The UCM instrumentation group coordinates the efforts and activities of UCM researchers in the field of development and scientific exploitation of astronomical instrumentation for large facilities. The group is mainly formed by UCM staff and postdoctoral researchers, with the collaboration of Ph.D. and graduate students.

OVERVIEW

GUAIX (Group of Extragalactic Astrophysics and Astronomical Instrumentation) was founded in 2007 with the idea of joining the efforts of the group of Star-Forming Galaxies (Dr. J. Zamorano and J. Gallego), the group of Elliptical Galaxies (Dr. J. Gorgas and N. Cardiel) and the group of Astronomical Instrumentation (Dr. J. Gallego and N. Cardiel). All the members of the group have 26 research periods (sexenios).  

The group currently includes more than twenty people: three professors (catedráticos): Javier Gorgas, Jaime Zamorano and Jesús Gallego; associate professors: Nicolás Cardiel, Armando Gil de Paz, África Castillo and Mª Ángeles Gómez-Flechoso; five postdocs: Sergio Pascual, Bililign T. Dullo, Cristina Catalán-Torrecilla, Santi Roca-Fàbrega and José Oñorbe; six Ph.D. students: Belén Alcalde, Cristina Cabello, Ángela García-Argumanez, Mario Chamorro-Cazorla, José Robles and Pilar Herrero; one lab technician: Carlos Tapia; and one manager: Ainhoa Sánchez-Penim; plus honorary collaborators: Rafael Guzmán (University of Florida), Jaime Izquierdo, Santos Pedraz (Calar Alto Observatory), Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel (Univ. Exeter).

The group appears in the catalogue of groups of the UCM under code 921317 and has received an excellent grade in the latest evaluation.

The main lines of research are:

  • Galaxies with star formation in the Local Universe and at high redshift.
  • Elliptical galaxies.
  • Optical and infrared instrumentation of large telescopes.
  • Processing of astronomical observations and astronomical databases.
  • Light pollution.

The group participates actively in multiple administration and management bodies of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid: N. Cardiel and J. Zamorano have been Head of the Department; J. Gorgas is currently Head of the Department of Earth Sciences and Astrophysics (with aprox. 100 members); J. Zamorano, N. Cardiel, and A. Gil de Paz are members of the Board (Junta de Facultad) of the Physics Faculty; and J. Gallego is the Deputy Director of the Fundación General UCM.

Webpage: http://guaix.fis.ucm.es/

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

Since its beginning, the GUAIX group has continuously participated in multiple research projects: 23 national projects of the “Plan Nacional de I+D+i” (Excelencia, Retos, Redes, Congresos Internacionales), 4 European projects, 5 projects financed by the Community of Madrid, 5 LOU Art. 83, 2 “Industria de la Ciencia” projects of the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), 2 projects of other agencies (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and 1 contract with public company GRANTECAN S.A. The total budget of currently active projects is over 5 million euros, with the amount received in last 10 years being ~10 million euros.

 

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECTS

- MEGARA (Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía) is an optical integral-field Unit (IFU) and multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and third-generation instrument already installed (Summery of 2017) in the Spanish 10.4m GTC telescope. Group responsible for the construction of the instrument. PI: A. Gil de Paz.

- EMIR: "Multi-object spectrograph in the infrared". Second-generation instrument installed (Summer 2016) at the Spanish 10.4m GTC telescope. Co-I: J. Gallego. The UCM is a member of the consortium responsible for its data processing.

- MOSAIC: “Multi-object and multi-integral field spectrograph for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)”. The UCM is involved in the Control Work Package and is responsible for the Calibration Work Package.

- FRIDA: "Integral field spectrograph with adaptive optics for the GTC". Co-I: N. Cardiel. UCM is a member of the consortium responsible for data processing.

- MIRADAS: "Multi-object spectrograph with high spectral resolution in the infrared". Third generation instrument to be installed in the Spanish 10.4m GTC telescope. Co-I: J. Gallego. UCM is a member of the consortium responsible for its data processing.  

- FISIR. "Tunable near infrared filter for GTC". Group responsible for the instrument. PI: J. Gallego.

 

HUMAN RESOURCES  

RECRUITMENT

One of the objectives of the group is training of pre- and postdoctoral staff. Our activities include collaboration scholarships, TFG and TFM, and supervision of pre- and postdoctoral fellows. Since its foundation in 2007, the group has received 6 FPI grants/contracts, 2 FPU grants/contracts, 1 predoctoral grant from the Campus of Excellence (CEI), 1 Early Stage Researchers - ESR grant from the European project DAGAL, 2 Ramón y Cajal contracts, 1 contract Juan de la Cierva, 3 “Atracción al Talento” contracts from Comunidad de Madrid (one in Modality 1, and two in Modality 2), 1 predoctoral grant from the “Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil Comunidad de Madrid” and 1 postdoctoral grant from the “Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil Comunidad de Madrid”.

