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News

EPJ Plus Highlight - Painting materials in San Salvatore crypt, Italy, confirmed to be from the Lombard Period

Details: Published on 11 December 2024

Complemeting PIXE spectroscopy with two further techniques, electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, plus infrared photography has allowed a full characterisation of the pigments making up these important medieval paintings.

The eighth-century church and crypt of San Salvatore in Brescia, Italy is one of the most important pieces of Early Medieval religious architecture in that country, if not in Europe as a whole. The crypt is known for its remarkable wall paintings. The pigments used in these were analysed about twenty years ago using a non-destructive technique, PIXE (Particle-Induced X-ray Emission Spectroscopy), but the results were largely inconclusive. An international group of scientists led by Alessandro Zucchiatti of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and the University of Genoa, Italy has now performed a much more detailed analysis of these pigments, leading to important insights into their nature. This work is now published in EPJ Plus.

EPJ E Highlight - Exploring the impacts of particle parameters on self-propelled motions

Details: Published on 11 December 2024

Phase transitions in the collective motions of self-propelled particles are directly impacted both by the initial velocity of each particle, and the repulsive radius surrounding them.

Collective motions of self-propelled particles can be found across many systems in nature. One of the most striking features of this phenomenon is the way in which systems transition between different states of motion: a behaviour which can be compared directly with phase transitions in physics. So far, however, it is still not fully understood how these transitions are impacted by the initial parameters of these deeply complex systems.

Through new analysis published in EPJ E, Salma Moushi and colleagues at the University of Hassam II, Morocco, show how the conditions required for transitions to occur are heavily dependent on the initial velocities of each particle, and the repulsion radius surrounding them.

EPJ ST Highlight - Taking a step back from the membrane debate

Details: Published on 10 December 2024

Phospholipid molecules are the building blocks of cell membranes

New progress in a long-standing debate about the nature of biological cell membranes could be made by considering which aspects of the membrane can be captured in simplified simulations

Even after 60 years of exhaustive experimentation and modelling, researchers still haven’t reached a consensus about the true nature of the deeply complex behaviours of biological cell membranes. Today, many disagreements remain over how the membrane’s molecular building blocks cooperate with each other to produce its overarching properties.

Through a new mini-review published in EPJ Special Topics (EPJ ST), John Ipsen at the University of Southern Denmark takes a step back from the debate: showing how complications to the discussion have emerged from the practices widely used to simulate the membrane. The insights presented in his paper could offer useful guidance for researchers, and may help to break a long-standing deadlock in their conflicting interpretations of the membrane’s properties.

EPJ Plus Highlight - Modelling antineutrinos emitted from nuclear reactors during fission

Details: Published on 10 December 2024

Differences in antineutrino production by each isotope in the nuclear fuel under different conditions.

Nuclear fission is the most reliable source of antineutrinos, but they are difficult to characterise. A new study suggests how their emission can be simulated most effectively.

Antineutrinos are mysterious fundamental anti-particles with no charge and an exceptionally small but non-zero mass. The JUNO project (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) in China is a large scintillation detector designed to detect them and to characterise their properties, particularly in precise measurements of that tiny mass. Anti-particles are hard to measure and even harder to control, even when they come from a strong and reliable source.

A group of Italian physicists, led by Monica Sisti of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Milan and Antonio Cammi of the Politecnico di Milano and part of the JUNO collaboration of over 700 scientists from 17 countries, has now modelled parameters that determine the ‘antineutrino spectrum’ emitted by a source. Their results are published in the journal EPJ Plus.

Aleksi Kurkela joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

Details: Published on 05 December 2024

The Scientific Advisory Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Professor Aleksi Kurkela, as the new representative for the Norwegian Physical Society.

Aleksi Kurkela is an associate professor at the University of Stavanger, specializing in the intersection of high-energy nuclear and particle physics. His research focuses on the interdisciplinary connections between heavy-ion collisions and the physics of neutron stars.

EPJ Web of Conferences Highlight – 11th EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference on Solid-State, Fibre, and Waveguide Coherent Light Sources (EUROPHOTON 2024)

Details: Published on 03 December 2024

11^th EPS-QEOD EUROPHOTON Conference, August 25-30, 2024, Vilnius, Lithuania.

The 11^th EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from August 25 to August 30, 2024.

Since its inception, the EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference has become a pivotal event, showcasing the latest advancements in solid-state lasers, fiber and waveguide light sources. This 11^th edition brought together leading experts, students, and industry professionals from around the world.

EPJ Web of Conferences Highlight – EOSAM 2024: EOS Annual Meeting

Details: Published on 03 December 2024

A Vibrant Gathering of Minds in Naples

The European Optical Society Annual Meeting (EOSAM) 2024 was held in Naples, Italy, September 9-13, at the CESTEV facilities of the University of Naples Federico II. This year's event was organized in close collaboration with the Italian Society for Optics and Photonics (SIOF), the Italian branch of the European Optical Society (EOS).

Silvia Masciocchi joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

Details: Published on 21 November 2024

The Scientific Advisory Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Professor Silvia Masciocchi, as the new representative for the German Physical Society.

Silvia Masciocchi is a professor of physics at Heidelberg University and the head of the ALICE department at GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany. Her research focuses on exploring strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions, such as those created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. These phenomena are studied in ALICE, one of the four major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Additionally, she is actively engaged in research and development (R&D) of advanced particle detection technologies, with a particular emphasis on semiconductor pixel sensors designed for high-precision position measurements.

EPJ B Highlight - Characterising shifts in Sicily’s seasonal rainfall

Details: Published on 19 November 2024

Over the past decade, rainfall patterns on Sicily have shifted from a 4- to a 2-season cycle, reflecting similar shifts taking place worldwide.

Around the world, man-made climate change is increasing both the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Seasonal patterns in rainfall are an especially important indicator of these changes: while a lack of rain can lead to more severe droughts, an excess can trigger catastrophic events such as landslides and flash flooding. To better understand the impact of these risks, it is vital for researchers to characterise these changes in as much detail as possible.

Through new research published in EPJ B, researchers led by Vera Pecorino at the University of Catania, Italy, present a highly detailed analysis of recent changes in seasonal rainfall on the Italian island of Sicily. Their results confirm that over the past decade, the island’s rainfall patterns underwent a profound shift from a 4- to a 2-season cycle.

EPJ ST Highlight - Modelling Brain Networks in Parkinson’s Disease

Details: Published on 18 November 2024

The mathematical operator K applied to a healthy brain network to simulate the alterations in connectivity caused by a neurological disease, such as Parkinson’s disease
© M. Mannone

Insights from network theory have led to a novel mathematical representation of Parkinson’s disease development with potential clinical applications

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, can be thought of as arising from malfunctions in the network of neuronal agglomerates in the brain. It is therefore often useful to apply insights from a branch of mathematics called network theory when studying the development of these diseases. A group of European physicists and engineers led by Maria Mannone of the National Research Council of Italy, the University of Potsdam, Germany, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany, has now taken this further by defining a matrix transforming the brain network of a healthy individual into one affected by Parkinson’s disease. This has now been published in EPJ Special Topics (EPJ ST).