Embedded Files
2025
2025
What: phenomgrav astrophysics seminar
When: July 7th, 2025, 15:00-16:00 CEST
Where: Building C - Room 131, ground floor
Speaker: Dr. Stefano Rinaldi - Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg
Title: Expect the unexpected – Inference of the black hole distribution using both parametric and non-parametric methods
Abstract: Black holes are the remnants of the most massive of stars, and characterising their population using gravitational wave (GW) observations can help us understand the astrophysical processes governing the life and death of stars. In this picture, non-parametric methods represent an excellent agnostic tool to describe our observations and guide the development of new astrophysical models; on the downside, they lack the interpretability carried by physically informed models. During this talk, I will present two approaches designed to combine the strengths of parametric and non-parametric methods: 1) the concept of augmented mixture model – a weighted superposition of astrophysical and non-parametric models capable of accounting for unforeseen features in the black hole spectrum - and 2) a procedure that first performs a non-parametric (data-driven) reconstruction of the underlying distribution, and then remaps these results onto a posterior for the parameters of an informed model.
What: phenomgrav astrophysics seminar
When: June 10th, 2025, 15:00-16:00 CEST
Where: Building C - Room 248, first floor
Speaker: Dr. Alice Garoffolo - UPenn University
Title: Gravitational waves in wave optics
Abstract: An intriguing aspect of gravitational wave lensing is the emergence wave-effects: interference and diffraction patterns in the waveforms due to finite size effects, occurring when the wave’s wavelength is comparable to the Schwarzschild radius of the lens. These phenomena are particularly interesting because they induce frequency dependent modifications in the waveforms, allowing for a better lens’ parameter estimation, especially if the lensing event has an electromagnetic counterpart in the opposite optical regime.Despite the promising potential of wave-optics effects, our current theoretical tools, based on the diffraction integral, rely on two main assumptions that limit their effectiveness: the eikonal and paraxial approximations on one hand, and the neglect of spin effects on the other. In this talk I will present our new formalism, based on the established proper time technique in field theory, illustrating its robustness as the generalization of the diffraction integral, going beyond all of the limitations mentioned.
What: phenomgrav astrophysics seminar
When: June 5th, 2025, 10:00-11:00 CET
Where: Building C - Room 248, first floor
Speaker: Farid Thaalba - University of Nottingham
Title: Predictivity in Extensions of General Relativity and the Standard Model
Abstract: Extensions of General Relativity often suffer from an ill-posed initial value problem, severely limiting their predictive power. In this work, we tackle this challenge through a numerical investigation of scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity. We demonstrate that, within the effective field theory paradigm, the careful inclusion of specific interactions is crucial for overcoming this issue, offering new insights that could significantly enhance the predictivity of extensions of General Relativity.
What: astrophysics seminar/lecture
When: May 23th, 2025, 15:00-16:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 131 (ground floor)
Speaker: Dr. Germano Sacco - INAF Osservatorio astronomico di Arcetri
Title: Studiare la formazione e l'evoluzione dei sistemi stellari giovani attraverso grandi survey dalla terra e dallo spazio e l'intelligenza artificiale
Abstract: Le stelle si formano in gruppi composti da un numero di oggetti che varia da poche decine a decine di migliaia, in seguito al collasso e alla frammentazione di nubi molecolari turbolente e magnetizzate. I sistemi stellari giovani che si formano durante questo processo nella maggior parte dei casi si disperdono nel campo galattico entro 10 Milioni di anni oppure formano ammassi aperti che sopravvivono per tempi più lunghi. Studiare le proprietà dei sistemi stellari giovani, capire i processi fisici che determinano la loro formazione e dissoluzione è importante per rispondere alle domande aperte riguardanti sia la formazione del Sistema Solare che l'evoluzione della Via Lattea. In questo seminario, dopo aver descritto le principali teorie e le domande aperte in questo ambito, illustrerò le principali scoperte degli ultimi anni che sono state ottenute, principalmente, grazie alla missione spaziale Gaia e a grandi campagne osservative realizzate con telescopi a terra. Infine, discuterò alcuni progetti per il prossimo futuro, sottolineando anche quale possa essere il ruolo dell'Intelligenza Artificiale. principalmente, grazie alla missione spaziale Gaia e a grandi campagne osservative realizzate con telescopi a terra. Infine, discuterò alcuni progetti per il prossimo futuro,sottolineando anche quale possa essere il ruolo dell'Intelligenza Artificiale.
