IASFRome_StatusReport - INAF-IASF-Roma

IASF Roma - STATUS REPORTfor the Visiting CommitteeRef: IASF-RM-VC-001/07DATA: 19 November 2007Page: 12/134studies and tests are carried out in collaboration with IASF Bologna and Politecnico diMilano and involve microstrip detectors, silicon drift chambers the recently inventedControlled Drift Detectors.• Balloon Experiments: the Artic OLIMPO is a balloon borne telescope, (PI S.Masi),featuring a 2.6 m diameter primary and a cryogenic receiver with 4 arrays of bolometerssensitive at 140, 220, 340 and 540 GHz, exploiting the technology successfully developedfor the BOOMERanG[2] experiment. The instrument is designed to fly on long durationcircumpolar flights and is aimed at measuring the cosmic microwave background in thedirection of rich clusters of galaxies (Sunyaev Zeldovich effect). Olimpo observations willimprove the forthcoming shallow survey of Planck in hundreds selected clusters in bothcelestial hemispheres, providing significantly higher resolution and sensitivity. This will allowthe study of cluster dynamics, evolution, composition, and the determination of cosmologicalparameters like the Hubble constant, the cosmological constant and the density parameterof baryonic matter. The first flight of the experiment will be in 2008, in the framework of theIPY,from the newly developed Svalbard Nobile-Amundsen facility in Longyearbyen. Thesame team is preparing a new flight of the BOOMERanG (PI P.de Bernardis) experiment tomeasure the polarization of high latitude interstellar dust, and is developing an extendedstratospheric balloon program. This includes payloads with a variety of sizes and goals. Thegroup has validated the circumpolar summer flights from Svalbard, and is validating polarnight flights from the same site.1.6 IASF Roma Strengths and WeaknessesThe IASF staff, including scientists, technologists, accountants, administrators etc, hasdemonstrated, in the last decades of joint work, a great strategic capability to propose and thenrealise scientific projects with high innovative content that had been considered worldwide ofoutstanding quality and able to provide top class science. This “vision” capability in term of newideas and advanced scientific programmes had resulted in a sort of “independence” of IASFfrom other research Institutes and Laboratories. This, in turn, has often made possible to us toreach leadership position in programmes involving large, world class, internationalcollaborations and consortia:IASF Roma is one of the Institute with higher number of Principal Investigators and Co-Investigators in international programmes lead by ESA, NASA and other Space Agenciesin the field of Astrophysics and Planetary Science.In our Institute are working staff members, and scientist on temporary contract, capable toimagine, design, develop, build, test and finally calibrate key instrumentation in the field of HighEnergy Astrophysics and Planetary Science and capable to solve outstanding scientific openproblems and questions. This challenging attitude resulted in the autonomous capability toanalyse and interpret the scientific data collected from space and ground Observatories andthen gain the above mentioned level of excellence at international level.The presence in the Institute of scientists oriented to theoretical studies in the field of stellarevolution, planetary science or relativistic astrophysics had provide in the past and is providingnow to the Institute an invaluable background to fully understand the actual scientific scenarioand focus the Institute effort toward a correct future strategic plan.The participation to challenging and complex international programmes has ensured to IASF acontinuous financial support from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) that resulted in a number of up12