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Manned space missions towards Moon and Mars planned in the next decades require a reliable radiation risk assessment considering the long time exposure of astronauts (up to years) to different radiation fields. The radiation environment inside a human space habitat, generated by the interaction of the Galactic Cosmic Rays and occasionally of Solar Particle Events with the spacecraft hull, is peculiar due to its composition (ions from Hydrogen to Iron, knock out neutrons) and the large kinetic energy range of the particles. For this reason the risk assessment approach used for astronauts in space is quite different from the one used on Earth. In this approach the risk for astronauts is evaluated calculating factors which score the risk in function of physical characteristics of the single particle, like the quality factor Q (related to the radiation ionizing power) or the squared ratio between the charge (Z) and velocity (β) of the particle (Z 2/β 2). LIDAL-ALTEA (Light Ion Detector for ALTEA - Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts) is an experimental apparatus which will allow to evaluate for the first time in the field the Z 2/β 2 risk factor of the single detected particle on-board the International Space Station. The LIDAL system is a Time-Of-Flight detector designed to work paired to three Silicon Detector Units of the ALTEA, which will measure the deposited energy of the passing particle. The velocity of the particle (β), calculated from the Time-Of-Flight measurement performed by LIDAL, allows to evaluate the particle electric charge once related to the deposited energy measured by ALTEA. A first LIDAL prototype has been developed by the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and tested at TIFPA (Trento Insistute for Fundamental Physics Applications) proton beam line, in order to evaluate the timing performances of the detector. Results are briefly presented and the current status of the apparatus production is discussed in view of the launch scheduled for 2019.

LIDAL–ALTEA is a detector designed to study the radiation flux and energy spectra in the International Space Station (ISS). Its mission is manifested by NASA in 2019. The ALTEA subsystem, which took data on the ISS in the past Zaconte et al. (2010), is based on Silicon Strip detectors and will measure the released energy of the traversing particles, while the LIDAL subdetector is based on fast plastic scintillators , read by PMTs, will measure the particle Time Of Flight. A custom Front End electronics has been designed to reach a time resolution better than 120 ps. LIDAL is under construction while a prototype has been already tested with a proton beam . The measured time resolution fulfills the design expectation and is compatible with FLUKA simulations. The Monte Carlo results have also been validated by the comparison with a test measure where the ALTEA detector was exposed to proton beams.

In the VIP2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exlusion Principle) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) we are searching for possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions. With high precision we investigate the Pauli Exclusion Principle and the collapse of the wave function (collapse models). We will present our experimental method of searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons, via the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons (brought inside a copper bar by circulating current) which could have the probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state (1 s level) already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the concept of the VIP2 experiment taking data at LNGS presently. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10$^{-31}$. We will show preliminary experimental results obtained at LNGS and discuss implications of a possible violation., Comment: Proceedings TAUP 2017

The LIDAL (Light Ion Detector for ALTEA) is a device designed to work paired with three silicon detector units of ALTEA (Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts) in order to improve the particle identification capabilities of ALTEA on the International Space Station also providing Time-of-Flight measurements. The LIDAL-ALTEA goal is to measure ions from protons up to iron in real time. The improved measurements of the radiation environment inside ISS will be very valuable for radiation risk assessment and mitigation. It is necessary to have a detailed simulation of the apparatus response to cosmic ray nuclei in order to assess the detector response, its observational capabilities and to set the relevant parameters of the device. Here a new Monte Carlo simulation of the LIDAL-ALTEA setup and physics processes, in the framework of FLUKA, is presented. A comparison between Monte Carlo simulations and calibration data is also shown.

We present the idea of searching for X-rays as a signature of the mechanism inducing the spontaneous collapse of the wave function. Such a signal is predicted by the continuous spontaneous localization theories, which are solving the "measurement problem" by modifying the Schrodinger equation. We will show some encouraging preliminary results and discuss future plans and strategy., to be published in Foundation of Physics 2015

By performing X-rays measurements in the "cosmic silence" of the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso, LNGS-INFN, we test a basic principle of quantum mechanics: the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP), for electrons. We present the achieved results of the VIP experiment and the ongoing VIP2 measurement aiming to gain two orders of magnitude improvement in testing PEP. We also use a similar experimental technique to search for radiation (X and gamma) predicted by continuous spontaneous localization models, which aim to solve the "measurement problem"., 7 pages, 3 figures, proceedings to the workshop "Eighth International Workshop DICE2016", Castello Pasquini/Castiglioncello (Tuscany), September 12-16, 2016 Spacetime - Matter - Quantum Mechanics