Tommaso Dorigo

my 2005 in review

I realized minutes after posting the last post that I have not complied fully with my editor´s request to comment on 2005 from my personal point of view. That is, whatever happened to me this year.

It has been a very complicated, interesting, successful, exhilarating, joyful year for me. Sad, also, because of the death of an old friend. But let´s go in order.

I completed a year of convenership of the jet energy and resolution working group. The group produced jet energy corrections that were instrumental in reducing the uncertainty in the top quark mass measurements by CDF, and opened the door to the most precise determination of that quantity. Of course, the merit is not mine, but I was there to coordinate the works, and I am proud of it.

Scientific results I produced or helped produce include finding the Z decay to b quark pairs in CDF run II data, measuring the top pair cross section using the all-hadronic decay channel, producing a first measurement of the top pair cross section using a new methodology that allowed to rescue many such events and become CDF´s third-best measurement of that quantity.

I must not forget, of course, the development of a brand new algorithm, the Hyperball algorithm, that promises an increased precision in the measurement of jet energy resolution, but is also a versatile tool that I have started investigating how to apply to the stock market or the cardiac risk evaluation.

During 2005 I´ve traveled lots, presenting scientific results in La Thuile, Corfu, Chicago. I went back and forth with Fermilab several times (10). I enjoyed it, but I must confess it was stressful at times.

I was also able to spend a lot of time on vacation with my family and enjoyed the company of my kids immensely. I climbed a couple peaks with Filippo, my 6yo son.

I spent a lot of time also with my students. I want them to succeed in particle physics, and I think I did good in motivating them and giving them the impulse to look at the future with optimism.

Finally, this year I remodeled the house I bought last December, and finally moved there in September. The house is now finally ready, and I enjoy it a lot. I think it came out beautifully!

Last but not least, I managed to keep track of my life on this blog. It was complicated to find the time at times, but I think I managed with some bump and disconnection here and there. QD has been a very interesting experiment and I am proud of having had the honor of participating in it. I often brag about it with friends :)

That is all. The interested reader will find much more in these pages, and should she or he want more, just please ask at dorigo@pd.infn.it

I also would like to mention that I have a permanent web page at

www.pd.infn.it/~dorigo/

I have not kept it updated for long now, but will go back doing it now that QD is finished. So long everybody!

three posts for 2005

The quantum diaries are coming to a close, and - as much as I would like to continue with this endeavour - I have to comply, and post this last one with a choice of three representative posts I had in this blog.

I am writing from a bar in Sesto Val Pusteria, a mountain place where I´ve been skiing today. There is a snowstorm out there, and I am a little nervous since Ilaria is sleeping in the car parked outside. Filippo is checking her out every 10 minutes or so, but if the girls wakes up and finds herself alone in the car she´s not going to like it... So this post will be shorter than I would like it to be, and the reader will forgive a poor grammar here and there.

The first post I would like to reference here is Color flow: http://qd.typepad.com/6/2005/02/color_flow.html

There, in connection with a couple of previous posts that the reader will easily find, I discuss a bit in detail the amazing properties of quantum chromodynamics.

A second post I feel compelled to reference here is called Be smarter than a theoretical physicist: http://qd.typepad.com/6/2005/03/be_smarter_than.html

In that post, I asked readers to solve a little puzzle, called Monty Hall problem. I received lots of response from the readers. The following post to that one is the solution, and a discussion follows. Try it by yourself if you do not know it.

The last post I will mention here is about a funny connection I put up with one of my readers, a 14yo girl from Indiana, very witty and scientifically educated. I had her proofread a paper I was about to submit, and she did it very well. I incorporated her corrections and comments, and cited her in the acknowledgements section:

http://qd.typepad.com/6/2005/05/proofreading_by.html

That is all. I am sorry I could not pick a post where there were nice pictures, but you will find many if you dig through the blog.

It is with a bit of sadness that I leave you, dear reader. One day I might decide to run a blog by myself, but that time has not come yet: too many commitments have prevented me to post as much as I would have liked it. And I am just too maximalist to run something that I do not believe I will be able to run at full power. Time, maybe, will change me. The quantum diaries surely have. I sincerely hope I have entertained a few readers throughout the year, and I had my share of fun in doing it. Good luck to you, dear reader, may science be with you!

