Cassiopeia A is a nebula resulting from the huge supernova explosion that took place around 350 years ago. In its electromagnetic spectrum, the high-energy part is the cosmic ray product (electrons and protons) which are inside the supernova remnant. So far, this energy range was not measured in detail so as to define its origins, since it would require long observations. An international team led by researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), the Institute for Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE-CSIC) carried out those observations with the Magic telescopes located in the island of La Palma.

“These kind of supernovas are accelerators of natural particles, on which we can study the behaviour of charge particles and plasma under conditions which are not possible on Earth”, says Daniel Galindo, expert from the ICCUB.

The study, published on the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MRAS), shows that the supernova can accelerate particles up to a hundred times more than the accelerators created by humans –for instance, the Large Hadron Collider in CERN- but there are limitations, since this acceleration is not enough to explain the cosmic ray sea that fills our galaxy up.

The study has the participation of the ICCUB researchers Josep M. Paredes and Marc Ribó, apart from Daniel Galindo.

More information

Article reference
M. L. Ahnen et al. "A cut-of in the TeV gamma-ray spectrum of the SNR Cassiopeia A" Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society MNRAS. August 2017 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx2079

Com ja és costum, a mitjan juliol, la Unitat de Cultura Científica i Innovació (UCC+i) de la Universitat de Barcelona organitza la Trobada de Divulgadors Científics, una jornada de treball perquè el personal de la UB interessat en aquest àmbit pugui intercanviar experiències. L’activitat tindrà lloc el dimarts 18 de juliol, de 9 a 16 h, a l’aula Ramón y Cajal de l’Edifici Històric.

Un dels objectius de la trobada, que enguany arriba a la sisena edició, és contribuir a establir una xarxa que millori les competències divulgatives de la Universitat. Per això, durant la reunió, a la qual assistirà el vicerector de Doctorat i Promoció de la Recerca, Xavier Roigé, diversos investigadors de la UB presentaran els projectes de divulgació en què estan treballant. D’una banda, hi participarà Javier Martín Vide, director de l’Institut de Recerca de l’Aigua i catedràtic de la Facultat de Geografia i Història, que enguany ha estat reconegut amb la IV Distinció de la UB a les millors activitats de divulgació científica i humanística. D’altra banda, hi intervindrà Bruno Julià, de l’Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB) de la Facultat de Física, que parlarà del projecte Ultracold UB, en el qual els estudiants de grau tenen un paper protagonista.

Narcís Prat, del grup FEM, de la Facultat de Biologia, tampoc no faltarà a la cita, per explicar l’app RiuNeT, una aplicació de mòbil que serveix per avaluar l’estat ecològic dels rius i que ja fa uns anys que funciona. Així mateix, l’estudiant de doctorat Amilcar Vargas farà una xerrada sobre el paper dels joves investigadors com a protagonistes de la divulgació. Finalment, Miquel Àngel Cuevas, professor emèrit del Departament de Mineralogia, Petrologia i Geologia Aplicada, exposarà el cas del Concurs de Cristal·lització a l’Escola com un projecte d’èxit adreçat a les escoles que fa sis anys que es va posar en marxa.

A més, el programa de la trobada inclou una xerrada i taller pràctic a càrrec de Marcos Gómez Piñeiro, consultor de comunicació digital, professor de màrqueting de mitjans socials i director de Concepto05, que oferirà als assistents recursos i estratègies per comunicar la ciència a través de les xarxes socials.

En el decurs de la jornada, els investigadors que ho hagin comunicat prèviament, podran enregistrar un vídeo de la col·lecció Divulgadors Made in UB, una sèrie amb la qual es vol donar a conèixer les línies de recerca i les activitats divulgatives dels investigadors de la Universitat.

La Jornada de Divulgadors Científics està organitzada per la UCC+i amb el suport de la Fundació Espanyola per a la Ciència i la Tecnologia - Ministeri d’Economia i Competitivitat.

This asteroid was discovered on November 17, 1941, in Fabra Observatory, by Isidre Pòlit i Buxareu, who was also professor of Astronomy of the UB and director of the Astronomical Area of the Fabra Observatory between 1937 and 1957. Pòlit gave name to another asteroid, the 1708 Polit, discovered in 1929 by Josep Comas i Solà.

