversion of surface wave amplitude spectra
and polarities of first arrivals (6.3a) and by inversion of surface wave amplitude spectra (6.3b – one of
four equivalent solutions, namely the nearest to the solution 6.3a). Both solutions are shown with
first arrival polarities superimposed. The residual function for source depth is shown in figure 6.4.
The depth estimate is equal to 4 km. The seismic moment for solution 6.3a is equal to 0.55·1016 Nm,
and for solution 6.3b it is equal to 0.84·1016 Nm, which gives the magnitude values Mw = 4.4 and
Mw = 4.5 correspondingly. It is necessary to decide, which of these two doubles-couples could be
selected as optimal. The solution 6.3a is more consistent with first arrival polarities than solution
6.3b. At the same time residuals of amplitude spectra of surface waves radiated by these doublecouples differ by not more than 1%. Note, that the source depth is small (4 km) compared with the
radiated wavelength. In such a case the moment tensor cannot be uniquely determined from long
period surface waves. There is a family of equivalent double-couples radiating long period surface
waves, very similar to surface waves radiated by solution 6.3a. Solution 6.3b is one of such equivalent
double-couples. This confirmed by Figure 6.5 where contour level map of residual function of surface
wave amplitude spectra with respect to radiation of solution 6.3a is presented. The map is calculated
for the source depth of 4 km and period equal to 40 s. The dashed line shows all double-couples,
equivalent to solution 6.3a. Squares 1 and 2 are associated with solutions 6.3a and 6.3b
correspondingly. These solutions have a similar surface wave radiation pattern, but solution 6.3a is
more consistent with first arrival polarities. Namely this solution has been selected as the optimal
one.
Baikal earthquake, 19 January 2004. The values of the earthquake’s parameters were determined by
analysis of amplitude spectra of fundamental Love and Rayleigh modes in the period band from 30 s
to 55 s and by analysis of first arrival polarities.
81
Figure 6: Results of source parameters determination for the Baikal earthquake, 27.08.2007.
The surface waves were localized on the seismic records by a program for frequency-time analysis.
The source parameters estimates obtained are shown in Figure 7. The meaning of all illustrations
and all notations are the same as for the earthquake of 27.08.2007 in Figure 6. The map in Figure 7.5
is calculated for a source depth of 5 km and period equal to 40 s. The depth estimate in Figure 7.4 is
equal to 5 km. The seismic moment for solution 7.3a is equal to 0.15·1017 Nm, and for solution 7.3b
it is equal to 0.14·1017 Nm, which gives magnitude values Mw = 4.7 in both cases. Solution 7.3a is
better consistent with first arrival polarities than solution 7.3b. At the same time residuals of
amplitude spectra of surface waves radiated by these double-couples differ by no more than 1.7%.
The source depth for this event is small (5 km) compared with the radiated wavelength. As result
solutions 7.3! and 7.3b radiate similar surface waves but at the same time only the first one is
consistent with first arrival polarities. Namely solution 5.3! has been selected as the optimal.
82
Figure 7: Results of source parameters determination for the Baikal earthquake, 19.01.2004.
The results obtained fit with the modes of seismotectonic deformation of the crust and reflect the
character of the modern tectonic movements of regions under consideration.
Stability of fault plane solutions for the major N-Italy seismic events
We proposed (Brandmayr et al., 2013) a critical analysis of moment tensor solutions of the major
seismic events that affected northern Italy in 2012.
83
E. Brandmayr et al. / Tectonophysics 608 (2013) 525–529
527
Figure 8: Fault plane solutions (best double couple) determined by: a) INPAR, inverting at 10–15 s cut-off
period; b) TDMT-INGV (20 s cut-off period); c) RCMT (30–40 s cut-off period); d) CMT (40–50 s cut-off
period). The beachballs are scaled to magnitude. e) Fault plane solutions determined by INPAR inverting at
different cut off periods, with their confidence areas. For each solution, source depth, percentage of CLVD and
low pass Gaussian filtering period are given. Clear polarities used to constrain inversion are given (open
circles—dilatations, filled circles—compressions). TDMT solutions are reported for comparison in the
rightmost column, with the filling of the beachballs
denoting the percentage of CLVD component.
3.3. Geodynamic insight
peaks and the mechanism solution presents a 43% of CLVD. If the STF is
Fig. 1. Fault plane solutions (best double couple) determined by: a) INPAR, inverting at 10–15 s cutoff period (details in Table 1); b) TDMT-INGV (20 s cutoff period); c) RCMT (30–40 s
cutoff period); d) CMT (40–50 s cutoff period). The beachballs are scaled to magnitude. e) Fault plane solutions determined by INPAR inverting at different cut off periods, with their
confidence areas. For each solution, source depth, percentage of CLVD and low pass Gaussian filtering period are given. Clear polarities used to constrain inversion are given (open
circles—dilatations, filled circles—compressions). TDMT solutions are reported for comparison in the rightmost column, with the filling of the beachballs denoting the percentage of
CLVD component.
constrained to two sub-intervals, 0–3 s and 3–6 s, the source depth reThe major strike–slip component observed in the deeper events of
trieved remains shallow (8 km, quite in agreement with the 6 km reInverting
full percentage
waveforms
at regional
usingsequence
the non-linear
named
INPAR, we
the May seismic
(15–25 km of method
depth, see Table
1), obtained
trieved by TDMT) but
the still large
of CLVD
for both distance
inverting
at
the
shorter
cutoff
period
and
obviously
not
resolved
solutions obtained considering
two
separated
time
intervals
for
the
investigate period dependent resolution that affects in particular the solutions of shallowatevents.
longer
ones, is
wellMzy
in agreement
with the of
geodynamic
and structural
STFs (“split solutions”),
is a is
strong
indicator
whole
solution
is
This
mainly
duethat
tothe
the
poor
resolution
of Mzx
and
components
the seismic
tensor when
model of the area (Cuffaro et al., 2010). Actually, according to this
unreliable.
inverting
signals
where
wavelengths
significantly
exceed
the
source
depth.
As
a
consequence,
model, deep crustal earthquakes, undergoing a larger lithostatic
Similar results are shown for events 7 and 8 (Fig. 3b and c
instability
source
depth load
andthan
fault
plane
solution
retrieval,
spurious large
shallow
ones, release
part of
their energyand
with transcurrent
respectively): the double
peaked STFaffects
is invertedboth
considering
two sepaslip. Moreover,
the occurrence
of strike–slip
seismicity
below at
the cut-off
rated time intervals. Compensated
In both cases the split
solutions
show percentage
Linear
Vector
Dipole (CLVD)
components
arise. The
inversion
performed
Emilia
plaindifferent
at depths between
30 km
is reported
by Pondrelli
of CLVD larger than periods
the wholeshorter
one, and than
thus we
the latter
20consider
s reveals
in many
cases
details15ofandthe
rupture
process,
which are
et al. (2006), who extended the Italian CMT dataset to the period
more reliable. Furthermore event 7 shows high instability, with varying
supported by independent geodynamical
arguments. Thus we conclude that inversion of full
1977–1997.
source depth and mechanism changing from almost strike–slip to dip–
waveforms
at
cut-off
period
as
short
as
possible
should be
preferred.
The deepening
of the
hypocenters, observed in the spatial distribuslip between the two time intervals (Fig. 3b), while event 8 shows
tion of the aftershocks associated to the May events by Ventura and Di
minor instability (Fig. 3c).
84
Estimation of seismic hazard and risks for Italy based on Unified Scaling Law for Earthquakes
Parameters A, B, and C of the Unified Scaling Law for Earthquakes (USLE) obtained on a regional
scale and Italian seismic data were used to provide seismic hazard maps in terms of maximum of
expected intensity with 10% exceedance probability in 50 years. The standard SCE algorithm was
applied to each grid point of the same regular 0.2°$0.2° mesh for the territory of the Apennine
peninsula and the Alpine zone where there are maps containing official (PGA) and neo-deterministic
seismic hazard (NDSHA) estimates. Specifically, the USLE coefficients were obtained for two spatial
hierarchies: from 0-level L0 = 2° down to L3 =1/4° (S1) and from L0 =1° down to L3 =1/8° (S2).
Figure 8 shows the maps of USLE coefficients of spatial hierarchy S1 evaluated in seismically active
areas 1/4° $ 1/4°. The probability density distribution functions, p.d.d.f.’s, of the coefficients are
shown in the same figure on the right. The logarithmic estimate of seismic activity A (normalized to
a unit area of 1°$1° and one year) ranges from -1.8 to -0.6, which corresponds to the range of
recurrence of magnitude 5.0 earthquakes from once in 100 years to one in 3 years. The highest
values are being observed in the Dolomite Alps, Apennines and Eastern Sicily. The recurrence of
moderate earthquakes is much lower in the Western Alps. The coefficient of magnitude balance B
(i.e., analogous to the b-slope of the Gutenberg-Richter graph) concentrates mainly between 0.7 and
1.0, while the fractal dimension of the earthquake epicentres locus C spreads from 0.6 to 1.6. The
highest values of C are located mainly in the Western Alps and Northern Apennines, while the
lowest ones are found in Sicily. The standard errors of the coefficients do not exceed 0.05 and
confirm claimed accuracy of the values plotted on the maps. Using formula N(M,S)=10A´10B´(5M) ´SC/2 for magnitude ranges from 4.0 to 6.5 with 0.5-magnitude step the expected number of
events in 50 years N50(M) = 50 $ N(M) has been calculated. For each cell the maximum magnitude
with the expected number N50(M, S0) = 10% or greater has been found and the intensity that
corresponds to this maximum magnitude has been assigned. The intensity maps are shown in Figure
9.
85
Figure 9: The USLE coefficients within the Italian territory on land, 1892-2013.07 for the spatial
hierarchies S1: Logarithm of the annual number of magnitude 5 earthquakes in 1°x1°, A; magnitude balance,
B; fractal dimension of the epicentre locus, C.
86
Figure 10: The intensity maps in comparison: a) Iobs - obtained from real seismicity, CPTI11 catalogue, b)
IDBMI04 - database of reported macroseismic data, c) IABC10%S1 – the map based on USLE computed
with S1 and empirical relation Mi = 0.51I+log10H+0.35 (Karnik, 1969) with 15 km limit on depth for all
cells, d) IABC10%S2 – the map based on USLE computed with S2 and relations Mi = 0.531I+0.95, if
latitude > 44.0, and Mi = 0.511I+1.0, if latitude # 44.0 (Karnik, 1969), e) IDGA – NDSHA standard
method map, f) IIX – the intensity IX map.
The model intensity maps presented in Figures 9c – 9f have been compared with deterministically
observed earthquake effects (Figures 9a, 9b). This comparison reveals the following results and
conclusions. The values of seismic intensity attributed by any model considered and reported by real
data are hardly from the same distribution (the significance level is by far, less than 1%, i.e.,
confidence more than 99%). On the other hand the ABC10%S1 map appears to be “the best fit”
among the four models available. The comparison of the model maps with the database of direct
macroseismic observations demonstrates that according to the sum of error the four maps can be
ordered as follows: ABC10%S2, DGA, ABC10%S1, and IX. The models based on the USLE approach
appear to outscore in the moderate intensity ranges, while the model based on the NDSHA approach
demonstrates good agreement with the observations for the highest intensity ranges. One can see
that the constant value map, like the IIX could not be used for the seismic hazard application. The
results obtained show that the USLE coefficients can be used for seismic hazard assessment and
compare to other approaches, including those based on the NDSHA approach.
Seismic hazard assessment for Northern Africa
North Africa is one of the most earthquake-prone areas of the Mediterranean. Many devastating
earthquakes, some of them tsunami triggering, have inflicted heavy loss of life and considerable
economic damage to the region. In order to mitigate the destructive impact of the earthquakes, the
regional seismic hazard in North Africa has been assessed using the neo-deterministic, multi-scenario
methodology (NDSHA), working jointly with scientists from the interested countries. This is the
87
first study aimed at producing NDSHA maps of North Africa including five countries: Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. This research benefited from the ICTP-OEA (Trieste)
Programme in the framework of the North African Group for Earthquake and Tsunami studies
(NAGET) activities.
The key input data for the NDSHA algorithm is earthquake sources, seismotectonic zonation, and
structural models. In the preparation of the input data, it has been really important to go beyond the
national borders and to adopt a coherent strategy all over the area. Thanks to the collaborative
efforts of the teams involved, it has been possible to properly merge the earthquake catalogues
available for each country to define with homogeneous criteria the seismogenic zones, the
characteristic focal mechanism associated with each of them, and the structural models used to model
wave propagation from the sources to the sites. As a result, reliable seismic hazard maps are
produced in terms of maximum displacement (Dmax), maximum velocity (Vmax), and design ground
acceleration (DGA, shown in Figure 8).
Figure 11 Mourabit, T.; Abou Elenean, K.M.; Ayadi, A.; Benouar, D.; Ben Suleman; A.,Bezzeghoud, M.;
Cheddadi, A.; Chourak, M.; El Gabry, M.N.; Harbi, A.; Hfaiedh,M.; Hussein, H.M.; Kacem, J.; Ksentini, A.;
Jabour, N.; Magrin, A.; Maouche, S.;Meghraoui, M.; Ousadou, F.; Panza, G.F.; Peresan, A.; Romdhane, N.;
Vaccari,F.; Zuccolo, E. 2013. Neo-deterministic seismic hazard assessment in North Africa. J Seismol, 21
June 2013. DOI: 10.1007/s10950-013-9375-2.
Seismic hazard assessment for CEI countries
Several high-level institutions in CEI countries, led by Professor Panza have developed over the last
decade a comprehensive and unique study on macroseismic data of the Vrancea region in Romania. It
has been possible to obtain significant results publishes in international literature, also thanks to the
CEI support of these activities through the University Network, the Science and Technology
Network and the Cooperation Fund. The strongest earthquakes occurring in the region since 1940
have been examined and mapped.
The study provides main information on seismic hazard related with Vrancea earthquakes and the
enhancement of preventive capabilities in the related region: it also focused on the possible
consequences of earthquakes, which may affect infrastructures and lifelines. The macroseismic data
obtained, in fact, can be used not only for a formal comparison of the observed and theoretical
isoseismals, but also for the retrieval of earthquake source properties and the assessment of local site
responses.
The study contributes to a sound estimate of seismic hazard, thereby reducing seismic risk in the
region through the utilisation of advanced assessment methods, developed not only within CEI
activities but also at DMG-UNITS and ICTP-SAND. In fact, it has been proven that standard
probabilistic seismic hazard maps lead to a severe underestimation of consequential risk. The
numbers of fatalities in recent disastrous earthquakes were underestimated by the world seismic
88
hazard maps by approximately two to three orders of magnitude. Thus, seismic hazard maps based
on the standard method cannot be used to estimate the risk to which the population is exposed in
large earthquakes, as clearly demonstrated in the invited paper by UNESCO: Panza, G.F.; Peresan,
A.; La Mura, C. 2013. Seismic hazard and strong ground motion: an operational neo-deterministic
approach from national to local scale. Geophysics and Geochemistry, [Eds. UNESCO-EOLSS Joint
Committee]. Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems(EOLSS), Developed under the Auspices of the
UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford, UK.
International School on "Use of e-infrastructures for advanced seismic hazard assessment in Indian
Subcontinent" (ISR, Gujarat, India)
Nowadays it is well recognized by the engineering community that standard hazard indicator
estimates (i.e. the peak seismic ground acceleration) alone are not sufficient for the adequate design,
mainly for strategic buildings and critical infrastructures, when it is necessary to consider extremely
long time intervals. To address the above mentioned problems, during the period 4 – 7 February the
International School on the “Use of e-infrastructures for advanced seismic hazard assessment in
Indian subcontinent” took place at Institute of Seismological Research in Gandhinagar. The aim of
the School was to train Indian geophysicist and engineers on the application of NDSHA approach
that permits to evaluate the hazard from earthquakes and tsunami, based on the physical modelling
of ground shaking from a wide set of possible earthquakes. The use of NDSHA requires a large
amount of computational resources, therefore the NDSHA method has recently been enabled on
different computational platforms, ranging from GRID computing infrastructures to HPC dedicated
cluster up to Cloud computing.
More than 40 participants attended the International School with an Indo-Italian faculty composed
of experts in the fields of seismic hazard assessment and advanced computation. A brief review of the
seismological methodologies and different kinds of e-infrastructures currently available to solve the
seismological computationally intensive problems was provided during the school, discussing
advantages and drawbacks for each of them when they are used for computational needs of seismic
hazard. The School was organized in the framework of a bilateral cooperation Project, funded by the
Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy), which involves ISR and CSIR-CMMACS on the Indian side and
ICTP SAND Group, DMG University of Trieste, and CNR-IOM on the Italian side. The project
aims at developing an integrated system, with high scientific and technological content, for the
definition of scenarios of ground shaking, that may provide local authorities and engineers advanced
information for seismic and tsunami risk mitigation in the Gujarat region. Within such a project the
computational group is in charge to provide an innovative and unique approach that can enhance the
capability to effectively compute realistic scenarios of seismic ground motion by means of an
intensive usage of existing Indo-European e-infrastructures and available computational
infrastructures.
89
Figure 12: Some participants of the International School at the Institute of Seismological Research
(ISR, Gandhinagar, February 2013)
Staff and Long-Term Visitors (3 months or more)
Consultants
G.F. Panza, Italy
Other
M. Farrokhi (Iran), IIEES/ICTP Agreement
Visiting Scientists
D. Bisignano, Italy
G. Boyadzhiev (Bulgaria)
E. Brandmayr (Italy)
M. Elrayess (Egypt)
A. Peresan (Italy)
F. Romanelli (Italy)
F. Vaccari (Italy)
In addition, there were 6 short-term (less than 3 months) visitors.
Funding
Internal
SAND Research Group, ICTP, %27,000
External
1. Three year agreement between ICTP and the Civil Defence of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
(DGR 1459 dd. 24.6.2009): Development of innovative approaches for the modelling of the Earth
structure and the seismic sources aimed at the definition of time-dependent seismic input by means of
intermediate-term middle-range earthquake prediction in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region: %127.500
(%42.500/year). Received 9 December 2013 last 75%.
2. University of Trieste: % 950.
90
APPLIED PHYSICS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT
LABORATORY (T/ICT4D)
IONOSPHERIC RADIOPROPAGATION SECTION
Introduction
Ionospheric Radiopropagation related activities of the laboratory cover ionospheric modelling
studies and 3D and time specification of the electron density in the ionosphere using experimental
data ingestion including radio occultation data.
These efforts are particularly oriented to assess ionospheric effects in satellite navigation and
positioning using GPS, the augmentation systems developed or being developed in the USA,
Europe, Japan, China and India and other areas of the world and the GALILEO system being
implemented by the European Union and the European Space Agency. PhD students of the
Università degli studi di Trieste (Italy) and Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) are
being co-supervised and monitored by the Head of the T/ICT4D.
The area of research dealing with the ionosphere of the planet Mars in collaboration with the
Faculty of Physics of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid has continued in this period with
the development of a 3D model of the electron density of the Martian ionosphere.
In 2009, ICTP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Boston College (USA) to promote,
through T/ICT4D, activities related to satellite navigation science and technology in Africa. A
series of collaborations with research groups in African universities towards the implementation
of joint research activities in this field and a number of Master and PhD students enrolled in
African universities are being co-supervised by the Head of the T/ICT4D with the help of other
colleagues of the laboratory.
It has to be noted that 24 selected papers co-authored by members of the Ionospheric
Radiopropagation section of T/ICT4D have been cited 66 times during 2013 in the open
literature in papers not authored or co-authored by T/ICT4D scientists (source: ISI Web of
Knowledge).
Research Activities
Ionospheric Model Related Studies
During 2013 the work was centred in the development of advanced techniques of experimental
data ingestion/assimilation in the last version of the NeQuick ionospheric model (NeQuick 2)
developed by the Ionospheric Radiopropagation Section of the T/ICT4D. These techniques have
the objective of providing global or regional 3D specifications of the ionospheric electron density.
A paper reporting the results of the GNSS related ionospheric simulator based on the NeQuick 2
model implemented by the T/ICT4D has been published. The work has been done through a
contract with Telespazio.
The web front-end developed and released in 2012 to allow retrieving and plotting ionospheric
parameters computed by the latest version of the model NeQuick 2, developed by the T/ICT4D
laboratory (http://t-ict4d.ictp.it/nequick2) has been used and the model executed 15000 times
during 2013. Through a simple web interface users can exploit all the model features including
the possibility of computing the electron density and visualizing the corresponding Total
Electron Content (TEC) along any ground-to-satellite straight line ray-path. In addition, using
the observation and navigation RINEX files corresponding to a single receiver as input data, the
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web application allows the user to compute the slant and/or vertical TEC following the concept
of the "arc-by-arc" offsets estimation developed by L. Ciraolo consultant of the T/ICT4D.
The Ionospheric Radiopropagation Section of the T/ICT4D laboratory continued participating in
the project “"MONitoring of Ionosphere by InnovaTive Techniques coordinated Observations
and Resources” (MONITOR) financed by the European Space Agency (ESA) that ended in 2013.
The T/ICT4D has developed a technique to reconstruct the 3D electron density of the
ionosphere using ionospheric data on the basis of the concepts given in previous work done in the
Laboratory. As a baseline approach, slant total electron content data have been assimilated into
NeQuick model to provide in near real time a realistic 3D specification of the ionosphere electron
density for the area of interest. The possibility to use additional ionospheric data like ionosonde
derived peak parameters has also been investigated. Several tests related to ionospheric scenario
production (e.g. appraisal of different interpolation schemes) have been carried out and specific
assessments studies concerning the NeQuick model Galileo version have been also performed.
Studies towards improvements of the NeQuick2 model have been carried out during 2013 looking
particularly at two aspects. The first one is considering the merging of a plasmasphere model,
developed by T. Gulyaeva of the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and
Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN) of the Russian Federation, into the topside of NeQuick2
model. The second one is considering a possible modification of thickness parameters in the
model.
Ionospheric Effects on GNSS Positioning
A series of studies on ionospheric effects on satellite (GNSS) navigation and positioning are being
carried out as part of the co-supervising of PhD students of different European universities.
A student of the University of Trieste (Claudia Paparini) is is finalizing her thesis on the
comparison of the European augmentation system EGNOS ionospheric information with
experimental data and Ionospheric Global Maps (IGM) over the Southern part of the European
civil aviation ECAC region. The objective is to assess the possible use of IGM or experimental
data in areas of non-monitored EGNOS data. A group of available position calculation softwares
has been used for this purpose. Preliminary results have been presented at the International
Beacon Satellite Symposium carried out in Bath.
A student from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, (Josip Vucovic) is working on the comparison
of EGNOS ionospheric data with ionospheric information obtained using the NeQuick 2 model
assisted by experimental data following the technique developed in the T/ICT4D Laboratory.
The objective is to assess the possible use of experimental data assisted NeQuick 2 data in areas
of non-monitored EGNOS data.. The study is done for the Eastern area of the ECAC region.
The study of the TEC rate of change possible effect on position at low latitudes done in
collaboration with the Universidad Complutense of Madrid is continuing as part of the PhD
research work of a student (Izarra Rodriguez Bilbao) of that university.
Mars Ionosphere
In collaboration with the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, as part of the PhD thesis work of
Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, modeling efforts to model Mars ionosphere electron density has continued
with the concretition of the NeMars model. The results have been published. In the same
framework a critical analysis of existing techniques to obtain total electron content (TEC) data of
the ionosphere of Mars is being carried out and an improved technique is being investigated.
Contribution Agreement EC-ICTP
An important European Commission (EC) Contribution Agreement with ICTP was signed in
December 2012 in order to carry out the project: “Introduction of GNSS/EGNOS in Africa:
Training and Preliminary Backbone Infrastructure Development” (TREGA). The aim of the
TREGA project is to provide technical assistance, capacity building and provision and use of test
92
equipment for the implementation of GNSS/EGNOS in Sub-Saharan Africa. This project is under
the responsibility of the T/ICT4D Laboratory. The EC has stated that “The Aeronomy and
Radiopropagation Laboratory of ICTP (former name of the T/ICT4D laboratory) has a longstanding experience in training in the field of GNSS” and also that “The specific knowledge of the
institute (ICTP), and its experience in training people from developing countries, put this
organization in a unique position for the participation in the project.”
The project objectives are:
•
•
•
To provide training to members of the EGNOS-Africa Joint Programme Office (JPO) on
different GNSS and EGNOS technology, service provision and applied legal and
regulatory matters.
To select, procure and use a testing platform/software simulator as a preliminary
backbone infrastructure for SBAS services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To train a core number of African professionals to face technical problems related to the
conditions of Sub-Saharan Africa, making use of the testing platform/software simulator.
The 1st Session of the training for the candidates to be members of the JPO was carried out at
ICTP in Trieste from 15 July to 2 August 2013. The two institutions that have collaborated in
this session of the intensive all-included training carried out through Service Contracts with
ICTP are the “Istituto Superiore Mario Boella” (ISMB) of Turin, Italy, and the “PiLDO
Consulting S.L.” (PILDO) of Barcelona, Spain. The first session of the training was dedicated to
“Space projects management” and “Legal/regulatory Aspects”
An international bid has been open to procure the testing/simulation tools. The selected tools
were acquired and they started being used during November 2013 by the three selected longterm trainees assisted by the T/ICT4D researchers. It has to be noted that the main aspects to be
investigated with the testing/simulation tools refer to the particular ionospheric conditions found
in the African low latitudes region.
ALCANTARA Initiative by ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a new initiative called “ALCANTARA: Ionospheric
Ground Based Monitoring Network in Low Latitude Regions”. By contract ESA has assigned to
ICTP, though the T/ICT4D laboratory, a Competence Survey of African Ionospheric
Observations and Research in the framework of the ALCANTARA initiative. This survey,
completed during 2013, was done in order to improve the understanding, characterization,
monitoring and forecasting of the ionosphere in Equatorial Africa in order to benefit users from
Global Navigation Satellite Services, Satellite Telecommunications, scientific research and other
applications. The results were presented at a special session on the ALCANTARA initiative in
the framework of the Workshop on GNSS Data Application to Low Latitude Ionospheric
Research, held at the ICTP, 7-12 May 2013.
Training and Teaching Activities
S. M. Radicella has continued co-supervising PhD students from Nigeria and Ethiopia with the
collaboration of B. Nava and two Master students from Uganda.
B. Nava and S. M. Radicella have continued supervising a student (Mubasshir Shaikh) from the
Politecnico di Torino under a placement in the framework of the EC (FP7) project TRANSMIT.
C. Paparini was invited to give a Seminar at the Faculty of Physics of the Universidad
Complutense of Madrid, March 2013
S. M. Radicella, B. Nava and Y. Migoya-Orué, has given lectures during the Workshop on GNSS
Data Application to Low Latitude Ionospheric Research, held at the ICTP in Trieste, 6-17 May
2013.
B. Nava was invited to give a series of seminars on ionosphere modelling at the China Research
Institute of Radiopropagation, Qingdao, China, 2-10 September 2013.
93
Y. Migoya-Orué has presented a paper in the European Geosciences Union General Assembly
held in Vienna, 7-12 April 2013
S. M. Radicella has participated as invited speaker to the International Conference on Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Technologies and
Applications
for
the
Development of Sub-Saharan African Countries held in Dakar, 30-31 May 2013.
S. M. Radicella has participated as one Session Chair to the International Beacon Satellite
Symposium held at the University of Bath, 8-12 July 2013.
B. Nava has participated as invited speaker to the International Beacon Satellite Symposium held
at the University of Bath, 8-12 July 2013.
C. Paparini has presented a paper in the International Beacon Satellite Symposium held at the
University of Bath, 8-12 July 2013.
S. M. Radicella, B. Nava and C. Paparini have participated to the International IONO-SBAS
meeting, Bath, 12-13 July 2013
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SECTION
Introduction
As in previous years activities in information technologies and wireless communications related
topics covered in-house training and capacity building and in-site activities linked essentially to
the use of radio systems in information and communication technologies for developing countries.
Research and application activities in the area of “wireless sensors” are continuing to transfer this
new technology to developing countries. The “Guglielmo Marconi ICT Wireless Laboratory”
inaugurated in 2010 host training and research activities of the Section.
The collaboration with the Istituto Scienze del Mare (CNR) for the establishment and control of a
long distance wireless link between Venice and CNR measurement site in Adriatic Sea has
continued during 2013.
Training activities of the section have been intensified during 2013 as will be described below.
European Commission FP7 Project QWECI
In the framework of the QWeCI project, members of the section have assisted the colleagues from
University of Malawi in carrying out their participation in the project that ended in 2013.
Research Activities
In 2013 research activities were focused on the following topics:
1. White Spaces identification and visualization. The switchover to digital television frees up
large areas between about 50 MHz and 700 MHz. This is because digital transmissions can be
packed into adjacent channels, while analogue ones cannot. This means that the band can be
"compressed" into fewer channels, while still allowing for more transmissions, creating what
are called White Spaces in the radio spectrum. It is widely recognized that white spaces
identification is an important milestone for the wide deployment of next generation cognitive
wireless networks. Building upon cheap hardware equipment, the T/ICT4D section has
developed a technique to sense the environment and identify which frequencies are not being
used in a particular place and time-of-the-day. This technique has been demonstrated valid and
has been used in several countries (Malawi, Zambia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Thailand). In
September 2013, following the White Spaces identification activity, Direct Engineering
94
Assistance in Malawi has been put in place with the goal of studying the performance of
TVWS devices in harsh conditions. The research is still under evaluation.
2. Ubiquitous Sensor Networking for Development (USN4D). Research carried out in previous
years on the use of Wireless Sensor Networks for Development was continued.
3. Community Cloud Services. The CLOMMUNITY project aims at addressing the obstacles for
communities of citizens in bootstrapping, running and expanding community-owned networks
that provide community services organized as community clouds. That requires solving
specific research challenges imposed by the requirement of: self-managing and scalable
decentralized infrastructure services for the management and aggregation of a large number of
widespread low-cost unreliable networking, storage and home computing resources;
distributed platform services to support and facilitate the design and operation of elastic,
resilient and scalable service overlays and user-oriented services built over these underlying
services, providing a good quality of experience at the lowest economic and environmental
cost. ICTP has concentrated in making sensor data available in community clouds.
Training and Teaching Activities
M. Zennaro, C. Fonda and E. Pietrosemoli have participated as lecturers in the Workshop on
Applications of Wireless Technologies held in Bogota, 4-15 February 2013 (ICTP calendar
activities).
M. Zennaro, C. Fonda and E. Pietrosemoli have participated as lecturers in the Workshop on
Wireless Networking for Science in Africa held in
Trieste, 11-22 March 2013 (ICTP
calendar activities).
Participation in International Meetings
M. Zennaro and E. Pietrosemoli have participated in the TV White Spaces Africa Forum 2013,
Dakar, 30-31 May 2013
M. Zennaro has participated in the Global Symposium for Regulators 2013, Warsaw, 1-5 July
2013
M. Zennaro and E. Pietrosemoli have participated in the International Summit for Community
Wireless Networks, held in Berlin, 2-4 October 2013, presenting the ClOMMUNITY project.
M. Zennaro and E. Pietrosemoli have participated as session coordinators and instructors in the
WALC 2013, Managua, 14-18 October 2013.
M. Zennaro and E. Pietrosemoli have participated as instructors and presented papers in the
IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, San Josè (USA), 20-23 October 2013
M. Zennaro and Andres Garcia Moret have participated and presented papers in the 5th Global
Information Infrastructure and Networking Symposium, 28-31 October 2013.
M. Zennaro has participated as invited speaker at the 3er Congreso Internacional de Espectro,
Bogotá, 12-13 November 2013.
M. Zennaro has participated and presented a paper in the Sixth International Conference on
Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2013), 7-10 December
2013.
Funding
Ionospheric Radiopropagation activities, ICTP Regular Funds, !10,000
Ionospheric Radiopropagation activities, Other institutions, !1,015,000
Wireless Communications, ICTP Regular Funds, !61,000
Wireless Communications, Other Institutions, !125,000 (includes support for conferences
participation of M. Zennaro and E. Pietrosemoli)
95
Researchers
B. Nava, Italy
M. Zennaro, Italy
C. Fonda, Italy
Visiting Scientists
Katy Alazo Cuartas, Cuba
Claudia Paparini, Italy
Andrés Garcia Moret, Venezuela
Consultants
S.M. Radicella, Italy/Argentina (Head of T/ICT4D)
Y.O. Migoya Orué, Argentina
E. Pietrosemoli, Venezuela
L. Ciraolo, Italy
96
APPLIED PHYSICS
PHYSICS OF THE LIVING STATE
ASTROBIOLOGY
Introduction
Astrobiology overlaps both the space sciences and life sciences. It is concerned with the study of
the origin and evolution of life in the universe (life sciences), as well as with the distribution and
destiny of life in the universe (space sciences). The combined efforts of Abdus Salam, Cyril
Ponnamperuma and the present promoter of astrobiology established this field at ICTP in 1991.
Research, seminars and conferences in bioastronomy have attracted and continue to attract
scientists to the Centre.
Research Activities
Research in the Applied Physics Section has so far has been restricted to the satellites—moons—
of the Solar System.
Our earlier work profited from the remarkable discovery of several oceans on the icy moons of
Jupiter, which were explored in the period 1995-2003 by the Galileo Mission.
Our first association with the exploration of the Galilean satellite was with a technology
suggested in our early collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Even though we were
profoundly attracted to the technology, we no longer consider it to be realistic, due to the limited
budgets of the main space agencies and technical difficulties encountered subsequently.
We insisted on a newer technology, the penetrators, in collaboration with the UK Penetrator
Consortium.
The forthcoming mission of the European Space Agency (ESA): "JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer"
(JUICE) with launching set for the 2020s has not included penetrators in the limited payload
restricted to 11 instruments. In collaboration with the MLab (Chela-Flores et al., 2013) we have
suggested a possible alternative, taking advantage of the approved miniaturized instrument being
developed at the University of Bern (the Particle Environmental Package, PEP).
This technology has already an impressive heritage in previous solar system exploration,
especially on the Moon. PEP has integrated the necessary, for our purposes, neutral gas and ion
mass spectrometer-time of flight instrument. In our collaboration, we have suggested that the
above-mentioned approved miniaturized instrument can still perform the test for habitability of
Europa that has been the main objective of the Astrobiology sector of the Applied Physics Section
during 2006-2011.
Training Activities
Supervision of Associate Members of ICTP and Committee for the Selection of Associate Members
For ICTP's Physics of the Living State Programme, there was a review of all the applications of
candidates in the various Association Schemes in the areas of astrobiology, biophysics and
neurophysics.
Participation in International Meetings
Crawford, I.A., Bowles, N., Jaumann, R., Joy, K., Anand, M., Besse, S., Bottke, B., Bray,V.,
Burchell, M., Carpenter, J., Chaussidon, M., Chela-Flores, J., Coates, A., Cockell, C., D’Arrigo, P.,
97
de Vera, J.-P., Falcke, H., Fernandes, V. A., Fritz, J., Gao, Y., Ghent, R., Glotch, T., Grady, M.,
Grande, M., Grindrod, P., Gutiérrez, J., Hiesinger, H., Klein-Wolt, M., Knapmeyer, M., Kring, D.,
Magna, T., Marty, B., Monchieri, E., Osinski, G., Smith, A., Spohn, T., Teanby, N., van Gasselt,
S., Wieczorek, M., Wright, I., Werner, S., van Westrenen, W., Wilson, L., WimmerSchweingruber, R. F., Wuennemann K. and Wurz, P. (2013). Lunar Science as a Window into the
Early History of the Solar System, ESA Science and Technology, Cosmic Vision.
Science Themes for the L2 and L3 missions, Presentation meeting 3-4 September 2013 Institut
Océanographique de Paris, Paris, France.
