arXiv subjects

Matteo Tuveri

Publications and source records attributed to Matteo Tuveri.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Generative AI in Higher Education Laboratory Learning: A Qualitative Case Study of Epistemic Scaffolding and Assessment Boundaries

Advanced physics laboratories require students to integrate disciplinary knowledge, experimental practice and scientific argumentation across complex observational and analytical tasks. The increasing availability of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) adds complexity to this coordination, since AI systems may function as conceptual explainers, operational assistants, artefact reviewers or apparently authoritative evaluators. This exploratory qualitative case study examines AstroTutor, a constrained GenAI tutor introduced as an optional support resource in a Master's-level advanced astrophysics laboratory. The study investigates how students framed the tutor within a broader GenAI-mediated learning ecology that included the instructor, peers, course materials, observations, measurements, data analysis and final assessed reports. Seven students attended the course, five used the tutor, and three groups produced a final report. The analysis combined content analysis, thematic analysis and frame analysis. Drawing on chat logs, final reports and limited post-use reflective responses, the results identify five principal GenAI functions: interface interpreter, warrant organiser, report scaffold, unstable authority and resource whose traces may appear in downstream reports. These findings extend previous research on GenAI in education to the context of advanced physics laboratories, showing that its use requires explicit design boundaries, guidance on legitimate and prohibited practices, verification routines, and assessment requirements that preserve students' epistemic responsibility. The educational implications of a GenAI-mediated learning ecology in advanced physics laboratories are also discussed.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

From Prompt Engineering to Epistemic Prompting: Prompt Trajectories as AI-Mediated Problem Framing in Science Education

Prompt engineering is commonly presented as a technical competence for obtaining more accurate, relevant, or well-formatted outputs from large language models (LLMs). However, in STEM education, prompting should also be understood as a continuous epistemic practice. Students interpret contextual and disciplinary cues and adopt expectations about what kind of knowledge, representation, and action are appropriate. Drawing on epistemological framing, and AI-mediated concept-to-decision reasoning, the paper presents a new framework called epistemic prompting and proposes a multi-turn Framing-Prompting Loop. The educationally relevant outcome is a prompt framing trajectory: the sequence of prompts, model responses, learner uptake, disciplinary checks, and reframing moves through which a knowledge task develops. In this framework, an initial prompt establishes a provisional macro-frame by selecting the problem, representations, assumptions, criteria, and distribution of work between learner and model. Each subsequent learner turn can then maintain, specify, challenge, repair, or transform that organization. The implications for AI-mediated STEM instruction, and, specifically, on learner-LLM interaction are also discussed.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

Beyond the Metric: Geometrical Measurability as a Constraint on Quantum Gravity

This paper develops an epistemological constraint on quantum gravity grounded in the empirical meaning of general relativity. The central claim is that a complete recovery of general relativity requires an effective metric, a continuum limit, or Einstein-like dynamics together with the physical conditions under which relational geometrical quantities can be objectively determined. These conditions concern the dynamical stability of measuring devices and reference systems, causal accessibility among physical systems, record formation, and invariance under admissible descriptions. In classical general relativity, they are usually implicit in the use of clocks, rods, light signals, freely falling bodies, detectors, and gauge-invariant observables. In quantum gravity, however, they become non-trivial because spacetime geometry may be emergent, effective, thermodynamic, relational, or frame-dependent. This claim is developed through four cases: Rindler horizons and the Unruh effect, black-hole thermodynamics and Jacobson's equation-of-state derivation, gravitational-wave detection, and Weyl and conformal gravity. The latter is discussed as a critical limiting case in which conformal invariance raises a sharp question about whether scale-dependent measurements of space and time can be physically fixed. Implications for quantum gravity are also discussed using emergent gravity and quantum reference frames as examples. The perspective developed in the study suggests a general epistemological constraint on quantum gravity: any viable approach must recover the physical possibility of objective geometrical measurement together with geometry itself.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

The role of natural language in understanding the universe: a teaching-learning sequence for high school students

Introducing gravitational physics at high school provides educational means for bridging the gap between the image of science held by students and science itself. Natural language is fundamental in this learning. It engages students in constructing an understanding of a concept or a notion, establishing new relations between previous and new elements of knowledge. We present a teaching/learning sequence (TLS) aimed to contextualize gravitational physics along the lines of the Einstein Telescope educational program in Sardinia devoted to upper secondary school students. We focused on the role of debates and controversy in the evolution of science, proposing science-reflexive meta discourses to present physics as a unified knowledge textbook. We discuss our design and present results by analyzing students' semiotic registers to recap their learning during the activity. Finally, we discuss the potentiality of our TLS in orientating students towards STEM.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Semiotic problem framing: a new framework to guide students and teachers in conceptual understanding and teaching of physics

