2022 Project Description

Exploring non-circular motions in barred galaxies

Supervisors

Carlos Lopez-Coba
Find out more about supervisors on ASIAA website

Task Description and Goals

This project is focused on the study of the non-circular flows induced by stellar bars in 1 or 2 galaxies with spatially resolved properties. For this purpose, the student will use fully analyzed data from the CALIFA galaxy survey. The goal of this project is to characterize the rotation patterns in galaxies with clear signs of stellar bar in optical images. The student will use the ionized gas kinematics, i.e., H-alpha emission, as a tracer of the disk rotation. To model the non-circular rotation patterns, the student will use pre-existing kinematic software packages (i.e., XookSuut). The student will make following tasks: (0) Derive the rotation curve of a non-barred galaxy, (i) Extract the rotation curve of 1 or 2 barred galaxies, (ii) Extract non-circular rotation patterns associated to the stellar bar or spiral arms; (iii) Interprete the non-circular motions; (iv) Derive the projected bar position angle based on the amplitude of the non-circular motions; (v) compare the kinematic position angle with the photometric one (vi) General conclusions

Required Background

Basic-Intermidiate knowledge in Python. Familiar with the concepts of Astronomical data (FITS files) General concepts of extragalactic astronomy.