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
Abbott B
(2009)
STACKED SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM THE 2006 SGR 1900+14 STORM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Porter S
(2008)
Star formation in galaxies falling into clusters along supercluster-scale filaments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mahajan S
(2010)
Star formation, starbursts and quenching across the Coma supercluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cadonati L
(2009)
Status of NINJA: the Numerical INJection Analysis project
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Sumner T
(2007)
STEP (satellite test of the equivalence principle)
in Advances in Space Research
Trias M
(2009)
Studying stellar binary systems with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna using delayed rejection Markov chain Monte Carlo methods
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Böhringer H
(2010)
Substructure of the galaxy clusters in the REXCESS sample: observed statistics and comparison to numerical simulations
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Rasmussen J
(2007)
Temperature and abundance profiles of hot gas in galaxy groups - I. Results and statistical analysis
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rasmussen J
(2009)
Temperature and abundance profiles of hot gas in galaxy groups - II. Implications for feedback and ICM enrichment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aylott B
(2009)
Testing gravitational-wave searches with numerical relativity waveforms: results from the first Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project
in Classical and Quantum Gravity