Francesco LEONE
Francesco Leone
July 15, 1985 Degree in Physics at the Catania University
January 1, 1988 Staff Astronomer at the Catania Astrophysical Observatory
December 1, 2006 Associate Professor at the DFA of Catania University
Scientific Interest. Stellar Physics; Stellar Atmospheres; Magnetospheres; Radiative Transfer in Magnetised Plasmas; Atomic Physics; Laboratory Plasmas for Astrophysics
Technological Activity. Polarimeters for: Imaging, High Resolution Spectroscopy and High (ns) Time Photometry
Collaborations: Km3Net, MAGIC, PLUS (Scientific Board member) for High Energy Astrophysics
Publications are in the right tag. Latest relevant papers:
Optical and ultraviolet pulsed emission from an accreting millisecond pulsar. Nature Astronomy (accepted)
Discovery of Ground-state Absorption Line Polarization and Sub-Gauss Magnetic Field in the Post-AGB Binary System 89 Her. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 902, L7, 2020
Observations of inverse Compton emission from a long gamma-ray burst. Nature 575, 459, 2019
Teraelectronvolt emission from the gamma-ray burst GRB 190114C. Nature 575, 455, 2019
A Method to Measure the Transverse Magnetic Field and Orient the Rotational Axis of Stars. The Astrophsycal Journal 848, 107, 2017
Duties: Head of the Astrophysical Section of Physics and Astronomy Department
For any details see publications
The research activity in Astrophysics is focused on radiative transfer in magnetised plasmas. Mainly:
- Plasmas diagnostics from polarimetric properties of continuum (1991A&A...252..198L, 2020MNRAS.499L..72L) and spectral lines (2011ApJ...731L..33L, 2017ApJ...848..107L, 2018MNRAS.480.1656L)
- Design and construction of the necessary Instrumentation: Polarimeters for High Resolution Spectroscopy (2016AJ....151..116L ), Imaging (2014AN....335..117C) and High (ns) Time Photometry (2018SPIE10702E..5QG).
- Plasma in laboratory to reproduce the astrophysical enviroments
High Energy Astrophysics research is within the collaborations:
Plasma in Laboratory and Universe Systems (PLUS, https://www.afs.enea.it/project/astro/),
Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC, https://magic.mpp.mpg.de/) and
Km3Net (Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean, https://www.km3net.org/about-km3net/collaboration/)