Start year
2006
Organizational Unit
Organizing institutions
Grants related:
General
Description
Welcome to the Traces of Galaxy Formation research group website.
We are a large, diverse, and very active research group aiming to provide a comprehensive picture for the formation of galaxies in the Universe. Rooted in detailed stellar population analysis, we are constantly exploring and developing new tools and ideas to understand how galaxies came to be what we now observe.
A complex star formation history, as the one expected to describe galaxy evolution, needs a multidisciplinary approach to be fully understood. Our group at the IAC consists of experienced researchers in cosmological simulations, dynamical studies, stellar populations and morphological properties of galaxies up to high redshift. We combine different approaches (e.g. observations and theory, secular and cosmological evolution studies) to obtain a complete view of the dominant mechanisms driving the evolution of galaxies.
Within this general framework, we are currently exploring three main areas of research:
- Stellar population synthesis models
- Development of new stellar population synthesis models
- Stellar population analysis tools
- Universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF)
- Cosmic evolution of galaxies
- Massive galaxy evolution
- Stellar populations in different environments
- Low surface brightness science
- Machine learning and cosmological simulations
- Evolutionary processes in nearby galaxies
- The role of black holes in the evolution of galaxies
- Surveys of nearby galaxies
- Stellar kinematics and dynamical models
If you want to get in contact or work with us, please send an email to the head of the group (Ignacio Martín-Navarro ignacio.martin [at] iac.es (ignacio[dot]martin[at]iac[dot]es)).
Members
Principal investigator
Ignacio
Martín Navarro
Project staff
Ignacio
Trujillo Cabrera
Alexandre
Vazdekis Vazdekis
Ignacio Alfonso
Ferreras Páez
Jesús
Falcón Barroso
Marc
Huertas-Portocarrero Company
Adriana de
Lorenzo-Cáceres Rodríguez
Anna
Ferré Mateu
Mireia
Montes Quiles
Regina
Sarmiento
Iveth Adaena
Gaspar Gorostieta
Eirini
Angeloudi
Giulia
Golini
Laura Elizabeth
Scholz Díaz
Pablo
Rodríguez Beltrán
Results
Here you can find some of our most recent highlights:
- Local variations of the stellar velocity ellipsoid - II. The effect of the bar in the inner regions of Auriga galaxies. Walo et al. 2022, MNRAS (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022MNRAS.513.4587W)
- Anisotropic satellite galaxy quenching modulated by black hole activity. Martín-Navarro et al. 2021, Nature (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021Natur.594..187M)
- Evaluating hydrodynamical simulations with green valley galaxies. Angthopo et al. 2021, MNRAS (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021MNRAS.502.3685A)
- Sub one per cent mass fractions of young stars in red massive galaxies. Salvador-Rusiñol et al. 2020, Nature Astronomy (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020NatAs...4..252S)
- Detection of young stellar populations in apparently quenched low-mass galaxies using red spectral line indices. de Lorenzo-Cáceres et al. 2020, MNRAS (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MNRAS.498.1002D)
Scientific activity
Related publications
-
The fraction of binary systems in the core of five Galactic open clustersWe used deep wide-field photometric observations to derive the fraction of binary systems in a sample of five high-latitude Galactic open clusters. By analysing the colour distribution of main-sequence stars, we derived the minimum fraction of binary systems required to reproduce the observed colour-magnitude diagram morphologies. We found that allSollima, A. et al.
Advertised on:
12010 -
The FR II Broad-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy: PKS J1037-2705In this article we demonstrate that PKS J1037-2705 has a weak accretion flow luminosity, well below the Seyfert 1/QSO dividing line, weak broad emission lines (BELs), and moderately powerful FR II extended radio emission. It is one of the few documented examples of a broad-line object in which the time-averaged jet kinetic luminosity, Q, is largerPunsly, Brian et al.
Advertised on:
112008 -
Structure, kinematics and chemical enrichment patterns after major gas-rich disc-disc mergersWe used an N-body smoothed particle hydrodynamics algorithm, with a detailed treatment of star formation, supernovae feedback and chemical enrichment, to perform eight simulations of mergers between gas-rich disc galaxies. We vary the mass ratio of the progenitors, their rotation axes and their orbital parameters and analyse the kinematicRichard, Simon et al.
Advertised on:
32010 -
Stellar populations in the centres of brightest cluster galaxiesThis paper is part of a series devoted to the study of the stellar populations in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), aimed at setting constraints on the formation and evolution of these objects. We have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio, long-slit spectra of 49 BCGs in the nearby Universe. Here, we derive single stellar population (SSP)Loubser, S. I. et al.
Advertised on:
92009 -
Kinematic Properties as Probes of the Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo ClusterWe present new observational results on the kinematical, morphological, and stellar population properties of a sample of 21 dEs located both in the Virgo Cluster and in the field, which show that 52% of the dEs (1) are rotationally supported, (2) exhibit structural signs of typical rotating systems such as disks, bars, or spiral arms, (3) areToloba, E. et al.
Advertised on:
122009 -
Globular clusters in modified Newtonian dynamics: velocity dispersion profiles from self-consistent modelsWe test the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) theory with the velocity dispersion profiles of Galactic globular clusters populating the outermost region of the Milky Way halo, where the Galactic acceleration is lower than the characteristic MOND acceleration a0. For this purpose, we constructed self-consistent, spherical models of stellar systemsSollima, A. et al.