Notes: seminario a carattere introduttivo (di circa 75 minuti), rivolto principalmente a studenti o non esperti del settore.
What: astrophysics seminar
When: May 22nd, 2025, 11:30-12:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 241 (first floor)
Speaker: Dr. Laura Sommovigo - CCA, Flatiron Institute
Title: Dust in the Reionization Era
Abstract: JWST, in combination with ALMA and NOEMA, is opening an unprecedented window into early galaxy formation—providing access to both continuum and line emission from the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared (FIR) out to redshift z ≈ 10, and spatially resolved information up to z ≈ 7. These data are beginning to constrain, albeit with large uncertainties, the star formation histories, metallicities, and interstellar medium (ISM) conditions of galaxies within the first billion years of cosmic time. In this talk, I focus on the role of dust, from its attenuation and scattering in the rest-frame UV–optical to its re-emission in the FIR. Often treated as a nuisance and modeled with fixed templates, dust is in fact central to interpreting galaxy observables across cosmic time. I present a framework for self-consistent dust modeling across wavelengths, combining analytic prescriptions with insights from hydrodynamical and radiative transfer simulations—including cosmological (TNG), zoom-in (SERRA), and isolated setups. I compare this in-progress model to recent JWST and ALMA/NOEMA observations from large programs such as REBELS and CRISTAL-ALPINE, highlighting key challenges in reproducing the observed properties of early galaxies. I conclude by outlining future steps toward refining dust models and integrating them into next-generation multi-wavelength analyses of the high-redshift Universe.
What: phenomgrav astrophysics seminar
When: May 15th, 2025, 16:30-17:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 131 (ground floor)
Speaker: Dr. Riccardo Buscicchio - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Title: Emergence of Milky Way structure in the first year of LISA data
Abstract: Tens of thousands of gravitational-wave (GW) sources are expected to be detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) during its mission. The largest majority of such sources will be persistent signals from the Milky Way (MW). While individual resolvability will improve over the mission timescale, the whole population will persistently contribute to the LISA data stream from day one, piling up in a confusion noise. In this talk, I will overview current prospects for MW spatial distribution reconstruction, discuss the implications on the confusion noise time variation. Doing so, I will present a fast and accurate inference taking into account both. Employing a realistic data segmentation, I will present a Hamiltonian-Montecarlo scheme capable to (i) infer on the Galactic shape and (ii) accomodate for the presence of gaps. Our approach opens the door to quantify the evidence for Milky Way structure while performing a Global fit.
What: astrophysics seminar
When: March 19th, 2025, 11:00-12:00 CET
Where: Building C - Room 250 (first floor)
Speaker: Lapo Querci - Università degli Studi di Firenze
Title: The formation of stellar halos in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies through mergers
Abstract: Ultra-faint dwarfs (UFDs) are believed to be relics of the Universe's earliest galaxies, and recent observations of extended stellar halos around them can give precious insights into their evolution. These halos may form through tidal interactions, early supernova feedback, or mergers. In this talk, I will present our investigation of how merger properties influence the formation of stellar halos, focusing on Tucana II, the most promising UFD assembled through mergers. Using N-body simulations, we systematically explored different trajectories, merger mass ratios, dark-to-stellar mass ratios, and stellar size of the progenitors, and trained a neural network emulator to efficiently explore the parameter space. Our findings show that the merger mass ratio is the prime driver of the stellar halo formation, and applying these results to Tucana II, we find that its observed stellar halo properties are consistent with “intermediate” mergers. Our work highlights the potential of stellar halos as tracers of the smaller progenitor galaxies. Ongoing and planned spectroscopic surveys will greatly increase the statistics of observed stars in UFDs, and thus of their associated stellar halos. Interpreting such observations with our simulations will provide new insights into the assembly history of UFDs, and hence the early galaxy formation process.
What: astrophysics seminar
When: March 18th, 2025, 16:30-18:00 CET
Where: Building C - Room 248 (first floor)
Speaker: Dr. Vaclav Pavlik - Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences
Title: Black holes and where to find them
Abstract: Black holes are among the most fascinating objects in the universe. Once considered purely theoretical, now they are observed across a vast range of cosmic environments, from the remnants of massive stars to the supermassive giants in the cores of galaxies. But we are still unable to conclusively prove the existence of the intermediate-mass category. I will explore the most likely places where the intermediate-mass black holes should reside and some of our attempts to detect them.
