The main subject of prof. Francesco Giacosa’s research can be summarized by a single word: 'decay'. In fact, the majority of elementary particles, as well as many nuclei, atoms, and molecules, are not stable, but they transform into something else. The understanding of this change addresses one of the most common processes in Nature. Some particles decay extremely fast, even faster than a million of a milon of a second. In turn, the decay of some nuclei can live extremely long, even much longer than the lifetime of our Universe. It is then extremely interesting that a similar description can be applied to such different timescales.
In his work, he applies the study of decays in two main frameworks.
   -  on the one hand, prof. Giacosa investigates the general properties of decay, including its connection to the basics of Quantum Mechanics: in fact, Schrödinger himself used an atomic decay to set the framework for his famous (and fortunately only ideal) cat-killing experiment, the renowned Schrödinger cat. Repeated measurements of an unstable state may also cause a peculiar phenomenon called Quantum Zeno effect, in honor of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea, who stated that change is an illusion: an unstable particle or atom can be frozen in its initial unstable state, a phenomenon sometimes called "watched pot never boils". Another interesting question is to what extent an unstable particle keeps the memory of the moment it was created.
   - on the other hand, he uses the study of decays in the realm of elementary particles. Here, he concentrates on certain particles called mesons in order to study their internal structure, that is to understand if they are made of a quark and an antiquark or something else. Quarks (the elementary objects forming the nucleus of a hydrogen atom) cannot be directly measured in our detectors. That is why the study of decays of particles that contain quarks is a necessary tool to understand them.

His team includes scientists from Italy, India, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands and, of course, Poland.