Recent Talks

Segunda tanda de las charlas de instrumentación de los becarios de verano.

Massive stars are real cosmic engines, and they have a large impact onto our Universe from early times on. Unfortunately, their evolution is still uncertain in many aspects, even on the main sequence. To check and improve corresponding predictions (needed, e.g., in galaxy simulations as sub-grid physics), various efficiency factors for internal processes such as core-envelope mixing need to be calibrated, by means of observational constraints. To this end, the measurement of chemical abundances, in particular for C,N,O, is a primary tool. Compared to low and intermediate mass stars and also to massive Red Supergiants, these measurements (by means of quantitative spectroscopy) are much more complex, since particularly deviations from LTE and the presence of inhomogeneous winds affect the observed line-strengths, and lead to significant uncertainties in the derived abundance values. In this talk, I will discuss these problems at hand of specific examples, summarize important results of the current state of the art, and provide a quick outlook what's next to come (within a collaboration with IAC-members).

Zoom link: https://rediris.zoom.us/j/98925990368?pwd=LJDIa3HSX4zIHM74vimXTwiabfrreN.1

In the first two years of scientific operations of JWST, three results have emerged, closely related to each other: an unexpected large abundance of bright galaxies at z>9 as well as AGN at z>5, and the existence of some dust even in the confirmed galaxies at the highest redshifts, with large contents present in some particular sources known as little red dots up to at least z~9. I will discuss the details and reliability of these results based on some of the recent work published by the MIRI European and US GTO, the CEERS, and the JADES-SMILES teams.

Primera tanda de las charlas de instrumentación de los becarios de verano.

Elemental abundances of Sun-like stars are crucial for understanding the detailed properties of their planets. However, measuring elemental abundances in M stars is challenging due to their faintness and pervasive molecular features in optical spectra. To address this, elemental abundances of Sun-like stars have been proposed to constrain those of M stars by scaling [X/H] with measured [Fe/H] – a practice is yet to be well tested. Here we compile elemental abundances for 43 M dwarfs for 10 major rock-forming elements (Fe, C, O, Mg, Si, Al, Ca, Na, Ni, and Ti) from high-resolution near-infrared stellar surveys (APOGEE, CARMENES and Subaru/IRD). We perform bootstrap-based linear regressions on the M dwarfs to determine the trends of [X/H] vs. [Fe/H] and compare them with GK dwarfs (from GALAH + APOGEE). A 2-sample, multivariate Mahalanobis Distance test is applied to assess the significance of differences in [X/H]—[Fe/H] trends for individual elemental pairs between M and GK dwarfs. The null hypothesis of no significant difference in chemical trends between M and GK dwarfs is strongly rejected for all elements except Si, for which rejection is marginal, and Na and Ni, for which results are inconclusive. This suggests that assuming no difference may lead to biased results and inaccurate constraints on rocky planets around M dwarfs. Therefore, it is crucial for both the stellar and exoplanet communities to recognise these differences. To better understand these differences, we advocate for dedicated modelling techniques for M dwarf atmospheres and more homogeneous abundance analyses. Our statistically constrained trends of [X/H]—[Fe/H] for M dwarfs offer a new constraint on estimating M-dwarf elemental abundances given measured [Fe/H], aiding in detailed characterisation of M dwarf-hosted rocky worlds in the era of JWST, PLATO and ELT.

Cosmic rays interact with astrophysical systems over a broad range of scales. They go hand-in-hand with violent, energetic astrophysical environments, and are an active agent able to regulate the evolution and physical conditions of galactic and circum-galactic ecosystems. Depending on their energy, cosmic rays can also escape from their galactic environments of origin, and propagate into larger-scale cosmological structures. In this talk, I will discuss the impacts of cosmic rays retained in galaxies. I will show that they can deposit energy and momentum, modify the circulation of baryons around galaxies, and have the potential to regulate long-term galaxy evolution. I will highlight some of the astrophysical consequences of contained hadronic and leptonic cosmic rays in and around galaxies, how their influence can be probed using signatures ranging from sub-mm to X-rays and gamma-rays, and the opportunities soon to open-up that will allow us to pin-down the multi-scale effects of cosmic rays in galaxies near and far. I will also discuss what happens to the cosmic rays that escape from galaxies, including their interactions with the magnetized large-scale structures of our Universe, and the fate of distant high-energy cosmic rays that do not reach us on Earth. 

