News
Lasse Laurson joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 03 February 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Lasse Laurson, as the new representative of the Finnish Physical Society.
Professor Lasse Laurson is a professor of computational physics and head of the Computational Physics Laboratory, part of the Physics Unit at Tampere University, Finland.
He is a member of the Academic Board of Tampere University, and works on computational statistical physics of complex systems, focusing especially on collective phenomena in materials.
Jacobo Santamaría joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 30 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Jacobo Santamaría, as the new representative of the Spanish Physical Society.
Professor Jacobo Santamaría is a Full Professor of Physics at the Department of Materials Physics at the University Complutense de Madrid (Spain). He obtained his Ph.D. in Physics at the University Complutense (1989), followed by post-doctoral research at the University of California San Diego. He leads the Complutense Research Group on Complex Materials (GFMC), with focus on the physics of correlated transition metal oxides. His research is mainly on magnetism and superconductivity of artificial oxide interfaces with attention to spintronics and energy devices.
He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (2008) and was awarded a D´Alembert Chair of the University Paris Saclay (2017). Member of the Editorial Board of the Physical Review Materials (2018-). He has been Chair of the State Research Plan for Materials (Program Manager) of the Spanish National Funding Agency (2011-2018). Holder of international EU Projects (ERC Synergy 2025, EIC Pathfinder 2024).
Alberta Bonnani joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 23 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Alberta Bonnani, as the new representative of the Austrian Physical Society.
Professor Alberta Bonanni was born in Italy. After studying physics at the University of Trieste, she spent several years as a researcher at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis and the University of Wisconsin.
Since 2015, she has been Professor of Solid State Physics at the Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz. Since October 2019 she has been Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs at JKU. Since 2024 she is Chair of the Austrian Physical Society.
Her main scientific work is in the field of quantum materials, spintronics and solid state physics.
EPJ H Highlight - Crediting the real pioneers of classical wavefunctions
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- Published on 20 January 2026
Study corrects a long-standing misconception surrounding the origins of classical wavefunctions in Hilbert space
A Hilbert space is an abstract space of finitely or infinitely many dimensions, and its mathematical properties make it incredibly useful for quantum and classical theories alike. In the 1930s, Bernard Koopman and John von Neumann found a way to formulate classical observable quantities in terms of ingredients in Hilbert spaces. Decades later, conceptually distinct methods emerged for formulating classical states as wavefunctions in Hilbert spaces – methods that have since become central to modern theories. In recent years, however, credit for both approaches has incorrectly gone entirely to Koopman and von Neumann.
In a new investigation published in EPJ H: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics, Jacob Barandes at Harvard University shows how the Koopman-von Neumann formulation and the method of classical wavefunctions, despite both using Hilbert spaces, are each based on different underlying principles – with the latter possibly emerging through calculations carried out by Brazilian physicist Mario Schönberg in the 1950s. Barandes’s work corrects a long-standing misconception surrounding a cornerstone of modern classical theory, and could finally give the physicists really responsible the credit they deserve.
EPJ Plus Highlight - Using protein microtubules for quantum computations
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- Published on 20 January 2026
A new model shows how networks of protein-based microtubules could host entangled quantum states under normal biological conditions
For now, the possibility of using biological structures as a platform for quantum computing remains an open question. While existing quantum computers require tightly controlled conditions to preserve quantum coherence, researchers have begun exploring how quantum information could be stored and processed more naturally within complex biomolecular structures.
In new research published in EPJ Plus, Nick Mavromatos at the National Technical University of Athens), Andreas Mershin at RealNose.AI, and Dimitri Nanopoulos at Texas A&M University present a model in which entangled quantum states are hosted by networks of protein-based microtubules. If experimentally confirmed, this model could open entirely new avenues toward biological quantum computers, potentially more resilient to information loss than current technologies.
Mitko Gaidarov joins the EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
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- Published on 12 January 2026
The Steering Committee of EPJ is delighted to welcome Mitko Gaidarov, as the new representative of the Bulgarian Physical Society.
Professor Mitko Gaidarov is a professor of physics and the head of the Nuclear Theory Laboratory in the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
In the past he was the Scientific Secretary and Vice-Director of this Institute..
