Welcome

I am Javier Moldón, a radioastronomer, staff researcher at the IAA-CSIC and the Head of Scientific Operations at the SKA Regional Centre (ESPSRC) Spanish prototype. I actively contribute to the development of the Global Network of SRCs at both the international and national levels.

My research covers some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. This includes understanding the nature of binaries emitting very-high-energy gamma-rays, exploring core-collapse supernova explosions, investigating bursts of star formation in nuclear regions of active galaxies as well as outflows in both the most and less powerful Active Galactic Nuclei in the Universe. I also make contributions to the fields of exoplanets and multimessenger astronomy.

In my research endeavors, I employ diverse radio interferometers all around the world, including VLBI arrays. I have technical experience commissioning and operating radio interferometers and developing data processing workflows with an emphasis on reproducibility and Open Science values.

Javier Moldon

Research

  • Binary stars

    Binaries

    I specialize in studying binary star systems, with a focus on measuring the morphology of relativistic particle outflows in gamma-ray binaries. Using advanced radio VLBI techniques, I achieve milliarcsecond angular resolution. My research also encompasses transitional millisecond pulsars and the study of superluminal ejecta from various types of X-ray binaries.

  • Galaxy evolution

    Extragalactic

    I'm interested in understanding the physics in the nuclear regions of local Luminous (and Ultraluminous) Infrared Galaxies aiming to characterise outburst of star formation. Additionally, low-frequency observations are ideal to unveil the relativistic particles ejected from supermassive black holes, and LOFAR provides subarcsecond resolution sharp images of relativistic outflows to study relativistic jet knots, spectral ageing of radio lobes or high-redshift blazars

  • Neutral hydrogen

    Neutral Hydrogen

    I am the technical lead for a proposal involving the SKA precursor MeerKAT. Our aim is to unravel the gas content of a sample of gas-deficient Hickson Compact Groups in advanced evolutionary phases. We also seek to explore the role of HI gas in galaxy evolution and star formation.

  • Supernovae, Tidal Disruption Events and transients

    Transients

    I'm actively involved in organizing multi-epoch and multifrequency campaigns to track elusive transient events, including supernova Ia, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Notably, our team made the groundbreaking discovery of the first radio detection of a type Ia supernova.

  • Exoplanets

    Exoplanets

    Within the IAA, we coordinate extensive radio campaigns to investigate the interaction between M-dwarf stars and their planets. This involves studying highly circularly polarized, coherent, periodic enhancements of radio emission. Our goal is to pave the way for the detection and confirmation of exoplanets through radio observations, which holds significance in assessing the habitability of planets around M-dwarf stars.

  • Multimessenger astronomy

    Multimessenger

    I am committed to contributing to multimessenger astronomy. I've coordinated the response from the e-MERLIN observatory to the historic detection of a binary neutron star merger, which was initially detected as a gravitational wave event. Additionally, I am part of an international team working towards associating neutrino events detected by IceCube with potential blazar candidates.

Impact of my research

  • 196 Bibliographic entries
  • 110 Refereed publications
  • 8101 Total citations
  • 114342 Reads
  • 5 Book chapters
  • 19 ATels/GCNs

SKAO and the Spanish SKA Regional Centre Prototype

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) is a global endeavor aimed at constructing the world's most extensive radio telescope. The Global Network of SKA Regional Centres is where the SKA Science will be done.

Credit: SKA Organisation

With Spain becoming a member of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) in 2018, the IAA-CSIC took an ambitious step by incorporating the development of the Spanish Prototype of a SKA Regional Centre (ESPSRC) into its Severo Ochoa program for 2018-2026. My principal role as Head of Scientific Operations involves overseeing ESPSRC's management, encompassing scientific operations, training programs, resource allocation, and comprehensive technical and scientific user support. It's essential to recognize that our platform's uniqueness extends beyond being a mere computer cluster; its distinctive value arises from our scientific guidance and robust training initiatives.
I hold a significant position within several technological and scientific projects dedicated to the creation of the Global Network of SKA Regional Centres. Since 2020, I've been a core member of the SRC Steering Committee's Operations Working Group. I am also contributing as a prototype developer, since 2022. Furthermore, I represent Spain as the scientific liaison in the SKA-NREN (European National Research and Education Network providers). I developed the official data processing pipeline of the SKA pathfinder e-MERLIN, the only existing instrument that will provide a comparable angular resolution as the SKA at cm wavelengths.

Open Science and Training

At the IAA-CSIC, I am one of the co-coordinators of the Severo Ochoa training program. I plan and organize training events and participate as a tutor as well. I am firmly committed to Open Science and reproducibility because I believe these are essential for reliably disseminating and building upon research results.

  • Open Science training

    Open Science Droplets

    A series of short demonstrations and online materials on tools and methods that make our research analyses more organised, automatic and reproducible

  • Interferometry

    Interferometry

    I was invited as a lecturer in the 3rd LOFAR School in 2014, the 4th LOFAR School in 2016, the data processing workshop on e-MERLIN and ALMA in 2018 in Dublin, and the CASA-VLBI workshop in 2020 and 2023

  • docker and singularity containers

    SKA Regional Centre Training Event “Hands-on Containerization”

    I was a tutor for the first SKA Regional Centre Training Event focused on version control, software repositories and containers (Docker/singularity) with more than 250 registered participants.

  • python training

    pySnacks

    A series of hands-on tutorials on Astrophysical Python Packages. Topics cover astropy, matplotlib, astronomical tables, astroquery, SPISEA, data exploration, etc.

  • Reproducibility

    Tools for the reproducibility of the scientific analysis

    I coordinated this CSIC course covering: git, Github, collaborative science, FAIR principles, conda, Singularity, workflow management systems, Jupyter notebooks, Binder, Open Science policies, data repositories, Zenodo, etc.

  • Machine Learning training

    Machine Learning

    I discussed potential approaches to the Big Data problem of the future SKA in two lectures I gave in two editions of the school “Machine Learning, Big Data, and Deep Learning in Astronomy”, SOMACHINE 2020 and 2021. I represented the IAA-CSIC in the outreach event "Talking about Artificial Intelligence", #TAI Granada 2022 [talk]

Advocacy

I am deeply committed to promoting collaborative science through the practical application of Open Science principles and the best practices of reproducibility. I am always eager to share my knowledge for the betterment of the scientific community.
In my view, collaboration is of paramount importance in science. Throughout my career, I have consistently prioritized challenges that require coordination, joint international efforts, and at times, multi-decade teamwork to achieve meaningful and impactful outcomes.