Research activities
Relativistic and particles astrophysics
Disc galaxies are star-formation sites. Stars with mass greater than about 10 solar masses explode as supernovae at the end of their relatively short life. These explosions, as well as the powerful winds generated by active galactic nuclei, accelerate the protons and electrons present in the interstellar gas to very high energies. These particles interact with the radiation, magnetic, and matter fields of the circumstellar environment, producing gamma-rays. The corresponding emission mechanisms are identified based on the frequency distribution of the emitted radiation. By studying this radiation, OATs researchers are able to estimate the physical conditions of the environment from which the radiation comes, and to deduce the characteristics of the events that generated the acceleration of particles, supernova explosions or nuclear winds. Stars of mass greater than 20-30 solar masses explode forming the so-called long Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs are instead produced by the coalescence of two neutron stars, as was spectacularly demonstrated by the case of the gravitational event GW170817 associated with a short GRB. OATs researchers coordinate the HERMES pathfinder project, funded by ASI and the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program. HERMES foresees the deployment in orbit of a constellation of 6 nano-satellites equipped with X detectors with the goal of determining the position of GRBs by studying the delays in the arrival time of the signal on detectors placed at a great distance from each other. The launch of HERMES pathfinder is scheduled for 2022. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of an observatory for high energy astrophysics based on nano-satellites, therefore much cheaper and with shorter construction time than traditional space projects.

Images of the 2017 kilonova.

Artistic rendering of a black hole.