WELCOME TO MY GROUP RESEARCH WEBPAGE! - projects

 
 

 

Our main research interests concern the nature of the Dark components of the Universe and the understanding of the structure formation, in particular:

1 - dark matter annihilation and decay detectability

2 - the formation and evolution of dark matter halos: theory and simulations

3 - large scale structure: dark matter, dark energy and cosmological parameters

4 - galaxy formation and evolution

In the following, we give a brief introduction to the projects in which we are involved, for more datails do not hesitate to contact us.

 

COSMOLOGY.

Cosmology is our main research interest. We are involved in three important projects: the ALHAMBRA survey, SDSS-III and BigBOSS. We also perform theorietical studies making use of large sets of cosmological N-body simulations.

The AHAMBRA (Advanced Large Homogeneus Area Medium Band Redishift Astronomical) survey is a photometric survey that covers a total area of 4 square degrees in the sky in 8 different files with 20 filters. The survey is prformed at the Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA), in Spain. The primary goal of the ALHAMBRA is to study the cosmic evolution and the survey covers several subjects, including cluster of galaxies, galaxy morphology and eviroment, stellar population studies, Milky Way structures, and stellar studies.

The SDSS-III (Sloan Digital Sky Survey III) is built on the legacy of the SDSS surveys. The international collaboration is carrying out a program of surveys on three principal scientific items: dark energy and cosmological parameters; the structure, dynamics, and chemical evolution of the Milky Way; and the architecture of the planetary sistems. Between 2008 and 2014, we will exploit the unique wide field spectroscopic capability of the Apache Point Observatory's 2.5-meter telescope, in United States.

The BigBOSS exoperiment is a proposed ground-based dark energy experiment to study the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the growth of the structure with an all-sky galaxy redshift survey. The project is designed to unlock the mystery of the dark energy using the existing ground-based facilities operated by the National Optcal Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), in United States.

We also perform various theoretical studies making use of large sets of N-body cosmological simulations (see e.g. the Bolshoi simulation or the CLUES project webpages) run by our friends Anatoly Klypin (NMSU), Gustavo Yepes (UAM), Stefan Gottloeber (AIP) and collaborators.

 

ASTROPARTICLE.

In the astroparticle filed we are involved in the MULTIDARK consortium as well as in the MAGIC and in the GAW projects.

MULTIDARK (Multimessenger Approach for Dark Matter Detection) is a Spanish project supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation's Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Progamme. It started in December 17, 2009, and will last for 5 years. The main goal of the project is to contribue to the idenstification and detection of the dark matter. To this end, we propose: to anayse in detail the most plausible candidates for dark matter, to investigate how they form dark halos hosting galaxies, and to constribute to the development of experiments to detect dark matter.

The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) collaboration have buit two Cherenkov telescopes that can explore the gamma-ray universe in the GeV - TeV energy range. MAGIC principal goals are the stuty of active galactic nuclei, binary sistems, supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts and of many important cosmology foundamental questions. In MAGIC, we are principally involved in the search for dark matter, the study of cosmc rays acceleration in galaxy clusters, the extragalactic background light study and gamma-ray bursts detection.

The GAW (Gamma Air Watch) is a pathfinder project for a new generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes which joins both high flux sensitivity and large field of view. GAW will observe the gamma-ray sky above 0.7 TeV by using an array of three telescopes localted in Calar Alto (Spain) at 2168 meter a.sl.. The project is in the development stage.

Also in the astroparticle field, we are performing theoretical studies principally connected to the dark matter detectability, the possible gamma-ray emission from cluster of galaxies and the extragalactic background light characterization.

 

INSTRUMENTATION.

Last but not least, the SIDE (Super Ifu Deployable Experiment) is a instrumentation group formed by our cosmology group here in Granada and the company AVS (Added Value Solutions), which target is the instrumentation for spectroscopy survey. University of Barcelona, the Astropysical Institute of Canary Islands (IAC), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Durham are also collaborators of SIDE.