Support of the Astronomical Research in the Cavendish Astrophysics Group
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This research is aimed at undertaking and answering fundamental questions about the universe and its history. At the same time we will develop new techniques and instruments to help answer future questions. We address many of the frontier questions in astrophysics. These include: how did the universe get to be how it is? What were the processes that led to the development of the largest structures in the universe? What were the seed conditions that led to galaxies and clusters of galaxies existing today? We can study these questions by looking at the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), radio waves which were emitted soon after the 'Big Bang'. Part of our work is to study the waves to find the imprints of structure formed in the first fraction of a second of the universe's existence. We can also find the earliest forming clusters of galaxies by looking for the 'shadows' they cast on the CMBR. Big advances in astronomy come from the introduction of new techniques, and we want to continue to pioneer the application of the technique of interferometry. This imaging technique was initially developed in our group of radio astronomy, but we are now developing it for astronomy at visible wavelengths. This work will complete the development of an interferometer which will be able to see details in stars and the centres of galaxies which cannot be seen in any other way. We also aim to advance the use of interferometry in radio astronomy by developing techniques to allow interferometric telescopes to observe more of the sky at a given time. This has applications in a wide range of astronomy research. We aim to answer fundamental questions about how stars are formed, by using instruments which can see large numbers of stars at early stages of formation. We also plan to use telescopes which are coming on line in the next few years to see the formation of stars and planets in other solar systems in unprecedented detail. By using data from recently developed telescopes, we will start looking at how magnetic fields are structured in galaxies and within clusters of galaxies. This will allow us to look at the role played by magnetism in these regions.
Publications
Ade, PAR
(2007)
Tests of finline-coupled TES bolometers for ClOVER
in 2007 JOINT 32ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFRARED AND MILLIMETER WAVES AND 15TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TERAHERTZ ELECTRONICS, VOLS 1 AND 2
Payne I.
(2010)
The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer: Geostationary Target Imaging Capabilities
in Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference
Jurgenson Colby
(2010)
The Magdalena Ridge Interferometer Fringe Tracker
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #215
Lasenby A
(2010)
Grassmann, geometric algebra and cosmology
in Annalen der Physik
Gordon JA
(2011)
Long-exposure filtering of turbulence-degraded wavefronts.
in Applied optics
Buscher D
(2012)
The declination degeneracy in interferometric astrometry
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hatchell J.
(2007)
Star formation in perseus - III. Outflows
in ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Millour F
(2009)
A binary engine fuelling HD 87643's complex circumstellar environment Determined using AMBER/VLTI imaging
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nisini B.
(2007)
Warm SiO gas in molecular bullets associated with protostellar outflows
in ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Mennella A
(2011)
Planck early results. III. First assessment of the Low Frequency Instrument in-flight performance
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
| Description | This grant supported the astrophysics research of the Astrophysics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory. As a result of the award a wide variety of astrophysical results were obtained which have been published in a series of papers. In addition to the impact on the astrophysics a number of technical results have wider impact. Most notably these include the development of advanced Bayesian Inference technologies which have wide applicability including in the financial services industry. The software has been made publicly available. |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | EC FP6 III |
| Amount | £74,992 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | r113-ct-2004-001566 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | |
| Title | Geometric (Clifford) Algebras |
| Description | Coming out of my work on Geometric (Clifford) Algebras, a technology start-up was created in Cambridge, called Geomerics. This specialises in application of novel mathematical and computational techniques in the field of computer graphics, and currently employs around 14 people. It was founded in 2006. Some specific outputs are a new method for carrying out 'lighting' in computer games, including several popular titles. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | None |
| Description | EMU |
| Organisation | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | EMU is a proposed radio sky survey project, designed to use the new ASKAP telescope to make a deep (~10µJy rms) radio survey covering the entire Southern Sky (perhaps as far North as 30°. It can be characterised as a "Southern NVSS", except that it will have about 40 times the sensitivity of the NVSS. As a result, it will be able to probe typical star forming galaxies up to a redshift of 1 (i.e. looking back in time to about half the age of the Universe) and the most extreme starbursts to even greater redshifts. Quasars and galaxies hosting massive black holes will be seen right out near the edge of the observable Universe, where the first massive black holes were born. Perhaps even more importantly, EMU will almost certainly uncover new classes of object. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was one of 39 competing to use ASKAP. Expressions of Interest were solicited in November 2008, and selected proposals (including EMU) invited to submit a full proposal by 15 June 2009. EMU was ranked equal top (with WALLABY) of the projects, and so has been invited to play a significant role in ensuring that ASKAP is built and operated to maximise the science return. Potential participants are invited to join the team, and will then have the opportunity to participate in designing the parameters and processes of the survey, and the commissioning and quality control. |
| Impact | All radio data from the survey will be placed in the public domain as soon the data quality has been checked. An integral part of the proposed project will be to identify sources with other wavelengths, and produce public-domain VO-accessible catalogs of these and other "added-value" data products. |
| Start Year | 2008 |
| Description | LOFAR-UK |
| Organisation | Royal Observatory Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The LOw Frequency ARray, LOFAR,is a radio telescope working at the lowest frequencies accessible from Earth. Combining many thousands of simple dipole receivers (just like the one in your radio at home) with the latest in high tech computing, LOFAR will be able to survey wide areas of the sky all at once and will open up a new window for astronomers. When completed, LOFAR will consist of over 5,000 separate antennas spread in "stations" all over Europe. The main project is based in the Netherlands, and most of the array will be there, but outposts are planned in Germany, France, Sweden, Poland and the UK. Several stations are now working, and the array was officially opened in June 2010. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As above |
