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Alvise Raccanelli

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About

I am a Marie Curie fellow at the University of Barcelona, in the group of Prof. Licia Verde, working on various aspects of theoretical cosmology, mainly focusing on the use of the large-scale structure of the Universe to test fundamental physics, theories of gravity, models of dark matter and other cosmological models. I am also interested in studying how we can use forthcoming radio surveys for cosmology.

At the moment I am particularly interested in gravitational waves. I am working on trying to understand if Primordial Black Holes can make up all or a part of the Dark Matter, and if GW from BH-BH mergers are in fact signatures of PBH Dark Matter. I am also interested in investigating the indirect detection of gravitational waves by using observations of the large-scale structure of the Universe.

I use observations of the clustering of structures across cosmic time to test cosmological models and theories of gravity on a wide range of scales. My main current interests include redshift-space distortions, baryon acoustic oscillations and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect. In particular, at the moment I am interested in how to model the n-point galaxy correlation function on very large scales, including geometrical and General Relativistic effects, and how to use galaxy clustering to test a variety of cosmological models and parameters.

Until September 2016 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, working with Prof. Marc Kamionkowski, Prof. Alex Szalay and Prof. Joe Silk on several aspects of theoretical and observational cosmology, in particular on primordial black holes, the early universe and redshift-space distortions analyses.

Education

I completed my Master of Science in Astronomy in Italy, at the University of Padova, under the supervision of Prof. Sabino Matarrese and Prof. Giuseppe Tormen. My thesis was based on a study of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect via the correlation of NVSS radio sources with CMB maps. Following my graduation, I had a fellowship at the Astronomical Observatory of Padova under a contract with the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), to work with Prof. Gianfranco De Zotti on the ISW.

PhD

I obtained my Ph.D. from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) at the University of Portsmouth, in England, working under the supervision of Prof. Will Percival on tests of cosmological structure growth. In particular, I focused on Redshift-Space Distortions on large scales: we developed and tested a formalism that allows the inclusion of galaxy pairs with wide angular separation, and then applied it to a real data analysis. At the ICG I also worked with Dr. David Bacon on how to use forthcoming radio surveys to perform cosmological studies; this granted me the participation to the cosmology working group and the planning of future radio surveys.

Postdoctoral Scholar

During my first postdoctoral position I worked at NASA JPL and the California Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Dr. Olivier Doré, on the Large Scale Structure of the Universe. In particular I worked on how to model the galaxy correlation function on large scales, including general relativistic and geometry effects; this is going to be a fundamental part of future cosmological analyses that will be performed with forthcoming and planned galaxy surveys such as PFS, DESI, LSST, Euclid, WFIRST and the SKA. I used precise models of galaxy clustering to test cosmological models and their parameters, including models for gravity, dark matter and the primordial universe.

Postdoctoral Fellow

For my second postdoc I was Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where I worked with Prof. Marc Kamionkowski, Prof. Alex Szalay, and Prof. Joseph Silk; I used observations of the clustering of structures across cosmic time to test cosmological models and theories of gravity on a wide range of scales. My main interests included redshift-space distortions, baryon acoustic oscillations, the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect and gravitational waves, in particular in relation to the model where primordial black holes comprise the dark matter.

Research

Here are my main research topics

More details soon...

Galaxy Clustering and Redshift-Space Distortions

Cosmology with Radio Surveys

Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

Gravitational Waves

Tests of General Relativity

Galaxy Surveys planning

n-point galaxy correlation functions

21cm intensity mapping

Non-Gaussianity

Metrics
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My collaborators ;

Media

Selected media coverage of my research

Curriculum Vitae

M.Sc.

Università degli Studi di
Padova

  • Thesis:
    Cross-correlation between galaxies and the CMB
  • Supervisors:
    G. Tormen
    & S. Matarrese
UniPD

Ph.D.

Institute of Cosmology & Gravitation

  • Thesis:
    Tests of cosmological structure growth
  • Supervisor:
    W. Percival
ICG

Postdoc

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Caltech

  • Research:
    Large-scale galaxy correlations, galaxy surveys
  • Mentor:
    O. Doré
JPL

Postdoc


Johns Hopkins University

  • Research:
    Gravitational waves, galaxy correlations, primordial black holes
  • Mentors:
    M. Kamionkowski, A. Szalay, J. Silk
JHU

List of Publications

Click for the list of publications (from NASA ADS)
Venice Workshop

A cosmology workshop in Venice

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge my current past supervisors and mentors: Sabino Matarrese, Gianfranco De Zotti, Will Percival, David Bacon, Olivier Dore, Marc Kamionkowski, Alex Szalay, Joe Silk, Licia Verde.

My research is supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at the University of Barcelona. In the past, I have been supported by the John Templeton Foundation at Johns Hopkins University, working in collaboration with Prof. Marc Kamionkowski, Prof. Alex Szalay and Prof. Joe Silk, and by NASA to work at Jet Propulsion Laboratory with Dr. Olivier Doré.