The asteroid (4298) Jorgenunez was the last asteroid to be discovered in Fabra Observatory. It has an orbital period of 5.3 years around the Sun, which corresponds to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it has a 16.5 km diameter, quite big for these kinds of celestial objects. The technique they used to look for asteroids, similar to the current one, consisted on making two expositions, separated by a spacetime. According to Jorge Núñez, “each object shows two images which are almost vertically put; however, the asteroid’s two images show an inclination of 45º between them, thus different from the rest of the objects (background stars)”. This shows that “it is a moving object, that is, an asteroid”.

The naming process of an asteroid can last two decades. It starts when two observations of a potentially new object are done and it is told to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Then a provisional designation of the object is done, and its final name is not confirmed until there are enough observations to verify this finding. Regarding the asteroid (4298) Jorgenunez, there have been a total of 1.677 observations from 1941 (its discovery) to 2017.

The asteroid’s file card of the Minor Planet Center provides information on the main features of this celestial body and it describes the contribution of the researcher after whom it’s named: “The physician and astronomer Jorge Núñez is mostly interested in the robotic observations and CCD imaging, an area in which he has contributed to with several reviewed articles. Since 2002, he has been member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona”.

Núñez is a permanent researcher at the Institute of Science Cosmos of the UB (ICUB-IEEC) and professor of the the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Barcelona. He is also a member of the IAU’s Commission A1 “Astrometry”. He was visiting lecturer at Yale University and made a scientific stay at the University of Caliornia – Berkeley. He promoted the robotic telescope Fabra-ROA Montsec, located in the Astronomical Park Montsec, where researchers study space debris, exoplanets, potentially hazardous objects and sources of high-energy emission, among others. He has been director of the Fabra Observatory since February 2015.

L’Institut de Ciències del Cosmos de la UB (ICCUB) ha constituït la unitat tecnològica ICCUB-Tech, centrada en el desenvolupament d’instrumentació i sistemes de tractament de dades massives (big data), tant per a projectes científics i tecnològics com per a empreses. L’acte d’inauguració de les noves instal·lacions de l’ICCUB, un centre reconegut amb l’acreditació María de Maeztu, ha tingut lloc avui, 11 de maig, amb la participació de la secretària d’Estat d’R+D+i, Carmen Vela; el secretari d’Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Arcadi Navarro; el rector de la Universitat de Barcelona, Joan Elias; el vicerector de Recerca, Domènec Espriu, i Lluís Garrido, director de l’ICCUB. Les noves instal·lacions estan ubicades al Parc Científic de Barcelona i ocupen un espai de 500 metres quadrats.

En la seva intervenció, Carmen Vela ha remarcat l’alt nivell científic que ha aconseguit l’ICCUB, un centre que s’ha situat «en l’elit de la recerca espanyola i que compleix uns requisits de qualitat científica exactament iguals que els dels centres Severo Ochoa». «L’ICCUB —ha continuat Vela— genera una producció científica de primer ordre, atrau talent i aconsegueix que els seus avenços beneficiïn la societat. És un gran exemple del que volem que sigui l’R+D+i a Espanya. No cal que mirem cap a l’exterior per buscar models, perquè els tenim aquí, en els centres Severo Ochoa i les unitats María de Maeztu».

El rector Joan Elias ha destacat «el valor afegit que aporta tenir un institut propi especialitzat per crear una massa crítica que permeti optar a convocatòries de centres d’excel·lència com les unitats María de Maeztu». Elias ha recordat que la UB té dos instituts amb aquesta acreditació, «però som ambiciosos i volem que aquest nombre augmenti», ha afirmat. Per la seva banda, Arcadi Navarro, s’ha referit als darrers anys de crisi: «Han estat deu anys duríssims, però també uns anys d’or per a la recerca a Catalunya i Espanya». Així mateix, en la presentació de l’ICCUB-Tech, Lluís Garrido, director de l’ICCUB, ha assegurat que «aquesta unitat representa una oportunitat única per centralitzar recursos, fomentar sinergies entre els grups d’enginyers i plantejar nous reptes tecnològics, a més de fer arribar aquesta tecnologia a la societat».

Unitat transversal

L’ICCUB-Tech integra els enginyers de l’institut especialitzats en instrumentació, electrònica i processament de dades massives que fins ara treballaven en diversos grups de recerca, en camps en què la tecnologia és un element clau: principalment, per a missions espacials, telescopis, acceleradors i detectors de partícules.

Amb aquesta unitat es pretén centralitzar i augmentar l’activitat tecnològica de l’ICCUB i oferir a tots els seus membres la possibilitat de participar en projectes d’alt nivell tecnològic mitjançant l’assessorament i l’ajut directe.

