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Scientific Report 2007-2009
Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Cosmology, focusing on measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy
and polarization, from ground and from space, development of Detectors for the CMB, Gravitational
lensing, and tests of fundamental physics with cosmology.
Figure 2: Artist view of an obscured Active Galactic
Nucleus (AGN), a galaxy powered by a central
supermassive black-hole. Our department is very
active in the observation, analysis and physical interpretation
of AGN data, both from ground based
observations (with proprietary instruments at visible
wavelengths) and from space observatories in X rays
and gamma rays. credits: ESA / NASA
The methods used to investigate these themes
include theoretical studies, numerical simulations
and data analysis with high-performance computers,
development of original instruments and experiments
carried from ground-based telescopes,
stratospheric platforms, or deep space, in the full
electromagnetic spectrum.
We have contributed and have access to the most
important current space observatories (from Glast-
Fermi for Gamma rays to Herschel in the far infrared
and Planck in the millimeter range) and we
are developing our own mm and submm stratospheric
telescope (OLIMPO, with the Italian Space
Agency). Moreover, we have developed and we run
the MITO mm telescope at the Testa Grigia high
mountain station, on the Italian Alps, and the optical
telescope at Vallinfreda astronomical station.
An optical telescope (TACOR) is available on the
roof of the Department for education activities and
optical instruments preparation/testing.
Additional infrastructure includes research laboratories
for the development of advanced astronomical instrumentation, including CCD cameras,
visible spectrographs, IR and mm-wave telescopes, spectrometers and detectors. The laboratories
have advanced mechanical, electronics, optics and cryogenic instrumentation and expert technical
support. We use large supercomputers in a national (CINECA) and european frame (DEISA,
PRACE projects) for our simulations and analysis, but also medium-sized proprietary clusters.
We are actively exploring the new approach to supercomputing, based on clusters of GPUs.
All this is accomplished by a staff of 15 academics, and by a larger number of students and Post-
Doc, within a network of national and international collaborations. Our Department, in fact, offers
a full specific curriculum in Astrophysics (the Bachelor’s Degree in Physics and Astrophysics, the
Master Degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Ph.D. in Astronomy), and we have a
long-standing tradition of involving students of the two higher degrees quite deeply in research
activities and in the related international collaborations.
Funds for these research activities (detailed in the following) come from MIUR (The Ministry of
Education, University and Research), INAF (The National Institute for Astrophysics), ASI (The
Italian Space Agency), INFN (The National Institute for Nuclear Physics).
Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics
This activity merges the heritage of the schools of Stellar Astrophysics (developed mainly in the
70s at the Laboratory of Space Astrophysics of Frascati) and of Astronomy (developed mainly
at the Institute of Astronomy of our University and at the Observatory of Rome). Stars exist
in a variety of forms and systems. They can be considered physics laboratories, where quantum
mechanics and nuclear fusion, together with Newtonian dynamics, are the motors of evolution.
Activities in our department are based on spectroscopic observations of stars, with focus on late
high-mass stars, which are the key to understand the post-main-sequence evolution. Stellar systems
represent very interesting dynamical systems, whose formation and evolution are studied in
our department analytically, numerically and even thermodynamically, in the framework of galac-
Sapienza Università di Roma 144 Dipartimento di Fisica