What: phenomgrav astrophysics seminar
When: March 5th, 2025, 14:30-15:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 250 (first floor)
Speaker: Antonio Matteri - Scuola Normale Superiore
Title: Can primordial black holes explain the overabundance of bright super-early galaxies?
Abstract: JWST is detecting an excess of high-redshift (z ≳ 10), bright galaxies challenging most theoretical predictions. Several physical phenomena have been considered as possible causes, ranging from astrophysical to cosmological reasons. In this context, we investigate the impact of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) on the halo mass function and UV luminosity function of super-early galaxies, by exploring two key effects: (i) the enhancement of massive halos abundance due to the compact nature and spatial distribution of PBHs; (ii) the boost to galaxy luminosity due to Active Galactic Nuclei powered by matter accretion onto PBHs. Using Bayesian analysis, we find two possible scenarios to solve the tension: (a) either massive, non-emitting PBHs or (b) low-mass ones powering super-Eddington AGNs. Although the former is in tension with current limits on PBH abundance, the latter hints at a possible solution to the problem.
What: astrophysics seminar
When: March 13th, 2025, 14:30-15:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 131 (ground floor)
Speaker: Dr. Livia Vallini - INAF Bologna
Title: The properties of the interstellar medium in galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization
Abstract: The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) represents a critical phase of the Universe during which the first galaxies started to rapidly form stars, eventually ionizing the surrounding intergalactic medium. For this reason, shedding light on how the gas is converted into stars, and how this process is influenced by the interstellar medium (ISM) properties and by the feedback from active galactic nuclei, holds the key to shedding light on the reionization process. In this talk, I will present a new physically motivated model that, taking spatially resolved line and dust continuum emission as inputs, allows us to derive the gas density, the gas-phase metallicity, and the deviation from the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation over sub-kpc scales in the ISM of EoR sources. I will discuss the perspectives for its exploitation on spatially resolved observations of sources recently discovered with the James Webb Space Telescope at z>10.
What: astrophysics outreach seminar
When: February 21st, 2025, 17:30 CET
Where: Building C - Room 131 (ground floor)
Speaker: Prof. Giovanni Covone - Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Title: Altre Terre: la lunga storia (e l’avvincente futuro) della ricerca dei pianeti extrasolari
Abstract: Alla fine del XX secolo, gli astronomi sono riusciti finalmente a verificare le previsione filosofiche di Epicuro e Giordano Bruno: il cosmo è popolato di innumerevoli altri mondi. Oggi, lo studio dei pianeti extrasolari è uno dei campi più vitali dell'astrofisica. In questo seminario, discuteremo di alcune delle tecniche di maggior successo per lo studio degli esopianeti e dei tanti successi ed insuccessi in questa lunga storia. Ma soprattutto, parleremo delle domande ancora senza risposta e delle sfide tecnologiche e scientifiche che abbiamo davanti.
Zoom link: https://infn-it.zoom.us/j/85102898000?pwd=ZbzODyYxts822aQT3UZHjyzalcD98P.1
Zoom meeting ID: 851 0289 8000
Zoom access code: 966801
Notes: il seminario è in italiano e rivolto principalmente a studenti e colleghi non esperti nel settore.
Previous years
Previous years
Pisa Astrophysics Seminar
Pisa Astrophysics Seminar
Date and Time: November 2nd, 2023
Place: In-person meeting Building C - Room 131
Title: INAF- Osservatorio astrofisico di Arcetri incontra gli studenti
Abstract:
Giovedi 2 Novembre si è svolto un incontro con ricercatori di INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, che hanno descritto la loro attività di ricerca illustrando anche possibili argomenti di tesi magistrale, da svolgere sotto la supervisione congiunta di ricercatori di INAF-Osservatorio di Arcetri e docenti dell’Università di Pisa.
