The Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is the Italian research agency dedicated to the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and the laws governing them, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).

It conducts theoretical and experimental research in the fields of subnuclear, nuclear and astroparticle physics.

All of the INFN’s research activities are undertaken within a framework of international competition, in close collaboration with Italian universities on the basis of solid academic partnerships spanning decades. Fundamental research in these areas requires the use of cutting-edge technology and instruments, developed by the INFN at its own laboratories and in collaboration with industries.

The Lecce section was funded in 1989 and it is located within the Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi”  of the University of Salento.   A brief history of the Section is available here. Currently the Section includes about 80 researchers, technologists, technicians, and clericals, either employee or associate, and several students of the University of Salento.

The activities of the Section are mainly focused on particles physics with accelerators, della astroparticle physicstheoretical physics, and technologies related to fundamental physics.

Our researchers collaborate to experiments based in some of the most relevant Italian and International laboratories of fundamental physics, such as CERNPierre Auger ObservatoryPaul Scherrer Institute, and Italian Laboratories of Frascati.