The PolarquEEEst 2025 – OvEEErland mission, the new project by the EEE Collaboration researchers dedicated to studying cosmic ray fluxes at different latitudes using one of the POLA-R detectors developed within the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project, concluded today, October 8th. The mission, which started on September 16th, was jointly organized by CREF, INFN, and the University of Oslo.

Following previous expeditions—where in 2018 the POLA-R detectors boarded the innovative ecological vessel Nanuq to circumnavigate the Svalbard islands; in 2019 they were permanently installed in the Norwegian archipelago; and in 2022 they accompanied the training ship Amerigo Vespucci on its circumnavigation of Italy—this year’s mission takes a new direction: traveling by land, from Bologna to Tromsø in the heart of Arctic Norway, by car!

The route crossed six countries—Italy, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway—covering a total of approximately 8,200 km round trip. “A journey covering a wide range of latitudes, from 44.5°N to 70°N, filling particularly the gap in measurements between 52°N and 66°N, which was never explored in previous PolarquEEEst missions,” says Francesco Noferini, INFN project manager for the EEE Project.

Along the way, scientific stops and outreach events took place at German and Norwegian schools: Gymnasium Villa Elisabeth in Wildau (with the support of Carolin Gnebner, head of the DESY-Zeuthen group for International Cosmic Day), the Physics Department of the University of Oslo, and Thora Storm Videregående Skole in Trondheim. All three events were very successful and saw significant participation also from Italian students, who shared their work on the detectors at their schools via live connections.

“For years, EEE has offered students the unique opportunity to experience science firsthand, side by side with researchers. With this mission, we bring our cosmic ray measurements beyond geographical borders, crossing countries and diverse communities. This journey unites science, youth, and institutions under one sky, reminding us that knowledge has no boundaries,” states Marco Garbini, EEE Project manager at CREF and spokesperson.

The POLA-R detector has returned to Bologna awaiting new expeditions!

All photos and videos of the trip, stage by stage, along with the story of this exciting scientific adventure, can be found on EEE’s social media channels.

 

 

%AM, %26 %495 %2025 %10:%Jul

ICRC 2025

International Cosmic Ray Conference 2025

 

From July 14 to 24, 2025, the annual astroparticle physics conference (ICRC - International Cosmic Ray Conference) is taking place this year at the CICG (International Conference Centre) in Geneva.

 

Dal 14 al 24 luglio 2025 si sta svolgendo lannuale conferenza di fisica astroparticellareICR

Frome left: O.Pinazza, P.La Rocca, F.Nozzoli, L.Ghezzer

 

Four members of the EEE collaboration presented results on various topics related to the Project and particle physics.
Below are the official links to the conference and the presentations of the four researchers:

 

• Conference: http://icrc2025.unige.ch/

• Paola La Rocca: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1258933/contributions/6481354/

• Ombretta Pinazza: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1258933/contributions/6478597/

• Luigi Ghezzer: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1258933/contributions/6478581/

• Francesco Nozzoli: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1258933/contributions/6482596/

 

Dal 14 al 24 luglio 2025 si sta svolgendo lannuale conferenza di fisica astroparticellareICR 1Dal 14 al 24 luglio 2025 si sta svolgendo lannuale conferenza di fisica astroparticellareICR 2

 

Below are the links to the Instagram and Facebook posts of the event on the official channels of the EEE Project:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYRTKjI9Xq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16gvXG62dB/

 

%PM, %14 %637 %2025 %14:%Jul

EEE Collaboration Meeting 2025

EEE COLLABORATION MEETING AT CREF

 

IMG 20250709 WA0013
 

On July 7 and 8,  Enrico Fermi  Research Center (CREF) hosted the meeting of the EEE Collaboration (Extreme Energy Events Project). The experiment, a result of the collaboration between CREF and INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), is dedicated to the study of cosmic rays and outreach activities in over 70 schools participating in the Project.

The President of CREF, Prof. Angela Bracco and the Scientific Director Prof. Salvatore de Pasquale, opened the meeting with a welcome address to all participants, both present and connected remotely, emphasizing the importance of teamwork that led the EEE Project to celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2024.

Marco Garbini (CREF) and Francesco Noferini (INFN Bologna), respectively Spokesperson and Deputy Spokesperson of the project, opened the sessions with an introductory overview followed by presentations from the various experiment leaders: Cristina Ripoli (University of Salerno) for outreach, Ombretta Pinazza (INFN Bologna) for activities related to the POLA-R detectors, and Despina Hatzifotiadou (INFN Bologna) for R&D activities at CERN. The first day concluded with a talk by Rosario Nania (INFN Bologna) on organizing a cosmic ray flux measurement campaign by car from Bologna to Tromsø (Norway).

The second day featured an overview by Prof. Francesco Riggi (University of Catania) on publications and conference participation, followed by a review of ongoing analysis activities with contributions from Francesco Noferini, Ombretta Pinazza, and Paola La Rocca (University of Catania). The final presentation was by Aksieniia Shtimmerman (CNAF Bologna) on the computing aspects.

Many insights emerged during the various presentations, allowing the definition of the program of EEE Project activities for the coming months and years.

Links to the post on our social profiles:

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/p/DL2zHtyoB_M/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FngQ6R6jD/

%AM, %20 %383 %2025 %08:%May

EEE at the North Pole

POLA-R Detectors at the “Dirigibile Italia” Research Base in Svalbard islands

 

Since May 12 to May 19, a team of researchers from the EEE Collaboration – Francesco Noferini (INFN Bologna), Alessandro Corvaglia (INFN Lecce), and Corrado Cicalò (INFN Cagliari) – have conducted maintenance work on the POLA-R detectors at the CNR research station “Dirigibile Italia” in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard.

