Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)

Astrophysics

The DIFA - Astrophysics Sector is active in the fields of theoretical, computational and observational astrophysics, and of astronomical and space technology. The staff is involved in several international projects with world-class observing facilities and space missions (e.g. HST, ESO VLT, Chandra, XMM-Newton, Herschel, NuSTAR, ALMA, LOFAR, VLA/VLBI, Fermi, RadioAstron, Euclid, ATHENA).

Local observing facilities, regularly used by researchers and students, include two optical telescopes (60 cm and 152 cm diameter) located in Loiano, and two radio telescopes managed by INAF-IRA: the Northern Cross, owned by the University of Bologna, and the VLBI 32m parabolic antenna. Computational activities benefit from a local parallel cluster owned and managed by DIFA and of close relations with CINECA and its supercomputing facilities.

All the scientific and teaching activities benefit from the several synergies within the unique environment at the Navile Campus, where other institutes for astrophysical research are also located: INAF-OAS, INAF-IRA, the ALMA Regional Center (ARC) and the headquarters of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA).

Research lines

Projects
- Euclid Mission

Research labs
- Open Physics Hub

Settori ERC

PE9_3 Interstellar medium

PE9_6 Stars and stellar systems

PE9_7 The Galaxy

PE9_8 Formation and evolution of galaxies

PE9_9 Clusters of galaxies and large scale structures

PE9_10 High energy and particles astronomy – X-rays, cosmic rays, gamma rays, neutrinos

PE9_12 Dark matter, dark energy

PE9_14 Cosmology

PE9_16 Very large data bases: archiving, handling and analysis

PE9_17 Instrumentation - telescopes, detectors and techniques

People

Matteo Angelinelli

PhD Student

keywords: Non thermal processes, Galaxy clusters, X-rays, Turbulence

Marco Baldi

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Theoretical and Computational Cosmology, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Modified Gravity, Cosmological Simulations

Serena Banfi

PhD Student

keywords: Non-thermal processes, Cosmic web, Galaxy clusters, Large scale magnetic fields

Elena Bertola

PhD Student

keywords: Active Galactic Nuclei, AGN feedback, Ultra-fast outflows, X-rays

Nadia Biava

PhD Student

Annalisa Bonafede

Associate Professor

keywords: Non-thermal processes, Clusters of galaxies, Large-scale magnetic fields, Radio observations

Marcella Brusa

Associate Professor

keywords: AGN evolution, X-rays, multiwavelength surveys, Active Galactic Nuclei

Mario Cadelano

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: Pulsars, Globular Clusters, Resolved Stellar Populations, Radioastronomy

Andrea Cimatti

Full Professor

Sofia Contarini

PhD Student

keywords: cosmology, cosmic voids

Andrea Contin

Full Professor

keywords: deep inelastic scattering, nuclear and subnuclear experimental physics, astroparticle physics, hadron colliders,

Daniele Dallacasa

Associate Professor

keywords: Clusters of Galaxies, Plasma Astrophysics, Radio galaxies, Radioastronomical techniques

Cristiano Fanelli

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Stellar Populations, AGN Feedback, Radiative Feedback, Interstellar Medium, Infrared Astronomy, Radiative Transfer,

Francesco Rosario Ferraro

Full Professor

keywords: stellar evolution, dynamics, stellar systems, structure of the Galaxy

Paola Focardi

Assistant professor

keywords: galaxies, environment, interaction, nuclear activity, cluster,groups,pairs

Gabriele Giovannini

Full Professor

keywords: Active Galactic Nuclei, clusters of galaxies: non thermal emission, radio astronomy, radio galaxies, extended magnetic

Myriam Gitti

Associate Professor

keywords: clusters and groups of galaxies, intra-cluster medium, active galactic nuclei (AGN), AGN feedback, radio mini-halos,

Giannandrea Inchingolo

Research fellow

keywords: plasma physics, particle acceleration, turbulence, kinetic instabilities

Barbara Lanzoni

Associate Professor

keywords: stellar systems, stellar evolution, stellar dynamics, Galaxy formation and evolution

Giuseppe Levi

Assistant professor

keywords: Silicon Photomultiplier, Astroparticle physics, SiPM, ZEUS, AMS-02, Neutrino

Antonio Mancino

PhD Student

keywords: stellar dynamics, fluid dynamics, early-type galaxies, analytical galaxy models, dark matter, AGN feedback, accretion

Federico Marinacci

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Numerical simulations, Cosmlogical simulations, Galaxy formation and evolution, Gas dynamics in galaxies, Feedback

Federico Marulli

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: cosmology, astroinformatics, large-scale structure of the Universe, dark energy, dark matter, machine learning

Nicolò Masi

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: dark matter, cosmic rays, astroparticle physics, solar physics, space detector, beyond Standard Model physics,

Robert Benton Metcalf

Associate Professor

Michele Ennio Maria Moresco

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: observational cosmology, cosmic chronometers, large scale structure of the Universe, galaxy evolution

Lauro Moscardini

Full Professor

keywords: cosmology, gravitational lensing, galaxy clusters, early universe, numerical simulations

Alessio Mucciarelli

Associate Professor

keywords: primordial nucleosynthesis, globular clusters, chemical abundances, resolved stellar populations, stellar evolution,

Francesco Mulargia

Full Professor

keywords: Rock mechanics, Cellular automata, Earthquake Physics, Equation of state of solids, Microtremor analysis, Pattern

Carlo Nipoti

Associate Professor

keywords: galaxies, clusters of galaxies, globular clusters, dark matter, stellar dynamics, astrophysical fluid dynamics,

Cristina Pallanca

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Globular clusters, Millisecond pulsars, Intermediate massive black holes

Silvia Pellegrini

Associate Professor

keywords: structure, formation and evolution of galaxies, interstellar medium, nuclear activity in galaxies, X-ray observations

Antonio Pensabene

PhD Student

keywords: high-z galaxies, quasars, supermassive black holes

Francesca Pozzi

Associate Professor

Kamlesh Rajpurohit

Research fellow

keywords: Non-thermal processes, galaxy clusters, large-scale structures of universe, magnetic fields, Acceleration of particles

Christopher John Riseley

Research fellow

Chiara Stuardi

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Radio observations, Galaxy clusters, Large-scale magnetic fields

Astrophysics

Research lines

Projects

Research labs

Settori ERC

People