Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

The Master Degree in Physics (Laurea Magistrale in Fisica) aims at providing basic notions,

independently of the chosen track (curriculum), in relativistic quantum mechanics and condensed-matter physics, as well as completing the mathematical, computational, and numerical education, started in the B.Sc. programme (laurea triennale).

The Master in Physics is organized in four different tracks (curricula). The Particle ed Astroparticle Physics track, taught in English, aims at providing a solid knowledge of subnuclear physics, mainly focussing on the experimental aspects. The Condensed-Matter track  aims at providing a solid knowledge of the experimental and theoretical aspect of condensed matter. The Biosystem tracks focuses on biophysics, from both an  experimental and computational point of view.  Finally, the Theory track allows the student an in-depth theoretical preparation in the physics of gravitation, in elementary particle physics, in statistical mechanics and in the field of complex systems.

Specifically, independently of the chosen track, at the end of the Master programme, the student:

1) knows the fundamentals of relativistic quantum mechanics, i.e. the quantization of the electromagnetic field and the Dirac equation, and is able to perform simple tree-level perturbative computations;

2) knows the fundamentals of solid state physics and, in particular, the main features of conductors, semiconductors and insulators, the theory of vibrations in crystals, the behavior of electrons in metals, their interactions with the electromagnetic field and conduction properties;

3)  knows advanced methodologies and software for statistical data analysis, and is able to perform a modern physics experiment in a real research environment.

Moreover, he has advanced skills and competences depending on the track he has chosen.

Theory track (curriculum Teorico Generale). Depending on the chosen courses, the student has an in-depth knowledge of elementary particle theory (detailed knowledge of the perturbative renormalization in field theory, mainly focussing on quantum electrodynamics and gauge theories, and of the standard model of fundamental interactions), of statistical mechanics (detailed knowledge of the statistical mechanics of critical phenomena and of the renormalization group, of dynamical systems, of disordered systems, spin glasses and complex systems) and general relativity (detailed knowledge of the modern theory of gravitation based on the Einstein equations, and of its most important predictions and applications in astrophysics, like light deflection, spectral lines redshift, gravitational waves and black holes).

Particle and Astroparticle Physics track. At the of the Master program, the student knows the theoretical ideas at the basis of the standard model of fundamental interactions, the most important experiments that have validated it and the most important experimental techniques used in this field. Depending on the chosen courses, he has an up-to-date knowledge of elementary particle physics (he knows the most recent developments and currently running experiments), of the experimental methods (accelerators, detectors, etc.) and of instrumentation (sensors, electronics, etc.) used in present-day research. He can also acquire notions needed to understand gravitational wave detectors or applied-physics notions relevant, for instance, for biomedical applications.

Biosystem track (curriculum Biosistemi).  At the end of the Master program, the student  has a deep understanding of the physical mechanisms driving biological systems at all levels. At the macromolecular level, she/he understands the origin of intramolecular forces and of self-assembly processes, the physics of polymers and of colloidal solutions. She/he knows the basic principles of response theory and the main techniques in spectroscopy and microscopy to investigate biological systems at the microscopic scale. The student knows the theory of low Reynolds number hydrodynamics and concepts of stochastic thermodynamics and how to study - through various experimental techniques - dynamical processes in living systems. More broadly, the student has a theoretical background in stochastic processes and the statistical physics of interacting systems and how to use it to describe signal transmission (chemo/ photoreception/sensing) and collective phenomena in multi-scale biological processes, from neural networks to collective motion in animal groups.

Condensed Matter track (curriculum Fisica della Materia). The students of the Condensed Matter track have specific competences in solid-state physics: the band structure of the electronic spectrum, on the phonon excitations, on the effects of electron correlations at the level of mean field or, more generally, of the density functional theory; they  understand optical and electronic spectroscopies for studying the vibrational excitations and electronic properties. In more specific courses they can acquire knowledge and competences on advanced experimental, theoretical and/or computational techniques also aimed at experimental data interpretation: (i) on low-dimensional ordered systems, on many-body systems, on critical phenomena and transport, on highly-correlated systems, superconductors and superfluids, on the interplay between atomic structure and vibrational, electronic, optical, magnetic, and transport properties; (ii) on the modeling and study of disordered systems, of liquids and of soft matter, on the formation of out-of-equilibrium states (gels and glasses), on the colloidal aggregation, on the structural and dynamical aspects studied over different space and time scales; (iii) on the physics of complexity, entropic quantities, complexity and information theory, scaling and renormalization group, fractal structures and self-organized criticality, graph and network theory, the analysis and simulation of complex systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning, on applications to social sciences and evolution processes; (iv) on the optical techniques and advanced experimental methodologies, on the foundations of quantum mechanics, on the foundations of information, cryptography and quantum computation, on the methodologies to study and develop these protocols.