Formation and Evolution of Galaxies: Observations in Infrared and other Wavelengths

    General
    Description

    This IAC research group carries out several extragalactic projects in different spectral ranges, using space as well as ground-based telescopes, to study the cosmological evolution of galaxies and the origin of nuclear activity in active galaxies. The group is a member of the international consortium which built the SPIRE instrument for the Herschel Space Observatory and of the European consortium which is developing the SAFARI instrument for the infrared space telescope SPICA of the space agencies ESA and JAXA.

    The main projects in 2018 were:

    a) High-redshift galaxies and quasars with far-infrared emission discovered with the Herschel Space Observatory in the HerMES and Herschel-ATLAS Key Projects.

    b) Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: BELLS GALLERY galaxies and very luminous Lyman alpha emitting galaxies.

    c) Participation in the development of the SAFARI instrument, one of the European contributions to the SPICA infrared space telescope.

    d) Discovery of the most distant individual star ever observed, in one of the fields of the "HST Frontier Fields".

    e) Search for supernovae in distant, gravitationally lensed galaxies.

    f) Several studies with GTC of absorption line systems in the line of sight to red quasars.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    Dr.
    Stefan Geier
    Collaborators
    Herschel SPIRE, HerMES, Herschel-ATLAS, SPICA, SAFARI, BELLS GALLERY, SERVS, DEEPDRILL, SDSS-IV y SHARDS Frontier Fields
    1. Marques-Chaves et al. (2018) present a study of the submillimeter galaxy HLock01 at z = 2.9574, one of the brightest gravitationally lensed sources discovered in the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey. Detailed analysis of the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) rest-frame UV GTC OSIRIS spectrum shows complex kinematics of the gas.
    2. Rigopoulou et al. (2018) using new, Herschel spectroscopic observations of key far-infrared fine structure lines of the z 3 galaxy HLSW-01 derive gas-phase metallicities and find that the metallicities of z 3 submm-luminous galaxies are consistent with solar metallicities and that they appear to follow the mass–metallicity relation expected for z 3 systems.
    3. Cornachione et al. (2018) present a morphological study of 17 lensed Lyα emitter (LAE) galaxies of the BELLS GALLERY sample. The analysis combines the magnification effect of strong galaxy–galaxy lensing with the high resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope to achieve a physical resolution of ~80 pc for this 2 < z < 3 LAE sample.
    4. Oteo et al. (2018) report the identification of an extreme protocluster of galaxies in the early universe whose core (nicknamed Distant Red Core, DRC, because of its very red color in Herschel SPIRE bands) is formed by at least 10 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs), spectroscopically confirmed to lie at z = 4.002 via detection of emission lines with ALMA and ATCA.
    5. Kelly et al. (2018) report the discovery of an individual star, Icarus, at redshift z = 1.49 magnified by more than × 2,000 by gravitational lensing of the galaxy cluster MACS J1149+222. Icarus is located in a spiral galaxy that is so far from Earth that its light has taken 9000 million years to reach the Earth.

