Frontier physics with high brightness electron beams.

The advent of new methods for generating and manipulating electron beams that have unprecedented brightness brings new opportunities in cutting edge applications. The key characteristics of this burgeoning class of beams are ultra-fast time structures and extremely high self-fields, due to densities that may approach those of solids. We present a brief overview of the ways in which such beams are created, and then employed in applications ranging from teravolt-per-meter plasma wakefield accelerators, to advanced free-electron lasers, and fundamental atomic physics. Experimental possibilities from the Italian national perspective are examined.