Riccardo Scarpa's Research Interest
My research interest are focused on three broad topics: AGN, Radio galaxies,
and AGN jest. More recently I started working on globular clusters
and MOdified Newtonian Dynamics
(MOND).
AGN
Among AGN I actively studied the BL Lacertae family,
publishing many papers on their optical, IR, and high energy properties.
The two most relevant are
Are high polarization quasars and BL Lacertae objects really different?
A study of the optical spectral properties,
where I discuss the alliged weakness of BL Lac's emission lines, and
The Hubble Space Telescope Survey of BL Lacertae Objects. I.
Surface Brightness Profiles, Magnitudes, and Radii of Host Galaxies,
where the host galaxies of BL Lac's is studied in great detail.
Radio Galaxies
Radio galaxies are supposed to be closely related to BL Lacetae objects.
For this reason I focussed my attention also on this class of active galaxies.
The two paper most relevat I published are
The fundamental plane of radio galaxies
, where it is shown that radio galaxies follows the very same fundamental
plane follod by other elliptical galaxies, and
The optical properties of low redshift radio galaxies, which is devoted to the study of the structural properties
of galaxies hosting powerful radio sources.
AGN jets
I personally discovered one optical synchrotron jet in the BL Lac object
PKS 2201+044. See the paper
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Optical Jets of
PKS 0521-365, 3C 371, and PKS 2201+044.
Because of this discovery my interest are drifting toward the study of
AGN jets. In particular, my collaborators and I are carrying out a survey
to find new X-ray and optical conterparts of AGN's radio jets.
See
A Survey of Extended Radio Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei with Chandra
and the Hubble Space Telescope: First Results.
Globular clusters and MOND
More recently I got involved in the study of alternative theories
of gravity. In particular the MOdified Newtonian Dynamics.
At present I am working on a number of projects, the most relevant of which
is meant to test Newton's law of gravity down to 1e-8 cm/s/s acceleration
regimes. For a short description of this experiment see
A Test of Newton's Law of Gravity in the Weak Acceleration Regime.
Back to home page ;
Curriculum Vitae ;
Publications