Lectures and thesis > Theses

24/04/2022 Pagina a cura di Giovanni Sabatini - Aggiornata il 02/02/2024

Theses

Available projects

  • Title: Unveiling the nature of high-redshift radio galaxies in the radio and millimeter band. (durata: > 6 mesi)

Scientific Rationale: High-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) are among the most massive galaxies in the early Universe. They have traditionally been identified by the ultra-steep spectrum of their easily detectable radio continuum, which served as a beacon for tracing the faint host galaxy environment. HzRGs have been observed to be the signposts of large overdensities in the early Universe, the so-called protoclusters that are believed to be the ancestors of local rich clusters. There are strong evidences that HzRGs in the center of high-z clusters are the probable progenitor of the local Brightest Cluster Galaxies. Therefore, HzRGs are an ideal tool for probing the formation of BCGs and the AGN activity in the host galaxies in the premordial cluster environment. Goals: Clarifying the still unknown continuum millimeter and puzzling radio properties of a sample of HzRGs in the Southern Hemisphere: identifying source components (core, jets, lobes) and possibly the emission mechanisms (thermal or thermal or jets, lobes non-thermal?). Studying the cold molecular gas content which is the raw ingredient for star formation and potential fuel for the AGN: how does it relate with the radio morphology?

→ Methods: Analysis of archival ALMA millimeter observations, and VLA/ATCA radio data.
→ Acquired skills: Archive mining, CASA imaging, analysis tools (python scripts, KAFE software) Depending on the available time, ALMA data calibration processes
→ IRA-ARC Referent: Elisabetta Liuzzo (liuzzo@ira.inaf.it) — UniBO Referent: Myriam Gitti

  • Title: The origin of the mini-starburst in the War-and-Peace Nebula (Duration: 6 months)

To look for signs of cloud-cloud collisions in one of the most active SF complexes in our Galaxy. This region, aka NGC6357, contains 3 very massive open clusters, hosting some of the most massive stars known to exist. The formation of these star clusters may have been triggered by the collision of two or more molecular clouds. The effects of this should be visible in the morphology and kinematics of the molecular gas.

→ Available material: maps of the entire complex in: 12CO(3-2) and 13CO(3-2) (JCMT); Near-IR (JHK,H2) (UKIRT); mid-IR (GLIMPSE); dust-continuum emission (450mum, 850mum: SCUBA2; Herschel Hi-GAL);

→ Supervisors:  IRA-ARC: Jan Brand (brand@ira.inaf.it), Andrea Giannetti (agianne@ira.inaf.it); Arcetri: Fabrizio Massi (fmassi@arcetri.astro.it)

  • Title: Dust polarization study of star-forming objects in the Orion filament (Durata: > 6 mesi da iniziare da Marzo 2018 in poi)

Magnetic fields are found to play an important role in filamentary shaped molecular clouds and most probably also in prestellar cores and young stellar objects. So far only very few polarimetric observations have been carried out at the high angular resolution and sensitivity necessary to capture single star-forming objects. The Laurea thesis will aim at retrieving the polarimetric properties of three young star-forming objects in the Orion filament using Archival ALMA data and relate this to the gravitational energy and outflow properties.

→ Lavoro: Calibrazione e imaging di dati ALMA in polarizzazione. Analisi dati polarizzazione, del dust continuum e dati CO (JCMT, Archive) per indagare la relazione del campo magnetico rispetto agli effetti di gravita’ e outflow.

→Referente IRA-ARC: Kazi Rygl (kazi@ira.inaf.it) e Rosita Paladino (paladino@ira.inaf.it) — Referente UniBo: Francesca Pozzi (f.pozzi@unibo.it)

Ongoing theses

  • Master Thesis: Giant molecular clouds properties along the bar of NGC3627 

ALMA has the ability to resolve star-forming structures in nearby galaxies with unprecedented sensitivity. Detailed studies of Giant molecular clouds (GMC) previously possible only in the Milky Way can be now done on GMC in nearby galaxies. ALMA observations of two CO transitions (CO(1-0) and CO(2-1)) have been recently taken in the bar region of NGC3627 NGC3627 is a nearby, face-on, galaxy, with a prominent bar structure, well observed at different frequencies. The spatial resolution achieved at 230 GHz (CO(2-1)) is of ~30 pc. It is possible to conduct a detailed study of the properties of GMC in different environments: the nucleus of the galaxy, the bar regions, the ends of the bar, the inner rings.

→ Student: Inti Vasquez
→ Supervisors:  IRA-ARC: Rosita Paladino (paladino@ira.inaf.it); UniBO: Cristian Vignali

  • PhD Thesis: Study of the magnetic field in galaxies from dust polarized emission

→ Student: Davide Belfiori
→ Supervisors:  IRA-ARC: Rosita Paladino (paladino@ira.inaf.it); UniBO: Andrea Miglio

 

Submitted theses