Seppo Mattila - UTU Research Portal

Seppo Mattila

Professor, Tuorla Observatory (Department of Physics and Astronomy)

Department of Physics and Astronomy

sepmat@utu.fi

+358 29 450 4518

+358 50 412 5859

Vesilinnantie 5

Turku

ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7497-2994

Biography

I received my PhD degree from Imperial College, Univ. of London in 2002. After this I held postdoctoral positions at Stockholm University, Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University) and Queen's University Belfast. I moved back to Finland in 2007 with an Academy of Finland Research Fellowship to work at Tuorla Observatory at University of Turku. Between 2012 and 2015 I worked at the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA) as a University Researcher. I was appointed as a Professor of Astronomy at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University of Turku in 2015. After 2010 I have made extended research visits to Stockholm University (18 months) and to University of Cambridge, UK (10 months). I have been the Finnish delegate in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council since 2020 and in the International Scientific Committee (CCI) of the Roque de los Muchachos and Teide observatories since 2019. Since 2022 I have also served as the President of the CCI. I am currently also a member of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) Council and the board of FINCA and a vice member of the board of the Univ. of Turku Faculty of Science. In 2022 I was invited as a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Research

My main research interests focus on observational work on extragalactic astrophysical transients, including supernovae, tidal disruption events, and kilonovae. For more details on my research and information on the research group please see https://sites.utu.fi/sne/. For a complete list of my refereed journal papers see ADS (in chronological order) or ADS (ordered by number of citations).

Selected recent papers:

Pasham et al. (incl. Mattila) 2022, Nature Astronomy: The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole

Reynolds, Mattila et al. 2022, A&A: Energetic nuclear transients in luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies

Perez-Torres, Mattila et al. 2021, The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review: Star formation and nuclear activity in luminous infrared galaxies: An infrared through radio review

Kool, Reynolds, Mattila et al. 2020, MNRAS: AT2017gbl: a dust obscured TDE candidate in a luminous infrared galaxy

Ackley et al. (incl. Mattila) 2020, A&A: Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star-black hole binary merger S190814bv

Reynolds, Fraser, Mattila et al. 2020, MNRAS: SN 2016gsd: An unusually luminous and linear type II supernova with high velocities

Mattila et al. 2018, Science: A dust-enshrouded tidal disruption event with a resolved radio jet in a galaxy merger

Smartt et al. (incl. Mattila) 2017, Nature: A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source

Abbott et al. (imcl. Mattila) 2017, ApJ: Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

Kankare, Kotak, Mattila et al. 2017, Nature Astronomy: A population of highly energetic transient events in the centres of active galaxies

Kangas, Blagorodnova, Mattila et al. 2017, MNRAS: Gaia 16apd - a link between fast- and slowly-declining superluminous supernovae

Kangas, Portinari, Mattila et al. 2017, A&A: Core-collapse supernova progenitor constraints using the spatial distribution of massive stars in local galaxies

Teaching

I have taught several courses in astronomy, astrophysics and signal and image processing at the Univ. of Turku. In particular, I initiated two new observational astronomy courses currently offered at national level for students from Turku, Helsinki, Oulu and the Aalto University. These courses offer hands-on experience on the use of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) remotely from Univ. of Turku (Observational Techniques Using the Nordic Optical Telescope) and on the science exploitation of data from the European Southern Observatory (ESO; Data Processing Techniques for Astronomy with ESO Instrumentation). Currently I teach also the BSc course on observational astronomy and the MSc courses Spectroscopic Diagnostics in Astrophysics and Signal and Image Processing. In my teaching I always try to make use of examples from the latest research in order to offer a motivating learning experience for the students.

