AIM has a wide range of research themes developed within thematic teams. All teams are strongly involved in national and international collaborations.
The interpretation teams at AIM
- Cosmology and Evolution of Galaxies (LCEG)
AIM’s “Cosmology and Galaxy Evolution” team focuses on the study of the formation, evolution and physical properties of large cosmological structures, galaxy clusters, galaxies themselves and their internal structure, right down to the scales of star formation processes. These structures are studied throughout cosmic time, from the birth of the first galaxies to the objects closest to our time. This research is based on multi-wavelength observations from state-of-the-art observatories (ALMA, JWST, VLT, IRAM and Euclid), complemented by cosmological and galaxy evolution simulations, using Europe’s largest supercomputers. A constant exchange between observations and simulations is sought in order to optimize data interpretation and provide the best constraints for structure formation models.
- Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium (LFEMI)
The “Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium” team studies in detail the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies of different masses and chemical compositions. The way in which various observations probe the structure of the ISM (mass, chemical content, turbulence) is increasingly well understood. Radiation transfer in the MIS and the light-matter interaction are being studied through increasingly advanced modeling, and can now be applied to the first small galaxies of the reionization epoch.
- Dynamics of Stars, Exoplanets and their Environment (LDE3)
The “Dynamics of Stars, Exoplanets and their Environment” team conducts cutting-edge research to understand the internal and external structure, dynamics and evolution of the Sun, stars, planets and exoplanet atmospheres. It also studies the multi-scale gravitational, magnetic and radiative interactions between these celestial bodies, as well as with their environment, winds and (exo-)space weather, and the orbital architecture of planetary systems. This research is based on innovative theoretical predictions, numerical simulations on supercomputers (HPC), analysis of observational data to constrain models, and the development of instruments for dedicated space missions (SOHO, Solar Orbiter, JWST, PLATO, Ariel). They are built around three interconnected pillars: understanding the Sun and heliosphere, for which Solar Orbiter plays a central role, and the dynamics and evolution of stars and their exoplanets.
- High-Energy Cosmic Events (LEPCHE)
The “High-Energy Cosmic Events” team focuses on the discovery, characterization, classification and understanding – from the point of view of fundamental physics – of the most energetic and violent astrophysical phenomena. These sources generally manifest themselves through high-energy emissions (X-rays and gamma rays). The main questions addressed concern the phenomenology of the sources and families that make up this “Violent Universe”, the mechanisms at play in transient sources of various types, the physics and abundances of elements in supernova afterglow (SNR), and the physics of shocks and the acceleration of particles and cosmic rays.
- Cosmology and Statistics (LCS)
The “Cosmology and Statistics” team brings together cosmologists and experts in applied mathematics to develop new statistical and signal processing methods and apply them to data analysis in cosmology and other fields. The LCS team’s activities at AIM revolve around two main themes: weak lensing and artificial intelligence. Weak lensing: imaging surveys measure distortions in images of galaxies whose light has been deviated on a very large scale by interposed matter. This gravitational lensing allows us to determine the fraction of dark matter and dark energy up to ~9 billion years. Weak lensing measurements can also be used to test the laws of gravity on large scales. Statistical methods and artificial intelligence: we have been working in different directions to optimize the extraction of information from our data set. The main directions are inverse problems, point spread function recovery and simulation-based inference.
- Modeling Astrophysical Plasmas (LMPA)
The “Modeling Astrophysical Plasmas” team brings together theorists and modelers to understand astrophysical processes governed by gravity, radiative hydrodynamics and magnetodynamics (MHD), and to characterize their observable consequences. Their theoretical approach is physics-based, using numerical, analytical and experimental tools adapted to the complexity of turbulence, shock waves and instabilities. The astrophysical questions addressed are mainly centered on the birth of stars and protoplanetary disks, the formation of compact objects and the explosive death of massive stars, with questions such as: What is the initial mass function of stars? How are protoplanetary disks formed? What impact does the environment have on the properties and evolution of disks? How do massive stars explode? What is their multi-messenger signature? What is the origin of the extreme magnetic fields of magnetars?