 

foto1

Ny-Ålesund

 

The operations have been supported by station leaders Anna Baldo and Leandro Nauhel Rotondo.

The POLA-R detectors, developed through the collaboration between the Enrico Fermi Research Center (CREF) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), are part of the EEE Project (Extreme Energy Events), an experiment dedicated to the study of cosmic rays that also involves high school students from all over Italy. Since 2019 as part of the EEE@NyAlesund mission, these detectors play a key role in data collection at extreme latitudes. The long time series collected over more than five years now enable in-depth analyses of signal periodicities, offering insights into the nature of cosmic ray sources.

 

foto4

  Researchers of Collaboration EEE: Francesco Noferini (INFN Bologna), Alessandro Corvaglia (INFN Lecce) e Corrado Cicalò (INFN Cagliari)

 

foto7 

INFN researchers, CNR and Institute of Polar Science

Measurements under such geographical and environmental conditions are particularly rare and valuable for the scientific community.

%PM, %26 %770 %2024 %17:%Sep

EEE Researchers Night 2024

The European Researchers' Night will be held on 27 and 28 September 2024

The EEE Project will participate in the following activities:

 

 NdR2024 EEE

  • Marco Selvi will be in Predappio (FC) to measure cosmic rays (info)

 

Send us a photo of your EEE European Researcher's Night and we will publish it on the EEE social channels!

 

Page by M.G.

%PM, %03 %571 %2023 %12:%Dec

EEE Project General Meeting 2023

The general meeting of the Extreme Energy Events Project– Science in Schools  has just ended at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro dell’INFN.

Hundred students and teachers from schools across Italy participated in the event in person, together with EEE researchers, and many others followed remotely.

During the three days, from 27 to 29 November, some seminars were held on the activities of the EEE project and PolarquEEEst ("spin off" of EEE for the measurement of cosmic rays near the North Pole) and on some researches that are carried out at the Legnaro Laboratories, such as nuclear astrophysics and the production of radionuclides for medicine.

The students had the opportunity to visit the experimental areas of the laboratories and discover the activities taking place inside them. The central event of the meeting was a masterclass in which the students measured the Legnaro EEE telescope efficiency, starting form data aqusiition to analysis and report of the results. The students of the EEE project, in fact, actively participate in the study of the performance of the detectors with the new low environmental impact mixture that the EEE collaboration has identified as part of its ecological transition.

%PM, %21 %934 %2023 %21:%Nov

EEE at ICD 2023

 

More than 30 schools of the E.E.E. Project participated in the International Cosmic Day 2023. During this edition of the event, hundreds of students followed the seminar by Professor Pasquale Blasi, of the Gran Sasso Science Institute, entitled "The universe that the eye does not see: High Energy Cosmic Accelerators", an interesting journey to the origin of cosmic rays.

The day continued with the presentations of the schools focused on the analysis of data from the POLAR detectors, located at the international scientific station of Ny Alesund: the students studied the coincidences between pairs of detectors. On the occasion of the event, students and professors from high schools in Rome and Lazio followed the ICD from the Fermi Hall of Centro Fermi.

 

%AM, %27 %403 %2023 %08:%Sep

EEE Researchers Night 2023

The European Researchers' Night will be held on 29 and 30 September 2023 

The EEE Project will participate in the following activities:

 

 NDREEE 2023
  • Marco Garbini will be at Città dell'Altra Economia in Rome with a stand on the EEE Project
  • Edoardo Bossini will guide the visits to PISA-01 EEE telescope at Sezione INFN di Pisa. (link1,link2);
  • Silvia Pisano will be connected from the ALICE experiment control room  at CERN (we will send the information for the connection shortly);
  • Marcello Abbrescia and Nicola Mazziotta will talk about the mission of the POLA detector on the Amerigo Vespucci (link1, link2).

 

Send us a photoof your EEE European Researcher's Night and we will publish it on the EEE socials!


NB: in order for your photos to be published on our channels it is necessary to simultaneously send the completed and signed privacy information found here

 

Page by M.G.

%PM, %23 %582 %2022 %12:%Sep

EEE-meetings resume!

The first Run Meeting of the year 2021-22 was held on 13 October for the schools participating in the EEE Project. 
About 350 students and teachers were connected for the presentation of the proposed activities for the restart of the experiment.
The next appointment will be on 10 November for the International Cosmic Day (ICD) which turns 10
 
 

Thirty high school classes from all over Italy and numerous students and professors belonging to the EEE Project participated in the International Cosmic Day 2021 - the international day dedicated to the physics of cosmic rays - taking part in the webinar that the Enrico Fermi Research Center and INFN they organized on November 10th. The meeting, moderated by Dr. Silvia Pisano, CREF researcher, was articulated through the contributions of Dr. Giuseppe Gallo (Muonic Tomography of Etna) of the University and INFN section of Catania, of Prof. Daniele De Gruttola ( Cosmic ray flow vs. direction) of the University and INFN section of Salerno, and the presentations of the four best analyzes carried out by the schools: the Liceo Scacchi of Bari, the Liceo Galvani of Bologna, the Liceo Righi of Rome and the IIS Staffa of Trinitapoli. International Cosmic Day is an international event born 10 years ago, coordinated by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) of Hamburg, and aims to bring students closer to science by accompanying them in the discovery and study of cosmic rays.

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