Publications

1 of 15

A long life of excess: The interacting transient SN 2017hcc (2023)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Moran S, Fraser M, Kotak R, Pastorello A, Benetti S, Brennan SJ, Gutierrez CP, Kankare E, Kuncarayakti H, Mattila S, Reynolds TM, Anderson JP, Brown PJ, Campana S, Chambers KC, Chen TW, Della Valle M, Dennefeld M, Elias-Rosa N, Galbany L, Galindo-Guil FJ, Gromadzki M, Hiramatsu D, Inserra C, Leloudas G, Muller-Bravo TE, Nicholl M, Reguitti A, Shahbandeh M, Smartt SJ, Tartaglia L, Young DR
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
Self-supervised clustering on image-subtracted data with deep-embedded self-organizing map (2023)
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mong Y-L, Ackley K, Killestein T L, Galloway D K, Vassallo C, Dyer M, Cutter R, Brown M J I, Lyman J, Ulaczyk K, Steeghs D, Dhillon V, O’Brien P, Ramsay G, Noysena K, Kotak R, Breton R, Nuttall L, Pallé E, Pollacco D, Thrane E, Awiphan S, Burhanudin U, Chote P, Chrimes A, Daw E, Duffy C, Eyles-Ferris R, Gompertz B P, Heikkilä T, Irawati P, Kennedy M, Levan A, Littlefair S, Makrygianni L, Marsh T, Mata Sánchez D, Mattila S, Maund J R, McCormac J, Mkrtichian D, Mullaney J, Rol E, Sawangwit U, Stanway E, Starling R, Strøm P, Tooke S, Wiersema K
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
Diversity of Dust Properties in External Galaxies Confirmed by Polarization Signals from Type II Supernovae (2022)
- Astrophysical Journal Letters
Nagao Takashi, Patat Ferdinando, Maeda Keiichi, Baade Dietrich, Mattila Seppo, Taubenberger Stefan, Kotak Rubina, Cikota Aleksandar, Kuncarayakti Hanindyo, Bulla Mattia, Maund Justyn
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
Dynamic scheduling for SOXS instrument: environment, algorithms and development (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy VII Asquini L, Landoni M, Young D, Marty L, Smartt S, Campana S, Claudi R, Schipani P, Aliverti M, Battaini F, Baruffolo A, Ben Ami S, Bianco A, Biondi F, Capasso G, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Munari M, Pignata G, Rubin A, Scuderi S, Vitali F, Achren J, Duran JAA, Arcavi I, Brucalassi A, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Colapietro M, Della Valle M, De Pascale M, Di Benedetto R, D'Orse S, Gal-Yam A, Genoni M, Hernandez M, Kotilainen J, Li Causi G, Mattila S, Pariani G, Rappaport M, Radhakrishnan K, Ricci D, Riva M, Salasnich B, Sanchez RZ, Stritzinger M, Ventura H
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
Energetic nuclear transients in luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (2022)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Reynolds TM, Mattila S, Efstathiou A, Kankare E, Kool E, Ryder S, Pena-Monino L, Perez-Torres MA
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
Euclid: Searching for pair-instability supernovae with the Deep Survey (2022)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Moriya T. J., Inserra C., Tanaka M., Cappellaro E., Della Valle M., Hook I., Kotak R., Longo G., Mannucci F., Mattila S., Tao C., Altieri B., Amara A., Auricchio N., Bonino D., Branchini E., Brescia M., Brinchmann J., Camera S., Capobianco V., Carbone C., Carretero J., Castellano M., Cavuoti S., Cimatti A., Cledassou R., Congedo G., Conselice C. J., Conversi L., Copin Y., Corcione L., Courbin F., Cropper M., Da Silva A., Degaudenzi H., Douspis M., Dubath F., Duncan C. A. J., Dupac X., Dusini S., Ealet A., Farrens S., Ferriol S., Frailis M., Franceschi E., Fumana M., Garilli B., Gillard W., Gillis B., Giocoli