GianLuca Israel
Research Director
High Energ Astrophysics Group
INAF - OA Roma
Main Research Interests
The three main scientific topics currently occupying the majority of my research efforts are highlighted and described below.
Pulsating Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
Magnetars
Data Mining / Timing Tools
Current Projects
Most of my recent projects focus on the study of ULXs, and in particular those hosting an accreting neutron star. These sources are among the best candidates for investigating super-Eddington accretion physics. Several approaches have been or will be applied:
i) The use of Artificial Intelligence techniques to search for new pulsators in ULXs or to identify new ULXs exhibiting Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs);
ii) A systematic and statistical study of all extragalactic sources with Lx > 2×10³⁸ erg/s, iii) investigation of the accreting neutron star population to compare it with the ULX Log N – Log S distribution, and more. Timing the Ultra-Luminous X-ray Pulsators (TULiP) is the most recent one.