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/ESA_White_Papers_for_Science_Themes_for_L2_and_L3_Missions
.pdf
Chela-Flores, J. Andrés Cicuttin, María Liz Crespo and Claudio Tuniz (2013). Biogeochemical
fingerprints of life: From Antarctica ecosystems to the Galilean moons. A videoconference at the
International Conference on Biogeosciences. Universidad Central de Las Villas, Cuba, November,
4-7. The podcast of the complete 26-minute talk is available at
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/chelaflores.html
Chela-Flores, J. (2013e). The ICTP iTunes U Hace 3.800 millones de años. 2. La búsqueda de
nuestros orígenes en el polvo de las estrellas: Viajes imaginarios en el cosmos y hacia nuestro
pasado. AstroCaibarien-2013: National Astronomy Meeting, Cuba, November 8.
Chela-Flores, J. (2013d). Origen y distribucion de la vida en sistemas solares. XVI Jornadas de
Biologia y Quimica. Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, Caracas, 27 Noviembre 2013. A video
conference at http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/ss332.
Organization of scientific events
International Workshop on Chemical Evolution and Origin of life, 21-23 March, 2013,
Department of Chemistry Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee – 247 667, India.
Member of the International Advisory Board.
BIOGEOSCIENCES - 2013. November 4 - 9, 2013. Venues: Universidad Central ‘’Marta Abreu’’
de Las Villas (Santa Clara) and Centre for Research of Coastal Ecosystems (Cayo Coco). Cuba.
Local Organizers: Rolando Cardenas, Reinaldo Rojas, Adan Zuñiga and Vicente Berovides.
Member of the International Advisory Board.
Reviewer
The International Journal of Astrobiology
Services
Within ICTP
Adjunct to the Office of External Activities of the ICTP
Revision of all the work done by the OEA during the period 2010-2013.
(a) Collaborated in the 2012 Annual Report (February 2013) and preparation for the 2013 Annual
Report.
(b) An ongoing preparation of an 8-Year Review (2006-2013) of the Office activities.
Collaboration with ICTP Publications Office In the production of videos for Science Communication
La búsqueda de nuestros orígenes en el polvo de las estrellas (in Spanish).
A search for our origins in star dust (in English).
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These videos are on ICTP PIO You Tube. In addition, the same videos are found, together with
an Italian version, in iTunes.ictp.tv, Section ICTP World.
Collaboration with University of Trieste
Chela-Flores, J. (2013a). Alla ricerca di vita in ambienti estremi. Invited lecture at the University
of Trieste at the Paleontology Course of Professor Nevio Pugliese. 15 May 2013 (75 pp.)
Science Communication
Chela-Flores, J. (2013b). Astrobiologia/ Un’anteprima del futuro della Terra nello “specchio” dei
pianeti extrasolari. 7 October.
http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Scienze/2013/10/7/astrobiologia-Un-anteprima-del-futurodella-Terra-nello-specchio-dei-pianeti-extrasolari/432927/
Staff Associate
Julian Chela-Flores, Venezuela
BIOPHYSICS
Introduction
Biophysics has always been the subject of genuine interest for an appreciable number of ICTP
scientists that belong to the Associate Member Programme, an area of interest at the ICTP
whose activities go back to 1980. However, there is a recent additional extension of the
traditional focus on biophysics at the ICTP life sciences program. The Centre has imprinted a
robust growth in computational systems biology, through its quadrennial 2010-2014 ICTP
Strategic Plan (http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/strategic_plan.pdf). In the biophysics sector of the
Applied Physics Section we have made preliminary progress in this direction (cf., publications).
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/strategic_plan.pdf
Research Activities
The root of the quantitative analysis in the life sciences (before the advent of approaching the
study of systems from a holistic point of view) goes back even before the emergence of molecular
biology. A microscopic approach to biology was due to the strong influence of other physical
methods starting with crystallography. An additional reason for the present widespread reemergence of quantitative biology is partly due to advanced physical techniques that have allowed
the systematic study of all the main macromolecules of life (Fig. 1): proteins, nucleic acids such as
DNA and RNA, and the molecules of the cell membrane, especially phospholipids that make up its
corresponding bilipid layer. Today, both their origin and their structure are within reach of
scientific research, since astrobiology has made significant progress in relation with the origin of
the molecules of life, and computational biology, especially systems biology, has also made
considerable progress in data collection, storage and analysis.
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Fig. 1: The molecules of life, proteins, nucleic acids and
phospholipids, their origin and structure are topics that
are of current interest of the Applied Physics Programme
of Physics of the Living State. Credit: NASA / Jenny
Mottar
Computational systems biology attempts to produce a more holistic understanding of biology.
This approach aims to construct a network of interacting processes that can be related to the
information sciences.
In a closely connected development, the widespread re-emergence of a systems biology approach
was also due to the availability of computers that facilitated both the acquisition of large data
banks in genes, proteins and metabolism. It has not been possible to encompass all areas of
biology, but one of its sub-fields, astrobiology, has been especially of interest during 2013 (see
publications list).This effort has been possible due an achievement in instrumentation: Kepler
Mission in heliocentric orbit had the capability until 2013 of scanning some 150,000 stars in the
local neighbourhood of our galaxy in the search of extra-solar Earth-like habitable worlds (cf.,
Fig. 2).
Fig. 2: The Kepler mission (that ended its productive life in 2013) is a NASA space observatory in heliocentric orbit
trailing the Earth. This is a major instrument in the search for possible habitats where life could prosper in terrestriallike planets. These exoplanets can be discovered by looking for a periodic dimming in stellar brightness, caused by a
planet passing in front of a star. Image: courtesy NASA.
Geophysical data, rather than data banks of biological information, will provide a gradual
emergence of the living phenomenon. Subsequently, with better missions and with improved
instrumentation, this identification of life as a complex cosmic system can be extended from a
sector of our galaxy. It will be at this level that the repertoire of methods of computational
systems biology will be necessary.
As suggested in a systems astro-biological approach, the batch of Kepler data that was obtained
before its end in mid 2013 will be particularly relevant for adding yet another factor in defining
habitability 2 and eventually defining life itself. Kepler worlds that have more favourable options
for habitability will be recognised.
The distribution of systems of habitable worlds with their biomarkers will be testable in the short
term with forthcoming space missions such as the Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey
Explorer (FINNESSE) with launching expected in 2016. In 2013 we suggested a way to
anticipate, organize and interpret the data that is provided by Kepler, as well as the data that is to
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come in the post-Kepler era. This, in turn, would justify subsequent use of the more powerful
methods from the repertoire of quantitative systems biology.
Training Activities
Review
All the candidates in the various Association Schemes of the ICTP (Junior, Regular or Senior) in
the area of biophysics.
Selection and supervision of Associate Members in Biophysics
Currently, there are 16 Associate Members in Biophysics & Systems Biology. Out of this group
the following participated actively in this area of research during 2013:
Junior Associate
Folasade Mayowa Olajuyigbe from Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of
Technology, Akure, NIGERIA. Her research topic is Biocrystallography studies of drug resistant
mutants of HIV protease.
Regular Associates
Ganiyu Oboh’s research concerns the structure-function relationship of polyphenols from some
tropical plant foods. He works at Biochemistry Department, Federal University of Technology,
Akure, Nigeria. He is a Regular Associate. His Applied Physics seminar was scheduled for 30
October 2013: " The Role Of Dietary Polyphenols In Hypertension Management".
Senior Associate
Pius Mpiana Tshimankinda from the University of Kinshasa, Faculty of Sciences, Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of Congo. Biophysics paid a visit to the Centre. At the end of this period he
delivered a seminar to the Applied Physics Section: "Of Medicinal Plants And Sickle Cell
Disease". This event took place on 25 September 2013.
Meetings
Bhattacherjee, A. B., Chela-Flores, J. and Dudeja, S. (2013). From chemical evolution on Earth to
instrumentation issues for testing systems astrobiology on exo-worlds. International Workshop
on Chemical Evolution and Origin of Life. ITT Roorkee, 21 – 23 March 2013.
Chela Flores, J. (2013a). Systems astrobiology for a reliable biomarker on exo-worlds.
Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 15, EGU2013-1327-1, 2013 EGU General Assembly,
Vienna, Austria, http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/ss314.html
Services
Within ICTP
Coordination of Seminars on Physics of the Living State (Biophysics, including Systems Biology)
Synchronization as a survival strategy of biological systems - from cellular slime mold to crystal
growth. Seido Nagano. Department of Bioinformatics, Ritsumeikan University, Japan. 3 May
2013.
Quantum effects in biological systems
Sisir Roy. Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India. 4
July 2013
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Digital image quality analysis in dental panoramic studies: results of two projects. Marlen Perez
Diaz Central University of Las Villas, Medical Imaging Laboratory, Santa Clara, Cuba. 4
September 2013
Optimized thermal lens method and applications. Humberto Cabrera. Applied Optics Laboratory,
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Merida, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 16
October 2013
Regulation of cellular processes: from pathways to multi-cell systems. Somdatta Sinha
Computational Biology Group, Department of Biological Sciences Indian Institute of Science
Education & Research, Mohali, India. 13 November 2013
Staff Associate
NEUROPHYSICS
Introduction
Neuroscientists focus on the brain, psychologists on the mind. In this area, physicists have
approached computational aspects of neuron interactions. The hope has been of building
computational models of biologically plausible artificial neural networks that can mimic certain
aspects of the brain. The recent advances in determining the structure of molecules has given
molecular biology a central role in the progress of molecular neuroscience. This is exemplified by
the structure of the neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel transmembrane region.
Neurophysics has been developed at ICTP through a series of colleges and symposia in
collaboration with other institutes, in which many participants from developing countries and
industrialized nations have been brought up to date in their areas of expertise. It was also possible
to consider this subject in the broader context of neuronal structure and function, as well as
addressing important issues of perception, learning, memory and their computational aspects by
the assumption of simplified models.
Some aspects of neurophysics are closely connected with the objectives of the Biophysics
Programme of Physics of the Living State. One example is provided by the epoch-making
contributions of Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, a mathematical model that describes
how action potentials in neurons are initiated and propagated. The HH quantitative model is a set
of nonlinear ordinary differential equations that approximates the electrical characteristics of
excitable cells especially, but not exclusively, those of the nervous system.
Research Activities
The activities of research and development are implemented by our Associate Members in the
following areas: the dynamics and function of cellular signalling pathways and cerebral cortex,
functional magnetic resonance imaging, biophysical models, image fusion, image-guided
neurosurgery and computational neurosciences.
Training Activities
Selection and Supervision of Associate Members of ICTP
The review of all the candidates in the various Association Schemes of the ICTP (Junior, Regular,
or Senior) in the area of neurophysics.
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Staff Associate
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APPLIED PHYSICS
MEDICAL PHYSICS
ICTP activities in the field of Medical Physics for 2013 can be divided into three main areas:
Training Activities
In 2013, the following training activitieswere conducted:
• 6 September - 27 September Joint ICTP-IAEA Training in Radiation Protection of
Patients, with 16 Lecturers and 31 Participants
• 30 September - 4 October Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Nuclear Data for Science and
Technology: Medical Applications with 8 Lecturers and 21 Participants
• 5 November - 6 December Training Course on Medical Physics for Radiation Therapy:
Dosimetry and Treatment Planning for Basic and Advanced Applications with 21 Lecturers
and 24 Participants
• 9 December - 13 December Joint ICTP-IAEA International Training Workshop on
Accuracy Requirement and Uncertainty in Radiation Therapy with 6 Lecturers and 23
Participants
In the past, the training activities organized by ICTP (excluding the Joint ICTP-IAEA Schools)
covered Imaging aspects during the three-week College on Medical Physics, organized every
second year.
Radiotherapy, extremely important aspect in medical physics, had not recieved much attention.
In 2013, the ICTP organized its first training activity in radiotherapy, with the cooperation of the
Trieste and Udine Hospitals.
The call for participation was an extraordinary success with 380 applications. This was a clear
sign that there exists a great demand for courses in radiotherapy, especially in developing
countries. Financial constraints limited the number of participants to only 24.
The number of applications suggests that having a regular activity in Radiotherapy may be
important for the field.
Visits of Associate Members
In 2013, 12 Associate Members--8 Regular and 4 Junior--visited ICTP, for a total of 760 days.
Apart from participating in the Training Activities in Medical Physics during their period of stay,
they interacted with the Medical Physics Services of local hospitals in Trieste and Udine, or with
physicists working at the Trieste University and ELETTRA.
Four new Regular Associates and one Simons Associate have been appointed in the field of
Medical Physics.
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New Initiative: The Joint ICTP-UNITS Master in Medical Physics
The discussion and preparation of a master in medical physics started already a few years ago,
also after the strong suggestion of the IAEA and of the International Association in Medical
Physics.
Since ICTP cannot confer formal degrees, it has collaborated with the University of Trieste
(UNITS) in 2013 to offer a Joint Master. It took more than a year to define all the didactic and
bureaucratic aspects.
The courses duration for the master's degree is 2 years, with the first year dedicated to lectures
and practicals in Trieste (at the Hospital and at the ICTP), and a second year dedicated to
residency for practical training in one of the host hospitals. More than 10 hospitals in Northern
Italy and in other neighbouring countries have agreed to host the master students for the second
year.
The scientific-didactic programme has been prepared following the guidelines prepared by the
IAEA, and taking into account the UNITS rules concerning master courses.
In May 2013, a call for applications was issued, with a deadline of August 31; the programme
received more than 250 applications.
Taking into account both the criteria of competence and the amount of funds available for
fellowships, a total of 17 students were pre-registered for the master at UNITS; of these, 13 were
later registered for the master with UNITS.
Regular classes for programme started Monday, 3 February 2014, and there was a formal
inauguration on Wednesday, 5 February with officials from the province of Trieste, and scientific
and academic authorities in attendance.
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APPLIED PHYSICS
FLUID DYNAMICS
Introduction
The ICTP Fluid Dynamics Laboratory is a world-class
research facility whose activities range from quantum to
classical fluid flows and whose centrepiece is an apparatus
capable of producing ultra-high levels of controlled
buoyancy-driven turbulence. It operates at a temperature
of near-absolute zero and provides high-resolution data for
fundamental studies of turbulent fluid dynamics.
The ICTP cryogenic convection apparatus, shown with Marcelline
Essoun, a STEP student from Benin who completed her PhD degree in
2011 with J. Niemela, working on analytical models of rotating
turbulent convection.
Research Activities
Atop a rotating platform, ICTP’s turbulent convection experiment provides insight into
fundamental processes characteristic of many large-scale natural phenomena, like atmospheric
and solar convection, in a range of control parameters not possible elsewhere. Recent experiments
have taken particular advantage of the possibility to apply more realistic boundary conditions,
particularly the more two-dimensional aspect ratios characteristic of natural extended systems
while not sacrificing large values of the principal dynamic control parameter. Taking rotational
effects also to the limits, combined with high precision measurements has allowed us to explore
the transition from weakly turbulent flow to a rotationally dominated geostrophic regime. Some
additional recent work has centred on the nature of turbulent diffusion using novel experiments
that propagate thermal waves into the turbulent bulk flow. These experiments rely on the
relative absence of thermal mass of metals at low temperatures and would be very difficult with
conventional room temperature fluids and apparatus. Since the range of parameters is not
available to fully resolved numerical simulations, the experiment provides important input for
guiding advances in theoretical modelling of important flows in nature and engineering.
The laboratory has been established as a Transnational Access Facility within the European High
Performance Infrastructures in Turbulence Consortium, established under an EU FP7
Framework grant established in 2012.
Recently, the laboratory underwent some transformations, adding a new line of research in
analogue gravity experiments. Analogue (fluid) models of gravity provide an experimentally
accessible system to study aspects of a superradiance process (Penrose effect); these fluid
dynamical experiments are the connection between the Applied Physics Laboratory at Elettra, the
Astrophysics group at SISSA, and the Department of Physics at Nottingham University as well
as Elettra scientists. To date, a completed flow apparatus has been successfully commissioned
and work with one Ph.D. student has commenced.
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New draining vortex flume delivered in late 2012 to the ICTP Applied Physics laboratory at Elettra to be used for
the analogue gravity experiments. It is shown here in the initial stages of setup after delivery.
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APPLIED PHYSICS
ANCHOR OPTICS RESEARCH (AOR) PROGRAMME
ICTP organizes its optics research under the Anchor Optics Research (AOR) Programme,
encompassing collaboration with the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and
INFN.
Research activities are presently centred in collaborating laboratories in INFN and Elettra. The
purpose of the research, which is co-funded by SPIE, is to use high-power, narrow line-width
mid-IR laser light for both spectroscopy and for accurate measurements of the proton charge
radius, based on resolving hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen. The two methods being
investigated are the use of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) that is tuneable in the mid-it range, and
difference frequency generation (DFG), taking advantage of improvements in nonlinear crystals.
The laboratory activities have involved researchers from Italy (ICTP, INFN, Sincrotrone
Trieste) Bulgaria, Togo, Ghana, and India. Researchers from developing countries were
supported through ICTP’s STEP, TRIL, and Associates Programmes.
Elettra joined as a partner to the Quantum Cascade Laser project in 2012, making available
resources and personnel from the laser laboratory.
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APPLIED PHYSICS
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
RELATED THEORY
Introduction
The aim of the group is to perform theoretical research and training in areas of condensed matter
and applied physics that are experimentally investigated by synchrotron radiation (SR). There is
close collaboration with experimentalists at the nearby SR source, Elettra, and at other similar
facilities.
Within the relatively large scope of problems that fall under this description, the group has two
main focuses of activities. The first field of activities is the investigation of electronic, magnetic,
and structural properties of systems with strong electron correlations, including transition-metal
oxides and related materials. The second main area of interest is the physics of low-dimensional
systems and nanostructures.
Research Activities
The main activities/results in 2013 include:
Reversible rippling and bonding of graphene on a square lattice
The group has performed a dispersion-corrected density-functional-theory study to address the
microscopic mechanisms responsible for the formation of a new chemisorbed buckled graphene
phase on Ir(001), recently discovered at Elettra. This new phase exhibits exceptionally large onedimensional graphene ripples with regular nanometer periodicity and can be reversibly
transformed into a flat physisorbed graphene in a temperature-controlled process involving
surprisingly few C-Ir bonds. Based on the calculated trends of the chemisorption and rippling
energy, the occurrence of a chemisorbed graphene phase with a specific nanoscale rippling
periodicity was explained. The influence of the graphene curvature on its electronic properties
and ability to bind to the substrate has also been investigated. A new feature was found in the
conduction density-of-states spectrum, close to the Fermi energy. The corresponding states were
identified as the ones largely responsible for the strong local chemisorption of graphene.
Magnetic behaviour in 3d–transition-metal layered structures
The quest for magnetic storage devices with increased storage density and having room
temperature stability has boosted interest in the properties of nanostructured magnetic solids and
in particular in their magnetic anisotropy. A first-principles study has been carried out to address
the dependence of the magnetic anisotropy of Co layered structures on in-plane strain [R. F.
Neumann and N. Binggeli]. The results indicated a substantial tunability of the magnetic
anisotropy energy for realistic in-plane strain conditions, including sign reversal of the magnetic
anisotropy. The ab intio study was complemented by a model description of the magnetic
behaviour based on microscopic orbital polarization.
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Training Activities
The 16th International Workshop on Computational Physics and Materials Science: Total
Energy and Force Methods; Organizers: C. Filippi, R. M. Martin, and N. Binggeli; January 10 –
12, 2013, ICTP.
Hands-on Tutorial on Electronic Structure Computations; Organizers: S. Moroni and N.
Binggeli; January 14-18, 2013, ICTP.
Coordination of the ICTP-Elettra users programme and of the ICTP-IAEA sandwich training
and educational programme (N. Binggeli)
Participation in the teaching of the ICTP Diploma programme in condensed matter physics (N.
Stojic, N. Binggeli)
Professional Staff
N. Binggeli, Switzerland
Postdoctoral Fellow
M. Imam, India
Long-term visiting scientist
N. Stojic, Croatia
PhD Student
R. Neumann, Brazil, STEP student
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APPLIED PHYSICS
ICTP Multidisciplinary Laboratory (MLAB)
Introduction
The MLAB was formerly the Microprocessor Laboratory, created in 1985 as a joint venture
between ICTP and INFN, represented by Prof. Abdus Salam and Prof. Nicola Cabibbo
respectively, with the aim of having a laboratory for training, research and development in the
field of microelectronics and open to scientists from developing countries.
Today, the MLAB promotes cross-cutting experimental activities based on advanced instruments
and involving external collaborations. The principle collaboration occurs through the INFN
Trieste section and Sincrotrone Trieste (Elettra) for research-related activities and with the
IAEA for training. For the latter, hands-on training is the rule, using both simple and advanced
instruments as appropriate. The experience gained through experimental training strengthens
the ability of developing country scientists to both propose and to conduct research under the
prevailing conditions in their home countries.
The main MLAB activities are aimed at advanced detectors—taking advantage of in-house
experience in readout and data processing systems—as well as X-ray imaging and analysis.
Specifically these are:
1. Detector development (with INFN Trieste) and related activities in digital electronics and
especially FPGA applications
2. X-ray imaging and analysis for cultural heritage (with Elettra)
In (1) above, the MLAB collaborates with the INFN R&D project ReDSoX (Research Drift for
Soft X-ray) started in 2013, that focuses on the development of large area silicon detectors based
on the drift technology along for detection of low energy X-ray photons. The detectors will
provide spatial and spectroscopic information for applications in various fields such as soft X-ray
astrophysics, medicine, environment monitoring, and advanced light sources (synchrotrons and
free electron lasers). The project also involves development of custom low-power ultra low-noise
CMOS IC analog front end electronics and novel readout electronics in the hands of MLAB
technical personnel.
The project has a connection with Sincrotrone Trieste to develop customized and affordable
beam-line detectors. The main advantage is the capture of photons from a larger solid angle. The
sensor read-out is accomplished by the front-end ASIC developed by the XDXL collaboration for
the large-area linear SDD [10]. The signal processing system is being optimized to match the
characteristics of novel large area Silicon drift detectors under development between INFN and
the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento, Italy.
The MLAB contributes with its expertise in FPGA technology and high performance data
acquisition and processing systems, developed in the context of particle detectors in high energy
physics experiments.
In (2) above the MLAB is involved in the project EXACT (Elemental X-ray Analysis and
Computed Tomography), funded by Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy and profiting from a
collaboration with Sincrotrone Trieste.
The project utilizes a portable X-ray instrument for the non-destructive study of archaeological,
artistic and cultural heritage artifacts. This is an important service activity to a wider community
that includes archaeologists and paleontologists, etc active in Italy and also globally, bringing the
power of advanced instrumentation developed at Elettra with direct involvement at MLAB of
post-doctoral researchers in these fields.
The instrumentation at ICTP [11] comprises two main systems, one based on micro-computed
tomography (mCT) and the other one based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction
(XRD) and radiography.
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The MLAB scientist coordinating the work is Prof. Claudio Tuniz. Technical coordination is
provided by Sincrotrone Trieste. An ICTP Associate, Dr. Ariadna Mendoza Cuevas (Cuba) is
involved in the experiments as are wo post-docs, Drs. Federico Bernardini and Clement Zanolli, and
a technician, Mr. Mauricio Dos Santos.
During 2013, several peer-reviewed articles have been published [1, 7-9, 12-15, 17].
In addition, even more portable devices are being developed that could be more easily transported
on-site, depending on the precise needs.
During 2013, the MLAB in collaboration with Sincrotrone Trieste organized the first Workshop
on Portable X-ray Analytical Instruments for Cultural Heritage held at ICTP from 29 April to 3 May,
2013.
Other MLAB activities carried out in 2013:
a) COMPASS Experiment at CERN: In 2013, the the MLAB contributed manpower to datataking at the CERN COMPASS experiment.
b) Reconfigurable Virtual Instrumentation based on FPGA: The MLAB continued refinements
and training on reconfigurable virtual instrumentation (RVI) systems using programmable logic
devices that could provide low-cost reusable hardware and software platforms.
An International Training Workshop on FPGA Design for Scientific Instrumentation and Computing
was held at ICTP from 11 to 22 November 2013.
From October to November 2013, the short-tem guest scientist Prof. Carlos Sosa Paez (National
University of San Luis, Argentina) collaborated in the preparation of tutorials and demos on
digital signal processing with FPGA.
The MLAB also organized an Expert Meeting on Scientific Applications of FPGA Technology:
Challenges and Opportunities, held at ICTP from 15 to 16 November 2013, with the participation
of about 20 FPGA experts from academic and research institutions from Latin America, Asia, and
Europe. The purpose was to review and discuss challenges and opportunities of scientific
applications of modern FPGA technology.
Expert Meeting on Scientific Applications of FPGA Technology 2013
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Another application of FPGA developed in 2013 was a high channel Count system for
electrophysiology, HiCCE-FMC-128, which is an Open-Hardware/Software project, released
under the CERN Open Hardware license (http://www.ohwr.org/projects/hicce-fmc-128), in
which MLAB personnel helped to develop a prototype device for certification in the US as a
medical device, in conjunction with a former ICTP scientist, Marcelo Magnasco, presently at
Rockefeller University. The main goal of HiCCE-FMC-128 is the development of a high
performance recording system, based on a FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC), for bioelectric signals
including neural action and local field potentials, electroencephalography, electrocardiography,
electrocorticography, etc. The software related to the first prototype (figure 2) was developed at
the MLAB.
The HiCCE-128 FMC Board
c) In the framework of the project: Advanced Instrumentation for the Electrical Characterization of
Mesoscopic Solar Cells, initiated in 2013 by Dr. Carlos Meza Benavidez (Senior Post-Doc) from the
Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC), two students Stephanie Barrantes Pacheco and
Wendy Reyes Rojas (TEC) worked at MLAB during November 2013 in the FPGA
implementation of a gradient estimator for photovoltaic power converters.
d) Dense Plasma Focus Device
The dense plasma focus (DPF) is a relatively inexpensive, non-radioactive, compact and efficient
source of plasma and radiation.
DPF specific applications include characterization of nano-technology materials, dynamical
defectoscopy of moving or rotating objects, materials testing, explosives and other illicit
materials detection, and production of isotopes for medical diagnosis and cancer therapy. It is
operated with an ICTP Staff Associate Prof. Vladimir Gribkov, from the Institute for Theoretical
and Experimental Physics, Moscow, and Dr. Ryszard Miklaszewski from the Institute of Plasma
Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM), Warsaw, Poland.
From February to April 2013, The Emerging Nations Science Foundation (Trieste, Italy) gave three
months of support to Dr. Azza Ahmed Talab from the Nuclear Research Center of Egypt, to
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receive training at MLAB and collaborate with Prof. Gribkov in several irradiation experiments
in the framework of the IAEA CRP on “Investigations on Materials under High Repetition and Intense
Fusion Pulses”.
e) Portable X-ray Diffractometer for Non Destructive Analysis
A portable X-ray diffractometer has been under development at the MLAB. It is an innovative
analytical instrument for non destructive studies of complex materials, having high spectroscopic
and angular resolution.
Portable diffractometer mounted on an optical table
The electromechanical system allows moving the X-ray source and the detector independently
each other. The mechanic angular resolution of each stage is better than 70 x 10-6 Radian, and the
use of high precision contact switches (~ 1um) allows the determination of the home position of
the stages with excellent accuracy and repeatability. A laser-based remote distance sensor allows
positioning the material point of analysis with a precision of about 30 microns.
Media coverage of published papers
Bernardini F. et al. (2013), Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 2152-2160
National Geographic Italia, Scoperto A Trieste Il Più Antico Accampamento Romano.
Http://Www.Nationalgeographic.It/Popoliculture/2013/01/22/News/Scoperto_A_Trieste_Il_
Pi_Antico_Accampamento_Romano-1472588/
Corriere della Sera, Scienze, Sul Carso uno dei più antichi accampamenti military romani.
http://www.corriere.it/scienze/13_gennaio_18/carso-scoperto-antico-accampamentoromano_a54c4cec-6149-11e2-8866-a141a9ff9638.shtml
Il Piccolo, Gli antichi soldati romani accampati sul Carso.
http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/cronaca/2013/01/20/news/gli-antichi-soldati-romani accampati-sulcarso-1.6379864
Bernardini F. et al. (2012), PLoS ONE 7(9): e44904
Archaeology, A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, Volume 66, Number 1
(2013): 12, Fixing Ancient Toothaches.
P.M. Fragen&Antworten 04/2013: 45, Was machten Zahnärzte in der Steinzeit?.
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Geokompakt Nr. 37 (2013): 77, Zahnheilkunde, Istrien, um 4500 v. Chr.
Training Activities
Joint ICTP-TWAS Workshop on Portable X-ray Analytical Instruments for Cultural Heritage
(smr2455) held at ICTP from 29 April to 3 May, 2013. Organisers: C. Tuniz, L. Mancini, M.L.
Crespo, A. Cicuttin (Lecturers: F. Bernardini, A. Mendoza Cuevas, C. Zanolli)
Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Advances in Digital Spectroscopy (smr2456) held at ICTP from
6 to 10 May, 2013. Directors: I. Darby, J. Niemela (Lecturers: A. Cicuttin, M.L. Crespo)
School on Hands-on Research in Complex Systems (smr2471) held at ICTP from 1 to 12 July,
2013. Directors: J. Niemela, H.L. Swinney, R. Roy, K. Showalter (Experimental sessions at MLAB
with the collaboration of A. Cicuttin and M.L. Crespo)
International Training Course on FPGA Design for Scientific Instrumentation and Computing
(smr2499) held at ICTP from 11 to 22 November, 2013. Directors: A. Cicuttin, M.L. Crespo, J. D.
Dondo
Preparation of the Regional Conference & FPGA School on Advanced Instrumentation (smr2641)
to be held in Costa Rica from 1 to 19 December, 2014. Directors: A. Cicuttin, M.L. Crespo, C.
Meza Benavides.
Activities with IAEA:
International School on Nuclear Security (smr2446) held at ICTP from 8 to 19 April, 2013. Cosponsors: the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IAEA. Organizers: D. Lambert, C. Tuniz
Joint ICTP-IAEA School on Nuclear Energy Management (smr2473) held at ICTP from 15 July
to 2 August, 2013. Organizers: A. Bychkov, T. Karseka, Y. Yanev, C. Tuniz
Joint ICTP-IAEA School of Nuclear Knowledge Management (smr2476) held at ICTP from 12 to
16 August, 2013. Organizers: M.M. Sbaffoni, A. Kosilov, C. Tuniz
Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Advanced Ion Beam Techniques: Imaging and Characterization
with MeV ions (smr2488) held at ICTP from 30 September to 4 October, 2013. Organizers: Aliz
Simon, C. Tuniz
Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Nuclear Data for Analytical Applications (smr2495) held at
ICTP from 21 to 25 October, 2013. Organizers: A. Gurbich, P. Dimitriou, C. Tuniz
IAEA Coordinated Research Project (IAEA CRP) «Investigations on Materials under High
Repetition and Intense Fusion Pulses» (2011-2015) that is devoted to testing of materials
perspective for the main-stream fusion devices, as well as to study the Dense Plasma Focus (DPF)
physics and its different applications.
Services
Hardware Loan Programme: ICTP hardware platforms based on FPGA were given on loan to
external collaborators through a simple written agreement for research and education purposes.
Among the beneficiaries of this program there are teacher, researchers, and students from
Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Sri
Lanka and Ukraine.
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Professional Staff
Joseph Niemela, USA (Head)
Maria Liz Crespo, Argentina
Technical Staff
Andres Cicuttin, Italy
Scientific Consultants
Claudio Tuniz, Italy (part-time)
Staff Associates
Vladimir Gribkov, Russian Federation (part-time)
Post-doctoral Fellows
Federico Bernardini, Italy
Visiting Scientists
Ariadna Mendoza Cuevas, Cuba (part-time)
Clement Zanolli, France
IAEA Fellow
Christian Kwasi Nuviadenu, Ghana (part-time)
Administrative Staff
Stanka Tanaskovic, Italy
Consultant
Italo Birri, Italy (part-time)
Funding
The MLAB has received a 600,000 Euro grant from the local government of Regione Friuli
Venezia Giulia for the project “Development of an X-Ray Portable System for Non-Destructive
Analysis of Archaeological and Artistic Materials” (EXACT - Elemental X-ray Analysis and
Computed Tomography). The project is divided in three phases (200,000 Euro per each phase),
the first and second phases were successfully concluded, and the third and last two-year phase has
started in January 2013.
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NEW RESEARCH AREAS
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Introduction
The world is facing an energy crisis, due to the excessive use of fossil fuels and the rapidly
increasing price of oil. At the same time, the menace of climate change caused by rising levels of
atmospheric CO2 makes the replacement of these traditional energy sources an important
priority.
For these reasons, renewable energy and sustainability are at the core of many research efforts
worldwide. While the transition to a more environmental friendly energy system poses many
inter-connected challenges, one of the most important aspects is to find better and more
economical ways to convert and store energy. This theme is particularly relevant for developing
countries, which are often blessed with abundant natural resources and where a traditional
centralized energy infrastructure does not exist nationwide. Such a situation is ideally suited for a
small-scale, decentralized power supply from renewable sources.
This situation has been recognized by many governments in the developing world who
consequently ask their research community to work in the general field of energy science.
Bridging the gap between industrialized countries and the developing world is therefore a vital
task for an organization like ICTP. For this reason, renewable energy has been inscribed as one
of the priorities in ICTP's five-year plan.
In this report, the efforts of the new ICTP renewable energy initiative, in the year 2013, are
illustrated.
Research
In 2013, the research in the field of materials science has been devoted to two main projects, both
based on ab-initio simulations: functional materials for photocatalysis and lithium batteries. In
the field of photocatalysis, the focus is on materials that can convert solar energy into chemical
energy by splitting water and/or reducing carbon dioxide. In the first project, a system composed
of titanium dioxide and copper was investigated. This system is promising for the direct
conversion of water and carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons using sunlight.
The effect of copper on the atomic structure and the electronic structure of titanium dioxide has
been investigated in the cases when copper is employed as a doping element, as small clusters and
as nanometric particles at a titania surface. The atomic structure of this system, and the relation
between atomic and electronic structure have been studied. Finally, water adsorption and
dissociation have been simulated on a nanometric copper particle supported on a titania surface.
This gives insight into the role of copper, in particular, on the role of particle shape and its
orientation with respect to the titania support, in water dissociation, which is the first step of the
hydrocarbon production. This work has been conducted mainly by Nicola Seriani in collaboration
with ICTP postdoctoral fellow Yanier Crespo and with Carlos Pinilla (now at University College
London, UK).
In the second project, Nicola Seriani, Ralph Gebauer and Manh Thuong Nguyen investigated
water splitting on surfaces of hematite (a-Fe2O3). The relative stability of different surface
terminations for the main surface (0001) was investigated as a function of oxygen pressure and of
applied bias, in presence of oxygen and water.
For the most stable termination, the research team studied water splitting under
photoelectrochemical conditions, with full characterization of all reaction steps leading to the
formation of molecular oxygen and hydrogen. They also calculated the overpotential, a quantity
linked to the efficiency of the water splitting process.
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Regarding lithium batteries, most of the research has involved the characterization of materials
for the cathode of lithium-air batteries. The focus was on the catalyst a-MnO2 and on the
interaction of lithium peroxide with the graphitic material that constitutes most of the cathode.
The characterization of a-MnO2 as a catalyst for the reversible formation of lithium peroxide has
been performed both through a density functional theory description and through the use of spin
lattice models to describe the essential features of the magnetic behaviour. This work was carried
out by Nicola Seriani in collaboration with the ICTP postdoctoral fellows, Yanier Crespo and
Saptarshi Mandal, and Alexei Andreanov (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex
Systems, Dresden, Germany).
Having characterized pure and doped a-MnO2, the research team is investigating currently the
interaction of a-MnO2 with oxygen and lithium. The interaction of lithium peroxide with
graphitic material is crucial because it is believed that the reaction of lithium peroxide (the main
discharge product in lithium-air batteries) with the carbon material is the main source of capacity
loss during battery operation. This is a subject of on-going research with the ICTP Associate
Regina Maphanga (University of Limpopo, South Africa).
