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
(2007)
First cross-correlation analysis of interferometric and resonant-bar gravitational-wave data for stochastic backgrounds
in Physical Review D
Van Der Sluys M
(2008)
Parameter estimation of spinning binary inspirals using Markov chain Monte Carlo
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Tarrant N
(2008)
Oscillations in ß Ursae Minoris Observations with SMEI
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bergé J
(2008)
Combined analysis of weak lensing and X-ray blind surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abbott B
(2008)
Search for gravitational-wave bursts from soft gamma repeaters.
in Physical review letters
Jetha N
(2008)
The nature of the ghost cavity in the NGC 741 group
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
George S
(2008)
A deep 150 MHz Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope survey in Eridanus
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hammond GD
(2008)
Development of a second generation torsion balance based on a spherical superconducting suspension.
in The Review of scientific instruments
Babak S
(2008)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 1B to Challenge 3
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Amelino-Camelia G
(2008)
GAUGE: the GrAnd Unification and Gravity Explorer
in Experimental Astronomy