Problem solving in physics requires more than applying formulas: it involves describing and modeling phenomena, connecting mathematics with physics, and justifying reasoning choices. This process, known as problem framing, has been extensively studied in its cognitive and epistemic dimensions, but its semiotic aspects - how visuals, symbols, language, and metaphors shape understanding - remain underexplored. Physics relies on multiple representational modes that must be coordinated to construct meaning, and semiotics plays a central role in this integration. In this theoretical paper, we propose a new framework - the Semiotic Problem Framing - that explicitly incorporates semiotics into existing problem framing in physics. SPF highlights how students mobilize and shift across linguistic, visual, symbolic, and metaphorical resources in problem solving. For students, it offers a guide to structure reasoning and develop representational fluency; for teachers, it provides a diagnostic tool to scaffold and monitor learning processes. SPF enables analysis of reasoning patterns and error types not captured in previous frameworks, and suggests new directions for instructional design in physics education.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

The Role of Conceptual Problem Solving in Learning Physics: A Study in a General Relativity University Course

Effective physics learning, especially in complex topics, requires balancing mathematical formalism with conceptual understanding. Conceptual problem-solving involves connecting math to physical reality, and using an epistemological framework like problem framing helps students justify their mathematical decisions. This approach deepens students' understanding by linking theory to practice and enhancing their reasoning skills. This study explores the effectiveness of conceptual problem-solving in learning complex topics like general relativity (GR) through a pedagogical framework that emphasizes the integration of qualitative and quantitative reasoning. We present a case study conducted at the University of Cagliari in 2021 and 2022, examining how students construct problem frames and how this influences their conceptual understanding of GR. Findings indicate that students who effectively integrate conceptual reasoning with mathematical formalism demonstrate a deeper grasp of physical principles and enhanced problem-solving capabilities. The research underscores the importance of symbol sense and the iterative nature of problem framing, suggesting that an integrated approach - combining visual, symbolic, and natural language representations - can improve students' conceptual engagement. Furthermore, the methodology offers instructors valuable insights into students' thinking processes, supporting more effective and targeted feedback.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Using storytelling to foster the teaching and learning of gravitational waves physics at high-school

Studies in Physics Education Research show that interdisciplinary approaches in education foster students' motivation, creativity, curiosity, and interest in physics. We discuss their features and potential role in bringing contemporary physics topics to high school, and how to use them to integrate formal educational programs. We make an explicit example of the use of storytelling and theatrical techniques to introduce secondary school students to black holes and gravitational waves topics. The activity has been designed by the Educational Division of the Physics Department at the University of Cagliari. Participants were 200 high-school students (17 to 19 years old) from five schools (scientific, humanities) in Sardinia. A measure of the efficacy in the use of artistic tools to communicate and teach the proposed subjects has been done utilizing a research questionnaire. We collected 76 answers. Results show that our methodology is useful to introduce students to contemporary physics themes, fostering their interest and learning of such contents. Students from humanities significantly appreciated more the use of poetry and artistic tools than their scientific peers. Finally, we discuss the potentiality of our approach in orientating students towards a STEAM (STEM and Arts) career.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantum mechanics at high school: an online laboratory on wave-particle duality

The interest in studying quantum mechanics is always increasing in our society and schools. Especially in the latter case, this leads researchers to implement suitable actions to meet social needs of knowledge of quantum physics. We present an online laboratory on wave-particle duality for high school students (17-19 years old). The activity has been carried out in the period December 2021 - May 2022 at the Physics Department of the University of Cagliari and more than 100 students from different high schools in Sardinia have been involved. We will show the design of the activity and the experiments performed. We will show and discuss qualitatively results about a satisfaction questionnaire. A brief discussion about motivational issues will be done.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2022

