Luca Visinelli

Tenure-track Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Fellow, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI), Shanghai

Biography

I am an Associate Professor in physics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Fellow at the newly-founded Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI) in Shanghai. Previously, I was a “Fellini” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Frascati (Italy), a Fellow at the Gravitation, AstroParticles Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), a postdoc at NORDITA in Stockholm, and a graduate student at The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT (USA).

My research activity spans various interesting topics including particle astrophysics, dark matter, dark energy, and black holes. I have focused on exploring the role the axion as a dark matter candidate, for which I co-wrote a review on Physics Report in 2020.

My h-index is 31 according to Inspire-HEP, and my Erdös number is four.

Interests

Particle Astrophysics
Dark Matter modeling
Black Holes signatures (shadows, gravitational waves)

Education

PhD in Physics, 2011
The University of Utah
MSc in Physics, 2011
The University of Utah
BSc in Physics, 2007
University of Bologna, Italy

Research

Dark Matter

Dark matter is an hypothetical form of matter that makes up a large fraction of the mass in the Universe. The existence of dark matter is inferred through its gravitational interaction with ordinary “baryonic” matter and light, and it is essential in driving gas and dust to build up into stars and galaxies.

Dark Energy

Measurements of supernovae distances first showed that the expansion rate of the Universe is accelerating. This finding is consistent with the idea that a large part of the energy of the Universe is stored into dark energy. Further evidences from surveys of distant galaxies and from gravitational lensing corroborates this interpretation.

Axions

The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle that is associated with the solution of the Strong-CP problem proposed by R. Peccei and H. Quinn in 1977. Axions are a also a viable dark matter candidate and the archetype of bosons that contribute to the energy density of the Universe as an ensemble of coherent waves.

Black Holes

A black hole is a region of spacetime from which no particles or even electromagnetic radiation can escape, because of the strong gravitational field. Black holes are astrophysical objects that can be formed through various scenarios, for example they are the ultimate fate of extremely massive stars. I am working on the shadow of spinning black hole and on the interplay between dark matter and black holes.

Media

Selected media coverage of my research

Cambridge press release: have we detected dark energy?

My recently paper with Sunny Vagnozzi, Philippe Brax, Anne-Christine Davis, and Jeremy Sakstein on the bold idea that a model of dark energy could be responsible for the excess reported by the XENON-1T collaboration is now published on Physical Review D. The arXiv preprint is available at this link. Our work has been covered by a press release of the University of Cambridge (home of Dr.

Last updated on Sep 15, 2021 1 min read

Cambridge press release: have we detected dark energy?

Can we detect dark energy in the lab?

Last year (June 2020), there has been a lot of excitement and speculation around the excess reported by the XENON-1T collaboration, which could be attributed to new physics such as the axion. I recently worked on the bold idea that a specific model of dark energy could have caused such an excess.

Last updated on Jul 25, 2021 1 min read

Media coverage of "Constraints on Stupendously Large Black Holes"

My work with Bernard Carr (Emeritus, Queen Mary University of London) and Florian Kühnel (Münich) on black holes is ranked #128 in all time media coverage of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society outputs. The published version of the paper is available on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 501 (2) 2029–2043 (2021).

Last updated on May 9, 2021 1 min read

Media coverage of "Constraints on Stupendously Large Black Holes"

Scientists find black holes could reach "stupendously large" sizes

A recent press coverage by Queen Mary University of London has focused on my work on black holes https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.08077. In the press coverage available here my collaborator Bernard Carr of Queen Mary discusses in depth the outcome of our study and future projects. The paper has been recently published on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 501 (2) 2029–2043 (2021).

Last updated on Jan 22, 2021 1 min read

Scientists find black holes could reach "stupendously large" sizes

Non-Gaussianity from SM Higgs modulating inflaton decay

In two recent preprints ( 2011.11649, 2009.14218), together with Aliki Litsa, Katherine Freese, Evangelos Sfakianakis, & Patrick Stengel, we discuss non-Gaussianity arising in the reheating process when the Higgs field modulates inflaton decay. This process is expected to arise even within a minimal Standard Model + inflaton setup and can be readily tested with upcoming probes, as we discuss at length in the preprints.

