Lines of research: Formation & Evolution of Galaxies (FYEG)

Formation & Evolution of Galaxies (FYEG)

Galaxies are formed progressively through a complex combination of gas accretion, star formation and merger processes with other galaxies. The aim of the Galaxy Formation & Evolution research line is to unveil the physical mechanisms responsible for the most significant transformations in these objects. The research team that makes up the research line is strongly involved in the development of forefront instrumentation (EMIR, FRIDA, GTCAO, HARMONI, OSIRIS, WEAVE) and has an important role in the scientific exploitation and  development of international projects (SDSS, EUCLID, LSST) for the study of the formation and evolution of galaxies.

 
The line stands out for studies on the three-dimensional structure of the Milky Way (including its system of globular clusters and satellite galaxies), the characterisation of stellar populations and dynamics of nearby galaxies, the cycle of activity of supermassive black holes at the centres of  galaxies, the conditions of the interstellar medium in the first galaxies, and the role of dark matter in their evolution. Besides, thanks to the recently created simulations group, we also aim to relate observations with theory by means of numerical models over cosmological volumes and thus obtain predictions for future observations.
  • Publication
    Hidden depths in the local Universe: The Stellar Stream Legacy Survey
    Context. Mergers and tidal interactions between massive galaxies and their dwarf satellites are a fundamental prediction of the Lambda-cold dark matter...
  • Publication
    High Dense Gas Fraction in a Gas-rich Star-forming Galaxy at z = 1.2
    We report observations of dense molecular gas in the star-forming galaxy EGS 13004291 (z = 1.197) using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer. We tentatively...
  • Publication
    High Dense Gas Fraction in Intensely Star-forming Dusty Galaxies
    We present ALMA J=3{--}2 and VLA J=1{--}0 observations of the dense molecular gas tracers HCN, HCO+, and HNC in two lensed, high-redshift starbursts selected...
  • Publication
    High Gas Fraction in a CO-detected Main-sequence Galaxy at z > 3
    We report NOrthern Extended Millimetre Array (NOEMA) observations of warm molecular gas traced by CO(5 ‑ 4) in a z∼ 3.2 gas-rich main-sequence (MS) galaxy...
  • Publication
    High redshift galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey . I. Selection method and number counts based on redshift PDFs
    Context. Most observational results on the high redshift restframe UV-bright galaxies are based on samples pinpointed using the so-called dropout technique or...
  • Publication
    High redshift galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey. II. Strengthening the evidence of bright-end excess in UV luminosity functions at 2.5 ≤ z≤ 4.5 by PDF analysis
    Context. Knowing the exact shape of the ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function (LF) of high-redshift galaxies is important to understand the star formation...
  • Publication
    High-resolution Hα imaging of the northern Galactic plane and the IGAPS image database
    The INT Galactic Plane Survey (IGAPS) is the merger of the optical photometric surveys IPHAS and UVEX based on data from the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT)...
  • Publication
    High-spatial resolution SED of NGC 1068 from near-IR to radio. Disentangling the thermal and non-thermal contributions
    We investigate the idea that a sizable fraction of the interferometrically unresolved infrared emission of the nucleus of NGC 1068 might originate from...
  • Publication
    High-z Sudoku: a diagnostic tool for identifying robust (sub)mm redshifts
    We present methods to (i) graphically identify robust redshifts using emission lines in the (sub)mm regime, (ii) evaluate the capabilities of different (sub)mm...