C., Grazian A., Grupp F., Haugan S. V. H., Holmes W., Hormuth F., Hornstrup A., Jahnke K., Kermiche S., Kiessling A., Kilbinger M., Kitching T., Kurki-Suonio H., Ligori S., Lilje P. B., Lloro I., Maiorano E., Mansutti O., Marggraf O., Markovic K., Marulli F., Massey R., McCracken H. J., Melchior M., Meneghetti M., Meylan G., Moresco M., Moscardini L., Munari E., Niemi S. M., Padilla C., Paltani S., Pasian F., Pedersen K., Pettorino V., Poncet M., Popa L., Raison F., Rhodes J., Riccio G., Rossetti E., Saglia R., Sartoris B., Schneider P., Secroun A., Seidel G., Sirignano C., Sirri G., Stanco L., Tallada-Crespí P., Taylor A. N., Tereno I., Toledo-Moreo R., Torradeflot F., Wang Y., Zamorani G., Zoubian J., Andreon S., Scottez V., Morris P. W.
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
From Assembly to the Complete Integration and Verification of the SOXS Common Path (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Santhakumari KKR, Battaini F, Claudi R, Slemer A, Biondi F, Munari M, Sanchez RZ, Aliverti M, Oggioni L, Colapietro M, Ricci D, Lessio L, Dima M, Marafatto L, Farinato J, Campana S, Schipani P, D'Orsi S, Salasnich B, Baruffolo A, Ben-Amif S, Capasso G, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Landoni M, Pignata G, Rubin A, Scuderi S, Vitali F, Young D, Achren J, Araiza-Duran JA, Arcavi I, Brucalassi A, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Della Valle M, Di Benedetto R, Gal-Yam A, Genoni M, Hernandez M, Kotilainen J, Causi GL, Marty L, Mattila S, Rappaport M, Riva M, Smartt S, Stritzingerv M, Venturae H
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
Late-time H/He-poor Circumstellar Interaction in the Type Ic Supernova SN 2021ocs: An Exposed Oxygen-Magnesium Layer and Extreme Stripping of the Progenitor (2022)
- Astrophysical Journal Letters
Kuncarayakti H., Maeda K., Dessart L., Nagao T, Fulton M, Gutiérrez C, Huber M.E., Young D.R., Kotak R, Mattila S., Anderson J.P., Ferrari L., Folatelli G., Gao H., Magnier E., Smith K.W., Srivastav S.
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
Progress on the simulation tools for the SOXS spectrograph: Exposure time calculator and End-to-End simulator (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy X Genoni M, Scaudo A, Li Causi G, Cabona L, Landoni M, Campana S, Schipani P, Claudi R, Aliverti M, Baruffolo A, Ben-Ami S, Biondi F, Capasso G, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzoa P, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Munari M, Pignata G, Rubin A, Scuderi S, Vitali F, Young D, Achren J, Araiza-Duran JA, Arcavir I, Battaini F, Brucalassi A, Bruche R, Cappellaro E, Colapietro M, Della Valle M, De Pascale M, Di Benedetto R, D'Orsi S, Gal-Yam A, Hernandez M, Kotilainen J, Marty L, Mattila S, Rappaport M, Ricci D, Riva M, Salasnich B, Smartt S, Sanchez RZ, Stritzinger M, Ventura H
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
Progress on the SOXS NIR Spectrograph AIT (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Vitali F, Aliverti M, D'Alessio F, Genoni M, Scuderi S, Munari M, Oggioni L, Scaudo A, Pariani G, Bellassai G, Di Benedetto R, Martinetti E, Micciche A, Nicotra G, Occhipinti G, Campana S, Schipani P, Claudi R, Capasso G, Ricci D, Riva M, Sanchez RZ, Araiza-Duraprimen JA, Arcavi I, Baruffolo A, Battaini F, Ben-Ami S, Brucalassi A, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Colapietro M, Cosentino R, D'Avanzo P, D'Orsi S, Della Valle M, Gal-Yam A, Diaz MH, Hershko O, Kotilainen J, Kuncarayakti H, Landoni M, Causi GL, Marty L, Mattila S, Ventura HP, Pignata G, Radhakrishnan K, Rappaport M, Rubin A, Salasnich B, Smartt S, Stritzinger M, Young D