To summarize, in 2013, detailed characterization of the relevant functional materials has reached
a stage where the investigation of functional properties can be safely conducted. This has in fact
been partly done, with a detailed study of water splitting on hematite, and the study of water
dissociation on Cu@TiO2. Future work will be aimed at extending the investigation of chemical
reactions under photoelectrochemical conditions, and to start investigating the photoabsorption
properties of these materials. The long-term goal is to understand relations between atomic and
electronic structure, photoabsorption and photoelectrochemical behaviour. Understanding the
importance of materials for energy conversion and storage work might open avenues for a more
systematic approach to materials development in this field. All these projects are designed to be
long-term projects, allowing the creation of sub-projects to facilitate collaborations among ICTP
postdoctoral fellows, visitors and associates.
Training Activities
The ICTP has been organizing or co-organizing a series of schools and workshops in the field of
renewable energy in the year 2013:
July 2013: Joint ICTP-NSFC School and Advanced Workshop on Modern Electronic Structure
Computations in Shanghai (China).
August 2013: Hands-on Workshop on Density Functional Theory and Beyond: Computational
Materials Science for Real Materials in Trieste (Italy).
September 2013: New trends in nanophysics and solar energy conversion in Bucharest (Romania).
November 2013: Regional Workshop on Materials Science for Solar Energy Conversion in Cape
Town (South Africa).
Students Supervised
1) Sandip Aryal (Nepal), ICTP Diploma student, supervised by M.T. Nguyen and R. Gebauer.
Title: Dependence of the hematite surface energies on the Hubbard U parameter in density
functional calculations
2) Gemechis Dereje Degaga (Ethiopia), Master student at the University of Trieste, supervised
by N. Seriani. Title: Ab-initio study of electronic structure and structural stability of Cu doped
polymorphs of titania
3) Sadhana Chalise (Nepal), Master student at the University of Trieste, supervised by N. Seriani
and S. Scandolo. Title: Vibrational properties of TiO2 nanoparticles from atomistic simulations
4) Tran Nguyen Dung (Vietnam), ICTP Diploma student, supervised by N. Seriani. Title: Abinitio investigation of structure and electronic properties of sodium superoxide
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5) Himadriben Rajendraku Soni (India) STEP student, supervised by Prafulla K. Jha (Bhavnagar
University) and N. Seriani
6) Sara Abbas (Sudan) enrolled as PhD student at the University of Khartoum (Sudan), supervised
by Hisham Widatallah (Sultan Qaboos University) and N. Seriani
7) Luis Arturo Alcala Varilla (Colombia) started his PhD at the University of Cartagena,
supervised by Javier Antonio Montoya and N. Seriani
International Networks: ANSOLE
ICTP has helped launch the African Network for Solar Energy (ANSOLE) and is strongly
supporting it since November 2011. This network is coordinating research groups in the field of
solar energy all over the African continent. Currently, ANSOLE is present in 31 African
countries and has roughly 600 members.
With the support from ICTP, ANSOLE regularly organizes scientific meetings in the field of
solar energy. Also, two student exchange schemes, the Intra-African Exchange (INEX) program
and the Africa-North Exchange (ANEX) program, are active with the financial support from
ICTP.
Staff
1) Ralph Gebauer, Coordinator of the renewable energy programme, ICTP research scientist,
Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section.
2) Carlos Meza-Benavides, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, ICTP renewable energy programme.
3) Nicola Seriani, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, ICTP renewable energy programme.
4) M. T. Nguyen, ICTP postdoctoral fellow, ICTP renewable energy programme.
5) Daniel Ayuk Mbi Egbe, Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells, Coordinator of ANSOLE and
ICTP consultant.
External Grants
Computational grants have been awarded by the CINECA supercomputing centre:
ISCRA 2012/2013 Type B (2.600.000 CPU hours), R. Gebauer (PI), N. Seriani, M.T. Nguyen,
Photoinduced water splitting on defective hematite surfaces
PRACE Preparatory Access Ppp14_1812 (100.000 CPU hours), P. Ghosh (PI), R. Gebauer, I.
Girotti, First Principles investigations of solvent effect in photophysical properties of ellipticine
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NEW RESEARCH AREAS
QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY
ICTP has set the creation of a new section in Quantitative Biology as one of its goals of the 20102014 strategic plan. In 2013, we have taken important steps in this direction. First, Areejit Samal
joined ICTP as senior postdoctoral fellow in Quantitative Biology in March. Then an opening for
a position of Research Scientist (P3) in Quantitative Biology was announced in spring. We
received more than 100 applications from several highly qualified candidates. The selection
committee unanimously recommended Antonio Celani for the position, and he joined ICTP in
February 2014. Important steps have been taken in fund raising in order to secure financial
resources to open a second staff position. We carried out a thorough search for potential donors
and submitted two proposals that, if successful, will allow us to open new positions. We extended
our network of research collaboration in important ways, with a program of visiting scientists
and with the appointment of Ramin Golestanian and Yasser Roudi as staff associates. Ramin
Golestanian and Michele Vendruscolo visited ICTP for extended periods in 2013.
The collaboration in Quantitative Biology with Indian scientists and institutions has been
intensified, with an agreement with ICTS for running joint training activities and a research
project with ICGEB Delhi. Initial contacts have been established with European Molecular
Biology Organization (EMBO) for running joint activities.
Research
Research activities were carried out in collaboration with groups in SISSA, ICGEB, ENS Paris,
Univ. Paris-Sud 11, Univ. of Cambridge, NTNU Trondheim, U. Zurich and UC Berkeley. This
led to:
a)
the PhD thesis of Luca Caniparoli (co-supervised by M. Marsili and M. Vendruscolo)
that focused on translation efficiency in simple organisms and quantitative measures of codon bias
b)
a publication on optimal biochemical networks that maximize information transfer over a
given times-scale (collaboration with A.M. Walczak, ENS Paris, and C. Wiggins, Columbia)
c)
a publication on non-stationary inference of neural data (with NTNU - Trondheim and
KTH – Stockholm).
d)
a collaborative project with M. Giacca at ICGEB, Trieste, has been initiated to
understand the differential regulation of metabolic pathways by 2 miRNAs that were found to
induce cardiac regeneration
e)
a collaborative project with D. Kumar and A. Singh at ICGEB, Delhi, has been initiated
to elucidate the architecture of M. tuberculosis regulatory network and understand the regulation
of metabolic pathways critical for latency
f)
a collaborative project with O.C. Martin, Univ. Paris-Sud 11 and A. Wagner, Univ.
Zurich has been initiated to develop a new method to sample uniformly the space of viable
minimal metabolic networks within the reaction universe
g)
a manuscript focused on identifying atypical properties of E. coli metabolism is in
preparation
h)
a manuscript focused on elucidating the architecture of B. subtilis regulatory network and
its control of metabolic pathways is in preparation (collaboration with Santhust Kumar, PhD
student, Univ. Delhi, India)
i)
a manuscript on genome-scale reconstruction of plant cell wall deconstruction network
in filamentous fungus N. crassa is in preparation (collaboration with N. L. Glass, UC Berkeley)
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Training Activities
We held the 2nd School on Quantitative Systems Biology in Bangalore, India, from the 1st to the
12th of December 2013.
Within the Spring College on Physics of Complex Systems (ICTP 20 May - 14 June 2013) we
organised a series of lectures by Cristian Micheletti and Giovanni Bussi (SISSA) on numerical
methods for bio-molecules and polymers.
Areejit Samal was invited speaker at Emergence in Chemical Systems 3.0, June 17-22, 2013 held at
University of Alaska, Anchorage, USA.
Areejit Samal was invited speaker at Bioworld 2013, December 9-11, 2013, Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Delhi, India.
Staff and Long-term Visitors
Professional Staff
Matteo Marsili
Staff Associates
Michele Vendruscolo (Univ. Cambridge, UK)
Ramin Golestanian (Univ. Oxford, UK)
Riccardo Zecchina (Politecnico, Torino, Italy)
Visiting Scientists
Craig James (UC Berkeley, USA)
Kumar Dhiraj (ICGEB, New Delhi, India)
Marinari Enzo (La Sapienza, Roma, Italy)
Nagano Seido (Ritsumeikan Univ., Japan)
Price Nathan (Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle USA)
Roy Sisir (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India)
Singh Amit (ICGEB, New Delhi, India)
Sinha Somdatta (IISER Mohali, India)
Sneppen Kim (Univ. Copenhagen, Denmark)
Samal Areejit (senior postdoctoral fellow)
Other category
Baig Ayesha (intern)
Funding
We explored Several avenues for obtaining external funds. An application for an AXA Chair position
has been submitted, and its outcome will be known at the end of April 2014. We also established
contacts with other donors, including Simons foundation, Infosys, and Unicredit.
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NEW RESEARCH AREAS
COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES
The importance of HPC clusters within the scientific work is increasing rapidly. There is a
significant shortage of resources with in-depth knowledge on how to solve complex problems
with HPC techniques.
In line with ICTP’s strategic plan, a Master Program has been established in collaboration with
SISSA.
The Master in High-Performance Computing (MHPC) is a high-level degree program that aims
to train students to address problems requiring advanced computational techniques in multiple
domains, and communicate HPC technological issues in all scientific and industrial environments.
The details of the Program are defined, pre-lectures have started and the MHPC Program will
begin in Fall 2014. Details are available at www.MHPC.it.
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DIRECTOR'S RESEARCH GROUP
String Phenomenology and Cosmology
Introduction
The main motivation to study string theory is because it promises to provide a framework to
unify all matter and interactions, including gravity, in a consistent theory. Despite the intrinsic
difficulty of dealing with a theory that manifests itself at scales as high as the Planck mass, for
more than 25 years there has been continuous progress in order to connect string theory and
low-energy physics. This refers to extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and
cosmology that could lead to some observable implications.
The big challenges of finding chiral models close to the Standard Model, breaking
supersymmetry, and dynamically fixing the size and shape of the extra dimensions are being
overcome over the years and several scenarios are emerging in which model-independent physical
implications can be extracted. Despite the large amount of potential models, the current
experimental constraints, both from particle physics (gauge unification, proton stability, fermion
masses) and cosmology (density perturbations, dark matter, dark energy, baryogenesis) are
strong enough to eliminate most of the models, and despite great progress, there is no fully
realistic model or scenario derived from string theory that satisfies all the constraints justifying
strong efforts in this direction. The LHC discovery of the Higgs boson and the strong bounds on
new particles is making this challenge more interesting.
Research Activities
The following main research areas were explored:
•
The continuation of a long-term project started by the principal investigator regarding
local string models. The current effort is to embed these models in consistent global
models in compactifications of string theory, including also moduli stabilisation. Success to
find the first models in explicit Calabi-Yau compactification satisfying all consistency
requirements (tadpole cancellations, K-theory charges, etc.) and at the same time fixing all
moduli leading to de Sitter space solutions was reported.
•
Potential from obtaining dark radiation in large volume scenario.
•
Stability and metastability of the large volume scenario on potential bubble nucleation,
from de Sitter to anti de Sitter spaces and to decompactification.
•
Proof of the absence of continuous spin representations of the Poincare group in
perturbative string models.
Services
F. Quevedo
Conferences organized
21st International Conference on Supersymmetry and Unification of
Fundamental Interactions (SUSY), ICTP, Trieste, 20-23 August
Invited talks
Luis Ibáñez Fest, Madrid, Spain, 14-16 March
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Balkan Workshop 2013 - Beyond the Standard Models, Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia,
25-29 April
Bethe Forum "Supersymmetry", Bonn, Germany, 27-31 May
38th International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics and Contemporary
Needs, Nathiagali, Pakistan, 22-25 June
String Phenomenology, Hamburg, Germany, 15-19 July
Kallosh/ShenkerFest, Palo Alto, California, 9-12 September
19th International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology (PASCOS
2013), Taipei, Taiwan, 20-26 November
Special colloquia on "The importance of the Higgs discovery for fundamental
physics" during the visits to Rwanda, South Africa, Guatemala and Costa Rica
mentioned below.
Services Outside ICTP
Participation in the 7th TWAS Steering Committee as observer, 5 February,
Rome
Visit to the Department of Science and Technology and meeting with the
Minister of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa, 6-9 February
Visit to the National Institute for Legislative Studies, NILS, National
Assembly, Nigeria, 11-12 February
Participation in the Symposium to celebrate Tom Kibble's 80th birthday,
Imperial College London, 13 March
Attendance at the Fundamental Physics Prize Ceremony, CERN, Geneva, 20
March
Meeting with the UK Minister of State for Universities and Science, London, 3
June
Visit to Mexico to sign the agreement Consejo Superior Universitario
Centroamericano (CSUCA)-ICTP and to participate in the Steering Committee
of the Mesoamerican Centre for Theoretical Physics (MCTP), Chiapas 12-16
June
Visit to the Ministry of Education, Rwanda, to discuss the setting up of an
ICTP branch in Rwanda, 20-24 July
Visit to Mexico and the Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, 28 July-12
August
Visit to New York and Boston to have meetings with various foundations
(Dreyfus, Simons and Sloan) regarding fund-raising initiatives, 8-11 October
Visit to the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica and the Universidad de Costa
Rica and meeting with the Rectors of all the Central American universities
(CSUCA) to establish the regional PhDs in Physics and Mathematics, Costa
Rica, 14-20 October
Visit to UNESCO Headquarters, Paris for various meetings with UNESCO
Officials, 26-29 October
Meeting with high level officials at the Department of Science and Technology,
Delhi, India, 15-16 December
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Professional Staff
F. Quevedo, Guatemala, ICTP Director
Consultants
M. Bertolini, Italy
M. Serone, Italy
S. de Alwis, Sri Lanka
L. Gaube, Burkina Faso
L. Aparicio, Spain
R. Valandro, Italy
L. Van Nierop, Canada
Short-term Visitors
M. Cicoli, Italy
S. Krippendorf, Germany
A. Maharana, India
Jin U Kang, North Korea
Kuk Chol Ri, North Korea
PhD Students
A.A. Nizami, India
D. Scruton, Germany
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TRAINING AND EDUCATION
PROGRAMMES
126
POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
The ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme is a gateway for young people who might
otherwise not have a chance to reach international-level standards in physics and mathematics.
Its goal is to take good students from the least-developed countries and train them so they can
compete favourably for graduate studies in any centre of learning in the world. It consists of a
rigorous, one-year, pre-doctoral course of study, with a small part devoted to independent
projects. Areas of instruction include high-energy physics, condensed matter physics,
mathematics, and earth system physics. After completing the programme, most students go on to
do PhD work in Europe or North America. Others return to jobs as college teachers, or register
for PhD programmes in their home countries.
During the 2012-13 academic year, 40 students from 38 countries participated in the
Postgraduate Diploma Programme. The PhD placements for those who received diplomas
included:
The Postgraduate Diploma Programme web page is at http://diploma.ictp.it
Central
America!
6%!
Oceania!
2%!
Central
Europe!
5%!
South
America!
8%!
Africa!
42%!
Asia!
37%!
Fig. 1: Geographical distribution of Diploma students 1991-2013. The total number of students is 789.
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The 2012-2013 ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme in Brief
1 September 2012 through 31 August 2013
First term: September-December 2012
Second term: January-May 2013
Course of Study: Condensed Matter Physics — Co-ordinator: S. Scandolo (ICTP)
First term:
Electrons and Phonons in Solids
Advanced Quantum Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Numerical Methods
Numerical Methods II
Selected Topics in Condensed Matter Physics I
Second term:
Many-Body Fundamentals
Many-Body Phenomenology
Advanced Statistical Mechanics
Electronic Structure
Biological Physics
Selected Topics in Condensed Matter Physics II
Course of Study: High Energy Physics — Co-ordinator: K.S. Narain (ICTP)
First term:
Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
Quantum Electrodynamics
Introduction to Particle Physics
Second term:
Quantum Field Theory
General Relativity
Susy Field Theory
General Relativity tutorials
The Standard Model
Standard Model tutorials
Quantum Field Theory tutorials
Cosmology
Course of Study: Earth System Physics — Co-ordinator: F. Kucharski (ICTP)
First term:
Fluid Mechanics
Mathematical Methods
Wave Physics
Earth System Thermodynamics
Physics of the Solid Earth
Physics of the Atmosphere
Physics of the Oceans
Numerical Methods
Second term:
Seismology
Mechanics of Earthquakes and Tectonophysics
Numerical Methods II
Biogeochemical Cycles
Climate Dynamics
Hydrology
Space Geodesy and Observational Seismology
Specific Topics on Atmospheric Monitoring and Extreme Events
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Course of Study: Mathematics — Co-ordinator: L. Göttsche (ICTP)
First term:
Topology
Complex Analysis
Real Analysis
Abstract Algebra
Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems
Second term:
Algebraic Topology (MTH-ALT)
Differential Geometry (MTH-DG)
Partial Differential Equations (MTH-PDE)
Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems (MTH-ODE II)
Ergodic Theory (MTH-ERG)
Algebraic Geometry (MTH-AG)
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ICTP-IAEA SANDWICH TRAINING
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME (STEP)
The ICTP-IAEA Sandwich Training Educational Programme (STEP) aims at offering fellowship
opportunities to PhD candidates from developing countries. The scientific fields covered by the
programme are those falling in the scientific and technical competence of ICTP and its
collaborating institutions. In 2012 the programme was funded by the ICTP, the IAEA
Department of Technical Cooperation, CEI (Central European Initiative), the Italian Funds in
Trust with UNESCO, the TWAS (the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World), and the
National Centre for Physics, Pakistan (NCP).
The programme is addressed to PhD students in developing countries who are offered
fellowships of 3-6 month stay each year, for 3 successive years at ICTP or at collaborating
institutions (Synchrotron Light Laboratory Elettra, Laser Laboratory, SISSA, Universities of
Trieste, Udine, Bologna, Padua, Pisa, ARPA, IAEA Laboratories in Seibersdorf, Jozef Stefan
International Postgraduate School in Ljubljana, Hospitals of Udine, Trieste and Vicenza, INFN,
TASC, and others). Fellows can thus work on their PhD theses on a sandwich basis with their
supervisors at their home institutes and co-supervisors at the hosting institutes. Their PhD is
awarded at their home institutes.
2013 Fellows Financially Supported by IAEA:
Hannah AFFUM ASAMOAH (F), Ghana
Period of visit: 2 February – 31 May 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Simulation and Modelling of
a Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) in Petroleum Refining: the Role of Radiotracers
Odumah Christiana ANDERSON (F), Ghana
Period of visit: 10 September – 7 December 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Development of INAA Technique to Determine Mineral Profile of
Some Ghanaian Marine and Fresh Water Fishes
Marcos Vinicius COLAÇO GONÇALVES (M), Brazil
Period of visit: 1 September - 28 November 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Synchrotron Radiation Applied to Biological Materials
Characterization
Eitidal ELBASS KHALAF ALLA HUSSAIN (F), Sudan
Period of visit: 1 May - 1 November 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Interventional Radiology Study in Khartoum Area Hospitals: Patient
Dose and Cancer Risk Estimates
Ghulam MURTAZA (M), Pakistan
Periods of visit: 10 January – 7 July 2013, and 15 November 2013 - 14 May 2014
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Development of Advanced Tools and Techniques for PET/CT
Guided Conformal Radiotherapy 3DCRT & IMRT
Mohammed Abd Alaziz Halato Asola HALATO (M), Sudan
Period of visit: 9 September 2012 - 8 January 2013, and 28 October 2013 - 28 February 2014
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Dosimetry for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
Anel HERNANDEZ GARCES (M), Cuba
Period of visit: 2 December 2012 - 23 March 2013, and 24 August - 20 December 2013
130
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Inclusion of Radioactive Tracers in a Regional Climate Model for
Environmental and Climate Studies
Ian Muchai KANIU (M), Kenya
Period of visit: 9 September 2013 - 8 March 2014
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Development of Nuclear Digital Spectrometric Analysis via Machine
Learning and Application in Trace Radiogenic Characterization of a Complex Ecosystem
Ilona MATVEYEVA (F), Kazakhstan
Periods of visit: 1 June - 28 August 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: The Migration Features of Uranium Series Radionuclides in the
Environment of Uranium Ore Extraction and Processing Sites
Felix E. PINO ANDRADES (M), Venezuela
Period of visit: 28 April - 24 August 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Development of Innovative Technologies for Sensitive Isotope
Identification
Pavel V. SHPAK (M), Belarus
Period of visit: 4 March – 31 May 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Raman Conversion of Laser Radiation in Solid-State Lasers
Raheem ULLAH (M), Pakistan
Period of visit: 3 August - 28 November 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Structural and Functional Studies of Membrane Protein Using
Biophysical Methods
2013 Fellows Financially Supported by ICTP:
Ibrahim Bamidele ADETUNJI (M), Nigeria
Period of visit: 8 January – 7 May 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: First Principles Study of the Electronic, Structural, Thermal, and
Optical Properties of Zinc-Blend Semiconductors Alloy
Ohene Ernest ASARE (M), Ghana
Period of visit: 15 November 2012 - 13 March 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Using CHYM Water Balance Model to Monitor Climatic Impact on
Mosquito Breeding
Titike Kassa BAHAGA (M), Ethiopia
Period of visit: 1 July – 31 December 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Large-Scale and Major Circulation Pattern Influences on Greater
Horn of African Climate Variability and Potential for Predictability of High Impact Weather and
Climate
Razieh EMAMI MEIBODY (F), Iran
Period of visit: 1 July - 28 September 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Curbature Perturbations and non-Gaussianities in Anisotropic
Inflation
Samad KHABBAZI OSKOUEI (M), Iran
Period of visit: 11 May – 9 September 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Gacs Quantum Algorithmic Entropy on Hilbert Spaces and its
Applications
Maseim Bassis KENMOE (M), Cameroon
Period of visit: 10 March - 9 August 2013
131
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Jahn-Teller Effects in Higher Symmetric Molecules and Quantum
Computation
Fatou NDOYE (F), Senegal
Period of visit: 1 March – 13 July 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Laser Techniques for Optical Manipulation and Characterization of
Biomechanical Properties of Living Cells
Nurapati PANTHA (M), Nepal
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Study of the Structure of CH4-H2O (Methane Hydrate) clathrates
with Ab Initio Methods
Ha Giang PHAM THI (F), Vietnam
Period of visit: 30 August – 27 November 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Formulas for the Velocity of Rayleigh Waves and Stoneley Waves
Ignacio SALAZAR (M), Argentina
Period of visit: 2 March – 30 June 2013
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Gauge/Gravity Duality and its Applications to Condensed Matter
Physics
Himadriben Rajendrakumar SONI (F), India
Period of visit: 1 November 2013 - 27 January 2014
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Electronic and Phonon Engineering of Graphene: a Density
Functional Theoretical Study
Evelyne N'datchoh TOURE (F), Côte d'Ivoire
Period of visit: 1 October 2012 – 24 January 2013, and 24 October 2013 - 16 February 2014
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Study of Interaction Between Savanna Fire and Regional Climate
Over West Africa: a Dynamical Approach
Ambreen UZAIR (F), Pakistan
Topic or title of PhD thesis: Aspects of Electronic Transport and Collective Modes in Graphene
and Topological Insulators
132
JOINT PROGRAMMES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
LAUREA MAGISTRALIS
The course is covered in two academic years, and is administered by the ICTP Training and
Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) Programme.
The Italian ‘Laurea Magistralis’ degree corresponds to an advanced master’s degree. The
programme is open to anyone having the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in physics. A limited
number of fellowships are awarded to the best students from developing countries. Upon
successful completion of the entire study plan, students are awarded a degree from the University
of Trieste.
Eight students were supported in 2013—two in the first year of study (from Sudan and Vietnam),
two in the second year of study (from Ethiopia and Nepal) and one from Ethiopia who had
extended his stay. Another three new students (from Nigeria and Sudan) were selected and
started their training track at the University of Trieste in the fall of 2013.
Within 2013, two students graduated (one from Ethiopia and another from Nepal) and one
student extended his stay to defend his thesis in March 2014.
133
PHD PROGRAMME IN ENVIRONMENTAL
AND INDUSTRIAL FLUID MECHANICS
WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TRIESTE
Scientific Objectives
Fluid mechanics studies the properties and behaviour of fluids, that is, liquids, gases, plasma, and
more generally of substances whose molecules have no fixed positions in space but can move
relative to each other with different relative speeds. It involves rather advanced physical
phenomena and has a broad range of applications. Most environmental systems involve the
dynamics of water and gases that is described in terms of fluid mechanics, e.g., diffusion of
pollutants, or issues of marine and atmospheric meteorology. Similarly, biological systems are
regulated by transport and dispersion of elements or species in water, air, and blood. Many
industrial problems are concerned with fluid processes: for instance in transportation (automotive,
aeronautic) applications, or in processes where chemical-fluid dynamic interaction is expected.
The fundamental laws upon which this discipline is based are the balance equations (conservation
of mass, energy, momentum), which are generally expressed by partial differential equations,
often highly complex, whose study requires the application of different methods of advanced
mathematics and is a research field of high theoretical relevance. The numerical resolution of
these equations often requires the development of sophisticated computational techniques. The
Doctorate School in Environmental and Industrial Fluid Mechanics aims to prepare students in
the field of fluid dynamics and in particular in the study of processes involving fluid flows and
their transport, dispersion and mixing properties, in the environmental or industrial processes, as
well as their interaction with the solid elements.
Educational Objectives
The main objective is to provide students an adequate knowledge in fluid dynamics, mathematical
methods, large-scale physics flows and industrial applications. The program aims to prepare
students to pursue different careers in research, teaching and in the industrial use of high
technologies in the above mentioned areas. The final dissertation must be original, represent the
state of the art in the chosen field and contain material for the publication of scientific papers in
international journals of the field included in the ISI or SCOPUS catalogue. The students will be
in contact with several local and international environments and gain a considerable experience in
both theoretical and applied problems of fluid dynamics. In addition, the students will develop
familiarity and competence in the use of more advanced tools (both modelling and experimental)
for the analysis of complex physical systems, which will be of great use for future activities in
public or private research centres or for any work in companies with high technological content.
All students must follow a program of courses in order to achieve adequate skills in mathematical
methods, fluid dynamics, computer science, oceanography, and dynamics of the lower atmosphere.
In particular, “core courses” and “research-based courses” are offered. The core courses must
provide the tools for understanding the physical phenomena involved and will focus on topics of
mathematics (partial differential equations, numerical analysis, statistics), computer science, basic
and advanced fluid dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, experimental techniques in fluid
dynamics. The research-oriented courses will include research-based geophysical fluid dynamics,
physics and modelling of turbulence, physical oceanography, dynamics of the lower atmosphere,
advanced mathematical methods for the study of qualitative properties of some classes of
nonlinear differential equations of interest in fluid dynamics, numerical methods for the
development of computational techniques. There will also be periodic seminars taught by experts,
to which students are expected to attend. We further note that:
134
• there are no similar programs of Industrial and Environmental Fluid Mechanics in the region
Friuli Venezia Giulia;
• the program has a partnership with foreign programs;
• the school program creates a strong link between national and international research bodies
and institutions operating in the city of Trieste, in the region Friuli Venezia Giulia and in the
Alpe-Adria region (ICTP, OGS, CNR-ISMAR, OSMER-FVG, ENEA);
• the college faculty is composed of mathematicians, physicists and engineers working in
complete synergy in the understanding of physical problems and in the knowledge of
mathematical and computational models.
Statistics
To date there are 42 students who have either completed or are working towards their PhD. Of
these, 20 have graduated within 2013. In terms of gender, 47% of the total number of students are
is female, and 36% come from developing countries.
135
JOINT INTERNATIONAL ICTP/SISSA PHD (JIISP)
PROGRAMME IN PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS
ICTP and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) offer the opportunity to the
Postgraduate Diploma Students, who successfully completed the programme, to carry out their
PhD studies in the fields of Mathematics and Physics.
At the end of the three-year PhD course, successful candidates are awarded a SISSA PhD degree
and given a certificate of participation in the Joint International ICTP/SISSA PhD programme
(JIISP Certificate).
Five Postgraduate Diploma students 2011-2012 were admitted to the Joint International
ICTP/SISSA PhD Programme, starting Autumn 2012:
Condensed Matter Physics
Thuon Thi Nguyen (Vietnam)
High Energy Physics
Javier Pardo Vega (Cuba)
Juan Vasquez Carmona (Venezuela)
Mathematics
Fikreab Solom Admasu (Ethiopia)
Khadim War (Senegal)
Four Postgraduate Diploma students 2012-2013 were admitted to the Joint International
ICTP/SISSA PhD Programme, starting Autumn 2013:
High Energy Physics
Dung Tran Nguyen (Vietnam)
Emtinan Salah Elkhidir Osman (Sudan)
Mathematics
Ernesto Lopez Fune (Cuba)
Shohruh Holmatov (Uzbekistan)
136
JOINT ICTP/COLLEGIO CARLO ALBERTO
PROGRAM IN ECONOMICS
The joint UNESCO-ICTP/Collegio Carlo Alberto Program in Economics is a one- to two-year
programme, hosted at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, Italy, leading to a Master of Arts
degree. The Allievi Honors Program is a two-year program that aims at enhancing the students’
education in economics and statistics to help them succeed in their future academic or professional
careers.
Upon successful completion of the program, the Allievi are awarded the Laurea Magistralis
degree from the University of Torino or the Politecnico of Torino, and the Master of Arts degree
in Economics from the Collegio Carlo Alberto.
The Master’s Program in Economics is a one-year program, which aims at endowing its students
with advanced training in modern economic theory and methods. Upon successful completion of
the program, the student is awarded the Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Collegio
Carlo Alberto.
The two students that ICTP supported for the 2012-2013 academic year, Bah Tijan from Gambia
and Dagim Yoseph Menghesa from Ethiopia, successfully completed the Collegio Carlo Alberto
Programme and have earned their master's degrees.
137
MASTER’S IN THE PHYSICS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS
ICTP cooperates with SISSA Trieste, Politecnico di Torino University and a consortium
involving Universities Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris 6), Paris Diderot (Paris 7), Paris-Sud (Paris
11) and the École Normale Supérieure at Cachan in providing education to graduate students
from developing countries on the Physics of Complex Systems leading to a Laurea Magistralis
degree.
The aim of the international master in Physics of Complex Systems is to shape professionals
and/or potential researchers to be able to jointly apply knowledge and methodologies from
modern physics, applied mathematics, information engineering and computational biology to the
analysis, modelling and simulation of complex systems.
In 2013, ICTP continued its support of Bashar Mohammed of Sudan in this programme. The
scientist in charge for the programme at ICTP is Matteo Marsili of the Condensed Matter and
Statistical Physics section.
138
ASSOCIATESHIP SCHEME
The Associate as well as the Federation Arrangement Schemes represent two main channels
through which the vocation of ICTP for the promotion and development of scientific knowledge
in the developing world has been turned into reality. In particular, the Associateship Scheme
enables individual scientists to maintain long term formal contacts with the stimulating and
active scientific environment of ICTP.
All evaluation committees of ICTP activities, as well as IAEA and UNESCO have recognised the
excellence and efficiency of the Associate and Federation Schemes and their outcomes. In fact,
thanks to the good reputation of this programme, in 2013 we received a contribution from the
prestigious Simons Foundation, Mathematics & Physical Sciences, USA, to create a new category
of associates: ICTP Simons Associates.
Changes in Terms and Conditions
In 2013, a new category of associates was created through the Simons Foundation: ICTP Simons
Associates. Starting their award period 2014, they will be given the equivalent per diem of a
Senior Associate and will be assigned a grant of !12,000 over a six-year period. Moreover, they
may use the grant to bring a student or PhD student to ICTP. Thanks to this contribution, 24
associates were nominated as ICTP Simons Associates, with awards starting January 2014. The
selection committees were requested to identify the most scientifically deserving candidates
among all applicants to offer them an ICTP Simons Associate Membership.
Special emphasis has been placed on the publications produced by our Associates since the start of
their award. The work is currently in progress but we are able to give a snapshot of the current
information we have at hand, as follows: 398 Associates produced 3742 publications since the
start of their award, resulting in an average of 9.4 publications for each Associate member.
Partnership visits
The implementation of this programme depends on the establishment of an agreement between
ICTP and another scientific institute, located in an advanced country.
Once a partner institute is established, Regular and Senior Associates may utilize their privilege
to visit such institutes instead of ICTP. The agreement also foresees that partner institutes take
care of part of the expenses involved, while ICTP grants the standard daily living allowance
and/or travel support, where applicable.
In 2013, Senior Associates undertook two partnership visits to the CNIT, Pisa, Italy and to the
University of Texas, Austin, USA.
Currently there are 14 partner institutes:
Australia
National Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Adelaide
Belgium
Department of Physics, University of Antwerp
Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, University of Ghent
Finland
High Energy Physics Division, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki
139
France
Institut Universitaire des Systèmes Thermiques Industriels, Marseille
Germany
Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik, Kaiserslautern
Microstructure Laboratory and Technical Physics, University of Würzburg
Italy
Department of Mathematics, University of Pavia
Department of Nuclear and Theoretical Physics, University of Pavia
Department of Physics “A. Volta”, University of Pavia
Department of Physics, University of Pisa
CNIT - Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni, Pisa
ECT - European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas, Trento
United States of America
Institute for Fusion Studies, University of Texas, Austin, USA
140
The following chart shows the 2013 distribution of Associate Members by field of research.
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Summary of the 2013 Associateship Programme
a. Number of Associates by Category:
Junior
118
Regular 177
141
Senior
Group
95
8
Total
398
b. Visits and Costs:
In 2013, 176 scientists made182 Associateship visits to ICTP:
Average with respect to a hypothetical full utilization of these groups in 2013:
General Concise Forecast for 2014 (at 31/1/2014)
a. Number of Associates
Junior
Regular
Senior
Group
Simons
125
166
89
3
24
Total
407
According to the above table, the total number of Associate members in 2014 is 407, which now
includes the ICTP Simons Associates.
b. Expected Visits
Junior
76
Regular
108
Senior
51
Group
2
Simons
17
Total
142
254
The above figures show that 62% of the total number of Associates have requested a visit in 2014.
The total number of 2014 visit requests is almost the same as the previous year's total which was
252, i.e. 63% of the total number of Associates submitted a request for a visit in 2013.
143
FEDERATION ARRANGEMENTS SCHEME
The main difference between the Associateship Scheme and the Federation Arrangements Scheme
derives from the fact that while the former is addressed to an individual scientist the latter
involves an institution.
The Standard Scheme
Federation Arrangements are contracts of scientific collaboration signed by ICTP and a scientific
institution in a Third World country, whereby the latter may send its junior representatives to
ICTP on a cost-sharing basis. No invitation is sent automatically. All cases are screened by the
relevant activities’ organizing committees or research groups.
The Scheme represents an interesting complementary programme to that of the Associates; it
differs from the Associates Scheme in three important respects:
• if appropriately used, more scientists can be exposed to the scientifically stimulating
atmosphere of ICTP because it is not aimed at individuals but at an institute,
• it could represent the basis of a long-term and fruitful co-operation between an institute and
ICTP,
• it could stimulate the local community to invest energy and resources and keeping the
important link with ICTP alive. In fact, the Scheme always foresees a financial commitment of
the Federated Institute and if such commitment is not respected the agreement is cancelled.
The following chart shows the number of Federated Institutes throughout the years.
Summary of the 2012 Federation Arrangement Programme
In 2013, ICTP had a total of 105 Federation Arrangements, from 35 member states. The total
number of visits under the programme was 58.
The total number of days available for the three-year programme is 12,870 (i.e. an average total
144
utilization per year of 4,290 days). In 2013, 1,235 days were utilized. Accordingly, in terms of
days, the total utilization was 29%.
The total expenditure (daily living allowance and travel contribution when applicable) for 2013
was ! 45,241. A full utilization of one third of the total available would have implied an
expenditure of ! 242,900. Accordingly, in terms of funds, the total utilization was 19%.
General Concise Forecast for 2013
Total number of Federated Institutes: 86
Visits from Federated Institutes already committed: 8
145
TRAINING AND RESEARCH IN
ITALIAN LABORATORIES (TRIL)
Introduction
The Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme offers scientists from
developing countries an advanced experimental counterpart to ICTP's theoretical research and
lecture-based training programmes. The fields covered by TRIL reflect the lines of interest to the
Centre: applied physics, high energy physics, physics of condensed matter, physics and energy,
physics and environmental, physics of the living state, and a few miscellaneous interdisciplinary
subjects.
The aim of the programme is to promote, through direct contacts and side-by-side high-level
research, collaborations between the Italian scientific community and individuals, groups and
institutions in developing countries. The programme thus addresses an important aspect of the
mission of ICTP, namely to help form and strengthen a permanent scientific expertise in
developing countries, cognisant of local needs and resources and of the frontiers of science and
technology, and to provide support towards a sustainable capacity in basic and applied research
that can help their nations' progress.
The TRIL fellows are matched to laboratories that best meet their needs. They are hosted in the
Universities and in laboratories, mainly of public research institutions such as CNR (Italian
National Research Council), Elettra (Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste), ENEA (Italian National
Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment), INFN (Italian National Institute
of Nuclear Physics), OGS (National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics)
and others. In 2013, the annual financial contribution to TRIL from external sources was of the
same order of the budget provided by the ICTP.
Activities in 2013
Fifty-six fellows from 26 countries received support to visit Italian laboratories in 2013. They
generated 58 visits (19 female), of which 30 are new grants and 28 are extensions of previously
awarded grants, for a total of 364.4 person-months. Training and research were carried out in the
following areas:
Physics of Condensed Matter
High Energy Physics
Physics and Energy
Physics and Environment
Physics of the Living State
Applied Physics
Miscellaneous
15
2
9
17
4
9
2
The training/research took place at the following hosting laboratories:
2 at ICTP (Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste)
21 at various institutes of CNR (Italian National Research Council)
2 IGAG (Institute of environmental geology and geoengineering, Roma)
4 IMEM (Institute of materials for electronics and magnetism, Parma and Genova)
1 IMM (Institute for microelectronics and microsystems, Agrate Brianza)
4 IOM (Institute of materials, Trieste)
2 ISAC (Institute of atmospheric sciences and climate, Bologna)
5 ISMN (Institute of nanostructured materials, Bologna)
146
1 ISOF (Institute for organic syntheses and photoreactivity, Bologna)
1 ISTM (Institute of molecular science and technologies, Perugia)
1 NEST (Institute of nanoscience, Pisa)
1 at CNISM (National Interuniversity Consortium for the Physical Sciences of Matter, Fisciano,
Salerno)
5 at Elettra (Elettra-Sincrotrone, Trieste)
5 at various institutes of ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and
Sustainable Economic Development)
1 Frascati Research Centre (Frascati, Rome)
1 UTAPRAD (Technical Unit for Radiation Application Development, Rome)
2 UTTMAT (Technical Unit for Material Technologies, Rome)
1 UTTP (Technical Unit for Portici Technologies, Portici, Naples)
1 at ICGEB (International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste)
4 at INFN (Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, Trieste)
3 at LENS (European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy, Firenze)
1 at OAT (Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, Trieste)
7 at OGS (National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, Trieste)
1 at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples)
1 at the University of l'Aquila
1 at the University of Milan
4 at the University of Trieste
1 at the University of Udine
For 30 years TRIL has been creating lasting international connections and collaborations,
reducing scientific isolation, and sustaining the careers of young scientists from developing
countries. The TRIL Programme represents no doubt one of the ICTP's most successful and
fruitful activities. Since 1983 in this framework, 1284 scientists (totalling 3271 visits and 18,800
person-months) from 88 developing countries have taken advantage of opportunities to
participate in high level (mostly) experimental research in active Italian teams, becoming familiar
with the most advanced equipment and experiencing the international atmosphere characteristic
of science at the front edge.
As a measure of TRIL's success, one can point to the often-significant contribution offered by
Fellows to the research activity of the laboratory, the good standard of published reports, and the
fact that a TRIL fellowship, considered a guarantee of academic excellence, has frequently been
instrumental in the scientists' progress in his/her academic career. Many of these fellows in fact
occupy (or will occupy) high level positions in their home countries, both in the academic field
(University Vice Chancellors, Dean of Faculties) as well as in the technical-political field (high
level government officials, Ministers). The stay in Italy also represents a rewarding cultural and
human experience, even more if the fellow is accompanied by his or her family members.
The visit of an individual scientist in many cases constitutes the seed for a more extended
collaboration, which sometimes involves the institutions. One can quote the fruitful, almost
regular collaboration between Italian Laboratories and corresponding institution in Cuba,
147
Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Macedonia, and Madagascar. The "follow-up" stage represents one of the
main objectives of the TRIL and needs continued attention and support.
A new phase of TRIL started in 2013. The programme underwent several changes; most
importantly, it merged with the Office of External Activities and has new leadership. To better
facilitate the connections between scientists and host laboratories, starting with information
exchange, the TRIL programme has created new webpages and has started an on-line application
process. Looking ahead, the office will keep track of the TRIL fellows' careers and measure the
programme's impact in order to improve and shape the programme in a changing world.
148
ICTP-ELETTRA USERS PROGRAMME
The programme offers access to the synchrotron radiation facility ELETTRA in Trieste in the
years 2012-2016 to scientists from developing countries that work in those countries. The
programme offers a limited number of grants to cover travel and living expenses of individuals
and small groups who participate in the beamtime at ELETTRA. The number of scientists who
can receive support depends on the number of allocated shifts and available funds.
A minimum annual total of 1,500 hours is available within this programme for beamtime
applications at any of the existing ELETTRA beamlines.
The proposed experiments are selected for beamtime assignment on the basis of their scientific
merit.
A total of 1,944 hours were allocated in 2013.
Measurements were run on the following beamlines:
Advanced Photoelectric-effect Experiments (APE): is a facility for advanced experiments on solid
surfaces and nanostructured matter.
Materials Characterisation by X-ray diffraction (MCX): allows performing a wide range of nonsingle crystal diffraction experiments.
Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS): is mainly intended for time-resolved studies on fast
structural transitions in the sub-millisecond time region in solutions and partly ordered systems
with a SAXS-resolution of 1 to 140 nm in real-space.
Source for Imaging and Spectroscopic Studies in the Infrared (SISSI): the beamline extracts the
IR and visible components of synchrotron emission for applications of spectroscopy,
microspectroscopy and imaging.
Synchrotron Radiation for Medical Physics (SYRMEP): the beamline has been designed for
research in medical diagnostic radiology.
X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS): EXAFS spectroscopy provides microscopic structural
information of a sample through the analysis of its X-ray absorption spectrum.
X-Ray Diffraction 1 (XRD1): designed primarily for macromolecular crystallography.
In 2013, ICTP supported 40 visits of participants coming from:
Brazil
China
Cuba
India
Mexico
Pakistan
Turkey
4
2
2
12
10
7
3
Special attention is devoted to the number of countries benefitting from the programme in order
to achieve a balanced geographical distribution of the assignments.
Total expenditure: Euro 62,502.65.
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SESAME PROJECT
SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) is a
cooperative venture by scientists and governments of the region set up on the model of CERN. It
is being developed under the auspices of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization) following the formal approval given for this by the Organization’s
Executive Board (164th session, May 2002).
It is an autonomous intergovernmental organization at the service of its members, which have full
control over its development, exploitation and financial matters. SESAME, which is located at
Allan (Jordan), will be a “third generation” synchrotron light source.
The motivation for SESAME is that it will foster scientific and technological excellence in the
Middle East and neighbouring countries (and prevent or reverse the brain drain) by enabling
world-class scientific research in subjects ranging from biology, archaeology and medical sciences
through basic properties of materials science, physics, chemistry, and life sciences. In the process,
it will build scientific and cultural bridges between diverse societies, and contribute to a culture of
peace through international cooperation in science.
ICTP offers its assistance in a variety of ways to enhance training and research opportunities for
the SESAME users community.
2013/2015 Cooperative Programme Between ICTP and SESAME
In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding, the following joint and collaborative
activities have been planned between the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical
Physics (ICTP) and the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the
Middle East (SESAME):
1.
ICTP provided support to the SESAME Training Committee meeting held in Trieste in
2013 and in addition a TrAC meeting to be held in Trieste in 2015. ICTP already hosted
TrAC in 2011.
2.
ICTP provided support to the SESAME Users Meeting, which is organized every year at the
end of the year. The 9th SESAME Users meeting in 2011 held in Amman was supported by
ICTP.
3.
In 2013, the ICTP ran a 2-week “Advanced School on Synchrotron Techniques in
Environmental Scientific Projects” at the ICTP in cooperation with Sincrotrone Trieste.
4.
In 2013, the ICTP ran a “School on Synchrotron Radiation Techniques and Nanotechnology:
a synergetic approach to life sciences and medicine” held in South Africa and promote
participation by scientists from SESAME Members.
5.
In 2013, the ICTP ran a “Workshop on Portable X-ray Analytical Instruments for Cultural
Heritage” held in Trieste back-to-back with the Advanced School on Synchrotron
Techniques in Environmental Scientific Projects” and promoted participation by scientists
from SESAME region, offering extensions to those already participating in the school. The
suggested organizers are Claudio Tuniz (ICTP) and Lucia Mancini (Elettra),
6.
In 2013, the ICTP ran a joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Advanced Synchrotron Radiation
Based X-ray Spectrometry Techniques in cooperation with Sincrotrone Trieste. Suggested
organizer is A. Karydas (IAEA). ICTP promoted participation by scientists from SESAME
region.
7.
ICTP develop means to strengthen the role of ICTP in the SESAME training programme,
using existing ICTP mechanisms such as the Diploma Programme, the Sandwich PhD
Programme (STEP, jointly with IAEA), and the Training for Research in Italian
150
Laboratories (TRIL) Programme to support graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and
young scientists. SESAME will provide new opportunities for strengthening ICTP’s activity
through the use of SESAME and opportunities for training at SESAME’s premises.
8.
ICTP, via its Office of External Activities, will support missions of experts to the SESAME
facility.
9.
ICTP, in cooperation with Sincrotrone Trieste, will give support in the design of the XRF
beamline at SESAME.
10. ICTP will solicit an application for a project/affiliated centre in Amman in connection with
SESAME. This can, in principle, include also equipment, such as a small XRF device.
11. Activities will be planned at ICTP in 2014 - 15 to support four day-one SESAME beamlines:
XRF/XAFS, IR, PX and PDB.
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OFFICE OF EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES
The Office of External Activities (OEA) has been helping to support science and technology
development for 27 years, having been established in 1985 and becoming operational in 1986. Its
objective has been to help the research and training activities of physicists and mathematicians
living and working in developing countries, primarily by providing assistance for activities taking
place regionally. Such support complements the training and research that is provided to
developing-country scientists at the Abdus Salam ICTP. The OEA actions are aimed at
individuals, groups or institutes in the developing countries to accelerate their promotion to an
international level (North-South collaboration) and to stimulate networking of scientists in the
developing regions to reach a critical mass of researchers (South-South collaboration).
The OEA programmes can also provide funds for Graduate Schools to support student grants,
fellowships for young researchers, visits of research collaborators and other activities.
Programmes and Activities
Assistance is carried out within the following schemes:
•
•
•
•
•
Affiliated Centres
Projects
Networks
Visiting Scholars/Consultants
Scientific Meetings
Affiliated Centre (ICAC) Programme
An Affiliated Centre is an Institute or University Department of Physics, or Mathematics that
carries out a specific long-term research project on a definite subject with well-defined purposes.
Affiliated Centres have a regional character and are strongly supported by the local authorities
and the hosting institute.
In 2013 the OEA has continued supporting 7 Affiliated Centres and has appointed 2 new ones.
These Centres are distributed as follows: 6 are in Africa, 1 in Asia, 1 is in Eastern Europe and 1 is
in Latin America. These centres focus on mathematical sciences and physical sciences.
In Africa, the Affiliated Centres are:
• The Centre of Atomic, Molecular Physics and Quantum Optics (CEPAMOQ, University of
Douala, Douala, Cameroon.
• L'Institut de Mathématiques et de Sciences Physiques (IMSP), Porto Novo, Benin.
• Department of Physics, Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal.
• Laser and Fiber Optics Centre (LAFOC), University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
• The CPT Affiliated Centre at the Zewail City for Science and Technology (ZCST), Egypt.
• The Affiliated Centre at Optical Society of Tunisia at University of Carthage, Tunisia.
In the Middle East: A new Affiliated Centre is at the SESAME Synchrotron Facility, Allan,
Jordan.
In Eastern Europe: The Pavel Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel (PSGSTU), Gomel,
Belarus.
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In Latin America and the Caribbean: Instituto de Matemática y Ciencias Afines (IMCA), Lima,
Peru.
The OEA has encouraged the advanced training of student-researchers within the Affiliated
Centers: in 2013 there are presently 42 PhD (or Troisième Cycle) students with partial, or full
support from the OEA funds and another 38 graduate students entered in a Masters or Diploma
Course.
Projects
The OEA supports programmes, or “Projects,” designed to address the lack of trained personnel
in physics and mathematics in many developing country universities and the fact that many
students from these countries do not return after having obtained advanced training in the North.
These Projects cover research programs that are often not appropriate for the category of an
Affiliated Centre.
There are 9 active projects, of which 3 are in Africa, 4 in Asia, 1 in Latin America and 1 in SouthEastern Europe. The areas of research covered are: Earth Sciences, Mathematical Sciences,
Physical Sciences and Space Sciences, with a strong representation from African nations. There
are currently 28 PhD students and 45 other graduate students distributed amongst these
Projects.
Network Programme
A Network is a system of research groups in an entire region, or among different regions, that
pursue common scientific goals over an extended period of time. The OEA supports networks
because they are an efficient approach to overcoming the problem of isolation and counteracting
brain drain. Indeed, Networks emphasize South-South collaboration and the sharing of expertise
and facilities. At present the OEA is supporting 11 networks in the mathematical and physical
sciences. They are distributed as follows:
In Africa:
•
•
•
•
•
The African Lasers, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science Network (LAM), based in
Dakar, Senegal.
The North African Group for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (NAGET), based in Algiers,
Algeria.
The Network on Lasers, Atomic Physics, based in Tunis, Tunisia.
The Nano African Network Initiative (Nano-Afnet) that is based in Somerset West, South
Africa with continental influence.
The African Network for Solar Energy (ANSOLE), based at the Johannes Kepler
University, Linz, Austria.
In Asia:
•
•
•
The Network on Novel Approaches for Mesoscopic Phenomena, based in Yerevan,
Armenia.
The Network for Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics based at Kathmandu, Nepal.
The India-Thailand-Uzbekistan Network (ITUN) on Theoretical Astrophysics,
Gravitation and Cosmology at the Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Ulughbek,
Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
In Latin America and the Caribbean:
•
•
•
The PhD Programme in Latin America (CLAF), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Caribbean Network of Quantum Mechanics, Particles and Fields, in Havana, Cuba.
The Latin American Network of Ferroelectric Materials, in Havana, Cuba.
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There are currently 52 doctoral students and 48 other graduate school students obtaining benefit
from the Network Programme.
Visiting Scholars/Consultants
This programme promotes collaboration between scientists working in institutions in the
developing countries and leading scientists throughout the rest of the world. The Visiting
Scholar/Consultant is required to make at least two research visits over three years, each lasting
at least a month. The Visiting Scholar/Consultant carries out joint research with his/her
counterpart and lectures students in his or her field of expertise.
This is another effective way to counteract the isolation of scientists and to allow them to
maintain contacts and collaborate with leading experts from other countries. There are currently
26 active Visiting Scholars: the African region has 14 (Benin (3), Ethiopia, Ghana (2), Kenya,
Liberia, Nigeria (2), Senegal, South Africa (2) and Tanzania), Asia has 2 (Nepal and Pakistan),
while there are 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean (Brazil (2), Colombia (2), Cuba (4),
Ecuador, and the Bolivarian Republic Venezuela.
The total number of grants awarded during 2013 is 5 with a regional distribution as follows: In
Africa this programme has benefited Benin (Visiting Scholar from USA), Ghana (2, with Visiting
Scholars from Italy) and Kenya (Visiting Scholar from USA), while in Latin America and the
Caribbean Cuba has received a Visiting Scholar from Finland.
The Visiting Scholars programme has recruited scientists from Europe and North America,
distributed between Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, United Kingdom and the
United States of America.
In addition, there are three scientists coming from the South itself: India, Malaysia and South
Africa. These 3 scientists participated in the following collaborations: Nepal-Malaysia, NigeriaIndia and Tanzania-South Africa.
Scientific Meetings
The OEA offers financial assistance to the organizers of regional conferences, workshops, and
schools. In 2013, it has distributed 74 grants in 5 geographical regions and in 5 areas of
knowledge: education, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physical sciences and space sciences.
In Africa:
There were 17 grants assigned to the meetings in Benin, Cameroon (2), Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana
(2), Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa (4), and Tunisia (4).
In Asia:
There were 30 grants assigned to meetings in Bangladesh, India (7), Indonesia (4), Jordan,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan (4), People's Republic of China, Singapore,
Thailand (2), Turkey (3), Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
In Europe:
There were 6 grants assigned to meetings in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Russian
Federation, Serbia, (2), and France.
In Latin America and the Caribbean:
There were 20 grants assigned to meetings in Argentina (4), Brazil (3), Chile, Colombia (4), Cuba
(3), Guatemala, Mexico (3), and Peru.
Finally, 1 grant was assigned in Oceania to a meeting in Papua New Guinea.
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ICTP SOUTH AMERICAN INSTITUTE
FOR FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH (ICTP-SAIFR)
The ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR) has now
completed its second year of theoretical physics activities in Sao Paulo as a collaboration between
the Sao Paulo Research Funding Agency (FAPESP), the International Centre for Theoretical
Physics (ICTP), the Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), and the Instituto de Fisica Teorica
(IFT-UNESP) in whose building it is located.
In 2013, the ICTP-SAIFR organized six international two-week schools on the subjects of
mathematical biology, particle physics, quantum gravity, nanophotonics, astrophysics, and nonperturturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as several workshops and mini-courses on
various aspects of theoretical physics. More than 500 PhD students and researchers attended
these meetings, and the ICTP-SAIFR also hosted 150 short-term and long-term visitors who
presented seminars and included distinguished physicists such as Michael Berry (Bristol), David
Gross (KITP), Celso Grebogi (Aberdeen), John Schwarz (Caltech), Chris Quigg (Fermilab) and
many others. The complete list of 2013 activities and seminars are on the webpages
http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=2269 and http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=1814 , and
most activities were filmed using ICTP equipment and are available online.
In addition to the visitor exchange agreements signed earlier with CERN (Geneva) and
Perimeter Institute (Waterloo), new visitor exchange agreements were signed in 2013 with
Nordita (Stockholm) and Fermilab (Batavia), and the Simons Foundation (New York) awarded
two five-year fellowships to ICTP-SAIFR for tenure-track candidates. Furthermore, 60
distinguished theoretical physicists distributed throughout South America have agreed to be
ICTP-SAIFR Associate Members (http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=5362) and act as contact
representatives in their country.
In 2013, the number of ICTP-SAIFR researchers increased substantially with the hiring of
Eduardo Ponton (particle physics) from Columbia University as a permanent researcher,
Riccardo Sturani (gravitational waves) as a Young Investigator, and seven postdocs including
Gero von Gersdorff (grand unified theories), Alberto Tonero (LHC physics), Chrysostomos
Kalousios (AdS-CFT), Saeed Mirshekari (gravitational waves), Nicolas Bernal (astroparticle
physics), Fabien Lacasa (cosmology) and Sucupira Pedroza (condensed matter physics). There is
a weekly theoretical physics colloquium organized jointly with IFT-UNESP, as well as three
ICTP-SAIFR journal clubs which meet regularly in the areas of string theory, particle physics
and cosmology.
The plans for 2014 include the hiring of a permanent researcher in cosmology and the formation
of a search committee for a hiring in the area of complex systems. In addition to these ICTPSAIFR hirings, the IFT-UNESP was recently granted three permanent researcher positions in
areas of theoretical physics that do not involve high energy physics.
0RUHGHWDLOVLQFOXGHGLQ$SSHQGLFHVSJ
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PRIZES AND AWARDS
156
PRIZES AND AWARDS
ICTP Dirac Medal
ICTP instituted the Dirac Medal in 1985. The Medal is awarded yearly on P.A.M. Dirac’s
birthday—8 August—to individuals who have made significant contributions to physics. An
international committee selects the winners from a list of nominated candidates. The ICTP Dirac
Medal is not awarded to Nobel Laureates, Fields Medallists, or Wolf Foundation Prize winners.
The Dirac Medal 2013 was awarded to:
• Thomas W.B. Kibble (Imperial College London, UK)
• Phillip James E. Peebles (Princeton University, USA)
• Martin John Rees (University of Cambridge, UK)
For their independent, ground-breaking work throughout their careers elucidating many aspects
of fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics.
ICTP Prize
The ICTP Prize was created in 1982 to recognize outstanding and original contributions within
physics by young (under 40) scientists from developing countries.
Dr. Yasaman Farzan, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran, and Dr.
Patchanita Thamyongkit, Department of Chemistry, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,
Thailand. The prize recognises Professor Yasaman Farzan (Iran) for her theoretical contributions
to the physics of neutrinos, including development of the unitarity triangle method to determine
the CP-violating phase, identification of symmetries leading to particular values of the phase and
the proposal to use polarisation measurements to obtain information about CP violation. The
prize recognises Professor Patchanita Thamyongkit (Thailand) for her experimental chemistry
contributions to organic, conjugated, and semiconducting materials of great relevance for
photovoltaic research.
The 2013 ICTP Prize was named in honour of Marie Curie.
ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo Award
ICO, the International Commission for Optics, and ICTP have established a joint prize, called the
ICO/ICTP Award, for scientists less than 40 years old from developing countries who are active
in research in optics and have contributed to the promotion of research activities in optics in their
own or another developing country.
The recipient receives a certificate, a cash award, and the invitation to participate in and deliver a
lecture at an ICTP activity relevant to optics.
The ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo Award recipient for 2013 Mohammad Dhafer Al-Amri
(National Centre for Mathematics and Physics, King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology
(KACST) in Saudi Arabia), for his pioneering research in the field of optical lithography and
microscopy, quantum teleportation of multi-qubit systems, and the reversal of weak
measurements in optical systems.
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Ramanujan Prize
Since 2004, ICTP has awarded its Ramanujan Prize to young mathematicians from developing
countries. The Prize carries a cash award and travel and subsistence allowance to visit ICTP for a
meeting where the prize winner will be required to deliver a lecture. ICTP awards the prize through
a selection committee of five eminent mathematicians appointed in conjunction with the
International Mathematical Union (IMU).
The 2013 Ramanujan Prize was awarded to Ye Tian, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science,
Chinese Academy of Sciences. The prize is in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Number
Theory. These include the completion of the proof of a multiplicity one conjecture for local theta
correspondences and important work related to Heegner points and to the Birch and SwinnertonDyer conjecture.
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SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT
SERVICES
159
MARIE CURIE LIBRARY
Research libraries have always had a vocation for collaboration and mutual support, but today
partnership has become a vital factor, in the light of generalized constraints. In this respect, the
most important frameworks at national level are the Union Catalogue of Periodicals (ACNP) and
the Network Inter-Library Document Exchange (NILDE).
Seven regional institutions, with the Marie Curie Library representing ICTP, have joined forces
in 2013 to organize the next ACNP/NILDE Conference, which is likely to be the national event
of the year in the world of libraries. Several foreign speakers have also been invited, to share their
experiences with the Italian community.
The Marie Curie Library, in addition to its part in the organization, has created the website for
the event. It is hosted by ICTP and went live at the end of November.
To remark its interest in strengthening collaborations, the Library has joined UN-LINKS, the
Library and Information Network of the United Nations, and kept following the activities
organized by the Italian Ex Libris Users Group (ITALE) after the meeting and seminar hosted
last year by ICTP.
The Library has made its first substantial acquisition of electronic books, accurately selected
among the best recent titles in Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, Earth Science, and from the
Diploma Course reference texts. The aim is to diversify its approach to monographic acquisitions
so as to reach also the students and visitors that work in different buildings and are too busy to
visit the Library in person.
Library in Figures
Shelf space
Reading places
Public terminals
Photocopiers/printers
5,000 linear meters
70
12
2
Collections as of December 2013
Print collections
Books
Additions in 2012
Journals, current subscriptions
Total print titles
Theses
69,000
960
267
1,280
1,271
Electronic and multimedia resources
Current e-journal titles
Electronic books
Pictures
Films and videos
Laser discs
Preprints
Clippings
3,246
1,040
3,390
216
474
10,098
1,282
Usage statistics in 2012
Circulation transactions
Registered users
160
5,209
1,061
Gate counter
82,376
Library services in 2012
Inter-library loans and document delivery
Items requested
79
Items issued to other libraries
582
e-Journals Delivery Service
Registered users
New registrations in 2012
Total downloads
4,900
465
7,544
Junior associate book orders
Requestors
Books supplied
68
467
Donations
Recipient countries
Recipient institutions
Donated items
21
41
940
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SCIENCE DISSEMINATION UNIT
Introduction
The Science Dissemination Unit (SDU) was created in late 2004 with the broad aim of
disseminating scientific contents to more people than are able to visit ICTP, and to the public in
general throughout the world, via any digital media type. Website: sdu.ictp.it.
SDU also collaborates with the special requests, and advice, on issues related to Science
Dissemination and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the ICTP Director’s
Office.
Research Activities
The SDU is a concrete example of helping to bridge the knowledge divide in developing countries
and across the North-South, in terms of applying cost effective open source ICT for the
dissemination, support and internationalization of science. The SDU addresses these main issues
of great concern in the scientific community:
• The dissemination of scientific data, educational material and information. This is necessary for
the advancement of research and education in order to provide contents that contribute to the
benefit and well-being of society and to promote international scientific and technological
activities.
• The development, implementation and management of ICT especially in support of science in
developing countries.
• The integration of new rich-media services and state-of-the-art tools to facilitate the transfer of
knowledge and exchange of scientific information.
• The electronic publishing including open access, creative commons, copyright issues, mobile
science and learning and digital contents.
The SDU also addresses hardware and software limitations and the ICT skill shortfalls of staff in
universities, research centres, scientific academies and ministries of science and technology
throughout the developing world by providing grants for the low-cost production of scientific
contents by institutions and students. Training on ICT tools for science dissemination are carried
out every year in Trieste. Low-cost 3D Printing for Science, Education and Sustainable
development is also a main topic of interest for the SDU.
Training Activities
SDU organized two main workshops in 2013:
First International "Low-cost 3D Printing for Science, Education and Sustainable Development"
(smr2547), May 2013 -co-sponsor: the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).
New, low-cost, three-dimensional printing technologies are providing exciting opportunities for
research, education and humanitarian projects for the developing world. Using digital models, the
3D printers create or replicate solid objects out of plastic.
The purpose of this workshop was to discuss and create awareness on the new 3D printing
through demonstrations on a number of available competing technologies, as well as
presentations of on-going research into new applications. Special focus was given to the
applicability of 3D printing to promote appropriate technology for sustainable development,
scientific research and education.
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The open, primer book on "Low-cost 3D Printing for Science, Education & Sustainable
Development" edited by the SDU Team was presented. This book was released under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
SDU’s book cover on low-cost 3D Printing
Indeed, its many applications and affordability make 3D printing an accessible technology for the
masses as demonstrated in the book. Highly scalable, the printers can be used to print objects at
home, at small research labs in a university or in a high school to create educational material,
without needing to invest a lot of money. 3D printing opens up novel opportunities that have
never before been feasible for creative production and prototypes. The hope is that this cuttingedge technology will open new dimensions to science education and will make a marked impact in
developing countries. Their affordable costs plus the huge open source 3D examples available for
free (usually in “.STL” format) already make the newest 3D printers an attractive technology for
low income countries.
All lectures and seminars given during this smr2547 workshop are freely available on the SDU's
YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/sciencedissemination
"Science Dissemination and On-line Certification for All" (smr2487), ICTP-SDU Workshop Oct 2013 co-sponsor: the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).
The workshop aimed to guide the scientific community in developing countries
into the
potentialities of new, low-cost scientific pedagogical tools for the creation, and dissemination of
on-line educational resources at a large-scale.
This event also aimed to give a balanced mix of technical detail, general overview and societal
impact. Topics included: Massive on-line open courses (MOOCs); Infrastructure, design and
technological issues with video capturing; Video course development and cultural issues in video
learning systems; Asynchronous and synchronous web casting systems, Apps; Creative uses of
video and role of rich-media in science. Particular attention was given to innovation within a
scientific environment.
The workshop was mainly informative, with some demonstrations on the technical setup needed,
organization and maintenance of newest tools and web applications to access and disseminates
science. Following the ICTP mandate, the majority of the selected participants were new to ICTP
and most of them came from developing countries. Most Lecturers were also new to the ICTP.
The whole activity was recorded using the automated EyA system of the SDU.
Apart from lectures, the workshop also included presentations of case studies and projects on the
impact online and mobile technologies are having on education. The take-away message was that
online and mobile platforms will bring about a change in education systems, and effectively
harnessing them will not only increase access to education but also augment conventional
classroom teaching.
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International Collaborations
The SDU collaborates with
• the Communication and Information Sector and the Science Sector of the UNESCO in Paris
in the organization of some of the workshops carried out at ICTP in the field of science
dissemination;
• IEPM – Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), USA for the monitoring of the
connectivity in Africa from Trieste;
• eIFL.net - Electronic Information for Libraries Initiative for the activities and initiative of
Open Access and related issues.
• IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency.
and also with other research centres, universities and institutions in East and Central Europe,
Africa and Latin America, including the new ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental
Research for the Project DxD.tv.
Projects and Activities in 2013
Open Access at ICTP promoted by SDU: APhysRev.org
The SDU supervises the technicalities behind, and give advice on, the African Review of
Physics—a peer-reviewed and on-line international eJournal that publishes reviews, research
articles, and brief communications in all branches of experimental and theoretical physics and
related interdisciplinary fields. Website: www.aphysrev.org
Science on the Internet: Education and Dissemination - www.ictp.tv
Using the automated and non-intrusive EyA system for the webcasting of physics and
mathematics, all lectures delivered within the ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme and
seminars, talks, etc. given during some ICTP conferences and workshops were recorded
throughout the campus. The www.ictp.tv infrastructure and redundant servers were permanently
improved to handle the increased traffic received.
In 2013, SDU's automated recording system quietly added the 12,000th hour of video recording
to its archive of ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme courses. The online courses archive of
physics and mathematics lectures, accrued over the past six years, is available for free on the
Centre's www.ictp.tv website. The courses are captured using the EyA technology and are carried
out using digital presentations (PPT, PDF, animations, etc.) and especially traditional
chalkboards as found along the classrooms of ICTP campus.
From 2007 to August of this year, ICTP's nearly 12,000 hours of online Diploma Programme
lectures have received more than 1 million unique visitors. Contrary to what one might expect,
the majority of visits to the web courses comes from computers connected from Italy (22%), USA
(12%) and India (9%). Following close behind is China (3%) and Africa, mainly in Egypt, Algeria,
Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda (about 1%). These numbers
suggest that the lectures, taught in English by ICTP scientists, are a useful learning resource for
students both in developing and developed countries. Some parts of the world, however, are
restricted both by language barriers and bandwidth constraints. To tackle these two issues, SDU
has implemented the new Project "Didactica para el Desarrollo" with educational scientific
lectures in different languages, and has sent hard disks containing Terabytes of recorded lectures
to countries in need like North Korea and Pakistan.
The EyA system today is robust, requires low maintenance and low cost, with the price of a
recorded hour totalling less than a cup of coffee. EyA is an attractive product for other institutes
that want to carry out affordable, automated recordings of lectures, conferences or other
educational activities. To that end, SDU has developed an "openEyA" system that institutes can
easily set up in their own classrooms. In 2013, the free SDU's Linux-based version "openEyA" of
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the EyA automated recording system implemented along the ICTP campus continued to be
upgraded and promoted in developing countries.
Free EyApp and AndrEyA Recording Systems for Smart-phones
In 2012, the free Another new area for openEyA it is its use on smart-phones; to this end, SDU
deployed new versions of the software for Android and iOS phones in 2013. In particular, EyApp
enables an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to make a video composed of a series of captured images
along with simultaneous audio recording. With just the press of a button, the App automatically
captures images at intervals ranging from 5 to 20 seconds (or manually by the user) and then
synchronizes the images with a continuous audio signal.
The resulting recording is a smaller size compared with traditional video (HD or standard
resolution) because the still frames can be processed by the highly-efficient compression
algorithms used by the H264 movie format found in modern mobile i devices. SDU developed the
App with education in mind.
These SDU systems were introduced in UNESCO's magazine: A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 11,
No. 4 Oct.–Dec. 2013.
Didáctica para el Desarrollo — DxD.tv
The SDU’s "Didactic for Development" (in English) initiative with educational videos in Spanish
and Portuguese only, continued as planned by supporting Universities in Latin America and
Portugal to create their own educational contents. The aim of DxD is to attain "Quality
Education for All" and preserve "Cultural Diversity" in native languages by closely following the
mandate of UNESCO and ICTP.
The next steps to be carried out within the DxD.tv project in years ahead is to aggregate the
available educational material, i.e. more than 400 recording hours so far, by the use of SDU’s
openEyA free recording system. The DxD.tv project was presented at “Encuentro Iberico para la
Ensenanza de la Fisica”, Valencia, Spain, July 2013.
To date, Institution participants of the DxD.tv project are: University of Porto and Instituto
Superior Te'cnico (IST), School of Science and Engineering, Portugal; ICTP-South American
Institute of Fundamental Research, Brazil; National University of Colombia, Colombia; and
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina;
openDante: High School Physics and Math Lectures On-line
The project openDante, carried out in collaboration with Prof A. Pisani from Liceo Classico
Dante Alighieri (Gorizia) and SDU, is a concrete example of the application of openeyA in high
school classrooms of Italy. OpenEyA has dramatically changed the way their students study. The
recordings provide a new, effective option for students to review and learn new concepts.
Students like the fact that with openEyA recordings, they can re-listen to classroom lectures at
home, and it helps increase their level of understanding. SDU will continue to support this unique
initiative: www.openDante.com to foster future generations of scientists. This project was largely
publicized in the literature.
3D Printing Lab
In February 2013, the SDU inaugurated its 3D Printing Lab to promote, assist and train
scientists on the use of this new, affordable technology. Underscoring the capability of the
printers to produce usable objects, ICTP’s Director Fernando Quevedo cut the ribbon tied across
the Lab’s main entrance with a pair of scissors created by one of the Lab’s 3D printers. SDU’s
innovative lab is designed to be a friendly, modern place open to creativity. It is devoted to
explain and show what low-cost 3D printers can do for non-experts, in the fields of science,
education and sustainable development. Scientists need to be aware of which 3D printers exist
165
and which of these suits their needs. The ICTP 3D Printing Lab aims to play a significant role as
a focal point to help scientists and to train target audiences, including students from high schools.
Another goal is to inspire creativity, incorporate new ideas into educational and research efforts,
and to create new communities around 3D printing. SDU's 3D Printing Lab was reported in
UNESCO's magazine: A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 11, No. 2 July–Sept. 2013.
Other SDU Outreach Activities
SDU organized the Concorso per le Scuole in Trieste: “Stampa la tua Idea” -open to students up
to 18 years old.
SDU members also participated with an Stand at: “European Edition Maker Faire”, Rome and
“ScienzArtAmbiente”, Pordenone in Oct 2013; “Trame di Gioco, Science, Futuro”, Trieste in Aug
2013, “Notte dei Ricercatori”, Trieste Sept 2013. Many seminars on SDU activities were
promoted in schools of the Trieste region. For example at Istituto Statale d'Arte "E. e U.
Nordio", Associazione Rena Cittavecchia and Osservatorio Farra d'Isonzo. Within ICTP, 3D
Printing courses were organized especially for ICTP Staff. Many young and old visitors learnt
about SDU's 3D Printing Lab during 2013.