Programma dell'incontro
(Presentazioni disponibili cliccando sul titolo)
Sofia Randich (direttrice di INAF-Osservatorio di Arcetri): Presentazione generale dell’Osservatorio Astrofisico INAF di Arcetri
Edvige Corbelli: Le galassie e la loro evoluzione: dai buchi neri centrali al loro ambiente
Germano Sacco: Lo studio della Via Lattea, della formazione delle stelle e degli esopianeti
John Robert Brucato: Planetologia e astrobiologia
Giovanni Morlino: Astrofisica delle alte energie
Lorenzo Busoni: Tecnologie per l’astrofisica
Studenti interessati ad un'eventuale visita scientifica all'Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri possono mandare un e-mail a: scilla.deglinnocenti@unipi.it . Nota: dato che sulla base del numero di studenti interessati potrebbe essere organizzata una visita, si prega di scrivere solo se REALMENTE interessati a partecipare.
Date and Time: May 30th, 11:30 am CET
Place: In-person seminar Building C - Room 131
Title: The multiplicity of stellar populations of Globular Clusters
Speaker: Santi Cassisi - INAF-Teramo
Abstract:
Galactic globular clusters have always been at the crossroad of several investigations in both Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics. For long time, they have been considered the prototypes of Simple Stellar Populations, and hence used for testing and calibrating stellar evolutionary models as well as population synthesis tools. Nowadays, after the discovery of the presence of multiple stellar populations in almost all Galactic GCs, we know that this assumption is no longer valid. The process(es) of formation and early evolution of these star clusters is (are) very far to be understood, and any scenario so far envisaged is severely challenged by the pletora of empirical evidence collected till now. In the same time, thanks to the availability of an impressive observational framework - collected by combining kinematic measurements from Gaia mission, with data provided by large spectroscopic and photometric surveys -, GCs are playing a crucial role for our understanding of the assembly history of the Milky Way. We will review our present knowledge about these important stellar systems, discussing the several, open issues related to their formation/evolution, and discuss how we can use them in our effort to depict the Milky Way assembly history.
Date and Time: May 31st, 11:30 am CET
Place: In-person seminar Building C - Room 131
Title: M dwarf stars: a thorny problem for Stellar Astrophysics… but also a big opportunity
Speaker: Santi Cassisi - INAF-Teramo
Abstract:
M dwarfs are becoming extremely important targets in the search of exo-planets with Earth-like characteristics; a clear proof is represented by the fact that M dwarf stars represent an important class of objects in the input catalogue of the forthcoming PLATO space mission. As a consequence, nowadays there is a strong, renewed intest toward this peculiar class of stars. From the point of view of stellar physics, M dwarfs are extremely intriguing objects due to the peculiar thermal conditions experienced by their interiors and outer layers. For long time, an accurate modelling of these structures has been hampered by the lack of reliable predictions about the input physics to be used in the stellar model computations, as well as about how to account for the various physical processes affecting these stars. In this talk, we review the Physics of M dwarf stars, and the improvements obtained in these last years, and we also discuss some open issues related to the modelling of these stars.
AA 2022/23
Date and Time: May 30th, 11:30 am CET
Place: In-person seminar Building C - Room 131
Title: The multiplicity of stellar populations of Globular Clusters
Speaker: Santi Cassisi - INAF-Teramo
Abstract:
Galactic globular clusters have always been at the crossroad of several investigations in both Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics. For long time, they have been considered the prototypes of Simple Stellar Populations, and hence used for testing and calibrating stellar evolutionary models as well as population synthesis tools. Nowadays, after the discovery of the presence of multiple stellar populations in almost all Galactic GCs, we know that this assumption is no longer valid. The process(es) of formation and early evolution of these star clusters is (are) very far to be understood, and any scenario so far envisaged is severely challenged by the pletora of empirical evidence collected till now. In the same time, thanks to the availability of an impressive observational framework - collected by combining kinematic measurements from Gaia mission, with data provided by large spectroscopic and photometric surveys -, GCs are playing a crucial role for our understanding of the assembly history of the Milky Way. We will review our present knowledge about these important stellar systems, discussing the several, open issues related to their formation/evolution, and discuss how we can use them in our effort to depict the Milky Way assembly history.
