Faculty | Enrico Vesperini

Associate Professor
Ph.D. Physics,
Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 1994

Contact Information:

Department of Astronomy
Indiana University
Swain West 326
727 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: (812) 856-0317
Email: evesperi [at] indiana.edu

Biographical Information

Enrico Vesperini joined the IU Astronomy faculty in August 2012. Prior to his appointment at IU, he was a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Drexel University. Dr. Vesperini also held postdoctoral fellowships at University of Edinburgh, University of Massachusetts, and Michigan State University. He was the Science Education postdoctoral fellow for the Five College Astronomy Department from 1999-2001. He is an active member of the scientific community and has helped organize several international conferences and workshops on the topics of globular clusters and dynamical evolution of stellar systems.

Research Interests

Dr. Vesperini's primary research area is in theoretical and computational stellar dynamics, with a focus on different aspects of the formation and dynamical evolution of globular star clusters and globular cluster systems. His current projects include investigation of the formation and dynamical evolution of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters, investigation of the evolution of young clusters in merging galaxies, and study of the evolution of Galactic and extra-galactic globular cluster systems.

Teaching

• A105:  Stars and Galaxies
• A570:  Galactic Dynamics
• A780:  Graduate Seminar on Astrophysics of Globular Clusters
• A780:  Astrostatistics and Scientific Computing

