Of all the communities available to us there is not one I would want to devote myself to, except for the society of the true searchers, which has very few living members at any time...
Einstein letter to Born, quoted by Born (1971)

Fields of interest:

• Exobiology
  The next step in evolution for Humanity is the conquest of space! Our future on Earth passes by the conquest of space!

• Starburst galaxies and AGNs - two main processes for the formation and evolution of galaxies
  
  
• Cosmology and the formation of large scale structures
  Unfortunately, not an advice followed today. Rashid Sunyaev: “...we should use well known physics to understand the Universe”; excerpt from Sunyaev dicourse of acceptation of the 2003 Cosmology Prize, pronounced during the opening ceremony of the 25th General assembly of the IAU.
  
  
  
• The role of entropy in the formation of structures by gravitational collapse
  “If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the Universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation - well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can offer you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”
  Sir Arthur Eddington 1929
  
  

• The meaning of physics - a new way how to understand mathematics and physics
  In the “Feynman Lecture on Physics”, Feynman says: “if, in some cataclysm all of science knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence pass on to the next generation, the statement that would contain the mots information in the fewest words would be: all things is made of atoms.” However, based on what Einstein teaches us, I believe a more complete statement would be: “Matter is made of particles and space-time is the product of their interactions.”
  
  

Ongoing research:

As Sherlock Holmes could have said:“It is easier to find something if you know what you are looking for.” (in Silver Blaze, 1892, by Conan Doyle). Below you will find a brief summary of the different working hypotheses that are guiding my research.

• Compact groups of galaxies (CGs): CGs are the bricks from which large scale structures form; the power law of the primordial density fluctuations must have been steep (very few large structures formed), and it is flattening with time due to the dissipation of energy (and production of entropy) produced by the formation of these structures.

• Starburst galaxies and AGN:
  -- Relation of starbursts with galaxy formation: galaxies are the results of the cosmological process of structure formation by gravity; Most galaxies today (at low redshift) are still in construction, building a bulge and growing a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their center.
  -- Relation of starbursts with AGN: galaxies are thermodynamical processes dominated by the formation of a SMBH at their center; Tell me what SMBH grows at the center of a galaxy and I will tell you what kind of galaxy it is.
  -- Chemical evolution: galaxies are thermodynamically open systems, loosing energy and matter (metals) in their environment through starbursts winds.
  -- Narrow-line radio galaxies vs. broad line quasars, an evolution connection?
  -- Low Luminosity AGN are evolving, dying QSO?

• Cosmology:
  -- A connection between entanglement and non-causality: the source of entropy of black holes; Also an alternative to inflation explaining the thermalisation of the universe.
  -- The role of entropy in the formation of structures: the irreversibility principle: the formation of structures by gravitational collapse is equivalent to a thermodynamical irreversible process.

• Exobiology: A definition of life based on interactions - a diagnostic diagram for exoplanets
  
  
• Epistemology - expelling metaphysics out of physics and mathematics: A theoretical framework for physics based on the genetic epistemolology of Jean Piaget: “Intelligence is the integration of the action of the subject on the object.”.
  
  Below I show a diagram for a model of the scientific method and its relation with hidden reality (adapted from the definition of the role of technology developed by Lucio Russo in his book: The Forgotten Revolution: How Science Was Born in 300 BC and Why it Had to Be Reborn, 2004, Springer, and the definition of hidden reality in Bernard d'Espagnat book: On Physics and Philosophy, 2006, Princeton University Press).
  
  
  There exists something that we call hidden reality (physical laws are not arbitrary), but our knowledge of this reality is not direct: we know hidden reality only through our interactions with it. Reality is an image (mapping) in the brain under the form of sets of psychomotor patterns (ideas are patterns of actions). Logic and mathematics are the abstract forms that the connections between these psychomotor patterns take in the brain. Through a trial-error process the best connections (most successful actions) are selected and consolidated. These connections also allow to expand our range of possible actions (extending our “knowledge” of hidden reality). As a consequence, space and time are not separated objects, but abstract forms outgrowing from our actions on hidden reality.
  
  The purpose of intelligence is adaptation for survival and perpetuation. The scientific method allows to select the most efficient actions improving our chance of survival. Reality, therefore, is also hidden by intelligence, because intelligence's goal is survival, not the metaphysic quest of determining what is hidden reality. The principal role of science (which is unfortunately not enough recognized in our society) is to give to all the people the most adequate description of hidden reality, in order that we can improve our living conditions and the chances of survival (perpetuation) of our society (in the general sense of all humanity, but possibly including all life on Earth).

• What do the star formation histories of galaxies tell us about the Starburst-AGN connection?
  Torres-Papaqui, J. P.,Coziol, R., Plauchu-Frayn, I., Andernach, H., Ortega-Minakata, R. A.
  2013, RMxAA, submitted
  
  
• The star formation history and chemical evolution of star forming galaxies in the nearby universe
  Torres-Papaqui, J. P.,Coziol, R., Ortega-Minakata, R. A., Neri-Larios, D. M.
  2012, ApJ, 754, 144
  
  
• Evidence of Supermassive Black Holes in Narrow Emission Line Galaxies
  Torres-Papaqui, J. P., Coziol, R., Andernach, H., Ortega-Minakata, R. A., Neri-Larios, D. M., Plauchu-Frayn, I.
  2012, RMxAA, 48, 275
  
  
• What makes a galaxy radio-loud?
  Ortega-Minakata, R. A., Torres-Papaqui, J. P, Andernach, H., Coziol, R., Islas-Islas, J. M., Plauchu-Frayn, I., Neri-Larios, D. M., Rojas-Granados, M. del C.
  2012, The Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, Volume 284, p. 221-223
  
  
• The star formation histories of Hickson compact group galaxies
  Plauchu-Frayn, I., Del Olmo, A., Coziol, R., Torres-Papaqui, J. P.
  2012, A&A, 546, 48
  
  

(More from ADS)

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E-mail: rcoziol@astro.ugto.mx

Present address:

	EL DEPARTAMENTO DE ASTRONOMIA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE GUANAJUATO Apartado Postal 144 36000 Guanajuato, Gto México Telephone: 01 473 732 9607 or 732 9548 (ext. 2502) Fax: 01 473 732 0253 (Ext. 2501)