I specialise in the central bulges of disk galaxies; in distant early-type galaxies, and in galaxy mergers. Addressing one of today's fundamental questions on galaxy evolution, my studies hope to increase our knowledge on the processes that led massive galaxies to stop making stars, some 10 billion years ago.
For my research I use powerful resources available to today's astronomers, such as large optical and infrared telescopes on the ground (GTC, ESO/VLT, the ING telescopes ) and in space (HST, Spitzer).
I also use Supercomputers to perform simulations of galaxy evolution using N-body and hydrodynamic techniques.
I am a member of a number of international research groups. I was co-founder of the GOYA collaboration. In GOYA, I lead the group on distant early-type galaxies, and the IAC chapter of GOYA. I belong to the EMIR scientific group. I belong to the Coma-ACS Legacy Survey collaboration, where I lead the Coma Structural Parameters working group.
I am also involved in instrumentation. I was PI of the EMIR spectrograph and initiated its design. I am a member of the Science Advisory Committee for the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes. I am promoting the development of wide-field spectroscopy and imaging at the WHT.
My collaborators: GOYA-IAC current members Mercedes Prieto, Ignacio Trujillo, Angela Hempel, current PhD students Lilian Dominguez-Palmero, Carlos López-Sanjuan, and David Abreu; previous students in the group: David Cristóbal-Hornillos (IAA), and Carmen Eliche-Moral (UCM). Other GOYA core team members: Rafael Guzman (Florida), Jesús Gallego (UCM Madrid), Roser Pelló (Toulouse). Collaborators in galaxy bulge studies: Reynier Peletier (Groningen), Alister Graham (Swinburne). Collaborators in the Coma structural parameter working group: Peletier, Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, Mark den Brok (Groningen), and Carlos Hoyos (UAM). Collaborators in numerical simulation work: César González-García (UAM), M. Carmen Eliche-Moral (UCM), and graduate student Trinidad Tapia-Peralta (IAC).
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Last Modified: 03 March 2010