Investigating the cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes

Dr. Luca Sala - Excellence Cluster ORIGINS, Ludwig-Maximilians University

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About me

Currently I am part of the staff of the Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics (C2PAP) of the Excellence Cluster ORIGINS. My role focuses on providing scientific programming expertise for code development and optimization as well as technical support to research groups that apply for projects on the dedicated C2PAP HPC cluster.

At the same time, I carry out my research activity on supermassive black holes in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations in the Computational Astrophysics Group, at the University Observatory of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich.

In 2024, I obtained my PhD in Astrophysics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, within the European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network BiD4BESt. Before that, in 2020 I earned my Master's degree in Astrophysics and Space physics and in 2017 my Bachelor's degree in Physics at the University of Milano-Bicocca, in Italy.

Research

Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations

The general framework of my research: simulating the coupled evolution of matter and black holes, and the codes behind it.

Black hole accretion and spin evolution

How supermassive black holes accrete, and how their spin evolves, in cosmological simulations.

Black hole feedback

How accreting black holes shape their environment through energetic phenomena.

Numerical methods and code development

Developing the sub-grid models and the scientific software behind large-scale simulations including black holes.

First-author papers

2024

Supermassive black hole spin evolution in cosmological simulations with OPENGADGET3 Astronomy & Astrophysics | DOI

2021

Non-isotropic feedback from accreting spinning black holes Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | DOI

Co-authorship

2026

The OpenGadget3 Code for Cosmological Simulations SSRN preprint | DOI

2026

A novel subgrid model for super-Eddington accretion of spinning black holes in galaxy-scale simulations Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | DOI

2024

A CIGALE module tailored (not only) for low-luminosity active galactic nuclei Astronomy & Astrophysics | DOI

2021

Black hole spin evolution in warped accretion discs Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | DOI

Gallery

The analysis behind these renderings is performed with a custom-made library of analysis tools, built on high-performance scientific libraries and designed to scale to large simulations. The visualisations are realised with the mapping capabilities of the pynbody and topsy packages.