Michel Curé
Dr. rer. nat. Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
Full professor at Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso.
Phone: (+56 32) 250 5519
Email: michel.cure@uv.cl

Publications:  See Publications  

Research: Massive stars, stellar winds, hydrodynamics, radiative transport, numerical methods, astrostatistics, astrometeorology

My main line of research is massive stars, and particularly the manner in which they lose mass (stellar winds and hydrodynamics). We use different codes for obtaining the synthetic spectra of stars, Hydwind (developed by our group), FASTWIND & CMFGEN for radiative transport. We also do research in astrostatistics, applying new statistic tools for solving astrophysical problems, for example in the distribution of rotational velocities of stars or the distribution of mass ratios in binary systems. Another area we cover is astrometeorology, that is, understanding and predicting the atmospheric conditions over international observatories built in Chile. We pay particular attention to precipitable water vapor predictions and seeing.

Projects in execution:

• PI: “Winds from massive stars in spherical and oblate geometries ” Fondecyt Regular Nº 1230131, 2023-2027
• CoI: Physics of Extreme Massive Stars, MSCA-RISE 823734, 2018-2024

Past recent projects:

• PI: “Stellar winds in massive stars” Fondecyt Regular Nº 1190485, 2019-2023
• PI: “Decretion disks and outflows around Fast-Spinning stars”, Conicyt Chile – FAPESP Brazil Nº 13354-1, 2020-2022
• PI: “Paseando por el Sistema Solar” Gemini-Conicyt outreach Nº 32190009, 2019 – 2021

Catalina Arcos
PhD in Astrophysics, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
Assistant professor at Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso.
Phone: (+56 32) 250 8301
Email: catalina.arcos@uv.cl

Publications: See Publications

Research: Massive stars, stellar winds, Be stars, line variability

My research focuses on the study of the variability of Be stars, disk and stellar parameters, their rate of mass loss and the connection with disk formation. To do this, we created the BeSOS website: https://besos.ifa.uv.cl that contains reduced HR spectra of southern Be stars observed with the PUCHEROS spectrograph. We restrict the star parameters of 71 Be stars using stellar atmosphere modeling. Projected rotation speeds were obtained for all spectra, as well as EW, DPS, V / R in the H-alpha line.

Projects in execution:

• CoI: “Winds from massive stars in spherical and oblate geometries”, Fondecyt Regular Nº 1230131, 2023-2027
• PI: “Talleres de física y astronomía para residencias familiares de Mejor niñez en la región de Valparaíso”, Outreach, ESO-Comité mixto 2023
• CoI: “Construyendo una comunidad más inclusiva”, outreach, ASTRO20-0044 2021-2023
• Associated researcher: Physics of Extreme Massive Stars, MSCA-RISE 823734, 2018-2024

Past recent projects:

• PI: “Long-term variability in Be stars: features of the outer disks” Fondecyt Iniciación Nº11190945, 2019-2023
• CoI: “Stellar winds in massive stars” Fondecyt Regular Nº 1190485, 2019-2023
• CoI: “Decretion disks and outflows around Fast-Spinning stars”, Conicyt Chile – FAPESP Brazil Nº 13354-1, 2020-2022
• CoI: “Elemental la fuerza de la naturaleza”, outreach, CIENCIA PÚBLICA 2021-2022
• PI: “Talleres de Física y Astronomía para residencias familiares del SENAME en la región de Valparaíso”, outreach, ESO Comité-mixto, 2021
• CoI: “Paseando por el Sistema Solar” Gemini-Conicyt outreach Nº 32190009, 2019 – 2021
• PI: “Mito & Rali in the land of stars”, outreach, ALMA-CONICYT Nº31190014, 2019-2020

Elisson de Almeida
PhD in Sciences de la Planète et de l’Univers, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (Université Côte d’Azur), France.
Postdoc at Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso.
Phone: (+56 32) 250
Email: elisson.dealmeida@uv.cl

Publications: See Publications

Research: Massive stars, stellar winds

My name is Elisson Saldanha da Gama de Almeida (E. S. G. de Almeida)  and I am PhD in «Sciences de la Planète et de l’Univers» at Laboratoire Lagrange/Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (Université Côte d’Azur). Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow (Fondecyt/ANID) supervised by Dr. Michel Curé at IFA/UV. I have experience in stellar astrophysics, especially in spectroscopy, interferometry and radiative transfer modeling of massive hot stars (such as O, Be, LBV, and B-supergiant stars). To date, I have been co-supervising the PhD thesis of Gonzalo Aravena Rojas (advisor: Dr. Michel Curé) at IFA/UV and work as ad hoc reviewer for The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) and Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A). My research project at IFA/UV concerns the hydrodynamics of winds of massive hot stars in the context of the so-called weak wind phenomenon (also called «the weak wind problem»). In addition, I work with multi-wavelength interferometry and radiative transfer modeling of massive hot stars in close collaboration with researchers at Université Côte d’Azur (France) and Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy (Chile). More information about my work can be found at: https://www.elissondealmeida.com

Projects in execution:

• PI: “Probing the weak wind phenomenon in massive stars through hydrodynamical simulations” Fondecyt postdoc Nº 3220776, 2022-2025.

Tiago Batista
PhD in Astronomy, Observatório Nacional, Brazil.
Postdoc at Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso.
Phone: (+56 32) 250
Email: tiago.souza@uv.cl

Publications: See Publications

Research: Massive stars, Modelling of Be Stars

My name is Tiago Batista Souza (Souza, T.B), I’m a postdoctoral fellow (Fondecyt/ANID) supervised by Dra. Catalina Arcos at IFA/UV. I have experience in spectroscopy, photometry and Speckle interferometry of massive stars, especially Be stars. My postdoctoral research project concerns the modelling data using the radiative transfer code HDUST of a sample of southern Be stars belonging to the BeSoS database. In addition, I will study the variability of spectroscopic line profiles and the mechanisms responsible for the formation/dissipation of viscous decretion disks. By modelling different types of data and covering a wide spectral region, I will obtain a set of physical parameters of both the central star and its circumstellar disk for many Be stars, being for the vast majority the first estimate of physical parameters. This will allow us to contribute to a better understanding of these objects.

Projects in execution:

• PI: “Modeling of classical Be Star belonging to the BeSOS database” Fondecyt postdoc Nº 3230770, 2023-2026.