About
About the group
The energy output of actively accreting supermassive black holes (active galactic nuclei, AGN) has become a critical ingredient in modern galaxy formation theories and is widely considered a main driver in regulating the growth of massive galaxies. This energy typically exceeds the binding energy of a galaxy, so that even if only a few percent couples to the surrounding gas, that gas may be heated and driven out of the galaxy, effectively quenching star formation. The critical role of AGN in galaxy formation was hypothesised two decades ago, but specific observational evidence of AGN-driven feedback has been surprisingly hard to come by.
The group's research focuses on finding concrete observational evidence for the self-regulation of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, on understanding the power, reach and impact of feedback processes exerted by AGN, and on the role of AGN in galaxy evolution across cosmic time. We aim to characterise the internal structure and multi-phase nature of AGN feedback signatures, determine outflow masses and energetics, and inventory the sources of gas excitation, using data from state-of-the-art ground- and space-based telescopes — including integral field unit observations from the JWST Early Release Science program Q3D and large spectroscopic surveys such as SDSS-V.
The group started its work in September 2020, initially funded through an Emmy Noether Grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), with additional support from the Daimler und Benz Stiftung, the MERAC Foundation, the DLR and the BMBF/BMFTR.
Team
Team members
Group Lead & Science Staff
Prof. Dr. Dominika Wylezalek
Dr. Robert Schmidt
Postdocs
Dr. Caroline Bertemes
Dr. Pranav Kukreti
Dr. Bruno Dall’Agnol de Oliveira
Dr. Lara Gatto
Master Students
Delvin Demke
Virginia Lenk
Kalina Georgieva
Eleni Koustiona
Matthias Kuntz
Seraphin Bücklers
Bachelor Students
Theodor Brosi
Guests
VM
Prof. Vivek Mariappan
FP
Dr. Francisco Pozo-Núñez
Former Group Members
- Prof. Daniel Wik — visited on sabbatical, now back at the University of Utah
- Prof. David Rupke (Rhodes College, Tennessee, USA) — spent a one-year sabbatical in the group
- Daniela Müller-Trefzer, MSc
- Marco Albán, PhD — now postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR)
- Rodrigo Freitas, MSc — now PhD student at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Kolja Reuter, BSc & MSc
- Daniel Götz, MSc
- Stella Himmelsbach, BSc
- Naomi Tokar, BSc
- Greique Valk
- Eren Arici, BSc — now MSc student at Heidelberg University
- Julian Groth, MSc — now PhD student at Stockholm University
- Benjamin Beckmann, MSc
- Jelena Ritter, MSc — now PhD student at MPA Garching
- Dr. Wuji Wang — now postdoc at Caltech / IPAC
- Jan Beckmann, MSc
- Yu-Ruei Wang, BSc
- Payel Nandi, MSc — PhD student at IIA, Bangalore
- Simon Flesch, BSc — now PhD student at MPE
- Chuanming Mao — now MSc student at MPIA Heidelberg
News
Latest updates
Jun 2026
Sep 2025
Prof. Daniel Wik from the University of Utah spends 6 months at ARI during his sabbatical.
Apr 2025
Mar 2025
New paper by Pranav Kukreti, “Feedback from low-to-moderate luminosity radio-AGN with MaNGA” ADS link
Dec 2024
Sep 2024
New paper by Marco Albán, “Mapping AGN winds: a connection between radio-mode AGN and the AGN feedback cycle” ADS link
Sep 2024
Bruno Dall’Agnol de Oliveira and Rodrigo Freitas join GALENA as new postdoc and PhD student, respectively, as part of a joint DAAD/CAPES program. Welcome!
Jul 2024
Wuji Wang defends his PhD thesis as the first PhD student in the GALENA group. Congratulations Wuji, and good luck with your postdoc at Caltech / IPAC!
Jul 2024
Jelena Ritter and Benjamin Beckmann conclude their Master projects. Well done!
Apr 2024
New paper led by Caroline Bertemes on BH mass estimates with JWST in a powerful quasar at z ~ 3. ADS link
Feb–Mar 2024
Virginia Lenk is selected as an ESA intern and spends 6 months at ESAC in Madrid. Wuji Wang is offered a postdoctoral position at Caltech. Congratulations to both!
Feb 2024
Delvin Demke successfully defends his BSc thesis. Congratulations Delvin!