Understanding the abundance patterns of metal-poor stars and the production of heavy elements through various nucleosynthesis processes offers crucial insights into the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. We investigate the origins of light, alpha, Fe-peak, and r-process elements in metal-poor halo stars using data from the R-Process Alliance observed by the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). Our analysis of these faint stars reveals intriguing patterns. We utilize the abundances of carbon, Fe-peak elements and the alpha-elements to probe the contributions from different nucleosynthesis channels in the progenitor supernovae. Additionally, we identify globular cluster stars at very low metallicity, which adds to the growing evidence of a lower metallicity floor for GCs. We also reveal differences in the trends of the neutron-capture element abundances from the RPA data releases, which provide constraints on their nucleosynthesis sites and subsequent evolution. Complementing this, we use early data from the new dual-fibre high-resolution spectrograph GHOST at Gemini South to study globular clusters. We identify first and second-generation stars in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 2298 through light element anti-correlation, obtaining precise abundances for over 45 elements, including 20 neutron-capture elements up to thorium. A larger dispersion in n-capture and Fe-peak elements is observed among first-generation stars, along with variations in the universal r-process pattern. Increases in Sr and Ba with Mg, significant trends in light, alpha, and Fe-peak abundances, and correlations between light and r-process abundances are noted. These findings enhance our understanding of the Milky Way's chemical evolution by integrating data on metal-poor stars and globular clusters, elucidating the nucleosynthetic pathways shaping our Galaxy's elemental composition.

Using only the speckle pattern of an unresolved source in the image-plane, it is possible to reconstruct the pupil-plane wavefront for use in an adaptive optics loop using Deep Neural Networks.  My thesis has involved exploring and refining this technique with applications from real time correction of the atmosphere for ELF telescopes, to sensing residual, non-common-path aberrations in coronagraphic instruments -- where dedicated WFS hardware becomes much more challenging.  I will present some background and results of both simulated as well as successful on-telescope testing.  Further, I may spend a bit of time on my recent exploration into using Deep Reinforcement Learning: its uses in bridging the sim-to-real gap, and for solving problems where exact solutions aren't available.

Seminarios Investigacion le está invitando a una reunión de Zoom programada.

Less than 30 years ago, we did not know whether planets exist outside our solar system. Fast forward to 2024, astronomers have discovered well over 5000 planets orbiting other stars similar to our Sun, including some that may have the right conditions to host life. As we learned that the formation of planets seems to go hand-in-hand with the birth of stars, we begin to wonder:

•     What happens to planetary systems when their host stars run out of fuel, and turn into Earth-sized white dwarfs?
•     Are those systems, if they exist, detectable?
•     What will happen to our solar system, and to the Earth?
•     And what are the possible implications for life?

I will discuss the late evolution of planetary systems, the observational fingerprints of planets and their debris orbiting white dwarfs, and how studying these exotic systems  improves our general understanding of the formation of planets.

With the detailed measurements available for our Galaxy and the local volume, the Milky Way and its satellites are a unique laboratory for the galactic archaeology field, which is trying to reconstruct the galactic evolution history from fossil records. In this context, spectroscopy is one of the primary tools to explore the physics of the Universe. This field, encompassing a wide range of subjects from detecting exoplanets to studying the expansion of the Universe, has begun collecting massive data-sets, yielding remarkable outcomes. Among the various applications of spectroscopy, the study of stellar abundances is of primary importance. In fact, the chemical information enclosed in a stellar spectrum is extremely informative, as galactic chemical evolution tells us that elemental abundance ratios can be used to trace star formation history between stellar generations. This holds true for both our galaxy and its satellites. My talk will be about the application of stellar spectroscopy to investigate chemical evolution. I will present a spectroscopic dataset that I assembled to characterise the stellar populations of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Additionally, I’ll explore the potential (and limitations) of chemical tagging a subject I've investigated using various spectroscopic datasets. Despite their diversity, the common aim is to understand the most effective ways to use stellar spectroscopy and chemical abundance ratios for retracing the chemical evolution within distinct galactic environments.