He is a member of the C12 Commission on Nuclear Physics of the IUPAP, member of the Governing Board of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria and Chair of Section “Physics” of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria.
Mitko Gaidarov is an Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Journal of Physics.
His interests are theoretical nuclear physics, nucleon correlations in nuclei, nuclear structure and nuclear reactions.
EPJ Plus Highlight - A better model for effective neutron capture therapy
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- Published on 19 December 2025
Accounting for multiple neutron production mechanisms, the model makes safe neutron-based cancer treatments easier to control
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an innovative technique for treating tumours that are non-operable, or resistant to more conventional treatments. To exploit BNCT’s potential at its best, a neutron beam with suitable energy and angular distributions is needed. Nowadays, proton accelerators coupled to lithium or beryllium targets are widely used as neutron sources, but so far, the yields of neutrons produced by the beryllium target, which is the safest and most controllable of the two, have proven difficult to calculate.
Through new research published in EPJ Plus, Alessandro Colombi and colleagues at Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics have developed a new model for proton-BNCT, which can more accurately calculate the neutron beams produced when protons are fired into a thick beryllium-9 target. Their model could ultimately lead to more reliable techniques for treating malignant tumours.
Farewell Renato Angelo Ricci
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- Published on 17 December 2025
Former President of the European Physical Society and former President of the Italian Physical Society (SIF, 1981 - 1998), Prof. Renato Angelo Ricci had also led the preparations for merging parts of Il Nuovo Cimento into the newly launched EPJ during his final years as SIF president [II Nuovo Cimento: Historical Recollection]. In 1999 he then became (together with the late Prof. Andrea Taroni) a member of the newly formed EPJ Steering Committee, a role which he fulfilled with much dedication until his retirement from committee work in October of 2005, while remaining always interested in the further development of the EPJ journals.
Prof. Renato Ricci passed away on December 5, 2025. News from Società Italiana di Fisica: Addio a Renato Angelo Ricci
EPJ Plus Focus Point Issue: Scientific Research in Cultural Heritage 2022
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- Published on 12 December 2025
Guest Editors: Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet, Danilo Bersani, Anne-Solenn Le Hô, Delphine Neff, Laurianne Robinet, Aurélie Tournié
This EPJ Plus Focus Point on “Scientific Research in Cultural Heritage: articles from the 5th International Conference on Innovation in Art Research and Technology (inArt 2022)” brings together 33 papers from 47 oral presentations and 119 posters presented at the conference held in Paris from 28 June to 1 July 2022. These articles illustrate the wide range of topics covered at the conference, which fall within the scope of archaeometry or conservation science. The aspects presented in the various studies may concern issues of understanding ancient materials and techniques, as well as deterioration mechanisms and conservation strategies. Transversally, given the objects to be studied and the constraints posed by heritage objects, the use of mobile instruments and on-site measurements is involved in many of the works, whether in case studies or in the development of specific methodologies.
Since the 2022 edition in Paris, a new edition of the inArt conferences has been organised in Oslo (Norway) from 4 to 7 June 2024, which will again give rise to articles to be published in an EPJ Plus focus point on Advances and Innovation in Heritage Science.
All articles are available here and are freely accessible until 9 February 2026. For further information, read the Editorial.
EPJ C: Julia Vogel new Editor-in-Chief for Experimental Physics II: Astroparticle Physics
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- Published on 12 December 2025
The publishers of The European Physical Journal C – Particles and Fields are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Julia K. Vogel as new section Editor-in-Chief for Experimental Physics II: Astroparticle Physics, succeeding in this role to Professor Jocelyn Monroe as of 1 January 2026.
Julia K. Vogel is a Professor of Experimental Particle Physics without Collider at the Physics Department of TU Dortmund. Her scientific research focuses on axion and ALP dark matter searches, as well as X-ray astronomy, and multilayer-coated X-ray optics. She currently serves as Deputy Spokesperson of the IAXO Collaboration and leads the X-ray optics team of the experiment. She has furthermore significantly contributed to the CAST experiment and has also been a member of the initial NuSTAR science, instrument, and project teams, and was responsible for the on-ground calibration of the telescopes point spread function.