Advertised on:
12010 -
Evidence for the Disky Origin of Luminous Virgo Dwarf Ellipticals from the Kinematics of Their Globular Cluster SystemsWe report evidence for dynamically significant rotation in the globular cluster systems of two luminous Virgo dwarf ellipticals, VCC1261 and VCC1528. Including previous results for VCC1087, the globular cluster systems of all three Virgo dwarf ellipticals studied in detail to date exhibit v rot/σlos>1. Taking the rotation seen in the globularBeasley, Michael A. et al.
Advertised on:
62009 -
An HST/WFPC2 survey of bright young clusters in M 31. IV. Age and mass estimatesAims: We present the main results of an imaging survey of possible young massive clusters (YMC) in M 31 performed with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with the aim of estimating their age and their mass. We obtained shallow (to B ˜ 25) photometry of individual stars in 19 clusters (of the 20Perina, S. et al.
Advertised on:
22010 -
The population of variable stars in M54 (NGC6715)We present new B, V and I CCD time-series photometry for 177 variable stars in a 13 × 13arcmin2 field centred on the globular cluster M54 (lying at the centre of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy), 94 of which are newly identified variables. The total sample is composed of two anomalous Cepheids, 144 RR Lyrae stars (108 RR0 and 36 RR1), threeSollima, A. et al.
Advertised on:
72010 -
Superdense Massive Galaxies in the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS)We find a significant number of massive and compact galaxies in clusters from the ESO Distant Clusters Survey (EDisCS) at 0.4 z 1. They have similar stellar masses, ages, sizes, and axial ratios to local z ~ 0.04 compact galaxies in WIde field Nearby Galaxy clusters Survey (WINGS) clusters, and to z = 1.4-2 massive and passive galaxies found inValentinuzzi, T. et al.
Advertised on:
92010 -
Stellar population and kinematics of NGC 404Context. NGC 404 is a nearly face-on, nearby low-luminosity lenticular galaxy. Probing its characteristics provides a wealth of information on the details of the possible evolution processes of dS0 galaxies, which may not be possible in other, more distant objects. Aims: We study the internal kinematics and the spatial distribution of the starBouchard, A. et al.
Advertised on:
42010 -
Star formation history of KDG61 and KDG64 from spectroscopy and colour-magnitude diagramsA study of two dE/dSph members of the nearby M81 group of galaxies, KDG61 and UGC5442 = KDG64, has been made. Direct Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) images and integrated-light spectra of 6-m telescope of Special Astrophysical Observatory of Russian Academy of Sciences have been used for quantitative star formationMakarova, Lidia et al.
Advertised on:
82010 -
GECO: Galaxy Evolution COde - A new semi-analytical model of galaxy formationAims: We present a new semi-analytical model of galaxy formation, GECO (Galaxy Evolution COde), designed to improve our understanding of when and how the processes of both star formation and galaxy assembly took place, by comparison with a wide variety of data about galaxy mass-function evolution and star-formation histories. Methods: Our model isRicciardelli, E. et al.
Advertised on:
72010 -
A multi-wavelength analysis of M 81: insight on the nature of Arp's loopContext. The optical ring-like structure detected by Arp (1965) around M 81 (commonly referenced as “Arp's loop”) represents one of the most spectacular features observed in nearby galaxies. Arp's loop is commonly interpreted as a tail resulting from the tidal interaction between M 81 and M 82. However, since its discovery the nature of thisSollima, A. et al.
Advertised on:
62010 -
Tracking the impact of environment on the galaxy stellar mass function up to z ~ 1 in the 10 k zCOSMOS sampleWe study the impact of the environment on the evolution of galaxies in the zCOSMOS 10 k sample in the redshift range 0.1 ≤ z ≤ 1.0 over an area of ~1.5 deg2. The considered sample of secure spectroscopic redshifts contains about 8500 galaxies, with their stellar masses estimated by SED fitting of the multiwavelength optical to near-infrared (NIR)Bolzonella, M. et al.
Advertised on:
122010 -
The atmospheric parameters and spectral interpolator for the MILES starsContext. Empirical libraries of stellar spectra are used to classify stars and synthetize stellar populations. MILES is a medium spectral-resolution library in the optical domain covering a wide range of temperatures, surface gravities and metallicities. Aims: We redetermine the atmospheric parameters of these stars in order to improve thePrugniel, Ph. et al.
Advertised on:
72011 -
Kinematics and stellar population of NGC 4486AContext. NGC 4486A is a low-luminosity elliptical galaxy harbouring an edge-on nuclear disk of stars and dust. It is known to host a super-massive black hole. Aims: We study its large-scale kinematics and stellar population along the major axis to investigate the link between the nuclear and global properties. Methods: We use long-slit mediumPrugniel, Ph. et al.
Advertised on:
42011 -
Discovery of Tidal Tails Around the Distant Globular Cluster Palomar 14We report the detection of a pair of degree-long tidal tails associated with the globular cluster Palomar 14, using images obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We reveal a power-law departure from a King profile at large distances to the cluster center. The density map constructed with the optimal matched filter technique shows a nearlySollima, A. et al.
Advertised on:
12011 -
Coudé-feed stellar spectral library - atmospheric parametersContext. Empirical libraries of stellar spectra play an important role in different fields. For example, they are used as reference for the automatic determination of atmospheric parameters, or for building synthetic stellar populations to study galaxies. The CFLIB (Coudé-feed library, Indo-US) database is at present one of the most completeWu, Yue et al.
Advertised on:
12011 -
The globular cluster kinematics and galaxy dark matter content of NGC 3923This paper presents further results from our spectroscopic study of the globular cluster (GC) system of the group elliptical NGC 3923. From observations made with the GMOS instrument on the Gemini South Telescope, an additional 50 GC and ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) candidates have been spectroscopically confirmed as members of the NGC 3923 systemNorris, Mark A. et al.
Advertised on:
42012