Date and Time: May 31st, 11:30 am CET
Place: In-person seminar Building C - Room 131
Title: M dwarf stars: a thorny problem for Stellar Astrophysics… but also a big opportunity
Speaker: Santi Cassisi - INAF-Teramo
Abstract:
M dwarfs are becoming extremely important targets in the search of exo-planets with Earth-like characteristics; a clear proof is represented by the fact that M dwarf stars represent an important class of objects in the input catalogue of the forthcoming PLATO space mission. As a consequence, nowadays there is a strong, renewed intest toward this peculiar class of stars. From the point of view of stellar physics, M dwarfs are extremely intriguing objects due to the peculiar thermal conditions experienced by their interiors and outer layers. For long time, an accurate modelling of these structures has been hampered by the lack of reliable predictions about the input physics to be used in the stellar model computations, as well as about how to account for the various physical processes affecting these stars. In this talk, we review the Physics of M dwarf stars, and the improvements obtained in these last years, and we also discuss some open issues related to the modelling of these stars.
Date and Time: April 5th, 5 pm CET
Place: In person seminar Building C - Room 248
Title: Understanding the origin of magnetically active red-giant stars
Speaker: Patrick Gaulme - Max Planck institute for solar system research
Abstract:
Stars with convective envelopes are susceptible to develop global magnetic fields that are visible at the surface in the form of darker regions, such as the sunspots. According to the turbulent dynamo theory, a star will efficiently develop magnetic fields when its rotation period is shorter than its convective turnover time. Besides causing spots on stellar surfaces, magnetic fields carry particles away from the stellar atmospheres, causing a loss of angular momentum. At the end of the main-sequence phase, stars with convective envelopes have lost much of their initial spin, contrarily to higher-mass stars (>1.3 M⊙) with radiative envelopes. Theoretically, red giant stars are considered to not show spots because their spin rates decrease when growing bigger, even though the fraction of stars with a radiative envelope during the main sequence could still be magnetically active because they spin faster. Observationally, about 8% of red-giant stars are known to display spots but their properties contradicts expectations: some low-mass red giants show spots, whereas there is a lack of intermediate-mass (2-3 M⊙) giants. In this seminar, I will review an on-going effort that I've been leading for the past three years to understand the origin of the population of magnetically active red giant stars.
Anno 2021/22
VIII seminario AA2021/22
Giovedí 26 Maggio 2022 h. 16:30 CEST
IN PRESENZA Edificio C aula 131 piano terra + online
Title:
"Towards the detection of young planets"
Thomas Henning
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (Heidelberg)
Abstract:
In order to make progress in understanding the formation of planetary systems we need to combine comprehensive observing programs, theoretical modeling, and dedicated laboratory experiments. Our solar system formed 4.567 Billion years ago. Today’s structure and dynamics of our planetary system together with cosmochemical constraints provide the basis for reconstructing the early history of its formation. With population synthesis simulations – based on planet formation theories – we are trying to build a bridge between the properties of planet-forming gas-dust disks around young stars and mature planetary systems. Such models have achieved some success, but need more guidance from observations. Nearly all of the more than 5000 exoplanets discovered so far orbit mature stars and have been detected by indirect techniques, not direct imaging. How much better would it be for our understanding of planet formation to directly image a planet in its birth environment? In order to achieve this goal one needs to push the technique of adaptive optics at 10m-class telescopes to its limits. Together with sophisticated data analysis tool we are now coming closer to reach this goal. Indeed, we discovered and directly imaged the very young planet PDS 70b in its birth environment. Soon after this detection a second planet has been discovered in the same system. Both planets are still accreting gas from their parental disk and seem to be in resonance. The planet-forming disk is characterized by long-wavelength ALMA observations, demonstrating the importance of multi-wavelength data in modern astronomy. I will discuss the search for young exoplanets and the properties of the PDS 70 planetary system.
Giovedi' 19 Maggio 2022 h. 14:00 CEST
*** IN PRESENZA AULA B1 + ONLINE ***
Students can meet the group of astrophysics at the University of Pisa.
If you have any question you can add it here. During the meeting we will answer your questions
VIII seminario AA2021/22
Martedi' 24 Maggio 2022 h. 11:30 CEST *** IN PRESENZA AULA 248 + ONLINE ***
Title:
"Thunderstorms spark unexpected extreme amounts of the atmosphere’s cleanser hydroxyl "
William H. Brune
Dept. of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, Penn State Univ
Abstract:
When lightning strikes near people, they often say that they smelled ozone. We discovered that lightning also makes shocking amounts of hydroxyl (OH). OH is a simple molecule even a physicist can understand (I am a physicist). It is extremely reactive and the atmosphere's main cleanser. Our aircraft flights through the outflow of thunderstorms, called anvil clouds, and our laboratory studies show that even very weak electrical discharges produce this cleanser. This OH is not included in any air quality or climate model. We know it could be responsible for 16% of the atmosphere's cleansing power now. We can only guess how it will change as climate and lightning change in the future.
