GSSI

Gravitational waves, Neutrinos & Cosmic rays, Visiting institute (TNA)

The Gran Sasso Science Institute, located in L’Aquila, Italy, is an international doctoral school and research center focused on Astroparticle Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Social Sciences. GSSI is in L’Aquila, Italy and it currently hosts around 150 PhD students, 40% of whom are international. The GSSI astroparticle research covers several areas, including gravitational-wave (GW), high-energy astrophysics, cosmic-ray (CR) searches and theory, dark matter searches, and neutrino physics. It is one of Europe’s leading centers for multi-messenger research. GSSI scientists are highly engaged in observations, data analysis and the development of modeling of extreme transients to interpret multi-messenger observations. They are at the forefront of activities related to the Virgo detector, as well as in the design and scientific development of next-generation observatories, such as the Einstein Telescope. GSSI also leads the Lunar Gravitational Wave Antenna project and contributes to the LISA mission. Additionally, researchers access major ground- and space-based observatories to detect electromagnetic counterparts of GW events.

Main contact for TNA call: Marica Branchesi

 

Available expertise

The GSSI is engaged in the study of the physics governing the emission of multi-messenger from compact objects such as neutron stars, black holes (from stellar to supermassive), and white dwarfs. Within the ACME project we provide expertise on:

  • on analyzing gravitational wave observations from LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA and studying the formation, evolution, and demographics of compact objects;
  • on observations and modeling electromagnetic signals (optical, X, gamma, VHE) from astrophysical transients’ counterparts of gravitational-wave sources, such as gamma-ray bursts, kilonovae, and supernovae;
  • on modeling the gravitational wave signals of inspirals and post-mergers produced by binary black holes for testing General Relativity;
  • on modeling the signals emitted by coalescing neutron star systems to study the properties of matter at super-nuclear densities, and on characterizing compact objects in General Relativity and in extended gravity theories;
  • on Virgo, the Einstein Telescope (ET) e il Lunar Gravitational Wave Antenna (LGWA), technological, data analysis and science case development;

The other field of research for which GSSI provides expertise is on high-energy cosmic radiation: cosmic rays (CR), neutrinos, and gamma rays. In particular:

  • physics behind the mechanisms responsible for the acceleration and propagation of astrophysical particles and, in general, the dynamics of particle-plasma interactions in astrophysical environments;
  • observations of CR and gamma rays both from space (DAMPE experiment) and from Earth (Auger experiment),
  • development of new detectors for space-based detection of CR, neutrinos, and gamma rays (HERD, NUSES, Crystal Eye experiments).

 

Available tools

GWFish: an open-source code to simulate GW detector networks and to calculate measurement uncertainties based on the Fisher-matrix approximation. GWFish enables to analyze multiband scenarios, i.e., observation of a GW signal by different detectors in different frequency bands, such as Virgo, the Einstein Telescope (ET), Cosmic Explorer (CE), the Lunar Gravitational-wave Antenna and LISA. https://github.com/janosch314/GWFish Now also implemented with physically informed priors https://github.com/u-dupletsa/GWFish-meets-Priors

B-POP: (Black hole POPulation synthesis tool): source code not public yet, will be in a few months. Relevant publications:  10.1093/mnras/stad331, 10.3847/1538-4357/ab88b2

ARGdf (a few-body code integrator for stellar interactions, collisions, and triples with PN approximations). Code is not public yet. Relevant publications: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038795, 10.1038/s42005-020-0310-x, 10.3847/2041-8213/abdfcd

NBODY6++GPU (a direct N-body code for star cluster simulations, with single and binary stellar evolution, stellar dynamics, compact binary mergers, and GW recoil). Code is public: https://github.com/nbodyx/Nbody6ppGPU

cosmoRate: https://gitlab.com/Filippo.santoliquido/cosmo_rate_public an open-source code designed to evaluate the property distributions of compact object mergers across the history of the Universe

galaxyRate: https://gitlab.com/Filippo.santoliquido/galaxy_rate_open an open-source code to estimates the merger rate density of binary compact objects and the properties of their host galaxies based on observational scaling relations.

HERMES: https://github.com/cosmicrays/hermes HERMES is a publicly available computational framework for line-of-sight integration, capable of generating HEALPix-compatible sky maps for various galactic radiative processes. These include Faraday rotation, synchrotron and free-free radio emission, as well as gamma-ray and neutrino emissions from pion-decay, bremsstrahlung, and inverse-Compton processes.