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
Progress on the SOXS transients chaser for the ESO-NTT (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Schipani P, Campana S, Claudi R, Aliverti M, Baruffolo A, Ben-Ami S, Capasso G, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Landoni M, Munari M, Pignata G, Radhakrishnan K, Rubino A, Scuderi S, Vitali F, Young D, Achren J, Araiza-Duran JA, Arcavi I, Battaini F, Brucalassi A, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Colapietro M, Della Valle M, Di Benedetto R, D'Orsi S, Gal-Yam A, Genoni M, Hernandez M, Kotilainen J, Causi GL, Lessio L, Marty L, Mattila S, Rappaport M, Ricci D, Riva M, Salasnich B, Savarese S, Smartt S, Sanchez RZ, Stritzinger M, Umbriaco G, Ventura H, Pasquini L, Scholler M, Kaufl HU, Accardo M, Mehrgan L, Pompei E, Saviane I
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
SN 2020wnt: a slow-evolving carbon-rich superluminous supernova with no O II lines and a bumpy light curve (2022)
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gutierrez CP, Pastorello A, Bersten M, Benetti S, Orellana M, Fiore A, Karamehmetoglu E, Kravtsov T, Reguitti A, Reynolds TM, Valerin G, Mazzali P, Sullivan M, Cai YZ, Elias-Rosa N, Fraser M, Hsiao EY, Kankare E, Kotak R, Kuncarayakti H, Li Z, Mattila S, Mo J, Moran S, Ochner P, Shahbandeh M, Tomasella L, Wang X, Yan S, Zhang J, Zhang T, Stritzinger MD
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
SOXS AIT: a paradigm for system engineering of a medium class telescope instrument (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Claudi R, Radhakrishnan K, Battaini F, Campana S, Schipani P, Aliverti M, Araiza-Duran JA, Baruffolo A, Ben-Ami S, Brucalassi A, Capasso G, Colapietro M, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Di Benedetto R, D'Orsi S, Genoni M, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Landoni M, Munari M, Pignata G, Rappaport M, Ricci D, Rubin A, Scuderi S, Smartt S, Vitali F, Young D, Sanchez RZ, Achren J, Arcavi I, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Della Valle M, Gal-Yam A, Li Causi G, Marafatto L, Matila S, Riva M, Salasnich B, Stritzinger M
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
SOXS mechanical integration and verification in Italy (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Aliverti M, Battaini F, Radhakrishnan K, Genoni M, Pariani G, Oggioni L, Hershko O, Colapietro M, D'Orsi S, Brucalassi A, Pignata G, Kuncarayakti H, Campana S, Claudi R, Schipani P, Achren J, Duran JAA, Arcavi I, Baruffolo A, Ben Ami S, Bruch R, Capasso G, Cappellaro E, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Della Valle M, De Pascale M, Di Benedetto R, Yam AG, Hernandez M, Kotilainen J, Landoni M, Li Causi G, Mattila S, Munari M, Rappaport M, Redaelli KEMA, Ricci D, Riva M, Rubin A, Salasnich B, Smartt S, Sanchez RZ, Scuderi S, Stritzinger M, Ventura E, Vitali F, Young D
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
Spectroscopic classification of SN 2022gnp by NUTS2 (NOT Un-biased Transient Survey-2) #15320 (2022) Astronomer's Telegram Williams S, Kankare E, Mattila S, Matilainen K, Reynolds T; on behalf of the NUTS2 collaboration
(Article in a professional research book (D2))
Status of the PSF Reconstruction Work Package for MICADO@ELT (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Adaptive Optics Systems VIII Grazian A, Simioni M, Arcidiacono C, Achren J, Clenet Y, Cao YX, Davies R, Gullieuszik M, Helin T, Jodlbauer D, Kuncarayakti H, Le Louarn M, Mattila S, Pedichini F, Piazzesi R, Portaluri E, Kleijn GV, Vulcani B, Wagner R, Williams S, Zanella A, Zeilinger WW