VII seminario AA2021/22
Lunedí 2 Maggio 2022 h. 12:00 CEST -> RIMANDATO...
!!!! IN PRESENZA Edificio C aula 250 primo piano + online !!!!!
Title:
"Search and characterization of massive black hole binary candidates"
Massimo Dotti
Universitá degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca
Abstract:
Massive black hole (MBH) binaries are among the loudest expected sources of low frequency gravitational waves. The rate of MBH coalescences is still very uncertain, and EM observations of close MBH binaries have the potential to strongly reduce the current uncertainties. I will discuss the physical consequences of the presence of a binary on the surrounding gas, deriving the observational features associated with massive black hole binaries proposed in literature. I will then report on the results of MBH binary searches in large observational datasets. It must be stressed that the proposed observational features are not unique to binary systems. I will therefore discuss follow up strategies to test the binary scenario. Single massive black hole binary candidates that made it to the news will be discussed in detail, including the results of unpublished observational tests. The talk will end with the discussion of the limitations of current searches and with an overlook to complementary searches that next generation EM surveys will allow for.
VI seminario AA2021/22
Venerdí 29 Aprile 2022 h. 11:30 CEST
!!!! IN PRESENZA Edificio C aula 131 piano terra + online !!!!!
Title:
"Planet formation with ALMA"
Davide Fedele
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
Abstract:
ALMA is revolutionising our view of planet formation. The high angular resolution campaigns are revealing that protoplanetary disks are highly substructured with the dust particles trapped in concentric rings. On the other hand, ALMA unprecedented sensitivity offers a unique possibility to detect the weak signal of various molecular species, allowing us to determine the chemical composition of the disk interior.
I will review some recent ALMA highlights in the study of protoplanetary disks and planet formation.
V seminario AA2021/22
Venerdí 8 Aprile 2022 h. 11:30 CEST
!!!! IN PRESENZA Edificio C aula 131 piano terra + online !!!!!
Title:
"The Swift science experience from an insider"
Paul Kuin
Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College London UK
Abstract:
I joined the Swift team in 2007 as part of the UCL/MSSL team who built the ultraviolet and optical telescope. After calibrating the full field of view for the UVOT UV and Visible grisms, I got involved with the science which was done with the UVOT instrument. Whereas in the early years the focus was mostly on the X-ray instrument, the rapid response of Swift has made possible the rapid follow-up of many interesting targets, and UVOT is now one of the most requested instruments. My talk provides an overview of the accomplishments and possibilities that are possible with Swift UVOT, though they are so diverse, I will concentrate on those that matter most to me.
Martedi' 22 Marzo 2022 h. 11:30 CEST
Students can meet the group of astrophysics at the University of Pisa.
If you have any question you can add it here. During the meeting we will answer your questions
IV seminario AA2021/22
15 Marzo 2022 h. 11:30 CEST
Title:
"‘Any fool can make a white dwarf’
SUCCESSES OF WHITE DWARF STUDIES, NEW CHALLENGES, AND PROSPECTS IN THE JWST AND ELT ERA"
Maurizio Salaris
John Moores University
Abstract:
More than 90% of all stars end their life as white dwarfs. WDs contain a wealth of information on the past history (age, star formation rates) of their parent stellar populations and moreover, due to their extremely high densities and low temperatures, they can be employed as ‘physics laboratories’ for matter in extreme conditions. This talk will present an overview of WD physics, how to employ WDs to study stellar populations and as fundamental physics probes, some highlights from HST, GAIA and pulsations observations, recent developments in WD physics, and future prospects with JWST and ELT.
III seminario del I semestre 2021/22
14 Dicembre 2021 h. 16:00 CEST
Title: ``The Aerospace world and its nuances: description from a physicist perspective"
Paolo Picchi
R&D department, Kayser Italia s.r.l.
