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Position: Ricercatore a Tempo determinato di tipo A

Florence University – Physics Department

Via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

email: elisabeta.lusso@unifi.it 

Previous positions

2017 – 2019 Junior Research Fellow (CoFund), University of Durham (Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy), UK.

2014 – 2016 Postdoctoral Position, Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory/INAF, Florence, Italy.

2011 – 2014 Postdoctoral Position, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany.

Education

April 12, 2011 PhD in Astronomy, University of Bologna, Italy. Title: A panchromatic view of the evolution of Supermassive Black Holes. Supervisor: Prof. A. Comastri. Tutor: Prof. L. Ciotti.

Oct 12, 2007 Master degree in Astrophysics & Cosmology, curriculum Astrophysics, University of Bologna, Italy, Grade: 110/110. Title: “One-Zone Models for galaxy evolution and their Supermassive Black Holes”. Thesis advisor: Prof. L. Ciotti.

Sept 30, 2005 Bachelor degree in Astronomy, University of Bologna, Italy, Grade: 110/110. Title: “From the primordial cloud to the stability of the Sun”. Thesis advisor: Prof. C. Bartolini.

Awards & Fellowships

29/03/2018 –29/03/2024 National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor – Italian Ministry of Education, University of Research.

2017 ICCUB–Maria de Maeztu visiting position (€850)

2017 International Engagement Travel Grant Durham University (£1K, PI)

2017 Travel grant AHEAD Trans-National Access support for data analysis (€1K, Cycle 4, PI)

2017 Durham International Junior Research Fellowships (CoFund). Independent Postdoctoral Fellowship in Astrophysics for free-standing researchers (£102K for 2.5 years).

2013 Honourable mention for my PhD thesis at the Livio Gratton Prize (awarded every 2 years for the best PhD thesis in Astronomy from an Italian institution).

2011 Grant at the Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Dept. of Astronomy. Project title: Multi-wavelength properties of supermassive black holes (€17K, PI).

2010 Grant Marco Polo (€2K) for research abroad awarded by the University of Bologna (PI).

2008 – 2010 PhD scholarship, University of Bologna-INAF (€40K).

Press releases, Scientific news

2019 Several press releases from Cosmological constraints from the Hubble diagram of quasars at high redshifts (Nat. Astro.): (selection) ESA, Chandra, Sky & Telescope, Durham University, Università di Firenze, New York Times, Forbes.

2018 Quasar pairs trace the structure of the cosmic web: CEA News, IMAGE News.

2015 A new technique to gauge the distant universe: ESA press release.

2015 Quasars come candele standard: Media INAF (in italian).

Teaching

2019 Co-supervising several Master (Miss Noemi Colasurdo, Miss Giada Bargiacchi) and Bachelor thesis (Mr Francisco Cuadra).

2019 B016318 (B058) - Complementi di Astronomia 2018-2019

2019 B024251 (B047) - FISICA II 2019-2020 (General Physics II)

2017 – 2018 PHYS1101–Discovery Skills in Physics, Laboratory Demonstrator, Durham University.

2014 Invited lecturer at the Binational Heraeus Summer School Series for Teacher Students and Teachers Space, Time and Gravitation, The case of Active Galactic Nuclei (September 1-6 2014), at the University of Padova. Lecture on: Co-evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei and host galaxies.

2017 – 2019 Mentoring Level-4 Master projects (i.e. Mr. George McCluskey, Durham University, Supervisor: D. M. Alexander), and PhD students (i.e. Miss Liselke Klindt).

2014 – 2016 2 Bachelor students (University of Florence, Italy): Mr. Giovanni Poggiali (Supervisor: Guido Risaliti); Miss Viola Gelli (Supervisor: Guido Risaliti).

2013 Master thesis (IMPRS, Heidelberg) of Miss Gabriela Calistro Rivera (Supervisor: J. F. Hennawi). Grade: 1.1 (grade range: 1-4, 1 being the max). Now PhD student in Leiden (Supervisor: Röttgering).

Accepted observational proposals

PI

2019 Constraining the energy budget of quasars in the MUSE Ultra Deep Field. XMM-Newton (AO–18, 133ks) Grade C

2019 High-redshift quasars: Cosmology and Physics. XMM-Newton (AO–18, 1.4 Ms, Large Programme) Grade C

2018 Linking galaxy flows to nuclear accretion at z~3 with MUSE and WHT. William Herschel Telescope 4.2m (WHT2018B)

2017 Constraining the Dark Energy Equation of State with z~3 quasars. William Herschel Telescope 4.2m (WHT2018A)

2016 The first X-ray view of Ton 28. XMM-Newton (AO–16, 88ks)

2016 What triggers the brightest quasar in the local Universe? The elusive nature of PDS 456. TNG (AOT35)

Co-I

2019 Paths to quiescence: gaseous feeding, morphology and star-formation histories of galaxies from the HST+MUSE Ultra Deep. HST Cycle 27. ID: 15968. PI: M. Fossati. 8 orbits

2019 Red quasars: a special phase in the co-evolution of supermassive black holes? Grade C, 215 ks. PI: D. Rosario

2018 Exploring the gaseous surroundings of low-mass galaxies with an HST+MUSE Deep Field. HST Cycle 26. ID: 15637. PI: Rafelski M. 90 orbits

2018 A systematic experiment to measure fundamental differences in the star-formation properties of red and blue quasars. ALMA Cycle 6, 2018.1.01476.S, C. PI: Alexander D.

