Sunny Vagnozzi

2009   High School Scientific Diploma, Liceo Scientifico Tecnologico “Guglielmo Marconi”, Sabaudia (LT)

2009   Violin Diploma (equivalent to Bachelor of Arts), Santa Cecilia Conservatory, Rome

2012   Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Trento
           Advisor: Prof. Valter Moretti
           Thesis: “Bohmian Mechanics: a deterministic completion of Quantum Mechanics”
           Final grade: 110/110

2014   Master of Science in Physics, University of Melbourne
           Advisors: Dr. Robert Foot and Prof. Raymond Volkas
           Thesis: “A tale of two (dark) fermions - Probing a dissipative hidden sector dark matter model”
           Final grade: H1 (First Class Honours) with Distinction

2019   PhD in Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University
           Advisors: Prof. Katherine Freese and Prof. Lars Bergström
           Thesis: “Weigh them all! - Cosmological searches for the neutrino mass scale and mass ordering”, ISBN 978-91-7797-729-2

Academic appointments

2022-today   Assistant Professor (tenure-track RTDb), University of Trento
                     Also affiliated to the Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA)-INFN

2019-2022    Newton-Kavli Fellow, Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge
                     Also affiliated to the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), University of Cambridge

2019-2022    College Research Associate, Homerton College, University of Cambridge

Academic visits

Various (short or long) academic visits at Imperial College London (2012-2013, as an Erasmus exchange student), Niels Bohr Institute (2014-2015), CP3 Origins, University of Southern Denmark (2015), NORDITA (2015-2016, as affiliated PhD student), University of Michigan (2016 and 2019), Harvard University (2018)

Professional qualifications

2023   Italian National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor, sector 02/A2 - Theoretical Physics of Fundamental Interactions (valid until 2034)

2023   Italian National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor, sector 02/C1 - Astronomy, Astrophysics, Earth and Planetary Physics (valid until 2034)

Teaching experience

2023-2024    Advanced Topics in Theoretical Physics, University of Trento (main lecturer)

2023-today   Fisica Generale I (secondo modulo), University of Trento (main lecturer)

2023             Tonale Winter School on Cosmology 2023 (Passo del Tonale, Italy; invited lecturer)

2023             Percorso di Approfondimento in Fisica, University of Trento

2017-2018   Programming, numerical methods and statistics for physicist, Stockholm University (teaching assistant)

2016-2018   Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, Stockholm University (teaching assistant)

2016-2017   Mathematical Methods for Physicists, Stockholm University (teaching assistant)

2014            Experimental design and data analysis, University of Melbourne (teaching assistant)

2014            Physics for Biomedicine, University of Melbourne (teaching assistant)

2014            Physics 2: Physical Science & Technology, University of Melbourne (teaching assistant)

2013            Physics 1, University of Melbourne (teaching assistant)

Postdoc mentoring and student supervision

Postdocs
2024-present   Marco Calzà (University of Trento)

2024-present   Simony Santos da Costa (University of Trento; Caritro Fellow)
 

PhD students
2024-present   Jun-Qian Jiang, co-advisor (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; free mover PhD student, University of Trento)

2023-present   Davide Pedrotti, main advisor (University of Trento)

2019-2022       Isabelle Tanseri (Stockholm University; main advisor: Prof. Katherine Freese)
→subsequent position: Jr Data Analyst at Facility Labs AB, Stockholm
 

MSc students or equivalent
2024-present   Raffaele Ferrari, main advisor (University of Trento)

2024-present   Leonardo Comini, main advisor (University of Trento)

2024-present   Mattia Scotto, main advisor (University of Trento)

2023-2024       Giovanni Piccoli, main advisor (University of Trento)

2022-2023       Davide Pedrotti, (University of Trento and University of Tübingen; co-advisor: Prof. Kostas Kokkotas)
→subsequent position: PhD student at the University of Trento

2020-2021       Alexander Reeves, main advisor (University of Cambridge; co-advisors: Prof. George Efstathiou and Prof. Blake Sherwin)
→subsequent position: PhD student at ETH Zürich

My research interests lie broadly at the intersection of cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics. I work at the interface of data analysis, theory, phenomenology, and experiments. The overarching goal of my research is to connect fundamental physics to precision cosmological and astrophysical data. More specifically, my aim through precision cosmological and astrophysical data is: to identify those models which best describe our Universe, and in particular dark matter and dark energy; to constrain the parameters of these models and define goals for future experiments; and likewise to construct viable data-driven theoretical models. This back-and-forth interplay between existing data, future experiments, and theory, represents my main research strength. I am always on the lookout for new exciting ideas and directions.