    Related publications

    HerMES: Far infrared properties of known AGN in the HerMES fields 2010A&A...518L..33H
    Galaxy Counts at 24 μm in the SWIRE Fields 2008AJ....135.1050S
    First results from HerMES on the evolution of the submillimetre luminosity function 2010A&A...518L..23E
    Wide-field optical imaging on ELAIS N1, ELAIS N2, First Look Survey and Lockman Hole: observations and source catalogues 2011MNRAS.416..927G
    The suppression of star formation by powerful active galactic nuclei 2012Natur.485..213P
    The Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS): Survey Definition and Goals 2012PASP..124..714M
    The Herschel Space Observatory view of dust in M81 2010A&A...518L..65B
    The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: SPIRE-mm photometric redshifts 2012MNRAS.419.2758R
    The Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey: source extraction and cross-identifications in confusion-dominated SPIRE images 2010MNRAS.409...48R
    The dust morphology of the elliptical Galaxy M 86 with SPIRE 2010A&A...518L..45G
    The Deep SPIRE HerMES Survey: spectral energy distributions and their astrophysical indications at high redshift 2010MNRAS.409...66B
    The central region of spiral galaxies as seen by Herschel. M 81, M 99, and M 100 2010A&A...518L..64S
    Submillimetre galaxies reside in dark matter haloes with masses greater than 3×1011 solar masses 2011Natur.470..510A
    SPIRE imaging of M 82: Cool dust in the wind and tidal streams 2010A&A...518L..66R
    Redshift Determination and CO Line Excitation Modeling for the Multiply Lensed Galaxy HLSW-01 2011ApJ...733...29S
    Radial distribution of gas and dust in spiral galaxies . The case of M 99 (NGC 4254) and M 100 (NGC 4321) 2010A&A...518L..72P
    On the origin of M81 group extended dust emission 2010MNRAS.409..102D
    Modeling of the HerMES Submillimeter Source Lensed by a Dark Matter Dominated Foreground Group of Galaxies 2011ApJ...738..125G
    Measures of star formation rates from infrared (Herschel) and UV (GALEX) emissions of galaxies in the HerMES fields 2010MNRAS.409L...1B
    Mapping the interstellar medium in galaxies with Herschel/SPIRE 2010A&A...518L..62E
    Herschel/HerMES: the X-ray-infrared correlation for star-forming galaxies at z˜1 2011MNRAS.417.2239S
    Herschel-SPIRE, far-infrared properties of millimetre-bright and -faint radio galaxies 2010MNRAS.409L..13C
    Herschel-SPIRE observations of the disturbed galaxy NGC 4438 2010A&A...518L..63C
    Herschel reveals a Tdust-unbiased selection of z ~ 2 ultraluminous infrared galaxies 2010MNRAS.409...22M
    Herschel photometric observations of the nearby low metallicity irregular galaxy NGC 6822 2010A&A...518L..55G
    Herschel photometric observations of the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC 1705 2010A&A...518L..58O
    HerMES: SPIRE Science Demonstration Phase maps†‡ 2010MNRAS.409...83L
    HerMES: SPIRE emission from radio-selected active galactic nuclei 2011MNRAS.413.1777S
    HerMES: point source catalogues from deep Herschel-SPIRE observations 2012MNRAS.419..377S
    HerMES: Lyman Break Galaxies Individually Detected at 0.7 <= z <= 2.0 in GOODS-N with Herschel/SPIRE 2011ApJ...734L..12B
    HerMES: Herschel-SPIRE observations of Lyman break galaxies 2010MNRAS.409L...7R
    HerMES: detection of cosmic magnification of submillimetre galaxies using angular cross-correlation 2011MNRAS.414..596W
    HerMES: deep number counts at 250 μm, 350 μm and 500 μm in the COSMOS and GOODS-N fields and the build-up of the cosmic infrared background 2012A&A...542A..58B
    HerMES: deep galaxy number counts from a P(D) fluctuation analysis of SPIRE Science Demonstration Phase observations 2010MNRAS.409..109G
    HerMES: A Statistical Measurement of the Redshift Distribution of Herschel-SPIRE Sources Using the Cross-correlation Technique 2012ApJ...753...23M
    FIR colours and SEDs of nearby galaxies observed with Herschel 2010A&A...518L..61B
    Dynamical Structure of the Molecular Interstellar Medium in an Extremely Bright, Multiply Lensed z ~= 3 Submillimeter Galaxy Discovered with Herschel 2011ApJ...733L..12R
    Discovery of a Multiply Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy in Early HerMES Herschel/SPIRE Data 2011ApJ...732L..35C
    Cold dust and young starbursts: spectral energy distributions of Herschel SPIRE sources from the HerMES survey 2010MNRAS.409....2R
    A Population of Dust-rich Quasars at z ~ 1.5 2012ApJ...753...33D