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
Sesana A
(2010)
Measuring the parameters of massive black hole binary systems with pulsar timing array observations of gravitational waves
in Physical Review D
Sesana A
(2008)
Observing white dwarfs orbiting massive black holes in the gravitational wave and electro-magnetic window
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sesana A
(2008)
The stochastic gravitational-wave background from massive black hole binary systems: implications for observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sesana A
(2010)
Gravitational waves and pulsar timing: stochastic background, individual sources and parameter estimation
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Sesana A
(2009)
Gravitational waves from resolvable massive black hole binary systems and observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanderson A
(2010)
X-ray modelling of galaxy cluster gas and mass profiles Modelling cluster gas and mass profiles
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanderson A
(2009)
A statistically selected Chandra sample of 20 galaxy clusters - II. Gas properties and cool core/non-cool core bimodality
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanderson A
(2009)
LoCuSS: the connection between brightest cluster galaxy activity, gas cooling and dynamical disturbance of X-ray cluster cores
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Salucci P
(2007)
The baryonic and dark matter properties of high-redshift gravitationally lensed disc galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Russell P
(2007)
Bayesian modelling of the cool core galaxy group NGC 4325
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society