Dr. Francesco La Barbera is a researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) – Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte in Naples, Italy. His research focuses on galaxy formation and evolution, with particular emphasis on stellar populations, the structural properties of early-type galaxies, galaxy scaling
relations, and the role of environment in shaping galaxy evolution.
He has extensive expertise in the analysis of multi-band photometric and spectroscopic surveys (from UV to near-infrared), in the development of models and software tools for stellar population studies, and in leading observational projects with major ground-based facilities (VLT, LBT, TNG). He is the author of more than 120 refereed publications in international journals.
After earning a degree in Physics (Astrophysics, summa cum laude) and a PhD from the University of Naples Federico II, he held research positions Italy before obtaining a permanent staff researcher position at INAF in 2004. He has lectured in PhD and master’s courses in Italy and Brazil, and supervised several doctoral theses. He is also engaged in science outreach, coordinating educational activities at the Capodimonte Observatory.
Dr. La Barbera is an active member of international collaborations such as SPIDER, KiDS, SUNDIAL, WEAVE-StePS, FOREMOST-StePS, and contributes to the development of the E-MILES evolutionary stellar population synthesis models.
During his visit to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Dr. Francesco La Barbera will work closely with A. Vazdekis and the “Traces of Galaxy Formation” group to advance the development of the E-MILES stellar population models. The main goals are to extend these models into the far-UV using HST data and to broaden their coverage in the optical (MILES) and near-infrared with state-of-the-art empirical stellar libraries, thereby improving constraints on elemental abundance ratios and stellar population parameters. These enhanced
models will be applied to data for the bulges of M31 and massive galaxies, to explore their stellar initial mass function (IMF), radial gradients of stellar population properties, and star formation histories. The FUV extension will help in understanding the origin of the UV flux excess in “quiescent” galaxies and in distinguishing between young stellar populations and hot evolved stars. Dr. La Barbera’s visit will also foster critical synergies between observational data from LUCI@LBT and EMIR@GTC and theoretical predictions, enabling tests of galaxy formation models.
