Luca Cacciapuoti
PhD student at European Southern Observatory
ERC synergy grant ECOGAL
My research
I conduct my science at the European Southern Observatory, based in Garching bei Munchen, Germany. I am funded via the ERC Synergy Grant ECOGAL and supervised by one its PIs, Leonardo Testi (University of Bologna) and by ESO staff astronomer Enrique Macias.
The ECOGAL project aims to "understand our Galactic ecosystem: from the disk of the Milky Way to the formation sites of stars and planets". In this context, my work is then to connect the smallest scales of planet formation, protoplanetary disks, to the next, larger scales structures that surround them, i.e. envelopes and cores.
I thus mainly study young star- and planet-forming systems, where the disk is not yet isolated.
Dust emission at several scales
I use interferometric continuum observations to study the properties of dust in star- and planet-forming environments.
Thanks to the exquisite sensitivity and resolution of instruments like ALMA, we are now able to probe dust emission at multiple scales, thus tracing the evolution of dust from ISM to protoplanetary disks.
This becomes nothing short of necessary when one realises that planet formation is a process embedded in a dynamic galaxy.
I use photometric data from spaceborne missions like NASA's Kepler and TESS to detect exoplanets via the transits method.
I am familiar with several vetting and validation techniques, to discern real candidates from false positives.
I am interested in expanding my expertise to the study of their atmospheres and the link between exoplanetary systems and progenitor disks.
Detection and validation of exoplanets
About Me.
I am one of three siblings, grown up in the south of Italy in Pozzuoli, a city first founded by ancient Romans as a strategic harbour. Thus, my hometown is famous for hosting theatres, secret passages and even submerged villas of the ancient Rome. On top of that, we are proud of our climate, food, wine, seafood and well, pizza!
You'll find in me a friend to hike, kayak, camp, cook and play basketball.
Down below, some more academic stuff, which is likely why you're here.
A brief timeline
2021-
PhD student
European Southern Observatory
I am currently a PhD student at ESO Garching, under the direct supervision of Prof. Leonardo Testi (University of Bologna) and co-supervision of Enrique Macias (ESO). I work on dust characterisation on several scales of planet-forming environments as part of the ERC ECOGAL Synergy Grant.
2019-2021
MSc
University of Naples Federico II
I graduated in Physics, with focus on astrophysics, with a thesis on the validation and characterisation of multi-planet systems discovered with TESS and K-2. I graduated with honors (110 e lode).
2020-
Internship
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Right after my BSc, I participated in an internship with NASA Goddard scientists Elisa Quintana and Veselin Kostov, to start a project on a large catalog of uniformly vetted exoplanets via Citizen Science, "Planet Patrol".
2015-2019
BSc
University of Naples Federico II
I graduated in Physics, with a final thesis on the discovery methods of exoplanets. A particular focus was on the discovery and characterisation of exoplanets via photometric transits. My thesis was part of the discovery of the first multiple system with TESS: L98-59 b, c and d (Kostov et al. 2019).