Big party

On the eve of the 23rd, 45 of my colleagues and friends gathered in our new home to party together, celebrate christmas, my new position, and just hang together.

We had several people coming from abroad who were able to attend.

Alberto, who now works at CERN, was coming from Geneva. He's an old friend, we worked together in CDF for quite a while.

Luca, who is at Santander (Spain), arrived with his trolley directly from the airport. I was a tutor for his PhD in Padova.

Andrea, who now works at Philips in Amsterdam, got his PhD when I did. He was working on silicon detectors back then.

Gino, who is now at Purdue University, was visiting Italy with his wife Petra and his kids. It was great to have him here.

Giacomo, who once graduated with a thesis on silicon detectors for CMS, and is now working for Kinsey, was coming from New York.

Gianluigi also graduated with silicon detectors in Padova several years ago, and now works in Munich, Germany. It was fun to see him again after a long time.

Patrizia and Nicola, old colleagues of mine, now work in Geneva at CERN. They arrived in Padova the evening before the party.

Nanni is a professor at University of Cassino. His was a most welcome visit, since I had not expected his presence until Dario told me he was going to come with him and his new girlfriend - congratulations, Nanni!

And of course, the rest of the crew of the CDF-CMS-Padova groups, plus others... It was indeed a nice party.

Food... There was a large salmon, salami, other assorted appetizers for a start. Then Mariarosa cooked her pasta with scampi (the largest scampi I've seen in a while!), two pasticci di lasagne, one pasticcio with artichokes.

Then, we had "seppie col nero", a very special Venetian dish made of cuttle-fish, cooked in their own ink. With white polenta, of course. And swordfish. And roast-beef for those who did not like the former.

Finally, many cakes, baked by our students...

All in all, I think I had 60 empty bottles of good wine to dump in the morning. People enjoyed the party, I am quite sure...

I am sorry I have no pictures to attach here... I decided I would just enjoy the party rather than witness it.

Drunk for a week long

Here it comes - Christmas time. For me, it is a time of continuous partying with colleagues, friends, relatives, family... A string that will eventually leave me 4 pounds fatter, drunk, and eager to escape to the mountains - but that will be only on the 26th.

It started yesterday: I had a dinner with some of my old friends - we left our wives at home with their kids, and could talk freely about what we usually talk: soccer, politics, girls - well little of that: most of my friends frown when I talk them about my cute students.

Today, we had a party at 10AM in the CDF-Padova headquarters to celebrate the PhD of a student, and then another department-wide party at 11AM - the traditional Christmas party. I am now quite drunk and look forward with horror to what will happen tomorrow, since I am throwing a party with 45 people in my new house. All my colleagues - old and new - from the CDF- and CMS-Padova groups will join.

Then, on the vigil of Christmas, dinner at my mother's house with my brother's family plus some friends. Then, Christmas lunch at my house with my mother-in-law.

And finally, we'll leave for Padola, hoping for some healthy dieting and skiing!

First day at work

Yesterday was the first day of my new job.

.... That is, the very same job, in the very same place, same office, same computer, desk, and papers and books amassed on top of it. But new title. Researcher.

But, new salary (not much anyway). And new badge - I now need to sweep it through a darn machine at the entrance, every time I enter or exit the department. The logic behind it is unclear - I have to total at least 36 weekly hours, but can declare I spent time at home working, and no soul on earth could disprove me: I could have been lying in bed sleeping 24 hours, but maybe I was thinking about a new algorithm or detector.

The logic behind monitoring entrance and exit of INFN personnel is, as far as I understand, only to fill paperwork. And, to prove I can get refunds for my lunches - the thing I don't get if I lay in bed at home.

Anyway, I'm reasonably happy of this change. I have been calling myself a researcher since 1998, but it was an inaccurate description - I used it because more accuracy required a lot more words. Now one word is enough. What a relief!

Laurea Honoris Causa

This morning my father, Wladimiro Dorigo, was insigned of a Laurea Honoris Causa in Urbanistics by the Venice Institute of Urbanistics and Architecture (IUAV).

Wladimiro Dorigo was in charge of the urban plan of Venice in critical years of the post-war restructuring, from 1956 to 1958, but he continued to be involved in the problems of Venice and its surroundings both from a sociopolitical and a historical point of view.

