Riccardo Scarpa: Difference between revisions

Riccardo Scarpa
Riccardo Scarpa
Residence	Canary Islands, Spain
Nationality	Italian
Alma mater	University of Padova
Known for	Astronomy, Cosmology, Modified Newtonian dynamics
	Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology
Institutions	European Southern Observatory; Space Telescope Science Institute; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias; Gran Telescopio Canarias
Doctoral advisor	Cesare Barbieri, Renato Falomo

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Latest revision as of 09:39, 20 July 2026

Riccardo Scarpa is an Italian astronomer and astrophysicist working at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) as a staff astronomer at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). He previously served as a staff astronomer at the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. His research has centred on active galactic nuclei and the host galaxies of BL Lacertae objects, and on tests of gravity in the weak-acceleration regime, where he is a proponent of Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) as an alternative to non-baryonic dark matter.

Biography

Scarpa studied at the University of Padova in Italy, obtaining his laurea doctoral degree in astronomy in 1992 with a thesis titled "Optical spectrophotometry of BL Lacertae objects", supervised by Professor Cesare Barbieri and Dr. Renato Falomo.

After completing his doctorate, he carried out research at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Padova while also teaching mathematics and physics in an Italian high school. During 1994-95 he worked at the University of Padova and at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore as a postdoctoral fellow of the Italian "Ing. Aldo Gini" foundation, and in 1996 he returned to STScI as a University of Padova fellow. From 1997 to 2000 he held a postdoctoral position at STScI, collaborating with C. Megan Urry.

Scarpa subsequently joined the European Southern Observatory as a staff astronomer at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, home of the Very Large Telescope. He later moved to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, where he works as a staff astronomer at the 10.4-metre Gran Telescopio Canarias.

Scientific contributions

Much of Scarpa's early work focused on active galactic nuclei, radio galaxies and BL Lacertae objects, studied through both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and ground-based observations. He contributed to the HST survey of BL Lacertae objects, characterising the morphology and photometric properties of their low-redshift host galaxies. His observational expertise includes optical photometry, HST imaging, and low- and moderate-dispersion spectroscopy. Using the GTC, he has also carried out spectroscopy to determine the redshifts of BL Lac objects and other gamma-ray sources.

Scarpa is known for his work testing Newtonian gravity in the low-acceleration regime. He has argued that non-baryonic dark matter appears to be required in galaxies precisely where the gravitational acceleration produced by ordinary (baryonic) matter falls below a critical value of about a₀ ≈ 1.2 × 10⁻⁸ cm s⁻², the same acceleration scale that characterises Modified Newtonian dynamics. To probe this regime, he and his collaborators have used the internal dynamics of Galactic globular clusters, measuring stellar velocity dispersions with VLT spectra combined with literature data. They reported that the velocity-dispersion profiles of the clusters studied tend to flatten at large radii, where the internal acceleration drops below a₀, rather than following the Keplerian decline expected from Newtonian gravity applied to their visible mass alone.

Because globular clusters are generally believed to contain little or no dark matter, Scarpa has interpreted these results as evidence that the standard understanding of gravity in the weak-acceleration regime may be incomplete, and as support for the MOND phenomenology. He authored an introductory review of Modified Newtonian dynamics presented at the 2005 conference "First Crisis in Cosmology".

