Recent Talks

Detection and characterisation of weak periodic signals from noisy time series is a common problem in many different fields of astrophysics. Here I detail one approach for testing whether a signal with roughly known characteristics exists in the data, using a search of secondary eclipses from Kepler-observed photometric time series as an example. The method is based on Bayesian model selection and uses Gaussian processes to model the stochastic variability in the data in non-parametric fashion.

The solar abundance of chemical elements play an important role in addressing such important issues as the formation, structure, and evolution of the Sun and the solar system, the origin of the chemical elements, the evolution of stars and galaxies. Despite the large number of papers published on this issue, debates about the solar composition of the Sun continue. In this talk we start summarizing the current understanding of the solar abundances of iron and CNO elements, which play a crucial role on the determination of the solar metallicity. We then pay especial attention to the impact of the quiet Sun magnetism on the determination of the abundances of these elements. The solar photosphere is significantly magnetized, due to the ubiquitous presence of a small-scale magnetic field whose mean strength is thought to be of the order of 100 gauss. Here we address the problem of the determination of the abundances of chemical elements taking into account the significant magnetization of the quiet Sun photosphere. To this end, we use 3D models of the quiet solar photosphere resulting from a state-of-the-art magneto-convection simulation with small-scale dynamo action where the net magnetic flux is zero. We conclude that if the magnetism of the quiet solar photosphere is mainly produced by a small-scale dynamo,then its impact on the determination of the solar abundance of iron and CNO elements is negligible.

Understanding the atmospheric and evolutive properties of very low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and gas giant exoplanets have been important challenges for modelers around the world since the discovery of the first brown dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster (Rebolo et al. 1995) and in the field (Nakajima et al. 1995). The early studies of brown dwarfs have provided rich insights into atmospheric physics, with discoveries ranging from cloud formation (Tsuji et al. 1996), methane bands (Oppenheimer et al. 1995) and ammonia bands (Delorme et al. 2008), to the formation of wasi-molecular KI-H2 absorption (Allard et al. 2007), and to disequilibrium chemistry (Yelle & Griffith 2001). New classical 1D models yield spectral energy distribution (SED) that match relatively well despite these complexities. These models have for instance explained the spectral transition from M to L, T and now Y brown dwarf spectral types (Allard et al. 2013). However, in presence of surface inhomogeneities revealed recently for a nearby (2 pc) brown dwarf (Crossfield et al. 2014), the SED may well fit even exactly, but the model parameters could be far from exact, e.g. with the effective temperature by several hundred kelvins too cool in the case of dusty brown dwarfs and young gas giant exoplanets! I will review the progress achieved in reproducing the spectral properties of very low mass stars, brown dwarfs and gas giant exoplanets, and review progress in modeling more accurately their atmospheres using Radiation HydroDynamical (RHD) simulations.

Dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are the smallest, closest and most abundant galaxies in the Universe and therefore excellent laboratories to study star formation (SF) history and chemical evolution on the smallest
scales. However, the complexity within---and variations between---these objects are poorly understood, not least because the vast majority of present-day data is restricted to the most central regions of these systems.
Thus, the scope of this talk is to present the results from our chemodynamical analysis (i.e., combining chemical abundances, stellar
ages, and precise dynamical measurements from high-resolution spectra) of the outer regions of Fornax and to put them in a general context of the chemical evolution in dSphs and their key-regulating factors. On this basis, possible (and impossible) evolutionary scenarios for Fornax are discussed and compared with model predictions.  Furthermore, Fornax is one amongst very few dSphs with an own globular cluster population. In the last part of my talk I use the results from our analysis and discuss
ongoing projects designed to address the impact of globular clusters on the evolution of this galaxy, and vice versa.

From the structure of PHL 293B and the physical properties of its ionizing cluster and based on results of hydrodynamic models, we point at the various events required to explain in detail the emission and absorption components seen in its optical spectrum. We ascribe the narrow and well centered emission lines, showing the low metallicity of the galaxy, to an HII region that spans through the main body of the galaxy. The broad emission line components are due to two off-centered supernova remnants evolving within the ionizing cluster volume and the absorption line profiles are due to a stationary cluster wind able to recombine at a close distance from the cluster surface as originally suggested by Silich et al. 2004. Our numerical models and analytical estimates confirm the ionized and neutral column density values and the inferred X-ray emission derived from the observations.

One of the important questions in extragalactic astronomy concerns the debate between nature and nurture scenarios. Are the observed galaxy local properties the end product of the different conditions at birth or the product of the interactions, or other local processes, since a galaxy is not an isolated object? In this talk I will present the results of the analysis of some galaxy properties, morphologies and mass functions, obtained comparing, for the first time in a consistent manner, galaxies in the widest range of environments at low redshift (groups, clusters, binary systems, isolated galaxies). The aim was to understand the most important factors that drive galaxy evolution, trying to disentangle the importance of galaxy mass and global environment.

In addition I will present the first results concerning the two projects in which I am involved at IAC: the ALBA project, aimed to explore the signs of a proto-cluster at z~6.5, and the analysis of dust emission of a sample of local tadpole galaxies. 

Magnetic fields break through the solar surface in a hierarchy of magnetic elements ranging from Earth-sized sunspots down to tiny concentrations that are barely resolved in the highest-resolution photospheric images. In the chromosphere they combine in intricate, highly dynamic, and continuously evolving fibrilar patterns. Movements of the photospheric field-line footpoints drive, guide, and control the flows of energy and mass into the corona, and trigger energy-releasing magnetic reconnection through relentless topological rearrangement. The conversion from convectively driven footpoint motion to outer-atmosphere outflows and loading takes place in the dynamic, fine-structured chromosphere.

A number of important facilities for observing the solar chromosphere have recently come on line (e.g. the SDO and IRIS satellites and ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometers) or will become operational in the near future (e.g. DKIST). The overwhelming complexity of the chromosphere makes it necessary to have numerical simulations for the interpretation of the observations. Such realistic simulations, spanning the solar atmosphere from the convection zone to the corona, are now becoming feasible.

This presentation will introduce the fascinating aspects of chromospheric physics and review recent results from both observations and numerical simulations.

FeII comprises up to one third of the line emission in AGNs. For that reason it is an important coolant that needs to be taken into accountto fully understand the energetics of the broad line region (BLR). In thistalk I will discuss new approaches to study the excitation mechanisms ofthe FeII based on a semi-empirical template we derived in thenear-infrared region (NIR). We correlate the strength of the NIR andoptical iron lines to assess the relative contribution of the differentmechanisms that produces that emission. We found that in all casesLy_alpha fluorescence plays an important role, being a process that needsto be considered in any approach aimed at understanding this complexemission. We also compare the width of the individual FeII lines with thatof other lines emitted in BLR. Our results confirm previous assumptionsand results from variabilty studies that the gas responsible for the FeIIemission is the outer portion of the BLR.