INFN-LNS facility upgrade for the Nuclear Physics Renaissance

Abstract

Abstract A broad range of Nuclear Physics research activities have been carried out at INFN-LNS until the summer 2020, when the accelerators were stopped for the upgrade. The upgrade of LNS is a project mainly funded by a PON-FESR (National Program for Research and Innovation) strategic line for boosting the research infrastructures, having its own goals, time-schedule and deadlines. In addition to such an action promoted by the Italian Ministry of Research, further funds have been made available from INFN budget. The end of the phase supported by the PON for procurement and tenders is currently set for the end of 2023. A series of actions will therefore be implemented to improve scientific opportunities for users. In particular, the focus is on the commissioning of the Tandem and Superconducting Cyclotron with the new set-up, completed by the renewal of the experimental areas and the commissioning of the new fragment separator FRAISE, also financed under the PON. The high-intensity program, including the determination of the nuclear matrix elements (NME) for the double beta decay and the study of EOS for nuclear matter with large neutron content, will be made feasible by these improvements to accelerators, beamlines and detectors. Some highlights of the whole activity as well as of the Applied Physics perspectives and the Astroparticle Physics multi-messenger program, strictly connected to the Nuclear Physics program, are given.