Francesco Ferraro

Postdoc
University of Padova
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 postdoc in the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Physics at the University of Padova.

Links

Bluesky - CV - Linkedin - Mail - Scholar

Publications

• Synchronization and chaos in complex ecological communities with delayed interactions
  Francesco Ferraro, Christian Grilletta, Emanuele Pigani, Samir Suweis, Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan
  arXiv (2025)
• Generalized Lotka-Volterra systems with quenched random interactions and saturating nonlinear response
  Marco Zenari, Francesco Ferraro, Sandro Azaele, Amos Maritan, Samir Suweis
  Physical Review E - arXiv (2026)
• 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 February 2026)