Welcome to my webpage!
My name is Foteini Oikonomou and I am an associate professor at the Astrophysics and Particle Physics Section of the NTNU Physics Department.
I study how extreme astrophysical environments accelerate particles to energies above 1020 eV and explore the origin of high-energy neutrinos using multimessenger observations of relativistic sources such as jetted active galactic nuclei.
Blazars—active galactic nuclei whose relativistic jets align with our line of sight—dominate the gamma-ray sky. We simulate their emission to understand jet formation, particle content and their role as cosmic-ray and neutrino factories.
Auger and Telescope Array data constrain the density, composition and maximum energies of the still-mysterious ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray accelerators.
We develop the science case for next-generation facilities such as GRAND, GCOS and NASA’s POEMMA.
We explore how black-hole-powered jets and winds accelerate the most extreme particles in the cosmos.
PhD candidate
UHECR & gamma-ray transients
PhD candidate
Blazar multimessenger emission
High-Energy Emission from Tidal Disruption Events
(previously BSc on: Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies)
Constraining the UHECR number density
(previously BSc on: Bethe-Heitler process in Astrophysical Environments)
Fulbright scholar (2024 - 2025)
Search for AGN neutrinos with SkyLLM
(now PhD at University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Master’s (2023 - 2024)
Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray source clustering
(now in Meteorological Service, Oslo)
MeV blazars
(now Science Education, NTNU)
Compact Symmetric Objects
(now PhD at University of Oslo)
UHECR and high-energy neutrino production rate models for various AGN subtypes
(now PhD at CP3, Catholic University of Louvain)
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays
Machine Learning
(now PhD in Quantum Computing at NTNU)
Modelling of FR0 galaxy spectral energy distributions
(now PhD at Uni. Wuppertal)
Our work on acceleration and escape of UHECRs was highlighted in Gemini.
Our rigidity-distribution study of UHECR sources was selected as an Editor’s Suggestion in Physical Review D.
Our multimessenger study of NGC 1068 led by Björn Eichmann was covered in Astrobites.
I grew up in Athens, Greece and studied Astrophysics at University College London.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team & partners
Høgskoleringen 5, Realfagbygget D5-129, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
foteini.oikonomou (at) ntnu.no