Research on the LOCAL UNIVERSE

Galaxy evolution is occurring at the present epoch in the Local Universe, through gas accretion and gas consumption via star formation, or through passive evolution. Evolutionary processes can be studied in nearby galaxies with a detail that high-redshift objects do not allow. We rely on a multiwavelength approach and comparison with theoretical predictions; special attention is given to the interstellar medium of star-forming and quiescent galaxies and how its properties vary with galaxy mass, metallicity, and environment. The ultimate aim is to exploit studies of nearby galaxies in the cosmological context to better understand how galaxies form and evolve. Specifically, our group is engaged in studies of:

• Star formation processes in the Local Group (Viviana Casasola, Edvige Corbelli, Carlo Giovanardi, Laura Magrini)
• Gas and dust content and radiation transfer modeling of nearby spirals (Simone Bianchi, Marco Bocchio, Viviana Casasola, Edvige Corbelli, Carlo Giovanardi, Leslie Hunt)
• Stellar mass in galaxies: its measurement and its effects (Anna Gallazzi, Leslie Hunt, Stefano Zibetti)
• Dark matter, gas and satellite accretion in galaxies (Edvige Corbelli, Stefano Zibetti)
• ISM properties of early type galaxies (Sperello di Serego Alighieri, Carlo Giovanardi)
• Stellar populations in galaxies (age and chemical abundance) and their dependance on galaxy mass and environment (Anna Gallazzi)
• Radial metallicity gradients in disk galaxies: shape and time evolution (Viviana Casasola, Edvige Corbelli, Laura Magrini)
• Integral-field spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies CALIFA (Anna Gallazzi, Stefano Zibetti)
  
• Dust features and ISM components of star-forming metal-poor dwarf galaxies (Leslie Hunt)
• Herschel Open Time Key Projects for nearby galaxies, including KINGFISH (Leslie Hunt, Stefano Zibetti), HeViCS (Simone Bianchi, Marco Bocchio, Edvige Corbelli, Sperello di Serego Alighieri, Carlo Giovanardi, Leslie Hunt, Laura Magrini, Stefano Zibetti), and DustPedia (Simone Bianchi, Viviana Casasola)