Observations of astronomical objects allow us to improve our understanding of the properties of galactic components and their synthesis. Physical phenomena that are crucial for the evolution of galaxies like gravitation, nuclear fusion, radiation, or shock waves, already played a major role in the formation of the first structures in the Universe. The study of the present Universe will thus shed light on the latest stages of cosmic evolution.
To this end, we use the objects in nearby galaxies and in our Galaxy as observational probes:
(1) The population of compact object binaries gives us insight into the stellar content of galaxies. Their X-ray luminosity function can be used to probe star formation history.
(2) Supernova remnants are responsible for the chemical abundances, the energy budget, and the dynamics in the interstellar medium (ISM), and thus drive the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies.
(3) The study of the emission from superbubbles and larger structures of the ISM reveals their global properties and evolution.
We analyze archival and new observational data and perform comparative studies with theoretical models. The study of nearby galaxies will open the door to a better understanding of the evolution of galaxies by detailed modeling of the production of astronomical sources and the evolution of the ISM with reliable star formation history constraints.

XMM-Newton (red) and MCELS Halpha (blue) image of the supergiant shell SGS LMC 2

Near-UV, radio (HI), and optical (R-band) image of the galaxy pair NGC1512/1510 and XMM-Newton image with detected sources (Ducci et al., 2014)

Projects

CV