Research Projects

A large fraction of the time at IFAS is spent on small research projects aimed at hands-on skills with 3D data analysis. The projects cover a wide range of research topics in extra-galactic research revolving around integral field spectroscopy. The tutors of this year's school will be: Jens-Kristian Krogager (CRAL), Kanak Saha (IUCAA), Johan Richard (CRAL), Adélaïde Claeyssens (CRAL), Nicolas Bouché (CRAL), Christian Herenz (IUCAA), A N Ramaprakash (IUCAA), Anne Verhame (Geneva), R. Srianand (IUCAA). The projects will be assigned randomly taking into account your level of experience with data analysis.

Project 1: 

Title: Hunting for faint and distant galaxies in near-infrared observations by VLT/SINFONI

Instructor: Jens-Kristian Krogager (CRAL, Lyon, France)

Short description: The goal of the project is to identify faint emission signatures from galaxies near a bright back-ground quasar and to look for extended emission in the quasar itself. We will model spectral features in 1D and 3D in order to subtract the bright quasar.

Requirements: Python, QFitsView, model fitting

Project 3:

Title: Identifying strongly lensed galaxy candidates from MUSE/VLT observations

Instructor: Johan Richard (CRAL, Lyon, France)

Short description: The goal of the project is to search for line emitters in MUSE observations of massive galaxy clusters and identify pairs of multiple images which could originate from the same source. We will then use the most convincing candidates to model the mass distribution of the cluster with a very simplified mass model.

Requirements: Python,  Fits viewer (DS9 SAOImage or QFitsView), (optional) Topcat

 Project 4:

Title: Measuring Lyman-alpha halos around z~6 Lyman-Alpha Emitters (LAEs) using the deepest IFU observations 

Instructors: Anne Verhamme (University of Geneva and CRAL)  and Kanak Saha (IUCAA, India)

Short description: The circumgalactic medium is an extremely diffuse and extended reservoir of gas around galaxies, that regulates galaxy growth and galaxy evolution. It has been notoriously difficult to observe in emission  before the advent of sensitive, large field of view IFUs like MUSE and KCWI. Since a decade, this medium is routinely detected in Lyman-alpha around high-redshift galaxies, and its extend and brightness may anticorrelate with the escape of ionising photons from galaxies. We will measure and characterize the Lyman-alpha halos around 25 z~6 galaxies in the deepest IFU observations (MXDF, 140 hours of observations with MUSE).

Requirements: Python coding, FITS Viewer (DS9), statistics

Project 5: 

Title: Contrasting stellar and gas kinematics in spiral- and dwarf galaxies 

Instructor: Edmund Christian Herenz (IUCAA, India)

Short Description: Kinematics of galaxies are not only governed by gravitation, but also by feedback from
stellar winds and supernovae.  Feedback shapes the characteristics of spiral galaxies
and it can dramatically transform the characteristics of dwarf galaxies.  We will
analyse the kinematics of ionised gas and stars in spiral- and dwarf galaxies.  We will
then work our how the observed differences relate to star-formation activity in each of
these systems.

Requirements:Python (Anaconda Environment)