Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Sussex
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sussex
Department Name: Sch of Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Abstract
This grant supports a rolling programme of research at the University of Sussex with 3 main themes: * Cosmology Observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) with the WMAP satellite have placed strong constraints on cosmological models, including those of inflation. Future experiments will probe gravitational wave production in the early universe. Sussex has been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of this field. Models of hybrid inflation end in phase transitions at which topological defects can form, including strings, textures and semi-local strings. We will make predictions for their effect on the CMBR. We have developed a rigorous framework for model comparisons. We will apply this to inflationary models, the reionisation history of the Universe, survey design, etc. One of the key questions in cosmology is the nature of the dark energy that dominates the energy density of the Universe. We will explore this question both theoretically and using data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) and ESO VST and VISTA surveys. * Clusters We will combine large observational and simulated cluster surveys to provide strong constraints on both cosmology and the physics of galaxy and cluster formation. Sussex is leading the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) that has over 2000 cluster candidates and is expected to produce the largest ever homogeneous cluster sample, including many at high redshift. The evolution and large-scale distribution of clusters will provide strong constraints on cosmological models. The Millennium Gas simulations are the largest ever hydrodynamical simulations of clusters and provide an unrivalled catalogue of mock clusters for comparison with the observations. A variety of physical models for energy injection into the intracluster and intergalactic media can be tested, including supernovae/galaxy formation and active galactic nuclei. * Galaxies We are major contributors to a large number of deep surveys of forming galaxies. The most notable of these is the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) that consists of 6 separate surveys of different depths and areas. Roughly half the light emitted by stars in the Universe has been absorbed by dust and re-radiated in the far infra-red. HerMES will provide a legacy study of the far infra-red galaxy populations and characterise the contribution of different redshifts, luminosities and environments to the star-formation history of the Universe. Complementary near-infrared data, essential for estimating reliable photometric redshifts, will be provided by UKIDSS DXS/UDS and VISTA VIDEO surveys. We are embarking on a new programme of 'hybrid modelling' that combines observations and theoretical models of galaxy formation using techniques borrowed from observational cosmology. We will use bayesian parameter estimation and models selection to constrain the models by direct comparison with observations, eliminating the need for intermediate phenomenological models such as luminosity functions.
Publications
Kay S
(2008)
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich temperature of the intracluster medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wake D
(2008)
The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: evolution of the clustering of luminous red galaxies since z = 0.6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mukherjee P
(2008)
Planck priors for dark energy surveys
in Physical Review D
Wang L
(2008)
Timeline analysis and wavelet multiscale analysis of the AKARI All-Sky Survey at 90 µm
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thomas P
(2008)
Formation of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies: tests of the galaxy threshing scenario in Fornax
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Amsler C
(2008)
Review of Particle Physics
in Physics Letters B
Mukherjee P
(2008)
Planck and re-ionization history: a model selection view
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hartley W
(2008)
Nature versus nurture: the curved spine of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity-temperature relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Urrestilla J
(2008)
Cosmic microwave anisotropies from BPS semilocal strings
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Hindmarsh M
(2009)
CMB temperature bispectrum induced by cosmic strings
in Physical Review D
Sacchi N
(2009)
SPECTROSCOPIC IDENTIFICATIONS OF SPITZER SOURCES IN THE SWIRE/ XMM-NEWTON /ELAIS-S1 FIELD: A LARGE FRACTION OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH HIGH F (24 µm)/ F ( R ) RATIO
in The Astrophysical Journal
Liddle A
(2009)
Statistical Methods for Cosmological Parameter Selection and Estimation
in Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science
Roseboom I
(2009)
A new approach to multiwavelength associations of astronomical sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Crain R
(2009)
Galaxies???intergalactic medium interaction calculation ??? I. Galaxy formation as a function of large-scale environment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hernán-Caballero A
(2009)
Mid-infrared spectroscopy of infrared-luminous galaxies at z ~ 0.5-3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Henriques B
(2009)
Monte Carlo Markov Chain parameter estimation in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cortês M
(2009)
Viable inflationary models ending with a first-order phase transition
in Physical Review D
Farrah D
(2009)
MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF OPTICALLY FAINT EXTRAGALACTIC 70 µM SOURCES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Spoon H
(2009)
HIGH-VELOCITY NEON LINE EMISSION FROM THE ULIRG IRAS F00183-7111: REVEALING THE OPTICALLY OBSCURED BASE OF A NUCLEAR OUTFLOW
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sahlén M
(2009)
The XMM Cluster Survey: forecasting cosmological and cluster scaling-relation parameter constraints