Feb 2024
New paper led by Wuji Wang on JWST data in a high-z radio-loud AGN — powerful AGN but weak feedback? “JWST discovers an AGN ionization cone but only weak radiatively driven feedback in a powerful z ≈ 3.5 radio-loud AGN” ADS link
Jan 2024
Virginia Lenk successfully defends her BSc thesis. Congrats Virginia!
Dec 2023
Nov 2023
Dr. Pranav Kukreti joins the group as a new postdoctoral researcher. Welcome Pranav!
Sep 2023
Hike and science: GALENA group hike.
Sep 2023
We welcome Prof. David Rupke to ARI. Dave spends his one-year sabbatical in Heidelberg.
Aug 2023
Jan Beckmann submits his Master thesis!
Feb 2023
Caroline Bertemes’ JWST Cycle 2 proposal is accepted! Beautiful NIRISS grism data to come soon.
Feb 2023
Payel Nandi from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics joins our group for a 3-month visit. Welcome Payel!
Feb 2023
Kolja Reuter defends his BSc thesis on the “connection between molecular gas content and the extended narrow-line region in MaNGA-selected AGN.” Congratulations Kolja!
Feb 2023
Marco Albán’s first first-author paper, “Classifying the full SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey using optical diagnostic diagrams,” is accepted for publication in A&A. Congratulations Marco! ADS link
Jan 2023
Simon Flesch defends his BSc thesis on the “connection between stellar mass build-up and morphology in nearby star-forming galaxies.” Congratulations Simon!
Dec 2022
Nov 2022
New paper by Caroline Bertemes on molecular gas depletion times and metallicity gradients. Congratulations Caroline! ADS link
Oct 2022
The first JWST paper is out! Wylezalek et al. 2022 Link to the paper and press release.
Sep 2022
May 2022
Marco Albán defends his Master thesis. Congratulations Marco! He joins our group as a PhD student later that year.
Nov 2021
New paper, Wylezalek et al., accepted in MNRAS. ADS link
Jul 2021
Wuji Wang’s first first-author paper, “Mapping the invisible circumgalactic medium around a z ~ 4.5 radio galaxy with MUSE,” is accepted for publication in A&A. Congratulations Wuji! ADS link
Jul 2021
Chuanming Mao defends his BSc thesis on “The 3D rest-frame UV view of high-redshift radio galaxies.” Congratulations Chuanming!
Jul 2021
ESO UVES proposal accepted!
Jul 2021
Apr 2021
Wuji Wang’s JWST Cycle 1 proposal is approved. Congratulations Wuji! Press release
Sep 2020
The GALENA Emmy Noether Group starts its work. Department press release, University press release
Publications
Selected publications
Recent highlights (2025–2026)
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Exploring the gaseous halos of z > 3 radio galaxies with UVES and JWST/NIRSpec
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The eJWST active galactic nucleus observation catalogue
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SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper: the index diagram as a tool to disentangle the influence of the host galaxy in quasar spectra
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Optical emission line properties of eROSITA-selected SDSS-V galaxies
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JWST Q3D Program: Active Galactic Nucleus Photoionization and Shock Ionization in a Red Quasar at z = 0.4
Earlier selected publications
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JWST ERS Program Q3D: The pitfalls of virial BH mass constraints shown in a z = 3 quasar with an ultramassive host
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JWST discovers an AGN ionization cone but only weak radiatively driven feedback in a powerful z ≈ 3.5 radio-loud AGN
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3D tomography of the giant Lyα nebulae of z ≈ 3–5 radio-loud AGN
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Classifying the full SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey using optical diagnostic diagrams: presentation of AGN catalogs in flexible apertures
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MASCOT: molecular gas depletion times and metallicity gradients — evidence for feedback in quenching active galaxies
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First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: Turbulent times in the life of a z ∼ 3 extremely red quasar revealed by NIRSpec IFU
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MASCOT — An ESO-ARO legacy survey of molecular gas in nearby SDSS-MaNGA galaxies: I. First data release, and global and resolved relations between H2 and stellar content
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Mapping the invisible circumgalactic medium around a z ~ 4.5 radio galaxy with MUSE
Contact
For questions, please contact
Dominika Wylezalek
Email: dominika.wylezalek@uni-heidelberg.de