ICCUB researcher Alfred Castro and former reseacher Albert Escrivà (University of Nagoya) have received the 2022 Extraordinary PhD Prizes for their doctoral theses.

The prizes were announced in 2022 but the ceremony will take place next Tuesday, May 23^rd, in the Paranimph of the Historical Building, and it will be presided by the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias.

Dr. Escrivà’s thesis, “Numerical Simulations of Primordial Black Holes” aimed to put forwards the knowledge on primordial black holes using numerical methods and was carried out under the supervision of Professor Cristiano Germani (ICCUB-IEEC).

Dr. Castro’s thesis, “Detection, characterisation and use of open clusters in a Galactic context in a Big Data environment” was focused on the development of a data mining methodology to blindly search for open clusters in the Galactic disc using ESA’s mission Gaia data and it was carried out under the supervision of Professors Carme Jordi and Xavier Luri (ICCUB-IEEC).

The Extraordinary PhD awards want to distinguish the theses that represent relevant contributions to the human knowledge and improvement of science and they are decided, assessed and selected by a rigorous tribunal composed of Postdoctoral researchers and professors from UB. Only theses with the “excellent cum laude”qualification are able to compete in this exceptional prize.

We want to convey our deepest congratulations to both researchers!

Save the date for the European Students Space Hackathon that is coming on October 8th and 9th. The challenge consists on an online 24-hour-hackathon during the weekend of the World Space Week (8th and 9th October). For those who don’t know, World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October 4-10. In this year’s edition, we celebrate “Women in Space!” with moret han 4000 activities all around the world!

In this activity, the teams (from 2 to 5 members) will have to solve a space themed challenge related to satellite data processin and artificial intelligence (AI), with support from professional mentors. Afterwards, all the solutions will be evaluated by a professional jury panel.

The winning team in each category will receive a prize of 1000€. You can check the other prizes here.

The week prior to the event you will have the chance to attend webinars about the topics treated in the hackathon as well as cultural activities in order to get to know more about the other participants and its origins. The webinars begin on October 4th (you can check the program here). The webinars count with the special participation of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences researcher Licia Verde who will deliver the following conference:

WEBINAR: «SPACE MISSIONS, ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE»

The recent advances made by physicists  In understanding the workings of matter at the smallest scales and the advances of astronomers in understanding the Universe as a whole have brought these disciplines together. In particular,  in interpreting observations of the sky we use the  observed Universe as a  giant detector.   This has driven a massive effort to observe, scan and map  as much as possible and as large portions as possible of the observable Universe. Ground-based observations are limited by the Earth’s atmosphere, leading astronomers to put their observatories and telescopes in space, opening new windows into the Universe. Space missions are now  highly complementary  to  particle accelerators.   How is the Universe made? what are its building blocks? Why are we here?  Answering such questions is "a defining characteristic of the human spirit”.

The quest for understanding the Universe is far form over. Are you ready?

Date and time: Monday, October 4, 19h

Place: streaming, via registration

Anybody who has interest in the space sector technologies and its business strategies can participate in the hackathon, however it is fully oriented to students who are enrolled on a space related degree in Europe. You can make your registration in the following link.

The Hackathon is brought to you by Euroavia, which is the European Association of Aerospace Students with representation in 42 universities in 18 European countries, and the KIMbcn Foundation which is a public-private foundation created to stimulate the Knowledge Economy in Spain and promote Open Innovation.

Two students of the Astrophysics, Particle Physics and Cosmology masters of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB have been awarded the Sant Jordi Prize 2021 for best Final Thesis by the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC). Clàudia Soriano’s work on the Higgs boson has received the first prize while Cristina Jiménez’s thesis on stellar spectra has been given the secondary award.

The event was hosted on Friday, April 23, by the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) at the courtyard of the Casa de Convalescència. It was presided by the president of the IEC, Joandomènec Ros and some of IEC’s council members.

You can read the abstracts of both theses here:

Author: Clàudia Soriano Guerrero

Thesis: Optimization of a discriminant to find charged Higgs boson in the ATLAS experiment.

Abstract: This work is based on the optimization of the discriminant used in the separation of the H+ boson signal from the rest of the Standard Model processes, corresponding to background noise, detected in proton-proton type collisions at the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Particularly, the thesis describes the production of H+ with a top quark and a bottom quark and their subsequent decay to a top quark and a bottom quark, and it compares this process to the main background channels produced by tt+jet.

The main goal of the thesis is the study of the behaviour of several invariant masses used to reconstruct the decay chain of H+ and how these are modified by different parameters (normalization, weights and rebinning).

Author: Cristina Jiménez Palau

Thesis: Automated classification of stellar spectra.

Abstract: We analyzed the performance of a PCA-based automated classifier of stellar spectra into the MK system, using as benchmark optical spectra from the SDSS-DR15. We found it is possible to account for 99\% of the total variance arising from A, F, G, K, and M stellar spectra with four principal components. The projections of 50.000 good-quality spectra on this 4D space were used to determine the most probable spectral type of test stars in samples of spectra of increasing quality, with which we evaluated the goodness of our classification procedure using a Gaussian and a Top-Hat Kernel.

This award is a recognition to the quality of education at the Physics Faculty of the University of Barcelona and to the excellency of the research carried out at the ICCUB, therefore, congratulations are in order! You can check out the complete list of award-winners here.

This program will allow applicants to perform their master's thesis as members of a research group of the University of Barcelona, taking part in the day-to-day scientific activities of the group. The goal behind the project is to bring research closer to students and thus facilitate the transition from education to research.

