Recent Talks

Recent works show that the restframe colours of X-ray selected AGN host galaxies at z~1 are no different from those of inactive galaxies once stellar mass selection effects are taken into account. However, there is a clear deficit of AGN among quiescent galaxies, and the average star formation rates of AGN hosts are comparable or higher than those of inactive star-forming galaxies. These apparently contradictory findings could be a consequence of higher extinction in star-forming AGN hosts compensating for their younger stellar populations in observed colours. In this talk I will present a new method of extinction correction that breaks the degeneracy with stellar age and metallicity by comparing the restframe U-V colour with measurements of the Dn(4000) index on intermediate band photospectra from SHARDS. I'll show that the distribution of extinction corrected U-V colours and Dn(4000) for AGN hosts at z<1 is significantly different from that of comparison samples of inactive galaxies, with a clear deficit of AGN in intrinsic red galaxies and a higher prevalence among those with intermediate age stellar populations.

The ``dark flow'' dipole is a statistically significant dipole found at the position of galaxy clusters in filtered maps of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. The dipole measured in WMAP 3, 5 and 7 yr data releases was roughly aligned with the all-sky CMB dipole and correlated with cluster X-ray luminosity. We analyzed the final WMAP 9 yr and the first Planck data releases using a catalog of 980 clusters outside the Kp0 mask to test our earlier findings. The dipoles measured on these new data sets are fully compatible with our earlier estimates, being similar in amplitude and direction to our previous results and in disagreement with the results of an earlier study by the Planck Collaboration. Further, in Planck data dipoles are independent of frequency, ruling out the Thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich as the source of the effect. The signal is dominated by the most massive clusters, with a statistical significance better than 99%, slightly larger than in WMAP. Since both data sets differ in foreground contributions, instrumental noise and other systematics, the agreement between WMAP and Planck dipoles argues against them being due to systematic effects in either of the experiments.

Direct imaging of wide planetary mass companions provide a unique opportunity to fully characterize their spectroscopic and photometric properties. They share similar physical properties to gas giant exoplanets found by radial velocity and transit techniques, with overlapping temperatures in the range of ~1000–1500K and masses from a few to a dozen Jupiter masses. We have recently identified a young L-type companion at ~100 AU of a previously unrecognized M dwarf. We determined the parallactic distance of the system of 12.7 ± 1.0 pc. By comparison with evolutionary models we derived a mass of 73 (+20, -15) MJup for the primary, at around the substellar mass limit and 11.2 (+9.7, -1.8) MJup for the secondary, near the deuterium burning mass limit. In this talk I will present the properties of the two components of this new pair and discuss the possibilities for future thorough characterization.

Divulgation Lecture to Celebrate the International Year of Light and 150th Anniversary of Maxwell´s great paper on Electromagnetism of 1865.

Evidence is mounting for the presence of complex low surface brightness structures in the outer regions of galaxies. While the most spectacular examples are provided by systems hosting coherent debris streams, the most common examples may be extremely diffuse stellar envelopes. Wide-field imagers on large telescopes are allowing us to quantitatively explore the resolved stellar populations in these components within and well beyond the Local Group. I will highlight some recent  results from our work and discuss the insight these outer structures provide on understanding massive  galaxy assembly.  I will also discuss how we are using deep HST studies of M31's outer regions to probe its evolutionary history in unprecedented detail.

( * Please bring your laptop or your smartphone with you * )

Astronomers are not only skilled computer users, but also experienced Internet users. Their work could benefit from latest improvement in the world of the web. In particular, new client-side, server-side, and database technologies can be used to set up:

1) extremely performing data mining applications;

2) multi-thread CPU/GPU simulation or reduction software;

3) efficient ways to communicate results or to exchange data;

4) modern web-based tools for astronomic research and outreach.

After a quick introduction and a basic history of the evolution of web technologies during these last 15 years, we will present interactive examples of the above-mentioned technologies, focusing on client-side innovations.

Progress in our understanding of the Solar corona and its underlying heating and acceleration processes, depends critically on our ability to measure fundamental plasma parameters, such as magnetic field, density, temperature and composition. In this talk, I will introduce my main research topics which concern measurement of fundamental plasma parameters in the Solar corona and the development of new plasma diagnostic tools, in order to provide constraints for the various proposed physical mechanisms.

Coronal observations are always integrated along a line of sight (LOS). Because there may be multiple emitting sources, this considerably complicates the interpretation of the observations. To avoid this ambiguity there are several tools, including the widely used Differential Emission Measure (DEM) analysis and the tomography reconstruction technique. However, both the derivation and the interpretation of the DEM from observations are difficult mainly due to the inverse nature of the problem. I will present a new strategy to evaluate the robustness of the DEM inversion problem. An application of the DEM formalism will be presented, allowing us to measure the relative abundances in both interplumes and plumes using Hinode/Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) data. Finally, I will present the inversion code I developed, able to perform the coupling of the DEM formalism and the tomography, providing a three dimensional diagnostic in temperature and density of the solar corona.

The lower solar atmosphere is very weakly ionized, and by conductivity it is comparable to the sea water. The collisional frequency for electrons and ions can be over 10^10 Hz and 10^9 Hz, respectively. This implies that particles may not be magnetized and are thus unaffected by the magnetic field. In this talk I shall present accurate collision cross sections and collision frequencies for electrons, protons and hydrogen atoms, and the corresponding transport coefficients for layers with both unmagnetized and magnetized particles. The cross sections include many essential effects like charge exchange, quantum-mechanical in-distinguishability at low energies, polarization of neutral atoms by external charges, and dependence on energy of colliding particles. The effects of collisions on Alfven waves will also be discussed.

I will report on the results of our paper published in Nature this week, outlining the discovery of a super-Chandrasekhar double-degenerate binary system at the heart of the planetary nebula Hen 2-428.  Planetary nebulae (PNe) represent the final stage in the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars, forming from the mass ejected by the star during its AGB evolution before being ionised by the star's, now exposed, core.  As binarity is expected to play a key role in the formation of aspherical PN morphologies, we have been intensively searching for new binary central stars in a push towards a statistical sample.  One of our newly-discovered binary systems, lying at the heart of Hen 2-428, had a further surprise to reveal, with observations and modelling showing the system to consist of twin evolved stars with a total mass greater than the Chandrasekhar limit.  The short period of the system, only 4.2 hours, means that the two stars will merge together in approximately 700 Myr, resulting in a Supernova Type Ia.  While the super-Chandrasekhar merger of two white dwarfs has long been considered a formation pathway for SN Ia, this is the first system found that is confirmed to be both massive enough and in a tight enough orbit to merge in less than a Hubble time.