Last updated on Aug 25, 2021 1 min read

Non-Gaussianity from SM Higgs modulating inflaton decay

Axion miniclusters and neutron stars

In two recent preprints available here ( 2011.05377, 2011.05378), I have shown together with my colleagues Bradley Kavanagh, Thomas Edwards, and Christoph Weniger, that an encounter between a neutron star and an axion minicluster would lead to a transient radio signal in the sky, which is potentially detectable. It took us 15 months to deliver the required code, which is available at https://github.

Last updated on Nov 16, 2020 1 min read

Black Holes and WIMPs blog coverage

My work on the interplay of black holes and WIMPs with Bernard Carr and Florian Kuhnel, available here ( arXiv:2011.01930), has been covered in depth as one of the best papers of last week here: https://www.sunnyvagnozzi.com/blog/top-arxiv-week-45

Last updated on Nov 9, 2020 1 min read

'Stupendously large' black holes could grow to truly monstrous sizes

Coverage of my work on Primordial Black Holes in https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.08077 appeared last week on space.com website here: https://www.space.com/black-holes-can-reach-stupendously-large-sizes.html

Last updated on Nov 9, 2020 1 min read

'Stupendously large' black holes could grow to truly monstrous sizes

Black holes – Do they grow stupendously large?

Sep 7, 2020 1 min read

Interview on XENON for Il Messaggero (in Italian)

Interview for Il Messaggero (Italian newspaper with national coverage) on the XENON excess discovery in June 2020! https://www.ilmessaggero.it/scienza/gran_sasso_esperimento_visinelli_18_giugno_2020-5295285.html

Last updated on Nov 9, 2020 1 min read

Interview on XENON for Il Messaggero (in Italian)

Interview on Dark Matter

I have been interviewed by Il Messaggero, an Italian newspaper of national coverage, on the purpose of science, the profession of a physicist, and more specifically on the mystery of the dark matter here: https://www.ilmessaggero.it/scienza

Last updated on Nov 9, 2020 1 min read

Interview with LUCA VISINELLI at Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm

The interview I gave for public outreach at Oskar Klein Centre is available at https://ssl.fysik.su.se/okc/internal/blog/interview-with-luca-visinelli/

Last updated on Sep 7, 2020 1 min read

Upcoming Talks

The full list of invited talks and seminars can be found here

Direct detection experiments and dark energy

Jul 5, 2021 8:09 AM — Jul 15, 2021 10:00 PM Cosmology from home series https://www.cosmologyfromhome.com

Future probes of the axion landscape

May 15, 2021 12:30 AM — 12:50 AM Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (CHN)

Recent and future developments in dark matter axion physics

Oct 12, 2020 10:00 PM — Oct 15, 2020 10:00 PM Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon (KR)

Constraints on Reheating to SM Particles due to Large Effective Higgs Boson Mass

Sep 24, 2020 1:00 PM — 1:30 AM Virtual meeting host by various Colombian universities: Universidad Antonio Nariño, Universidad del Valle, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Universidad Nacional de Colombia)

Axion Miniclusters: Tidal Disruption and Radioastronomy

Aug 25, 2020 3:00 PM — 4:00 PM Online videoconference

See all talks

Luca Visinelli

Tenure-track Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Fellow, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI), Shanghai

Biography

Interests

Education

Research

Dark Matter

Dark Energy

Axions

Black Holes

Media

Cambridge press release: have we detected dark energy?

Can we detect dark energy in the lab?

Media coverage of "Constraints on Stupendously Large Black Holes"

Scientists find black holes could reach "stupendously large" sizes

Non-Gaussianity from SM Higgs modulating inflaton decay

Axion miniclusters and neutron stars

Black Holes and WIMPs blog coverage

'Stupendously large' black holes could grow to truly monstrous sizes

Black holes – Do they grow stupendously large?

Interview on XENON for Il Messaggero (in Italian)

Interview on Dark Matter

Interview with LUCA VISINELLI at Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm

Upcoming Talks

Selected Publications

Contact