Lines of research: Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

The area of planetary and solar systems involves several research groups working on Exoplanets, Solar System and Cultural Astronomy. Our main objectives are:

  • The detection and characterization of giant and rocky planets around nearby stars using the most advanced instruments (CARMENES, ESPRESSO, HARPS Norte y Sur, SONG, LCO, MUSCAT2) and space missions (CoRoT, Kepler K2, CHEOPS, TESS and PLATO). The group is particularly interested in the study of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of their host stars where water can be in liquid form.
  • The characterization of the atmospheres of planets to know their structure and composition, both by transits and direct imaging, using ground-based telescopes such as GTC and space missions such as CHEOPS.
  • Investigate the formation of exoplanet systems by studying the chemical composition of planet host stars, and the dynamical evolution of exoplanets at their early stages of formation.
  • Study the physical properties of different families of minor bodies of the Solar System (asteroids, comets, trans-neptunian objects, etc.) to understand the origin and evolution of Solar System with GTC and space missions such as OSIRIS-REx.
  • The study of ancient cosmologies through cultural astronomy and the defense of cultural heritage through the astronomy.
  • Publication
    Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: a new determination of the D/H ratio towards PKS1937-101
    Primordial abundances of light elements are sensitive to the physics of the early Universe and can directly constrain cosmological quantities, such as the...
  • Publication
    Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: Constraining a simple parametrisation for varying α
    Context. The spectrograph ESPRESSO recently obtained a limit on the variation of the fine-structure constant, α, through measurements along the line of sight of...
  • Publication
    Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: Constraints on Bekenstein and dark energy models from astrophysical and local probes<SUP>*</SUP>
    Dynamical scalar fields in an effective four-dimensional field theory are naturally expected to couple to the rest of the theory's degrees of freedom, unless...
  • Publication
    Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: Towards an accurate wavelength calibration for a precision test of the fine-structure constant
    Observations of metal absorption systems in the spectra of distant quasars allow one to constrain a possible variation of the fine-structure constant throughout...
  • Publication
    Further investigation of white dwarfs in the open clusters NGC 2287 and NGC 3532
    We report the results of a CCD imaging survey, complemented by astrometric and spectroscopic follow-up studies, that aims to probe the fate of heavy-weight...
  • Publication
    Furthering our knowledge of the solar neighborhood using WISE
    The launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in late 2009 ushered in an new era in the study of the solar neighborhood. Its mid-infrared...
  • Publication
    Gaia-ESO survey: Lithium abundances in open cluster Red Clump stars
    Context. It has recently been suggested that all giant stars with masses below 2 M ⊙ suffer an episode of surface lithium enrichment between the tip of the red...
  • Publication
    Galactic archaeology with asteroseismology and spectroscopy: Red giants observed by CoRoT and APOGEE
    With the advent of the space missions CoRoT and Kepler, it has recently become feasible to determine precise asteroseismic masses and relative ages for large...
  • Publication
    Gas and dust from solar metallicity AGB stars
    We study the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) evolution of stars with masses between 1 M⊙and8.5 M⊙. We focus on stars with a solar chemical composition, which...