Attivita' di ricerca

Research Interests

Search for very high-energy gamma-ray emitting blazars
Extreme blazars: the missing blazar population in Fermi-LAT surveys
Study of multi-wavelength emission from TeV blazars
TeV blazars and cosmology: the extragalactic background light

Main Research Assignments

Currently I am a member of the MAGIC Collaboration and CTA Consortium.
I have carried on the following research assignments:

01 July 2016 - now PostDoc Grant (Assegno di ricerca Senior) at the Padova University about “Extreme blazars as astrophysical and astroparticle probes” (from 01/05/2016 to 23/10/2016 Maternity leave);
01 May 2014 – 30 April 2016 (24 months) Swiss National Science Foundation PostDoc fellowship (MHV) at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Geneva (MAGIC and CTA collaborations on Imaging Cosmic Emitters of Very High Energy Gamma Rays);
01 December 2013 – 30 April 2014 (5 months) Post Doc at the CTA group, Department of Physics, University of Geneva, on hardware work (characterization of SiPM) and MAGIC-CTA scientific work;
November 2011 – June 2013 (12 months) PostDoc at the MAGIC Padua group on analysis of MAGIC data of distant emitters and development of technologies for reflecting elements, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua. During this position, I had a 8 months break due to maternity leave;
February 2011 – August 2011 (6 months) Scholarship about ‘Characterization of the Compton peak in uncertain redshifts AGNs’, Department of Physics, University of Padua;
January 2008 – January 2011 (3 years) PhD Student in Physics at the Department of Physics, University of Padua;;
May 2007 – December 2007 I.N.F.N. scholarship about ‘Selection and analysis of gamma ray events from VHE sources at large redshift with the MAGIC Telescope’, Department of Physics, University of Padua;
October 2006 – April 2007 I.N.F.N. national scholarship, Department of Physics, University of Padua;
June 2006 – October 2006 I.N.F.N. scholarship about ‘Selection and analysis of gamma-ray events from VHE sources at large redshift with the MAGIC Telescope’, Department of Physics, University of Padua;
April 2006 – May 2006 contract with the Department of Physics, University of Padua.

Prizes & Awards

2016-2018: Grant from the Padova University for the research project “Extreme blazars as astrophysical and astroparticle probes” (full salary)
2015: Grants for the organization of the conference: “Searching for the Sources of Galactic Cosmic Rays”, held in Geneva (Switzerland), 21-23 January 2015. Grants were awarded by: Societe Academique de Geneve (SAG), Swiss National Foundation (SNF), and Commission administrative Universite de Geneve (COMAD).;
2014-2016: Grant from the Swiss National Foundation (SNF) for the research project “Imaging Cosmic Emitters of Very High-Energy Gamma Rays” (full salary and research costs);
2008-2010: 3 years PhD fellowship (University of Padova, Italy);
2009: second prize at the National Congress of the Italian Physics Society for the best talk of the session “Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics”;
2008: MAGIC Prize for the discovery of a VHE gamma ray signal from the source 3C279.

Experiments Responsibilities

November 2014 – now: convener of the Active Galactic Nuclei group of MAGIC;
December 2014 - September 2015: responsible for the Camera Calibration of the single mirror small size telescopes of CTA;
June 2014 – November 2015: deputy Security and Operations coordinator of the MAGIC telescopes;
May – September 2012: deputy convener in the Active Galactic Nuclei group of MAGIC;
I have carried out three data taking shifts at the MAGIC telescope site in La Palma (4 weeks in June 2008, 3 weeks in May 2010, 10 days in April 2015);
2009 and 2010 responsible in situ for the projects MAGIC Outreach and MAGIC-D;

Most relevant programs as Principal Investigator

2018: MAGIC scientific proposal approved (data taking ongoing)
2018: two Swift ToO approved (~1.4 ks + data taking ongoing)
2017: MAGIC scientific proposal approved (62 h)
2017: seven Swift ToO approved (~42 ks)
2016: two MAGIC scientific proposals approved (31 h; 50 h)
January 2016: two Swift ToO approved (16 ks)
2015: MAGIC scientific proposal approved (50 h)
2015: MAGIC technical proposal approved (3 h)
2014: MAGIC technical proposal approved (2 h)
June 2012: Swift ToO approved (4 ks)
May 2012: Swift ToO approved (4 ks)
April 2012: Swift ToO approved (4 ks)
2012: MAGIC scientific proposal approved (20 h)
2011: MAGIC scientific proposal approved (35 h)
Moreover, I have participated as co-investigator to a number of accepted proposals. The most relevant (non MAGIC) are:
Apr 2015 - Oct 2015: NOT (PI: G. Bonnoli)
Oct 2014 - Apr 2015: NOT (PI: G. Bonnoli)
Sept 2014 - Feb 2015: TNG (PI: G.Bonnoli)
Feb 2014 - Aug 2014 TNG polarimetry observations (PI S.Covino)