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clemson T
(2009)
Observational constraints on thawing quintessence models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Khan S
(2009)
ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST GALAXIES SELECTED AT 350 µm
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hilton M
(2009)
THE XMM CLUSTER SURVEY: GALAXY MORPHOLOGIES AND THE COLOR-MAGNITUDE RELATION IN XMMXCS J2215.9 - 1738 AT z = 1.46
in The Astrophysical Journal
Short C
(2009)
COMBINING SEMIANALYTIC MODELS WITH SIMULATIONS OF GALAXY CLUSTERS: THE NEED FOR HEATING FROM ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
in The Astrophysical Journal
Smith A
(2009)
Luminosity and surface brightness distribution of K -band galaxies from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ouchi M
(2009)
DISCOVERY OF A GIANT Lya EMITTER NEAR THE REIONIZATION EPOCH
in The Astrophysical Journal
Roseboom I
(2009)
SPITZER IRS OBSERVATIONS OF k+a GALAXIES: A LINK BETWEEN POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON EMISSION PROPERTIES AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FEEDBACK?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Clements D
(2009)
RESOLVED DUST EMISSION IN A QUASAR AT z = 3.65
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abazajian K
(2009)
THE SEVENTH DATA RELEASE OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Kotak R
(2009)
DUST AND THE TYPE II-PLATEAU SUPERNOVA 2004et
in The Astrophysical Journal
Croom S
(2009)
The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: the spectroscopic QSO catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Haberzettl L
(2009)
THE CLOWES-CAMPUSANO LARGE QUASAR GROUP SURVEY. I. GALEX SELECTED SAMPLE OF LYMAN BREAK GALAXIES AT z ~ 1
in The Astrophysical Journal
Farrah D
(2009)
AN EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM FOR DUSTY ACTIVE GALAXIES AT LOW REDSHIFT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Fiolet N
(2009)
Multi-wavelength properties of Spitzer selected starbursts at z ~ 2
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Collins CA
(2009)
Early assembly of the most massive galaxies.
in Nature
Pahud C
(2009)
Oscillations in the inflaton potential?
in Physical Review D
Lonsdale C
(2009)
MAMBO 1.2 mm OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS STARBURSTS AT z ~ 2 IN THE SWIRE FIELDS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kunz M
(2009)
Constraining the dark fluid
in Physical Review D
Bernard-Salas J
(2009)
A SPITZER HIGH-RESOLUTION MID-INFRARED SPECTRAL ATLAS OF STARBURST GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Kessler Richard
(2010)
Results from the Supernova Photometric Classification Challenge
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Dias M
(2010)
On the possibility of braneworld quintessential inflation
in Physical Review D
Burrage C
(2010)
Galileon inflation
Trichas M
(2010)
Spectroscopic identifications of SWIRE sources in ELAIS-N1 ELAIS-N1 optical spectroscopy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Levenson L
(2010)
HerMES: SPIRE Science Demonstration Phase maps?†‡ HerMES: SDP maps
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brax P
(2010)
Anomalous coupling of scalars to gauge fields
Gao C
(2010)
Unified dark energy and dark matter from a scalar field different from quintessence
in Physical Review D
Griffen B
(2010)
Globular cluster formation within the Aquarius simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Farrah D
(2010)
THE EXTRAORDINARY MID-INFRARED SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF FeLoBAL QUASARS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Description | Astronomy responsive grants |
Amount | £2,994,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2011 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | EPSRC novel technologies |
Amount | £1,200,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/I036575/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2011 |
End | 08/2015 |
Description | COSMOS |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sussex is a member of this multi-institution collaboration ( too many collaborators to list) runnign a large HPC facility |
Collaborator Contribution | Training of researchers in high-performance computation |
Impact | Publications as in individual applicant lists |
Description | GAMA: Galaxies and Mass Assembly |
Organisation | University of St Andrews |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sussex is a member of this large collaboration (too many members to list) |
Impact | Publications as in individual applicant list |
Description | HerMES: Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey |
Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
Department | Infrared Processing and Analysis Center |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sussex co-leads this project which has a very large number of international partners, far too many to list. |
Impact | Publications as in applicant list |
Description | VIRGO |
Organisation | Durham University |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sussex is a member of this supercomputing consortium, which contains too many partners to list. |
Impact | Publications as in individual applicant lists |
Description | XCS: XMM cluster survey |
Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
Department | Astrophysics Research Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sussex lead this multi-institution collaboration (too many partners to list) creating a galaxy cluster catalogue using archival XMM satellite data |
Impact | Publications as detailed in appiicant lists |
Description | Sussex outreach programme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | We have a wide ranging programme of outreach featuring hundreds of separate activities operated by a dedicated outreach officer. Many tens of these are directly relevant to this funded grant, far too many to attempt to list here. We have had several thousand schoolchildren covered by our outreach programmes, using a wide range of the methods listed in box 5.9, that however only lets me select one option. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011 |