When gravity meets philosophy again: the Gravitas project

Gravity is, by far, one of the scientific themes that have most piqued the curiosity of scientists and philosophers over the centuries. The history of science tells us that when the creative effort of physicists and philosophers to solve the main puzzles of the understanding of our universe met, a new conceptual revolution has started. However, since Einstein's relativistic theories and the subsequent advent of quantum mechanics, physicists and philosophers have taken different paths, both kidnapped by the intrinsic conceptual and mathematical difficulties inherited by their studies. Is it possible to restore a unitary vision of knowledge, overcoming the scientific-humanistic dichotomy that has established itself over time? The answer is certainly not trivial, but we can start from school to experience a new vision of a unified knowledge. From this need, the Gravitas project has born. Gravitas is a multidisciplinary outreach and educational program devoted to high school students (17-19 years old) that mixes contemporary physics and the philosophy of science. Coordinated by the Cagliari Section of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, in Italy, Gravitas has started on December 2021 with an unconventional online format: two researchers coming from different fields of research meet a moderator and informally discuss about gravity and related phenomena. The public can chat and indirectly interact with them during the YouTube live. The project involved about 250 students from 16 high schools in Sardinia, Italy. Students should also create posts thought for social media whose content is based on the seminars they attended during the project. We present the project and discuss its possible outcomings concerning the introduction of a multidisciplinary approach in teaching physics, philosophy, and the history of contemporary physics in high schools.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2022

The ASIMOV Prize for scientific publishing -- HEP researchers trigger young people toward science

This work presents the ASIMOV Prize for scientific publishing, which was launched in Italy in 2016. The prize aims to bring the young generations closer to scientific culture, through the critical reading of popular science books. The books are selected by a committee that includes scientists, professors, Ph.D. and Ph.D. students, writers, journalists and friends of culture, and most importantly, over 800 school teachers. Students are actively involved in the prize, according to the best practices of public engagement: they read, review the books and vote for them, choosing the winner. The experience is quite successful: 12,000 students from 270 schools all over Italy participated in the last edition. The possibility of replicating this experience in other countries is indicated, as was done in Brazil in 2020 with more than encouraging results.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Cooperative Problem Solving: an experience of high-school teaching updating

We present the results of an experience of teaching updating dispensed to Italian high-school physics teachers to promote the application of the Cooperative Problem Solving method as an useful strategy to improve physics learning at high-school level and to foster the development of problem solving skills. Beside analysing the method and discussing the ways to propose and apply it in a high-school context, the teachers experienced the method acting both as learners and as tutors of student group learners. Students and teachers evaluated as positive the experience, mainly focusing on cooperation within the group by information exchange and the application of a solution scheme. The ex-post analysis of the students' performance in applying the method to solve some rich context text showed the need of improving critical sense with respect to achieved results to fully exploit the strategy and develop their problem solving skills. Finally, an analysis on gender differences and scholar distribution of students is presented.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Anisotropic Fluid Cosmology: an Alternative to Dark Matter?

We use anisotropic fluid cosmology to describe the present, dark energy-dominated, universe. Similarly to what has been proposed for galactic dynamics, the anisotropic fluid gives an effective description of baryonic matter, dark energy and their possible interaction, without assuming the presence of dark matter. The resulting anisotropic fluid spacetime naturally generates inhomogeneities at small scales, triggered by an anisotropic stress, and could therefore be responsible for structure formation at these scales. Solving the cosmological equations, we show that the dynamics of the scale factor $a$ is described by usual FLRW cosmology and decouples completely from that describing inhomogeneities. We assume that the cosmological anisotropic fluid inherits the equation of state from that used to describe galaxy rotation curves. We show that, in the large scale regime, the fluid can be described as a generalized Chaplygin gas and fits well the distance modulus experimental data of type Ia supernovae, thus correctly modelling the observed accelerated expansion of the universe. Conversely, in the small scale regime, we use cosmological perturbation theory to derive the power spectrum $P(k)$ for mass density distribution. At short wavelengths, we find a $1/k^4$ behaviour, in good accordance with the observed correlation function for matter distribution at small scales.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Galactic dynamics and long-range quantum gravity

We explore in a systematic way the possibility that long-range quantum gravity effects could play a role at galactic scales and could be responsible for the phenomenology commonly attributed to dark matter. We argue that the presence of baryonic matter breaks the scale symmetry of the de Sitter (dS) spacetime generating an IR scale $r_0$, corresponding to the scale at which the typical dark matter effects we observe in galaxies arise. It also generates a huge number of bosonic excitations with wavelength larger than the size of the cosmological horizon and in thermal equilibrium with dS spacetime. We show that for $r\gtrsim r_0$ these excitations produce a new component for the radial acceleration of stars in galaxies which leads to the result found by McGaugh {\sl et al.} by fitting a large amount of observational data and with the MOND theory. We also propose a generalized thermal equivalence principle and use it to give another independent derivation of our result. Finally, we show that our result can be also derived as the weak field limit of Einstein's general relativity sourced by an anisotropic fluid.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

