Publications

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5965-3530

I have authored a total of 65 scientific papers, 57 of them in high-impact (Q1) refereed journals (six as first author, six as second author). My publications have a total of 1220 refereed citations (only 193 self-citations), with a h-index of 20. My refereed first-author articles have 149 refereed citations (source: ADS).

List of the most relevant papers:

  1. Thick disks:
    • Pinna, F. et al. (2019) “The Fornax 3D project: Unveiling the thick disk origin in FCC 170; possible signs of accretion”, A&A, 623, A19, DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201833193.  Significance: first work to identify accreted stellar populations in observed thick disks in external galaxies. Citations: 69 (more than 5 times the expected citations for papers in 2019, between 9 and 10 according to ESI. 8 citations during the year of publication)
    • Pinna, F. et al. (2019) “The Fornax 3D project: Thick disks in a cluster environment”, A&A, 625, A95, DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201935154. Significance: this work extended and supported the previous analysis of one thick disk to two more Fornax-cluster lenticular galaxies, and discussed the results in the environmental context. Citations: 42.
    • Martig, M., Pinna, F. et al. (2021) “NGC 5746: Formation history of a massive disc-dominated galaxy”, MNRAS, 508, 2458, DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab2729. Significance: this work presents a massive disk-dominated galaxy where an important merger left a significant contribution in the thick disk (supporting results in Pinna et al. 2019a,b), but did not trigger the formation of a classical bulge; these important results challenge models of hierarchical assembly of galaxies.
    • Sattler, N., Pinna, F. et al. (2023), “The vertical structure of the spiral galaxy NGC 3501: first stages of the formation of a thin metal-rich disk”, MNRAS, 520, 3066, DOI:10.1093/mnras/stad275. Significance: This paper shows for the first time the formation of an inner metal-rich thinner disk, embedded in a thicker metal-poor extended disk. I supervised this work (follow up of Natascha Sattler’s BSc thesis).
    • Pinna, F. et al. (2024a), “Stellar populations and origin of thick disks in AURIGA simulations”, A&A, 683, A236. Significance: This work analyzes thick-disk stellar population properties in AURIGA zoom-in cosmological simulations, investigates the origin of the primordial thick disks and the channels how they grow. It quantifies the fraction of accreted stars in thick disks and shows that they are the result of the interplay between internal and external processes, as previously proposed to explain observations.
    • Pinna, F. et al. (2024b), «Recovering chemical bimodalities in observed edge-on stellar disks: insights from AURIGA simulations», accepted (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024arXiv240907533P/abstract). Significance: This paper uses cosmological simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies to assess how chemical bimodality can be recovered in observations of edge-on external galaxies. It analyzes the correspondence of this bimodality with geometrically defined thick and thin disks and proposes a robust method to investigate chemical bimodalities in IFS observations.
    • Sattler, N., Pinna, F. et al. (2024), «Relatively young thick discs in low-mass star-forming late-type galaxies», submitted (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024arXiv241005761S/abstract). Significance: This work shows the first systematic study of very late type, star-forming and gas-rich, edge-on galaxies. It shows that this type of galaxies have relatively young thick disks with an extended star formation history, and little difference between thick and thin disks.
  1. Dynamical Heating:
    • F. Pinna et al. (2018) “Revisiting the stellar velocity ellipsoid–Hubble-type relation: observations versus simulations”, MNRAS, 475, 2697-2712, DOI:10.1093/mnras/stx3331.  Significance: this work reviewed studies on the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid (SVE) in galaxies, and revolutionized the paradigm of disk dynamical heating. It showed, for the first time, the lack of a clear trend of the SVE with galaxy morphological type, revealing a much more intricate scenario than previously claimed. This was my first work comparing observations with simulations. Citations: 18.
    • D. Walo-Martín, F. Pinna, et al. (2022) “Local variations of the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid-II. The effect of the bar in the inner regions of Auriga galaxies”, MNRAS, 513, 4587, DOI:10.1093/mnras/stac769. Significance: This work uses zoom-in cosmological simulations to show the impact of spatial variations of the stellar velocity ellipsoid on its general trends. It focuses on dynamical heating processes in inner regions of spiral galaxies and unveils spatial variations that are a consequence of bar formation. 
    • Walo-Martín, D. et al. – incl. Pinna, F. (2021), “Local variations of the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid-I: the disc of galaxies in the Auriga simulations”, MNRAS, 506, 1801, DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab1664.
  1. Nuclear Star clusters
    • F. Pinna et al. (2021) “Resolved Nuclear Kinematics Link the Formation and Growth of Nuclear Star Clusters with the Evolution of Their Early- and Late-type Hosts”, ApJ, 921, 8, DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ac158f. Significance: this work uncovered a trend with galaxy morphology of the balance between ordered rotation and random motions in nuclear star clusters, highlighting the impact of the overall evolution of a galaxy. Citations: 5.
    • Hoyer, N., Pinna, F. et al. (2023), “PHANGS–JWST First Results: A combined HST and JWST analysis of the nuclear star cluster in NGC 628”, ApJ, 944, L25, DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/aca53e. Significance: This is the first photometric fit of a nuclear star cluster at JWST resolution, allowing to show trends of ellipticities and sizes with wavelength which indicate a complexity that was not found before.
    • Fahrion, K. et al. – incl. Pinna, F. (2022), “Nuclear star cluster formation in star-forming dwarf galaxies”, A&A, 667, A101, DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202244932. Significance: this paper shows the first spectroscopic study of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) in dwarf late-type galaxies. These results support previous findings (in early-type galaxies) of a transition in the dominant NSC formation channel with galaxy mass.
    • Fahrion, K. et al. – incl. Pinna, F. (2021), “Diversity of nuclear star cluster formation mechanisms revealed by their star formation histories”, A&A, 650, A137, DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202140644. Significance: this study reveals for the first time a trend of the dominant formation channel of nuclear star clusters with galaxy mass.
  1. Stellar populations in general:
    • I. Martín-Navarro, F. Pinna, L. Coccato, J. Falcón-Barroso, G. van de Ven, M. Lyubenova, E. M. Corsini, K. Fahrion, D. A. Gadotti, E. Iodice, R. M. McDermid, A. Poci, M. Sarzi, T. W. Spriggs, S. Viaene, P. T. de Zeeuw, and L. Zhu (2021) “Fornax 3D project: Assessing the diversity of IMF and stellar population maps within the Fornax Cluster”, A&A, 654, A59, DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202141348. Significance: this was the first paper to map the initial mass function of a relatively large galaxy sample, revealing a rich variety of substructures. 

Link to different ADS libraries (updated in September 2024), where you can download each paper:

Link to my complete ADS library: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/a5lxVY5TRGulg7kGeCKPfQ

These are my first-author papers: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/aJc8Vd5gReGpPVNAOvNlDA

Here you find my second-author papers: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/POjaD9ZMQxOrYva1PTiLCg

These are my papers published during my postdoc phase: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/dY8-DR6JRAqBuS4aH5sD2w