Job Position Description

The LUCA is a survey of galaxies in the Local Volume (distance less than 10 Mpc) and the Virgo cluster. These galaxies will be observed with a new integral field spectrographs to be built for the 3.5m and the Schmidt telescopes at the Calar Alto Observatoy. The LUCA project has been approved by CAHA and the feasibility study has already started. The main goal of LUCA is to spatially resolve the fine structure of galaxies with physical scales of a few ten pcs to map the stellar populations, the interstellar medium, dark matter, and kinematics of nearby galaxies. This is the range of spatial scales needed to constrain the sub-grid physics in models of galaxy formation and evolution. This goal will be achieved thanks to the wide-area cover by the IFS of 3x3 arcmin, and the spectral resolution of ~2000 -3500 of the two new set of instruments for Calar Alto. LUCA will enable us to map the bulge, disk, and halo properties with unprecedented high spatial resolution, and to study the effects of the environment on these galaxy components at different levels of field density, isolated galaxies, galaxy groups, and the nearest galaxy cluster. The PhD will be engaged in the analysis of the first runs of observations to be done with the Schmidt telescope. These runs will be dedicated to largest and more nearby galaxies of the sample: M33, M31 and their satellites (M32, NGC205), and NGC2403. Further, the PhD will perform a preparatory analysis and characterization of the sample by using the data that the Path-finder camera at T250@Javalambre observatory is already obtaining through the JPAS survey. The PhD will have access to these data thanks to the participation role of the leader group of this proposal, Rosa González Delgado, in the two surveys as Science Team coordinator of the “Evolution of galaxies” working group of JPAS.

Group Leader: Rosa González (rosa@iaa.es)

https://www.iaa.csic.es/~rosa/Rosa/Principal.html