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

Francesco Andreetto

PhD Student

Marco Baldi

Associate Professor

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

Filippo Barbani

PhD Student

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

Research fellow

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

Full Professor

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

Letizia Bugiani

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Formation and evolution of galaxies, Quiescent galaxies, AGN feedback, High-redshift galaxies

Andrea Cimatti

Full Professor

Luca Ciotti

Full Professor

keywords: Astronomy, Theoretical astrophysics

Virginia Cuciti

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: galaxy clusters, non-thermal emission, radioastronomy, Large scale structure

Elena Cuoco

Full Professor

keywords: gravitational waves, artificial intelligence, signal processing

Daniele Dallacasa

Associate Professor

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

Leonardo De Deo

PhD Student

keywords: Theoretical Astrophysics - Galactic dynamics - Jeans equations - Orbital anisotropy - Intracluster light - Inclusive

Emanuele De Rubeis

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: galaxy clusters, radio galaxies, radio astronomy, high performance computing, LOFAR

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

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,

Eric Giunchi

Research fellow

keywords: Star formation, Globular clusters, Galaxy tails, Galaxy clusters

Massimo Guidi

Research fellow

keywords: Galaxy Clustering

Barbara Lanzoni

Associate Professor

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

Carmela Lardo

Associate Professor

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

Giorgio Francesco Lesci

Research fellow

keywords: Observational Cosmology; Galaxy Clusters; Weak-lensing

Giuseppe Levi

Assistant professor

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

Martina Loriga

PhD Student

keywords: Stellar evolution, Globular Clusters, Photometry

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

Alessandro Mazzi

Research fellow

keywords: Stellar populations, Solar neighborhood, Aterosismology, Milky Way, Local Group, Software develpment

Maria Messineo

Research fellow

Robert Benton Metcalf

Associate Professor

Andrea Miglio

Full Professor

keywords: stellar structure and evolution, asteroseismology, stellar populations, formation and evolution of the Milky Way

Michele Ennio Maria Moresco

Associate Professor

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

Lauro Moscardini

Full Professor

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

Alessio Mucciarelli

Associate Professor

keywords: resolved stellar populations, chemical abundances, dwarf and irregular galaxies, globular clusters, stellar

Carlo Nipoti

Associate Professor

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

Cristina Pallanca

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

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

Giulia Papini

PhD Student

keywords: galaxy formation and evolution, galaxy environment, dark matter, Euclid, MUSE spectroscopy

Silvia Pellegrini

Associate Professor

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

Davide Pelliciari

PhD Student

keywords: Fast Radio Bursts, Cosmic Dawn, 21-cm cosmology

Francesca Pozzi

Associate Professor

Veronica Roccatagliata

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: star formation, planet formation, formation and dynamical evolution of young clusters, protoplanetary disks, debris

Martina Rossi

Research fellow

keywords: theoretical chemical evolution models, ultra faint dwarf galaxies, Milky Way, Population III stars, first stars

Olena Torbaniuk

Research fellow

Francesco Ubertosi

Research fellow

Teaching tutor

keywords: Galaxy clusters - thermal X-ray emission - intracluster medium - feeding and feedback of active supermassive black

Franco Vazza

Associate Professor

keywords: cosmological simulations, extragalactic magnetic fields, non-thermal phenomena, galaxy clusters, cosmic web

Cristian Vignali

Associate Professor

Astrophysics

Research lines

Projects

Research labs

Settori ERC

People