Paolo Privitera

Senior Member, KICP
Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Physics; Enrico Fermi Institute; and the College

Paolo Privitera
Address:
Eckhardt Research Center
Room 473
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone:
(773) 702-2983
Email:
priviter@kicp.uchicago.edu

Background

Laurea 1989 (Physics) Bologna, Italy; Ph.D. 1993 (Physics) Karlsruhe, Germany

Research

The origin of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs, >1019 eV) is a fascinating long-lasting mystery of particle astrophysics. What physical mechanism can produce or accelerate particles to energies 10 billion times higher than the man-made LHC beam? Whether the answer is to be found in the most extreme objects of the universe (e.g. Active Galactic Nuclei powered by blackholes) or in exotic new fundamental particle physics (e.g. cosmological strings), our view of the energy frontier in particle astrophysics will be challenged. To detect these rare particles, the Pierre Auger Observatory covers 3000 km2 in the province of Mendoza, Argentina - the largest cosmic ray detector ever built. Privitera has given major contributions to the design, construction and data analysis of the Fluorescence Detector, which measures the fluorescence light from the nitrogen molecules excited by the cosmic ray shower particles along their path in the atmosphere. Privitera also led the AIRFLY experiment to the most accurate measurement of the nitrogen fluorescence yield and its pressure, temperature and humidity dependence. Currently, Privitera's group is pushing next generation UHECRs detectors, by exploring the potential of microwave emission from the cosmic ray shower, and developing a compact Fluorescence Detector, FAST, which is currently taking data at the Telescope Array.

The nature of Dark Matter - five times more common in the universe than ordinary matter according to astrophysical and cosmological evidence - is still eluding our understanding. A compelling hypothesis invokes yet unknown particles as a major component of Dark Matter. Privitera is scrutinizing this hypothesis with the DAMIC (Dark Matter In CCDs) experiment which employs mm-thick Charge Coupled Devices of unprecedented low energy threshold (few eV) to detect nuclear and electron recoils from low-mass Dark Matter particles. Privitera's group plays a major role in the experiment, now taking data at the SNOLAB underground laboratory in Sudbury, Canada, and also performs measurements of the nuclear recoil ionization efficiency in silicon down to sub-keV energy, essential for a proper interpretation of Dark Matter limits. Privitera is the PI of DAMIC-M, a kg-size detector based on the CCD technology to be installed at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane in France, protected from cosmic rays by the rock overburden of the Alps. DAMIC-M will take a leap forward of several orders of magnitude in the exploration of the dark matter particle hypothesis, in particular of candidates pertaining to the so-called "hidden sector."

As an experimental particle physicist, Privitera worked for the DELPHI experiment at the LEP e+ e- collider (CERN, Geneva), with main contributions in the measurement of the properties of the Z and W bosons, in the physics of the τ lepton and of the b quark.

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