The registration period opens up today (June 21) and closes on July 12.

From a total of 50 internships, two have fem allotted to the research groups of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona.

You can find more information and the application portal here.

On Wednesday, August 12, we lost Professor Artur Polls Martí. Artur has been for many of us - department mates, students and friends - a fundamental pillar along with which we have grown and developed our lives, both from a personal and professional point of view.

Throughout his career he has trained dozens of students from the Faculties of Physics and Chemistry, in addition to having directed a large number of doctoral students, master's degrees, final degree projects, etc.

Artur finished his bachelor's degree at the University of Barcelona in 1975 and later did a doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Rafael Guardiola at the University of Granada in 1980. He then obtained a postdoctoral position at the University of Tübingen working with Prof. Herbert Müther. In 1983 he joined the University of Barcelona and began a collaboration with Prof. Willem Dickhoff of the Washington University. It was during his doctoral thesis that his interest in the microscopic description of many-body quantum systems began, both in the field of nuclear physics and in that of quantum liquids or ultracold gases. His important contributions made him a worldwide reference in the field, highlighting his appointment as Chairman of the International Advisory Committee of the International Conference on Recent Progress in Many-body Theories (2007-2011) and as a member of the Scientific Board of the European Center for nuclear Physics (ECT * - Trento) (2011-2014).

While helping to position Barcelona as a reference center for many-body quantum physics, Artur maintained a constant commitment to teaching and to the University of Barcelona, ??assuming, among other responsibilities, the role of Head of the Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria (2004-2008). We have all witnessed his passion for teaching, seeing him even in these last courses prepare each class with care and go to the blackboard as if it were the first day, ending the lesson with a critical look in order to improve on the next.

Artur always had the office door open because he firmly believed that he was available to everyone, colleagues, students or anyone who wanted to enjoy his analytic skills and his broad vision of problems, worldly or not. His generosity was evident in each meeting he attended, seeking to contribute with incisive and profound questions or sharing his point of view from a measured and conciliatory tone.

Driven by a latent and contagious curiosity, he studied the quantum many-body phenomena in all its multiple disciplines, adapting at all times to the relevant problems that were emerging in the international scientific environment. With Artur, you could discuss the behavior of the atomic nucleus, the properties of neutron stars, the superfluidity in quantum liquids, the magic of ultracold atoms, the potential of quantum technologies or simply about the last Barça game, some movie of an African film festival that he had just seen or a novel that had excited him.

He was a humble person, perhaps in excess, and with a sharp humor of certain pessimism. His patient, sensible and noble disposition made him, without him being very conscious, a reference point for all his colleagues, always ready to listen and respect his thoughtful opinions. Artur's premature departure opens a huge void for us. We know that we will long for him deeply every day of our lives. But he also leaves us a legacy that is impossible to forget: his passion for physics, his enthusiasm for transmitting knowledge, his affable treatment and his kindness. Trying to emulate him will make us better people.

Bruno Juliá Díaz, Professor agregat del Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica

Àngels Ramos Gómez, Catedràtica del Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica

The pictures took place in four different environments, showing the researchers interacting with young girls with particular elements of their research field. The projects aims to draw attention to the research that woman physicicst do, and enhance girls vocation towards science.


The photographic series was conducted by the Audiovisuals team of the University of Barcelona, with the collaboration of the Observatori Fabra.

The exhibition Opening took place the last Tuesday. In the press conference, Latorre presented the project along with the two other curators, Mónica Bello from CERN and the scientist and writer José Carlos Mariátegui. That same date, Bello and Latorre participated in the first Quantum debate with the three artists Juan Cortés, Suzanne Treister and Yunchul Kim.

The exhibition has two interrelated itineraries. The first of them is constructed through ten artistic projects that show how the impact of quantum physics goes beyond the realm of science. The second itinerary present the visitors nine scientific windows that intorduce the laboratory research and the intellectual achievements of the theories of physics. .

The CCCB has programmed other activities in parallel to the exhibition, including courses and workshops. One of them was the ICREA-CCCB debates, which had Prof. Maciej Lewenstein from ICFO and ICREA-ICCUB researcher David Mateos discussing the nature of quantum physics.

The exhibition offers guided visits in Catalan, Spanish and English, and will remain open from Tuesday to Sunday until September. For more information please visit CCCB.

Find more details at UB News

In collaboration with the Belgian initiative Sterren Schitteren voor Iedereen (SSVI) and Universe Awareness (UNAWE), the Astronomical Union are giving away 10 Bresser Refractor telescopes that have been signed by astronauts to support astronomy educational activities with children around the world. These will be used during the 100 Hours of Astronomy 2.0 Global Project on 18-21 January 2019.

The 100 Hours of Astronomy 2.0 project invites amateur astronomers, educators, professional astronomers, planetaria, science centres and more to arrange stargazing and other astronomy-related events around the world on 18-21 January 2019. This event is part of the IAU100 Celebrations that commemorates a century of astronomy research and discoveries since the founding of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1919.

ESO (European Southern Observatory) organizes every year an astronomical camp in the Aosta Valley (Italy). These stays are aimed at encouraging astronomical vocations and are adapted to the general framework of teaching: bilingualism, promotion of science education and values education (effort, companionship, creativity, etc.)

This year the camp will explore the theme of the exoplanets via several astronomical sessions, including lectures, hands-on activities, and night-time observations with the telescopes of the Observatory, alongside various social activities, winter sports and excursions.

Dates:

Camp, from 26 December 2018 to 1 January 2019.

*Registration: until 07 October 2018 at 23:00 (CET)*