Dr. Valentina Lozza has been a Fellow at TU Dresden since October 1, 2021 - at the invitation of Prof. Kai Zuber from the Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics. Lozza works at the Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (LIP) in Lisbon in the field of astroparticle physics and is a member of the SNO+ collaboration. The SNO+ experiment is a neutrino detector located two kilometers below the Earth's surface in an active nickel mine near Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. With the experiment, researchers, including the group of TUD physicist Kai Zuber, are searching for extremely rare nuclear decay events that provide information about the properties of neutrinos and answer open questions in the field of neutrino physics. One focus is on detecting the so-called neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), which would support the theory that neutrinos are their own antiparticles.

Although neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, they are very difficult to detect because they hardly interact with other matter particles. Therefore, the measurements at the SNO+ experiment must be shielded from interfering influences, such as cosmic rays. Valentina Lozza is an expert in this field and coordinates the research activities in the collaboration that characterize the radioactive background of SNO+ and eliminate it as much as possible.  

At TU Dresden, Valentina Lozza will contribute to the analysis of SNO+ data and bring her expert knowledge on background reduction in sensitive measurements to teaching. She will also participate in meetings with young students to provide insights into her research, her daily work, and her career path as a physicist.

About the Dresden Fellowship Program: The program enables international scientists to be invited for joint research and teaching at TU Dresden. The focus of the programme is on boosting cooperation and setting up long-term cooperation strategies for institutions and working groups at TU Dresden and its DRESDEN-concept partners.