Astrophysics and Cosmology Research within the JBCA 2017-2020
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This grant supports the research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Our research is a divided into 3 groups. There are too many specific proposals to describe in detail, do below we have given a brief layman's explanation of the work being carried out by the three groups.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are change with time: things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are non-standard star time, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are change with time: things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are non-standard star time, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Planned Impact
The range of research we undertake and the world-class facilities within and in close association with JBCA (the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, e-MERLIN, the Lovell Telescope, the ALMA ARC and the SKA HQ) will provide key pathways to increasing our already strong impact on UK and global industry, the next generation of scientists and engineers, and the general public. The University's investment in the Jodrell Bank site combined with significant external funding (e.g. from Heritage Lottery Fund) will enable us to expand its use as an iconic venue for public and industrial engagement. The programme described here formed a key part of the School's submission for REF2014, helping it to be ranked highest in the REF for physics impact with 83% at 4* and 17% at 3*. Our outreach \& public engagement programme is extremely strong and continues to grow, particularly through its work with the University's award-winning Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the BBC. With the recent decision on SKA HQ location and our strong research work in this area, there is also growing impact in both outreach and industrial engagement in this area.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 230000 Twitter followers
- Stargazing live
- JB Discovery centre with 150000 visitors per year
- Award winning "Live from Jodrell Bank" rock concerts
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 230000 Twitter followers
- Stargazing live
- JB Discovery centre with 150000 visitors per year
- Award winning "Live from Jodrell Bank" rock concerts
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Organisations
Publications
Eden D
(2019)
SCOPE: SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution - survey description and compact source catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Porayko N
(2019)
Testing the accuracy of the ionospheric Faraday rotation corrections through LOFAR observations of bright northern pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Driessen L
(2019)
MKT J170456.2-482100: the first transient discovered by MeerKAT
Abbott T
(2019)
Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Constraints on extended cosmological models from galaxy clustering and weak lensing
in Physical Review D
Burgay M
(2019)
The High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey - XV. Completion of the intermediate-latitude survey with the discovery and timing of 25 further pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Battye R
(2019)
Cosmologically viable generalized Einstein-aether theories
in Physical Review D
Thomson A
(2019)
Radio Spectra and Sizes of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array-identified Submillimeter Galaxies: Evidence of Age-related Spectral Curvature and Cosmic-Ray Diffusion?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Court J
(2019)
The eclipsing accreting white dwarf Z chameleontis as seen with TESS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Radcliffe J
(2019)
An insight into the extragalactic transient and variable microJy radio sky across multiple decades
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Driessen L
(2019)
Scattering features and variability of the Crab pulsar
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Polzin E
(2019)
Long-term variability of a black widow's eclipses - A decade of PSR J2051$-$0827
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cooke E
(2019)
The submillimetre view of massive clusters at z ~ 0.8-1.6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Battye R
(2019)
Dark matter axion detection in the radio/mm-waveband
Ng C
(2019)
X-Ray and Radio Variabilities of PSR J2032+4127 near Periastron
in The Astrophysical Journal
Agarwal D
(2019)
A fast radio burst in the direction of the Virgo Cluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dharmawardena T
(2019)
The nearby evolved stars survey - I. JCMT/SCUBA-2 submillimetre detection of the detached shell of U Antliae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Penny M
(2019)
Predictions of the WFIRST Microlensing Survey. I. Bound Planet Detection Rates
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Hosenie Z
(2019)
Comparing Multiclass, Binary, and Hierarchical Machine Learning Classification schemes for variable stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wolleben M
(2019)
The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey: Polarimetry of the Southern Sky from 300 to 480 MHz
in The Astronomical Journal
Zhu W
(2019)
Tests of gravitational symmetries with pulsar binary J1713+0747
