Final Exam

The final examination

In preparation for the final examination, the student independently undertakes the in-depth study and critical analysis of an advanced topic, choosing the most appropriate methods and techniques and drawing on the knowledge and skills acquired during the Master's Degree programme. The topic of the thesis is identified in collaboration with the supervisor, chosen by the student, who guides the work and the subsequent drafting of the manuscript. A referee is also appointed who reviews the thesis, takes part in its evaluation and attends the final defense. The final examination consists of the public presentation and discussion of a final thesis: on this occasion the student demonstrates their scientific maturity and their ability to understand and evaluate open problems in physics and its applied fields, to study independently, to deepen and organize the contents coherently and to present them clearly. The activity may also be carried out within a traineeship at other institutions or companies.

The final thesis documents the work carried out and reports its results. It is written and presented in English and must include a summary in Italian.

The final examination is worth 45 ECTS credits: 35 ECTS for the preparatory activity and 10 ECTS for the discussion of the thesis.

The discussion and the graduation session

The discussion takes place in a public session, in classroom C412 (block C) of the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, in via Saragat 1, Ferrara, and lasts 20 minutes. Co-supervisors and referees are invited to join the committee for the discussion of their respective candidate's thesis.

Unless explicitly denied by the candidate, the presentations are subsequently published online on the website of the Master's Degree course in Physics.

After the proclamation, newly graduated students, relatives and friends are kindly asked not to linger noisily in the corridor, so as not to disturb the discussion of the next candidate.

Criteria and calculation of the final grade

A final grade out of 110, with the possibility of honors, is awarded for the final examination. The Graduation Committee assigns a score of up to 8 points, which is added to the candidate's weighted GPA, also expressed on a 110-point scale. The evaluation takes into account both the quality of the thesis and its presentation, and is based on the scientific maturity demonstrated by the candidate, on the basis of the results presented, and on the consistency between the expected and achieved learning objectives throughout the entire degree programme.

Honors (lode) are awarded unanimously and may only be granted when the candidate's weighted GPA exceeds 103.

Should the student have obtained, during their Master's career, 9 or more honors (lodi) and maintain a weighted average of 29 or higher, the Graduation Committee may award a Mention of Honor, in recognition of an academic path of particular excellence.

The final thesis is an opportunity to study an advanced topic independently, to explore it in depth and to organize its contents in a clear and well-structured text. It is advisable to arrange the work in sections and chapters that guide the reader from the context to the objectives, the methods and the conclusions, to always cite sources correctly, distinguishing the contributions of the literature from one's own elaborations, and to favor a rigorous yet clear style, taking care over the final revision. The thesis is written in English and must include a summary in Italian. A reference template is available for the title page (frontespizio): title page template.

The presentation should be prepared in electronic format, to be projected in the classroom. To ensure its legibility, it is preferable to use standard fonts, such as Arial or Times New Roman, and to take care of the contrast between text and background; it is also advisable to keep animations and effects to a minimum and, in graphs, to keep lines, points and colors clearly legible against the chosen background. Finally, it is recommended to save the presentation both in PowerPoint (.pptx) and PDF format on a USB drive, so that it can be uploaded without difficulty onto the computer available in the classroom.

All information on the documentation to be submitted and on the procedures for graduating is available on the University website, on the page Apply for graduation.

The dates and deadlines of the graduation sessions are published on the Graduation Session Noticeboard (Bacheca Appelli di Laurea).

Graduation sessions A.Y. 2025-26:

• July 23, 2026
• October 15, 2026
• December 17, 2026
• March 18, 2027

Thesis defense session 19 March 2026

Nontopological solitons for the study of the chromodielectric model of QCD and the formation of band structure in nuclear matter
Candidate: Edoardo Guidi
Supervisor: Alessandro Drago
Second reader: Federico Montoncello

Evaluation of X-ray focal spot size in clinical systems via circular penumbra analysis
Candidate: Marco Sassetti
Supervisor: Paolo Cardarelli
Co-supervisor: Jacopo Altieri
Second reader: Andrea Mazzolari

Measurement of the absolute branching fraction of the J/psi to gamma gamma gamma decay at BESIII
Candidate: Umberto Zarantonello
Supervisor: Gianluigi Cibinetto
Co-supervisor: Marco Scodeggio
Second reader: Giovanni Cavallero

