Dr Cristina Martinez Lombilla

Dr Cristina Martinez Lombilla

Visiting Jnr Research Fellow
Science
School of Physics

Dr. Martinez-Lombilla completed a 4-year undergraduate in Physics and a Master's degree in Astrophysics at Universidad de La Laguna (Spain). She worked as Telescope Operating Technician at the Teide Observatory for a year. Then, she started a Ph.D. program at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC, Spain) and a thesis entitled 'Thick discs and truncations in spiral galaxies' under the supervision of Prof. Johan Knapen and Dr. Ignacio Trujillo. During that period, she had stays abroad at the Liverpool John Moores University (UK), the University of Oulu (Finland), and the University of Central Lancashire (UK). She completed her Ph.D. in 2018 and continued 1 year more in the same institution in a postdoctoral position. Since February 2020, she is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Prof. Sarah Brough’s team. 

The main research interest of Dr. Martinez-Lombilla is to understanding how galaxies were formed and how they evolve through the study of their low surface brightness regions. She develops new techniques to detect the dimmest structures in galaxies —like halos, tidal streams, thick discs, breaks, and truncations—, or around them within clusters and groups of galaxies —as the intracluster and intragroup light (ICL). She is an expert in the characterization of scattered light and the analysis of its effect in both point-like sources and extended objects within ultra-deep imaging. She also has wide experience modeling galaxy light profiles and their structural components.

Dr. Martinez-Lombilla is part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Galaxies Science Collaboration, actively contributing to the Low Surface Brightness Working Group. She is co-chair of Astronomy & Programming workshops in developing countries, and very active in women in STEM outreach activities. She is currently ECR cohort of the UNSW Women in Maths and Science Champions Program.

Location
School of Physics
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Brough S; Ahad SL; Bahé YM; Ellien A; Gonzalez AH; Jiménez-Teja Y; Kimmig LC; Martin G; Martínez-Lombilla C; Montes M; Pillepich A; Ragusa R; Remus RS; Collins CA; Knapen JH; Mihos JC, 2024, 'Preparing for low surface brightness science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory: a comparison of observable and simulated intracluster light fractions', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 528, pp. 771 - 795, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3810
    Journal articles | 2024
    Khalid A; Brough S; Martin G; Kimmig LC; Lagos CDP; Remus RS; Martinez-Lombilla C, 2024, 'Characterizing tidal features around galaxies in cosmological simulations', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 530, pp. 4422 - 4445, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1064
    Journal articles | 2023
    Desmons A; Brough S; Martínez-Lombilla C; De Propris R; Holwerda B; López-Sánchez ÁR, 2023, 'Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): comparing visually and spectroscopically identified galaxy merger samples', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 523, pp. 4381 - 4393, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1639
    Journal articles | 2023
    Martínez-Lombilla C; Brough S; Montes M; Baena-Gallé R; Akhlaghi M; Infante-Sainz R; Driver SP; Holwerda BW; Pimbblet KA; Robotham ASG, 2023, 'Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Extended intragroup light in a group at z = 0.2 from deep Hyper Suprime-Cam images', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518, pp. 1195 - 1213, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3119
    Journal articles | 2022
    Martin G; Bazkiaei AE; Spavone M; Iodice E; Mihos JC; Montes M; Benavides JA; Brough S; Carlin JL; Collins CA; Duc PA; Gómez FA; Galaz G; Hernández-Toledo HM; Jackson RA; Kaviraj S; Knapen JH; Martínez-Lombilla C; Mcgee S; O'ryan D; Prole DJ; Rich RM; Román J; Shah EA; Starkenburg TK; Watkins AE; Zaritsky D; Pichon C; Armus L; Bianconi M; Buitrago F; Busá I; Davis F; Demarco R; Desmons A; Garciá P; Graham AW; Holwerda B; Hon DSH; Khalid A; Klehammer J; Klutse DY; Lazar I; Nair P; Noakes-Kettel EA; Rutkowski M; Saha K; Sahu N; Sola E; Vázquez-Mata JA; Vera-Casanova A; Yoon I, 2022, 'Preparing for low surface brightness science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Characterization of tidal features from mock images', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 513, pp. 1459 - 1487, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac1003
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'The Vera Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the Low Surface Brightness Universe', , http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11067v1
    Journal articles | 2019
    Martínez-Lombilla C; Trujillo I; Knapen JH, 2019, 'Discovery of disc truncations above the galaxies' mid-plane in Milky Way-like galaxies', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 483, pp. 664 - 691, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2886
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Properties of extragalactic thick discs recovered from ultra-deep Stripe82 imaging', Astronomy and Astrophysics, 629, http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935464
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'The missing light of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field', Astronomy and Astrophysics, 621, http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834312
    Journal articles | 2017
    Ahnen ML; Ansoldi S; Antonelli LA; Arcaro C; Babić A; Banerjee B; Bangale P; Barres De Almeida U; Barrio JA; Bednarek W; Bernardini E; Berti A; Biasuzzi B; Biland A; Blanch O; Bonnefoy S; Bonnoli G; Borracci F; Bretz T; Carosi R; Carosi A; Chatterjee A; Colin P; Colombo E; Contreras JL; Cortina J; Covino S; Cumani P; Da Vela P; Dazzi F; De Angelis A; De Lotto B; De Oña Wilhelmi E; Di Pierro F; Doert M; Domínguez A; Dominis Prester D; Dorner D; Doro M; Einecke S; Eisenacher Glawion D; Elsaesser D; Engelkemeier M; Fallah Ramazani V; Fernández-Barral A; Fidalgo D; Fonseca MV; Font L; Fruck C; Galindo D; García López RJ; Garczarczyk M; Gaug M; Giammaria P; Godinović N; Gora D; Guberman D; Hadasch D; Hahn A; Hassan T; Hayashida M; Herrera J; Hose J; Hrupec D; Hughes G; Ishio K; Konno Y; Kubo H; Kushida J; Kuveždić D; Lelas D; Lindfors E; Lombardi S; Longo F; López M; Majumdar P; Makariev M; Maneva G; Manganaro M; Mannheim K; Maraschi L; Mariotti M; Martínez M; Mazin D; Menzel U; Mirzoyan R; Moralejo A; Moretti E; Nakajima D; Neustroev V; Niedzwiecki A; Nievas Rosillo M; Nilsson K; Nishijima K; Noda K; Nogués L; Paiano S; Palacio J; Palatiello M; Paneque D, 2017, 'Multiwavelength observations of a VHE gamma-ray flare from PKS 1510-089 in 2015', Astronomy and Astrophysics, 603, http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201629960
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Dissecting the long-term emission behaviour of the BL Lac object Mrk 421', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 472, pp. 3789 - 3804, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2185
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Synchrotron emission from the blazar PG 1553+113. An analysis of its flux and polarization variability', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 466, pp. 3762 - 3774, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3333
    Journal articles | 2016
    Dullo BT; Martínez-Lombilla C; Knapen JH, 2016, 'Complex central structures suggest complex evolutionary paths for barred S0 galaxies', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 462, pp. 3800 - 3811, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1868
    Journal articles | 2016
    Palle E; Goode PR; Montañés-Rodríguez P; Shumko A; Gonzalez-Merino B; Lombilla CM; Jimenez-Ibarra F; Shumko S; Sanroma E; Hulist A; Miles-Paez P; Murgas F; Nowak G; Koonin SE, 2016, 'Earth's albedo variations 1998-2014 as measured from ground-based earthshine observations', Geophysical Research Letters, 43, pp. 4531 - 4538, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068025
  • Preprints | 2023
    Desmons A; Brough S; Martínez-Lombilla C; Propris RD; Holwerda B; Sánchez ÁRL, 2023, Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Comparing Visually and Spectroscopically Identified Galaxy Merger Samples, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1639
    Preprints | 2022
    Martinez-Lombilla C; Brough S; Montes M; Baena-Galle R; Akhlaghi M; Infante-Sainz R; Driver SP; Holwerda BW; Pimbblet KA; Robotham ASG, 2022, Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Extended Intra-Group Light in a group at $z=0.2$ from deep Hyper-Suprime Cam images, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3119
    Conference Papers | 2016
    2016, 'Probing the origin of thick disks using ultra-deep images', in DePaz AG; Knapen JH; Lee JC (eds.), FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXY OUTSKIRTS, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, SPAIN, Toledo, pp. 276 - 276, presented at 321st Symposium of the International-Astronomical-Union (IAU) - Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Outskirts, SPAIN, Toledo, 14 March 2016 - 18 March 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1743921316009479

