Astrophysics expert meets with students from the San Joaquin Campus

Facundo Rodríguez, a researcher at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Astronomy of Argentina, shared with students and professors of the Bachelor’s Degree in Astrophysics.

The trip is part of the collaborative work that Rodríguez develops with the professor of the Physics Department and head of the Astrophysics Degree, Antonio Montero Dorta, within the framework of the Fondecyt project that the latter directs “The halo-galaxy connection in the era of multi-tracer cosmology. This project seeks to study the connection between the properties of galaxies and the properties of the dark matter halos in which they form and evolve, in the physical context of the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, Rodríguez’s research topic.

“One of the aspects that we study in greater depth in the project is precisely the distribution of halos, which are regions of the Universe where dark matter accumulates, which does not emit radiation, and therefore cannot be observed directly, and the galaxies. The halos and galaxies are distributed in a more or less grouped way, depending on their internal properties. This connection is tremendously complex and has important ramifications both for the study of galaxy formation and for cosmology, which is the study of the structure, formation and composition of the Universe”, explains Professor Antonio Montero Dorta.

The USM astrophysicist adds that “within this project we have several collaborators, from different parts of the world, including Facundo. One of his specialties is to identify groups of galaxies, he has worked a lot in the development of techniques to identify them. Through his work, not only can the properties of galaxy groups be determined, but also the dark matter halos where they are. This specialization has led us to develop various projects together”.

Within the framework of this collaborative work, Professor Montero Dorta and the IATE researcher took advantage of the trans-Andean visit to close a study article developed jointly regarding the evolution of satellite galaxies within the galaxy groups in which they are found. , made with hydrodynamic cosmological simulations.

“Each group of galaxies has a central galaxy, slightly more luminous, more massive and predominant, and other satellite galaxies that orbit around this central galaxy,” explains Facundo Rodríguez, who also shared his studies with the Astrophysics Degree students. knowledge in this matter.

Sharing with students

Within the framework of the Extragalactic Astrophysics subject, for fourth-year students, Rodríguez gave a class on methods for identifying groups and clusters of galaxies on maps or surveys of galaxies. “My idea was to tell the students how groups of galaxies are identified, explain to them the connection that exists between dark matter halos and the galaxies that inhabit them and how through study and observation we can identify them and discover which ones are associated and which ones. No,” he comments.

In addition to this class, Rodríguez gave the talk “Analysis of alignments of central galaxies using the anisotropic correlation function”, in which he presented the results of another of his research works to the attendees.

As Professor Montero Dorta explains, “the idea is to show students different areas of study in which they can be interested and deepen in the future. Both in class and in the talk there were many questions, which shows that there is interest in these topics. It is important that students come into contact with outside researchers and create discussion environments”.

communicate science

Specialist in Public Communication of Science and Scientific Journalism, Facundo Rodríguez has not only dedicated himself to research, but also to disseminating his knowledge at different levels of complexity.

For Rodríguez “communicating science is very important because it creates a link between the university and people in general. One may think that what one does or investigates is very far from people, but when you start to tell it, there is a lot of interest. In science it is important to tell what one does”.

“For me, trying to expand the communication of science and that people understand its importance is essential, because it is the way we have to continue doing it and make more sense. This way people can understand what is being done and why it is important to continue studying”, he explains.

Next steps

Both Professor Montero Dorta and Rodríguez are associate members of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), an Italian institute with numerous programs for undergraduate and graduate students and researchers.

After the visit to our country, Facundo Rodríguez will travel to Italy to stay at the ICTP for a few months, a place that the USM professor also plans to attend soon.

As the USM professor explains, “the idea of ​​this stay is to continue developing our projects and open spaces for new work in collaboration with scientists from the ICTP and with researchers from other institutions who also visit the institute. In addition, as USM ambassador I will see the possibility of generating instances of collaboration that may be of interest to our university”.