2018 Spectroscopic observations of the quasar pair in the MUSE ultra deep field. UVES P102A/B: 23.0 hours, PI: D’Odorico V.

2018 The most luminous blue quasars at z~3: a tale of two populations. LBT/LUCI, PI: Nardini E.

2018 Unveiling Dust Emission Associated with Extended Quasar Nebulae. Proposal M18BP062 SCUBA-2, Band 3: 9 hours, PI: Fumagalli M.

2017 Probing the Small Scale Structure of Circumgalactic Gas via VLT+HST observations. P100, 26 hours, PI: Fumagalli M.

2017 Accurately weighing Narrow Line Seyfert black holes with Pa. 12 hours. TNG AOT37-2018A, PI: Nardini E.

2017 Unveiling the nature of red QSOs with X–shooter. 19.3 hours. P101A, PI: Klindt L.

2017 Unveiling Dust Emission Associated with Extended Quasar Nebulae. Proposal M18AP054 SCUBA-2, Band 2: 16.0 hours, PI: Fumagalli M.

2017 Did the first quasars come in pairs? Chandra/ALMA synergistic observations of quasars at z~6. Chandra Cycle 19 (300ks), PI: Banados, E.

2017 Probing the Small Scale Structure of Circumgalactic Gas via VLT+HST observations. P99, 18.0 hours, PI: Fumagalli M.

2016 Cosmology with z>3 quasars. XMM-Newton AO–16 (VLP, 1.045Ms), PI: G. Risaliti (Primary co-I).

2016 Quasars as standard candles – Co-I, Chandra Cycle 18 (archival proposal $78k), PI: M. Elvis (Primary co-I).

2016 A quadruple quasar coincident with a giant Ly-alpha nebula and a protocluster at z=2 – Co-I, Chandra Cycle 18 (140ks), PI: C. Vignali.

2016 How Massive Galaxies Get Cold Gas: The Circum-Galactic Medium of Dusty Starburst Galaxies at z~2. P96, 20h. PI: Hennawi, J.

2015 Triplets of Quasars: Exploring the Origin of Clusters with ALMA. ALMA Cycle 3, priority A, PI: Farina E.

2015 Mapping the feedback effects on the gas reservoir in a z~1.6 QSO. ALMA Cycle 3, priority A, PI: Brusa M. (6.5h).

2015 First Measurement of the Small Scale Structure of Circumgalactic Gas via Grism Spectra of Close Quasar Pairs. Co-I, HST Cycle 23, PI: Fumagalli M. (55 orbits, $194,864)

2015 A Deep Search for Lyman-alpha Nebulae Around Luminous z~3 Quasars: A Direct Test of Cosmological Structure Formation. Co-I, MUSE P95A (30 hours). PI: Arrigoni Battaia F.

2014 A Deep Search for Lyman-alpha Nebulae Around Luminous z~3 Quasars: A Direct Test of Cosmological Structure Formation. Co-I, MUSE P94A (40 hours). PI: Arrigoni Battaia F.

2014 Where are the Luminous Obscured Quasars at the Peak of the Quasar Epoch? P94, 5 nights NTT. PI: Stern J.

2013 Hunting for large-scale nuclear outflows with SINFONI: AGNs in the “forbidden zone”. P92, 24h. PI: Mainieri V.

2013 Characterizing the Circumgalactic Medium of Low-Mass Galaxies with Close Quasar Pairs. P92, 26h. PI: Rubin K.

2013 Quasars Probing Quasars: New Constraints on the Quasar Phenomenon from the Transverse Proximity Effect. P91, 4 nights ISAAC. PI: Hennawi J.

Invited talk at conferences, seminars & workshops

2019, June Supermassive Black holes: evolution & environment. Corfu, 19-22 June. Invited talk.

2019, May SAIT. Rome, Italy. Invited talk.

2019, Feb Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, UK. Invited Seminar.

2019, Feb Cosmic beacons. Sexten, Italy. Invited talk.

2019, Jan X-ray Surveys of the Hot and Energetic Universe. Harbin, China. Solicited talk.

