Astrophysics research group

Organisation profile:The main area of interest of the Astrophysics Research Group (ARG) concerns the structure and the dynamical state of star forming regions during the last phase of their evolution, i.e. systems of recently formed stars embedded in the remains of their parental interstellar cloud. The research group aims to contribute to the following more specific areas within this framework : - the collection of observational information required to establish more realistic theoretical models for the distribution in phase space of the stars and the interstellar mass in a star forming region; - improvement of existing software for the reduction of observational data (in particular for echelle spectra and for the derivation of radial velocities by cross-correlation); - the gravitational dynamics of open clusters, in particular those phenomena which are characteristic for systems with a relatively small number (100 to 1000) of mass-points; the creation of software for numerical simulation of the evolution and for the interpretation of the results thereof; - application of advanced statistical techniques for parametric and non-parametric estimation of probability densities in the interpretation of observational data. During the past decade the group has devoted most of its efforts to the improvement of precision (minimizing random errors) and accuracy (minimizing systematic errors) in the measurement of radial velocities of early-type stars, in collaboration with several foreign research groups under the auspices of Commission 30 of the I.A.U. Presently we are studying the multiplicity of members of the Sco-Cen association using astrometric and photometric data from the HIPPARCOS mission the photometric database ASAS and supplemented by information from dedicated spectroscopic observations. Finally, we are involved in the preparation of the next astrometric ESA-mission (GAIA) which will probably be launched in the period 2010-2012.

Keywords:STELLAR DYNAMICS, RADIAL VELOCITIES, EARLY TYPE STARS, INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

Disciplines:Applied mathematics in specific fields, Astronomy and space sciences