Organizer of Conferences

January 2015 – organizer and chair of the 2nd SuGAR workshop (Searching for the Sources of Galactic Cosmic Rays), Geneva, 21-23 January 2015;
April 2018 - member of the LOC for the Revisiting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and their place in the Universe Conference (Padua);
April 2017 - member of the LOC for the Quasars at all cosmic epochs conference (Padua);
September 2016 - member of the LOC for the TeVPa conference (Geneva);
December 2015 - member of the LOC for the Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, co-chair of the session ‘Gamma rays’;
November 2008 - member of the LOC for the ‘Fourth General Meeting On the way towards the future ground-based gamma-ray observatory CTA’, Padua.

Other Responsibilities

November 2017: participation to MAGIC Time Allocation Committee as convener of the extragalactic working group;
12 May 2015: member of the commission for the PhD defence at the Physics Department, Siena University;
Since 2013: referee for A&A;
Fall 2011 – September 2012: in charge of the maintenance of the Padua computing system;
Spring 2011 – Spring 2012: organizer of the cycle of seminars Friday Lunch with Astro-Particles (FLAP, http://www.pd.infn.it/flap/);
2010: representative of the Padua PhD students;
2009, 2010, and 2014 as MAGIC data analysis expert, I was for several months “flare advocate” for the AGN group;

Conference Presentations

Invited review talk at the conference Rencontres de Moriond 2017 - VHE Phenomena in the Universe - La Thuile 18 - 25 March 2017 about ‘Highlights from TeV extragalactic sources’ (EP);
Invited talk at the Solvay workshop, Bruxelles, 23-26 January 2018 “SuGAR - Searching for the sources of the galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays” about ‘MAGIC and CTA - looking for VHE gamma rays in a Multi-wavelength & Multi-Messenger Context ’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration and CTA Consortium)
Invited talk at the conference “Congresso SIF”, Trento, 11-15 September 2017, about ‘Thirteen years of MAGIC’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
Invited talk at the conference “Incontri di Fisica delle Alte Energie”, Ferrara, 11-13 April 2012, about ‘Highlight results from the MAGIC telescopes’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
Invited talk at the workshop “From neutrino to multi-messenger astronomy: status and perspectives”, Marseille, 4-6 April 2011, about ‘Highlight results from the MAGIC telescopes’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“Texas Symposium for relativistic astrophysics”, Cape Town, 5-9 December 2017, oral contribution titled ‘The MAGIC perspective on extreme blazars’ (EP for the MAGIC Coll.)
“Swiss Physical Society Annual Meeting”, Friburg, 30 June 2014, oral contribution titled “The extragalactic gamma-ray sky seen by MAGIC” (EP for the MAGIC Coll.)
“2nd SiPM Advanced Workshop”, Geneva, 24-26 March 2014, oral contribution titled SiPM parameters measured by UniGE group (EP+)
“Astrophysics from the Radio to the Sub-Millimeter. Planck and other Experiments in Temperature and Polarization”, Bologna, 13-17 February 2012, oral contribution titled “The other side of the coin: the CIB as seen by VHE Blazars” (EP)
“Cosmic Radiation Field”, Hamburg, 10-12 November 2010, oral contribution titled ‘TeV blazars and their distance’ (EP+);
“8th SciNeGHE”, Trieste, 8-10 September 2010, with an oral contribution titled ‘Constraining blazars distances with combined Fermi and TeV data: an empirical approach’ (EP+);
“XCV Congress of the Italian Physics Society”, Bari, September 2009, oral contribution titled ‘Blazars distances indications from very high energy gamma rays observations’ (EP+);
“31st International Cosmic Ray Conference”, Lodz, Poland, 7-15 July 2009, oral contribution titled ‘A new upper limit on the redshift of PG 1553+113 from observations with the MAGIC Telescope’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“XCIII Congress of the Italian Physics Society”, Pisa 24-29 September 2007, oral contribution titled ‘Observation of VHE gamma emission from the Active Galactic Nuclei with the MAGIC detector’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“Texas Symposium for relativistic astrophysics”, Cape Town, 5-9 December 2017, poster contribution titled ‘Twelve years of MAGIC observations of the intriguing blazar PG 1553+113’ (EP for the MAGIC Coll.)
“6th Fermi Symposium”, Washington November 2015, poster contribution titled ‘Long-term MAGIC and multi-wavelength observations on PG 1553+113’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“34th International Cosmic Ray Conference”, The Hague 29 July - 6 August 2015, poster contribution titled ‘Investigating the VHE periodicity of PG 1553+113’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“34th International Cosmic Ray Conference”, The Hague 29 July - 6 August 2015, poster contribution titled ‘Study of hadron and gamma-ray acceptance of the MAGIC telescopes’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration);
“34th International Cosmic Ray Conference”, The Hague 29 July - 6 August 2015, poster contribution titled ‘Camera calibration strategy of the SST-1M prototype of the Cherenokov Telescope Array’ (EP on behalf of the CTA Collaboration);
“SWAPS 2014”, Geneva 11-14 June 2014, poster “The CTA Single Mirror Small Size Telescopes project”(EP on behalf of the SST-1M CTA group)
“Fermi Symposium”, Rome, 9-12 May 2011, two posters: ‘The MAGIC view of PG 1553+113’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration) and ‘Constraining blazars distances with combined GeV and TeV data’ (EP+);
“Cospar”, Bremen, 17-25 July 2010, poster ‘Five years of Observations of PG 1553+113 with the MAGIC Telescope’ (EP on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration).

