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Applied Physics
The Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics also pays special attention to interdisciplinary work in order to capture the latest developments on different areas of applied physics.
ARPL - Aeronomy and Radiopropagation Laboratory
Aeronomy is an interdisciplinary field of science that deals with the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere of the Earth and other planets under the effects of magnetic fields and electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation from space.
The highly variable characteristics of the aeronomic environment under the effects of the solar radiation changes give rise to one of the main components of what is known as "space weather". At the ICTP, studies on ionosphere electron concentration and total electron content global and regional modeling and ionospheric scintillations are carried out. These studies are related to the effects of the ionosphere on radiocommunication and satellite navigation and positioning systems.
The ARPL has also provided training activities and technical support particularly for the use of radiocommunications for local area computer networking for academic and research institutions in collaboration with the ICTP Science Dissemination Unit.
ICTP's ARPL head is Sandro M. Radicella.
Medical Physics
Due to the increasing blurring of boundaries between disciplines, the Centre has also explored opportunities in biophysics and medical physics, by organizing successful workshops and training activities. The use of analytical tools related to thermodynamics and complex systems to study, e.g, protein folding structure and design has given a cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques that have enriched both the fields of biology and physics.
The objective of the College on Medical Physics has been to contribute to the development of competent medical physicists who can make direct contributions to the improvement of health care in their countries through better medical imaging diagnosis, and who can lead in the proper and safe applications of radiation for diagnostic imaging purposes.
Contact:
Office: LB room 227
Phone: (+39) 040 2240 254
Fax: (+39) 040 224163
Email:
bertocch@ictp.it
Local co-ordinator:
ICTP's Medical Physics activities are co-ordinated by Luciano Bertocchi.
Physics of the Living State
This programme covers a wide spectrum in the frontier of physics with life and earth sciences and is currently supported by a large group of Associate Members:
- Biophysics. The areas of interest cover the study of biomolecules, in particular protein crystallography, electron transfer in the reaction centres of bacteria, where the main intermediate steps of photosynthesis take place. The process of protein folding is now attracting the attention not only of biophysicists, but even specialists from other areas, such as condensed matter physics. Research in biophysics has also included the origin, evolution, distribution and destiny of life.
- Neurophysics. With its modern molecular biology background, neurophysics is an exciting area of research that has been developed at the Centre through a series of colleges and symposia. It is also possible to consider this subject in the broader context of neuronal structure and function, while addressing important issues of perception, learning, memory, behaviour and computational aspects.
Contact:
Office: LB room 276
Phone: (+39) 040 2240 392
Fax: (+39) 040 224163
Email:
chelaf@ictp.it
Local co-ordinator:
ICTP's Physics of the Living State activities are co-ordinated by
Julian Chela Flores.
EEE - The Ecological and Environmental Economics
This was a joint three-year programme of ICTP - The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, FEEM - Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, and The Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics. The core aim of the EEE Programme is to organise research and training activities with the final objective of enabling researchers from the developing countries to join the international academic network in the field of ecological and environmental economics. Activities concentrate in three main areas:
- Dynamic ecological models: Activities focus on indicators of genuine health, economics and dynamics of complex systems, non-market interactions and informal institutions.
- Indicators of Sustainable Development: Activities focus on the development of a theory for indicators of sustainable development for complex dynamic systems.
- Integrated assessment models (IAMs): Activities focus on the integration between global climate models, regional models of climate impacts and economic models to assess the economic consequences of climate impacts in a coherent framework.
On the island of San Giorgi Maggiore, Venice, in the premises of Foundazione Giorgi Cini (temporarily in the offices of FEEM), a new Centre has been created as a follow-up to the EEE Programme. It is mostly related to climate change issues.
Contact:
Matteo Marsili (see below).
Mathematical Modeling
Interdisciplinary applications of statistical physics to economic and social systems with contributions to minority game theory. The economy is regarded as a complex system of interacting agents where socio-economic agents are heterogeneous.
Contact:
Office: LB room 225
Phone: (+39) 040 2240 461
Fax: (+39) 040 224163
Email:
marsili@ictp.it
Local co-ordinator:
ICTP's activities of the Mathematical Modeling of complex systems are co-ordinated by
Matteo Marsili.
Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
It includes a one-metre, one-ton thermal convection tank settled at ELETTRA synchrotron facility at Area Science Park in Trieste. The laboratory is the centre piece for experimental research on turbulence conducted by the Director's group. Fluid turbulence is a paradigm for nonlinear systems far from equilibrium, with many interacting degrees of freedom. Loosely analogous problems range from weather to fluctuating stock markets.
Contact:
Office: LB room 275
Phone: (+39) 040 2240 607
Fax: (+39) 040 224163
Email:
niemela@ictp.it
Local co-ordinator:
Fluid Dynamics Laboratory activities are co-ordinated by Joseph Niemela.
Optics and Laser Physics
The laboratory is located within the Synchrotron Light Facility -Elettra, in Trieste. The close link with ICTP is, however, kept through the ICTP Associates, who can spend their stay in the laboratory, and through the annual ICTP Winter Colleges on Optics.
The laboratory collaborates with ICTP on the programmes of Optics and Atomic Physics. It benefits from the collaboration and support of several Organizations. These are, at present: OSA, ICO, SPIE, OWLS, EOS and SIOF. A committee whose members represent the above mentioned organizations is the Trieste System for Optical Sciences and Applications (TSOSA) meets every year during the ICTP Winter College on Optical Sciences at ICTP to discuss the programmes on Optics with special attention to the progress of Optics in developing countries.
- Applications of femtosecond lasers to Free Electron Laser development
- Physics and applications of short pulse lasers
- Diagnostics of VUV and soft X-ray light pulses
Contact:
Office: LB room 275
Phone: (+39) 040 2240 607
Fax: (+39) 040 224163
Email:
niemela@ictp.it
Local co-ordinator:
ICTP's Optics and Laser Physics activities are co-ordinated by Joseph Niemela.