Related papers: Star formation properties and dynamics of Luminous…

We report on an on-going near-IR adaptive optics survey targeting interacting luminous IR galaxies. High-spatial resolution NIR data are crucial to enable interpretation of kinematic, dynamical and star formation (SF) properties of these…

(abridged) We present near-infrared (NIR) adaptive optics imaging obtained with VLT/NACO and optical spectroscopy from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) of a luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) IRAS 19115-2124. These data are combined…

We present HST/NICMOS observations of a sample of LIRGs. We show that active star formation appears to be occurring not only in the bright nuclei of these galaxies, but also in luminous super-star clusters and giant HII regions with ages of…

We present high resolution imaging observations of a sample of previously unidentified far-infrared galaxies at z < 0.3. The objects were selected by cross-correlating the IRAS Faint Source Catalog with the VLA FIRST catalog and the HST…

We use HST NICMOS continuum and Pa-alpha observations to study the near-infrared and star-formation properties of a representative sample of 30 local (d ~ 35-75Mpc) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs, infrared 8-1000um luminosities of…

With the advent of efficient near-IR spectrometers on 10m-class telescopes, exploiting the new generation of low readout noise, large format detectors, OH avoidance and sub-arcsecond seeing, 1-2.4 micron spectroscopy is becoming a key means…

We report on high angular resolution near-infrared (NIR) observations of three galaxy clusters at different redshifts using adaptive optics (AO). In the case of the barred spiral \object{UGC 1347} in Abell 262 we presented the first AO…

We study the morphology and star formation properties of 159 local luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) using multi-color images from Data Release 2 (DR2) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The LIRGs are selected from a cross-correlation…

We present recent results from an adaptive optics imaging survey of 40 Luminous IR Galaxies (LIRGs) searching for obscured core collapse supernovae and studying the galaxies themselves. Here, in particular, we discuss the Super Star…

We have established a relation between the brightest super star cluster magnitude in a galaxy and the host star formation rate (SFR) for the first time in the near infrared (NIR). The data come from a statistical sample of ~ 40 luminous IR…

The enormous amounts of infrared (IR) radiation emitted by luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs, L_IR=10^11-10^12Lsun) and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs, L_IR>10^12Lsun) are produced by dust heated by intense star formation (SF)…

We have investigated optical properties of 4248 infrared galaxies (IRGs) by positionally matching data from the IRAS and the SDSS DR3. Our sample includes 3 hyper luminous infrared galaxies (L >10^13Lsun) and 178 ultra luminous infrared…

We have studied the dynamics and masses of a sample of ten nearby luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGS and ULIRGs), using 2.3 micron CO absorption line spectroscopy and near-infrared H- and Ks-band imaging. By combining…

We present the first results of our program to study a sample of local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs, L_IR = 10^11-10^12 L_sun) with the Spitzer infrared spectrograph (IRS). In these proceedings we investigate the behavior of the 9.7 um…

Nearby galaxies offer unique laboratories allowing multi-wavelength spatially resolved studies of the interstellar medium, star formation and nuclear activity across a broad range of physical conditions. In particular, detailed studies of…

We present results from the Spitzer/IRS spectral mapping observations of 15 local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). In this paper we investigate the spatial variations of the mid-IR emission which includes: fine structure lines, molecular…

We imaged a set of 15 intermediate redshift (z~0.8) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with the Keck Laser Guide Star (LGS) AO facility. These galaxies were selected from the GOODS-S field, allowing us to combine the high spatial resolution…

Nuclear starbursts and AGN activity are the main heating processes in luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and their relationship is fundamental to understand galaxy evolution. In this paper, we study the star-formation and AGN activity of a…

We study star formation (SF) in very active environments, in luminous IR galaxies, which are often interacting. A variety of phenomena are detected, such as central starbursts, circumnuclear SF, obscured SNe tracing the history of recent…

Integral-field spectroscopy in the near-infrared (NIR) is a powerful tool to analyze the gaseous and stellar distributions and kinematics, as well as the excitation mechanisms in the centers of galaxies. The unique combination of NIR and…