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Research interest:

GALAXY FORMATION AND EVOLUTION

  • Role of galaxy mass, redshift and environment in galaxy evolution

  • Star formation rate in different environments

  • Groups and Clusters of galaxies 

  • Dynamics of central galaxies in groups and clusters

Research description:

My major research interest is to understand the most important factors that drive galaxy evolution through cosmic time, trying to disentangle and quantify the importance of galaxy mass, redshift and environment. My research is based on a combination of integrated and/or spatially resolved spectroscopy and photometric data. 

I have been focusing on characterizing the history of stellar evolution and structure development of galaxies in different environments, by tracing the star formation rate, morphology and total stellar mass of galaxies at different redshifts.  I am particularly interested in understanding how the galaxy stellar mass distribution can be affected by the environment in which galaxies reside, contrasting the role of the global and local environments.

To shed light on the physical processes that affect the mass distribution and other galaxy properties, I also make use of mock catalogs extracted from semi analytic models.

I am also interested in characterizing the group environment, especially as link between clusters and the field. A detailed analysis of the dependence of galaxy properties on redshift, groupcentric distance and group richness allows to understand the physical processes responsible for the galaxy transformations and the group history assembly. Making use of spatially resolved data, I also investigate which are the typical patterns left on the gas and stellar distribution by the different physical mechanisms affecting galaxies in the different environments. 

The analysis of central group galaxies (BCGs) may also shed light on the assembly of galaxy groups. Characterizing their dynamical properties and their impact on the properties of their satellite might give us information on the timescales of their assembly,  the age of assembly of the group or the amount of gas in the group, which may also correlate with group halo assembly history.

Research team:

Current students and post docs

  • Ayan Acharyya (post doc, PhD ANU, AUS)

  • Pietro Benotto (PhD student)

  • Golden Marx (post doc, PhD University of Boston, US)

  • Augusto Lassen (post doc, PhD Rio Grande do Sul, BR)

  • Peter Watson (post doc, PhD University of Oxford, UK)

Past students and post docs

  • Beatrice Facciolli (bachelor student, 2022, Padua University, I)

  • Alessandro Ignesti (post doc 2021-2022, PhD Bologna University, I)

  • Matteo Simioni (post doc 2019-2025, PhD Padua University, I)

  • Neven Tomicic (post doc 2021-2022, PhD MPIA, D)

  • Daria Zakharova (PhD student 2021-2024)

Main Projects:

MAGNET:

MAGNET (Mechanisms Affecting Galaxies Nearby and Environmental Trends) has the ultimate goal of understanding the relative importance and effectiveness of different mechanisms in affecting galaxy properties in all environments in the local universe, by combining multi-wavelength observations. MAGNET will investigate the properties of an unbiased sample of galaxies in a wide range of environments, from galaxies in isolation, to pairs, filaments and groups, and covering a wide range of stellar masses and morphologies, to tackle the following questions:

i) is there clear evidence for hydrodynamical and/or tidal interactions and what is their relative importance? 

ii) are environmental interactions relevant compared to internal, secular processes? 

iii) what is the timescale of star formation quenching for galaxies undergoing different types of interactions? 

iv) how does the multi-phase composition of the interstellar medium change as a function of position within a galaxy under different types of interactions?


GASP:

GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE) is an integral-field spectroscopic survey with MUSE at the VLT aiming at a detailed investigation of gas removal processes in galaxies. The goal of this project is to significantly improve our understanding of gas removal processes from galaxies in different environments. It collects data for a statistically significant sample of stripped candidates selected from the cluster samples WINGS (Fasano et al. 2006, Moretti et al. 2014) and  OmegaWINGS (Gullieuszik et al. 2015, Moretti et al. 2017) and the general field sample PM2GC (Calvi et al. 2011), with a range of galaxy masses and different degrees of optical evidence for gas stripping, in the different environments. The 2-D maps of stellar and gas kinematics, together with the resolved stellar population properties obtained with MUSE will permit to understand the physics of the gas stripping and the consequent quenching of the star formation. A number of follow-ups at different wavelengths is currently ongoing.


GLASS and GLASS-ERS JWST:

The Galaxy Lens-Amplified Survey from Space is a cycle-21 large program with the Hubble Space Telescope, targeting 10 massive clusters, using the WFC3 and ACS grisms. Using the clusters as cosmic telescopes, GLASS is taking spectra of faint background galaxies with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. GLASS has three primary science drivers: 1) To shed light on the role of galaxies in reionizing the universe, the topology of high redshift intergalactic/interstellar medium, and on the Lyman alpha escape fraction. 2) To study gas accretion, star formation and outflows by mapping spatially resolved star formation and metallicity gradients in galaxies at z=1.3-2.3. 3) To study the environmental dependence of galaxy evolution, by mapping spatially resolved star formation in galaxies in the cluster cores and infalling regions. As GLASS follow-up, GLASS-ERS is a JWST program focused on two main science areas: understanding the Reionization of the universe less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang, and understanding how gas and heavy elements are distributed within and around galaxies over time.

