Traces of Galaxy Formation: Stellar populations, Dynamics and Morphology

Group members
Start year
2006
Organizational Unit
RESEARCH DIVISION
Organizing institutions
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)

Related grants:

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:

  1. Stellar population synthesis models

    • Development of new stellar population synthesis models
    • Stellar population analysis tools
    • Universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF)

     

  2. Cosmic evolution of galaxies

    • Massive galaxy evolution
    • Stellar populations in different environments
    • Low surface brightness science
    • Machine learning and cosmological simulations

     

  3. 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 (Anna Ferré-Mateu, anna.ferre [at] iac.es (anna[dot]ferre[at]iac[dot]es)).

Principal investigator
Project staff

Here you can find some of our most recent highlights:

Related publications

Inferring the helium abundance of extragalactic globular clusters using integrated spectra 2022MNRAS.512..548L
Implications for galaxy formation models from observations of globular clusters around ultradiffuse galaxies 2022MNRAS.511.4633S
The dark side of galaxy stellar populations - I. The stellar-to-halo mass relation and the velocity dispersion-halo mass relation 2022MNRAS.511.4900S
CO-CAVITY pilot survey: Molecular gas and star formation in void galaxies 2022A&A...658A.124D
Observed versus simulated halo c-M<SUB>vir</SUB> relations 2022MNRAS.510L..24L
From blue cloud to red sequence: evidence of morphological transition prior to star formation quenching 2022MNRAS.509..567S
The Fornax3D project: Planetary nebulae catalogue and independent distance measurements to Fornax cluster galaxies 2021A&A...653A.167S
Capturing the Physics of MaNGA Galaxies with Self-supervised Machine Learning 2021ApJ...921..177S
Chronos: A NIR spectroscopic galaxy survey to probe the most fundamental stages of galaxy evolution 2021ExA....51..729F
Physically Motivated Fit to Mass Surface Density Profiles Observed in Galaxies 2021ApJ...921..125S
Rejuvenation triggers nuclear activity in nearby galaxies 2021MNRAS.tmpL..99M
Outflows from starburst galaxies with various driving mechanisms and their X-ray properties 2021MNRAS.508.5092Y
X-ray bubbles in the circumgalactic medium of TNG50 Milky Way- and M31-like galaxies: signposts of supermassive black hole activity 2021MNRAS.508.4667P
Anomaly detection in Hyper Suprime-Cam galaxy images with generative adversarial networks 2021MNRAS.508.2946S
NGC 5746: Formation history of a massive disc-dominated galaxy 2021MNRAS.508.2458M
Fornax 3D project: Assessing the diversity of IMF and stellar population maps within the Fornax Cluster 2021A&A...654A..59M
Introducing the LBT Imaging of Galactic Halos and Tidal Structures (LIGHTS) survey. A preview of the low surface brightness Universe to be unveiled by LSST 2021A&A...654A..40T
A Disk and No Signatures of Tidal Distortion in the Galaxy "Lacking" Dark Matter NGC 1052-DF2 2021ApJ...919...56M
Surface brightness fluctuations to constrain secondary stellar populations: revealing very low-metallicity stars in massive galaxies 2021MNRAS.507.3005R
The miniJPAS survey: A preview of the Universe in 56 colors 2021A&A...653A..31B
The Fornax 3D project: PNe populations and stellar metallicity in edge-on galaxies 2021A&A...652A.109G
The lens SW05 J143454.4+522850: a fossil group at redshift 0.6? 2021MNRAS.506.1715D
Local variations of the Stellar Velocity Ellipsoid-I: the disc of galaxies in the Auriga simulations 2021MNRAS.506.1801W
Pushing automated morphological classifications to their limits with the Dark Energy Survey 2021MNRAS.506.1927V
The ultraviolet luminosity function of star-forming galaxies between redshifts of 0.6 and 1.2 2021MNRAS.506..473P
Extending the evolution of the stellar mass-size relation at z ≤ 2 to low stellar mass galaxies from HFF and CANDELS 2021MNRAS.506..928N
The size function of massive satellites from the R<SUB>e</SUB>-R<SUB>h</SUB> and M<SUB>star</SUB>-M<SUB>h</SUB> relations: constraining the role of environment 2021MNRAS.505L..84Z
Constraints on the dust extinction law of the Galaxy with Swift/UVOT, Gaia, and 2MASS 2021MNRAS.505..283F
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the third and final data release 2021MNRAS.505..991C
Mild radial variations of the stellar IMF in the bulge of M31 2021MNRAS.505..415L
Anisotropic satellite galaxy quenching modulated by black hole activity 2021Natur.594..187M
The evolution of compact massive quiescent and star-forming galaxies derived from the R<SUB>e</SUB>-R<SUB>h</SUB> and M<SUB>star</SUB>-M<SUB>h</SUB> relations 2021MNRAS.505.4555Z
Diversity of nuclear star cluster formation mechanisms revealed by their star formation histories 2021A&A...650A.137F
History of the gas fuelling star formation in EAGLE galaxies 2021MNRAS.505.4655S
An extension of the MILES library with derived T<SUB>eff</SUB>, log g, [Fe/H], and [α/Fe] 2021MNRAS.505.4496G
A Duality in the Origin of Bulges and Spheroidal Galaxies 2021ApJ...913..125C
A comparison between X-shooter spectra and PHOENIX models across the HR-diagram 2021A&A...649A..97L
sMILES: a library of semi-empirical MILES stellar spectra with variable [α/Fe] abundances 2021MNRAS.504.2286K
Numerical simulations of dark matter haloes produce polytropic central cores when reaching thermodynamic equilibrium 2021MNRAS.504.2832S
Fingerprints of stellar populations in the near-infrared: an optimized set of spectral indices in the JHK bands 0 2021MNRAS.504.2190E
GalIMF–E-MILES library: Impact of an environment-dependent initial mass function on stellar population spectra
Extragalactic archaeology provides new clues about the formation of the galaxies
ZF-UDS-7329: A relic galaxy in the early Universe
The “last breaths” in the lives of galaxies
Type
Research
State
In progress

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