Dominika Wylezalek has been appointed as a new Professor for Extragalactic Astrophysics at the Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg (ZAH) and Director at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI), effective March 1, 2025. She will lead the research group “Galaxy Evolution and AGN (GALENA)” at ARI, focusing on the interplay between supermassive black holes and galaxy evolution.
Prof. Dr. Wylezalek's research employs multi-wavelength observations from leading ground- and space-based telescopes to investigate how supermassive black holes influence their host galaxies across different cosmic epochs. In her research, Prof. Wylezalek deals with the physical processes that influence the formation and evolution of galaxies. Using spectroscopic measurements, she studies how active galactic nuclei – that is, galactic cores (quasars) fed by supermassive black holes – impact on the development of their host galaxies and their galactic environment. She has already been able to show that the energy pumped into the environment from these black holes has a strong influence on the formation of stars and hence on the present form of galaxies. Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) she discovered a galaxy cluster with a large number of massive galaxies emerging around an extremely red quasar. It stems from the cosmological epoch of very active star formation about ten billion years ago. Wylezalek’s observations help us to understand how galaxies in the early universe melted into the cosmic web we see today.
Dominika Wylezalek studied physics at Heidelberg University (Bachelor) and University of Cambridge (Master). In 2014 she earned her doctorate from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) as a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School on Astrophysics (IMPRS) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching near Munich. She went on to do postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA) and at ESO Garching as a research fellow. Since 2020, Dr Wylezalek has led a DFG Emmy Noether junior research group at Heidelberg University. For her contributions to observational astrophysics, the scientist has been honoured with the 2023 MERAC Prize of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), the 2023 Ludwig Biermann Award of the German Astronomical Society (AG) and the 2024 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
In her new role, Prof. Wylezalek plans to expand her research on the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes, utilizing upcoming facilities such as the ESO Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile. She is also keen on fostering interdisciplinary collaborations within the university and contributing to the academic development of students and early-career researchers.
"I am thrilled to continue my work at ZAH in this new position and look forward to advancing our understanding of galaxy evolution," says Dominika Wylezalek. "The resources and collaborative environment here provide an excellent foundation for groundbreaking research."
We warmly welcome Prof. Wylezalek to the ZAH and anticipate her contributions to our scientific endeavors!
Joachim Wambsganss
CONTACT:
Prof. Dr. Dominika Wylezalek
Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI)
Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg (ZAH)
Mönchhofstraße 12-14
69120 Heidelberg
Email: dominika.wylezalek@uni-heidelberg.de
Personal website: https://wwwstaff.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/dwylezalek/