On the data side, I tackle a wide variety of measurements, ranging from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, to gravitational waves, and horizon-scale images of black hole shadows. On the theory side, my main focus is on models of dark matter, dark energy, cosmic inflation, and gravitation, especially those with the potential to address some of the most important shortcomings of the standard ΛCDM paradigm on both cosmological and astrophysical scales. My research robustly connects these well-motivated fundamental physics scenarios to precision measurements across a wide range of times and scales.

Some of my current research themes include (but are not limited to):

• Dark matter
• Dark energy
• Cosmic Microwave Background
• Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
• Neutrino cosmology
• Cosmic inflation
• Cosmological tensions
• Gravitation and modified gravity
• Gravitational waves
• Black hole physics

For more information on my research activity, please see www.sunnyvagnozzi.com/en/research, for more technical details please check my publications.

Complete and continuously up-to-date lists of my publications may be found on my profiles on the following databases: INSPIRE-HEP, NASA ADS, Google Scholar, and arXiv. UniTN users may also consult the IRIS database.

Bibliometric metrics (updated March 2024)
Citations: approx. 9100 (INSPIRE), approx. 8100 (ADS), approx. 9250 (Google Scholar)
Average number of citations per refereed article: approx. 140 (INSPIRE)
h-index: 51 (INSPIRE), 50 (ADS), 51 (Google Scholar); m-index~5.4

2023-today   Lifetime member of the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation

2022-today   Member of the CosmoVerse COST Action

2022-today   Member of EuCAPT (European Consortium for Astroparticle Theory)

2021-today   Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

2014-today   Member of the Italian Physical Society

Selected awards, fellowships, and grants

Awards
2023   SIGRAV Prize

2022   Buchalter Cosmology Prize (third prize)

2021   Alfredo di Braccio Prize, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

2021   Symmetry Young Investigator Award

2020   Springer Thesis Award, Springer Nature

2019   Pio Picchi Prize, Italian Physical Society

Grants
2023   UniTrento Internal Call for Research 2023 grant (135,200.00 €, funding the research project “DARKTRACK: Searching for Dark Energy off the beaten track”)

2023   Grant from the Caritro Foundation (70,000.00 €, funding the research project “Inflation and dark sector physics in light of next-generation cosmological surveys”, co-PI with Massimiliano Rinaldi and Simony Santos da Costa)

2022   Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (188,590.08 €, funding the research project “PADOVA: Precision Cosmology and Dark Sector Physics with Gravitational Waves”) [declined]

2021   Grant from the Foundation Blanceflor Boncompagni Ludovisi, née Bildt (100,000.00 SEK, funding the research project “DECODE: Direct Detection of Dark Energy”)

Fellowships
2021   Humboldt Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation [declined]

2019   Newton-Kavli Fellowship, University of Cambridge

Several other prestigious fellowships have been obtained and declined, including the Schramm Fellowship (Fermilab), Nordita Fellowship (NORDITA), Kavli Fellowship (University of Tokyo), MSI Prize Fellowship (McGill University), Fraunhofer-Schwarzschild Fellowship (LMU Munich), Chamberlain Fellowship (UC Berkeley), CITA Fellowship (University of Toronto), Chancellors' Fellowship (UC Irvine), Regents' Fellowship (UC Santa Cruz), CSE Fellowship (University of Minnesota), Huygens Fellowship (Leiden University)

Other awards
2015   Dean's Honours List, University of Melbourne

I have delivered over 70 talks at seminars/webinars and colloquia at top institutions throughout the world, as well as several international conferences and workshops. Places where I recently gave invited talks include but are not limited to Cambridge, Fermilab, Perimeter, Imperial, ETH, UCLA, UCL, McGill, Sussex, King's College London, Michigan, SISSA, LMU, Berkeley, Harvard. For a full list of talks with slides and videos (where available) see www.sunnyvagnozzi.com/en/talks.

