My research activity tries to address as simple yet difficult question: how galaxies formed and evolved, especially in the first Gyrs of the Universe’s life.
Answering this question implies working on a number of inter-connected aspects, like:
- The search and study of the most distant galaxies
- The spectral evolution of galaxies and the link with stellar astrophysics.
- Wide field imaging and spectroscopic surveys.
- Development of theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution.
- The Development of software for astronomical data processing
- Development of optical/IR instrumentation at large telescopes.
I have published about 350 refereed papers, with an H-index of 75.
You can get a full view of my scientific production looking at my
Multiwavelength extragalactic surveys are the key ingredients of my work. They are a way to observe the more distant galaxies and study the nature of galaxies in their early infancy – when they were the seeds of nowadays elegant spiral and ellipticals.
My recent focus is on the data of the James Webb Space Telescope. I am a key member of several surveys that are exploring the earliest Universe with this incredible machine: GLASS CEERS and PRIMER. Previously, I have coordinated the analysis of public data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes, leading an FP7 European project named ASTRODEEP, that has just delivered its final results. Look at the ASTRODEEP website for recent results!.
In recent years I led two projects that systematically studied early galaxies with the most powerful telescopes in the world – the HUGS survey, an ESO-VLT Large Programme that has delivered the deepest near-IR images ever collected, and the KLASS survey, with another VLT instrument named KMOS.
Most of these projects build on the CANDELS survey – the largest HST program ever approved – of which I have been a key member. It exploits the superb power of the new WFC3 instrument on HST to study the earliest galaxies in the Universe.