Welcome to GEARS

GEARS (“Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy at the highest Angular Resolution and Sensitivity”) is a research project that aims at making significant advances in our understanding of stars, luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) through high angular resolution observations with world-leading interferometer facilities, including EVN, VLBA, GMVA, eMERLIN, JVLA, ALMA and LOFAR at radio, mm-, and submm-wavelengths and the VLTI at near infrared wavelengths.

Thanks to the superb combination of angular resolution and sensitivity, we can carry out detailed investigations of many astrophysical phenomena whose studies cannot be properly done otherwise:

• stellar studies, ranging from the formation of massive stars to the study of  radio supernovae, including the progenitors of type Ia supernovae;
• the study of local (U)LIRGs as testbeds for high-z star forming galaxies, the supernova factories, the “AGN-Star Formation” connection in (U-)LIRGs and the search for binary black holes, which are the result of the merging processes;
• the study of the parsec-scale relativistic jets in AGNs, including  the polarized emission at the inner nuclear regions and the core-shift effects, which will provide unique information on the physical properties of the jet.

Additionally, we are preparing our research group for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, which will constitute a giant leap forward for radio astronomy in many respects (sensitivity, survey speed,…). Within SKA, we aim at: obtaining a complete, un-obscured census of core-collapse supernovae; making the first radio detection of a type Ia supernova; tracing the star formation in nearby galaxies with unprecedented sensitivity by obtaining the first detailed census of star-formation products. In order to be prepared for the Early SKA1 Science and define our scientific niche, we are submitting proposals to the SKA Precursors (MeerKAT, LOFAR, ASKAP) in these research lines.