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
Rex M
(2010)
The far-infrared/submillimeter properties of galaxies located behind the Bullet cluster
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Bai L
(2010)
THE FIRST MID-INFRARED VIEW OF THE STAR-FORMING PROPERTIES OF NEARBY GALAXY GROUPS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Winkler W
(2007)
The GEO 600 core optics
in Optics Communications
Egami E
(2010)
The Herschel Lensing Survey (HLS): Overview
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Dariush A
(2007)
The mass assembly of fossil groups of galaxies in the Millennium simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dariush A
(2010)
The mass assembly of galaxy groups and the evolution of the magnitude gap
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Babak S
(2008)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 1B to Challenge 3
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Babak S
(2010)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from challenge 3 to challenge 4
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Jetha N
(2008)
The nature of the ghost cavity in the NGC 741 group
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pribulla T
(2011)
The nearby eclipsing stellar system d Velorum II. First reliable orbit for the eclipsing pair???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Spreckley S
(2008)
The period and amplitude changes of Polaris ( UMi) from 2003 to 2007 measured with SMEI
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Acernese F
(2008)
The Real-Time Distributed Control of the Virgo Interferometric Detector of Gravitational Waves
in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Böhringer H
(2007)
The representative XMM-Newton cluster structure survey (REXCESS) of an X-ray luminosity selected galaxy cluster sample
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
Punturo M
(2010)
The third generation of gravitational wave observatories and their science reach
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Acernese F
(2007)
The Virgo interferometric gravitational antenna
in Optics and Lasers in Engineering
Pacaud F
(2007)
The XMM -LSS survey: the Class 1 cluster sample over the initial 5 deg2 and its cosmological modelling
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pierre M
(2007)
The XMM-Large Scale Structure catalogue: X-ray sources and associated optical data. Version I
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Adami C
(2010)
The XMM-LSS survey: optical assessment and properties of different X-ray selected cluster classes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Freise A
(2009)
Triple Michelson interferometer for a third-generation gravitational wave detector
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Cuevas-Tello J
(2010)
Uncovering delayed patterns in noisy and irregularly sampled time series: An astronomy application
in Pattern Recognition
Abbott B
(2007)
Upper limit map of a background of gravitational waves
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2007)
Upper limits on gravitational wave emission from 78 radio pulsars
in Physical Review D
Hild S
(2009)
Using the etalon effect for in situ balancing of the Advanced Virgo arm cavities
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
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