Staff
Consultants:
E. Canessa, SDU Coordinator, Chile
C. Fonda, professional technician, Italy
M. Zennaro, collaborator, Italy
L. Tenze, external collaborator, Italy
Funding
• ICTP (principal contributor)
Publications
“On-line Certification for All: The Pinvox Algorithm”, Inter. J. Emerging Tech. in Learning (iJET),
7 (2012) 43-45.
The SDU members in this paper introduce the Pinvox prototype algorithm: (“Personal
Identification Number by Voice") for on-line certification that helps to guarantee that scholars
have followed, i.e., listened and watched, a complete recorded lecture with the option of earning a
certificate or diploma of completion after remotely attending courses. It is based on the injection
of unique, randomly selected and pre-recorded integer numbers (or single letters or words)
within the audio trace of a video stream at places where silence is automatically detected. The
certificate of completion or “virtual attendance” will be generated on-the-fly after the successful
identification of the embedded Pinvox code by a video viewer student.
SDU’s Open book “Mobile Science & Learning”, ISBN 92-95003-47-0
This free book is a collection of essays on mobile science and mobile learning, written by experts,
describing experiences from academia and discussing the implementation of research projects
using mobile technologies of particular interest to developing countries.
This SDU’s edited book has been delivered under a Creative Commons license with the goal to
create awareness on the huge possibilities of Mobile Science (or “m-Science” in short), as well as
to motivate a new generation of learners, scholars and scientists to participate in the challenges of
the rapidly developing new field. Since its release, the book has so far 2.9K reads, 9 readcasts,
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2.6K embed views. Our previous m-Science book has: 4.8K reads, 20 readcasts and 2.9K embed
views.
As the examples in the book demonstrate, people are using mobile technology in powerful new
ways to carry out scientific research, to share results and to disseminate knowledge in affordable
ways via, for instance, the new m-Learning. This includes data gathering, analysis and
processing, and access to on-line services and applications directed to nurture scientists and
scholars using mobile phones, tablets, netbooks and other devices. The book gives a balanced mix
of technical detail, general overview, societal impact and a sense of the possible.
To attract younger and technologically savvy audiences, in 2013 SDU will deploy free EyAinspired apps for mobile devices (tablets, smart-phones with Android and iOS). The goal is to
open the universe of science to a new generation of learners and offer them inspiration and ondemand access to knowledge according to modern times.
167
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SECTION (ICTS)
During the year 2013, the information and communication technology section provide user
support services to the entire ICTP community and general maintenance of the in-house
computing and communication equipment. For the services provided by the Centre, the overall
availability level was ensured without any major interruptions.
High Performance Computing (HPC), Storage and Server Room
The in-house HPC cluster codenamed “ARGO” was expanded with some GPU units and the rack
space was extended in order to support new servers for further growth in 2014. Access and usage
of the ARGO cluster is coordinated with the help of scientific staff from ICTP's ESP and CMSP
sections, who heavily use the cluster for the regional climate modelling software (RegCM) and
Quantum Espresso (QE) software, in addition to other individual research software.
Support for Scientific Computer Programming
The importance of HPC clusters within the scientific work is increasing rapidly. There is a
significant shortage of resources with in depth knowledge on how to solve complex problems
with HPC techniques.
In line with ICTP’s strategic plan, a Master Program has been established in collaboration with
SISSA.
The Master in High-Performance Computing (MHPC) is a high-level degree program that aims
to train students to address problems requiring advanced computational techniques in multiple
domains, and communicate HPC technological issues in all scientific and industrial environments
The details of the Program are defined, pre-lectures started and the MHPC Program will start in
Fall 2014. Details are available at www.MHPC.it.
International Presence
ICTS also provides technical assistance to institutes in developing countries. In 2013, this
included:
• African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Nigeria: Teaching a graduate level
course on Parallel and High Performance Computing,
• Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia: Teaching and supervision of graduate students of the
Computational Sciences Department.
• University of Nigeria, Nuskka: On the Science technology workshop and Exposition jointly
organized by the UNESCO Science Sector and ICTP
• University of Ilorin, Nigeria assisted the IT staff with a broad range of areas related to emall, web services and network security.
• Southern Africa Development Community (SADC): Supporting the development of a
comprehensive and sustainable HPC and Cyber-infrastructure plan for the region.
• A HPC workshop was performed together with local experts at Bandung, Indonesia.
168
MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS OFFICE
The activities of the Multimedia Publications Office (MPO) are organized through a wide range
of support services of a different nature to the ICTP scientific activities. In particular, the office
ensures that the scientific research carried out at ICTP is made available to the scientific
community via web, media and different printed formats.
Services include:
provision of high-quality printed documents with the best technology for digital printing
including large formats;
dissemination of information on the Centre's activities and programmes via conventional mail and
electronic format. For this purpose ICTP's centralized mailing list is also kept and maintained by
this section;
technical support for word processing programmes and camera ready documents for conference
presentations, layouts and graphic designs, plus problem solving support to scientific staff,
visitors and other offices;
support in the planning and production of a variety of studio and field-based video products for
distribution on DVDs and other media such as webcasting and video streaming, video post
production tasks, converting format of completed edited products.
During 2013, MPO produced in high definition the entire Postgraduate Diploma Course in
Mathematics, plus dozens of conferences, lectures and other events for more than 850 hours
between video production and post production.
Furthermore MPO processed more than 1,550 requests distributing more than 98,000 documents
throughout the world.
169
ISSN 2223-6589
Managing Editor: K. Tahir Shah
The African Review of Physics (www.aphysrev.org), founded and published by ICTP since 2007, is
the official journal of the African Physical Society. It is a free, open access, on-line, peer reviewed,
international journal that publishes high quality reviews, research articles, and brief
communications in all branches of experimental and theoretical physics.
There was a significant amount of expansion in the Review's readership worldwide in 2013 as a
result of continued improvements in its editorial processing and the quality of papers published.
The readership of The African Review of Physics now extends to some 152 countries. In 2013,
however, its major readership remained in India, with USA in second place. Among the top ten
countries in its readership list, the number of readers from developing nations grew to 59% (as
compared to 57% in 2012) and a slight decline to 41% from the technologically advanced nations
(as compared to 43% in 2012).
Submissions received were from Algeria, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon,
Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Morocco, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America, and
Uzbekistan. This year Nigeria led in the number of submissions, followed by India, Iran, Benin,
Morocco, Bangladesh, Cameroon, and Kenya. These eight countries represented 81% of all
submissions in 2013 from 23 countries worldwide. The African Review of Physics continued to
grow in 2013 at a rate approaching 17 percent with respect to 2012 for published papers and
almost a twofold increase with respect to 2011. The acceptance rate remained approximately the
same as in 2012.
Conclusively, 2013 statistical data reflects the continued progress made by The African Review of
Physics towards it ultimate goal of becoming an elite international journal reflecting high-quality
research results obtained not only by the African scientists but also by researchers from other
countries. It remained throughout 2013 a widely listed scientific journal by libraries and other
eJournal listing organizations both in developing and technologically advanced nations with over
37,000 visits to its website since the publication of its first volume in 2007.
170
171
APPENDICES
172
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
HIGH ENERGY, COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS
Published (153, including 90 within the ATLAS Collaboration)
Arean, D., Iatrakis, I., Järvinen, M., & Kiritsis, E. (2013). V-QCD: Spectra, the dilaton and the S-parameter.
Physics Letters B, 720(1), 219-223.
Amado, I., Arean, D., Jimenez-Alba, A., Landsteiner, K., Melgar, L., & Landea, I. S. (2013). Holographic
type II Goldstone bosons. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(7), 1-43.
Arean, D., Iatrakis, I., & Jarvinen, M. (2013). The spectrum of (h) QCD in the Veneziano limit. arXiv
preprint arXiv:1305.6294.
Arean, D., Farahi, A., Zayas, L. A. P., Landea, I. S., & Scardicchio, A. (2013). A Dirty Holographic
Superconductor. arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.1920.
Arean, D., Iatrakis, I., Järvinen, M., & Kiritsis, E. (2013). The discontinuities of conformal transitions and
mass spectra of V-QCD. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(11), 1-116.
Amado, I., Arean, D., Jimenez-Alba, A., Melgar, L., & Landea, I. S. (2014). Holographic s+ p
superconductors. Physical Review D, 89(2), 026009.
Creminelli, P., Gleyzes, J., Hui, L., Simonovic, M., & Vernizzi, F. (2013). Single-Field Consistency
Relations of Large Scale Structure. Part III: Test of the Equivalence Principle. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1312.6074.
Creminelli, P., Gleyzes, J., Simonovic, M., & Vernizzi, F. (2013). Single-Field Consistency Relations of
Large Scale Structure. Part II: Resummation and Redshift Space. arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.0290.
Creminelli, P., Noreña, J., Simonovi , M., & Vernizzi, F. (2013). Single-field consistency relations of large
scale structure. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(12), 025.
Creminelli, P., Perko, A., Senatore, L., Simonovic, M., & Trevisan, G. (2013). The physical squeezed limit:
consistency relations at order q2. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(11), 015.
Creminelli, P., Serone, M., & Trincherini, E. (2013). Non-linear representations of the conformal group
and mapping of galileons. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(10), 1-18.
Creminelli, P., Emami, R., Simonovic, M., & Trevisan, G. (2013). ISO (4, 1) Symmetry in the EFT of
Inflation. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(07), 037.
Dasgupta, B., & Kopp, J. (2013). A m\'enage\a trois of eV-scale sterile neutrinos, cosmology, and structure
formation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.6337. Accepted in Physical Review Letters
Ng, K. C., Laha, R., Campbell, S., Horiuchi, S., Dasgupta, B., Murase, K., & Beacom, J. F. (2013). Resolving
Small-Scale Dark Matter Structures Using Multi-Source Indirect Detection. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1310.1915.
Dasgupta, B., Ma, E., & Tsumura, K. (2013). WIMP Dark Matter and Neutrino Mass from Peccei-Quinn
Symmetry. arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.4138.
Laha, R., Beacom, J. F., Dasgupta, B., Horiuchi, S., & Murase, K. (2013). Demystifying the PeV cascades in
IceCube: Less (energy) is more (events). Physical Review D, 88(4), 043009.
Laha, R., Dasgupta, B., & Beacom, J. F. (2013). Strong constraint on dark matter-neutrino interactions via
light vector bosons. arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.3460.
Cabo-Bizet, A., Gava, E., & Narain, K. S. (2013). Holography and conformal anomaly matching. Journal of
High Energy Physics, 2013(11), 1-51.
de Alwis, S., Gupta, R., Hatefi, E., & Quevedo, F. (2013). Stability, tunneling and flux changing de Sitter
transitions in the large volume string scenario. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(11), 1-26.
173
Gupta, R. K., Lal, S., & Thakur, S. (2013). Heat Kernels on the AdS (2) cone and Logarithmic Corrections
to Extremal Black Hole Entropy. arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.6286.
Hatefi, E. (2013). SuperYang-Mills, Chern-Simons couplings and their all order $\ alpha'$ corrections in
IIB superstring theory. arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.8308.
Hatefi, E. (2013). Selection rules and RR couplings on non-BPS branes. Journal of High Energy Physics,
2013(11), 1-21.
Alvarez-Gaume, L., & Hatefi, E. (2013). More on critical collapse of axion-dilaton system in dimension
four. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(10), 037.
Hatefi, E. (2013). All order !" higher derivative corrections to non-BPS branes of type IIB Super string
theory. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(7), 1-21.
Hatefi, E. (2014). Closed string Ramond-Ramond proposed higher derivative interactions on fermionic
amplitudes in IIB. Nuclear Physics B.
Hernandez, D., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Discrete symmetries and model-independent patterns of lepton
mixing. Physical Review D, 87(5), 053005.
Hernandez, D., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Relating neutrino masses and mixings by discrete symmetries.
Physical Review D, 88(9), 093007.
Nacir, D. L. L., Mazzitelli, F. D., & Trombetta, L. G. (2014). Hartree approximation in curved spacetimes
revisited: The effective potential in de Sitter spacetime. Physical Review D, 89(2), 024006.
Antoniadis, I., Florakis, I., Hohenegger, S., Narain, K. S., & Zein Assi, A. (2013). Worldsheet realization of
the refined topological string. Nuclear Physics B, 875(1), 101-133.
Nemev!ek, M., Senjanovic, G., & Tello, V. (2013). Connecting Dirac and Majorana neutrino mass
matrices in the minimal left-right symmetric model. Physical Review Letters, 110(15), 151802.
Villaescusa-Navarro, F., Marulli, F., Viel, M., Branchini, E., Castorina, E., Sefusatti, E., & Saito, S. (2013).
Cosmology with massive neutrinos I: towards a realistic modeling of the relation between matter, haloes
and galaxies. arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.0866.
Castorina, E., Sefusatti, E., Sheth, R. K., Villaescusa-Navarro, F., & Viel, M. (2013). Cosmology with
massive neutrinos II: on the universality of the halo mass function and bias. Journal of Cosmological Physics,
revised. arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.1212.
Costanzi, M., Villaescusa-Navarro, F., Viel, M., Xia, J. Q., Borgani, S., Castorina, E., & Sefusatti, E. (2013).
Cosmology with massive neutrinos III: the halo mass function and an application to galaxy clusters. Journal
of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(12), 012.
Paranjape, A., Sefusatti, E., Chan, K. C., Desjacques, V., Monaco, P., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). Bias
deconstructed: unravelling the scale dependence of halo bias using real-space measurements. Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 436(1), 449-459.
Monaco, P., Sefusatti, E., Borgani, S., Crocce, M., Fosalba, P., Sheth, R. K., & Theuns, T. (2013). An
accurate tool for the fast generation of dark matter halo catalogues. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society, 433(3), 2389-2402.
Musso, M., & Sheth, R. K. (2014). On the Markovian assumption in the excursion set approach: The
approximation of Markov Velocities. Submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv
Musso, M., & Sheth, R. K. (2014). Stochasticity in halo formation and the excursion set approach.
Submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.3185.
Bernardi, M., Meert, A., Vikram, V., Huertas-Company, M., Mei, S., Shankar, F. & Sheth, R. K. Systematic
effects on the luminosity size relation: Dependence on model fitting and morphology. (2014). Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, revised. arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.6122.
Musso, M., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). The importance of stepping up in the excursion set approach. Online
early Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438. arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.0551.
174
Achitouv, I., Rasera, Y., Sheth, R. K., & Corasaniti, P. S. (2013). Testing the Self-Consistency of the
Excursion Set Approach to Predicting the Dark Matter Halo Mass Function. Physical Review Letters,
111(23), 231303.
Bernardi, M., Meert, A., Sheth, R. K., Vikram, V., Mei, S., & Shankar, F. (2013). The massive end of the
luminosity and stellar mass functions: dependence on the fit to the light profile. Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, 436(1), 697-704.
Movahed, M. S., Javanmardi, B., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). Peak–peak correlations in the cosmic background
radiation from cosmic strings. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 434(4), 3597-3605.
Castorina, E., & Sheth, R. K. 2013 Stochastic bias in multi-dimensional excursion set approaches. Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 433, 1529-1536.
Paranjape, A., Sheth, R. K., & Desjacques, V. (2013). Excursion set peaks: a self-consistent model of dark
halo abundances and clustering. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 431(2), 1503-1512.
Despali, G., Tormen, G., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). Ellipsoidal halo finders and implications for models of
triaxial halo formation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 431(2), 1143-1159.
Sheth, R. K., Chan, K. C., & Scoccimarro, R. (2013). Nonlocal Lagrangian bias. Physical Review D, 87(8),
083002.
Papai, P., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). On the anisotropic density distribution on large scales. Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society, 429, 1133-1138.
Skibba, R. A., Sheth, R. K., Croton, D. J., Muldrew, S. I., Abbas, U., Pearce, F. R., & Shattow, G. M. (2013).
Measures of galaxy environment–II. Rank-ordered mark correlations. Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, 429(1), 458-468.
Akhmedov, E. K., Razzaque, S., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Mass hierarchy, 2-3 mixing and CP-phase with
Huge Atmospheric Neutrino Detectors. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(2), 1-34.
Ribordy, M., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Improving the neutrino mass hierarchy identification with
inelasticity measurement in PINGU and ORCA. Physical Review D, 87(11), 113007.
Blennow, M., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Neutrino propagation in matter. Advances in High Energy Physics,
2013. 972485
Esmaili, A., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Probing non-standard interaction of neutrinos with IceCube and
DeepCore. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(6), 1-27.
Esmaili, A., & Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Restricting the LSND and MiniBooNE sterile neutrinos with the
IceCube atmospheric neutrino data. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(12), 1-26.
Blau, M., & Thompson, G. (2013). Chern-Simons theory on Seifert 3-manifolds. Journal of High Energy
Physics, 2013(9), 1-26.
Thompson, G. (2013). On involutions with middle-dimensional fixed-point locus and holomorphicsymplectic manifolds. Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry, 1-12.
Arvanitaki, A., Craig, N., Dimopoulos, S., & Villadoro, G. (2013). Mini-split. Journal of High Energy Physics,
2013(2), 1-26.
Zaharijas, G., Conrad, J., Cuoco, A., & Yang, Z. (2013). Constraints on the Galactic Dark Matter signal
from the Fermi-LAT measurement of the diffuse gamma-ray emission. arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.2547.
Morselli, A., Nuss, E., & Zaharijas, G. (2013). Search for Dark Matter in the sky with the Fermi Large
Area Telescope. arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.7173.
Cirelli, M., Serpico, P. D., & Zaharijas, G. (2013). Bremsstrahlung gamma rays from light Dark Matter.
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(11), 035.
Rainò, S., Bastieri, D., Ballet, J., Bloom, E. D., Giroletti, M., Nuss, E., ... & Zaharijas, G. (2013). Dark
Matter Constraints from Observations of 25 Milky Way Satellite Galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
(No. arXiv: 1310.0828).
175
Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Albert, A., Allafort, A., Baldini, L., Barbiellini, G., ... & Zaharijas, G. (2013).
Search for gamma-ray spectral lines with the Fermi Large Area Telescope and dark matter implications.
Physical Review D, 88(8), 082002.
Morselli, A., Nuss, E., & Zaharijas, G. (2013). Search for Dark Matter in the sky with the Fermi Large
Area Telescope. arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.7173.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya & Shaw, K.). Measurement of the top quark pair
production charge asymmetry in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS
detector. arXiv:1311.6724 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya & Shaw, K.). Improved luminosity determination in
$pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. arXiv:1302.4393 [hep-ex].
Shaw, K., & The ATLAS Collaboration et al. (2013). Measurement of the top quark pair production charge
asymmetry in pp collisions at âˆ!s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector, ATLAS-CONF-2013-078
Shaw, K., & Atlas Collaboration. (2013, July). Top Quark Charge Asymmetry Measurement with ATLAS
at the LHC. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 452, No. 1, p. 012058). IOP Publishing.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the electroweak production of dijets in
association with a Z-boson and distributions sensitive to vector boson fusion in proton-proton collisions at
sqrt(s) = 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1401.7610 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the production cross section of prompt
J/psi mesons in association with a W boson in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
arXiv:1401.2831 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of dijet cross sections in pp collisions at 7 TeV
centre-of-mass energy using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1312.3524 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for a Multi-Higgs Boson Cascade in $W^+W^
b\bar{b}$ events with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at "s = 8 TeV. arXiv:1312.1956 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya).
spectrometer. arXiv:1311.7070 [physics.ins-det].
Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for Quantum Black-Hole Production in HighInvariant-Mass Lepton+Jet Final States Using Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV and the ATLAS
Detector. arXiv:1311.2006 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross
section in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector using 4.6 fb-1. arXiv:1311.1440 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for long-lived stopped R-hadrons decaying out-oftime with pp collisions using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1310.6584 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). (2014). Measurement of the mass difference between top and
anti-top quarks in pp collisions at $\sqrt(s) = 7$ TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1310.6527 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for charginos nearly mass-degenerate with the
lightest neutralino based on a disappearing-track signature in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV with the
ATLAS detector. arXiv:1310.3675 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for dark matter in events with a hadronically
decaying W or Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=8 TeV with the
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for new phenomena in photon+jet events
collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1309.3230 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for microscopic black holes in a like-sign
dimuon final state using large track multiplicity with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1308.4075 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for direct third-generation squark pair
production in final states with missing transverse momentum and two $b$-jets in $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV $pp$
collisions with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1308.2631 [hep-ex].
176
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for new phenomena in final states with large jet
multiplicities and missing transverse momentum at sqrt(s)=8 TeV proton-proton collisions using the
ATLAS experiment. arXiv:1308.1841 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for excited electrons and muons in
$\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1308.1364 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Dynamics of isolated-photon plus jet production in pp
collisions at $\sqrt(s)=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1307.6795 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop
events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1307.6511
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of jet shapes in top-quark pair events at
$\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1307.5749 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the top quark charge in $pp$
collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1307.4568 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Evidence for the spin-0 nature of the Higgs boson
using ATLAS data. arXiv:1307.1432 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurements of Higgs boson production and
couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. arXiv:1307.1427 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the differential cross-section of
$B^{+}$ meson production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV at ATLAS. arXiv:1307.0126 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the Azimuthal Angle Dependence of
Inclusive Jet Yields in Pb+Pb Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Performance of jet substructure techniques for large$R$ jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1306.4945
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the high-mass Drell--Yan differential
cross-section in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1305.4192 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the distributions of event-by-event
flow harmonics in lead-lead collisions at = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. arXiv:1305.2942
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). A search for $t\bar t$ resonances in the lepton plus
jets final state with ATLAS using 4.7 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. arXiv:1305.2756
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Triggers for displaced decays of long-lived neutral
particles in the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1305.2284 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for resonant diboson production in the lvjj
decay channels with the ATLAS detector at 7 TeV. arXiv:1305.0125 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the production cross section of jets in
association with a Z boson in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). A study of heavy flavor quarks produced in association
with top quark pairs at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1304.6386 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for non-pointing photons in the diphoton and
E_T^miss final state in sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions using the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the inclusive jet cross section in pp
collisions at sqrt(s)=2.76 TeV and comparison to the inclusive jet cross section at sqrt(s)=7 TeV using the
177
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement with the ATLAS detector of multiparticle azimuthal correlations in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.02 TeV. arXiv:1303.2084 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for third generation scalar leptoquarks in pp
collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1303.0526 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Characterisation and mitigation of beam-induced
backgrounds observed in the ATLAS detector during the 2011 proton-proton run. arXiv:1303.0223 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for WH production with a light Higgs boson
decaying to prompt electron-jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV with the ATLAS
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for a light charged Higgs boson in the decay
channel $H^+ \to c\bar{s}$ in $t\bar{t}$ events using pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the cross-section for W boson
production in association with b-jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of kT splitting scales in W->lv events at
sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1302.1415 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurements of $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$
production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$= 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. arXiv:1302.1283
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of hard double-parton interactions in
$W(\to l\nu)$+ 2 jet events at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1301.6872 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for long-lived, multi-charged particles in pp
collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1301.5272 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for single $b^*$-quark production with the
ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1301.1583 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Multi-channel search for squarks and gluinos in
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1212.6149 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). A search for prompt lepton-jets in $pp$ collisions at
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1212.5409.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Observation of Associated Near-side and Away-side
Long-range Correlations in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5.02 TeV Proton-lead Collisions with the ATLAS
Detector. arXiv:1212.5198 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for charged Higgs bosons through the violation
of lepton universality in $t\bar{t}$ events using $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS
experiment. arXiv:1212.3572 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for a heavy narrow resonance decaying to $e
\mu$, $e \tau$, or $\mu \tau$ with the ATLAS detector in $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC.
arXiv:1212.1272.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of Upsilon production in 7 TeV pp
collisions at ATLAS. arXiv:1211.7255 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the ttbar production cross section in
the tau+jets channel using the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1211.7205 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector.
178
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of angular correlations in Drell-Yan
lepton pairs to probe Z/gamma* boson transverse momentum at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for new phenomena in events with three
charged leptons at $/sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1211.6312 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of $ZZ$ production in $pp$ collisions at
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and limits on anomalous $ZZZ$ and $ZZ\gamma$ couplings with the ATLAS
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for resonances decaying into top-quark pairs
using fully hadronic decays in $pp$ collisions with ATLAS at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1211.2202 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of isolated-photon pair production in
$pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1211.1913 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Searches for heavy long-lived sleptons and R-Hadrons
with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1211.1597 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for supersymmetry in events with photons,
bottom quarks, and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy
of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1211.1167 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for contact interactions and large extra
dimensions in dilepton events from $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for Extra Dimensions in diphoton events using
proton-proton collisions recorded at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for long-lived, heavy particles in final states
with a muon and multi-track displaced vertex in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). A search for high-mass resonances decaying to
$\tau^+\tau^-$ in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1210.6604 [hepex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of $Z$ boson Production in Pb+Pb
Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV with the ATLAS Detector. arXiv:1210.6486 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Jet energy resolution in proton-proton collisions at
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV recorded in 2010 with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1210.6210 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for pair production of heavy top-like quarks
decaying to a high-pT $W$ boson and a $b$ quark in the lepton plus jets final state at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV
with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1210.5468 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for pair-produced massive coloured scalars in
four-jet final states with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for dark matter candidates and large extra
dimensions in events with a jet and missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of $W^+W^-$ production in $pp$
collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector and limits on anomalous $WWZ$ and
$WW\gamma$ couplings. arXiv:1210.2979 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for direct chargino production in anomalymediated supersymmetry breaking models based on a disappearing-track signature in $pp$ collisions at
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1210.2852 [hep-ex].
179
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). ATLAS search for new phenomena in dijet mass and
angular distributions using $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1210.1718 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the flavour composition of dijet events
in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1210.0441 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for displaced muonic lepton jets from light
Higgs boson decay in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for dark matter candidates and large extra
dimensions in events with a photon and missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collision data at
$\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1209.4625 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for light top squark pair production in final
states with leptons and $b^-$ jets with the ATLAS detector in $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV proton-proton collisions.
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for direct production of charginos and
neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV $pp$
collisions with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1208.3144 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for direct slepton and gaugino production in
final states with two leptons and missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector in $pp$
collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1208.2884 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for new phenomena in the $W W$ to $\ell \nu
\ell$' $\nu$' final state in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1208.2880
[hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the jet radius and transverse
momentum dependence of inclusive jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 2.76 TeV
with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1208.1967 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS
detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using 4.7 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=7$
TeV proton-proton collision data. arXiv:1208.0949 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of charged-particle event shape variables
in $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV proton-proton interactions with the ATLAS detector. arXiv:1207.6915 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurements of top quark pair relative differential
cross-sections with ATLAS in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1207.5644 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Measurement of the $\Lambda_b$ lifetime and mass in
the ATLAS experiment. arXiv:1207.2284 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter
jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. arXiv:1203.1302 [hep-ex].
By ATLAS Collaboration (including B.S. Acharya). Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in
proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. arXiv:1112.6426 [hep-ex].
In press (5)
Amado, I., Arean, D., Jimenez-Alba, A., Landsteiner, K., Melgar, L., & Landea, I. S. (2013). Holographic
superfluids and the Landau criterion. arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.8100. (accepted for publication in JHEP).
Murase, K., Dasgupta, B., & Thompson, T. A. (2013). Quasi-Thermal Neutrinos from Rotating ProtoNeutron Stars. arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.2612. Accepted to Physical Review D.
Shankar, F., Mei, S., Huertas-Company, M., Moreno, J., Fontanot, F., Monaco, P., Sheth, R. K,... &
Raichoor, A. (2014). Environmental dependence of bulge-dominated galaxy sizes in hierarchical models of
galaxy formation. Comparison with the local Universe. In press, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society. arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.2460.
180
Musso, M., & Sheth, R. K. (2013). The excursion set approach in non-Gaussian random fields. In press,
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.0724.
Arvanitaki, A., Baryakhtar, M., Huang, X., Van Tilburg, K., & Villadoro, G. (2013). The last vestiges of
naturalness. arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.3568. To appear in Journal of High Energy Physics.
Submitted (4)
Antoniadis, I., Florakis, I., Hohenegger, S., Narain, K. S., & Zein Assi, A. (2014). Non-perturbative
Nekrasov partition function from string theory. Nuclear Physics B.
Smirnov, A. Y. (2013, July). Neutrino mass, mixing and discrete symmetries. In Journal of Physics:
Conference Series (Vol. 447, No. 1, p. 012004). IOP Publishing.
Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Neutrino 2012: Outlook–theory. Nuclear Physics B-Proceedings Supplements, 235,
431-440.
Smirnov, A. Y. (2013). Neutrino mass hierarchy and matter effects. arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.7309.
CONDENSED MATTER AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS
Published (59)
Anand, K., Kirman, A., & Marsili, M. (2013). Epidemics of rules, rational negligence and market crashes.
The European Journal of Finance, 19(5), 438-447.
Barato, A. C., Mastromatteo, I., Bardoscia, M., & Marsili, M. (2013). Impact of meta-order in the Minority
Game. Quantitative Finance, 13(9), 1343-1352.
Bardoscia, M., De Luca, G., Livan, G., Marsili, M., & Tessone, C. J. (2013). The social climbing game.
Journal of Statistical Physics, 151(3-4), 440-457.
Baruselli, P. P., Fabrizio, M., Smogunov, A., Requist, R., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Magnetic impurities in
nanotubes: From density functional theory to Kondo many-body effects. Physical Review B, 88(24), 245426.
Baruselli, P. P., Requist, R., Fabrizio, M., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Ferromagnetic Kondo effect in a triple
quantum dot system. Physical review letters, 111(4), 047201.
Beria, M., Iqbal, Y., Di Ventra, M., & Müller, M. (2013). Quantum-statistics-induced flow patterns in
driven ideal Fermi gases. Physical Review A, 88(4), 043611.
Bertaina, G., Fratini, E., Giorgini, S., & Pieri, P. (2013). Quantum Monte Carlo Study of a Resonant BoseFermi Mixture. Physical Review Letters, 110(11), 115303.
Braun, O. M., Manini, N., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Size scaling of static friction. Physical review letters, 110(8),
085503.
Burda, Z., Livan, G., & Swiech, A. (2013). Commutative law for products of infinitely large isotropic
random matrices. Physical Review E, 88(2), 022107.
Caccioli, F., Still, S., Marsili, M., & Kondor, I. (2013). Optimal liquidation strategies regularize portfolio
selection. The European Journal of Finance, 19(6), 554-571.
Caniparoli, L., Marsili, M., & Vendruscolo, M. (2013). The codon information index: a quantitative
measure of the information provided by the codon bias. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and
Experiment, 2013(04), P04031.
Carr, S. T., Narozhny, B. N., & Nersesyan, A. A. (2013). Spinful fermionic ladders at incommensurate
filling: Phase diagram, local perturbations, and ionic potentials. Annals of Physics, 339, 22-80.
181
Crespo, Y., Andreanov, A., & Seriani, N. (2013). Competing antiferromagnetic and spin-glass phases in a
hollandite structure. Physical Review B, 88(1), 014202.
Crespo, Y., & Seriani, N. (2013). Electronic and magnetic properties of alpha-MnO2 from ab-initio
calculations. Physical Review B, 88, 144428.
De Luca, A., & Scardicchio, A. (2013). Ergodicity breaking in a model showing many-body localization.
EPL (Europhysics Letters), 101(3), 37003.
Dianat, A., Seriani, N., Bobeth, M., & Cuniberti, G. (2013). Effects of Al-doping on the properties of Li–
Mn–Ni–O cathode materials for Li-ion batteries: an ab initio study. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 1(32),
9273-9280.
Dutta, A., & Mandal, S. (2013). Unconventional superfluid phases and the phase dynamics in spin-orbitcoupled Bose systems. Physical Review A, 88(6), 063619.
Federau, C., O’Brien, K., Müller, M., Stuber, M., Meuli, R., Maeder, P., & Hagmann, P. Pulsatile
microvascular perfusion demonstrated in the human brain with intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MRI.
In Proceedings of the 21st Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (pp. 2026).
Fratini, E., & Pieri, P. (2013). Single-particle spectral functions in the normal phase of a strongly attractive
Bose-Fermi mixture. Physical Review A, 88(1), 013627.
Gangopadhyay, A., Galitski, V., & Müller, M. (2013). Magnetoresistance of an Anderson insulator of
bosons. Physical review letters, 111(2), 026801.
Golze, D., Iannuzzi, M., Nguyen, M. T., Passerone, D., & Hutter, J. (2013). Simulation of adsorption
processes at metallic interfaces: an image charge augmented QM/MM approach. Journal of Chemical Theory
and Computation, 9(11), 5086-5097.
Hromadova, L., Martonak, R., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Structure change, layer sliding, and metallization in
high-pressure MoS2. Physical Review B 87, 144105.
Iqbal, Y., Becca, F., Sorella, S., Poilblanc, D. (2013). Gapless spin-liquid phase in the Kagome spin-1/2
Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Physical Review B 87, 060405.
Kenmoe, M.B., Phien, H.N., Kiselev, M.N., & Fai, L.C. (2013). Effects of colored noise on Landau-Zener
transitions: two and three-level systems. Physical Review B 87, 224301.
Kiselev, M.N., Kikoin, K.A., Gorelik, L.Y., & Shekhter, R.I. (2013). Kondo force in shuttling devices:
dynamical probe for a Kondo cloud. Physical Review Letters 110, 066804.
Kiselev, M.N., Kikoin, K.A., & Kenmoe, M.B. (2013). SU(3) Landau-Zener interferometry. Europhysics
Letters 104, 57004
Kravtsov, V.E., & Yudson, V.I. (2013). Statistics of anomalously localized states at the center of band
E=0 in the one-dimensional Anderson localization model. Journal of Physics A-Mathematical and Theoretical
46, 025001.
Kumar, M., Tal, O., Smit, R.H.M., Smogunov, A., Tosatti, E., & van Ruitenbeek, J. (2013). Shot noise and
magnetism of Pt atomic chains: why points accumulate at the boundary. Physical Review B 88, 245431.
Livan, G., & Marsili, M. (2013). What do leaders know? Entropy 15(8), 3031-3044.
Livolant, F., Lorman, V., Marsili, M., Micheletti, C., & Podgornik, R. (2013). Special issue on physical
virology. Journal of biological physics, 39(2), 161-162.
Mancarella, F., Trombettoni, A., & Mussardo, G. (2013). Statistical interparticle potential of an ideal gas of
non-Abelian anyons. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 46(27), 275001.
Mancarella, F., Trombettoni, A., & Mussardo, G. (2013). Statistical mechanics of an ideal gas of nonAbelian anyons. Nuclear Physics B, 867(3), 950-976.
Mancini, F., Wiggins, C. H., Marsili, M., & Walczak, A. M. (2013). Time-dependent information
transmission in a model regulatory circuit. Physical Review E, 88(2), 022708.
Mandelli, D., Vanossi, A., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Stick-slip nanofriction in trapped cold ion chains. Physical
Review B, 87(19), 195418.
182
Marcuzzi, M., Marino, J., Gambassi, A., & Silva, A. (2013). Pre-thermalization in a non-integrable
quantum spin chain after a quench. Physical Review Letters 111, 197203.
Marsili, M., Mastromatteo, I., & Roudi, Y. (2013). On sampling and modeling complex systems. Journal of
Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2013(09), P09003.
Müller, M. (2013). Giant positive magnetoresistance and localization in bosonic insulators. EPL 102
67008.
Mussardo, G. (2013). Infinite-time average of local fields in an integrable quantum field theory after a
quantum quench. Physical Review Letters 111, 100401.
Naghavi, S.S., Fabrizio, M., Qin, T., Tosatti, E. (2013). Electron doped organics: disproportionated
insulators and Hubbard-Frohlich metals. Physical Review B 88, 115106.
Nguyen, M. T. (2013). An ab initio study of oxygen on strained graphene. Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter, 25(39), 395301.
Nguyen, M. T. (2013). Oxygen monomers and dimers at gas-phase and Ag (111)-supported
nanographenes: A density functional theory study. Journal of Applied Physics, 113(11), 114307.
