On 11 April 2017, President of National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN, Italy) Fernando Ferroni, Spokesperson of the ALICE collaboration (CERN) Federico Antinori accompanied by colleagues visited JINR. The guests visited laboratories of high energy physics, nuclear reactions, neutron physics, as well as the memorial room of Bruno Pontecorvo.

After a meeting with the JINR Directorate, Professor Fernando Ferroni shared his impressions of the visit to Dubna with Dubna journalists:

– Of course, Italy is very interested in participating in the NICA project, we already cooperate – the ASJ company from Genoa performs a significant part of the project. We have extensive experience in this area. We are coperating in the frames of the ALICE project, and from what we saw this morning on the sites of the Institute, we can conclude that we have excellent possibilities of technology export, at least, a technology of the inner tracker based on silicon detectors. Of course, any of Italian physicists will be happy to participate in the NICA experiment, and my institution would support it.

Our current agreement on cooperation between JINR and INFN is expiring, and we have to extend it. We are honored that the President of the Republic of Italy will attend the signing of the new agreement. JINR is a wonderful institute, and it is very important to me that traditions of the past are kept here, and they projecting into the future.

Spokesperson of the ALICE collaboration at CERN Federico Antinori spoke about the points of contact between the projects ALICE and NICA:

– Physics that we are studying and physics which will be studied at the NICA project are similar. And the ultimate goal is the same – the study of matter under extreme conditions (pressure, temperature, etc.), but the conditions are different: in physics studied in Dubna there are a large number of protons and neutrons, on the other hand, we have a difference in approach from the point of view of the instruments. Once again, I note that the ultimate goal is very close and the approaches that are used in construction of the facilities are also very close. In particular, technologies that are used in the ALICE experiment are of interest for the MPD detector in Dubna. We see that our cooperation is very useful, and this is the reason why we are here.

JINR Director Victor Matveev totaled the milestones of the meeting:

– Visit of the delegation of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics headed by its President Professor F. Ferroni to our Institute is a great event. We recalled the history of our Institute, summed up the activities of 60 years. We remembered that from the very first days of the Institute very close relations with our colleagues from Italy and other European countries have been developed. Especially with Italy: the name of Bruno Pontecorvo is known worldwide and it is the pride of our Institute and at the same time it is the embodiment of the fact that we are bound with Italy. From the first years of foundation of JINR, we were visited by Professors Antonino Zichichi and Tullio Eugenio Regge; they had been giving lectures, creating special atmosphere, getting us acquainted with the latest trends in the world. Then the joint experimental projects had been started: at the Phasotron of JINR, later at the accelerator in Protvino, and then in Italy, in Frascati. Our relations began to develop rapidly. Today we have a wide connection with the underground laboratory in Gran Sasso, where in the unique neutrino experiment BOREXINO obtained important results which were noted by international prizes. Today’s visit is very important for us because we develop such strong global projects as NICA, the Factory of Super-Heavy Elements. We are interested in researchers from Italy, and especially the young physicists, to come now and participate in these international projects.

In addition, our agreement on cooperation with Italy expires in June this year, and it is a great honour for us that tomorrow in the Italian Embassy in attendance of the President of the Italian Republic Signor Sergio Mattarella the signing of a new agreement between INFN and JINR will be held. It is a great honour for us and, in addition, the establishment of new prospects for our cooperation. We believe that these prospects are very promising. Interestingly, this delegation included representatives of the Italian centers which cooperate with JINR not in Dubna, not in Italy, but at CERN. This cooperation is very close, very productive, it is recognized in the world, and it was very pleasant today to see these scientists in the delegation. I think today’s meeting is a great historical event and it will inaugurate a new stage of cooperation with our Italian colleagues.

Olga Tarantina, JINR Weekly Newspaper
Photo by Elena Puzynina