Dr Alexander Scholz
Director of the University Observatory and Reader
Teaching
My teaching is focused on observational and introductory astrophysics. I am module coordinator and lecturer in first year astrophysics. I also coordinate the observational components of the MSc program in astrophysics. I provide observing training at our local telescopes for postgraduate and undergraduate students. In addition, I teach introductory astronomy for non-science students.
Research areas
I am an observational astronomer working on problems in star and planet formation. Since 2006 I am leading the project SONYC, which conducts unbiased extremely deep imaging and spectroscopy surveys of nearby star forming regions, with the goal to find all young brown dwarfs and free-floating planetary mass objects. This project will continue in the next years with new facilities like James Webb Space Telescope and with Gaia. I analyse accretion and disks of young sources, with the goal to constrain formation scenarios for stars, brown dwarfs and planets. Using time-domain observations, I study rotation, surface properties, and the dynamical environments of young stellar and substellar objects. I am working with 8-m telescopes like the ESO/VLT and Subaru, with space telescopes like Spitzer and Kepler, with submm facilities like ALMA and SMA, with the robotic 1-m telescoes of the Las Cumbres Observatory, and with our local James Gregory Telescope, the largest telescope in Scotland.
Selected publications
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Open access
A survey for variable young stars with small telescopes: IX - evolution of spot properties on YSOs in IC 5070
Herbert, C., Froebrich, D., Vanaverbeke, S., Scholz, A., Eislöffel, J., Urtly, T., Walton, I. L., Wiersema, K., Quinn, N. J., Piehler, G., Aimar, M. M., García, R. C., Vanmunster, T., Alfaro, F. C. S., de la Cuesta, F. G., Licchelli, D., Perez, A. E., Mañanes, E. F., Ribes, N. G. & González, J. L. S. & 28 others, , 4 Apr 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 529, 4Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
A survey for variable young stars with small telescopes – VIII. Properties of 1687 Gaia selected members in 21 nearby clusters
Froebrich, D., Scholz, A., Campbell-White, J., Vanaverbeke, S., Herbert, C., Eislöffel, J., Urtly, T., Long, T. P., Walton, I. L., Wiersema, K., Quinn, N. J., Rodda, T., González-Carballo, J.-L., Morales Aimar, M., Castillo García, R., Soldán Alfaro, F. C., García de la Cuesta, F., Licchelli, D., Escartin Perez, A. & Salto González, J. L. & 43 others, , Apr 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 529, 2, p. 1283-1298 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
North-PHASE: Studying periodicity, hot spots, accretion stability and early evolution in young stars in the northern hemisphere
Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Kahar, R. S., Pelayo-Baldárrago, M. E., Roccatagliata, V., Froebrich, D., Galindo-Guil, F. J., Campbell-White, J., Kim, J. S., Mendigutía, I., Schlueter, L., Teixeira, P. S., Matsumura, S., Fang, M., Scholz, A., Ábrahám, P., Frasca, A., Garufi, A., Herbert, C., Kóspál, Á. & Manara, C. F., Aug 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 532, 2, p. 2108–2132 25 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The JWST/NIRISS deep spectroscopic survey for young brown dwarfs and free-floating planets
Langeveld, A. B., Scholz, A., Mužić, K., Jayawardhana, R., Capela, D., Albert, L., Doyon, R., Flagg, L., de Furio, M., Johnstone, D., Lafrèniere, D. & Meyer, M., Oct 2024, In: Astronomical Journal. 168, 4, 22 p., 179.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
A survey for variable young stars with small telescopes VII. Spot properties on YSOs in IC 5070
Herbert, C., Froebrich, D. & Scholz, A., 1 Apr 2023, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 520, 4, p. 5433–5445 13 p., stac3051.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Disks around young planetary-mass objects: ultradeep spitzer imaging of NGC 1333
Scholz, A., Muzic, K., Jayawardhana, R., Almendros-Abad, V. & Wilson, I., 1 May 2023, In: Astronomical Journal. 165, 5, 8 p., 196.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Stable accretion in young stars: the cases of EX Lupi and TW Hya
Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Campbell-White, J., Roccatagliata, V., Desira, J., Gregory, S. G., Scholz, A., Fang, M., de Miera, F.C.-S., Kóspál, Á., Matsumura, S. & Ábrahám, P., Dec 2023, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 526, 4, p. 4885-4907Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
A survey for variable young stars with small telescopes: VII -- spot properties on YSOs in IC5070
Herbert, C., Froebrich, D. & Scholz, A., 22 Oct 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Preprint, 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Results from The COPAINS Pilot Survey: four new brown dwarfs and a high companion detection rate for accelerating stars
Bonavita, M., Fontanive, C., Gratton, R., Mužić, K., Desidera, S., Mesa, D., Biller, B., Scholz, A., Sozzetti, A. & Squicciarini, V., Jul 2022, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 513, 4, p. 5588–5605 20 p., stac1250.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Rogue planets and brown dwarfs: predicting the populations of free-floating planetary mass objects observable with JWST
Scholz, A., Muzic, K., Jayawardhana, R., Quinlan, L. & Wurster, J., 11 Oct 2022, In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 134, 1040, 10 p., 104401.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review