Test beam of a drift chamber prototype with TIGER-GEMROC electronics
Candidate: Lorenzo Boccia
Supervisor: Gianluigi Cibinetto
Co-supervisors: Emma Di Fiore, Federico Matias Melendi
Second reader: Wander Baldini

Thesis defense session 11 December 2025

X-ray absorption spectroscopy analysis of fabricated germanium electrodes for lithium-ion batteries
Candidate: Alessandro Michelini
Supervisor: Donato Vincenzi
Co-supervisor: Valentina Diolaiti
Second reader: Federico Spizzo

Thesis defense session 9 October 2025

Muon Time-of-Flight studies for cosmic background rejection in the Short Baseline Near Detector
Candidate: Annalea Corallo
Supervisor: Roberto Calabrese
Second reader: Fabio Mantovani

Photometric redshift measurements of newly discovered strongly-lensed sources with Euclid
Candidate: Marta Melloni
Supervisor: Piero Rosati
Co-supervisor: Pietro Bergamini
Second reader: Luca Pagano

Thesis defense session 10 July 2025

Reflectivity measurements of a curved silicon crystal to build a Laue lens
Candidate: Gianluigi Ferruccio Ferioli
Supervisor: Cristiano Guidorzi
Co-supervisors: Lisa Ferro, Piero Rosati
Second reader: Paolo Cardarelli

Density dependence of the pressure inside hadrons
Candidate: Roberto Demaria
Supervisor: Alessandro Drago
Second reader: Paolo Lenisa

Radiomics and Artificial Intelligence for the prediction of treatment response of gynaecological cancer following Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: An italian multicentric study
Candidate: Erica Costantino
Supervisor: Angelo Taibi
Co-supervisor: Savino Cilla
Second reader: Fabio Schifano

Thesis defense session 20 March 2025

Simulation of Type Ia Supernovae Gamma-ray Spectra observed with ASTENA Narrow-Field Telescope
Candidate: Sergio Fini
Supervisor: Cristiano Guidorzi
Co-supervisor: Mattia Bulla
Second reader: Luca Pagano

Thesis defense session 12 December 2024

Implementing Deep Neural Networks for in-situ crop yield prediction
Candidate: Nicola Macchioni
Supervisor: Fabio Mantovani
Second reader: Paolo Cardarelli

Thesis defense session 10 October 2024

Measurements of substrate and coating birefringence for the advancement of gravitational wave research
Candidate: Alina Mariana Soflau
Supervisor: Guido Zavattini
Co-supervisor: Michal Bejger
Second reader: Giovanni Di Domenico

Study of optical properties of downshifting layers for integration in photovoltaic modules
Candidate: Leonardo Sollazzo
Supervisor: Donato Vincenzi
Co-supervisor: Giulio Mangherini
Second reader: Cesare Malagù

Determination of the Reionization optical depth through a combined analysis of Planck and WMAP data
Candidate: Valentina Genesini
Supervisor: Luca Pagano
Co-supervisor: Giacomo Galloni
Second reader: Mattia Bulla

The IDEA muon detector at FCC-ee: Preparation and Data Analysis of a Test Beam
Candidate: Emma Di Fiore
Supervisor: Gianluigi Cibinetto
Co-supervisors: Federico Matias Melendi, Marco Scodeggio
Second reader: Mirco Andreotti

Thesis defense session 21 March 2024

Primordial cosmological perturbations in noncommutative spacetimes
Candidate: Thomas Lovo
Supervisors: Massimiliano Lattanzi, Luca Pagano
Co-supervisor: Giulia Gubitosi

Gravitational lensing modelling of galaxy clusters with multiply lensed quasars and prospects for cosmography
Candidate: Giorgia Di Rosa
Supervisor: Piero Rosati
Co-supervisor: Pietro Bergamini

Numerical Calculation of Cosmological Trajectory During the QCD Phase Transition with Lattice QCD based Equation of State
Candidate: Lorenzo Formaggio
Supervisor: Alessandro Drago
Co-supervisor: Claudia Ratti
Second reader: Massimiliano Lattanzi

Gravitational wave signatures of a primordial black hole dominated early Universe
Candidate: Riccardo Maule
Supervisor: Isabella Masina
Co-supervisor: Guillem Domènech
Second reader: Denis Comelli

