Luca Sala

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 C2PAP computing resources.

At the same time, I carry out my research activity on supermassive black holes in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations in the Computational Astrophysics Group of the University Observatory of Munich (USM) 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

Black hole accretion and feedback

Understanding the role black holes play in shaping their cosmological environments.

Black hole spin evolution

Investigating the drivers of the evolution of supermassive black hole spin in cosmological simulations.

Numerical methods

Developing sub-resolution models for the next generations of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations.

Publications

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

2021 Black hole spin evolution in warped accretion discs - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | DOI