Research: Departments

Physics and Mathematics

The Department of Physics and Mathematics was established in 2004, as an offshoot of the Department of Science. It is located in Como, in a new building which hosts the laboratories, the offices of the staff, and the administration in close proximity to the classrooms and teaching labs. Approximately 30 permanent research officers and 60 doctoral and post-doctoral students, together with short and long term visitors and collaborators, build a lively atmosphere.

Both experimental and theoretical physics are well represented, ranging from optics & quantum computing to elementary particle physics; from astrophysics to gravitation and relativity, from complex systems and chaos to material science. Last but not least, interdisciplinary activities are taking off, e.g. biomedical applications of novel detection technologies. Physics is complemented by Mathematics, where fundamental research in analysis lives together with the development of numerical recipes and ciphering algorithms.

Research is the core of the activities of the Department and most of the projects are actually developed within international collaborations. In an extremely competitive system, the Department is performing quite well, as it is currently  the Department in the University of Insubria with the highest per capita income from national and international grants. The Department hosts a graduate school, which was awarded by the Minister of Science and Education in 2005 a dedicated support for student exchange in view of establishing an European Doctoral School in Physics, for the third time.