A total of 16 Ph.D. theses have been presented in the group, in addition to five theses that are currently ongoing. In addition, more than 50 Final Degree (TFG) and Master's (TFM) Works have been supervised. J. Gallego has directed two El Escorial Summer Courses. J. Gallego was a member of the steering committee of the International School for Advanced Instrumentation (IScAI, 2008-2012) organised by the Consolider-Ingenio project. N. Cardiel participated in all the editions of the school as a teacher.

Some of the doctors trained in the group are currently working in prestigious institutions: ESAC (Villar, V.), European Southern Observatory (Muñoz-Mateos, J.C.), University of the Pacific (Toloba, E.), University of California Santa Cruz (Barro, G.), University of Exeter (Sánchez, A.), Universidad de Padova (Rodríguez-Muñoz, L.), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Bouquin, A.) and ETH Zürich (Marino, R.A.).

Furthermore, some of the postdocs that worked with our group in the past are now in important research institutions such as the Geneva Observatory (Cava, A.), ESAC, (Esquej, P.), UPenn/USA (Domínguez, H.), Centro de Astrobiología (Hernán, A.)

The professors of the GUAIX group actively participate in the UCM Master in Astrophysics (J. Gallego and J. Gorgas have been coordinators and A. Gil de Paz is the current coordinator) and in UCM Ph.D. program in Astrophysics (J. Gallego has been coordinator).

 

TRAINING CAPACITY:

Presented Theses:

- Spatial, temporal and spectral variation of light pollution and its sources: methodology and results. (06/07/2015). Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel.

- Physical properties of Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies at different redshifts. (28/09/2015). Lucía Rodríguez Muñoz.

- Distribution of metals in galactic discs with integral field spectroscopy. (30/09/2015). Raffaella Anna Marino. UCM Extraordinary Ph.D. Award.

- Formation and evolution of galactic bulges: the importance of secular processes. (10/12/2015). Raúl Cacho Martínez.

- Dynamic masses of star-forming galaxies from UCM exploration. (17/12/2015). Jaime Izquierdo Gómez.

- Self-consistent analysis of the stellar population and dust properties in galaxies at z<1 (17/12/2015). Néstor Espino-Briones

- Spatially resolved analysis of the Star Formation Rate and its Cosmic Density in nearby galaxies. (25/05/2017). Cristina Catalán Torrecilla. UCM Extraordinary Ph.D. Award.

- Techniques for the detection and characterization of interplanetary matter close to the Earth from ground-based observatories. (05/06/2017). Franciso Ocaña.

- UV tracing of the recent star formation activity in galaxy disks within the S4G survey: from strangulation to XUV emission. (01/06/2018). Alexandre Bouquin.

 

Ongoing Ph.D. theses:

- Stellar populations in galaxies formed during the first 2 Gyr of the universe (z>3). Belén Alcalde Pampliega.

- Study of galactic winds in galaxies with MEGARA. Mario Chamorro Cazorla.

- Analysis of the stellar mass assembly of Milky Way like galaxies in the last 12 Gyr, Ángela García Argumánez.

- Study of distant low-mass star-forming galaxies in the near infrared, Cristina Cabello.

- A Statistical Study of Night Sky Brightness in the Comunidad de Madrid, José Robles.

- Star formation processes in dwarf galaxies, Pilar Herrero.

 

Postgraduate Programs

J. Gallego, J. Gorgas, J. Zamorano, J. Cardiel, A. Gil de Paz, and A. Castillo, all members of the GUAIX Group, are responsible for one/various subjects of the Master in Astrophysics, which is currently coordinated by A. Gil de Paz.

This program received the “Mention towards Excellence” 2011-2014. The “Mention towards excellence” seal of quality ensures the scientific-technical and training solvency of the Ph.D. Program. The “Mention towards excellence” privileges the PhD in Astrophysics programs of the UCM, in obtaining grants for the mobility of professors and students, and in the awarding of scholarships, in specific calls of the official institutions.

As result of the evaluation performed by the Centre for Higher Education Development, which includes a total of 215 universities worldwide, this program is also now part of its Excellence Group.

 

OUTREACH AND DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

The GUAIX group is actively involved in outreach and scientific dissemination. Every week, the group organizes a Journal Club where the latest scientific papers are presented and discussed.

Multidisciplinary seminars of the Earth Physics and Astrophysics Department are also organized every week, with the aim of establishing synergies between the different research groups of the department.

 

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