
FABIO BACCHINI

Since 2022, I am an Assistant Professor at the Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (CmPA) of KU Leuven and a Research Scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA/IASB), both in Belgium. In my research, I actively develop, code, and apply numerical techniques for magnetohydrodynamic and particle simulations of Newtonian and (special/general) relativistic plasmas in astrophysics. I make use of the most advanced supercomputers in the world to perform those simulations on hundreds of thousands of CPUs. Together with my research group, I aim at pushing the boundaries of the state of the art in theoretical astroplasma physics.
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Take a look at my publications and do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss my research!
RECENT WORKS
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Corti, C., Kuznetsova, M.M., Reiss, M.A., Yue, J., Karpen, J., Arge, C.N., Bacchini, F., Bard, C., Bruinsma, S., Caplan, R.M., Daldorff, L.K.S., Deka, P.J., DeVore, C.R., Elvidge, S., Ganushkina, N., Huba, J.D., Jackson, B.V., Jordanova, V., Linker, J.A., Liu, H., Luhmann, J.G., Markidis, S., Mayank, P., Merkin, V., Moens, N., Odstrcil, D., Omelchenko, Y.A., Palmroth, M., Poedts, S., Ridley, A.J., Shou, Y., Tenishev, V., Themens, D.R., Toth, G., Wang, W., Wilhelm, R.-P., Young, M.A., Cecconi, B., Chou, M.-Y., De Zeeuw, D., Delzanno, G.L., Didigu, C., El Alaoui, M., Fung, S., Green, J., Huang, Z., Jian, L.K., Landwer, L.J., Lesko, M., MacNeice, P., Masson, A., Mays, M.L., Mehta, P.M., Miesch, M.S., Palmerio, E., Petrenko, M., Provornikova, E., Rastaetter, L., Rusaitis, L., Sachdeva, N., Samara, E., Sur, D., Taktakishvili, A., Topper, J., Tsui, T., Verbeke, C., Wang, J., Wiegand, C., Wiltberger, M., Zheng, Y., Bisi, M.M., Georgoulis, M.K., Kodikara, T., Pulkkinen, T., Chartier, A., da Silva, D., Faturahman, A., Garcia-Sage, K., Kondrashov, D., Ledvina, V.E., Liu, W., Pandey, C., Resnick, E., Shi, C., Weigel, R.S., Whitman, K., Zakharenkova, I., Zhang, K. (2026), Advancing Heliophysics and Space Weather Modeling through Open Science, submitted to Space Weather. Preprint: 10.22541/essoar.176824639.92354528/v1
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Krah, P., Lin, Z., Wilhelm, R.-P., Bacchini, F., Nave, J.-C., Grandgirard, V., and Schneider, K., A Hybrid Semi-Lagrangian Flow Mapping Approach for Vlasov Systems: Combining Iterative and Compositional Flow Maps, submitted to SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing
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Wilhelm, R.-P., Bacchini, F. (2025), High fidelity simulations of the multi-species Vlasov-Maxwell system with the Numerical Flow Iteration, submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Preprint: arXiv:2511.23286
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Shukla, N., Karademir, G.S., Rezzolla, L., Bacchini, F., Truzzi, S., Mignone, A., Dolag, K., Tornatore, L., Riha, L., Taffoni, G. (2025), Accelerating Discoveries with Exascale Computing in Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Space Plasma Physics, submitted to Nature Astronomy
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Wilhelm, R.-P., Bacchini, F., Schöps, S., Torrilhon, M., Merkel, M., Kirchhart, M. (2025), Extending the Numerical Flow Iteration to the multi-species Vlasov-Maxwell system through Hamiltonian Splitting, submitted to JCP. Preprint: arXiv:2511.11322
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Lin, R., Bacchini, F., He, J., Pezzini, L., Peng, J. (2025), Generation of proton beams at switchback boundary-like rotational discontinuities in the solar wind, submitted to ApJ. Preprint: arXiv:2512.10406
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Reisinger, N., Bacchini, F. (2025), Comparing Simulated and Observed Particle Energy Distributions through Magnetic Reconnection in Earth's Magnetotail, accepted in A&A:L. Preprint: arXiv:2509.07621
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Mora, C., Bacchini, F., Keppens, R. (2026), Non-thermal electron acceleration in turbulent, post-flare coronal loops, A&A 706, A32. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202557693. Preprint: arXiv:2510.18742
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Pezzini, L., Bacchini, F., Zhukov, A.N., Arrò, G., López, R.A. (2026), Alpha Core-Beam Origin in Low-β Solar Wind Plasma: Insights from Fully Kinetic Simulation, ApJ 997, 158. DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae27a3. Preprint: arXiv:2510.24274
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Schoeffler, K.M., Bacchini, F., Kormann, K., Eichmann, B., Innocenti, M.E. (2025), Energetic spectra from semi-implicit particle-in-cell simulations of magnetic reconnection, Scientific Reports 15, 44226. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-32830-0; Preprint: arXiv:2509.11100
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Granier, C., Grošelj, D., Comisso, L., Bacchini, F. (2025), Driven Collisionless Reconnection of Force-free Flux Tubes: From Onset to Coalescence, ApJ 992 193. DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae0738; Preprint: arXiv:2506.06059
