Caiazzo Group

Stars and compact objects

Stars and the remnants that represent the last stage in their life — white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes — encompass a variety of extremes that cannot ever be achieved on Earth: of gravitation, energy, density, temperature, and magnetic field. With my group, I strive to further our understanding of the laws of physics by probing these beautiful and complex laboratories that populate the skies above us.

This is an exciting time for stellar astrophysics as high-cadence time domain surveys (Gaia, PTF, ZTF, ATLAS, Kepler, TESS, and, in the near future, the Vera Rubin Observatory) are revolutionizing the landscape of stellar studies by allowing the exploration of the dynamic sky. Furthermore, spectroscopic surveys are ongoing (SDSS V, DESI, WEAVE etc.), which will provide spectral classifications for millions of stars. Space missions are also opening new windows on stars and their remnants: December of 2021 alone saw the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, with its unprecedented sensitivity in the infrared, and of the Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer, the first mission dedicated to X-ray polarimetry. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna will expand our reach in the field of gravitational waves.

With my research group, we take advantage of these incredibly rich datasets to explore stellar evolution in star clusters, study compact binaries and their remnants, and investigate neutron stars and black holes in the X-rays. With a mixture of observations, analysis of large datasets and theoretical work, we plan to tackle open questions about stars and their remnants that have a large impact on several fields of astrophysics.