Invited Seminars

May 2014 – The very high energy sky seen with two MAGIC eyes, DPNC, Geneva, Switzerland;
March 2014 – The MAGIC view of the Universe, University of Geneva, Switzerland;
November 2011 – ‘It’s a kind of MAGIC: come i raggi gamma ad altissima energia diventano segnale’, Ph.D School MAPSES, Lecce, Italy;
October 2011 - ‘Physical Results of Cherenkov data analysis’, Ph.D. School MeraTeV, Merate, Italy;
June 2011 - ‘The extragalactic sky as seen at very high energies’, Department of Astronomy, Padua;
February 2011 - ‘The MAGIC view of the Universe’ at the Padua Astronomical Observatory;
April 2010 - ‘Constraining blazars distance with gamma–rays’ at the Physics Department of the Insubria University, Como, Italy.

Other Attendances

LATTES meeting, Padua 16-17 October 2017, talk: ‘Strength and Weaknesses at the Extragalactic Southern Sky’
LST meeting, 6-10 February 2017, talk: ‘EBL studies with the LSTs’
CTA General Meeting, Catania, 22-26 September 2014;
CTA General Meeting, Munich, 7-11 April 2014;
CTA extragalactic and fundamental physics science key program meeting, Munich 10-11 February 2014;
7th SST meeting in Geneva, 16-18 December 2013;
CTA Consortium General Meeting, Amsterdam, 14-18 May 2012;
“40th Saas-Fee Course”, Les Diablerets, Swiss, 15-20 March 2010;
“Novicosmo09”, Rabats, Croatia, 20-30 September 2009;
“Accretion and Ejection in AGN: a Global View”, Como, Italy, 22-26 June 2009
“6th SciNeGHE”, Abano Terme (Padua), Italy, 8-10 October 2008;
“5th Science Agile workshop,” Rome, 12-13 June 2008;
“30th International Cosmic Ray Conference”, Merida, Mexico, 3-11 July 2007;

Moreover, starting from fall 2005 I have participated to almost all the general meetings and AGN meetings of the MAGIC collaboration.

Teaching Activities

2012
March-June: Professor assistant (didattica di supporto) of Physics, agrarian course 1st year, Padua (20 hours).
2011
October-December: Professor assistant (didattica di supporto) of Laboratory of Optics, physics course 3rd year, Padua (50 hours).
March-June: Professor assistant (didattica di supporto) of Laboratory of Dynamics, engineering course, Padua.
2010
Scientific tutor for the MAGIC Outreach project in La Palma (10 days in August).
2009
March-June: Professor assistant (didattica di supporto) of Laboratory of Dynamics, engineering course, Padua.
Scientific tutor at the MAGIC Outreach project in La Palma (9 days in August).
September: Professor at summer courses of Experimental physics for secondary school students, Padua.
2007
March-June: Professor assistant (didattica di supporto) of Laboratory of Dynamics, engineering course, Padua.

Advising at the Padua University

2016/2019 - Co-supervisor of Luca Foffano (Ph.D. Student, MAGIC);
Summer 2013 - Co-supervisor of Giovanni Ceribella (Bachelor's Student)
Spring- Summer 2012 - Co-supervisor of Stefano Vecchio and Alice Borghese (Bachelor's Students)
2010/2012 - Co-supervisor of Cornelia Schultz (Ph.D. Student, MAGIC);
Summer 2011 - Co-supervisor of Francesco Valentino (Bachelor's Student)

Last Update: 05 March 2018