Selected Publications

• Spatial mixing of binary stars in multiple-population globular clusters
  Hong, J., Patel, S., Vesperini, E., Webb, J. J., Dalessandro, E. 2019, MNRAS, 483, 2592.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV legacy survey of galactic globular clusters - XVI. The helium abundance of multiple populations
  Milone, A. P., Marino, A. F., et al. 2018, MNRAS, 481, 5098.
• Binary black hole mergers from globular clusters: the impact of globular cluster properties
  Hong, J., Vesperini, E., Askar, A., Giersz, M., Szkudlarek, M., Bulik, T. 2018, MNRAS, 480, 5645.
• The Structural and Kinematic Evolution of Central Star Clusters in Dwarf Galaxies and Their Dependence on Dark Matter Halo Profiles
  Webb, J. J., Vesperini, E. 2018, MNRAS, 479, 3708.
• The ESO Multi-instrument Kinematic Survey (MIKiS) of Galactic Globular Clusters: Solid-body Rotation and Anomalous Velocity Dispersion Profile in NGC 5986
  Lanzoni, B., Ferraro, F. R. et al., 2018, ApJ, 865, 11.
• The Unexpected Kinematics of Multiple Populations in NGC 6362: Do Binaries Play a Role?
  Dalessandro, E., Mucciarelli, A. et al. 2018, ApJ, 864, 33.
• Hubble Space Telescope Proper Motion (HSTPROMO) Catalogs of Galactic Globular Cluster. VI. Improved Data Reduction and Internal-kinematic Analysis of NGC 362
  Libralato, M. Bellini, A. et al. 2018, ApJ, 861, 99.
• The Strong Rotation of M5 (NGC 5904) as Seen from the MIKiS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters
  Lanzoni, B., Ferraro, F. R. et al., 2018, ApJ, 861, 16.
• Light Element Abundances and Multiple Populations in M10
  Gerber, J. M., Friel, E. D., Vesperini, E. 2018, AJ, 156, 6.
• Multiple stellar populations in Magellanic Cloud clusters - VI. A survey of multiple sequences and Be stars in young clusters
  Milone, A. P., Marino, A. F. et al. 2018, MNRAS, 477, 2640.
• MIKiS: The Multi-instrument Kinematic Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. I. Velocity Dispersion Profiles and Rotation Signals of 11 Globular Clusters
  Ferraro, F. R., Mucciarelli, A. 2018, ApJ, 860, 50.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. XV. The Dynamical Clock: Reading Cluster Dynamical Evolution from the Segregation Level of Blue Straggler Stars
  Ferraro, F. R., Lanzoni, B. et al. 2018, ApJ, 860, 36.
• Evolution of the stellar mass function in multiple-population globular clusters
  Vesperini, E., Hong, J., Webb, J. J., D'Antona, F., D'Ercole, A. 2018, MNRAS, 476, 2731.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic globular clusters - XIII. ACS/WFC parallel-field catalogues
  Simioni, M., Bedin, L. R., et al. 2018, MNRAS, 476, 271.
• The Peculiar Radial Distribution of Multiple Populations in the Massive Globular Cluster M80
  Dalessandro, E., Cadelano, M., Vesperini, E. et al. 2018, ApJ, 859, 15.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters - XII. The RGB bumps of multiple stellar populations
  Lagioia, E. P., Milone, A. P. et al. 2018, MNRAS, 475, 4088.
• Kinematic fingerprint of core-collapsed globular clusters
  Bianchini, P., Webb, J. J., Sills, A., Vesperini, E. 2018, MNRAS, 475, L96.
• The complex kinematics of rotating star clusters in a tidal field
  Tiongco, M. A., Vesperini, E., Varri, A. L. 2018, MNRAS, 475, L86.
• Modelling the observed stellar mass function and its radial variation in galactic globular clusters
  Webb, J. J., Vesperini, E., Salessandro, E., Beccari, G., Ferraro, F. R., Lanzoni, B. 2017, MNRAS, 471, 3845.
• Stars caught in the braking stage in young Magellanic Cloud clusters
  D'Antona, F., Milone, A. P., Tailo, M. Ventura, P., Vesperini, E., di Criscienzo, M. 2017, Nature Astronomy, 1, id.0186.
• Hubble Space Telescope Proper Motion (HSTPROMO) Catalogs of Galactic Globular Clusters. V. The Rapid Rotation of 47 Tuc Traced and Modeled in Three Dimensions"
  Bellini, A., Bianchini, P., Varri, A. L., Anderson, J., Piotto, G., van der Marel, R. P., Vesperini, E., Watkins, L. L. 2017, ApJ, 844, 167.
• Kinematical evolution of tidally limited star clusters: rotational properties
  Tiongco, M. A., Vesperini, E., Varri, A. L. 2017, MNRAS, 469, 683.
• The early evolution of star clusters in compressive and extensive tidal fields
  Webb, J. J., Patel, S. S., Vesperini, E. 2017, MNRAS, 468, 92.
• Internal Rotation in the Globular Cluster M53
  Boberg, O. M., Vesperini, E., Friel, E. D., Tiongco, M. A., Varri, A. L. 2017, ApJ, 841, 114.
• The ``UV-route'' to Search for Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Clusters: First Results from the HST UV Legacy Survey
  Raso, S., Ferraro, F. R., Dalessandro, E., Lanzoni, B., Nardiello, D., Bellini, A., Vesperini, E. 2017, ApJ, 839, 64.
• Evolution of Star Clusters in Time-variable Tidal Fields
  Mamikonyan, E. N., McMillan, S. L. W., Vesperini, E., Mac Low, M.-M. 2017, ApJ, 837, 70.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic globular clusters - XI. The horizontal branch in NGC 6388 and NGC 6441
  Tailo, M., D'Antona, F., et al. 2017, MNRAS, 465, 1046.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic globular clusters - IX. The Atlas of multiple stellar populations
  Milone, A. P., Piotto, G. et al. 2017, MNRAS, 464, 3636.
• Dynamical formation of cataclysmic variables in globular clusters
  Hong, J., Vesperini, E., Belloni, D., Giersz, M. 2017, MNRAS, 464, 2511.
• On the link between energy equipartition and radial variation in the stellar mass function of star clusters
  Webb, J. J., Vesperini, E. 2017, MNRAS, 464, 1977.
• Radial variation in the stellar mass functions of star clusters
  Webb, J. J., Vesperini, E. 2016, MNRAS, 463, 2383.
• Refining the Dynamical Clock for Star Clusters
  Lanzoni, B., Ferraro, F. R., Alessandrini, E., Dalessandro, E., Vesperini, E., Raso, S. 2016, ApJL, 833, L29.
• Investigating the Mass Segregation Process in Globular Clusters with Blue Straggler Stars: The Impact of Dark Remnants
  Alessandrini, E., Lanzoni, B., Ferraro, F. R., Miocchi, P., Vesperini, E. 2016, ApJ, 833, 252.
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic globular clusters - X. The radial distribution of stellar populations in NGC 2808
  Simioni, M., Milone, A. P., Bedin, L. R., Aparicio, A., Piotto, G., Vesperini, E., Hong, J. 2016, MNRAS, 463, 449.
• Searching in the dark: the dark mass content of the Milky Way globular clusters NGC288 and NGC6218
  Sollima, A., Ferraro, F. R., Lovisi, L., Contenta, F., Vesperini, E., et al. 2016, MNRAS, 462, 1937.
• Accretion of pristine gas and dilution during the formation of multiple-population globular clusters
  D'Ercole, A., D'Antona, F., Vesperini, E. 2016, MNRAS, 461, 4088.
• Kinematical evolution of tidally limited star clusters: the role of retrograde stellar orbits
  Tiongco, M. A., Vesperini, E., Varri, A. L. 2016, MNRAS, 461, 402.
• Chemical Abundances in NGC 5024 (M53): A Mostly First Generation Globular Cluster
  Boberg, O. M., Friel, E. D., Vesperini, E. 2016, ApJ, 824, 5.
• A single model for the variety of multiple-population formation(s) in globular clusters: a temporal sequence
  D′Antona, F., Vesperini, E., D′Ercole, A., Ventura, P., Milone, A.P., Marino, A.F., Tailo, M., 2016, MNRAS, 458, 2122.
• Evolution of binary stars in multiple-population globular clusters - II. Compact binaries
  Hong, J., Vesperini, E., Sollima, A., McMillan, S., D′Antona, F., D′Ercole, A., 2016, MNRAS, 457, 4507.
• Velocity anisotropy in tidally limited star clusters
  Tiongco, M. A., Vesperini, E., Varri, A. L. 2016, MNRAS, 455, 3693.

Complete list of refereed publications from ADS