Nguyen, M.-T., Seriani, N., & Gebauer, R. (2013). Water adsorption and dissociation on alpha Fe2O3(0001): PBE+U calculations. Journal of Chemical Physics, 138, 194709.
Prestipino, S., Laio, A., & Tosatti, E. (2013). A fingerprint of surface-tension anisotropy in the free-energy
cost of nucleation. The Journal of chemical physics, 138(6), 064508.
Raji, A. T., Scandolo, S., Härting, M., & Britton, D. T. (2013). Probing the structure of iron at extreme
conditions by X-ray absorption near-edge structure calculations. High Pressure Research, 33(1), 119-123.
Russomanno, A., Silva, A., & Santoro, G. E. (2013). Linear response as a singular limit for a periodically
driven closed quantum system. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2013(09), P09012.
Shchyrba, A., Nguyen, M. T., Wäckerlin, C., Martens, S., Nowakowska, S., Ivas, T., ... & Jung, T. A. (2013).
Chirality Transfer in 1D Self-Assemblies: Influence of H-Bonding vs Metal Coordination between Dicyano
[7] helicene Enantiomers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 135(41), 15270-15273.
Shekhter, R. I., Gorelik, L. Y., Krive, I. V., Kiselev, M. N., Parafilo, A. V., & Jonson, M. (2013).
Nanoelectromechanics of shuttle devices. Nanoelectromechanical Systems, 1, 1-25.
Shtyk, A. V., Feigel’man, M. V., & Kravtsov, V. E. (2013). Magnetic Field-Induced Giant Enhancement of
Electron-Phonon Energy Transfer in Strongly Disordered Conductors. Physical Review Letters, 111(16),
166603.
Silvi, P., Rossini, D., Fazio, R., Santoro, G. E., & Giovannetti, V. (2013). Matrix Product State
representation for Slater Determinants and Configuration Interaction States. International Journal of Modern
Physics B, 27(01n03).
Smacchia, P., & Silva, A. (2013). Work distribution and edge singularities for generic time-dependent
protocols in extended systems. Physical Review E, 88(4), 042109.
Sotiriadis, S., Gambassi, A., & Silva, A. (2013). Statistics of the work done by splitting a one-dimensional
condensate. arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.0782.
Timrov, I., Vast, N., Gebauer, R., & Baroni, S. (2013). Electron energy loss and inelastic x-ray scattering
cross sections from time-dependent density-functional perturbation theory. Physical Review B, 88(6),
064301.
Tyrcha, J., Roudi, Y., Marsili, M., & Hertz, J. (2013). The effect of nonstationarity on models inferred from
neural data. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2013(03), P03005.
Vanossi, A., Manini, N., Urbakh, M., Zapperi, S., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Colloquium: Modeling friction:
From nanoscale to mesoscale. Reviews of modern physics, 85(2), 529-552.
Vanossi, A., Benassi, A., Varini, N., & Tosatti, E. (2013). High-pressure lubricity at the meso-and
nanoscale. Physical Review B, 87(4), 045412.
Xie, H. Y., & Müller, M. (2013). Localization in coupled heterogeneously disordered transport channels on
the Bethe lattice. Physical Review B, 87(9), 094202.
183
Yu, X., & Müller, M. (2013). Localization of disordered bosons and magnets in random fields. Annals of
Physics, 337, 55-93.
Zhang, X. H., Santoro, G. E., Tartaglino, U., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Dynamical phenomena in fast sliding
nanotube models. Philosophical Magazine, 93(8), 922-948.
Ziraldo, S., & Santoro, G. E. (2013). Relaxation and thermalization after a quantum quench: Why
localization is important. Physical Review B, 87(6), 064201.
Submitted (17)
Andreanov, A., Scardicchio, A., & Torquato, S. (2013). Extreme lattices: symmetries and decorrelations.
arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.1301.
Arean, D., Farahi, A., Zayas, L. A. P., Landea, I. S., & Scardicchio, A. (2013). A Dirty Holographic
Superconductor. arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.1920.
Bardoscia, M., Nagaj, D., & Scardicchio, A. (2013). The SAT-UNSAT transition in the adversarial SAT
problem. arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.0967.
Batalhão, T., Souza, A. M., Mazzola, L., Auccaise, R., Oliveira, I. S., Goold, J., ... & Serra, R. M. (2013).
Experimental reconstruction of work distribution and verification of fluctuation relations at the full
quantum level. arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.3241. Currently on second round of review with Nature Physics.
Chakraborti, A., Challet, D., Chatterjee, A., Marsili, M., Zhang, Y.-C., & Chakrabarti, B.K. Statistical
mechanics of competitive resource allocation. Submitted to Review of Modern Physics.
De Luca, A., Scardicchio, A., Kravtsov, V. E., & Altshuler, B. L. (2013). Support set of random wavefunctions on the Bethe lattice. arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.0019. Physical Review Letters.
Fiaschi, D., Kondor, I., & Marsili, M. The interrupted power law and the size of shadow banking.
Submitted to PlosOne.
Gebauer, R., Cohen, M.H., & Car, R. (2014). Correlated electron calculations with Hartree-Fock scaling.
arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.3929. Submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Hassanali, A.A., Giberti, F., Sosso, G., & Parrinello, M. The role of the umbrella inversion mode in proton
transfer. Chemical Physics Letters.
Iqbal, Y., Poilblanc, D., Becca, F. (2013). Vanishing spin gap in a competing spin-liquid phase in the
Kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet.
Nguyen, M.T., & Gebauer, R. (2014). Graphene supported on
Submitted to Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
-Fe2O3(0001): a density-functional study.
Nguyen, M.T., Seriani, N., Piccinin, S., BGebauer, R. (2013). Photo-driven oxidation of water on alphaFe2O3 surfaces: an ab initio study. Journal of Chemical Physics.
Nguyen, T.T., Herrmann, A.J., Troyer, M., Pilati, S. (2013). Critical temperature of interacting Bose gases
in periodic potentials. Physical Review Letters.
Pantha, N., Adhikari, N.P., & Scandolo, S. Stability of methane hydrates at high pressure: a densityfunctional theory study. Submitted to Journal of Chemical Physics.
Riflikova, M., Martonak, R., & Tosatti, E. (2014). Pressure induced gap closing and metallization of
MoSe2 and MoTe2. Submitted.
Song, T., Kiselev, M.N.; Kikoin, K.A., Shekhter, R.I., & Gorelik, L.Y. (2013). Self-sustained oscillations in
nanoelectromechanical systems induced by Kondo resonance. rXiv preprint arXiv:1311.2317. Submitted to
New Journal of Physics.
Yao, N. Y., Laumann, C. R., Gopalakrishnan, S., Knap, M., Mueller, M., Demler, E. A., & Lukin, M. D.
(2013). Many-body localization with dipoles. arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.7151. Physical Review Letters.
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184
Amini, M., Kravtsov, V. E., & Müller, M. (2014). Multifractality and quantum-to-classical crossover in the
Coulomb anomaly at the Mott–Anderson metal–insulator transition. New Journal of Physics, 16(1), 015022.
Bhattacharya, S. K., Inam, F., & Scandolo, S. (2014). Excess electrons in ice: a density functional theory
study. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 16(7), 3103-3107.
Borghi, G., Fabrizio, M., & Tosatti, E. (2013). Self-consistent Gutzwiller study of bcc Fe: interplay of
ferromagnetic order and kinetic energy. arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.5738.
Ding, Y., Hassanali, A. A., & Parrinello, M. (2014). Anomalous water diffusion in salt solutions. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(9), 3310-3315.
Fanetti, S., Lapini, A., Pagliai, M., Citroni, M., Di Donato, M., Scandolo, S., ... & Bini, R. (2013). Structure
and Dynamics of Low-Density and High-Density Liquid Water at High Pressure. The Journal of Physical
Chemistry Letters.
Ferrero, E.E., Kolton, A.B., & Palassini, M. (2014). A parallel kinetic Monte Carlo technique for the
simulation of Coulomb glasses on Graphics Processing Units. 15th International Conference on Transport in
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Guidini, A., Bertaina, G., Fratini, E., & Pieri, P. (2014). Bose-Fermi mixtures in the molecular limit. arXiv
Langer, M., Kisiel, M., Pawlak, R., Pellegrini, F., Santoro, G. E., Buzio, R., Tosatti, E. ... & Meyer, E.
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Marino, J., & Silva, A. (2014). Nonequilibrium dynamics of a noisy quantum Ising chain: Statistics of work
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MATHEMATICS
Published (17)
185
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Mathematische Nachrichten, 286(8‐9), 772-790.
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Abdelgadir, T., & Ueda, K. Weighted projective lines as fine moduli spaces of quiver representations. To
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Arezzo, C., & Sun, J. A variational characterization of J-holomorphic curves. Journal für die reine und
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Arezzo, C., Della, Vedova A., & La Nave G. Geometric flows and Kaehler reduction. To appear in Journal
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Qureshi, A.A. Polarization of Koszul cycles with applications to powers of edge ideals of Whisker
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Arezzo, C., & Sun, J. A variational characterization of holomorphic submanifolds. Submitted.
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EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS
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Danabasoglu, G., Yeager, S.G., Bailey, D., Behrens, E., Bentsen, M., Bi, D., Biastoch, A., Boning, C., Bozec,
A., Canuto, V.M., Cassou, C., Chassignet, E., Coward, A.C., Danilov, S., Diansky, N., Drange, H., Farneti,
R., Fernandez, E., Fogli, P.G., Forget, G., Fujii, Y., Griffies, S.M., Gusev, A., Heimbach, P., Howard, A.,
Jung, T., Kelley, M., Large, W., Leboissetier, A., Lu, J., Madec, G., Marsland, S.J., Masina, S., Navarra, A.,
Nurser, A.J.G., Pirani, A., Salas y Melia, D., Samuels, B., Scheinert, M., Sidorenko, D., Treguier, A.M.,
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summer monsoon rainfall and temperature: an analysis based on RegCM3 simulations. Pure and Applied
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Diallo, I., Sylla, M. B., Camara, M., & Gaye, A. T. (2013). Interannual variability of rainfall over the Sahel
based on multiple regional climate models simulations. Theoretical and applied climatology, 113(1-2), 351-362.
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Ehsan, M. A., Kang, I. S., Almazroui, M., Abid, M. A., & Kucharski, F. (2013). A quantitative assessment of
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Elguindi, N., Grundstein, A., Bernardes, S., Turuncoglu, U., & Feddema, J. (2013). Assessment of CMIP5
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Farneti, R., Molteni, F., & Kucharski, F. (2013). Pacific interdecadal variability driven by tropical–
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Farneti, R., Salon, S., Crise, A., & Martinez, R. (2013). Climate Change in Mediterranean and Caribbean
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Feudale, L., & Kucharski, F. (2013). A common mode of variability of African and Indian monsoon rainfall
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Dynamics, doi: 10.1007/s00382-013-1686-z.
Gao, X.J.,Wang, M.L., & Giorgi, F. (2013). Climate change over China in the 21st century as simulated by
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Climatology, annual cycle and interannual variability of precipitation and temperature in CORDEX
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intermediate complexity general circulation models: a “SPEEDY” example. Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, 94(1), 25-30.
Kucharski, F., Zeng, N., & Kalnay, E. (2013). A further assessment of vegetation feedback on decadal Sahel
rainfall variability. Climate dynamics, 40(5-6), 1453-1466.
Kucharski, F., & Zeng, N. (2013). Positive and negative feedbacks in the vegetation impact on the Sahel
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structural elements for the meizoseismal region of great 1905 Kangra earthquake of the NW Himalaya.
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Kumar, N., Arora, B. R., Mukhopadhyay, S., & Yadav, D. K. (2013). Seismogenesis of clustered seismicity
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189
Lamon, L., Rizzi, J., Bonaduce, A., Dubois, C., Lazzari, P., Ghenim, L., ... Solidoro, C., & Marcomini, A.
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Regional Environmental Change, 14(1), 31-40.
Nabat, P., Somot, S., Mallet, M., Chiapello, I., Morcrette, J. J., Solmon, F., ... & Skeie, R. (2013). A 4-D
climatology (1979–2009) of the monthly tropospheric aerosol optical depth distribution over the
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Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 6(5), 1287-1314.
Newton, A., Icely, J., Cristina, S., Brito, A., Cardoso, A. C., Colijn, F., ... Solidoro, C., Viaroli, P., &
Zaldívar, J. M. (2013). An overview of ecological status, vulnerability and future perspectives of European
large shallow, semi-enclosed coastal systems, lagoons and transitional waters. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf
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Nnamchi, H. C., Li, J., Kang, I. S., & Kucharski, F. (2013). Simulated impacts of the South Atlantic Ocean
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Nogherotto, R., Coppola, E., Giorgi, F., & Mariotti, L. (2013). Impact of Congo Basin deforestation on
the African monsoon. Atmospheric Science Letters, 14(1), 45-51.
Piontek, F., Muller, C., Pugh T.A.M., Clark, D., Deryng, D., Elliott, J., Colón-González, F., Florke, M.,
Folberth, C., Franssen, W., Frieler, K., Friend, A.D., Gosling, S.N., Hemming, D., Khabarov, N., Kim, H.,
Lomas, M., Masaki, Y., Mengel, M., Morse, A., Neumann, K., Nishina, K., Ostberg, S., Pavlick, R., Ruane,
A.C., Schewe, J., Schmid, E., Stacke, T., Tang, Q., Tessler, Z., Tompkins, A., Warszawski, L., Wisser, D., &
Schellnhuber, H.J. (2013). Multisectoral climate impact hotspots in a warming world. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 201222471.
Querin, S., Cossarini, G., & Solidoro, C. (2013). Simulating the formation and fate of dense water in a
midlatitude marginal sea during normal and warm winter conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,
118(2), 885-900.
Rahman, M. M., Rafiuddin, M., Alam, M. M., Kusunoki, S., Kitoh, A., & Giorgi, F. (2013). Summer
monsoon rainfall scenario over Bangladesh using a high-resolution AGCM. Natural hazards, 69(1), 793-807.
Rindraharisaona, E. J., Guidarelli, M., Aoudia, A., & Rambolamanana, G. (2013). Earth structure and
instrumental seismicity of Madagascar: Implications on the seismotectonics. Tectonophysics, 594, 165-181.
Rodó, X., Pascual, M., Doblas-Reyes, F. J., Gershunov, A., Stone, D. A., Giorgi, F., ... & Dobson, A. P.
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Schewe, J., Heinke, J., Gerten, D., Haddeland, I., Arnell, N. W., Clark, D. B., ... Colón-González, F...&
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Academy of Sciences, 201222460.
Steiner, A.L, Tawfik, A.B., Shalaby, A., Zakey, A., Abdel Wahab, M.M., Salah Z., Solmon F., Sillman S., &
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Sylla, M.B., Giorgi, F., Coppola, E., & Mariotti, L. (2013). Uncertainties in daily rainfall over Africa:
Assessment of gridded observation products and evaluation of a regional climate model simulation.
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Teruzzi, A, Dobricic, S., Solidoro, C., & Cossarini, G. (2013). A 3 D variational assimilation scheme in
coupled transport biogeochemical models: Forecast of Mediterranean biogeochemical properties. Journal
of Geophysical Research: Oceans, doi: 10.1002/2013JC009277
Tompkins, A., & Ermert, V. (2013). A regional-scale, high resolution dynamical malaria model that
accounts for population density, climate and surface hydrology. Malaria journal, 12(1), 65.
Turuncoglu, U. U., Elguindi, N., Giorgi, F., Fournier, N., & Giuliani, G. (2013). Development and
validation of a regional coupled atmosphere lake model for the Caspian Sea Basin. Climate dynamics, 41(7-8),
1731-1748.
Turuncoglu, U. U., Giuliani, G., Elguindi, N., & Giorgi, F. (2013). Modeling the Caspian Sea and its
catchment area using a coupled regional atmosphere-ocean model (RegCM-ROMS): model design and
preliminary results. Geoscientific Model Development, 6, 283-299.
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Walsh, K., Giorgi, F., & Coppola, E. (2013). Mediterranean warm-core cyclones in a warmer world.
Climate Dynamics, 1-14.
Xu, J., Shi, Y., Gao, X., & Giorgi, F. (2013). Projected changes in climate extremes over China in the 21st
century from a high resolution regional climate model (RegCM3). Chinese Science Bulletin, 58(12), 14431452.
Zandomeneghi, D., Aster, R., Kyle, P., Barclay, A., Chaput, J., & Knox, H. (2013). Internal structure of
Erebus volcano, Antarctica imaged by high resolution active source seismic tomography and coda
interferometry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 118(3), 1067-1078.
Zaroug, M. A. H., Sylla, M. B., Giorgi, F., Eltahir, E. A., & Aggarwal, P. K. (2013). A sensitivity study on
the role of the swamps of southern Sudan in the summer climate of North Africa using a regional climate
model. Theoretical and applied climatology, 113(1-2), 63-81.
Zeleke, T. T., Giorgi, F., Tsidu, G. M., & Diro, G. T. (2013). Spatial and temporal variability of summer
rainfall over Ethiopia from observations and a regional climate model experiment. Theoretical and applied
climatology, 111(3-4), 665-681.
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Adon M., Galy-Lacaux, C., Yoboue V., Delon C., Solmon F., Kaptue Tchuente A.K. (2013). Dry deposition
of nitrogen compounds (NO2, HNO3, NH3), sulfur dioxide and ozone in West and Central African
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Elguindi, N., Giorgi, F., & Turuncoglu, U. (2013). Assessment of CMIP5 global model simulations over
the subset of CORDEX domains used in the Phase I CREMA. Climatic Change, 1-15.
Herceg-Buli , I., & Kucharski, F. (2014). North Atlantic SSTs as a Link between the Wintertime NAO
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Lazzari, P., Mattia, G., Solidoro, C., Salon, S., Crise, A., Zavatarelli, M., ... & Vichi, M. (2013). The impacts
of climate change and environmental management policies on the trophic regimes in the Mediterranean
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Porfírio da Rocha, R., Reboita, M.S., Mosso Dutra, L.M., Llopart Pereira, M., & Coppola, E. Interannual
variability associated with ENSO: present and future climate projections of RegCM4 for South AmericaCORDEX domain. To appear in Climatic Change.
Ruti, P., Dell’Aquila, A., & Giorgi, F. Understanding and attributing the Euro-Russian summer blocking
signatures. To appear in Atmospheric Science Letters.
Torma, C., & Giorgi, F.; Assessing the contributions of different factors in regional climate model
projections using the factor Separation method. To appear in Atmospheric Science Letters.
Zaroug, M.A.H., Eltahir, E.A.B., & Giorgi, F. Droughts and floods over the upper catchment of the Blue
Nile and their connections to the timing of El Nino and La Nina events. To appear in Hydrology and Earth
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Submitted (28)
Borghi, A., Aoudia, A., & Barzaghi, R. Evidence of transient deformation prior to the 2009 l’Aquila
earthquake. Submitted to Geophysical Research Letters.
Chiacchio, M., Solmon, F., Giorgi, F., Stackhouse Jr, P., & Wild, M. Evaluation of the radiation budget
with a regional climate model over Europe and inspection of dimming and brightening. Submitted to
Climate Dynamics.
Coppola, E., Giorgi, F., Diro, G.T., Fuentes-Franco, R., Giuliani, G., LLopart-Pereira, M., Mamgain, A.,
Mariotti, L, Raffaele, F, & Torma, C. The bias and climate change signal in the Phase I CREMA
experiment. Submitted to Climatic Change.
191
Coppola, E., Verdecchia, M., Giorgi, F., Colaiuda, V., Tomassetti, B., & Lombardi, A.; Changing
hydrological conditions in the Po basin under global warming. Submitted to Science of the Total
Environment.
Dash, S.K., Mishra, S.K., Pattnayak, K.C., Mamgain, A., Mariotti, L., Coppola, E., Giorgi, F., & Giuliani, G.
projected seasonal mean summer monsoon over India and adjoining regions for the 21st century. Submitted
to Theoretical and Applied Climatology.
Diallo, I., Giorgi, F., Sandeep, P., Stordal, F., & Giuliani, G. Change in daily extremes in the early future
over Southern Africa using the RegCM4 regional climate model. Submitted to International Journal of
Climatology.
Diro, G.T, Giorgi, F., Fuentes-Franco, R., Walsh, K.J.E., Giuliani, G., & Coppola, E.; Tropical cyclones in
an ensemble of regional climate change projections for the CORDEX Central America domain. Submitted
to Climatic Change.
Downes, S. M., Farneti, R., Danabasoglu, G, Yeager, S.G., Bailey, D., Behrens, E., Bentsen, M., Bi, D.,
Biastoch, A., Boning, C., Bozec, A., Canuto, V.M., Cassou, C., Chassignet, E., Coward, A.C., Danilov, S.,
Diansky, N., Drange, H., Fernandez, E., Fogli, P.G., Forget, G., Fujii, Y., Griffies, S.M., Gusev, A.,
Heimbach, P., Howard, A., Jung, T., Kelley, M., Large, W., Leboissetier, A., Lu, J., Madec, G., Marsland,
S.J., Masina, S., Navarra, A., Nurser, A.J.G., Pirani, A., Salas y Melia, D., Samuels, B., Scheinert, M.,
Sidorenko, D., Treguier, A.M., Tsujino, H., Uotila, P., Valcke, S., Voldoire, A., & Wang. An assesment of
Southern Ocean water masses and sea ice during 1988-2007 in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations.
Submitted to Ocean Modelling.
Farneti, R., Dwivedi, S., Kucharski, F., Molteni, F., & Griffies, S. On the subtropical Pacific meridional
overturning circulation variability over the second half of the 20th Century. Submitted to J. Climate.
Fuentes-Franco, R., Coppola, E., Giorgi, F., Pavia, E.G., Diro, G.T., & Graef, F. Changes in interannual
variability of precipitation and temperature over Mexico and Central America from RegCM4 projections.
Submitted to Climate Dynamics.
Giorgi, F. et al. Changes in extremes and hydroclimatic regimes in the CREMA ensemble projections.
Submitted to Climatic Change.
Griffies, S. M., Yin, J., Durack, P.J., Goddard, P., Bates, S.C., Behrens, E., Bentsen, M., Bi, D., Biastoch, A.,
Boning, C., Bozec, A., Cassou, C., Chassignet, E., Danabasoglu, G., Danilov, S., Domingues, C., Drange, H.,
Farneti, R., Fernandez, E., Greatbatch, R.J., Holland, D.M., Ilicak, M., Lu, J., Marsland, S.J., Mishra, A.,
Lorbacher, K., Nurser, A.J.G., Salas y Melia, D., Palter, J.B., Samuels, B., Schroter, J., Schwarzkopf, F.U.,
Sidorenko, D., Treguier, A.M., Tseng, Y.H., Tsujino, H., Uotila, P., Valcke, S., Voldoire, A., Wang, Q.,
Winton, M., & Zhang, X. (2014). Global and regional sea level in a suite of interannual CORE-II hindcast
simulations. Ocean Modelling.
Hamling, I. J., & Aoudia, A., InSAR observations of fault controlled subsidence along the Hun Graben,
Libya. Submitted to G-cubed.
Javed, F., Hainzl, S., Aoudia, A., & Qaisar, M. Modeling of the 2005 Kashmir Aftershock Decay Rate
based on Static Coulomb Stress Changes and Laboratory Derived Rate and State Dependent Frictional
Law. Submitted to Geophysical Journal International
Kang, I.-K., Kucharski, F., Rashid, I., & Almouzoui, M. Multi-decadal changes of the relationship between
ENSO and annual precipitation in Arabian Peninsula. Submitted to Climate Dynamics.
Kucharski, F., Syed, F. S., Burhan, A., Farah, I., & Gohar, A. Tropical Atlantic Influence on Pacific
variability and mean state in the 20th century in observations and CMIP5. Submitted to Climate Dynamics.
Kumar, N.D., Aoudia, A., & Guidarelli, M. Broad low velocity crustal roots between a strong Indian plate
and the Tarim block revealed by a regional seismological network. Submitted to Geophysical Research Letters.
Li, L., Diallo, I., Chong-Yu, X., & Stordal, F. Hydrological projections under climate change in the near
future by RegCM4 in Southern Africa using large-scale hydrological model. Submitted to Journal of
Hydrology.
Llopart, M.P., Coppola, E., Giorgi, F., Da Rocha, R.P., & Cuadra, S.V. Climate change impact on
precipitation for the Amazon and La Plata basins. Submitted to Climatic Change.
192
Mariotti, L., Diallo, I., Coppola, E., & Giorgi, F. Seasonal and intraseasonal changes of Africa monsoon
climates in 21st century CORDEX projections. Submitted to Climatic Change.
Martin-Rey, M., Rodriguez-Fonseca, B., Polo, I., & Kucharski, F. On the Atlantic-Pacific Ninos
connection: A multidecadal mode. Submitted to Climate Dynamics.
Melaku Canu, D., & Solidoro, C. Governance shifts and elements of unsustainability in socioeconomic
systems: lessons from failure in managing calm exploitation in the lagoon of Venice. Submitted to Fish and
Fisheries.
No, H. H., Kang, I.-S., & Kucharski, F. A mechanism for the ENSO amplitude modulation associated with
the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation. Submitted to J. Climate.
Polo, I., Martin-Rey, M., Rodriguez-Fonseca, B., & Kucharski, F. Mechoso,C. R., Processes in the Pacific
La Nina onset triggered by the Atlantic Nino. Submitted to Climate Dynamics.
Rodriguez-Fonseca, B., Mohino E.,, Mechoso C. R. , Cyril, C, Marco Gaetani, M.,, J. Garcia-Serrano, J.,
Biasutti, M.,, Edward K. Vizy, K. E., Cook,K.,Xue, Y.,Fontaine, B., Polo, I., Losada, T., Bader,J., DoblasReyes, F. J., Goddard, L., Janicot, S., Arribas,A., Druyan,L., Lau, W., Colman, A., Rowell, D. P., Kucharski,
F., & Voldoire, A. Climate Variability and Predictability of West African Droughts. Submitted to J. Climate.
Ruti, P., Giorgi, F., et al., MED-CORDEX initiative for Mediterranean climate studies. Submitted to
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
Tompkins, A., & Di Giuseppe, F. The potential to use seasonal climate forecasts to plan malaria
intervention strategies in Africa. Submitted to Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Zaroug, M.A.H., Giorgi, F., Coppola, E., & Eltahir, E.A.B. Simulating the connections of ENSO and the
hydrology of the Blue Nile using a climate model of the tropics. Submitted to Hydrology and Earth System
Sciences.
STRUCTURE AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS OF THE EARTH
Published (16)
Brandmayr, E., Romanelli, F., & Panza, G.F. (2013). Stability of fault plane solutions for the major NItaly seismic events in 2012. Tectonophysics, 608, 525–529. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2013.08.034.
El Gabry, M.N., Panza, G.F., Badawy, & A.A., Korrat, I.M. (2013). Imaging a relic of complex tectonics:
the lithosphere-asthenosphere structure in the Eastern Mediterranean. Terra Nova, 25(2), 102-109. doi:
10.1111/ter.12011.
Foulger, G.R., Panza, G.F., Artemieva, I.M., Bastow, I.D., Cammarano, F., Evans, J.R., Hamilton, W.R.,
Julina, B.R., Lustrino, M., Thybo, H., &Yanovskaya, T.B. (2013). Caveats on tomographic images. Terra
Nova, 25, 259-281. doi: 10.1111/ter.12041.
Gonzalez, O., Moreno, B., Romanelli, F., & Panza, G.F. (2012). Lithospheric structure below seismic
stations in Cuba from the joint inversion of Rayleigh surface waves dispersion and receiver functions.
Geophysical Journal International, 189, 1047-1059. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05410.x.
Kronrod, T., Radulian, M., Popa, M., Panza, G.F., Paskaleva, I., Radovanovich, S., Gribovzki, K., Sandu, I.,
& Pekevski, L. (2013). Integrated transnational macroseismic data set for the strongest earthquakes of
Vrancea (Romania). Tectonophysics 590, 1-23 doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2013.01.019.
Mohanty, W.K., Verma, A.K., Vaccari, F., & Panza G.F. (2013). Influence of epicentral distance on local
seismic response in Kolkata City, India. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 122 (2), 321-338. Indian Academy of Sciences.
Maybodian M., Zare M., Hamzeloo H., Peresan A., Ansari A., & Panza G.F. (2013). Analysis of precursory
seismicity patterns in Zagros (Iran) by CN algorithm. Turkish J Earth Sci. (2013) 22. doi:10.3906/yer-12126
Mourabit, T., Abou Elenean, K.M., Ayadi, A., Benouar, D., Ben Suleman, A., Bezzeghoud, M., Cheddadi, A.,
Chourak, M., El Gabry, M.N., Harbi, A., Hfaiedh, M., Hussein, H.M., Kacem, J., Ksentini, A., Jabour, N.,
Magrin, A., Maouche, S., Meghraoui, M., Ousadou, F., Panza, G.F., Peresan, A., Romdhane, N., Vaccari,
F., & Zuccolo, E. (2013). Neo-deterministic seismic hazard assessment in North Africa. J Seismol, 21 June
2013. doi: 10.1007/s10950-013-9375-2.
193
Nekrasova, A., Kossobokov, V., Peresan, A., & Magrin, A. (2013). The comparison of the NDSHA,
PSHA seismic hazard maps and real seismicity for the Italian territory. Natural Hazards (published
online: 7 September 2013) doi:10.1007/s11069-013-0832-6.
Panza, G.F. (2013). Gli "effetti di sito" non sono fenomeni persistenti: dipendono molto dalla sorgente
sismica. 21mo Secolo Scienza e Tecnologia, 1, pp 14-17.
Panza, G.F., Peresan, A., & La Mura, C. (2013). Seismic hazard and strong ground motion: an
operational neo-deterministic approach from national to local scale. Geophysics and Geochemistry,
[Eds.UNESCO-EOLSS Joint Committee]. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems(EOLSS), Developed
under the Auspices of the UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford, UK.
Peresan, A., Magrin, A., Nekrasova, A., Kossobokov, V.G., & Panza, G.F. (2013). Earthquake
recurrence and seismic hazard assessment: a comparative analysis over the Italian territory. Proceedings
of the ERES 2013 Conference. WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 132, 23-34. doi:
10.2495/ERES130031, ISSN 1743-3509.
Peresan, A., & Panza, G.F. (2013). Stima della pericolosita' sismica. Ndsha, un approccio piu' avanzato.
2087 Formazione e informazione per la sicurezza sul lavoro. Fabbriche a rischio e terremoti, 3, pp 19-21.
Peresan, A., & Panza G.F. (2013). Scenari Neo-deterministici di pericolosita' sismica (NDSHA)
dipendenti dal tempo. Giornata di studio Sicurezza sismica degli impianti chimici a rischio di incidente
rilevante Roma 7 febbraio 2013, 11-16.
Radan, M.Y., Hamzehloo H., Peresan A., Zare M., & Zafarani H., 2013. Assessing performances of
pattern informatics method: a retrospective analysis for Iran and Italy. Nat Hazards. doi
10.1007/s11069-013-0660-8
Romashkova, L., & Peresan, A. (2013). Analysis of Italian Earthquake catalogs in the context of
intermediate-term prediction problem. Acta Geophysica 61 3 583-610 doi:10.2478/s11600-012-0085-x.
Zhang, Z., Deng, Y., Chen, L., Wu, J., Teng, J., & Panza, G.F. (2013). Seismic structure and rheology of
the crust under mainland China. Gondwana Research 23, 1455-1483.
Zhang, Z., Wang, Y., Deng, Y., Chen, L., Wu, J., Teng, J., Chen, Y., Fan, W., & Panza, G.F. (2013).
Geophysical constraints on mesozoic disruption of North China Craton by underplating-triggered
lower-crust flow of the Archaean lithosphere. Terra Nova, 25, (3), 245-251. doi: 10.1111/ter.12032.
194
APPLIED PHYSICS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ICT FOR DELEVOPMENT LABORATORY
IONOSPHERIC RADIOPROPAGATION
Published (6)
Brunini, C., Azpilicueta, F., & Nava, B. (2013). A technique for routinely updating the ITU-R database
using radio occultation electron density profiles. Journal of Geodesy, 87(9), 813-823.
Migoya-Orue, Y. O., Radicella, S. M., & Nava, B. (2013). Comparison of topside electron density
computed by ionospheric models and plasma density observed by DMSP satellites. Advances in Space
Research, 52, 1710-1716.
Nigussie, M., Radicella, S. M., Damtie, B., Nava, B., Yizengaw, E., & Groves, K. (2013). Validation of the
NeQuick 2 and IRI-2007 models in East-African equatorial region. Journal of Atmospheric and SolarTerrestrial Physics, 102, 26-33.
Sánchez-Cano, B., Radicella, S. M., Herraiz, M., Witasse, O., & Rodríguez-Caderot, G. (2013). NeMars: An
empirical model of the martian dayside ionosphere based on Mars Express MARSIS data. Icarus, 225(1),
236-247.
Bolaji, O. S., Adeniyi, J. O., Adimula, I. A., Radicella, S. M., & Doherty, P. H. (2013). Total electron
content and magnetic field intensity over Ilorin, Nigeria. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial
Physics, 98, 1-11.
Cefalo, R., Cramastetter, S., Maver, S., & Paparini, C. (2014). Analisi e trasmissione di Messaggi di Allerta
per la Gestione delle Emergenze Ambientali. GEOmedia, 17(5).
In print (2)
Shaikh, M. M., Notarpietro, R., & Nava, B. (2013). The Impact of Spherical Symmetry Assumption on
Radio Occultation Data Inversion in the Ionosphere: An Assessment Study. Advances in Space Research.
Torre, A., Alexander, P., Llamedo, P., Hierro, R., Nava, B., Radicella, S. M., Schmidt, T. & Wickert, J.
(2014). Wave activity at ionospheric heights above the Andes Mountains detected from
FORMOSAT‐3/COSMIC GPS radio occultation data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ICT FOR DELEVOPMENT LABORATORY
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SECTION
Published (9)
Books or book chapters
Pietrosemoli, E, & Zennaro, M. (eds.), TV White Spaces, a pragmatic approach. (2013). ISBN 9789295003-50-7
Journal articles
Mafuta, M., Zennaro, M., Bagula, A., Ault, G., Gombachika, H., & Chadza, T. (2013). Successful
deployment of a wireless sensor network for precision agriculture in malawi. International Journal of
Distributed Sensor Networks, 2013.
Conference Proceedings
Arcia-Moret, A., Zennaro, M., Pietrosemoli, E., WhispPi: White Space Monitoring with Raspberry Pi
Proceedings of the Global Information Infrastructure and
Networking Symposium 2013, Trento, Italy, 2831 October 2013
Jimenez, J., Baig, R., Escrich, P., Khan, A. M., Freitag, F., Navarro, L., Pietrosemoli, E., Zennaro, M.,
Payberah, A. H., Vlassov, V. Supporting Cloud Deployment in the Guifi Community Network Proceedings of
the Global Information Infrastructure and Networking Symposium 2013, Trento, Italy, 28-31 October 2013
195
Lara Cueva, R.A., Caamano, A., Zennaro, M., Rojo-Alvarez, J.L. Towards a New Volcano Monitoring
System Using Wireless Sensor Networks Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE Eighth International Conference on
Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, Melbourne, Australia, 2-5 April 2013
Nleya, S., Bagula, A., Zennaro, M., Pietrosemoli, E. A TV White Space Broadband Market Model for
Rural Entrepreneurs Proceedings of the Global Information Infrastructure and Networking Symposium 2013,
Trento, Italy, 28-31 October 2013
Sala, S., Zennaro, M., Sokol, L., Miao, A., Spousta, R., Chan, S., Mitigation of Rain-Induced Ka-Band
Attenuation and Enhancement of Communications Resiliency in Sub-Saharan Africa Proceedings of SIG
GlobDev Sixth Annual Workshop, Milano, Italy, December 14, 2013
Zennaro, M., Pietrosemoli, E., Mlatho, JSP., Thodi, M., Mikeka, C. An Assessment Study on White
Spaces in Malawi Using Affordable Tools Proceedings of the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference
2013, San Jose, USA, October 20-23 2013
Zennaro, M., Pietrosemoli, E., Arcia-Moret, A., Mikeka, C., Pinifolo, J., Wang, C., Song, S. TV White
Spaces, I presume? Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information and Communication
Technologies and Development (ICTD2013), Cape Town, South Africa, 7-10 December 2013
PHYSICS OF THE LIVING STATE
ASTROBIOLOGY
Published (2)
Publication as chapters in books
Chela-Flores, J. (2013c). Polyextremophiles: Summary and Conclusions. In Polyextremophiles: Life Under
Multiple forms of Stress (pp. 609-615). Joseph Seckbach, Aharon Oren and Helga Stan-Lotter (eds.).
