Martino Marisaldi

Position

Professor

Research groups

Short info

Faculty staff and researcher in the fields of atmospheric electricity, high-energy radiation from thunderclouds, high-energy astrophysics, and high-energy detectors. Co-leader of the 'Hard Radiation from Thunderstorms' group including 2 Faculty, 3 researchers, 1 postdocs, 2 PhD and 2 Master students
Research

Atmospheric electricity

Research on Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs), gamma-ray glows, and related high-energy atmospheric phenomena related to thunderclouds and lightning discharge.

The main questions we want to answer:

  • how are TGFs produced?
  • what is the relation between high-energy processes in the atmosphere and the lightning discharge?
  • do TGFs and related high-energy phenomena have any impact on atmospheric chemistry and dynamics?

The tools we use:

 

High-energy astrophysics

Research on cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB).

The main question we want to answer:

  • how can we use timing information to extract properties of the GRB progenitors?
  • can we exploit the timing and spectral performance of ASIM for GRB science?

The tools we use:

 

High-energy detectors and systems

Teaching

Bachelor / Master course responsibilities:

 

Supervisor / co-supervisor of the following PhD Thesis:

 

Supervisor of the following Master Thesis:

 

Contribution to research schools:

Publications

I am coauthor of 142 refereed publications, with an H-Index of 40 (Web of Science, accessed 12/09/2024).

My top research publications are the following

  1. M. Marisaldi, N. Østgaard, A. Mezentsev, et al. (2024), Highly dynamic gamma-ray emissions are common in tropical thunderclouds, Nature, accepted, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07936-6.
  2. N. Østgaard, A. Mezentsev, M. Marisaldi, et al. (2024), Flickering Gamma-Ray Flashes, the Missing Link between Gamma Glows and TGFs, Nature, accepted, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07893-0.
  3. A. Castro-Tirado, N. Østgaard, E. Gögüs, et al. (2021), Very-high-frequency oscillations in the main peak of a magnetar giant flare, Nature 600, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04101-1 
  4. M. Marisaldi, et al. (2019), On the high-energy spectral component and fine time structure of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, J. Geophys. Res. (Atmospheres), 124. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030554 
  5. M. Marisaldi, et al. (2015), Enhanced detection of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes by agile. Geophys. Res. Lett., 42(21):9481–9487, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066100 
  6. M. Marisaldi, F. Fuschino, M. Tavani, et al. (2014) Properties of terrestrial gamma ray flashes detected by AGILE MCAL below 30 MeV. J. Geophys. Res. (Space Physics), 119:1337–1355, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JA019301 
  7. M. Tavani, M. Marisaldi, C. Labanti, et al. (2011), Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes as Powerful Particle Accelerators. Physical Review Letters, 106(1):018501, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.018501 
  8. M. Marisaldi, et al. (2010), Gamma-Ray Localization of Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes. Physical Review Letters, 105(12):128501, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.128501 
  9. M. Marisaldi, et al. (2010), Detection of terrestrial gamma ray flashes up to 40 MeV by the AGILE satellite. J. Geophys. Res. (Space Physics), 115:0, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JA014502
  10. C. Labanti, M. Marisaldi, et al. (2009), Design and construction of the Mini-Calorimeter of the AGILE satellite. Nucl. Instrum. and Meth. in Phys. Res. A, 598:470–479, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2008.09.021 

 

A complete list of my publications with metrics can be retrieved from the Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Below are my publications listed in the CRIStin database.

 

Projects

Active projects:

  • 2024 – 2026 Principal Investigator, Conceptual design and prototyping of the Electrical Ground Support Equipment for THESEUS XGIS. Funding: European Space Agency. 
  • 2023 – 2025 Principal InvestigatorFrom lightning to the dawn of time: study of the timing structure of cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts with the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor. Funding: Peder Sather Center for Advanced Study. Collaboration project with the Astronomy Department at the University of Berkeley, USA. 
  • 2021 – 2026 Principal Investigator, TGF Airborne Observatory (TAO): Understanding the link between lightning, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and gamma-ray glows. Funding: Research Council of Norway. Partly funding the ALOFT flight campaign. Here are the main outputs of the project.

 

Past projects as Principal Investigator:

  • 2019 - 2022. Principal Investigator of the International Team 'Understanding the properties of the Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash population' at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland.
  • 2015 – 2016 International fellowship: Fulbright Research Scholar (6 months) at Duke University, Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, NC, USA. 
  • 2012 – 2014 Principal Investigator, ‘PICO: Picosecond Cherenkov Observatory’. Funder: National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy. R&D project for the exploitation of ultra-fast solid-state detectors for high-energy astrophysics in the TeV band.