Academic service activities

2024-today   Member of the Executive Committee of the Physics Doctoral School, University of Trento

2023-today   Member of the Teaching Committee, Department of Physics, University of Trento

2023             Member of the Committee for admission to the third year of the doctoral school

2023-today   Member of the Physics Doctoral School Committee, University of Trento

2022-today   Member of the Physics Department Board, University of Trento

2021-2022    Member of the IoA Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, University of Cambridge

2020-2021    Organizer for the Cosmology Lunch seminar series at the University of Cambridge

2017-2018    Convener of the Cosmology and Gravity Working Group at the Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Stockholm University

2014             Elected Postgraduate Physics Students’ Society secretary, University of Melbourne

2014             Elected Physics Academic Programs Committee member, University of Melbourne

2013             Elected Physics Staff Student Liaison Committee member, University of Melbourne

Work as thesis committee member

2024   Opponent for MSc thesis discussion of Filippo Mazzini (University of Trento; advisor: Prof. Albino Perego)

2024   Opponent for MSc thesis discussion of Pietro Paolo Gambelli (University of Trento; advisor: Prof. Roberto Battiston)

2024   Opponent for MSc thesis discussion of Alessandra Accettola (University of Trento; advisor: Prof. Raffaello Potestio)

2023   Opponent for MSc thesis discussion of Francesco Venturelli (University of Trento; advisor: Prof. William J. Weber)

2023   External committee member for the PhD thesis discussion of Tiziano Schiavone (University of Pisa; advisors: Prof. Giovanni Marozzi, Prof. Giovanni Montani, & Dr. Giuseppe Fanizza)

2023   Opponent for MSc thesis discussion of Víctor Alexander Torres (University of Trento; advisors: Prof. Albino Perego & Prof. Enrico Barausse)

2023   Committee member for the BSc thesis discussion (prova finale) of Lavinia Feliciangeli (University of Trento; advisor: Prof. Massimiliano Rinaldi)

Advisory and reviewing activities

2024-today   Reviewer for the Israel Science Foundation, Israel

2023-today   Reviewer for FONDECYT, Chile

2022-today   Editor of Physics of the Dark Universe

2021             Scientific consultant for The Secrets of the Universe, children popular science book in the Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds series (Oxford University Press)

2020-2022    Editorial board member of Universe (MDPI)

2019-2022    Editorial board member of Experimental Results (Cambridge University Press)

2019-2022    Editorial board member of Advances in High Energy Physics (Hindawi)

2016-today   Referee for most of the major journals in cosmology, astrophysics, and high-energy physics, including Nat. Astron., Nat. Commun., PRL, PRD, PLB, MNRAS, ApJ, JCAP, JHEP, CQG, PDU, EPJC (see my Web of Science profile for more information)

Outreach

2023            Universe Today outreach interview

2023            Organizer and volunteer for Notte della Ricerca (European Researchers’ Night), Trento

2023            Physics Frontiers outreach interview (Youtube Random Questions episode)

2022            Outreach interview on Acaudio

2021            Invited outreach webinar “La forma dell’Universo: piatto o chiuso?” (in Italian), Associazione AstronomiAmo (amateur astronomers association) [video]

2019-2022   Member of the production team for the University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy’s podcast (Astropod)

2019            Organizer and volunteer for AstroFika (Ask an Astronomer), Stockholm

2018            Organizer and volunteer for ForskarFredag (European Researchers' Night), Stockholm

Selected press coverage

My most important research results have received widespread coverage throughout the world. By way of example, below are links to selected press coverage of my research work.

Con Laniakea la tensione di Hubble sale, Media INAF
The universe’s puzzlingly fast expansion may defy explanation, cosmologists fret, Science
It’s going to take more than early dark energy to resolve the Hubble tension, Phys.org
Si può escludere l’inflazione cosmica?, Media INAF
Can cosmic inflation be ruled out?, joint Cambridge-Harvard press release (re-posted by hundreds of news outlets throughout the world, see Altmetric)
Bagliori d’energia oscura nel cuore del Gran Sasso, Media INAF
Have we detected dark energy? Cambridge scientists say it’s a possibility, University of Cambridge press release (re-posted by hundreds of news outlets throughout the world, see Altmetric)
Eppur è piatto? Così l’universo torna euclideo?, Media INAF
What is the Sun made of and when will it die?, Quanta Magazine
Hiding in plain sight: the mystery of the Sun’s missing matter, New Scientist

For more information check my website www.sunnyvagnozzi.com. CV and publications list in PDF format can also be downloaded in the “Attachments” section.