Actualment, la unitat està formada per vint-i-cinc enginyers electrònics i de telecomunicacions, informàtics i físics, i disposa, entre d’altres, d’un laboratori d’electrònica i d’un de mesures de precisió, a més d’una sala blanca per a l’assemblatge d’instrumentació. També està prevista la instal·lació de nous equipaments per desenvolupar instrumentació per a detectors de radiació, càmeres i projectes espacials.

Transferència tecnològica

L’ICCUB té un paper destacat en projectes internacionals com ara les missions Gaia i Solar Orbiter, de l’Agència Espacial Europea; l’experiment LHCb del Gran Col·lisionador d’Hadrons (LHC), ubicat al CERN, o els projectes amb els telescopis de raigs gamma Magic i CTA. Justament, un dels objectius de l’ICCUB-Tech serà buscar projectes de transferència tecnològica a les empreses que permetin d’aprofitar el coneixement generat en aquests grans projectes científics, i en definitiva, fer un retorn dels resultats a la societat.

Entre els projectes iniciats dins de l’ICCUB-Tech, s’està aplicant tecnologia desenvolupada per xips de l’LHCb en la millora de la precisió temporal de tomògrafs per emissió de positrons (PET), utilitzats per al diagnòstic mèdic. Un altre exemple és l’aplicació d’un algoritme de compressió de dades, desenvolupat en el marc del projecte Gaia, als àmbits de la genòmica, les geociències marines, o a nous nanosatèl·lits per observar la Terra.

Sobre l’Institut de Ciències del Cosmos

L’ICCUB és un institut de recerca propi de la Universitat de Barcelona, creat l’any 2006 i reconegut amb l’acreditació d’excel·lència Maria de Maeztu el 2015. És també una de les quatre unitats que constitueixen l’Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC).

El centre està dedicat a la recerca fonamental en el camp de la cosmologia i la física de partícules, així com a les aplicacions tecnològiques de les ciències del cosmos en general. Agrupa bona part del professorat i els investigadors del Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica de la Facultat de Física, a més de deu investigadors ICREA i personal investigador d’altres facultats. Ha estat reconegut amb tres ajuts del Consell Europeu de Recerca (ERC) i participa en tretze projectes europeus. Entre els seus indicadors de recerca en el període 2010-2015, cal destacar la publicació de 1.409 articles en revistes indexades, un 80 % de les quals en el primer quartil. En transferència, ha generat nou patents i dues spin-off.

On Friday May 12, the Historical Building of the UB will throw the 3rd Science Festival of the University of Barcelona during all day. Counting with the successful participation and attendance of previous editions, the Festival tries to represent all faculties of the University of Barcelona and brings back the most successful workshops from other editions. It also brings lots of new activities such an activity to discover the Catalan philology, a workshop on symmetry, three activities on plant physiology, a neuroconcert and a place dedicated to the figure of Sabater Pi.

The main aim of the festival is to reach non-expertized audiences and people from all ages. Therefore there will be a corner with a selection of science-related books, tales and comics for children so that the kids can pause and enjoy some reading. There will be a show for the children too in the afternoon: Flebotín, a mosquito from the Cretaceous.

From Catalan philology to plant physiology, going through history, symmetry and physics

One of the new workshops is Discover the Catalan Philology, which proposes three activities to discover the Catalan philology: a quiz on language and literature, crosswords, a poem with blanks to be filled in and some phonetic transcription exercises. It is organized by the Study Group on Variation, from the Department of Catalan Philology. The consolidation group of Training Innovation FONCAT, from the same faculty, comes with the workshop Can we improve our Catalan pronunciation?

Among other novelties are three workshops on plant physiology. The participants will see what a seed is and how we can use it, why there are different seeds and how they spread; they will see in vitro cultures and their uses in agriculture for an improvement in plants, and will broaden their knowledge on leaves and stomata.

Another new workshop allows visitors to discover and value the items that are registered in the list of UNESCO’s world heritage through community participation. After a short explanation of the meaning of world heritage and the international importance of preserving it, the workshop highlights the necessary participation of local communities so that preservation is efficient.

The Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Mineral Deposits brings a workshop to work on the concept of symmetry through games with geometrical pieces, bullets, and other elements that allow visitors to discover different symmetries and acquire some elementary concepts.

For the lovers of astronomy, the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) will exhibit a big scale representation of the Milky Way, a project conducted within the framework of the Gaia mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The stand will have a workshop to create constellations that will make people understand the three dimensions of the 1.000 millions of stars in the Milky Way.

