Speaker
            
    Vincenzo Branchina
        
            (CT)
        
    Description
The analysis of the stability condition of the electroweak vacuum (and
then of our Universe as a whole) is of the greatest importance for our
understanding of physics beyond the Standard Model. The possibility 
that cosmic rays could destabilize the present state of our Universe,
and that the cosmic ray induced vacuum decay could be faster than the 
spontaneous decay has been investigated in the past. It has been 
recently shown that, contrary to previous expectations, new physics
that live at very high energy scales can have a great impact on the 
stability condition of the Universe. The role of cosmic rays on the
stability issue will be considered in the light of these recent
results.
            Author
        
            
                
                
                    
                        Vincenzo Branchina
                    
                
                
                        (CT)