Matilde Signorini
PhD, Research Fellow at the European Space Agency
ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
I’m an observational astronomer studying active galactic nuclei (AGN). My work is centred on X-rays, and I also analyse UV and infrared data. I want to understand how AGN work: in particular, the interplay between the accretion disc and the X-ray emitting corona.
Looking for a thesis on AGN? I have several projects available, with the possibility of joining me as a visiting student at ESA-ESTEC. Get in touch and we can discuss the details.
Research interests
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Disc–corona interaction
How the hot X-ray corona and the accretion disc are coupled, and what the link between their UV and X-ray emission tells us about how supermassive black holes accrete.
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Cosmology with AGN
Measuring distances with AGN using different methods (the LX–LUV relation, X-ray variability and the size of the Broad Line Region), and testing cosmological models together with other probes.
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Obscuration and outflows
How much of the AGN population is hidden behind gas and dust, and how this changes over cosmic time, using deep X-ray surveys such as the Chandra J1030 field. With XRISM, I also study the gas close to the black hole in detail, through iron-line diagnostics and ionised outflows in NGC 3783.
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High-redshift AGN
The most distant quasars, including the ones discovered by JWST, and what they reveal about how supermassive black holes formed and grew in the early Universe.
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BASS collaboration
Member of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey, a multiwavelength study of the hard X-ray selected AGN detected by Swift/BAT.
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STORM2 collaboration
Member of AGN STORM 2, an intensive multiwavelength reverberation mapping campaign on the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 817, probing the Broad Line Region and the black hole mass.
Publications
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- 2024
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- 2023
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- 2022
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- 2021
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Curriculum vitae
Invited talks
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The LX–LUV relation in quasars: a new sample
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Connecting X-ray variability with AGN physical properties and a new path to cosmological distances
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Quasars as standard(izable) candles
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X-ray variability in low-redshift AGN
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STORM2: variability in the multi-year monitoring of Mrk 817
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Study of possible systematics in the use of quasars as standard candles
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AGN as cosmological probes
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Distance measurements with Active Galactic Nuclei
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Reverberation mapping: high-z SMBH masses, BLR physics and H₀
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The Mass of a Supermassive Black Hole More Than 10 Billion Light-years Away
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Quasars as cosmological tools
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Non-parametric analysis of the Hubble Diagram with Neural Networks
Outreach
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Galassie e Materia Oscura: un Universo in Tensione
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ESA Open Day
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Studiare l’espansione dell’Universo attraverso i nuclei galattici attivi
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Teaching the Universe, Italian edition
Contact
matilde.signorini [at] esa.int
Office Ag203ESA-ESTEC
Keplerlaan 1
2201 AZ Noordwijk
The Netherlands