  • PhD Fellowship ‘Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores’ (ref: BES-2014- 070224), Ministry for Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain (2015). Amount: AUD $146.000
  • Grant ‘Estancias breves 2018’ by the Ministry for Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain to spend 3 months of collaboration at the Astrophysics Research Institute ARI, LJMU (Liverpool, UK). Amount: AUD $8.100
  • Fellowship 'Ayudas Fundación BBVA a Equipos de Investigación Científica concedidas en el área de Big Data'; Title: ‘Using machine learning techniques to drag galaxies from the noise in deep imaging’, PI: Johan Knapen (IAC), Role: collaborator. Period: 2018-2020. Amount: AUD $165.200
  • Grant ‘Estancias breves 2016’ by the Ministry for Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain to spend 4 months of collaboration at the Astrophysics Research Institute ARI, LJMU (Liverpool, UK). Amount: AUD $10.300
  • EIBES program 2011. Grant for stay 4 moths at the Universidad de Córdoba (Argentina). Amount: AUD $1.650
  • Travel grants for meetings (accommodation, registration fee, and conference dinner): LSST 2018 Workshop on the Impacts of Blending on LSST Science, Tucson, EEUU (2018); XII Reunión Científica de la SEA (Spanish Astronomy Association), Salamanca, Spain (2018); XIII Reunión Científica de la SEA, Bilbao, Spain (2016). Total in-kind amount: ~AUD $3.500

  • “Best Ph.D. student in the Canary Islands” Invited by the Spanish Ministry of Science to attend the official ceremony of the National Research Prizes 2018, presided over by the King and the Queen of Spain
  • Ph.D. completed within 3 years. Ph.D. in Astrophysics cum laude with honors (maximum score) and with international mention
  • Best contribution in the 'Thin, thick and Dark discs' meeting (July 2017, Ascona, Switzerland). Talk: “Formation and evolution of thick disks: the ultra-deep imaging perspective”. Amount: AUD $825

Publications:

As a first author:

  • Martínez-Lombilla, C. & Knapen, J. H., 2019, A&A, 629, A12, “Thick discs properties from ultra-deep Stripe82 imaging”
  • Martínez-Lombilla, C.; Trujillo, I.; Knapen, J. H., 2019, MNRAS, 483, 664-691, “Discovery of disc truncations above the galaxies' mid-plane in Milky Way-like galaxies”

Full Dr. Martinez-Lombilla publication track record can be found in this SAO/NASA-ADS link

 

Invited Talks:

  • “Going wider and deeper: the low surface brightness perspective" AstroGeoInformatics – Knowledge Discovery in Big Data from Astronomy and Earth Observation, Tenerife, Spain, December 17-19, 2018
  • “Formation and evolution of thick disks: the ultra-deep imaging perspective”, Thin, Thick and Dark discs meeting, Ascona, Switzerland, July 24-28, 2017. Assistance by invitation only.