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M. Paola Vaccaro

PhD Student in Astrophysics · ITA/ZAH, Heidelberg University

I am a computational astrophysicist modelling how black holes grow from stellar to intermediate and supermassive masses, and what their gravitational-wave mergers reveal about the early Universe. I showed that AGN disks can grow black holes through the pair-instability gap into the intermediate-mass range, but only in low-viscosity disks with efficient gas hardening, and that the resulting populations match systems like GW190521 and GW231123.

Intermediate-mass black holes · AGN disk dynamics · star cluster dynamics · gravitational-wave sources · stellar collisions · Einstein Telescope science

Education

2023 – 2027

PhD in Astronomy and Cosmic Physics

ITA/ZAH, Heidelberg University · Supervisor: Prof. Michela Mapelli

Funded by ERC Consolidator Grant DEMOBLACK & Heidelberg STRUCTURES Excellence Cluster

2026 – 2027

SSC Fellowship in Research Software Engineering

Scientific Software Center, Heidelberg University

Competitive individual fellowship; one of 5 awardees

2020 – 2022

MSc in Astrophysics and Cosmology

Università degli Studi di Padova · 110/110 cum laude

2016 – 2019

BSc in Physics

Università di Pisa · 110/110 cum laude

Publications

2026

Cosmic merger rates and population evolution of binary black hole mergers in AGN disks1st author

Vaccaro, M.P., Trinca, A., Mapelli, M., et al. — submitted (2026)

2026

When black holes align: a subpopulation of aligned massive BBHs observed via GWs

Rinaldi, S., Wong, C., Vaccaro, M.P., et al. — A&A accepted

2026

Black hole populations and hierarchical growth across the AGN parameter space1st author

Vaccaro, M.P., Mapelli, M., Trani, A.A., Liu, B. — A&A, 714, A322 (2026)

2026

The role of migration traps in the formation of binary black holes in AGN disks1st author

Vaccaro, M.P., Seif, Y., Mapelli, M. — A&A, 708, A171 (2026)

2026

The Science of the Einstein Telescope

Abac, A., et al. (Einstein Telescope collaboration, incl. Vaccaro, M.P.) — JCAP 2026(03), 081

2025

Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in AGN Disks: Tracing Massive Black Hole Growth Across Cosmic Time1st author

Vaccaro, M.P. — Proc. IAU Symp. 398, MODEST-25, Seoul (2025)

2025

Astrophysics: a modern discipline with a Newtonian origin1st author · invited

Vaccaro, M.P. — Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 383, 20230294 (2025)

2024

Impact of gas hardening on hierarchical black hole mergers in AGN disks1st author

Vaccaro, M.P., Mapelli, M., Périgois, C., et al. — A&A, 685, A51 (2024)

2024

The boring history of Gaia BH3 from isolated binary evolution

Iorio, G., Torniamenti, S., Mapelli, M., et al. (incl. Vaccaro, M.P.) — A&A, 690, A144 (2024)

2024

Hierarchical binary black hole mergers in globular clusters: mass function and evolution with redshift

Torniamenti, S., Mapelli, M., et al. (incl. Vaccaro, M.P.) — A&A, 688, A148 (2024)

2023

GW190521: a binary black hole merger inside an active galactic nucleus?

Morton, S.L., Rinaldi, S., Torres-Orjuela, A., Vaccaro, M.P., et al. — Phys. Rev. D, 108, 123039 (2023)

2023

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Catalog Approach for Dark Siren Gravitational-wave Cosmology

Gair, J.R., et al. (incl. Vaccaro, M.P.) — AJ, 166, 22 (2023)

Software

FastClusterAGN v1.0.0

Fast semi-analytic model for BBH population synthesis in AGN disks, including gas hardening, migration traps, and hierarchical mergers.

gitlab.com/mariapaola.vaccaro/fastcluster_agn

ARISE v0.1.0

Cosmic evolution of binary black hole merger rates and populations from AGN disks across redshift.

gitlab.com/mariapaola.vaccaro/arise

Talks & Presentations

Oct 2026

Many Faces of Stellar-Mass Black HolesContributed

Kathmandu, Nepal

Jun–Jul 2026

EAS Annual MeetingFlash talk + poster

SwissTech Convention Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland

Jun 2026

XVI Einstein Telescope SymposiumContributed

RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Jun 2025

MODEST-25 & IAU Symposium 398Contributed

Seoul National University, South Korea

Jun 2025

DyNaMIX WorkshopContributed

Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK

Aug 2024

New ideas on the origin of black hole mergersInvited

Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jul 2024

EAS Annual MeetingContributed

Congress Center, Padova, Italy

Apr–May 2024

Massive Black Holes in the First Billion YearsContributed

University College Cork, Ireland

Dec 2023

RESCEU-NBIA Workshop on GW SourcesContributed

University of Tokyo, Japan

Jul 2023

GwPopNext WorkshopFlash talk

University of Milano Bicocca, Italy

Jun 2023

Renaissance of Stellar Black-Hole DetectionsPoster · invited

Lorentz Center, Leiden, Netherlands

Apr 2023

Physics of Data WorkshopInvited

Venetian Institute of Science, Literature and Art, Venice, Italy

Outreach

STRUCTURES Cluster Blog

$Mixing fractions figure$

I wrote about the multiple formation channels of binary black hole mergers, with a focus on AGN disks and hierarchical assembly, for the Heidelberg STRUCTURES Excellence Cluster blog. Read the article →

Girls' Day "Physik hautnah!"

Co-organizer of the annual workshop A dance of stars and black holes for school-aged students as part of the national Girls' Day programme in Germany (2024, 2025, 2026).

Gist.Science

My paper on the formation of binary black holes in AGN disks was featured on Gist.Science, a platform making research accessible to a broad audience. Read the summary →

Scholé

Member of the organizing committee of Scholé, a nonprofit that brings physics, philosophy, and history to the general public through weekly seminars and an annual Summer School in Calabria, Italy.

Contact

✉ mariapaolavaccaro@gmail.com

📍 Office 161, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 3–5, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

ORCID 0000-0003-3776-9246