Abstract:
From CubeSat to more complex spacecrafts, the aerospace field requires a vast interconnection of different disciplines and competences that works in close conjunction. Usually, given the high demanding technological and organization needs, as well as with tight schedule requirements, the team is primarily composed of engineers with very specific roles, from the Project Manager and System Engineer up to the Project Engineers and technicians. However, more than often modeling and predictive activities are required, as well as detailed data analysis during the test campaign: here the role of a physicist that works in strict contact with engineers is preferable, if not necessary. The areas that could require a targeted contribution are variegated, among all: science requirement analysis, optics, radiometry, data analysis, thermal modeling, space radiation and also space environment analysis with respect to the mission needs. In this talk I will give a brief overview of the aerospace field and the company I’m working in, Kayser Italia; moreover, to give some context, some aspects will be covered in more detail: project definition and development, collaboration with the Agencies and with industries in Europe. The core of the talk will instead regard the role that a physicist can play in the field, with a reference to the activities I was involved in Kayser Italia right after the MSc and how our competences and know-how could be of significative importance for detailed, quantitative predictions or verifications with respect to the project needs. Two projects I worked on will be described: the Miniaturized Fluorescence Microscope (MFM), an ESA R&D project regarding the design and development of a fluorescence microscope for biology experiments on living samples, to be operated on the International Space Station, and the PROSPECT Imaging System, a multispectral illuminator and acquisition camera part of the PROSPECT European payload of the ROSCOSMOS Luna-27 mission, whose goal will be to study the chemical properties of lunar regolith at the level of the lunar South Pole. Finally, a description on the metrology role in the space field and Kayser Italia heritage on the design, manufacture and test on atomic optical clocks will be provided.
II seminario del I semestre 2021/22
30 novembre 2021 h. 16:00 CEST
Title: ``Decoding the fossil record of Galaxy formation"
Santino Cassisi
Osservatorio Astrofisico d'Abruzzo - INAF
Abstract:
One of most important issue in Astrophysics is the achievement of a robust understanding of the process or sequence of processes that contributed to the building up of the Milky Way. This is obviously important not only "on a local scale" in order to recover the history of formation and evolution of the Galaxy, but also, in general, for understanding the formation process of spiral galaxies. In the last decade, the advent of high precision photometric and spectroscopic surveys as well as the possibility to estimate, thanks to the Gaia mission, accurate distance for a huge number of field stars is actually opening a new era for this kind of investigations. In this seminar, we will review the common scenarios for the formation of the Milky Way, and present some recent results - obtained by using an updated observational framework - about the early phases of the Milky Way formation and evolution.
I seminario del I semestre 2021/22
23 novembre 2021 h. 16:00 CEST
Title: ``Eclipsing binary with TESS"
Andrej Prsa
Villanova University
Abstract:
The field of eclipsing binaries has long been celebrated for its role in determining fundamental properties of stars: their masses, radii, temperatures and luminosities. NASA's Kepler mission revolutionized the field by providing us with a near-complete census of eclipsing binaries down to ~16th magnitude in its ~105 square degree field of view over its 4-year primary mission. NASA's Kepler successor TESS has been operating for over 3 years and it detected over 4500 eclipsing binaries across the sky. In this talk I will discuss the role of TESS on the eclipsing binary field and showcase some preliminary results from the TESS eclipsing binary catalog, available at http://tessEBs.villanova.edu.
Confirmed speakers:
Sormani (Heidelberg): Central Molecular Zone of the Milky Way
Marigo (Universita' di Padova): Final stages of low mass stellar evolution
Mason (INAF Trieste): Cataclysmics and spectroscopy
Kuin (RAL, UK): XR and UV spectroscopy and Swift
Caselli (MPE): astrochemistry
Alves (Vienna): ISM (2nd sem)
Kotak (Tuorlan): Supernovae and pre-SN
Hubeny (Arizona): stellar atmospheres
Paola Rossi (Torino): extragalactic jets
Paoloni (Pisa): Dark matter searches
http://www.astro.physik.uni-potsdam.de/~o-mess/index.html
Online Meetings on Evolved Stars and Systems (O- MESS), which aims to alleviate the cancellation of many in-person meetings on our beloved compact stars and systems. We hope that O-MESS will bring us, at least virtually, closer together and get you up-to-date on the newest findings in the field of white dwarfs, hot subdwarfs, central stars of planetary nebulae, and related systems. In addition, we expect that O-MESS will inspire you to new ideas, foster collaboration, and, importantly, offer a platform to promote the research of PhD students and non-permanent position holders. Bi-weekly at 16:00 Central European Time (CET) on alternate Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Each talk will take 20 minutes, additional 5 minutes for questions.
