Francesco Pogliano

Postdoctoral Fellow - Nuclear and Energy Physics
Image of Francesco Pogliano
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Room V105
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Visiting address Sem Sælands vei 24 Fysikkbygningen 0371 OSLO
Postal address Postboks 1048 Blindern 0316 Oslo

Academic interests

Why do we have so much iron and calcium on Earth, compared to elements such as gold and platinum? And how were these elements created in the first place? 

Answering these questions involves a deep dive into the fields of nuclear physics and astrophysics. These elements were created in space, long before the Earth was formed, and the field of nuclear astrophysics is concerned among other things in the study of how elements were made and why in exactly these proportions.

There are many astrophysical processes involved in the creation of elements, and among these the s-process and r-process are the main responsible for the formation of those heavier than iron.

Of the two, the r-process definitely is the one the hides the most secrets. Where does it happen, exactly? And how do all the nuclei involved in it actually behave? Together with gravitational waves, neutron star mergers produce a kilonova, this being a big explosion observable in the electromagnetic spectrum. The analysis of such a kilonova originated from a distant neutron star merger and measured on Earth in 2017 confirmed at least one possible site for this mysterious process and helped us answer the question about the "where". However, when it comes to the "how", its microscopic description has to rely on theoretical nuclear models whose predictions vary wildly when describing the exotic isotopes that take part in this process. In turn, this gives us predictions of the final abundances with big uncertainty margins, and is a serious limitation to our modelings and understanding of the r-process.

My PhD project aims at shedding some light onto this matter. With more knowledge and experimental data about these exotic nuclei, it will be possible to improve our theoretical models and describe the r-process in a more precise way. This is a central part in the quest to explain the r-process and, ultimately, how all the elements we are familiar with were made and where they came from.

 

 

Background

B.Sc, University of Tromsø: Physics, 2012-2015

M.Sc, NTNU:  Astrophysics, 2015-2017

PhD Student, University of Oslo: Nuclear Astrophysics, 2019 -

Courses taught

 

 

Tags: nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics

Publications

  • Tveten, Gry Merete; Utsunomiya, H.; Larsen, Ann-Cecilie; Algin, E.; Ari-Izumi, T. & Ay, Kursad Osman [Show all 31 contributors for this article] (2023). New experimental constraint on the W 185 (n,γ) W 186 cross section. Physical Review C. ISSN 2469-9985. 108(2). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.108.025804. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pogliano, Francesco & Larsen, Ann-Cecilie (2023). Impact of level densities and γ-strength functions on r-process simulations. Physical Review C. ISSN 2469-9985. 108(2), p. 025807–025807. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.108.025807. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pogliano, Francesco; Larsen, Ann-Cecilie; Goriely, Stéphane; Siess, Lionel; Markova, Maria & Görgen, Andreas [Show all 17 contributors for this article] (2023). Experimentally constrained Ho 165,166 (n,γ) rates and implications for the s process. Physical Review C. ISSN 2469-9985. 107(6). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.107.064614.
  • Pogliano, Francesco; Bello Garrote, Frank Leonel; Larsen, Ann-Cecilie; Berg, Hannah Christine; Gjestvang, Dorthea & Görgen, Andreas [Show all 19 contributors for this article] (2023). Observation of a candidate for the M1 scissors resonance in odd-odd Ho 166. Physical Review C. ISSN 2469-9985. 107(3). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.107.034605.
  • Pogliano, Francesco; Larsen, Ann-Cecilie; Markova, Maria; Bello Garrote, Frank Leonel; Bjørøen, Marianne Møller & Eriksen, Tomas Kvalheim [Show all 17 contributors for this article] (2022). Indirect measurement of the (n,γ) Sb 127 cross section. Physical Review C. ISSN 2469-9985. 106(1). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.106.015804. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Pogliano, Francesco (2022). Hvordan ble de tunge grunnstoffene dannet? Fra Fysikkens Verden. ISSN 0015-9247. 84(3), p. 56–59.

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Published Nov. 19, 2019 11:07 AM - Last modified Sep. 30, 2022 6:48 PM