Franco Vazza

Some possible recent thesis projects:

1. Simulated particle acceleration and radio emission from cluster radio galaxies

•     The student will use new high-resolution simulations of jets in clusters of galaxies (obtained with the ENZO code) to test theoretical recipes to accelerate relativistic electrons, and compute their synchrotron radio emission. The results will be key to compare in detail with the estimates of the age of radio lobes (and of their inflated "X-ray cavities") routinely used in real observations - and possibly understand their systematics uncertainties.    Thesis in collaboration with Prof. F. Brighenti

2. Simulations of the emergence of diffuse radio emission from halos and mega-halos

• The student will tackle the theoretical problem of modelling the formation of large-scale radio emission in clusters of galaxies, which has been recently discovered on unprecedently large scales in a few systems. The student will use a suite of new dedicated cosmological simulations of clusters of galaxies, which also contain a description of the evolution of relativistic electrons injected by galaxies and re-accelerated by Fermi I and Fermi II processes, with the goal of advancing our understanding on how such emitting structures originated.  Thesis in collaboration with Dr.V. Cuciti
  

However, it is always possible to propose a different thesis, if the student has a clear idea and the supervisor is competent on the topic.

All theses are mostly focused on the usage of numerical simulations (with different level of complexity, depending on the students'skills) as a tool to improve our understanding on the physics of gas and magnetic fields in cosmic large-scale structures. It is necessary just to have a bare minimum knowledge (and interest) for numerical methods, but not in a specific language in particular. The supervisor would typically advise to use / develop algorithms in Julia (https://julialang.org) , arguably the most versatile and performing programming language for the development of new scientific codes.

All thesis projects are designed to produce, within the duration of the project or shortly afterwards, at least one scientific publication - this is what happened to all projects I have offered so far, either at the University of Bologna or before this at the University of Hamburg.

Manuel O. Stubbe (2015) -> https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.02688

Stephan Hackstein (2016) -> https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.08872 e https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.01353

Paul M. Hinz (2017) -> https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.11113 e https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.02669

Matteo Angelinelli (2018)-> https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MNRAS.495..864A/abstract

Marco Simonte (2020) -> https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022A%26A...658A.149S/abstract

Laura di Federico (2022) -> https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.01591

Luca Beduzzi (2023) -> https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.03764 

Koushika Sri Lakshmi Srikanth (2023) -> in prep.

Francesca Zanetti (2024) ->  https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXiv250119041V/abstract