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

Marco Baldi

Associate Professor

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

Filippo Barbani

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Galaxy formation and evolution, Milky Way-like galaxies, Computational astrophysics

Sirio Belli

Associate Professor

keywords: Galaxy Formation and Evolution, High-Redshift Galaxies, Optical and Near-Infrared Observations

Annalisa Bonafede

Associate Professor

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

Nicola Borghi

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Observational cosmology, Stellar Populations, Cosmic Chronometers, Cosmological probes, Gravitational Waves, Dark Energy

Fabrizio Brighenti

Associate Professor

keywords: galactic flows, galaxy clusters, fluid dynamics, elliptical galaxies

Marcella Brusa

Associate Professor

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

Mario Cadelano

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

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

Andrea Cimatti

Full Professor

Luca Ciotti

Full Professor

keywords: Astronomy, Theoretical astrophysics

Sofia Contarini

Research fellow

keywords: cosmology, cosmic voids

Andrea Contin

Full Professor

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

Chiara Crociati

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Stellar astrophysics; Stellar evolution; Resolved stellar populations ; Globular clusters ; Milky Way

Daniele Dallacasa

Associate Professor

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

Leonardo De Deo

PhD Student

keywords: Theoretical Astrophysics - Galactic dynamics - Intracluster stellar population - Inclusive scientific sissemination -

Dan Josue Deras Badillo

Research fellow

Giulia Despali

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: dark matter, cosmology, gravitational lensing, numerical simulations

Andrea Francesco Maria Enia

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: Galaxy formation and evolution, Astrophysical surveys, Gravitational lensing, Computational astrophysics, Machine/Deep

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

Fabrizio Gentile

PhD Student

keywords: Galaxy evolution, IR/mm astronomy, Dark galaxies, Strong lensing, Machine Learning

Myriam Gitti

Associate Professor

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

Barbara Lanzoni

Associate Professor

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

Carmela Lardo

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Star Clusters, Stellar Evolution, Milky Way Formation and Evolution, Near-Field Cosmology, Local Group Dwarf Galaxies,

Giorgio Francesco Lesci

PhD Student

keywords: Observational Cosmology; Galaxy Clusters; Weak-lensing

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

Stefano Marchesi

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Active galactic nuclei, Supermassive black holes, Galaxy formation and evolution, High energy astrophysics

Federico Marinacci

Associate Professor

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

Federico Marulli

Associate Professor

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

Massimiliano Matteuzzi

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: asteroseismology, stellar models, theoretical astrophysics, galaxies formation and evolution

Astrophysics

Research lines

Projects

Research labs

Settori ERC

People