SIMPROP: https://github.com/carmeloevoli/SimProp-Sirente SIMPROP is a Monte Carlo simulation code for modeling the propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Tutorials:

  1. Scientific Programming in Modern C++
  2. Numerical Algorithms in Scientific Applications
  3. N-body methods to model collisional astrophysical systems (star clusters and galactic nuclei), and semi-analytic approaches to model CBC formation in dense environments.
  4. GWFish tutorials
  5. cosmoRate tutorials

 

Involved scientists

Marica Branchesi is a Full Professor at GSSI. She is a renowned expert in multi-messenger astrophysics, which uses electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observations to probe the most energetic transient phenomena in the sky. She is engaged both in modelling and observations of compact object binaries in association with gamma-ray bursts, kilonovae, and supernovae. Branchesi is Chair of the Einstein Telescope Observational Science Board and a member of the Virgo Collaboration.

Manuel Arca Sedda, Assistant Professor at GSSI, is an expert in stellar dynamics, formation of compact objects and intermediate-mass black holes, evolution of dense stellar environments, GW astrophysics. He is interested in HPC computing and its application to star-by-star simulations of star clusters. He is the main developer of B-POP.

Jan Harms is Full Professor at GSSI. His research focuses on the design and development of GW detector technologies and on the development of analysis techniques for GW signals. He is a member of the Virgo and Einstein Telescope collaborations. He is chair of the Instrument Science Board of the Einstein Telescope and PI of the Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna project. He coordinates the development of GWFish.

Andrea Maselli is Associate Professor at GSSI. His research focuses on modelling black hole and neutron stars as sources of gravitational wave and strong gravity laboratories for fundamental physics. He is member of the LISA Consortium and of the Einstein Telescope collaboration. He is one of the coordinators of the Common tool division of the Einstein Telescope and of the Astrophysics Working Group for the Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna project.

Gor Oganesyan is an Assistant Professor at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI). His research focuses on the extreme and transient astrophysical phenomena, particularly Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). He investigates the multi-messenger emissions of GRBs, including photons, gravitational waves, and high-energy neutrinos. He aims at addressing fundamental questions in high-energy astrophysics, employing both data analysis and advanced theoretical approaches. He is a member of the Virgo and Einstein Telescope collaborations.

Stefano Ascenzi is an assistant professor at GSSI. He is an expert in high-energy astrophysics revolving around neutron stars and the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves. His research is characterised by a theoretical and observational approach.

Filippo Santoliquido is a postdoctoral researcher at GSSI. His research focuses on the evolution of gravitational-wave sources and their properties across cosmic time. He is member of the Virgo and ET collaborations. For a detailed overview of his background and research, please visit the website https://filippo-santoliquido.github.io/

Biswajit Banerjee is a postdoctoral researcher at GSSI, expert in high-energy astrophysics, very-high-energy gamma rays, and gravitational wave (GW) astronomy. His research uses multi-messenger data analysis and modeling to investigate gamma-ray bursts physics. Additionally, he is an expert in multi-wavelength observations and modelling of Active Galactic Nuclei. He is member of the Virgo and ET collaborations.

Carmelo Evoli is a theoretical astroparticle physicist and an Associate Professor at GSSI. He is an active member of the Pierre Auger Observatory collaboration. His research primarily focuses on cosmic rays, with extensive studies in gamma-ray and neutrino astrophysics. Through a multi-messenger approach, his work aims to advance the understanding of galactic and extragalactic cosmic-ray sources.

Pasquale Blasi is a Full Professor in the Physics Division of GSSI. His theoretical work focuses on the physics of particle acceleration in astrophysical sources and cosmic ray transport, with special emphasis on the non-linear processes that regulate the interaction of high energy charged particles with the background plasma. The applications of his research range from supernova remnants to pulsar wind nebulae and clusters of galaxies and from Galactic to ultra high energy cosmic rays.

Adriano Di Giovanni, Associate Professor at GSSI, is an experimental physicist, expert in X- and Gamma-ray based detectors and their customization. His research covers searches for dark matter, neutrinos, cosmic rays and the development of techniques for Cultural Heritage.

Felicia Barbato is an Assistant Professor at GSSI. Her research is focused on the development of innovative technologies for astroparticle detectors. She specializes in cosmic ray physics and space-based experiments. She is the PI of Crystal Eye, a gamma-ray satellite mission project designed to observe high-energy astrophysical events and counterparts of gravitational wave events. She is a member of the collaborations HERD, DAMPE, and AUGER.