Birmingham Astrophysics - Rolling Grant 2007-2012
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The work of the Birmingham Astrophysics & Space Research group aims to improve our understanding of the Universe, and the force of gravity which governs its structure and growth. Our extragalactic studies aim to discover the way in which galaxies, such as our own Milky Way galaxy, have developed from the small fluctuations present in the primordial gas which filled the Universe after the Big Bang, as well as probing the mysterious 'dark matter' which appears to account for over 90% of the matter in the Universe at large. Our knowledge of the cosmos to date is gleaned almost entirely from study of the electromagnetic radiation (from radio waves to gamma rays) which reaches the Earth from space. However, a whole new astronomical 'window' is about to open, based on the propagating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Detection of these signals is hugely demanding, but large laser-interferometers are now very close to detecting them for the first time, and the Birmingham group is fully involved in these experiments, and in the plans to move these techniques into space within the next decade. This will ultimately allow us to study the gravitational signals from giant black holes, and from the Big Bang itself. We are working towards the first detection of gravitational waves, but also exploring the new techniques which will be required to turn the study of gravitational waves into a true branch of astronomy.
Organisations
Publications
Abadie J
(2010)
Calibration of the LIGO gravitational wave detectors in the fifth science run
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Mapelli M
(2010)
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM INTERMEDIATE-MASS BLACK HOLES IN YOUNG CLUSTERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gitti M
(2010)
CAVITIES AND SHOCKS IN THE GALAXY GROUP HCG 62 AS REVEALED BY CHANDRA , XMM-NEWTON , AND GIANT METREWAVE RADIO TELESCOPE DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pereira M
(2010)
LoCuSS: A Herschel view of obscured star formation in Abell 1835
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Haines C
(2010)
LoCuSS: Shedding new light on the massive lensing cluster Abell 1689 - the view from Herschel
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Dariush A
(2010)
The mass assembly of galaxy groups and the evolution of the magnitude gap
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oguri M
(2010)
Direct measurement of dark matter halo ellipticity from two-dimensional lensing shear maps of 25 massive clusters? Measurement of dark matter halo ellipticity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sesana A
(2010)
Measuring the parameters of massive black hole binary systems with pulsar timing array observations of gravitational waves
in Physical Review D
Rex M
(2010)
The far-infrared/submillimeter properties of galaxies located behind the Bullet cluster
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cuevas-Tello J
(2010)
Uncovering delayed patterns in noisy and irregularly sampled time series: An astronomy application
in Pattern Recognition
O'Sullivan E
(2010)
A deep Chandra observation of the poor cluster AWM 4 - I. Properties of the central radio galaxy and its effects on the intracluster medium A deep Chandra observation of AWM 4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chaplin W
(2010)
THE ASTEROSEISMIC POTENTIAL OF KEPLER : FIRST RESULTS FOR SOLAR-TYPE STARS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Stello D
(2010)
DETECTION OF SOLAR-LIKE OSCILLATIONS FROM KEPLER PHOTOMETRY OF THE OPEN CLUSTER NGC 6819
in The Astrophysical Journal
Accadia T
(2010)
Commissioning status of the Virgo interferometer
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Fulda P
(2010)
Experimental demonstration of higher-order Laguerre-Gauss mode interferometry
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2010)
SEARCHES FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM KNOWN PULSARS WITH SCIENCE RUN 5 LIGO DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Babak S
(2010)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from challenge 3 to challenge 4
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Smith G
(2010)
LoCuSS: Probing galaxy transformation physics with Herschel
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Punturo M
(2010)
The third generation of gravitational wave observatories and their science reach
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Limousin M
(2010)
MACS J1423.8+2404: gravitational lensing by a massive, relaxed cluster of galaxies at z = 0.54
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abadie J
(2010)
All-sky search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first joint LIGO-GEO-Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Abadie J
(2010)
SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE INSPIRAL SIGNALS ASSOCIATED WITH SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS DURING LIGO'S FIFTH AND VIRGO'S FIRST SCIENCE RUN
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2010)
SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BURSTS ASSOCIATED WITH GAMMA-RAY BURSTS USING DATA FROM LIGO SCIENCE RUN 5 AND VIRGO SCIENCE RUN 1
in The Astrophysical Journal
Blomme J
(2010)
AUTOMATED CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLE STARS IN THE ASTEROSEISMOLOGY PROGRAM OF THE KEPLER SPACE MISSION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pribulla T
(2011)
The nearby eclipsing stellar system d Velorum II. First reliable orbit for the eclipsing pair???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Goss K
(2011)
Variations of the amplitudes of oscillation of the Be star Achernar Variations in the oscillations of Achernar
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society