Springer Netherlands
Seckbach, J. and Chela-Flores, J. (2013). Life at extreme solar system environments and beyond A
minisummary. Katolícka univerzita v Ru omberku Pedagogická fakultaSociálne posolstvo jána pavla ii. Pre
dne!n# svet 2013. Zborník Z Medzinárodnej Vedeckej Konferencie, Konanej V Dn!och 21-22. March, pp.
635-640. http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Slovak_Proceedings2013.pdf
Submitted (1)
Crawford, I.A., Bowles, N., Jaumann, R., Joy, K., Anand, M., Besse, S., Bottke, B., Bray,V., Burchell, M.,
Carpenter, J., Chaussidon, M., Chela-Flores, J., Coates, A., Cockell, C., D’Arrigo, P., de Vera, J.-P., Falcke,
H., Fernandes, V. A., Fritz, J., Gao, Y., Ghent, R., Glotch, T., Grady, M., Grande, M., Grindrod, P.,
Gutiérrez, J., Hiesinger, H., Klein-Wolt, M., Knapmeyer, M., Kring, D., Magna, T., Marty, B., Monchieri,
E., Osinski, G., Smith, A., Spohn, T., Teanby, N., van Gasselt, S., Wieczorek, M., Wright, I., Werner, S.,
van Westrenen, W., Wilson, L., Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Wuennemann K. and Wurz, P.
(2013).Lunar Science as a Window into the Early History of the Solar System, a White Paper submitted in
response to ESA’s Call for proposals for Cosmic Vision L2/3 Science Themes.
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Moon_WP_final.pdf
BIOPHYSICS
Published (2)
Publications as chapters in books
Chela-Flores, J. (2013b). From systems chemistry to systems astrobiology: Life in the universe as an
emergent phenomenon. International Journal of Astrobiology, 12 8-16.
196
Chela-Flores, J. (2013b). Habitability from Systems Biology: Are Moons relevant? Jean-Pierre Paul de
Vera and Joseph Seckbach (eds.) In: Habitability on other planets and satellites-The quest for extraterrestrial life.
Series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 349-366.
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Habitability_3.pdf
In press (1)
Chela-Flores, J. (2013c). Fluid mechanics and systems biology for understanding cosmic distribution of
life: A review. Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics with Applications to Physics,
Engineering and the Environment. L. Di G. Sigalotti et al (eds.) Environmental Science and Engineering,
doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-00191-3_5, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. (In press.)
http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Fluids_SystemBiol.pdf
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION RELATED THEORY
Published (3)
Locatelli, A., Wang, C., Africh, C., Stojic, N., Mentes, T. O., Comelli, G., & Binggeli, N. (2013).
Temperature-Driven Reversible Rippling and Bonding of a Graphene Superlattice. ACS nano, 7(8), 69556963.
Stojic, N., Mentes, T. O., & Binggeli, N. (2013). Self-organization in Pd/W (110): interplay between
surface structure and stress. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 25(35), 355010.
Wang, C., Stojic, N., & Binggeli, N. (2013). Optimal interface doping at La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/SrTiO3 (001)
heterojunctions for spintronic applications. Applied Physics Letters, 102(15), 152414.
Submitted (2)
Wang, C., Stojic, N., & Binggeli, N. Shockley surface states of the ordered c(2 x 2) MnCu/Cu(110) surface
alloy. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
Imam, M., Stojic, N., & Binggeli, N. First-principles investigation of a rippled graphene phase on Ir(001):
the close link between periodicity, stability and binding. Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
MULTIDISCIPLINARY LABORATORY
Published (17)
Journal Articles
Alba, D. M., Fortuny, J., Pérez de los Ríos, M., Zanolli, C., Almécija, S., Casanovas-Vilar, I., ... &
Moyà-Solà, S. (2013). New dental remains of Anoiapithecus and the first appearance datum of
hominoids in the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of human evolution, 65(5), 573-584.
By COMPASS Collaboration (including Crespo, M.L. and Cicuttin, A). (2013). Hadron
transverse momentum distributions in muon deep inelastic scattering at 160 GeV/c. The
European Physical Journal C 73:2531.
By COMPASS Collaboration (including Crespo, M.L. and Cicuttin, A). (2013). Leading order
determination of the gluon polarisation from DIS events with high-pT hadron pairs. Physics
Letters B 718 922–930.
197
By COMPASS Collaboration (including Crespo, M.L. and Cicuttin, A). (2013). Leading and
next-to-leading order gluon polarization in the nucleon and longitudinal double spin
asymmetries from open charm muoproduction. Physical Review D 87, 052018.
By COMPASS Collaboration (including Crespo, M.L. and Cicuttin, A). (2013). Measurement of
the cross section for high-pT hadron production in the scattering of 160-GeV/c muons off
nucleons. Physical Review D 88, 091101.
By COMPASS Collaboration (including Crespo, M.L. and Cicuttin, A). (2013). Study of
#(1385) and $(1321) hyperon and antihyperon production in deep inelastic scattering. The
European Physical Journal C, 73:2581.
Bernardini, F., Sgambati, A., Montagnari Kokelj, M., Zaccaria, C., Micheli, R., Fragiacomo, A., ...
& De Min, A. (2013). Airborne LiDAR application to karstic areas: the example of Trieste
province (north-eastern Italy) from prehistoric sites to Roman forts. Journal of Archaeological
Science, 40(4), 2152-2160.
Bernardini, F., De Min, A., Lenaz, D., Kasztovszky, Z., Turk, P., Velu!%ek, A., Tuniz C., ... &
Montagnari Kokelj, E. (2014). Petrographic and geochemical comparison between the Copper
Age “Ljubljana type” axes and similar lithotypes from Eisenkappler Diabaszug complex
(southern Austria). Journal of Archaeological Science, 41, 511-522.
D’Anastasio, R., Wroe, S., Tuniz, C., Mancini, L., Cesana, D. T., Dreossi, D., ... & Capasso, L.
(2013). Micro-Biomechanics of the Kebara 2 Hyoid and Its Implications for Speech in
Neanderthals. PloS one, 8(12), e82261.
Rachevski, A., Zampa, G., Zampa, N., Rashevskaya, I., Vacchi, A., Giacomini, G., Picciotto, A.,
Cicuttin, A., Crespo, M.L., Tuniz, C. (2013). X-ray spectroscopic performance of a matrix of
silicon drift diodes. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators,
Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment (NIM-A), Elsevier, 718: 353-355.
Tuniz, C., Bernardini, F., Cicuttin, A., Crespo, M.L., Dreossi, D., Gianoncelli, A., Mancini, L.,
Mendoza Cuevas, A., Sodini, N., Tromba, G., Zanini, F., Zanolli, C. (2013). The ICTP-Elettra
X-ray laboratory for cultural heritage and archaeology. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment (NIM-A), Elsevier,
711: 106-110.
Zanolli, C. (2013). Additional evidence for morpho-dimensional tooth crown variation in a New
Indonesian H. erectus sample from the Sangiran Dome (Central Java). PloS one, 8(7), e67233.
Zanolli C.; Mazurier A. (2013) Endostructural characterization of the H. heidelbergensis dental
remains from the early Middle Pleistocene site of Tighenif, Algeria. Comptes Rendus Palevol 12:
293-304.
Articles in Volumes
Macchiarelli R., Bayle P., Bondioli L., Mazurier A., & Zanolli C. (2013). From outer to inner
structural morphology in dental anthropology. Integration of the third dimension in the
198
visualization and quantitative analysis of fossil remains. In (G.R. Scott & J.D. Irish)
Anthropological Perspectives on Tooth Morphology - Genetics, Evolution, Variation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 250-277.
Montagnari Kokelj M., Bernardini F., Boscarol C., & Velu!%ek A. (2013). Le Karst et les Alpes
d'Italie nord-orientale: éléments pour une reconstruction de l'évolution culturelle au cours de la
préhistoire récente. In (M.A. Borello) Les hommes et les Alpes. Chasseurs, agricultures et premiers
métallurgistes. Oxford: BAR International Series 2476, Archaeopress, pp.147-161.
Tuniz, C., Gribkov, V., Crespo, M.L., Cicuttin, A., Miklaszewski, R., Pimenov, V.N., & Demina,
E.V. (2013). Creation of a testbed at ICTP based on a repetitive dense plasma focus device for
applications in radiation material sciences as well as in nuclear medicine and for training of young
researchers. In Integrated Approach to Dense Magnetized Plasmas Applications in Nuclear Fusion
Technology, IAEA-TECDOC-1708 ISBN:978-92-0-142810-3, IAEA, pp. 189-204
Velu!%ek, A., Turk, M., & Bernardini, F. (2013). Knapped and polished stone tools. In (A.
Velu!%ek) Unknown Spaha. Spaha above Brezovica pri Predgradu, prehistoric settlement area and antiturkish watch spot. Pokrajinski muzej, 70-81.
In Press (2)
Bernardini F., De Min A., Lenaz. D., Kasztovszky Z., Turk P., Velu!%ek A., Szilágyi V., Tuniz
C., & Montagnari Kokelj E. (2013). Mineralogical and chemical constraints about the provenance
of Copper Age polished stone axes of “Ljubljana type” from Caput Adriae. Archaeometry, doi:
10.1111/arcm.12004.
Neenan J., Li C., Rieppel O., Bernardini F., Tuniz C., Muscio G., & Scheyer T. (2013). Unique
method of tooth replacement in durophagous placodont marine reptiles, with new data on the
dentition of Chinese taxa. Journal of Anathomy (in press).
Submitted (4)
Bernardini F., De Min A., Lenaz. D., Mendoza Cuevas A., Nuviadenu C., Tuniz C., &
Montagnari Kokelj E. (2013) Whetstones from Bronze Age hill forts of north eastern Italy.
Archaeometry (accepted with revisions).
Boschin F., Bernardini F., Zanolli C., & Tuniz C. (2013). MicroCT imaging of Red Fox talus: a
non-destructive approach to age at death estimation. Archaeometry (submitted).
Chela-Flores, J., Cicuttin, A., Crespo, M.L., & Tuniz, C. (2013). Biogeochemical Fingerprints
of life: From Polar ecosystems to the Galilean Moons. European Geosciences Union General
Assembly (Egu2014), Vienna, Austria, 27 April -2 May 2014 (Accepted)
Zanolli C., Bondioli L., Coppa A., Dean M.C., Bayle P., Candilio F., Capuani S., Dreossi D., Fiore
I., Frayer D.W., Libsekal Y., Mancini L., Rook L., Medin Tekle T., Tuniz C., & Macchiarelli R.
(2013). The late Early Pleistocene human dental remains from Uadi Aalad and Mulhuli-Amo
(Buia), Eritrean Danakil: macromorphology and microstructure. Journal of Human Evolution
(submitted).
Conference Proceedings (6)
Bayle P., Balzeau A., Zanolli C. (2013). A microCT-based longitudinal study of the dental
developmental pattern in the Neandertal child from Pech de l'Azé, France. Proceedings of the
European Society for Human Evolution 2: 40.
199
Bernardini F., Bayle P., Bondioli L., Coppa A., Dreossi D., Mancini L., Macchiarelli R., Tuniz C.,
Zanolli C. (2013). Microtomographic-based structural analysis of the Neanderthal child mandible
from Archi, Southern Italy. Proceedings of the European Society for Human Evolution 2: 44.
Bondioli L., Capuani S., Coppa A., Dean C., Macchiarelli R., Mancini L., Zanolli C. (2013).
Dentine growth patterns in human fossil teeth assessed by high resolution Magnetic Resonance
micro-imaging. Proceedings of the European Society for Human Evolution 2: 50.
Tuniz C., Bernardini F., Bondioli L., Boschian G., Coppa A., Dreossi D., Macchiarelli R.,
Mancini L., Zanolli C. (2013). A reassessment of the Middle Pleistocene human dental remains
from Visogliano (Trieste, Italy) based on high-resolution phase contrast microtomography.
Proceedings of the European Society for Human Evolution 2: 229.
Zanolli C., Bacon A.M., Bondioli L., Braga J., Demeter J., Dumoncel J., Tuniz C., Volpato V.,
Macchiarelli R. (2013). Hominid paleobiodiversity at Java during the Early-Middle Pleistocene.
New insights from the inner tooth structural morphology. Proceedings of the European Society for
Human Evolution 2: 240-241.
Zanolli C., Bondioli L., Candilio F., Coppa A., Dreossi D., Frayer D.W., Libsekal Y., Mancini L.,
Rook L., Medin T., Tuniz C., Macchiarelli R. (2013). Endostructural morphology of the late
Early Pleistocene human dental remains from Uadi Aalad and Mulhuli-Amo, Danakil (Afar)
depression of Eritrea.
200
NEW RESEARCH AREAS
RENEWABLE ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Published (9)
Timrov, I., Vast, N., Gebauer, & R, Baroni, S. (2013). Electron energy loss and inelastic x-ray scattering
cross sections from time-dependent density-functional perturbation theory. Physical Review B 88, 064301.
Nguyen, M.T., Seriani, N., & Gebauer, R. (2013). Water adsorption and dissociation on alphaFe2O3(0001): PBE+U calculations. Journal of Chemical Physics 138, 194709.
Dianat, A., Seriani, N., Bobeth, M., & Cuniberti, G. (2013). Effect of Al-doping on the properties of Li-MnNi-O cathode materials for Li-ion batteries: an ab initio study. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 1, 9273.
Crespo, Y., Andreanov, A., & Seriani, N. (2013). Competing antiferromagnetic and spin-glass phases in a
hollandite structure. Physical Review B 88, 014202.
Crespo, Y., & Seriani N. 2013. Electronic and magnetic properties of alpha-MnO2 from ab-initio
calculations. Physical Review B 88, 144428.
Golze, D., Iannuzzi, M., Nguyen, M.T., Passerone, D., & Hutter, J. (2013). Simulation of Adsorption
Processes at Metallic Interfaces: An Image Charge Augmented QM/MM Approach. Journal of Chemical
Theory and Computation 9, 5086.
Nguyen, M. T. (2013). Oxygen monomers and dimers at gas-phase and Ag(111)-supported nanographenes:
A density functional theory study. Journal of Applied Physics 113, 114307.
Nguyen, M. T. (2013). An ab initio study of oxygen on strained graphene. Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter 25, 395301.
Shchyrba, A., Nguyen, M. T. , Weckerlin, C. et al. (2013). Chirality Transfer in 1D Self-Assemblies:
Influence of H-Bonding vs Metal Coordination between Dicyano[7]helicene Enantiomers. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 135, 15270.
In press (2)
Nguyen, M.T., Seriani, N., Piccinin, S., & Gebauer, R. (2014). Photo-driven oxidation of water on !-Fe2O3
surfaces: an ab initio study. J. Chem. Phys., in press.
Ge, X., Binnie, S., Rocca, D., Gebauer, & R., Baroni, S. (2014). turboTDDFT 2.0 – Hybrid functionals and
new
algorithms
within
time-dependent
density-functional
perturbation
theory.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.0486, Comp. Phys. Comm., in press.
Submitted (2)
Gebauer, R., Cohen, M. H., & Car, R. (2014). Correlated Electron Calculations with Hartree-Fock Scaling.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.3929, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.
Nguyen, M.T., & Gebauer, R. (2014). Graphene supported on
submitted to J. Chem. Phys. C
-Fe2O3(0001): A density-functional study.
STRING PHENOMENOLOGY AND COSMOLOGY
Published (11)
Cicoli, M., Klevers, D., Krippendorf, S., Mayrhofer, C., Quevedo, F., & Valandro, R. (2013). Explicit de
Sitter Flux Vacua for Global String Models with Chiral Matter. arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.0014.
201
Burgess, C. P., Cicoli, M., & Quevedo, F. (2013). String inflation after Planck 2013. Journal of Cosmology
and Astroparticle Physics, 2013(11), 003.
Cicoli, M., Krippendorf, S., Mayrhofer, C., Quevedo, F., & Valandro, R. (2013). The web of D-branes at
singularities in compact Calabi-Yau manifolds. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(5), 1-28.
Cicoli, M., Krippendorf, S., Mayrhofer, C., Quevedo, F., & Valandro, R. (2013). D3/D7 Branes at
Singularities: Constraints from Global Embedding and Moduli Stabilisation. Journal of High Energy Physics,
1307 (2013) 150.
Font, A., Quevedo, F., & Theisen, S. (2013). A Comment on Continuous Spin Representations of the
Poincar\'e Group and Perturbative String Theory. arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.4771.
Cicoli, M., Conlon, J. P., & Quevedo, F. (2013). Dark radiation in LARGE volume models. Physical Review
D, 87(4), 043520.
Cicoli, M., Krippendorf, S., Mayrhofer, C., Quevedo, F., & Valandro, R. (2012). D-branes at del Pezzo
singularities: global embedding and moduli stabilisation. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2012(9), 1-52.
Cicoli, M., Maharana, A., Quevedo, F., & Burgess, C. P. (2012). De Sitter string vacua from dilatondependent non-perturbative effects. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2012(6), 1-33.
Cicoli, M., Tasinato, G., Zavala, I., Burgess, C. P., & Quevedo, F. (2012). Modulated reheating and large
non-gaussianity in string cosmology. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2012(05), 039.
Burgess, C. P., Maharana, A., van Nierop, L., Nizami, A. A., & Quevedo, F. (2012). On brane back-reaction
and de Sitter solutions in higher-dimensional supergravity. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2012(4), 1-31.
In press (1)
Cicoli, M., Conlon, J. P., Maharana, A., & Quevedo, F. (2014). A Note on the Magnitude of the Flux
Superpotential. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2014(1), 1-14.
SCIENCE DISSEMINATION UNIT
Published (7)
Canessa, E., & Logofatu, B. (2013). Pinvox Method to Enhance Self-Study in Blended Learning.
International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 8(2).
Canessa, E., Tenze, L., & Salvatori, E. (2013). Attendance to Massive Open On-line Courses:
Towards a Solution to Track on-line Recorded Lectures Viewing. Bulletin of the IEEE Technical
Committee on Learning Technology, 15(1), 36.
Canessa, E., & Pisani, A. (2013). High school, open on-line courses (HOOC): A Case Study from
Italy. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 16(1).
Canessa, E., & Pisani, A. (2013). Scuola Digitale OpenDante: Un'Avventura Pedagogica tutta
Italiana, Atti Didamatica 2013, Area della Ricerca CNR, Pisa (pp. 979-981).
Canessa, E., Fonda, C., Tenze, L., & Zennaro, M. (2013). Red Didáctica para el Desarrollo
(DxD.tv), Proceedings XXXIV Reunión Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Física (RSEF2013)
(pp.156).
Canessa, E., Tenze, L., Fonda, C., & Zennaro, M. (2013). Apps for synchronized photo-audio
recordings to support students. In Proc. LAK 2013 Workshop on Analytics on Video-based Learning
(pp. 29-33).
Canessa, E., Fonda, C., & Zennaro, M. (2013, February). Low-cost 3D printing: for science,
education & sustainable development. ICTP. ISBN 92-95003-48-9
202
STATISTICS
203
STATISTICS
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF PERSONMONTHS***
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
VISITS TO RESEARCH AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES, 2013
1. RESEARCH AND PROGRAMMES
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
High Energy, Cosmology and
Astroparticle Physics (HECAP)
01/01/13
Condensed Matter and Statistical
Physics (CMSP)
01/01/13
Mathematics (Math)
01/01/13
Earth System Physics (ESP)
01/01/13
Applied Physics (AP)
01/01/13
Miscellaneous Research
01/01/13
ICTP Elettra Users Programme
01/01/13
ICTP-University of Trieste Laurea
Magistralis in Fisica
01/01/13
Sandwich Training Educational
Programme (STEP)
Training and Research in Italian
Laboratories (TRIL)
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developing
TOTAL
01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/01/13 01/01/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
Total by region: Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL RESEARCH AND PROGRAMMES
105
65
2
172
132
79
3
462.44
106.01
11.74
580.19
240.92
138.80
2.07
!"#
$%"&'(
43
56
13
112
53
33
6
92
42
15
8
65
97
84
6
187
40
83.97
111.58
24.82
220.37
236.94
79.53
20.32
336.79
30.12
61.84
1.71
93.67
110.74
75.51
16.96
203.21
13.18
40
13.18
1
2.83
1
3.29
2
6.58
4
12.69
1
2.93
21
71.34
5
22.03
27
96.29
5
28.60
49
294.44
14
91.59
68
414.64
479 1199.49
443
955.52
59
197.82
981 2352.83
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
continued
204
STATISTICS
continued
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
2. POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
2430 High Energy Physics (Academic year
2012-2013)
01/01/13
2560 High Energy Physics (Academic year
2013-2014)
01/09/13
2431 Condensed Matter Physics
(Academic year 2012-2013)
01/01/13
2561 Condensed Matter Physics
(Academic year 2013-2014)
01/09/13
2433 Mathematics (Academic year 20122013)
01/01/13
2563 Mathematics (Academic year 20132014)
01/09/13
2432 Earth System Physics (Academic
year 2012-2013)
01/01/13
2562 Earth System Physics (Academic
year 2013-2014)
01/09/13
31/08/13 Developed
Developing
1
6
7.61
43.54
—
—
Least DC
TOTAL
31/12/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/08/13 Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/12/13 Developed
4
11
4
8
2
14
8
1
28.29
79.44
5.95
31.27
8.02
45.24
54.54
7.92
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/08/13 Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/12/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/12/13 Developed
!
"#$%"
5
8
2
15
5
6
6.58
29.29
8.02
43.89
37.91
43.49
&&
'&$%(
4
8
2
7.17
32.05
8.02
&%
%)$#%
7
5
4
1.87
28.85
28.70
&"
*!$%#
6
8
3
4.96
29.71
11.14
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
129
161
128
105
101
—
—
—
—
90
—
—
—
—
89
67
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
&)
%*$'&
—
—
—
—
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAMMES
27
56
24
107
34.14
287.16
143.60
464.90
—
—
—
—
870
3. TRAINING ACTIVITIES
HIGH ENERGY, COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (HECAP): 11 training activities
2441 Mathematica School in Theoretical
11/03/13 16/03/13 Developed
82
Physics: Advanced Topics in
Developing
18
Conformal Field Theory
Least DC
2
TOTAL
&(#
2448 Spring School on Superstring
18/03/13 26/03/13 Developed
106
Theory and Related Topics
Developing
75
Least DC
3
TOTAL
184
2463 Summer School on Particle Physics
10/06/13 21/06/13 Developed
94
Developing
80
Least DC
8
TOTAL
&'#
15.88
3.47
0.34
&!$"!
8
229
29.40
21.80
0.78
51.98
33.91
30.67
2.99
13
278
")$*)
16
491
205
STATISTICS
continued
2466 Higgs and Beyond the Standard
Model Physics at the LHC
24/06/13
2474 School on New Light in Cosmology
from the CMB
22/07/13
2553 Workshop on New Light in
Cosmology from the CMB
29/07/13
2542 School on Supersymmetry and
Unification of Fundamental
Interactions
20/08/13
2479 Twenty-first International
Conference on Supersymmetry and
Unification of Fundamental
Interactions
26/08/13
2478 From Majorana to LHC: Workshop
on the Origin of Neutrino Mass
02/10/13
2489 Workshop on the Future of Dark
Matter Astro-Particle Physics:
Insights and Perspectives
08/10/13
2491 Workshop on Galaxy Bias: Nonlinear, Non-local and Non-Gaussian
08/10/13
28/06/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
26/07/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
02/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
23/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
05/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
11/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
11/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL HIGH ENERGY, COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (HECAP)
CONDENSED MATTER AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS (CMSP): 21 training activities
2440 Sixteenth International Workshop
10/01/13 12/01/13 Developed
on Computational Physics and
Developing
Materials Science: Total Energy and
Least DC
Force Methods
TOTAL
2522 Hands-on Tutorial on Electronic
14/01/13 18/01/13 Developed
Structure Computations
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
2504 School on Modern Topics in
28/01/13 08/02/13 Developed
Condensed Matter Physics,
Developing
Singapore
TOTAL
2549 ADGLASS Winter School on
18/02/13 21/02/13 Developed
Advanced Molecular Dynamics
Developing
Simulations
TOTAL
206
48
52
4
7.50
8.38
0.63
!"#
!$%&!
67
48
2
10.88
7.84
0.3
80
45
2
12.53
7.31
0.3
!)'
)"%!#
70
54
1
9.14
6.97
0.12
!!'
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
!(%")
!)&
!$%)*
284
80
1
53.26
15.52
0.03
*$&
$+%+!
33
16
4.08
2.1
#(
$%!+
56
13
6.71
1.67
$(
+%*+
50
8
6.44
1.05
33
240
11
237
4
191
14
224
52
481
27
45
33
125
&+
'%#(
17
52
970
489
23
1482
189.73
106.78
5.49
302.00
228
2593
204
41
3
20.05
4.04
0.3
)#+
)#%*(
38
352
30
24
1
4.87
3.95
0.16
9
214
22
275
13
79
&&
+%(+
21
88
8.28
34.72
!"(
#*
52
5
6.05
0.66
&'
$%'!
STATISTICS
continued
2449 Thirty-eigth Conference of the
Middle European Cooperation in
Statistical Physics - MECO38
25/03/13
2451 Workshop on Interferometry and
Interactions in Non-equilibrium
Meso- and Nano-system
08/04/13
2462 Workshop on Ultracold Atoms and
Gauge Theories
*14534*1
27/03/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
12/04/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
*24534*1 !"#"$%&"'
!"#"$%&./0
TOTAL
14/06/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
05/07/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
05/07/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
12/07/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
2461 Spring College on Physics of
Complex Systems
20/05/13
2469 Workshop and Conference on
Geometrical Aspects of Quantum
States in Condensed Matter
01/07/13
2471 School on Hands-on Research in
Complex Systems
01/07/13
2509 Joint ICTP-NSFC School and
Advanced Workshop on Modern
Electronic Structure Computations,
Shanghai, China
08/07/13
2475 Hands-on Workshop on Density
Functional Theory and Beyond:
Computational Materials Science for
Real Materials
06/08/13
TOTAL
15/08/13 Developed
Developing
2477 Advanced Workshop on Nonequilibrium Bosons: From Driven
Condensates to Non-Linear Optics
19/08/13
TOTAL
23/08/13 Developed
Developing
2445 Frontiers of Nanomechanics
09/09/13
2486 ICTP LEMSUPER Conference on
Mechanisms and Developments in
Light-Element Based and Other
Novel
24/09/13
2493 Conference on: Ultrafast Dynamics
of Correlated Materials
14/10/13
2497 Conference on Friction and Energy
Dissipation in Man-made and
Biological Systems
05/11/13
2498 Conference on Frontiers of
11/11/13
TOTAL
13/09/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
26/09/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
18/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
08/11/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
15/11/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
102
17
1
10.02
1.68
0.1
!"#
!!$%#
60
15
1
9.57
2.47
0.16
&'
()
+1
!#&
!"$"#
*+,-1,23
!'$&(
41
18
31.96
14.99
*+
('$+*
66
25
3
10.59
4.02
0.47
+(
!*$#%
35
53
1
12.94
20.55
0.39
%+
))$%%
4
8
1
0.66
1.32
0.16
!)
"$!(
86
21
25.25
6.74
!#&
)!$++
61
25
9.34
4.11
%'
!)$(*
70
26
10.98
4.18
+'
!*$!'
58
10
5.59
0.99
'%
'$*%
84
11
12.39
1.78
+*
!($!&
92
14
1
11.7
1.84
0.13
!#&
!)$'&
87
25
1
13.15
4.11
0.16
!!)
!&$("
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
13
164
33
71
)*
!!!
9
130
22
98
25
240
2
104
35
246
29
75
28
116
36
56
33
87
48
117
38
184
207
STATISTICS
2643 Advanced Quantum ESPRESSO
Developer Training
09/12/13
2518 Joint ICTP-VAST-APCTP Regional
School and Conference on
Theoretical Physics in Topological
Phases and Quantum Computation,
Hanoi, Viet Nam
09/12/13
2517 Winter School in Quantitative
Systems Biology, Bangalore, India
09/12/13
2468 Fifth Women in Mathematics
Summer School on Mathematical
Theories towards Environmental
Models
27/05/13
2546 ICTP-SISSA-Moscow School on
Geometry and Dynamics
03/06/13
2470 Advanced School and Workshop on
Matrix Geometries and Applications
01/07/13
2459 School and Workshop on "Geometric
Measure Theory and Optimal
Transport"
"$'%*'")
2568 Mediterranean Youth Mathematical
Championship - MYMC, Rome, Italy
17/07/13
2520 Algebraic Curves over Finite Fields
22/07/13
2481 Advanced School and Workshop on
Random Matrices and Growth
Models
02/09/13
2482 Workshop on Geometric
Correspondences of Gauge Theories
09/09/13
11
4
15
13
56
3.81
1.45
5.26
4.08
22.09
TOTAL
20/12/13 Developed
!"
"
31/05/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
01/06/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
14/06/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
12/07/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
%&'%('") Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
19/07/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
02/08/13 Developed
TOTAL
13/09/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
13/09/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL MATHEMATICS (Math)
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
19/12/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
20/12/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL CONDENSED MATTER AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS (CMSP)
MATHEMATICS (Math): 9 training activities
2460 Advanced School and Workshop in
20/05/13
Real and Complex Dynamics
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
6
58
#!$%&
%#)+
17
150
%
'$("
1
0
1262
509
13
1784
224.66
139.44
2.03
366.13
457
2927
65
24
12
20.74
9.01
4.48
23
175
27
200
9
70
22
135
23
71
0
4
4
0
0
0
32
100
%'%
()$#(
61
10
9
10.55
1.97
1.78
*'
%)$('
37
10
13.91
3.5
)&
%&$)%
33
41
2
9.17
15.2
0.79
&!
#+$%!
68
21
1
28.41
12.19
0.62
"'
)%$##
2
13
0.2
1.28
%+
!
)
%$)*
"#$"
%$+%
73
26
22.82
9.21
""
(#$'(
52
7
2
8.32
1.15
0.16
!%
"$!(
22
84
395
152
26
573
115.63
53.51
7.83
176.97
162
835
continued
208
STATISTICS
continued
EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS (ESP): 18 training activities
2507 Targeted Training Activity (TTA):
14/01/13 25/01/13 Developed
Intraseasonal Monsoon Predictability
Developing
and Prediction, Pune, India
TOTAL
01/03/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
26/04/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
10/05/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
2444 College on Soil Physics - 30th
Anniversary (1983-2013)
25/02/13
2453 School on Modelling Tools and
Capacity Building in Climate and
Public Health
15/04/13
2450 Workshop on Mathematical Models
of Climate Variability, Environmental
Change and Infectious Diseases
29/04/13
2457 Second Workshop on Water
Resources in Developing Countries:
Planning and Management in a
Climate Change Scenario
!"#!(#%&
%)#!(#%& Developed
2510 Extreme Weather and Climate
Events in the Southern Caucasus Black Sea Region, Tbilisi, Georgia
03/06/13
2464 Earthquake Tectonics and Hazards
on the Continents
17/06/13
2465 Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on
Evaluating Groundwater Pathways
and Residence Times as part of Site
Investigations and Post-Closure
Safety Assessments for Geological
Repositories
17/06/13
2512 Fundamentals of Ocean Climate
Modelling at Global and Regional
Scales, Hyderabad, India
05/08/13
2480 Conference on Synthetic Aperture
Radar: A Global Solution for
Monitoring Geological Disasters
!'#!$#%&
2647 WCRP-World Climate Research
Programme: first CORDEX
Workshop on Statistical Downscaling
26/09/13
2392 Capacity Building Workshop on
Modeling of Regional Climate and
Air Quality for West Africa, Abidjan,
Cote d'Ivoire
07/10/13
!
"#"$
8
43
1
1.18
7
0.16
%&
$#!'
16
27
8
5.13
10.09
3.16
%"
"$#!$
26
20
10
8.58
7.5
3.88
")#)(
Developing
Least DC
6.08
8.3
4.7
TOTAL
07/06/13 Developed
Developing
%&
")#*$
12
19
1.97
3.09
TOTAL
14/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
!"#!$#%& Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
27/09/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
11/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
0.79
0.39
%(
TOTAL
21/06/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
21/06/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
N. OF LECTURERS
2
1
18
22
12
TOTAL
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
!"
%#*(
29
41
7
8.28
16.01
2.69
++
&(#)$
25
17
1
3.75
2.79
0.16
'!
(#+*
9
24
1
2.83
7.89
0.33
!'
""#*%
30
18
4
4.44
2.93
0.66
%&
$#*!
28
9
1.28
0.59
!+
"#$+
7
31
12
1.15
5.1
1.97
%*
$#&&
3
7
8
81
12
145
14
156
10
118
11
67
19
169
21
95
8
133
14
103
37
0
11
94
209
STATISTICS
continued
2490 Joint ICTP-IAEA Advancing
Modelling of Climate, Land-use,
Energy and Water (CLEW)
Interactions
07/10/13
2567 Second VALUE Training School:
Statistical and Dynamical
Downscaling of Extreme Events
21/10/13
2496 School and Workshop on Weather
Regimes and Weather Types in the
Tropics and Extra-tropics: Theory
and Application to Prediction of
Weather and Climate
21/10/13
2514 Climate and Impact Modeling for
Eastern Africa: Climate, Water,
Agriculture, and Health, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
(;<0)<01
2554 Second CLIM-RUN School: Building
Two-way Communication: A Week of
Climate Services
02/12/13
11/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31/10/13 Developed
Least DC
TOTAL
30/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
2506 School on Earthquake and Tsunami
Hazard and Risk, Algiers, Algeria
);<00<01 !"#"$%&"'
!"#"$%&-./
TOTAL
06/12/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
09/12/13 20/12/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
2443 Winter College on Optics: Trends in
Laser Development and
Multidisciplinary Applications to
Science and Industry
04/02/13
2505 Workshop on Applications of
Wireless Technologies, Bogota,
Colombia
04/02/13
2447 Workshop on Wireless Networking
for Science in Africa
11/03/13
2452 Advanced School on Synchrotron
Techniques in Environmental
Scientific Projects
15/04/13
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
!!
"#$!
30
1
9.11
0.36
16
114
9
0
!%
&#'(
20
29
6
5.39
9.35
1.91
""
(
0
%)#)"
)*+,
)*1,
13
114
!
%#%*
2
1
20
25
2
2.4
3.95
0.33
10
51
'(
)#)*
7
90
1.48
35.51
!)#&&
17
180
66.41
124
20.64
211.05
235
1628
01/02/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
15/02/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
14
21
3
1.94
3.19
0.33
!*
"#')
8
257
54
47
3
12.62
17.26
1.02
TOTAL
15/02/13 Developed
Developing
%+'
!+#&+
20
317
2
40
0.62
15.78
'$
02
0,
0(
'(
((
1)
(
"'
%)#'
1*)2
2*,+
9*:)
%'#"!
2*;;
00*2+
)*+,
%&#!'
