People
Piero Rosati
General manager of the Astrophysics section of LARIX
rosati@fe.infn.it
+39 0532-974220
University of Ferrara – Physics and Earth Science Department
PR is primarily an observational astronomer working in the field of cosmology, with a broad and deep expertise in multi-wavelength surveys, as well as in imaging and spectroscopic studies in the optical-IR and X-ray bands of distant galaxy clusters, galaxies and Active-Galactic Nuclei. He has constructed the first large sample of distant X-ray selected galaxy clusters (ROSAT Deep Cluster Survey,) and used these data to constrain cluster evolution and cosmological parameters. He had a co-leading role in the Chandra Deep Field South project by planning the X-ray survey, carrying out a multi-wavelength program of source identification and publishing the first scientific results. He has led the ESO-GOODS public survey in the context of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) project, designed to study galaxy formation and evolution over a wide range of cosmic lookback time. He has led several studies of the most distant galaxy clusters – with the ACS camera onboard HST, the Chandra and XMM X-ray observatories – investigating their galaxy populations and mass distributions with gravitational lensing.
Lisa Ferro
PhD Student
lisa.ferro@unife.it
University of Ferrara – Physics and Earth Science Department
Lisa is a Ph.D. student in hard X- and soft gamma-ray astrophysics at the University of Ferrara. Her research activities are mainly focused on the development of Laue lenses, high energy optics based on Bragg’s law of diffraction in crystals. She took part in the TRILL project (Technology Readiness Increase for Laue Lenses), aimed to increase the TRL of Laue lens optics, and is currently working on the ASTENA concept mission. Lisa is very passionate about science communication and took part in many outreach activities organized both by UniFe and INFN.
Miguel Moita
Postdoc
miguel.fernandesmoita@unife.it
University of Ferrara – Physics and Earth Science Department
Physics engineer with experience in research and product development in academic and industrial context. PhD in the field of high energy photon polarimetry for astrophysics completed in the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and currently working as a Postdoc in the University of Ferrara with an experimental position at the Large Italian X-ray facility (LARIX). His main interests are in instrumentation, high-energy astrophysics, compton polarimetry, developing gamma ray optics and detectors, including Monte Carlo simulations, setting up test campaigns on X- and gamma ray beamlines, leading extensive detector calibrations efforts and consequent data analysis.
Filippo Frontera
Facility supervisor and Emeritus
frontera@fe.infn.it
+39 0532-974254
University of Ferrara – Physics and Earth Science Department
FF is associate professor at the Physics and Earth Science atat University of Ferrara, Italy. Previously, until 1985, he was researcher of the National Research Council (CNR) with the Institute of Technology and Study of Extraterrestrial Radiations in Bologna (now National Institute of Astrophysics, INAF) where he continues to lead an X-ray astronomy group. Since his degree, his main scientific activity has been carried out in X-ray astronomy. He has been PI of many hard X-ray astronomy balloon experiments, PI of the high energy experiment PDS and of the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GRBM) aboard the BeppoSAX satellite, and more recently Co-I of the JEM-X experiment aboard the INTEGRAL satellite, now in orbit. He is among the winners of the Bruno Rossi Prize 1998 of the American Astronomical Society. For his researches in GRB astronomy he is among the winners of the Descartes Prize 2002 for the Science of the European Union Committee. He is winner of the “Enrico Fermi” prize 2010 of the Italian Physical Society, and in 2012 he received the “Marcel Grossmann Award”.
Enrico Virgilli
Collaborator at the facility
enrico.virgilli@inaf.it
INAF OAS Bologna
Researcher at INAF OAS Bologna, he completed his PhD in the X-ray Astronomy data analysis field, then he moved to an experimental position at the large italian x-ray (larix) facility of the Physics and Earth Science Department of the University of Ferrara (Italy), led by Professors Filippo Frontera and Piero Rosati. He currently work in both the facilities of the larix laboratory. He was initially involved in the hard x-ray telescope project (haxtel), devoted to develop a technology for focusing 100 keV photons through the Bragg/Laue diffraction. He is also employed for a project named LAUE, supported by the italian space agency and involving private companies and research institutes (dtm Technologies Modena, imem Parma, inaf/oas Bologna, Thales Alenia Space), devoted to the realization of a broad band (60 – 600 keV) Laue lens petal. At present, he is both facing the fine-tuning/alignment phase of the facility before the lens assembling stage and the final tests of the crystals to be positioned on the focusing lens. Currently, he is developing the stand-alone Laue Lens Library (LLL) code for describing the behaviour of a focusing lens made of bent crystals that is being successfully applied to compare expectations with experimental results.
Ezio Caroli
INAF OAS Bologna
His primary research activity is related to the development of room temperature solid state detectors for hard X and soft gamma ray astronomy. He also works for the hard X and soft gamma ray scattering polarimetry with pixel and array detectors. He also has developed imaging techniques for hard X and soft gamma ray telescopes.
John Stephen
INAF OAS Bologna
John’s activity is mainly related to the high energy astrophysics in the field of the data analysis. He is involved in the INTEGRAL satellite. He collaborated in the LAUE project developing a tool to investigate the effect of the diverging beam over the crystal tiles. He is also currently developing imaging techniques for hard X and soft gamma ray telescopes.
Natalia Auricchio
INAF OAS Bologna
She is involved in the EUCLID mission, an ESA project whose goal is to map the geometry of the dark Universe. Her activity in the LARIX laboratory is devoted to the development, calibration and tests of the detectors located in both the facilities.