Study of edge-preserving denoising filters for Digital Subtraction Angiography in a clinical setting
Candidate: Jacopo Altieri
Supervisors: Angelo Taibi, Paolo Cardarelli
Second reader: Sebastiano Fabio Schifano

Evidence for two different dynamics in long gamma-ray burst engines
Candidate: Martina Sartori
Supervisor: Cristiano Guidorzi

Characterization of a hybrid photon-counting detector based on Timepix4 for spectral X-ray imaging applications
Candidate: Vittoria Mazzini
Supervisor: Paolo Cardarelli
Co-supervisor: Massimiliano Fiorini
Second reader: Giovanni Di Domenico

Strategies for assessing high intensity radioactive sources in unknown shields
Candidate: Gabriele Galli
Supervisor: Fabio Mantovani
Co-supervisor: Matteo Albéri
Second reader: Angelo Taibi

Application of Deep Learning algorithms for automatic classification of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis images
Candidate: Matteo Bianchini
Supervisor: Gianfranco Paternò
Co-supervisor: Angelo Taibi
Second reader: Luca Tomassetti

Thesis defense session 14 December 2023

Integrability and chaos: the Ziegler pendulum
Candidate: Stefano Disca
Supervisor: Vincenco Coscia
Second reader: Giuseppe Pagliara

Analytical Insights into Tin-Titanium-Based Oxide Chemoresistive Gas Sensors: Mechanisms and Applications
Candidate: Sandro Gherardi
Supervisor: Cesare Malagù
Co-supervisor: Michele Astolfi, Giulia Zonta
Second reader: Donato Vincenzi

Radiomic analysis and predictive models in [18F]-Fluorocholine PET/CT
Candidate: Giovanni Scribano
Supervisor: Giovanni Di Domenico
Co-supervisor: Luigi Manco
Second reader: Enrico Calore.

Thesis defense session 26 October 2023

Using convolutional neural networks to extract cosmological parameters from CMB polarization maps
Candidate: Andrea Morelli
Supervisor: Luca Pagano

Thesis defense session 14 September 2023

Study of the dispersion of the time-resolved Amati correlation within a sample of Fermi long gamma-ray bursts with known redshift
Candidate: Manuele Maistrello
Supervisor: Cristiano Guidorzi
Co-supervisor: Lorenzo Amati

A bayesian analysis on the equation of state of neutron stars within relativistic mean field models
Candidate: Luca Passarella
Supervisor: Giuseppe Pagliara
Co-supervisor: Alessandro Drago, Jérôme Margueron

Gamma Ray Spectroscopy for Assessing Soil Water Content in Cultivated Fields
Candidate: Michele Franceschi
Supervisor: Fabio Mantovani
Co-supervisor: Virginia Strati

Validation of an operando DRIFT spectroscopy apparatus for photo-activated chemoresistive gas sensors and operating experience with innovative alkali-doped zinc oxide
Candidate: Emanuela Tavaglione
Supervisor: Vincenzo Guidi
Co-supervisor: Barbara Fabbri, Elena Spagnoli

n-situ gamma ray spectrometry challenges for NORM hotspot detection
Candidate: Giada Costantini
Supervisor: Fabio Mantovani
Co-supervisor: Matteo Albéri

Thesis defense session 13 July 2023

Beam dynamics simulations at the hybrid storage ring for EDM investigation
Candidate: Anna Piccoli
Supervisor: Paolo Lenisa
Co-supervisor: Rahul Shankar

SiPMs characterization in a wide temperature range: development of the setup and first measurements
Candidate: Anna Balboni
Supervisors: Marco Guarise, Luca Tomassetti

Thesis defense session 23 March 2023

Hypernuclei with neural-network quantum states
Candidate: Andrea Di Donna
Supervisor: Alessandro Drago
Co-supervisor: Francesco Pederiva

Soil water balance for improving a Sentinel-1 backscatter model
Candidate: Martina Natali
Supervisor: Fabio Mantovani

Development and Test of an Interlock System for the BESIII CGEM Detector
Candidate: Federico Matias Melendi
Supervisor: Gianluigi Cibinetto
Co-supervisor: Ilaria Balossino