Virtual reality, chemistry and microscopes, already a reference

The stands dedicated to virtual reality created a lot of interest in the previous editions. This year, the team in Eventlab, from the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB, brings the activity The Virtual Island to discover whether virtual experiences can have an impact on us and change us in the real world. The activity suggests that participants imagine a life in a different world for some time, having a different body and making friends with whom they share experiences that can only exist in a virtual world.

The activity chemistry and color, which shows the ultraviolet and infrared radiation effects in different substances and shows how to detect blood in a crime scene, is back again, as well as the stand with the periodic table, that brings visitors closer to chemical elements and explains what molecules are or how chemical formulations are done, among other things.

How are liver cells? And cells in testicles? Are they different from the ones in kidneys? How would a rat’s tongue be seen in a microscope? Are spermatozoids like we imagine them? These are some of the answers to be answered at the festival for those who visit the stand of microscopes and loupes, organized by the Faculty of Biology and the UCC+i of the UB.

Moreover, attendants will have the opportunity to build a DNA double helix, make a Iuris test, switch their brains on, see an exhibition of the app Flood-up for phone devices or make a questionnaire on bioethics, among other activities.

An illustration workshop within the framework of the space dedicated to the figure of Jordi Sabater Pi

The expert on African etiology, primatology and anthropology Jordi Sabater Pi –mostly known for having found and given to the Zoo of Barcelona the albino gorilla Snowflake- will have his own space in the festival, with an illustration workshop led by experts, inviting the visitors to represent their surrounding nature, in this case the gardens of the Historical Building, in the same way Sabater Pi did with his environment. There will be almost two hundred nature-themed pictures that belong to the large Sabater Pi collection, ceded to the CRAI of the University of Barcelona years ago.

A neuroconcert to close the party

One of the outstanding novelties of this year’s festival is a neuroconcert that will be given at 19 h in the garden Ferran Soldevila, at the Historical Building. The aim of this performance, organized by the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB, is to talk about musical perception and the feelings it creates, throughout a dialogue with musicians and neuroscientists, accompanied by five voices a cappella. Understanding the mechanisms through which music creates particular moods has been a fascinating objective for neuroscience over the years.

Others

The stand of Publications and Editions of the UB will offer a UB BUFF® scarf so that people can collaborate with the funding of scientific dissemination activities organized by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the UB.

Another new thing for this year is a van in the garden so that visitors can buy food and drinks during all day.

The 3rd Science Festival of the University of Barcelona, to be held on Friday May 12 during all day at the Historical Building, comes with many new activities. A neuroconcert, a place dedicated to the figure of Sabater Pi, a workshop on the cultural heritage of Mexico and an activity about astronomy to better understand the Milky Way are some of the new activities of the festival, which also includes the most successful workshops from the previous editions.

Neuroconcert with five voices a cappella

One of the distinguished novelties for the festival is the neuroconcert, at 19 h, in the Ferran Soldevila garden of the Historical Building. The aim of this activity, organized by the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB, is to talk about the musical perception and emotions it creates, with a dialogue with musicians and neuroscientists, accompanied by a live concert of five voices a cappella.

This is not the first time La UB Divulga organizes a neuroconcert. In 2013, they programmed ten concerts within the project NeuroUB: Neuroscience, Music and Art, and the experience was a success. To understand the mechanisms through which music creates specific emotional states has been a fascinating objective for neuroscience for years.

A space dedicated to the figure of Jordi Sabater Pi

The expert in African ethology, primatology and anthropology, Jordi Sabater Pi –mainly known for his discovery of the albino gorilla Snowflake, which he gave to the Zoo of Barcelona –will have an own space in the Festival. Sabater Pi studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona and was emeritus professor of the Department of Clinical Psychiatry and Psychobiology since 1987.

Apart from a poster about his most distinguished contributions in his fields of expertize as scientist and researcher, the exhibition will include almost two hundred natural-themed drawings belonging to the extensive Sabater Pi Collection, given to the University’s CRAI years ago. Some of the drawings are taken from Sabater Pi’s field journals, others are notes on animals and plants. Most of these works are painted in aquarelle or crayons.

History and meaning of UNESCO’s world heritage

One of the new workshops proposes visitors to discover and value the properties listed as UNESCO’s world heritage through community participation. After a brief explanation on the meaning of world heritage and the international importance of preserving it, the workshop stresses on the necessary participation from local communities so that this preservation is effective. In these lines, the UB PhD student Amilcar Vargas will talk about his research in several archaeological sites which are world heritage in Mexico, his place of birth. At the end, visitors can play crosswords with words related to the content of the activity and the places of world heritage they know about or would like to discover, with the help of a map and pictures from those places. They will be invited to take part in the collective creation of crossword games.

