Paolo Privitera

Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the College; Enrico Fermi Institute; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics

Education: Laurea 1989 (Physics) Bologna, Italy; PhD 1993 (Physics) Karlsruhe, Germany

Contact Information

Phone: 773-702-2983 (Secretary Yolanda Davis, 773-702-7861)
Location: LASR 201
Email: priviterkicp.uchicago.edu

Research

Experimental physics, ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Privitera is pursuing the challenging task of discovering the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (>10¹⁹ eV). The Pierre Auger Observatory, with its 3000 km² of effective detection area, is the largest cosmic ray detector ever built. Privitera has given major contributions in the design, construction and data analysis of the Fluorescence Detector, which observe the fluorescence light from the nitrogen molecules excited by the cosmic ray shower particles along their path in the atmosphere. The first data collected by the Auger Observatory, published in Science, are suggesting a correlation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic astrophysical objects, opening a new field of particle astronomy (see 2007 top science stories).

Privitera is also leading the AIRFLY experiment for an accurate determination of the energy scale of ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected with the fluorescence technique. The spectral properties of the fluorescence emission of nitrogen molecules, as well as its pressure, temperature and humidity dependence, are being measured by AIRFLY with electron beams at several accelerators ( Frascati, Argonne National Laboratory).

As an experimental particle physicist, Privitera worked for the DELPHI experiment at the LEP e⁺ e^- collider (CERN, Geneva), with main contributions in the measurement of the properties of the Z and W bosons, in the physics of the τ lepton and of the b quark.

Research Fields: Extragalactic Astronomy; High Energy Astrophysics

Scientific Projects: Pierre Auger Observatory

Visit: Enrico Fermi Institute; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics

<< Return to Faculty