Francesco Ferraro

PhD student
University of Padova
National Biodiversity Future Center
Italy

About

I research at the interface of theoretical physics and ecology. These fields may seem to have little in common, yet a statistical physics toolkit can yield valuable insight into the behaviour of popular models in ecological theory when analyzed within a disordered system framework.

At present, I'm a PhD student in the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Physics at the University of Padova and at the National Biodiversity Future Center, under the supervision of Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan and Samir Suweis. During my PhD I visited Harvard University and the University of Chicago. Previously I was a researcher at École Normale Supérieure in Paris in the group of David Holcman. For some time I was also an engineer at Femtorays Technologies. I obtained my master's degree in theoretical physics jointly at SISSA International School for Advanced Studies and the University of Trento, and my bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Padova.

Links

CV - Mail - Scholar - Bluesky - Linkedin

Publications

• Generalized Lotka-Volterra systems with quenched random interactions and saturating functional response
  Marco Zenari, Francesco Ferraro, Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan, Samir Suweis
  arXiv (2025)
• Synchronization and chaos in complex ecological communities with delayed interactions
  Francesco Ferraro, Christian Grilletta, Emanuele Pigani, Samir Suweis, Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan
  arXiv (2025)
• Exact solution of dynamical mean-field theory for a linear system with annealed disorder
  Francesco Ferraro, Christian Grilletta, Amos Maritan, Samir Suweis, Sandro Azaele
  Journal of Statistical Mechanics - arXiv (2025)
• Generalized Lotka-Volterra systems with time correlated stochastic interactions
  Samir Suweis, Francesco Ferraro, Christian Grilletta, Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan
  Physical Review Letters - arXiv (2024)
• Optoelectronic device for the detection of substances dispersed in a fluid
  Carlo Guardiani, Lorenzo Pavesi, Francesco Ferraro, Niccolò Ardoino, Mattia Mancinelli
  US Patent (2023)
• Nonequilibrium relaxation of a trapped particle in a near-critical Gaussian field
  Davide Venturelli, Francesco Ferraro, Andrea Gambassi
  Physical Review E - arXiv (2022)
• Dynamical behaviour of Brownian particles coupled to a critical Gaussian field
  Master's thesis
  SISSA, University of Trento (2021)
• Linking number and Gauss's integral for piecewise linear curves
  Bachelor's thesis (Italian)
  University of Padova (2018)

Talks

• Time delays induce synchronization and chaos in complex ecological communities
  Biodiversity PhD Day, Padova, Italy
  slides (May 2025)
• Generating functional approach to dynamical systems with colored-noise interactions
  University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China
  slides (October 2024)
• How to quickly cool a glass? The Mpemba effect in rugged landscapes
  University of Padova, Italy
  slides (October 2024)
• Advances in the modeling of ecological communities: a theoretical physics approach
  Biodiversity PhD Day, Padova, Italy
  slides (June 2024)
• Extensions of Dynamical Mean-Field Theory and applications
  Stochastic Models and Experiments in Ecology and Biology, L'Aquila, Italy
  slides (May 2024)
• Dynamical Mean-Field Theory on random networks
  Journal club, University of Padova, Italy
  slides (May 2024)
• Advances in the modeling of ecological communities
  Harvard University, USA
  slides (March 2024)
• Generalized Lotka-Volterra equations with stochastic disorder
  Conference on Complex Systems, Napoli, Italy
  slides (October 2023)
• Dynamical behaviour of Brownian particles coupled to a critical field
  LIPh Winter Workshop, Asiago, Italy
  slides (February 2023)

Miscellanea

• Historical articles by Lotka and Volterra

(last updated in October 2025)