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Travel With Two Infants

The other day I traveled with Kalliopi and our two newborns to Padova from Lulea. After six full...

A Nice Little Combination

Although I have long retired from serious chess tournaments (they take too much time, a luxury...

The Strange Case Of The Monotonous Running Average

These days I am putting the finishing touches on a hybrid algorithm that optimizes a system (a...

Turning 60

Strange how time goes by. And strange I would say that, since I know time does not flow, it is...

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Tommaso DorigoRSS Feed of this column.

Tommaso Dorigo is an experimental particle physicist, who works for the INFN at the University of Padova, and collaborates with the CMS and the SWGO experiments. He is the president of the Read More »

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Guess the Plot

Guess the Plot

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

I used to post on this blog very abstruse graphs from time to time, asking readers to guess what they represented. I don't know why I stopped it - it is fun. So here is a very colourful graph for you today. You are asked to guess what it represents. 



I am reluctant to provide any hints, as I do not want to cripple your fantasy. But if you really want to try and guess something close to the truth, this graph represents a slice of a multi-dimensional space, and the information in the lines and in the coloured map is not directly related. Have a shot in the comments thread! (One further hint: you stand no chance of figuring this out).
Fun With A Dobson

Fun With A Dobson

Apr 14 2015 | comment(s)

It is galaxy season in the northern hemisphere, with Ursa Mayor at the zenith during the night and the Virgo cluster as high as it gets. And if you have ever put your eye on the eyepiece of a large telescope aimed at a far galaxy, you will agree it is quite an experience: you get to see light that traveled for tens or even hundreds of millions of years before reaching your pupil, crossing sizable portions of the universe to make a quite improbable rendez-vous with your photoreceptors. 
The Season Of Muons

The Season Of Muons

Apr 08 2015 | comment(s)

Particle physics is so cool - you get to build huge detectors with a specific goal clearly stated in your letter of intents and technical proposals, but are then allowed to use them to study many other things.
Instead Of An April's Fool

Instead Of An April's Fool

Apr 01 2015 | comment(s)

Taking inspiration from Resonaances, who this year offers much more than an April's Fool in his blog (I am also flattered to see that I am featured there, and with a character of my liking), I am going to offer some predictions for the next run that the LHC is going to start, at the unprecedented energy of 13 TeV, in the next few weeks. The unconventional thing is that I will force the natural scepticism out of my brain, and try to be over-optimistic.
The prediction for 2015-2016
Fighting Plagiarism In Scientific Papers

Fighting Plagiarism In Scientific Papers

Mar 31 2015 | comment(s)

Plagiarism is the most sincere form of flattery, they say (or rather, this is said of imitation). In arts - literature, music, painting - it can at times be tolerated, as an artist might want to take inspiration from others, elaborate on an idea, or give it a different twist. In art it is the realization of the idea which matters.
Another One Bites The Dust - WW Cross Section Gets Back Where It Belongs

Another One Bites The Dust - WW Cross Section Gets Back Where It Belongs

Mar 27 2015 | comment(s)

Sometimes I think I am really lucky to have grown convinced that the Standard Model will not be broken by LHC results. It gives me peace of mind, detachment, and the opportunity to look at every new result found in disagreement with predictions with the right spirit - the "what's wrong with it ?" attitude that every physicist should have in his or her genes.