External links

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | image = Riccardo Scarpa 1314.jpg
 | alt = Riccardo Scarpa
-| residence = Santiago, Chile
+| residence = Canary Islands, Spain
 | nationality = Italian
-| known_for = [[Astronomy]], [[Cosmology]], [[Big Bang]]
+| field = [[Astronomy]], [[Astrophysics]], [[Cosmology]]
+| work_institution = European Southern Observatory<br>Space Telescope Science Institute<br>Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias<br>Gran Telescopio Canarias
+| alma_mater = University of Padova
+| doctoral_advisor = Cesare Barbieri, Renato Falomo
+| known_for = [[Astronomy]], [[Cosmology]], Modified Newtonian dynamics
 }}
-'''Present Position:'''
+'''Riccardo Scarpa''' is an Italian [[astronomy|astronomer]] and [[astrophysics|astrophysicist]] working at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) as a staff astronomer at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). He previously served as a staff astronomer at the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. His research has centred on active galactic nuclei and the host galaxies of BL Lacertae objects, and on tests of gravity in the weak-acceleration regime, where he is a proponent of [[Modified Newtonian dynamics]] (MOND) as an alternative to non-baryonic dark matter.
-Staff astronomer at the Paranal Observatory, which is part of the European Southern Observatory. My research interests are focused on AGN and radio galaxy topics, as investigated through both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based data.
+==Biography==
-'''Education:'''
+Scarpa studied at the University of Padova in Italy, obtaining his ''laurea'' doctoral degree in astronomy in 1992 with a thesis titled "Optical spectrophotometry of BL Lacertae objects", supervised by Professor Cesare Barbieri and Dr. Renato Falomo.
-University of Padova, Padova, Italy, with the attainment in 1992 of the laurea doctoral degree in Astronomy, defending the thesis "Optical spectrophotometry of BL Lacertae objects"'; supervisors Prof. C. Barbieri and Dr. R. Falomo.
+After completing his doctorate, he carried out research at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Padova while also teaching mathematics and physics in an Italian high school. During 1994-95 he worked at the University of Padova and at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore as a postdoctoral fellow of the Italian "Ing. Aldo Gini" foundation, and in 1996 he returned to STScI as a University of Padova fellow. From 1997 to 2000 he held a postdoctoral position at STScI, collaborating with C. Megan Urry.
-'''Postdoctoral Positions:'''
+Scarpa subsequently joined the European Southern Observatory as a staff astronomer at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, home of the Very Large Telescope. He later moved to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, where he works as a staff astronomer at the 10.4-metre Gran Telescopio Canarias.
-From 1997 to 2000, I held a postdoctoral position at the Space Telescope Science Institute, working with C. Megan Urry. In 1996 I worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute as a Padova University Fellow. During 1994-95 I worked at Padova University and at the Space Telescope Science Institute as a postdoctoral fellow of the Italian "Ing. Aldo Gini'' foundation. After the attainment of my doctoral degree in 1992, I performed research at the Department of Astronomy of Padova University and, at the same time, I taught mathematics and physics in Italian high school.
+==Scientific contributions==
-'''Personal skills:'''
+Much of Scarpa's early work focused on active galactic nuclei, radio galaxies and BL Lacertae objects, studied through both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and ground-based observations. He contributed to the HST survey of BL Lacertae objects, characterising the morphology and photometric properties of their low-redshift host galaxies. His observational expertise includes optical photometry, HST imaging, and low- and moderate-dispersion spectroscopy. Using the GTC, he has also carried out spectroscopy to determine the redshifts of BL Lac objects and other gamma-ray sources.
-During several years of research on active galactic nuclei, I gained solid experience in both observing at the telescope and reducing optical ground- and space-based observations. More specifically, the observational techniques I most used are photometry, HST imaging, and low and moderate dispersion spectroscopy. The experience acquired enabled me to carry out, from proposal to publication, a complete observing program involving the use of the most advanced optical instrumentation.
+Scarpa is known for his work testing Newtonian gravity in the low-acceleration regime. He has argued that non-baryonic dark matter appears to be required in galaxies precisely where the gravitational acceleration produced by ordinary (baryonic) matter falls below a critical value of about a₀ ≈ 1.2 × 10⁻⁸ cm s⁻², the same acceleration scale that characterises Modified Newtonian dynamics. To probe this regime, he and his collaborators have used the internal dynamics of Galactic globular clusters, measuring stellar velocity dispersions with VLT spectra combined with literature data. They reported that the velocity-dispersion profiles of the clusters studied tend to flatten at large radii, where the internal acceleration drops below a₀, rather than following the Keplerian decline expected from Newtonian gravity applied to their visible mass alone.
-Dr. Riccardo Scarpa of the European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile. His job involves working with the magnificent Very Large Telescope array at Paranal, and I guess that makes him the envy of just about every astronomer with blood in his veins!
+Because globular clusters are generally believed to contain little or no dark matter, Scarpa has interpreted these results as evidence that the standard understanding of gravity in the weak-acceleration regime may be incomplete, and as support for the MOND phenomenology. He authored an introductory review of Modified Newtonian dynamics presented at the 2005 conference "First Crisis in Cosmology".
+==External links==
+* [https://www.iac.es/en Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias]
+* [https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601478 "Modified Newtonian Dynamics, an Introductory Review" (arXiv:astro-ph/0601478)]
+* [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Riccardo-Scarpa-3 Riccardo Scarpa on ResearchGate]
 [[Category:Scientist|Scarpa Riccardo]]
 [[Category:Cosmology|Scarpa Riccardo]]
+[[Category:Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists]]
+[[Category:Astronomy]]