I'm a research astronomer at the INAF-Observatory of Capodimonte Naples.
My research interests are: galaxy dynamics and dark matter, extragalactic astronomy, N-body simulations and cosmology.
The topic I've devoted most of my research activity since my PhD thesis has been the use of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) as tracers of the stellar kinematics in galaxies and the intracluster stellar population in galaxy clusters.
Since 2003 I'm a permanent member of the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (PN.S) team which I started collaborating with as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Kapetyn Institute, Groningen.
From 2005 to 2008 I've led a project funded with an European Reintegration Grant by CORDIS within FP6, aimed at the study of the galaxy and cluster galaxy structure with PNe.
Since 2009 I'm the National Coordinator of the Science Programs of the VLT Survey Telescope Guaranteed Time of Observations.
Since 2010 I'm PI of the DAMAE project funded by Regione Campania (Legge 5, 2007), aimed at measuring the Dark Matter content of elliptical galaxies and exploring Alternative Theories of Gravity.
Since 2011 I'm member of the National Committee for Galaxy and Cosmology research area of the National Institute of Astrophysics.
NEWS
Napolitano, N. R., Capozziello, S., Romanowsky, A. J., Capaccioli, M., Tortora, C., Testing Yukawa-like Potentials from f(R)-gravity in Elliptical Galaxies, Astrophysical Journal, 748, 87 arXiv:1201.3363
Tortora, C. & Napolitano, N. R., Population gradients in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Galaxy Catalogue: the role of merging, 2012, MNRAS.tmp.2441 arXiv:1201.2411
Mendez-Abreu J., Aguerri J. A. L., Barrena R., et al.. Unveiling the formation of the brightest group galaxies through their scaling relations, 2012, ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 537 arXiv:1110.0465
Tortora C., Napolitano, N.R., Romanowsky, A. J., Jetzer, Ph., Cardone, V.F., Capaccioli, M., Stellar mass-to-light ratio gradients in galaxies: correlations with mass, 2011,MNRAS, 418, 1557 arXiv:1107.2918
Secondary infall model and dark matter scaling relations in intermediate redshift early - type galaxies, 2011, MNRAS, accepted, Cardone, V.F., Del Popolo, A., Tortora, C., & Napolitano, N.R., 2011, MNRAS, 416, 1822, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1106.0364
Tortora, C., Romeo, A.D., Napolitano, N.R., et al., Stellar population gradients from cosmological simulations: dependence on mass and environment in local galaxies, 2011, MNRAS, 411, 627 arXiv:1009.2500
The PN.S Elliptical Galaxy Survey: a standard LCDM halo around NGC 4374?, Napolitano, N. R., Romanowsky, A. J., Capaccioli, M., Douglas, N.G., et al. 2011, MNRAS, 411, 2035, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1010.1533
Stellar population gradients from cosmological simulations: dependence on mass and environment in local galaxies, Tortora, C., Romeo, A.D., Napolitano, N.R., Antonuccio-Delogu, V., Meza, A., Sommer-Larsen, J., & Capaccioli, M., 2011, MNRAS, 411, 627, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1009.2500
Central dark matter trends in early-type galaxies from strong lensing, dynamics and stellar populations, Tortora, C., Napolitano, N. R., Romanowsky, A. J., Jetzer, P., 2010, ApJL, 721, 1, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1007.3988
The central dark matter content of early-type galaxies: scaling relations and connections with star formation histories, Napolitano, N. R., Romanowsky, A. J., & Tortora, C., 2010, MNRAS, 405, 2351, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1003.1716
Color and stellar population gradients in galaxies. Correlation with mass, Tortora, C.; Napolitano, N. R.; Cardone, V. F.; Capaccioli, M.; Jetzer, Ph.; Molinaro, R., 2010, MNRAS, in press, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1004.4896
Stellar population gradients from cosmological simulations: dependence on mass and environment in local galaxies, Tortora, C.; Romeo, A.; Napolitano, N. R.; Antonuccio-Delogu, V.; Meza, A.; Sommer-Larsen, J.; Capaccioli, M., 2010, MNRAS, in press, ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1009.2500