7
122
19
200
21
193
TOTAL
22/03/13 !"#"$%&"'
!"#"$%&-./
3"4567!8
1.78
3.12
0.33
&(
TOTAL
26/04/13 !"#"$%&"'
!"#"$%&-./
3"4567!8
TOTAL
210
12
19
2
301
436
67
804
TOTAL EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS (ESP)
APPLIED PHYSICS (AP): 23 training activities
2442 Preparatory School to the Winter
28/01/13
College on Optics
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
STATISTICS
continued
Advanced Synchrotron Radiation
Based X-ray Spectrometry
Techniques
22/04/13
2455 Joint ICTP-TWAS Workshop on
Portable X-ray Analytical
Instruments for Cultural Heritage
29/04/13
2564 Fifth SESAME Training Advisory
Committee Meeting
29/04/13
Advances in Digital Spectroscopy
06/05/13
2458 Workshop on GNSS Data Application
to Low Latitude Ionospheric
Research
06/05/13
2467 International Workshop on
Singularities and Topological
Structures of Light
08/07/13
2666 First session of TREGA Intensive
Training
15/07/13
2472 Advanced Workshop on Nonlinear
Photonics, Disorder and Wave
Turbulence
15/07/13
2473 Joint ICTP-IAEA School on Nuclear
Energy Management
15/07/13
2476 Joint ICTP-IAEA School of Nuclear
Knowledge Management
12/08/13
2485 Joint ICTP-IAEA Training in
Radiation Protection of Patients
16/09/13
2484 ICTP-IAEA Joint Workshop on
Nuclear Data for Science and
Technology: Medical Applications
30/09/13
2513 School on Advanced Techniques on
Radiotherapy, IMRT, IGRT and VMAT,
Guatemala
!"#$!#$%
Nuclear Data for Analytical
Applications
21/10/13
26/04/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
03/05/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
29/04/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
10/05/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
17/05/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
12/07/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
06/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
19/07/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
02/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
16/08/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
27/09/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
04/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
11/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
25/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
31
19
1
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
4.74
3.11
0.16
!"
#$%"
29
21
2
4.50
3.34
0.33
!&
#$"'
2
8
0.07
0.23
"%
%$(%
18
19
2.66
3.12
('
!$'#
34
43
6
9.01
16.80
2.37
#(
&#$"#
58
25
8.66
3.98
#(
"&$)*
8
2
10
0.69
1.51
7.07
&%
+$&'
47
18
7.46
2.92
)!
"%$(#
41
19
3
14.07
10.91
1.87
)(
&)$#!
21
21
5
3.45
3.45
0.82
*'
'$'&
15
27
3
4.93
10.65
1.18
*!
")$')
10
17
2
1.55
2.79
0.33
&+
*$)'
7
47
1.15
7.73
!*
#$##
11
15
1
1.68
2.47
0.16
&'
*$("
17
98
17
93
2
0
13
87
26
198
21
97
14
0
29
79
28
244
9
151
14
223
8
124
9
46
6
136
211
STATISTICS
continued
2499 International Training Workshop on
FPGA Design for Scientific
Instrumentation and Computing
11/11/13
2516 Advanced School on Synchrotron
Radiation Techniques and
Nanotechnology: A Synergic
Approach to Life, Stellenbosch,
South Africa
11/11/13
2501 Training Course on Medical Physics
for Radiation Therapy: Dosimetry
and Treatment Planning for Basic
25/11/13
2502 Joint ICTP-IAEA International
Training Workshop on Accuracy
Requirement and Uncertainty in
Radiation Therapy
09/12/13
18
54
3.65
20.83
TOTAL
22/11/13 Developed
Developing
!"
"#$#%
26
36
7.76
13.91
TOTAL
06/12/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
13/12/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
212
06/05/13
2483 Career Development Workshop for
Women in Physics
16/09/13
2487 Science Dissemination and On-line
Certification for All
30/09/13
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
22
109
21
351
1.81
2.30
0.66
"(
#$!!
6
112
521
577
60
1158
108.35
170.57
22.77
301.69
359
3509
13
1
25.22
1.94
'#
!"
"!$'&
#"$%#
)
)
&'()&(!# Developed
TOTAL
28/03/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
'!
#!$&#
)
)
43
15
4
17.62
7.23
2.2
TOTAL
08/05/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
&"
"!$)*
'+
"!#
43
15
1
3.55
1.47
0.1
21
56
'(
"*+
'!
'#"
TOTAL
2547 First International Workshop on
"Low-cost 3D Printing for Science,
Education and Sustainable
Development"
5.39
5.65
1.18
'"$""
PHYSICS AND DEVELOPMENT (PD): 10 training activities
2531 International Master Course on
01/10/12 &'()&(!* Developed
Physics of Complex Systems
Least DC
(ICTP/SISSA/Politecnico Torino)
11/03/13
"'$&!
272
##
TOTAL APPLIED PHYSICS (AP)
2503 Workshop on Computer
Programming and Advanced Tools
for Scientific Research Work and
Quantum ESPRESSO Developer
Training
&"
26
15
3
22
11
14
4
Developing
Least DC
)!(!)(!*
22/11/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
2661 International Master Course of
Complex Systems
(ICTP/SISSA/Politecnico Torino)
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
ACTIVITY TITLE
SMR
TOTAL
19/09/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
02/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
*(
*$'"
25
37
2
2.66
4.79
0.26
&#
!$!'
28
18
2.76
1.78
#&
#$*#
STATISTICS
continued
"Advanced Ion Beam Techniques:
Imaging and Characterisation with
MeV ions"
30/09/13
2494 Workshop on High Performance
Computing (HPC) Architecture and
Applications in the ICTP
14/10/13
2492 Second Conference on
Nanotechnology for Biological and
Biomedical Applications (Nano-BioMed 2013)
14/10/13
2515 Regional Workshop on Materials
Science for Solar Energy
Conversion, Cape Town, South
Africa
04/11/13
04/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
25/10/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
18/10/13 Developed
Developing
TOTAL
08/11/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL PHYSICS AND DEVELOPMENT (PD)
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
2446 International School on Nuclear
Security
08/04/13
19/04/13 Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Miscellaneous activities Developed
Developing
Least DC
TOTAL
GRAND TOTAL BY REGION: Developed
Developing
Least DC
GRAND TOTAL
15
12
N. OF
APPLICATIONS
N. OF LECTURERS
N. OF VISITS**
REGIONS*
DATES
SMR
ACTIVITY TITLE
2.47
1.92
!"
#$%&
16
20
3
5.56
7.79
0.89
%&
)#$!#
37
35
5.33
5.72
"!
))$+'
12
17
2
1.84
2.79
0.33
'
(&
)*
"&
!%
)#'
%)
#$&*
)#
!)'
249
169
13
431
114.65
33.49
5.72
153.86
128
1253
30
32
8
4.26
12.26
3.16
"+
)&$*(
!'
)(!
3728
823.69
2364
640.05
210
67.64
6302 1531.38
2686
1871
144
4701
363.45
255.55
44.45
663.45
6920 2420.77
4734 2138.28
437
453.51
12091 5012.56
1594 12927
0
0
1594 13797
*Regions:
LDCs=Least Developed Countries.
**: Number of visits not visitors.
***: Number of average months spent at ICTP by scientific visitors (1 average-month= 30.417 days).
213
STATISTICS
SUMMARY OF ICTP RESEARCH AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES 2013
PARTICIPATIONS BY REGION
PERSON-MONTHS BY REGION
LECTURERS
LDCs* Developing Developed TOTAL LDCs* Developing Developed
TOTAL
Regions
Regions
Regions
Regions
HIGH ENERGY, COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (HECAP)
Research
2
65
105
172
11.74
106.01
462.44
580.19
—
Training [11]
23
489
970
1482
5.49
106.78
189.73
302.00
228
Postgraduate Diploma Programme
6
14
5
25
36.31
74.81
13.56
124.68
Total HECAP
31
568
1080
1679 53.54
287.6
665.73 1006.87
228
CONDENSED MATTER AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS (CMSP)
Research
3
79
132
214
2.07
138.8
240.92
381.79
—
Training [21]
13
509
1262
1784
2.03
139.44
224.66
366.13
457
3
16
5
24
15.94
83.83
6.58
106.35
—
Total CMSP
19
604
1399
2022 20.04
362.07
472.16
854.27
457
MATHEMATICS (Math)
Research
13
56
43
112
24.82
111.58
83.97
220.37
—
Training [9]
26
152
395
573
7.83
53.51
115.63
176.97
162
8
13
4
25
51.51
69.96
7.17
128.64
Total Math
47
221
442
710 84.16
235.05
206.77
525.98
162
EARTH SYSTEM PHYSICS (ESP)
Research
6
33
53
92
20.32
79.53
236.94
336.79
—
Training [18]
67
436
301
804
20.64
124.00
66.41
211.05
235
7
13
13
33
39.84
58.56
6.83
105.23
—
Total ESP
80
482
367
929
80.8
262.09
310.18
653.07
235
APPLIED PHYSICS (AP)
Research
8
15
42
65
1.71
61.84
30.12
93.67
—
Training [23]
60
577
521
1158
22.77
170.57
108.35
301.69
359
Total AP
68
592
563
1223 24.48
232.41
138.47
395.36
359
PHYSICS AND DEVELOPMENT (PD)
Training [10]
13
169
249
431
5.72
33.49
114.65
153.86
128
Total (PD)
13
169
249
431
5.72
33.49
114.65
153.86
128
OTHER PROGRAMMES
ICTP-Elettra Users
0
40
0
40
0.00
13.18
0.00
13.18
—
ICTP-University of Trieste Joint Laurea Magistralis
2
1
1
4
6.58
3.29
2.83
12.70
—
ICTP-IAEA Sandwich Training Education (STEP)
5
21
1
27
22.03
71.34
2.93
96.30
—
Training and Research in Italian Labs (TRIL)
14
49
5
68
91.59
294.44
28.60
414.63
—
Total OTHER PROGRAMMES
21
111
7
139 120.20
382.25
34.36
536.81
—
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Research
6
84
97
187
16.96
75.51
110.74
203.21
—
Training [1]
8
32
30
70
3.16
12.26
4.26
19.68
25
Total OTHER ACTIVITIES
14
116
127
257 20.12
87.77
115
222.89
25
SCIENTIFIC FIELDS
Total
Total
Total
Total
Research
Training
Postgraduate Diploma Prog.
Programmes
38
210
24
21
332
2364
56
111
472
3728
27
7
Miscellaneous
144
1871
2686
GRAND TOTAL
437
4734
6920
*LDCs=Least Developed Countries.
Numbers in [ ] refer to total activities with registered participation.
APPL.=N. of Applications.
Data on training activities include number of course directors, lecturers and tutors.
Data on TRIL Programme include fellow's visits to ICTP.
214
573.27
640.05
287.16
382.25
1165.13
823.69
34.14
34.36
1816.02
1531.38
464.90
536.81
APPL.
—
2593
290
2883
—
2927
233
2927
—
835
191
835
—
1628
156
1628
—
3509
3509
1253
1253
—
—
—
—
—
—
182
182
842
6302
107
139
77.62
67.64
143.60
120.20
4701
44.45
255.55
363.45
663.45
—
—
12091 453.51
2138.28
2420.77
5012.56
1594
13797
1594
—
—
0
12927
870
—
STATISTICS
!"#$%&!'!#()'%*+,%$-)'(+./(+#0'%12%"(3+#)24%5678
Female
Visitors
Region/Country
Least Developed Countries (LDC's)
Africa (21)
1 *9:;<=
2 1@9A9
3 1DEFA9=%G=H;
4 "@9JE=<%*KEAL=9%)@MDN<AL
5 "P=Q
6 ,@R;LE=JAL%)@MDN<AL%;K%JP@%";9:;
7 -EAJE@=
8 -JPA;MA=
9 TDA9@=
10 U@H;JP;
11 /=Q=:=HL=E
12 /=<=VA
13 /=<A
14 +A:@E
15 )V=9Q=
16 '@9@:=<
17 'DQ=9
18 #;:;
19 3:=9Q=
20 39AJ@Q%)@MDN<AL%;K%#=9W=9A=
21 X=RNA=
Total Africa (LDCs)
% vs. total LDC's
Male
visitors
Total
visitors
Personmonths
6
5
5
6
6
6
6
7
6
6
8
6
6
7
6
B
78
7
B
8
6
7
5
76
7
5
5
7
5?
7
7
5
C
5
8
5
57
55
I
C
75
7
7
B
75
7
5
5
7
5O
7
7
S
C
5
B
5
5S
8S
?
76
7S
7
6>?5
?>C?
7?>?I
6>CO
7O>56
S>S5
75>66
?S>OI
7>BS
6>BC
78>OB
5>OO
6>BC
5>C8
6>O5
CS>76
?5>7O
56>O?
7I>7O
O>O6
6>BC
34
133
167
370.42
89%
79%
81%
82%
5
6
7
6
7?
7
75
B
56
7
78
B
5I>OB
7>C?
BC>7C
5>C6
Asia (4)
22
23
24
25
1=9:<=Q@HP
/Y=9R=E
+@M=<
2@R@9
Total Asia (LDCs)
% vs. total LDC's
3
35
38
78.38
8%
21%
18%
17%
Latin America and the Caribbean (1)
26 0=AJA
Total Latin America and the Caribbean
7
6
7
8>O7
1
0
1
3.91
% vs. total LDC's
3%
0%
0%
1%
Total Least Developed Countries (LDC's)
% vs. grand total
38
3%
168
4%
206
3%
452.71
9%
5O
6
77
6
?6
8
8B
7
76O
8
BS
7
SS>6I
8>65
SB>SB
6>?5
Developing Regions
Africa (16)
27 *<:@EA=
28 1;JHV=9=
29 "=R@E;;9
30 "=M@%&@EQ@
continued
215
STATISTICS
continued
!"#$%&!'!#()'%*+,%$-)'(+./(+#0'%12%"(3+#)24%5678
Region/Country
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
"9:;9
"@AB%CD!E9FGB
-;IJA
KLM:M
OB:IM
PFQIM:%*GMQ%RMSMLFGFIM
/MTGFAFTU
/9G9VV9
+F;BGFM
'9TAL%*XGFVM
#T:FUFM
YFSQMQZB
Total Africa
% vs. total Developing Regions
Female
Visitors
Male
visitors
Total
visitors
Personmonths
7
<
56
7<
75
6
7
7N
58
77
77
7
8
5=
<?
5H
5<
7
7
55
?8
=5
7W
8
<
5H
??
<8
8?
7
5
8H
W?
?8
5H
<
=><?
77>=<
?5>=6
N7>NN
<8>6N
6>78
6>=8
5W>=<
N<>W8
8W><8
78>75
7>8W
155
405
560
464.74
25%
25%
25%
22%
6
<
56
6
6
7
7
55
6
7
7
5
7
75
57
5
7<
8
7
8N
N
5
6
7
7
7?
<7
5
7<
<
5
=H
N
8
7
8
6>7?
7H>NH
H<>7?
6><?
<>7<
7>N<
<>57
<8>N8
6><?
6>W5
6>5?
6>NH
Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean (12)
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
1MGQMC9U
"9UAM%)FVM
"TQM
,9SF:FVM:%)BJTQ[FV
KTMABSM[M
09:CTGMU
RMSMFVM
/B\FV9
+FVMGM;TM
$M:MSM
$TBGA9%)FV9
#GF:FCMC%M:C%#9QM;9
Total Caribbean
% vs. Total Latin America and the Caribbean
52
101
153
170.73
37%
26%
29%
36%
5<
7
87
5
76
7
N
7
77
=<
7
766
75
?7
7<
7H
8
56
NW
5
787
7<
N7
7=
5?
<
87
?N><6
W>75
N6>W5
N><6
?6>HH
7W>W<
7=><5
7><W
=?>=7
306.97
Latin America (9)
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
*G;B:AF:M
19[FEFM
1GM]F[
"LF[B
"9[9SQFM
-VTMC9G
$BGT
3GT;TMI
&B:B]TB[M%^19[FEMGFM:%)BJTQ[FV%9X_
Total Latin America
% vs. Total Latin America and the Caribbean
Total Latin America and the Caribbean
216
88
284
372
63%
74%
71%
64%
140
385
525
477.69
23%
23%
23%
23%
STATISTICS
continued
!"#$%&!'!#()'%*+,%$-)'(+./(+#0'%12%"(3+#)24%5678
Female
Visitors
Region/Country
Male
visitors
Total
visitors
Personmonths
Asia (33)
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
*9:;<=>
*D;9E>=F><
1>H9>=<
"H=<>I
,;:KL9>M=L%$;KNO;PQ%);NREO=L%KS%TK9;>
U;K9V=>
0K<V%TK<V%'*)%KS%"H=<>
!<W=>
!<WK<;Q=>
!9><%X!QO>:=L%);NREO=L%KSY
!9>Z
[K9W><
T>D>\HQM><
TR]>=M
T^9V^DQM><
_;E><K<
/>O>^Q=>
/K<VKO=>
(:><
$>\=QM><
$>O;QM=<;
$H=O=NN=<;Q
`>M>9
);NREO=L%KS%TK9;>
'>RW=%*9>E=>
'=<V>NK9;
'9=%_><\>
'^9=><%*9>E%);NREO=L
#H>=O><W
#R9\;^
3<=M;W%*9>E%-:=9>M;Q
3DE;\=QM><
&=;M%+>:
Total Asia
Total Developing Regions
% vs. grand total
Developed Regions
Europe (37)
97 *OE><=>
98 *RQM9=>
99 1;O>9RQ
?
7
6
5J
6
75
6
76J
C
G5
6
8
8
7
6
8
J
8
7
78
5
A
5
@
5
C
8
6
@
7?
6
8
5?
7@
@
7
76A
?
76
5
58J
7C
JA
8
76
8
5
7
@
J
@
5
C5
C
J
6
?A
@
G5
77
@
A
87
7
77
G7
56
C
7
78C
?
55
5
8?A
5?
7G6
8
78
@
8
7
J
7A
J
8
AG
J
7C
5
G?
A
GJ
7?
@
7?
?G
7
7?
CG
7ABCC
GB68
6B7@
7?7BC8
76BC5
7JBCJ
6BGJ
867BCC
57BA8
7CGBA@
7BGG
GB?@
CBG6
6B@@
6B?@
?B5?
77B7G
78B65
7B8A
77GB86
CB66
7@B7?
6BJG
85BCA
?B8C
5AB6?
76B78
JB@8
?BCC
8AB?6
6B78
57BA6
77CBC6
327
856
1183
1148.80
53%
52%
52%
55%
622
45%
1646
36%
2268
38%
2091.23
42%
6
5?
7
7
CA
G
7
765
@
6B?@
55B6J
JB67
217
STATISTICS
continued
!"#$%&!'!#()'%*+,%$-)'(+./(+#0'%12%"(3+#)24%5678
Region/Country
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
19:;<=>
1DEF<G%GFH%09IJ9;DK<FG
1=:;GI<G
"IDGL<G
"J9NO%)9P=Q:<N
,9F>GIS
-ELDF<G
T<F:GFH
TIGFN9
U9I>GFV
UI99N9
0=F;GIV
!N9:GFH
!I9:GFH
!LG:V
W<LO=GF<G
W=X9>QD=I;
/G:LG
+9LO9I:GFHE
+DIYGV
$D:GFH
$DIL=;G:
)9P=Q:<N%DZ%/D:HDKG
)D>GF<G
)=EE<GF%T9H9IGL<DF
'9IQ<G
':DKGS<G
':DK9F<G
'PG<F
'Y9H9F
'Y<LJ9I:GFH
LO9%TDI>9I%2=;DE:GK%)9P=Q:<N%DZ%/GN9HDF<G
3SIG<F9
3F<L9H%[<F;HD>
Total Europe
% vs. Developed Regions
Female
Visitors
Male
visitors
Total
visitors
Personmonths
?
6
C
M
5
7
7
5
8M
CC
8
76
6
5
7RA
7
6
6
7M
7
R
A
8
7@
5?
7@
7
C
8C
M
55
8
5?
@A
@5
7
A
78
7R
7?
8
76
567
86A
M
5A
5
M
CAM
8
7
7
C7
@
87
7C
@
76
M5
A
?
86
R8
8@
75M
?
86
585
@A
7
78
57
57
7C
@
75
58R
8A8
77
8A
5
76
MA?
@
7
7
AR
?
@6
58
A
5@
76A
57
C
8C
75R
@5
7?6
M
??
5AR
7ABC5
6BCC
@5B?7
AB?C
?BM5
RB5@
7BAM
5BRC
M?BA7
787BR8
@B@7
57BR8
6B8R
7CB77
78C5B?8
6BMR
6B7C
6B56
56BC?
7BA7
75BRR
76B@?
78BA@
AB86
C@B@6
ABM5
7B5M
77BM6
CMBAM
77B8@
C7BR@
7?BMM
88B5@
75?B78
606
2202
2808
2212.41
84%
79%
80%
90%
C
MR
@7
8A@
@A
@C8
57BA8
7MCB8M
North America (2)
134 "GFGHG
135 3F<L9H%'LGL9E%DZ%*>9I<NG
Total North America
95
415
510
208.11
13%
15%
15%
8%
8
8
7A
C
56
R
CB5?
5BM8
Oceania (2)
136 *=ELIG:<G
137 +9Y%\9G:GFH
Total Oceania
218
6
23
29
9.07
0.83%
0.83%
0.83%
0.37%
STATISTICS
!"#$%&!'!#()'%*+,%$-)'(+./(+#0'%12%"(3+#)24%5678
Female
Visitors
Region/Country
Asia (2)
138 !9:;<=
139 C;D;E
Total Asia
Total Developed regions
% vs. grand total
GRAND TOTAL
Male
visitors
Total
visitors
Personmonths
>
?
8?
76>
@8
778
77AB@
5>A@F
13
2%
720
52%
143
5%
2783
61%
156
4%
3503
59%
39.02
2%
2468.62
49%
1380
4597
5977
5012.56
The grand total of visitors includes 618 participants to regional training courses, organized by ICTP but held in other
countries.
*Data includes 7 visitors and 4.34 person-months from Taiwan, China.
219
STATISTICS
Region of Origin, ICTP visitors 2013
Regions
LDCs*
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America and the Caribbean
North America
Oceania
GRAND TOTAL
167
38
—
1
—
—
206
% vs. Total Visitors
3%
Visitors from…
Person-months
Total
Developing Developed
Developing Developed
LDCs*
Visitors Person-months
Regions
Regions
Regions
Regions
560
— 370.42
464.74
—
727
835.16
1183
156
78.38
1148.80
39.02
1377
1266.20
—
2808
—
—
2212.41
2808
2212.41
525
—
3.91
477.69
—
526
481.60
—
510
—
—
208.11
510
208.11
—
29
—
—
9.07
29
9.07
2268
3503 452.71
2091.23
2468.61
5977
5012.55
38%
59%
9%
42%
49%
The grand total of visitors includes 618 participants of regional training courses, organized by ICTP but held in other countries.
*Least Developed Countries.
220
News From ICTP SAIFR
January — March 2013
ICTP-SAIFR completes its 1st year
ICTP-SAIFR started its activities in 2012 with the organization of 3 Schools, 3 Workshops, 3
Mini-courses and several other events. More than 300 participants were involved. The full list
can be accessed at http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=1098
2013 meetings of the Steering Committee and Scientific Council
The Steering Committee of the ICTP-SAIFR, headed by Fernando Quevedo (Director of ICTP
Trieste), and its Scientific Council, headed by Peter Goddard (ex-Director of IAS Princeton), met
in São Paulo in February. These meetings were preceded by a short workshop on February 17.
The Steering Committee approved the Director’s Report and discussed future directions for the
ICTP-SAIFR. The Scientific Council heard short presentations on the scientific activities of 2012
and deliberated on the proposals for 2014.
New personnel
Eduardo Pontón, a leading researcher in Elementary Particle Physics, arrived in February as a
visiting professor. Riccardo Sturani, an expert in Gravitational Waves, was awarded In February
a FAPESP Young Investigator fellowship.
II Southern-Summer School on Mathematical Biology
The interplay among Mathematics, Physics and Biology has brought many advances that were
discussed in the lectures of this School In January. Topics such as Introduction to Population
Biology, Spatial Models in Ecology, Mathematical Models and Control Strategies of Infectious
Diseases, Population and Community Ecology and Conservation were the subjects of the lectures.
More information at http://www.ictp- saifr.org/?page_id=2363
Agreement with Nordita
The ICTP-SAIFR and Nordita signed in February an Agreement for Cooperation with Nordita
that will allow the exchange of scientists and the joint organization of workshops. This is in
addition to similar agreements with CERN, Perimeter and ICTP-Trieste. For more information
see http://www.ictp- saifr.org/?page_id=2193
Visit of IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf
Robbert Dijkgraaf, the current Diector of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, visited
the ICTP-SAIFR in February where he discussed the importance of theoretical physics institutes
for the advancement of knowledge.
2012 IFT-ICTP Premio para Jovens Fisicos
The ceremony for the five winners of the 2012 IFT-ICTP Premio para Jovens Fisicos was held in
March. These Prizes are awarded annually to students who obtain the highest score on an exam
administred by IFT and ICTP-SAIFR professors. The 2012 winners (left to right) are João
Fernando Doriguello Diniz (Unicamp), Ricardo Hernandez Moreno (IFT-UNESP), Cássio dos
Santos Sousa (ITA), Ivan Guillhon Mitoso Rocha (ITA), Vilson Fabricio dos Santos Juliatto
(Univ. Estadual do Centro Oeste, Paraná), together with Director Berkovits.
Visit of Sir Michael Berry
Sir Michael Berry (Univ. of Bristol), a renowned expert in quantum mechanics and chaotic
systems, visited the ICTP- SAIFR in March where we presented a colloquium on
superoscillations.
221
April — June 2013
Hiring of Permanent Research Professor
Eduardo Pontón is now a permanent faculty member of ICTP- SAIFR. He was selected last year
by an international search committee from a list of highly qualified applicants as the first of five
permanent ICTP-SAIFR research professors, and was formally approved in June as a UNESP
professor at the highest research level. Eduardo was a professor at Columbia University (NY)
from 2004-2012 and has made significant contributions in various areas of Particle Physics, from
Dark Matter to Supersymmetry to Models of Extra Dimensions.
New FAPESP Postdoctoral Fellows
Gero von Gersdorff joined ICTP-SAIFR in April as a FAPESP postdoctoral fellow after a
postdoctoral period at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. Gero is a well-known particle physicist,
having developed new models of extra dimensions.
Alberto Tonero, a recent PhD graduate from SISSA, Italy, has also joined ICTP-SAIFR as a
FAPESP postdoctoral fellow in April. Alberto has worked on issues of asymptotic safety and top
quark physics.
Distinguished Lecturer Simon Levin
Prof. Simon Levin (Princeton) has accepted to visit the ICTP- SAIFR as a Distinguished Lecturer
in February 2014 and present a minicourse on the interplay of mathematics and biology. Prof.
Levin has won several international awards (Heinekin Prize, Kyoto Prize, Margelef Prize) for his
work in ecology and environmental science, and is the George Moffett Professor of Biology at
Princeton University since 1992.
Agreement with Fermilab
The ICTP-SAIFR and the Fermilab Theory Group signed an Agreement of Cooperation in April
that will facilitate the exchange of visitors between the two Institutes. The Theory Group at
Fermilab has played a major role in the development of phenomenological models of Particle
Physics and the search for New Physics in current and future experiments. Similar visitor
agreements have been signed with Nordita, CERN, Perimeter, and the ICTP.
School on Particle Physics in the LHC Era
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN collected a large amout of data in the 2011-2012 period,
culminating with the announcement of the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle. Many
searches for New Physics beyond the Standard Model have been conducted, putting some
challenges to well-known extensions such as Supersymmetry and Strongly Coupled models. With
world leaders such as Marcela Carena, Joe Lykken, Chris Quigg, Alexander Belyaev, Eduardo
Pontón, Zackaria Chacko and Daniel de Florian, this School aimed at providing the students the
necessary tools to explore and test New Physics in the context of the LHC.
Minicourse on Classical and Quantum Integrability
Professor Edward Corrigan, from the University of York in the UK, visited the ICTP-SAIFR and
gave a set of 4 lectures with an introduction to some of the ideas that underpin the notion of
integrability, both its classical origins and properties, together with some of the methods used to
determine properties of the associated quantum field theories, such as their spectrum of states and
scattering.
School on Nonpertubative QCD: Hadron Structure and Hadronic Matter
This School focused on different techniques that have been developed to study the
nonperturbative regime of QCD. The four non-perturbative methods of Large-N QCD, Effective
Field Theory, Lattice QCD and Gauge/String Duality were the subjects of the lectures of the
School, given by renowned physicists such as Thomas Cohen, Aneesh Manohar, Andreas
Kronfeld and Andrei Starinets. There were also several "hands- on" activities to supplement the
lectures.
Minicourse "Energetic Approach to Food Webs"
222
Professor Kevin S. MacCann, author of “Food Webs” (Princeton University Press, 2011) and
Gabriel Gellner, both from Guelph University (Canada), gave lectures in this course looking at
the role of energetics in mediating the structure and dynamics of consumer-resource interactions.
July — September 2013
New Fapesp Postdoctoral Fellows
Saeed Mirshekari and Nicolás Bernal joined ICTP-SAIFR in September as FAPESP postdoctoral
fellows. An expert on gravitational waves and member of the LIGO collaboration, Saeed recently
obtained his PhD working with Clifford Will at Washington University in St. Louis on
Inspiraling Compact Binaries. Nicolás joined ICTP-SAIFR after a postdoctoral period at the
Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics and the Institute of Physics in Bonn where he worked on
astroparticle physics, specializing in baryogenesis from WIMPs and dark matter properties from
gamma ray lines.
Search for permanent researcher in Cosmology and related fields
The ICTP-SAIFR has an opening for a new permanent research professor. Although the search
will concentrate in the area of cosmology and related fields, candidates from all areas of
theoretical physics are encouraged to apply before December 14. 2013. The search committee is
chaired by Peter Goddard, and the search committee members are Marcela Carena, David Gross,
Leo Kadanoff, Martin Rees, Uros Seljak, Robert Wald, Simon White, Edward Witten and Matias
Zaldarriaga.
Mathematica software license
Following a request from ICTP-SAIFR, UNESP approved an unlimited campus-wide license for
Wolfram Mathematica software which is widely used in all areas of computational science. With
financial resources from the Dean of Research Office, headed by Maria José Gianini, the contract
with Wolfram was signed in September.
ICTP-SAIFR researcher elected fellow of TWAS
ICTP-SAIFR acting director Nathan Berkovits was elected fellow of The World Academy of
Science (TWAS) for his work on covariant quantization of the superstring. TWAS is a global
academy for science in the developing world and the election took place on October 1 at the
Academy's 24th General Meeting in Buenos Aires.
Gravitational Wave Research at ICTP-SAIFR
During the month of August, ICTP-SAIFR researcher Riccardo Sturani presented a minicourse
of eight lectures on the application of effective field theory methods to the two-body problem of
general relativity and the resulting predictions for gravitational wave emission. And on Sept. 26,
the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) scientific collaboration
accepted the IFT/ICTP-SAIFR group led by Sturani, whose main research activity will be LIGO
data analysis in the search of gravitational wave signals from coalescing binaries.
Visit of Eliezer Rabinovici
Prof. Rabinovici is the former Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Institute for
Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the founders of the SESAME
light source, a scientific collaboration among countries in the middle east. He gave a Colloquium
on the history and development of the SESAME project, as well as a technical seminar on AdSCFT.
School on Approaches to Quantum Gravity
This school discussed several approaches to resolving the issues of quantum gravity which
involve different communities of physicists. String theory, AdS-CFT, Loop Quantum Gravity,
Asymptotic Safety and Entropic Gravity were some of the topics of the lectures attended by over
100 students and taught by leaders of the different fields, such as John Schwarz, Juan Maldacena,
Martin Reuter, Alejandro Perez, Erik Verlinde and Abhay Ashtekar.
Grebogi Minicourse on Complex Systems
223
Celso Grebogi, director of the Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology,
University of Aberdeen, Scotland, presented three lectures on topics related to Complex Systems,
including Population Dynamics, System Biology and Quantum Chaos. The set of lectures was
followed by a discussion among invited specialists on Complex Systems concerning ways to
improve research in this field and how ICTP-SAIFR could play a role.
October — December 2013
New Fapesp Postdoctoral Fellow
Fabien Lacasa, a recent PhD from the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, IAS, at Orsay, arrived at
ICTP-SAIFR in December. Fabien is a member of the Planck Satellite Collaboration and will
contribute to the Dark Energy Survey project, a photometric survey aimed at mapping 300
million galaxies in the next 5 years with the goal of pinning down the best theory that describes
our Universe.
ICTP-SAIFR Associate Members
To help disseminate ICTP-SAIFR activities, approximately 60 distinguished theoretical
physicists distributed throughout South America have agreed to be ICTP-SAIFR Associate
Members and act as contact representatives in their respective countries.
O Cerne da Matéria
ICTP-SAIFR vice-director Rogerio Rosenfeld has published in November a book intended for the
general public in Brazil. With the title "O Cerne da Matéria: A aventura científica que levou à
descoberta do bóson de Higgs" ("The Heart of the Matter: the scientific adventure that led to the
discovery of the Higgs boson"), it describes the evolution of particle accelerators that culminated
with the LHC and the recent discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.
David Gross discussion session
David Gross, director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara from 1997
to 2012 and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the strong interactions,
visited ICTP-SAIFR on November 12. He led an informal discussion with students and
researchers involving a question-answer session on all aspects of science, and his visit was
sponsored by the Nobel Week Dialogue and the Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative (NPII).
School on Fundamental Astrophysics
The School on Fundamental Astrophysics was held at ICTP- SAIFR from October 7-18.
Organized by Daniel Gomez (UBA, Argentina), Elisabete M. de Gouveia Dal Pino (USP, Brasil),
Alejandro Raga (UNAM, Mexico) and Matias Zaldarriaga (IAS Princeton, USA), its goal was to
provide a comprehensive view of the fundamental problems in Theoretical Astrophysics, along
with an up-to-date overview on current trends in Observational Astrophysics.
Workshop on Higher-Spin and Higher-Curvature Gravity
With the participation of the leading experts in the field, the Workshop on Higher-Spin and
Higher-Curvature Gravity took place at ICTP-SAIFR from November 4-7. Organized by Eric
Bergshoeff (Groningen), Gastón Giribet (Buenos Aires), Marc Henneux (Brussels) and Jorge
Zanelli (Valdívia), 54 researchers from 18 different countries heard review talks and specialized
seminars on higher-spin generalizations of general relativity.
School on Nonlinear Optics and Nanophotonics
Recent advances in the field of nonlinear optical systems in the nanoscale were the subject of the
School on Nonlinear Optics and Nanophotonics, which took place from November 25 - December
6. Organized by Cristina Masoller (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain), Hilda A.
Cerdeira (ICTP- SAIFR, Brazil), and Yuri Kivshar (Australia National University), the lectures
discussed the topics of photonic cyrstals and photonic lattices, nonlinear optics at the nanoscale,
active optical media and laser dynamics, nonlinear effects in optical communication systems,
metamaterials, and the complex dynamics of quantum optical systems.
224
Rosly minicourse on twistor theory
Alexei Rosly (ITEP, Moscow) and Andrei Mikhailov (IFT- UNESP) taught a minicourse on
Twistor Theory from October 8- November 15. After giving a general introduction to complex
geometry, the lecturers discussed the twistor description of massless fields of arbitrary spin and
its application to constructing classical solutions of self-dual Yang-Mills theory and N=4
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.
Redi minicourse on composite Higgs
Michele Redi (INFN, Firenze) taught a minicourse on Composite Higgs in the LHC Era from
October 23-25. Michele talked about recent advances in describing the Higgs boson as a pseudo
Nambu-Goldstone boson in an Effective Theory framework and discussed some
phenomenological applications.
Vieira program on amplitudes and correlation functions
The Program on Amplitudes and Correlation Functions, led by Pedro Vieira (Perimeter Institute,
Canada), took place from October 20 through December 20. With the participation of 12 external
researchers in addition to several local researchers, the program included a minicourse on the
relation of Wilson Loops and Scattering Amplitudes with lectures by Pedro Vieira, Benjamin
Basso (Perimeter) and Amit Server (Perimeter and IAS Princeton).
225

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