Roger Ianjamasimanana

Core Team

Background

I work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA). I am part of the AMIGA group led by Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro. My main research interests lie on the studies of the neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) content of galaxies, both near and far. My PhD focused on the studies of the relationship between HI kinematics and star formation in nearby galaxies. During my PhD and the first few years of my postdoc, I have used stacking techniques to obtain average HI profiles with high signal-to-noise ratio, as well as to recover HI signals buried in the noise of radio interferometric data cubes. In addition, I have experience in 3D kinematical parameterisations of (resolved) disc galaxies using softwares such as TIRIFIC/FAT.

 

I am fascinated by the observing power of new generation of radio telescopes, such as the MeerKAT radio telescope located in South Africa and the ASKAP radio telescope in Australia. I have successfully led two MeerKAT proposals to observe the HI content of the nearby dwarf galaxy WLM and the starburst galaxy NGC 4945. As part of my postdoctoral fellowship at IAA, I aim to analyze the morphology and kinematics of the HI gas in groups of galaxies called Hickson Compact Groups (HCG). My goal is to understand the evolution and the ultimate fate of the HI gas in a high-density environment where tidal interactions, galaxy-to-galaxy interactions, and merging are common.