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
Lonsdale C
(2009)
MAMBO 1.2 mm OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS STARBURSTS AT z ~ 2 IN THE SWIRE FIELDS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Loveday J
(2012)
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): ugriz galaxy luminosity functions GAMA luminosity functions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Magdis G
(2010)
Herschel reveals a Tdust-unbiased selection of z~ 2 ultraluminous infrared galaxies Herschel observations of z ~ 2 ULIRGs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Magnelli B
(2012)
A Herschel view of the far-infrared properties of submillimetre galaxies
Magnelli B
(2012)
A Herschel view of the far-infrared properties of submillimetre galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mao Y
(2020)
The impact of inhomogeneous subgrid clumping on cosmic reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mao Y
(2012)
Redshift-space distortion of the 21-cm background from the epoch of reionization - I. Methodology re-examined 21-cm redshift-space distortion
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Masters K
(2010)
Galaxy Zoo: passive red spirals
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mehrtens N
(2012)
The XMM Cluster Survey: optical analysis methodology and the first data release The XMM Cluster Survey first data release
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mitchell-Wynne K
(2012)
HerMES: A STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT OF THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION OF HERSCHEL-SPIRE SOURCES USING THE CROSS-CORRELATION TECHNIQUE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mondal R
(2020)
Tight constraints on the excess radio background at z = 9.1 from LOFAR
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mondal R
(2019)
A method to determine the evolution history of the mean neutral Hydrogen fraction
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Mukherjee P
(2008)
Planck priors for dark energy surveys
in Physical Review D
Mukherjee P
(2011)
Detecting and distinguishing topological defects in future data from the CMBPol satellite
in Physical Review D
Mukherjee P
(2008)
Planck and re-ionization history: a model selection view
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mulryne D
(2011)
Moment transport equations for the primordial curvature perturbation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Newling J
(2011)
Statistical classification techniques for photometric supernova typing Statistical methods for photometric typing
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nguyen H
(2010)
HerMES: The SPIRE confusion limit
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
O'Halloran B
(2010)
Herschel photometric observations of the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC 1705
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Obradovic M
(2012)
Particle motion in weak relativistic gravitational fields
in Physical Review D
Oliver S
(2010)
HerMES: SPIRE galaxy number counts at 250, 350, and 500 µ m
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Oliver S
(2012)
The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES HerMES
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oliver S
(2010)
HerMES: SPIRE galaxy number counts at 250, 350 and 500 microns
Oliver S
(2010)
Specific star formation and the relation to stellar mass from 0 < z < 2 as seen in the far-infrared at 70 and 160 µ m
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ono Y
(2010)
STELLAR POPULATIONS OF Lya EMITTERS AT z ~ 6-7: CONSTRAINTS ON THE ESCAPE FRACTION OF IONIZING PHOTONS FROM GALAXY BUILDING BLOCKS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ono Y
(2010)
Stellar populations of Lya emitters at z = 3-4 based on deep large area surveys in the Subaru-SXDS/UKIDSS-UDS Field
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
Pahud C
(2009)
Oscillations in the inflaton potential?
in Physical Review D
Panuzzo P
(2010)
Probing the molecular interstellar medium of M82 with Herschel -SPIRE spectroscopy
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Papovich C
(2010)
A SPITZER -SELECTED GALAXY CLUSTER AT z = 1.62
in The Astrophysical Journal
Park H
(2013)
THE KINETIC SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT AS A PROBE OF THE PHYSICS OF COSMIC REIONIZATION: THE EFFECT OF SELF-REGULATED REIONIZATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Parkinson D
(2010)
Optimizing baryon acoustic oscillation surveys - II. Curvature, redshifts and external data sets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parkinson D
(2010)
Application of Bayesian model averaging to measurements of the primordial power spectrum
in Physical Review D
Percival W
(2010)
Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 galaxy sample
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pohlen M
(2010)
Radial distribution of gas and dust in spiral galaxies The case of M 99 (NGC 4254) and M 100 (NGC 4321)
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Ribeiro R
(2011)
Decoding the bispectrum of single-field inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Robotham A
(2013)
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Optimal Tiling of Dense Surveys with a Multi-Object Spectrograph
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Roseboom I
(2009)
A new approach to multiwavelength associations of astronomical sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Roseboom I
(2012)
FMOS near-IR spectroscopy of Herschel -selected galaxies: star formation rates, metallicity and dust attenuation at z ~ 1 Near-IR spectroscopy of Herschel galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Roseboom I
(2010)
The Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey: source extraction and cross-identifications in confusion-dominated SPIRE images Multiwavelength identifications for HerMES
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
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 |