2018, Oct Young Astronomers on Galactic Nuclei (YAGN18). Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest (Hungary). Invited talk.

2018, Aug Quasar & Cosmology workshop. INAF observatory, Padova, 23-24 August 2018. Invited talk.

2018, Aug Institute of Astronomy - Kavli, Cambridge (UK). Invited Seminar.

2018, Jun Time-Domain Astronomy: A High Energy View. XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre. ESAC, Madrid (Spain). Invited talk.

2018, May UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK. Invited Seminar

2018, Apr ICCUB, Spain. Invited Seminar.

2018, Jan Special Session Data driven discoveries in serendipitous X-ray catalogs. 231st AAS Meeting to be held in Washington, DC. Invited talk.

2017, Dec Department of Physics and Astronomy (DIFA), University of Bologna, Italy. Invited Seminar

2017, Nov The Quest for Multiple Supermassive Black Holes: A Multi-Messenger View. Lorentz Center, Leiden. Invited review

2017, Oct Young Astronomers on Galactic Nuclei. Teruel, Spain. Invited talk

2016, Sep Active Galactic Nuclei 12: a Multi-Messenger perspective. Napoli, Italy. Invited talk

2015, Nov Durham Astronomy Wednesday Seminar Series, University of Durham, UK. Invited Seminar

2015, Feb Department of Physics and Astronomy (DIFA), University of Bologna, Italy. Invited Seminar

2014, Nov INAF–Arcetri Observatory, Florence, Italy. Invited Seminar

2014, July Quenching and Quiescence - What slows down and stops star formation in Massive galaxies? Heidelberg, Germany. Invited talk

2014, Jun High Energy Processes around Compact Objects. Arcetri Observatory. Invited talk

2013, Dec University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). Invited Seminar

2013, Jun Enigma Workshop - MPIA. Heidelberg, Germany. Invited

2013, May Far-infrared emission as window to study the formation of galaxies. Ringberg Castle, Bavaria-Germany. Invited talk

2013, Apr KNAW FIRSED2013. Amsterdam, Netherlands. Invited talk

2013, Jan MPE, Garching-Germany. Invited Seminar

2012, Jun University of Bologna (OaBo), Italy. Invited Seminar

Peer reviewed publications

I led/co-authored 51 publications in international peer-reviewed journals (h-index=28, July 4, 2019 NASA/ADS):

11 first author 

5 second author 

1 third author

30 co-authored publications

4 peer reviewed proceedings (2 of which first author)

Organisation of scientific meetings

2019 EWASS 2019, 25-26 June, Lyon (France). Symposium S2: Quasars in Cosmology. I am part of the Scientific Organisers and co-Editor of the proceedings of the symposium.

2018 Durham University. Title: Are AGN special?, I am part of the Local Organizing Committee.

2018 IAU Symposium 341. Osaka, Japan. Title: PanModel2018: Challenges in Panchromatic Modelling with Next Generation Facilities, I am part of the Scientific Organizing Committee and co-Editor of the proceedings of the symposium.

Peer Review panels & Editorial Review

2017 Review panel member, NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program 2017.

2017 Review panel member, NASA Chandra panel (Cycle 19).

2015 Review panel member, NuSTAR Archive Research Opportunity (NARO15).

2011 – now Referee for Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Astrophysical Journal, International Journal of Modern Physics.

Outreach

Actively involved in the outreach program at the Arcetri Observatory (both in Italian and English) under the Associazione Astronomica Amici di Arcetri (A.A.A.A.) and with high-school students to inspire and enthuse them in Astrophysics.

2019 Public event (in italian). Bagliori all’orizzonte degli (degli eventi) la prima immagine di un buco nero. Public talk at the University of Florence, Physics department, Sesto Fiorentino (IT).

2018 Public event (in italian). Con lo sguardo all’insù. Public talk on the importance of research in Astrophysics organised by the associazione culturale EXTE, San Vito (Cagliari, IT).

2017 Dark Matter Day: Durham! A festival of art and science for all ages!

2017 Public event with the high school students from the “Liceo classico Fondazione S. M. degli Angeli" (Florence, IT) on the theme: The research in Astrophysics.

2016 Public event (in italian). Arcetri-Florence. Notti d’estate ad Arcetri-2016. Title: “Il fagiolo cosmico: dai buchi neri alla materia oscura” [“The cosmic bean: from black holes to darkmatter”].

2015 Public event (in italian). Il solstizio d’Estate 2015. Associazione i Raggi di Belen. Title: “Comete, Pianeti ghiacciati, Panorami dell’altro mondo: un album fotografico del sistema solare".

Observational expertise

William Herschel Telescope (WHT) 4.2m, NTT 3.58 m (SofI), 200–inch (5.1 m) Hale (TripleSpec), Keck II 10 m (NIRSPEC).