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))
The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole (2022)
- Nature Astronomy
Pasham D.R., Lucchini M., Laskar T., Gompertz B.P., Srivastav S., Nicholl M., Smartt S.J., Miller-Jones J.C.A., Alexander K.D., Fender R., Smith G.P., Fulton M., Dewangan G., Gendreau K., Coughlin E.R., Rhodes L., Horesh A., van Velzen S., Sfaradi I., Guolo M., Castro Segura N., Aamer A., Anderson J.P., Arcavi I., Brennan S.J., Chambers K., Charalampopoulos P., Chen T.W., Clocchiatti A., de Boer T., Dennefeld M., Ferrara E., Galbany L., Gao H., Gillanders J.H., Goodwin A., Gromadzki M., Huber M., Jonker P.G., Joshi M., Kara E., Killestein T.L., Kosec P., Kocevski D., Leloudas G., Lin C.C., Margutti R., Mattila S., Moore T., Müller-Bravo T., Ngeow C.C., Oates S., Onori F., Pan Y.C., Perez-Torres M., Rani P., Remillard R., Ridley E.J., Schulze S., Sheng X., Shingles L., Smith K.W., Steiner J.F., Wainscoat R., Wevers T., Yang S.
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
The First Data Release of CNIa0.02-A Complete Nearby (Redshift <0.02) Sample of Type Ia Supernova Light Curves* (2022)
- Astrophysical Journal Supplement
Chen P, Dong SB, Kochanek CS, Stanek KZ, Post RS, Stritzinger MD, Prieto JL, Filippenko AV, Kollmeier JA, Elias-Rosa N, Katz B, Tomasella L, Bose S, Ashall C, Benetti S, Bersier D, Brimacombe J, Brink TG, Brown P, Buckley DAH, Cappellaro E, Christie GW, Fraser M, Gromadzki M, Holoien TWS, Hu SM, Kankare E, Koff R, Lundqvist P, Mattila S, Milne PA, Morrell N, Munoz JA, Mutel R, Natusch T, Nicolas J, Pastorello A, Prentice S, Roth T, Shappee BJ, Stone G, Thompson TA, Villanueva S, Zheng WK
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO): Prototype performance and prospects for transient science (2022)
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Steeghs D., Galloway D.K., Ackley K., Dyer M.J., Lyman J., Ulaczyk K., Cutter R., Mong Y.L., Dhillon V., O'Brien P., Ramsay G., Poshyachinda S., Kotak Rubina., Nuttall L.K., Pallé E., Breton R.P., Pollacco D., Thrane E., Aukkaravittayapun S., Awiphan S., Burhanudin U., Chote P., Chrimes A., Daw E., Duffy C., Eyles-Ferris R., Gompertz B., Heikkilä Teppo, Irawati P., Kennedy M.R., Killestein T., Kuncarayakti Hanindyo, Levan A.J., Littlefair S., Makrygianni L., Marsh T., Mata-Sanchez D., Mattila Seppo, Maund J., McCormac J., Mkrtichian D., Mullaney J., Noysena K., Patel M., Rol E., Sawangwit U., Stanway E.R., Starling R., Strøm P., Tooke S., West R., White D.J., Wiersema K.
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))
The integration and alignment phase for the Acquisition and Guiding System of SOXS (2022)
- Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Proceedings of SPIE: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX Araiza-Duran JA, Pignata G, Brucalassi A, Battaini F, Radhakrishnan K, Claudi R, Campana S, Schipani P, Aliverti M, Baruffolo A, Ben-Ami S, Capasso G, Cosentino R, D'Alessio F, D'Avanzo P, Hershko O, Kuncarayakti H, Landoni M, Munari M, Rubin A, Scuderi S, Vitali F, Young D, Achren J, Arcavi I, Bruch R, Cappellaro E, Colapietro M, Della Valle M, Di Benedetto R, D'Orsi S, Gal-Yam A, Genoni M, Diaz MH, Kotilainen J, Li Causi G, Marty L, Mattila S, Rappaport M, Ricci D, Riva M, Salasnich B, Smartt S, Sanchez RZ, Stritzinger M, Ventura HP
(Refereed article in conference proceedings (A4))