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Caleb M
(2019)
Polarization studies of rotating radio transients
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nieder L
(2019)
Detection and Timing of Gamma-Ray Pulsations from the 707 Hz Pulsar J0952-0607
in The Astrophysical Journal
Morello V
(2019)
The High Time Resolution Universe survey - XIV. Discovery of 23 pulsars through GPU-accelerated reprocessing
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hartley P
(2019)
Strong lensing reveals jets in a sub-microJy radio-quiet quasar
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Govoni F
(2019)
A radio ridge connecting two galaxy clusters in a filament of the cosmic web.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Abbott B
(2019)
Erratum: "Searches for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars at Two Harmonics in 2015-2017 LIGO Data" (2019, ApJ, 879, 10)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Williams D
(2019)
Unveiling the 100 pc scale nuclear radio structure of NGC 6217 with e-MERLIN and the VLA
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanidas S
(2019)
The LOFAR Tied-Array All-Sky Survey (LOTAAS): Survey overview and initial pulsar discoveries
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tessore N
(2019)
Moment-based ellipticity measurement as a statistical parameter estimation problem
in New Astronomy
Zhou S
(2019)
SDSS-IV MaNGA: stellar initial mass function variation inferred from Bayesian analysis of the integral field spectroscopy of early-type galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pace F
(2019)
Halo collapse: virialization by shear and rotation in dynamical dark-energy models. Effects on weak-lensing peaks
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Littlefield C
(2019)
Fast-cadence TESS Photometry and Doppler Tomography of the Asynchronous Polar CD Ind: A Revised Accretion Geometry from Newly Proposed Spin and Orbital Periods
in The Astrophysical Journal
Waterfall C
(2019)
Modelling the radio and X-ray emission from T-Tauri flares
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Keitel D
(2019)
First search for long-duration transient gravitational waves after glitches in the Vela and Crab pulsars
in Physical Review D
Stern C
(2019)
Weak-lensing analysis of SPT-selected galaxy clusters using Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Yu B
(2019)
Three-dimensional dust mapping of 12 supernovae remnants in the Galactic anticentre
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Desvignes G
(2019)
Radio emission from a pulsar's magnetic pole revealed by general relativity.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Skipper C
(2019)
Cleaning radio interferometric images using a spherical wavelet decomposition
in Astronomy and Computing
Buckley D
(2019)
Targeted search for young radio pulsars in the SMC: discovery of two new pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ilie C
(2019)
Evidence for magnetospheric effects on the radiation of radio pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hillier T
(2019)
Radio-optical galaxy shape and shear correlations in the COSMOS field using 3 GHz VLA observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wang Y
(2019)
Orbit properties of massive prolate galaxies in the Illustris simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Loureiro A
(2019)
Cosmological measurements from angular power spectra analysis of BOSS DR12 tomography
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Levin L
(2019)
Spin frequency evolution and pulse profile variations of the recently re-activated radio magnetar XTE J1810-197
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chung D
(2019)
Cross-correlating Carbon Monoxide Line-intensity Maps with Spectroscopic and Photometric Galaxy Surveys
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lovell M
(2019)
The signal of decaying dark matter with hydrodynamical simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sobey C
(2019)
Low-frequency Faraday rotation measures towards pulsars using LOFAR: probing the 3D Galactic halo magnetic field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kontar E
(2019)
Anisotropic Radio-wave Scattering and the Interpretation of Solar Radio Emission Observations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Description | The consolidated grant supported a wide range of activities in astrophysics and cosmology at the JBCA. This was based around three areas: cosmology - the study of the Universe as a single entity, pulsars - spinning neutron stars which emit pulse of radio waves at regular intervals, astrophysical processes - the study of galaxy and star formation in the universe. Progress was made in all these areas. |
Exploitation Route | The wide range of work produce by the grant has been published in journals. These papers have received significant citations indicating that all the areas have had an impact within the academic research community. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Other |
Description | The research has been used extensively in the outreach program of the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, which attracts 160,000 visitors per annum and focusses on hard-to-reach audiences. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |