I am a postdoctoral researcher at INAF/OAR with Dr. Piergiorgio Casella, and my research focuses primarily on the study of relativistic jets from black hole X-ray binaries (BH XRBs) at radio wavelengths. My goal is to understand how stellar-mass black holes can power radio-emitting relativistic outflows using both observations and physical models.
In the specific, I have experience in observations of BH XRBs with many radio-interferometers, including MeerKAT (precursor of the Square Kilometre Array), the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the Very Large Array (VLA) and e-MERLIN. In the work done so far as part of the ThunderKAT/X-KAT collaborations, I have characterised the jet evolution during different accretion states of these systems, and I have detected and tracked the motion at large scales of multiple spatially-resolved discrete jet ejecta. Furthermore, I have modelled the ejecta dynamics as less-relativistic analogues of gamma-ray bursts propagating through the interstellar medium. Recently, I have started to study how the radio emission from compact jets varies on seconds-to-hours timescales, as this provides us with a unique access into jet physics of these outflows.
Over the last year, I have also started to observe jets from neutron star X-ray binaries and , more recently, I have started to use my MeerKAT approved program to participate in multi-wavelength campaigns targeting extragalactic transients. Specifically, I have led the radio follow-up of several Fast X-ray Transients discovered by the new Einstein Probe X-ray telescope.
This is my second postdoctoral contract. Before starting at OAR in October 2024, I obtained my PhD at the Université de Paris-Citè and CEA/Saclay (France) in 2022, which was then followed by my first postdoc experience at the University of Oxford (thanks to a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship) between 2022 and 2024.
For my current list of publications, see here
Feel free to contact me at francesco.carotenuto(@inaf.it)