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Lapenta, G., Berchem, J., El-Alaoui, M., Walker, R., Aravindakshan, H., Reisinger, N., Pucci, F., Arrò, G., Bacchini, F. (2025), A Lagrangian-Frame Technique for Investigating Plasma Turbulence in Complex Underlying System-Scale Structures, Fundamental Plasma Physics 15, 100099. DOI: 10.1016/j.fpp.2025.100099
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Grehan, M.P., Ghosal, T., Beattie, J.R., Ripperda, B., Porth, O., Bacchini, F. (2025), Comparison of magnetic diffusion and reconnection in ideal and resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, ideal magnetodynamics and resistive force-free electrodynamics, PRD 112, 063046. DOI: 10.1103/8xf2-x2nq; Preprint: arXiv:2503.20013
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Shukla, N., Romeo, A., Caravita, C., Redenti, M., Vavrik, R., Riha, L., Mignone, A., Rossazza, M., Truzzi, S., Tornatore, L., Ragagnin, A., Castro, T., Karademir, G.S., and Dolag, K., Deka, P.J., Bacchini, F., Wilhelm, R.-P., Gregori, D., Boella, E. (2025), Towards Exascale Computing for Astrophysical Simulation Leveraging the Leonardo EuroHPC System, Procedia Computer Science 267, 112. DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2025.08.238; Preprint: arXiv:225484
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Bacchini, F., Werner, G.R., Granier, C., Vos, J. (2025), Three-dimensional Dynamics of Strongly Magnetized Ion-Electron Relativistic Reconnection, ApJL 991, L9. DOI: DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae0197; Preprint: arXiv:2507.12509
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​Gorbunov, E.A., Grošelj, D., Bacchini, F. (2025), Leaking Outside the Box: Kinetic Turbulence with Cosmic-Ray Escape, PRL 135, 065201. DOI: 10.1103/3777-z37m; Preprint: arXiv:2503.03820 [Note: PRL Editor’s Suggestion]
LATEST NEWS
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January 2026: A Global Seed Fund awarded to our research group in collaboration with CITA and the University of Toronto
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October 2025: Two FWO PhD Fellowships awarded to Clarissa Mora and Nadja Reisinger, starting their appointments in November 2025!​​
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September 2025: Coverage of our latest PRL in Phys.org: Leaking Outside the Box: Kinetic Turbulence with Cosmic-Ray Escape
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September 2025: Dr. Nicolas Moens joins CmPA, working on the EuroHPC-SPACE project
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July-August 2025: A successful 2025 edition of the international KU Leuven Summer of Science for highschoolers​, where we give an introductory course on astroplasmas
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June 2025: Approval of our EU-funded COST Action EXPAND!
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May 2025: Two FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowships awarded to Dr. Camille Granier and Dr. Jesse Vos!
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February 2025: An MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr. Camille Granier, starting her appointment in fall 2025!
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January 2025: Highlight of my public lecture at the Urania seminar series
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January 2025: Dr. Camille Granier joins CmPA, working on numerical simulations of high-energy plasmas around black holes
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December 2024: Dr. Paul Wilhelm joins CmPA, working on the EuroHPC-SPACE project
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October 2024: An FWO PhD Fellowship awarded to Silvia Ferro, starting her appointment in November 2024​​
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September 2024: Co-organization of the 2024 International Congress on Plasma Physics in Ghent
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August 2024: Coverage of our latest PRL in Phys.org: A first definitive demonstration of nonthermal particle acceleration in magnetorotational turbulence
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July 2024:​ Our ApJS paper highlighted in AAS NOVA: Tailor-Made Turbulence for All Your Modeling Needs
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July 2024: A successful 2024 edition of the international KU Leuven Summer of Science for highschoolers​, where we give an introductory course on astroplasmas
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June 2024: A PostDoctoral Mandate Fellowship awarded to Dr. Jesse Vos, joining our group in November 2024!
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June 2024: 1.7 million euro awarded to our KU Leuven C1 project UnderRadioSun​!​
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May 2024: An FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr. Nicolas Wijsen, joining our group in October 2024​​