Three dimensions of the Milky Way

Astronomy lovers are lucky since the team of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) is exhibiting a large-scale representation of the Milky Way, a project created within the framework of the Gaia Mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The stand will include a workshop to create constellations, which will serve to understand the three dimensions of the 1.000 thousands of stars in the Milky Way.

Activities for all ages

The main aim of the festival is to reach non-specialized audiences from all ages. Therefore, there will be a place with a selection of science-themed children books, tales and comics so that the youngest ones can enjoy some reading too. In the afternoon there will be a play for the kids too, the show Flebotín, un mosquit del Cretaci (Flebotín, a mosquito from the Cretaceous) from the project Pinta’m un conte.

Attendants will have the opportunity to build a DNA double helix, join an introductory workshop on text editing with Ramon Llull manuscripts and medieval scientific texts, or make a Iuris test.

Also, they will discover the relation between chemistry and color, and will be able to try to fool their brains, try virtual reality in first person, or see and touch fossils from unicellular bodies from 40 million years ago, among other activities.

Espai Ciència in Saló de l’Ensenament has a clear aim: to make research attractive enough to promote scientific vocations among youngsters. It is organized by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, and the University of Barcelona is taking part in it once more. This year, the UB participates in the educational fair with two stands, which will be open all day, from March 22 to 26, in Palau 2 in Montjuïc. One of them will be coordinated by La UB Divulga and will offer practical workshops on several fields of knowledge. The other is jointly organized by the Faculty of Earth Sciencesand the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (ICTJA-CSIC).

La UB Divulga and the promotion of scientific vocations

Like all activities with the participation of La UB Divulga, Espai Ciència aims to promote social interest in science and knowledge, as well as increasing scientific culture of the people and contribute to increase scientific vocations among youngsters and children. “In Saló de l’Ensenyament, what makes Espai Ciència special is that workshops are activity-like and are organized by the researchers, and this enables the visitors having direct access and getting their doubts solved” says Marga Becerra, head of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the UB.

The activities are varied and the fields of knowledge covered in the workshops are totally diverse. For example, the Faculty of Law has an activity on juridical culture and society at the European Union, which consists on assessing attendants on juridical and financial knowledge.

Also, researchers from the research group Freshwater Ecology and Management (FEM), from the Faculty of Biology, will show the functioning of the app RIU.net, which assesses the ecological state of the rivers.

The Faculty of Psychology will offer a workshop on virtual reality with the presentation of a computer program able to create the same physical, psychological, emotional and behavioural reactions that we experience when facing real stimuli.

The Faculty of Physics is organizing four activities. On the one hand, the Group of Analysis of Adverse Meteorological Situations (GAMA) will show the FLOODUP app for phone devices, and visitors will learn about floods and their consequences in recent episodes. On the other hand, the research group LENS-MIND-IN2UB (Department of Quantum Physics) will organize a workshop on electronic microscopic transmission. Also, the Institute of Cosmos Sciences will offer two workshops: one on dissemination of quantum mechanics and ultracold gases, and another in which visitors will see different materials and activities related to sky cartography and measurement of stellar distances, in particular the ones in the Gaia mission.

Last, researchers of the Institute for Research on Nutrition and Food Safety (INSA-UB) of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science, will organize the workshop Els sentits i l’alimentació. With several demonstrations of tastes, smells, colours and textures, they will experiment how the organoleptic traits and our brain influence our selection of foods and therefore, our nutrition and health.

Earth sciences in daily life

The Faculty of Earth Sciences of the UB and the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (ICTJA-CSIC) organize together a stand aiming to promote social projection in Geology, Geological Engineering and Marine Sciences, as well as bringing these disciplines closer to high school students and teachers, showing the environmental, social and economic challenges they involve.

The activities and research lines of both institutions are presented in: material characterization, Earth dynamics and structure, exploration and exploitation of geological resources (rocks and minerals, water, fossil fuel), analysis of climate changes in geological records, life evolution, environmental management and prevention of geological risks (earthquake’s, volcanoes, floods, etc.), geology and construction of big infrastructures and geological storage of CO2.

Moreover, the stand will show the functioning of the new app BCNRocks, jointly created by both institutions (with the support from FECYT-MINECO) which allows disseminating about geology, discovering ornamental rocks from Roman times until today, while walking and visiting the most emblematic buildings in Passeig de Gràcia, Plaça Catalunya and the Gothic Quarter.