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Virgo Filaments:

The Virgo Filament project aims at characterising the large scale structures around the Virgo cluster, focusing on the most prominent filaments. The intent is to probe the gas content and distribution and investigate the role of the cosmic web in quenching the star formation galaxies. The survey is supported by a wealth of ancillary data enabling the precise measurement of the galaxy sizes, morphologies, stellar masses and star formation rates (SFR) from GALEX UV photometry, SDSS ugriz imaging, optical spectroscopy, and infrared (WISE and/or IRAS) fluxes. A major stride of our approach is to link the galaxy stellar properties from the UV to the far-IR to the galaxy gas content.  

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MICADO:

The MICADO Collaboration is developing the Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations (MICADO), one of the first-light instruments for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The MICADO camera will provide the future largest telescope of the world, and will be equipped with both imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. It will observe from I to K band (0.8-2.4 micron). It will benefit of the aberration correction provided by state of the art Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics (SCAO) and Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems. Adaptive Optics (AO) will provide the real-time correction of the optical turbulence and telescope residual aberrations. The current schedule foresees the instrument completed and mounted on the ELT in 2027 and fully commissioned by 2029.​

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PASSAGE:

PASSAGE (Parallel Application of Slitless Spectroscopy to Analyze Galaxy Evolution) is a large JWST Cycle 1 program designed to explore galaxy evolution using slitless spectroscopy. With 591 hours of observing time awarded—the largest allocation in Cycle 1—PASSAGE uses the NIRISS instrument in Pure Parallel mode to collect deep near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy across the sky. About two-thirds of the program was successfully executed, resulting in observations of 63 high-latitude fields and more than 10,000 near-infrared spectrograms of distant, faint galaxies. This project is advancing our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, especially in low-mass galaxies, and has already produced exciting results in the study of emission-line properties across cosmic time.

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4HS & CHANCES – Mapping Galaxy Evolution Across Environments with 4MOST:

As part of the 4MOST extragalactic survey suite, the 4HS (4MOST Hemisphere Survey) and CHANCES (Chilean Cluster Galaxy Evolution Survey) programs offer complementary approaches to understanding galaxy evolution in the nearby Universe. Together, they combine breadth and depth—with 4HS providing an unparalleled wide-area, mass-complete spectroscopic survey of ~6 million galaxies across the Southern Hemisphere, and CHANCES focusing on ~150 massive galaxy clusters and their surrounding environments out to high redshift (z ≲ 0.45).

4HS serves as a critical local benchmark for cosmological and extragalactic studies, enabling precise measurements of large-scale structure, galaxy environments, and peculiar velocities over ~1 Gpc scales. Its exceptional spectroscopic completeness allows robust studies of how galaxies evolve across the full range of environments—from voids to clusters.

In contrast, CHANCES zooms into dense cosmic structures, targeting ~300,000 galaxies in and around clusters, including infall regions, filaments, and group environments. By probing down to the dwarf galaxy regime, CHANCES enables detailed studies of environmental quenching, pre-processing, and mass assembly—shedding light on how galaxies are transformed by their surroundings.

Together, these two surveys form a powerful and complementary framework: 4HS offers the panoramic view of galaxy evolution across cosmic web environments, while CHANCES provides the close-up lens on environmental processes in clusters. Both surveys are designed for synergy with major facilities such as LSST, Euclid, eROSITA, ASKAP, and SKA, and will play a key role in shaping our understanding of galaxy evolution in the local Universe.

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POPPIES:

POPPIES (Public Observation Pure Parallel Infrared Emission-Line Survey) is a wide-area, blind emission-line survey with JWST, designed to explore galaxy formation and evolution in the early Universe using NIRCam slitless spectroscopy in pure parallel mode. Leveraging over 150 independent fieldsacross the sky, POPPIES covers a total area of ~1455 arcmin², making it the largest NIRCam WFSS program to date—including ~10× the area covered by all Cycle 1–2 F444W grism observations combined. The survey takes advantage of JWST’s parallel observing capabilities, capturing slitless spectra and multi-band imaging in fields observed primarily with other instruments. POPPIES uses two tiers of depth: a wide tier with short (~<1 hr) integrations across most fields, and a deep tier with longer exposures (up to 10 hours) in a subset of fields, allowing both statistical completeness and deep sensitivity. Using the F444W grism as its primary filter, POPPIES can detect strong emission-line galaxies out to very high redshifts (z ≈ 7–12). In a subset of fields, the survey will also include broader spectral coverage using F322W2, F356W, and F277W—enabling the detection of multiple emission lines per source and providing valuable diagnostics on galaxy properties such as metallicity, ionization, and star formation rates.​

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