Pietro Baldini:
I am an observational astronomer, currently pursuing my PhD in the high-energy group at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching bei München, Germany, under the supervision of Arne Rau and Paul Nandra. My research focuses on supermassive black holes (SMBHs), their surroundings, and how they grow through accretion.
In particular, I focus on rare and exotic flares originating from SMBHs. These include tidal disruption events, caused by the destruction of stars, and the still-mysterious quasi-periodic eruptions. My work aims to discover and characterize such events and their physical properties. I do so by designing observational strategies and analyzing multiwavelength data from both ground- and space-based observatories. This includes survey data and targeted follow-up observations. Although I work at all wavelengths, X-rays are the apple of my eye.
Even though I am currently based in Germany, I am originally from Italy. I completed my bachelor’s and master’s studies at the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, where I studied SMBH outflows under the supervision of Marcella Brusa and Giorgio Lanzuisi. You can find more about this work here, here, and here.
My favorite bands are TOOL and Xiu Xiu. I enjoy Antoine Volodine’s books, and my favorite movie is The Emperor’s New Groove (especially the Italian dubbing).
Feel free to contact me with any questions or inquiries.