| Impact | As above |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | LOFAR-UK |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The LOw Frequency ARray, LOFAR,is a radio telescope working at the lowest frequencies accessible from Earth. Combining many thousands of simple dipole receivers (just like the one in your radio at home) with the latest in high tech computing, LOFAR will be able to survey wide areas of the sky all at once and will open up a new window for astronomers. When completed, LOFAR will consist of over 5,000 separate antennas spread in "stations" all over Europe. The main project is based in the Netherlands, and most of the array will be there, but outposts are planned in Germany, France, Sweden, Poland and the UK. Several stations are now working, and the array was officially opened in June 2010. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As above |
| Impact | As above |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | NMT System Architects 04/2006-03/2011 |
| Organisation | New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology |
| Department | Physics Department |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Overall design and technical leadership of deployment team. Joint authorship of papers Experimental investigations Hosting NMT staff for visits |
| Collaborator Contribution | Joint authorship of papers Delivery, installation of hardware Experimental investigations Hosting team staff in New Mexico |
| Impact | Academic research Co-authorship of publications Construction of equipment Engineering/technical/scientific leadership Research funding Student/post-doc training of US collaborators |
| Start Year | 2006 |
| Description | ALMA Royal Society Summer Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition show for a 5 day long exhibition at the Royal Society. The exhibition is in London but school groups and members of the public from across the country attended. We produced some videos explaining about ALMA and life as astronomers, which we posted online. We presented ALMA interactively to an audience of 12000 members of the public over a 7 days period. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Alumni talks 2009/2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Typically 60 non-scientific & scientific attendees with families. Questions afterwards and meet and greet sessions. Philanthropic funding to teaching institute |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2013 |
| Description | BBC Radio 4 Material World |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Live science show with Quentin Cooper, invited to discuss science with ALMA Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | BBC Sky at Night |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | 2012 - Invited to discuss infrared astronomy and ALMA 2006 - Invited to discuss science with the HARP spectrometer on the JCMT. Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2012 |
| Description | BBC World Service Interview on ALMA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | World Service interview on ALMA Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | CUAS Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Popular talk with questions and answer session at end. Talk to local undergraduate Astronomical Society. Raised profile of astronomical research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | CUAS talks (2008) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 50 undergraduate students attended. Pre-talk and post-talk discussions in restaurant and pub with attendees Enhanced interests in astronomy careers and research for audience. Recruitment for post graduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | Cambridge Science Festival Open Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Cambridge Science Festival Open Day 2013: presented ALMA display to several hundred members of the general public Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | French World Service Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | French World Service interview on ALMA Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Herschel and Planck Exhibit (London 2009) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 10,000 visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity to talk to scientists involved with Herschel and Planck about their work Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Institute of Astronomy Public Talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Two public talks at the Institute of Astronomy open evenings: audience of about 150-200 members of the public. Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011 |
| Description | Kavli Lecture of the American Astronomical Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Kavli Lecture of the American Astronomical Society. Elected an Honorary Member of the American Astronomical Society. Elected an Honorary Member of the American Astronomical Society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Media Tour of ESO Chilean Observatories |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Media tour of ESO Chilean observatories with UK Science Journalists: A staff member accompanied a large group of UK mainstream science journalists to the Paranal and ALMA Observatories in Chile to act as scientific guide in 2007. Resulted in a large number of broadsheet and tabloid press articles. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Naked Scientists Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Discussion on science with submm astronomy Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Newspaper and Magazine Interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Numerous interviews with major newspapers and magazines relating to ALMA science and press releases Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 |
| Description | Night School Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Seminar with questions and answer session at end Raised profile of astronomical research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007 |
| Description | Papworth Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk to local village Astronomical Society. Popular talk with questions and answer session at end. Raised profile of astronomical research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Physics Centre Talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Popular talk with questions and answer session at end for 300 students each time. Raised profile of astronomical research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2012 |
| Description | Physics at Work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talks on current astrophysical research to attendees at "Physics at Work" Exhibition. Part of Department's Physics at Work outreach programme. Talks with question and answers afterwards to groups of about 15. Raised profile of Physics at Work |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | Planck Display 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Answered many questions from visitors about Planck, which had been in the national and international news 2 days earlier. Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Radio interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Listeners to the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Drivetime programme Raised research awareness |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Sutton Trust Summer Schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Tour of Observatory, with informal talks, and questions and answer sessions, for about 20 sixth form students each year. Lecture on current astronomical research related to the Cosmic Microwave Background to Sutton Trust Summer School students. Raised profile of astronomical research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | Television appearance for SKA and ALMA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Appearance by Alexander and Cambridge SKA team on a regionally commissioned TV short feature on research at Cambridge and featuring the SKA and ALMA. National TV reach explaining research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Tours of Observatory |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The astrophysics group provides regular tours of the observatory for schools and other interested groups by appointment. Tours are operated by a senior member of staff and one or more graduate students acting as guides. Impact on visitors explaining our research Impact on schools encouragement to participate in science |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |