Ministry Project: AYA2015-63939-C2-2-P
Funding Body: MICINN
Name of the group: Radioastronomia
Principal Investigator: José Carlos Guirado Puerta
Abstract::
We aim at making significant advances in our understanding of stars, luminous infrared galaxies and active galactic nuclei through high angular resolution observations with world-leading interferometer facilities, including EVN, VLBA, GMVA, eMERLIN, JVLA, ALMA and LOFAR at radio, mm-, and submm-wavelengths and the VLTI at near infrared wavelengths. Thanks to the superb combination of angular resolution and sensitivity, we can carry out detailed investigations of many astrophysical phenomena whose studies cannot be properly done otherwise.
In the field of Stellar Studies, our goals are: determine the orbital motions of the components of massive multiple systems and the morphologies of young massive objects to constrain the formation mechanisms of massive stars; search for and characterize the radio emission in late-type, low-mass objects in young nearby moving groups; estimate accurate dynamic masses of binary pre-main sequence stars in order to test stellar evolutionary models; probe the radio emission of core-collapse supernovae of all types and trace their mass-loss history; probe the progenitor scenarios of thermonuclear supernovae; study the 3D-distributions of the CO and SiO molecules recently discovered in the cold inner ejecta of SN 1987A with ALMA observations to infer the shape of the supernova explosion; study the structures of the large and dense atmospheres of AGB and RSG stars.
In the field of (Ultra-)Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), we aim to study a sample of ULIRGs in the local Universe to use them as test-beds for high-z star-forming galaxies, disentangling the dominant power source responsible for gas and dust heating (star-formation, accretion, or both), characterizing the population of nonthermal sources in the nuclear regions through deep high angular resolution observations, testing the Kennicutt-Schmidt law, and searching for dual binary black holes, which are a natural consequence of the merging processes of galaxies.
In the field of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), our work is directed to: trace the polarized fine structure of the nuclear regions, testing the jet formation models in scales of thousands of Schwarzschilds radii; combine our VLBI survey studies of AGNs with information from high-energy observatories (both ground and space), to study the nature of the core region and the relation between the gamma-ray bursts and the ejection of new components in the relativistic jets; determine the core-shifts at the base of the relativistic jets to estimate the physical properties of the jets.
During the duration of the requested project, we will also prepare our research groups for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, which will constitute a giant leap forward for radio astronomy in many respects (sensitivity, survey speed,). Within SKA, we aim at: obtaining a complete, un-obscured census of core-collapse supernovae; making the first radio detection of a type Ia supernova; tracing the star formation in nearby galaxies with unprecedented sensitivity by obtaining the first detailed census of star-formation products.
