Starbursts in Galaxies GEFE

    General
    Description

    Starsbursts play a key role in the cosmic evolution of galaxies, and thus in the star formation (SF) history of the universe, the production of metals, and the feedback coupling galaxies with the cosmic web. Extreme SF conditions prevail early on during the formation of the first stars and galaxies, therefore, the starburst phenomenon constitutes a fundamental ingredient of our understanding of the Universe. Starbursts are observed throughout, from the giant HII regions in nearby spirals, to the massive clumps typical of high redshift objects. This project is aimed at carrying out a comprehensive study of the physics of local massive SF regions in order to enlarge our understanding of the most distant galaxies and most extreme starbursts. We combine observational studies (using ground-based and space-borne spectrophotometry) along with our self-consistent theoretical models. Among the observational facilities, the team is directly involved in the development and scientific exploitation of the GTC instruments EMIR and MEGARA, which will become operational during the timespan of the project.

    We have structured our research for the next three years around five main objectives:

    1) The interplay between massive SF and the interstellar medium within galaxies.

    2) Understanding the formation of disk galaxies.

    3) The role of the environment on massive SF and the evolution of galaxies.

    4) Extreme starbursting in the early Universe.

    5) Participation in the science verification and building of new instrumentation.

    The main results expected from this project include: i) constraining the chemical evolution of galaxies using a combination of integral-field spectroscopy and fully bi-dimensional models, ii) understanding the role of molecular gas and high-energy background photons on the formation of galaxies, iii) developing a technique to image the cosmic web gas that feeds the starbursts, iv) characterizing the chemical and dynamical properties of the gas that is falling into the galaxies, v) deciphering the different ways in which the environment can affect the SF in star-forming galaxies along cosmic time; paying special attention to the triggering of violent SF bursts in the lowest metallicity galaxies. vi) explaining how very massive and compact starbursts may evolve in the so-called positive feedback mode, accounting for extreme starbursts in local galaxy analogs to the objects present in the primeval universe. vii) understanding the SF in Lya and Ly-break galaxies, viii) constraining the existence of candidate stars analog to PopIII in extremely metal-poor galaxies, both in the local universe and at high redshift, ix) developing the know-how needed for effective use of EMIR and MEGARA. We aim at getting the most from these new instruments by leading science cases during verification phase and later on.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    Collaborators
    Dr.
    Nieves D. Castro Rodriguez
    Dr.
    Daniel Reverte Paya
    Dr.
    Ricardo Amorin Barbieri
    Dr.
    Rafael Guzmán Llorente
    Dr.
    Jesus Gallego Maestro
    Dr.
    Pablo Perez Gonzalez
    Dr.
    Bruce Elmegreen
    Dr.
    Debra Elmegreen
    1. Local anticorrelation between star formation rate and gas-phase metallicity in disc galaxies Using a representative sample of 14 star-forming dwarf galaxies in the local Universe, we show the existence of a spaxel-to-spaxel anticorrelation between the index N2 ≡ log ([N II]λ 6583/H α ) and the H α flux.
    2. Discovery of a high-metallicity low mass galaxy, confirming the stochasticity of the cosmic web gas feed star formation
    3. Pyroclastic Blowout: Dust Survival in Supernovi Events
    4. A simultaneous search for high-z LAEs and LBGs in the SHARDS survey.We derive redshifts, star formation rates, Lyα equivalent widths, and luminosity functions (LFs). Grouping within our sample is also studied, finding 92 pairs or small groups of galaxies
    5. A possible binary AGN has been found in Mrk 622.

    Related publications

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      We introduce VLT-MUSE observations of the central 2'× 2' (30 × 30 pc) of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The observations provide an unprecedented spectroscopic census of the massive stars and ionised gas in the vicinity of R136, the young, dense star cluster located in NGC 2070, at the heart of the richest star-forming region
      Castro, N. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
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      Citations
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      Weidmann, W. et al.

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      7
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    • Neutron-capture Elements in Planetary Nebulae: First Detections of Near-infrared [Te III] and [Br V] Emission Lines
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      Madonna, S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
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    • An unusual transient in the extremely metal-poor Galaxy SDSS J094332.35+332657.6 (Leoncino Dwarf)
      We have serendipitously discovered that Leoncino Dwarf, an ultrafaint, low-metallicity record-holder dwarf galaxy, may have hosted a transient source, and possibly exhibited a change in morphology, a shift in the centre of brightness, and peak variability of the main (host) source in images taken approximately 40 yr apart; it is highly likely that
      Filho, M. E. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
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    • A simultaneous search for high-z LAEs and LBGs in the SHARDS survey
      We have undertaken a comprehensive search for both Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) in the Survey for High-z Absorption Red and Dead Sources (SHARDS) Survey of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North field. SHARDS is a deep imaging survey, made with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias, employing 25 medium band
      Arrabal Haro, P. et al.

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      8
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      Citations
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    • The Origin of the Relation between Metallicity and Size in Star-forming Galaxies
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      Sánchez Almeida, J. et al.

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      6
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    • NOEMA Observations of a Molecular Cloud in the Low-metallicity Galaxy Kiso 5639
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      Elmegreen, B. G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2018
      Citations
      7
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      Pérez-Jordán, G et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
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    • Machine learning in APOGEE. Unsupervised spectral classification with K-means
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      5
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      15
    • The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the Second Phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
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      Abolfathi, B. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2018
      Citations
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    • Local anticorrelation between star formation rate and gas-phase metallicity in disc galaxies
      Using a representative sample of 14 star-forming dwarf galaxies in the local Universe, we show the existence of a spaxel-to-spaxel anticorrelation between the index N2 ≡ log ([N II]λ 6583/H α ) and the H α flux. These two quantities are commonly employed as proxies for gas-phase metallicity and star formation rate (SFR), respectively. Thus, the
      Sánchez Almeida, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2018
      Citations
      25
    • SHARDS Frontier Fields: Physical Properties of a Low-mass Lyα Emitter at z = 5.75
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      Hernán-Caballero, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2017
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      13
    • Gas Accretion and Star Formation Rates
      Cosmological numerical simulations of galaxy evolution show that accretion of metal-poor gas from the cosmic web drives the star formation in galaxy disks. Unfortunately, the observational support for this theoretical prediction is still indirect, and modeling and analysis are required to identify hints as actual signs of star formation feeding
      Sánchez Almeida, J.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2017
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    • The molecular environment of the pillar-like features in the H ii region G46.5-0.2
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      Paron, S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
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    • Gran Telescopio Canarias observations of an overdense region of Lyman α emitters at z = 6.5
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      Chanchaiworawit, K. et al.

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      8
      2017
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    • A comparison between the soft X-ray and [O III] morphologies of active galactic nuclei
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      Gómez-Guijarro, Carlos et al.

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      8
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    • Hints on the Gradual Resizing of the Torus in AGNs through Decomposition of Spitzer/IRS Spectra
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      González-Martín, Omaira et al.

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      5
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    • The Nearest Ultra Diffuse Galaxy: UGC 2162
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      Trujillo, I. et al.

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      2
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    • On the Dearth of Ultra-faint Extremely Metal-poor Galaxies
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      Sánchez Almeida, J. et al.

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      2
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    • Star formation in AGNs at the hundred parsec scale using MIR high-resolution images
      It has been well established in the past decades that the central black hole masses of galaxies correlate with dynamical properties of their harbouring bulges. This notion begs the question of whether there are causal connections between the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and its immediate vicinity in the host galaxy. In this paper, we analyse the
      Ruschel-Dutra, D. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2017
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