Educational
Frascati, March 27 – 31 , 2023
From Quarks to Black Holes: let’s get INSPYRED!
Rogue Electron: A Physics Wars Story. The VIP2 Experiment is Looking for the Rebel Electron which could Violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle – L. De Paolis (INFN-LNF)
The VIP-2 experiment is looking for the violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons in copper atoms through the x-ray spectroscopy. The experiment is perfomed at National Laboratories of Gran Sasso, an underground laboratory providing a extremely low background environment. The measurement could reveal tracks of a physics beyond the Standard Model, violation of Lorentz invariance or extra dimensions of space. A violation of the Pauli exclusion principle in an atomic system should occur when an electron perform a transition to an atomic level already occupied by two electrons. The 2p->1s Pauli-forbidden transition in copper atoms should have an energy less than 300 eV respect to the Pauli-allowed transition. The energy decrease is due to the one more electron in the atomic shell in the case of Pauli violation. The VIP-2 scientific case, experimental apparatus and the new results are presented in this talk.
Luca De Paolis
Luca De Paolis was born in Rome on 06/09/1991. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in nuclear and subnuclear physics with a thesis titled ‘Experimental study of the possible violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle in the context of the VIP2 experiment at the National Laboratories of Gran Sasso’ in 2017. In 2021, he received a Ph.D in Physics degree with a thesis titled ‘Study of relative yields from Kaonic helium (3 and 4) X-ray transitions measured by E62 at J-PARC’, which received an excellent quality with honors evaluation. The thesis illustrates the study of exotic atom transitions formed by kaonic particles and was carried out in collaboration with J-PARC in Japan.
At 18, he met Catalina Curceanu and began attending the National Laboratories of Frascati as an amateur. In 2013, he collaborated on the first experiment by performing cascade counting for electron violating the Pauli Exclusion Principle for the VIP experiment (three-year thesis).
Today, he is a researcher at the National Laboratories of Frascati and collaborates on the SIDDHARTA2 and AMADEUS experiments at the National Laboratories of Frascati, VIP-2, VIP-LEAD; VIP-Collapse Model, VIP-Quantum Gravity at the National Laboratories of Gran Sasso, E62 and E57 at J-PARC in Japan. He is author of more than 70 international publications and awarded of best poster from the fifth National Meeting in Nuclear Physics at LNGS, and of two honored mentions on Nuovo Cimento for Italian Sociaety of Physics.
In the past, he has collaborated with CERN and the INFN physics group in the Tor Vergata section. In his non-work life, he was a scout leader for 6 years, having completed the scout path since he was a child. He plays the guitar and does Stand Up Comedy in local venues in Rome.