A new perspective on galactic dynamics

We derive the radial acceleration of stars in galaxies by using basic features of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and general relativity. We assume that the "dark" component of the radial acceleration is originated from the reaction of dark energy to the presence of baryonic matter. It can be also explained as the macroscopic manifestation of a huge number of extremely soft bosonic excitations of the dark energy medium with wavelength larger than the size of the cosmological horizon, in thermal equilibrium with de Sitter spacetime. Our formula agrees with the phenomenological relation proposed by McGaugh et al. which, in turns, fits a large amount of observational data and with the MOND theory. We also show that our formula appears as the weak field limit of Einstein's general relativity sourced by an anisotropic fluid.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Sine-Gordon solitonic scalar stars and black holes

We study exact, analytic, static, spherically symmetric, four-dimensional solutions of minimally coupled Einstein-scalar gravity, sourced by a scalar field whose profile has the form of the sine-Gordon soliton. We present a horizonless, everywhere regular and positive-mass solution (a solitonic star) and a black hole. The scalar potential behaves as a constant near the origin and vanishes at infinity. In particular, the solitonic scalar star interpolates between an anti-de Sitter and an asympototically flat spacetime. The black-hole spacetime is unstable against linear perturbations, while due to numerical issues, we were not able to determine with confidence whether or not the star-like background solution is stable.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Emergence of a Dark Force in Corpuscular Gravity

We investigate the emergent laws of gravity when Dark Energy and the de Sitter space-time are modelled as a critical Bose-Einstein condensate of a large number of soft gravitons $N_{\rm G}$. We argue that this scenario requires the presence of various regimes of gravity in which $N_{\rm G}$ scales in different ways. Moreover, the local gravitational interaction affecting baryonic matter can be naturally described in terms of gravitons pulled out from this Dark Energy condensate (DEC). We then explain the additional component of the acceleration at galactic scales, commonly attributed to dark matter, as the reaction of the DEC to the presence of baryonic matter. This additional dark force is also associated to gravitons pulled out from the DEC and correctly reproduces the MOND acceleration. It also allows for an effective description in terms of General Relativity sourced by an anisotropic fluid. We finally calculate the mass ratio between the contribution of the apparent dark matter and the baryonic matter in a region of size $r$ at galactic scales and show that it is consistent with the $Λ$CDM predictions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Van der Waals-like Behaviour of Charged Black Holes and Hysteresis in the Dual QFTs

Using the rules of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we compute the spherical analogue of the shear viscosity, defined in terms of the retarded Green function for the stress-energy tensor for QFTs dual to five-dimensional charged black holes of general relativity with a negative cosmological constant. We show that the ratio between this quantity and the entropy density, $\tildeη/s$, exhibits a temperature-dependent hysteresis. We argue that this hysteretic behaviour can be explained by the Van der Waals-like character of charged black holes, considered as thermodynamical systems. Under the critical charge, hysteresis emerges owing to the presence of two stable states (small and large black holes) connected by a meta-stable region (intermediate black holes). A potential barrier prevents the equilibrium path between the two stable states; the system evolution must occur through the meta-stable region, and a path-dependence of $\tildeη/s$ is generated.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Hysteresis in $η/s$ for QFTs dual to spherical black holes

We define and compute the (analogue) shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $\tildeη/s$ for the QFTs dual to spherical AdS black holes both in Einstein and Gauss-Bonnet gravity in five spacetime dimensions. Although in this case, owing to the lack of translational symmetry of the background, $\tildeη$ does not have the usual hydrodynamic meaning, it can be still interpreted as the rate of entropy production due to a strain. At large and small temperatures, it is found that $\tildeη/s$ is a monotonic increasing function of the temperature. In particular, at large temperatures it approaches a constant value, whereas, at small temperatures, when the black hole has a regular, stable extremal limit, $\tildeη/s$ goes to zero with scaling law behaviour. Whenever the phase diagram of the black hole has a Van der Waals-like behaviour, i.e. it is characterised by the presence of two stable states (small and large black holes) connected by a meta-stable region (intermediate black holes), the system evolution must occur through the meta-stable region and temperature-dependent hysteresis of $\tildeη/s$ is generated by non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

hep-th↗