After the talks, we will create breakout rooms for a 30-minute virtual coffee-break.
Connection details:
https://uni-potsdam.zoom.us/j/68593032637
Meeting-ID: 685 9303 2637
Password: 22405608
Oct 8th, 12:00 CLT (UTC-3): Julian Barbour
"Shape Dynamics: Principles and Possibilities of a Radical Unification of Physics and Cosmology"Oct 15th: Philippe Lognonné
Oct 22nd: Frances Westall
Oct 29th: Lynnae Quick
Nov 5th: Rosemary Wyse
Nov 12th: Richard Ellis
Nov 19th: Anton Zeilinger
Nov 26th: Bill Unruh
Dec 3rd: Nima Arkani-Hamed
Dec 10th: Alan Watson
Dec 17th: Adriana Ocampo
Seminario Generale Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri
Seminario Generale Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri
Seminar available remotely at this link
Connection to google meet using this link
https://meet.google.com/cfx-dmsg-eir
or entering the code cfx-dmsg-eir in https://meet.google.com/.
HOW MISSIONS CHANGE(D) OUR VIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
You can join all Seminars with
this Link for the “Game Changers” ISSI Zoom Sessions >>
Meeting ID: 852 6990 9362, Password: 459004
28th October 2021, 17h CEST – Of Bubbles, Filaments, Echoes and Eruptions: First Results from eROSITA with Andrea Merloni, Max-Planck Institute fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany
4th November 2021, 17 CET – Human Spaceflight – Where Are We Going? with Claude Nicollier, Swiss Space Center, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
18th November 2021, 17h CET – Earth Radiative Budget and Energy Imbalance Observed from Space with Benoit Meyssignac, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France
2nd December 2021, 17h CET – Tipping Positive Change to Avoid Climate Tipping Points with Tim Lenton, University of Exeter, UK
9th December 2021, 17h CET – Forecasting Problem Geomagnetic Storms: Are Stealth CMEs a New Space Weather Extreme? with Tamitha Skov, the Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, USA
16th December 2021, 17h CET – Subsurface Life on Earth and on Other Planets in the Solar System with Barbara Sherwood Lollar, University of Toronto, Canada
Central Molecular Zone Star Formation talk series
Motivation:
To fill the hole left by the lack of conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hosting a talk series focusing on star formation in the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone. This series of talks aims to bring the community up-to-speed on the recent and ongoing research and provide an opportunity for discussion on this exciting topic.
Our plan is to have a talk every 2 weeks, hosted on Zoom. The talks will generally be held every other Thursday at 10am ET (3pm UTC),
We invite anyone interested to join the audience and especially encourage you to invite your postdocs and students to attend. Should you be interested in being kept in the loop via a mailing list, please submit your email address through the Google form in the Sign Up page.
The talk series is called CMZOOM for obvious reasons, but is not to be confused with our close friend, the large SMA CMZoom Survey.
The calendar of future events is here: https://sites.google.com/view/cmzsftalkseries/home
Topic: CMZOOM - Star Formation in the Central Molecular Zone
Time: Mar 18, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every week on Thu
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ufl.zoom.us/j/91768081248?pwd=dE1NM1JLZHRPM1pZRUZUdFJWZzJ6dz09
Five years after HL Tau: a new era in planet formation
Five years after HL Tau: a new era in planet formation
Online conference, Chile, December 7-11, 2020
Online conference, Chile, December 7-11, 2020
Our understanding of planet formation has been significantly challenged by recent observations during these last years. Recent high-resolution observations by ALMA and SPHERE/VLT have found compelling evidence of planet signatures much earlier than what was typically assumed, questioning the time at which planet formation takes place.
Gaia Early DR3 - 3.12.2020
Gaia Early DR3 - 3.12.2020
I primi risultati scientifici della EDR3 di Gaia
Giovedì 3 dicembre, in tarda mattinata e' stato pubblicato l'archivio con la nuova versione dei dati scientifici prodotti finora da Gaia, la cosiddetta EDR3 (EarlyData Release 3).
Page updated
Report abuse