Although he later became a Professor of medioeval art history, his most important books are centered on Venice in the ancient times, with research on the scientific evidence for the effects of climate change of the relationship of the city with its lagoon and waterways, and on the urbanistic and artistic life of Venice during the Romanic and medioeval periods.

This morning Wladimiro gave a long lecture on the history of the last 50 years of Venice, its problems, the attempted solutions, and the entanglement of good and bad ideas for the solution of problems of Venice and its surroundings with political friction against their realization. He finished by warning against micromanagement and political and economical interests, which already killed Venice as a city (the 175000 inhabitants of the late 50's are now reduced to 58000) and threatens its existence in the present century, due to the insufficient measures against rapid climate change and the effects on the Venice lagoon, of which evidence has been brought by his studies of water levels in the medioeval ages as well as by ice core sampling in Greenland.

A few more pics of my new house

Tonight I have a spare half hour, and I decided to post a few more pictures of my new house.

(This darn web interface is so slow! It took me five minutes to put here one single pic... This post is going to be much shorter than originally intended!)

Here you see again the stairs leading to the fourth floor, but they've been embellished by a few additions... Vases, music books, Santa, and a big piece of Calcite from China. You can also see the glasses in the lower shelves, since I opened the door of the cabinet.

This is a view of the entrance "hall" from the dining room. The hall has a peculiar shape, with two curved walls with false doors on two sides. The walls are painted with red stucco.

Here is the entrance hall, with the old consolle and the mirror. The false door on the curved wall leads to a smaller hall from which open doors to the bedrooms and the third floor bathroom.

Finally (for tonight), in a corner between dining and living room my electronic piano has found a safe haven. If you zoom in you can see what I've been playing lately, Beethoven's sonatas.

Long ski weekend

I'm back from a long weekend in the Alps with Filippo. We left on Thursday morning, and spent three very nice days skiing in Padola and San Candido. The weather was marvelous, not a cloud, if only a bit cold (minus six celsius was the average daytime temperature).

On Thursday we arrived at noon in Padola, and were able to profit of the afternoon using the ski pistes there. Filippo was a bit rusty but I soon convinced him to try the big piste, where he had never ventured before. He did great, and on the following day we went to San Candido, where we met some friends - his schoolmate Emma and her parents, my friends Pietro and Elena. By then, Filippo was skiing faster than me, and I had a hard time convincing him to be careful.

On Saturday I wanted to take Filippo to the pistes in Padola, but he had had too much fun in San Candido, and forced me to bring him there again - it's a 30km drive in the mountains to reach it from where we live. But we had fun again.

On that evening, I made a blunder. I had opened the ski carrier on top of my mazda 6 (see pic) with the idea of putting back the skis in the garage, but then forgot to do it. We left at 7PM to have dinner at a very good restaurant on top of the Passo di Montecroce. The road unwinds up a mountain for 12 km from Padola, and there are no lights whatsoever. Upon making the first hairpin bend, I heard the sound of something hefty moving - I thought in the trunk. I shrugged my shoulders, but when, on the second bend, I heard another one, Filippo was quicker than me to shout "WE LOST A SKI!"

It was real luck that we did not cause any accident. There were very few cars going down the road at that time, since the lack of any lighting could have caused an accident. We were quick to get back down the road to collect our harvest of loose skis. Fortunately, no damage to anything, but a bit of embarassment when a car stopped to ask whether things were okay, and could we explain what the hell was going on ?

ski weekend with Filippo

Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Italy, and I've decided to use the chance to go skiing with Filippo. It will be me and him alone, for three days. Filippo is six years old, but he is a good boy and I am sure he will give me no worry. His only concern was that he is going to lose one day at school! I had to convince him that it was ok, and since this afternoon I had had a colloquium with his teachers - this was a prearranged meeting with the parents, to let them know how the kids were doing - I was able to carry him the word of his teacher who said he could go skiing provided he did his homework.

Filippo did his homework this evening, two days in advance... So we are all set up to leave tomorrow.

By the way, the teacher told Mariarosa and I that he is a wonderful boy, that he behaves well, that he is very tidy with his work at school, and that she is proud of him. We were very happy when we left her.

I'll be back on Sunday.