Astronomy at Durham 2023-2026
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Astronomy attracts the imagination of the public to an extent that few other branches of science can match - this is due, in large part, to the fundamental nature of the questions it addresses: the origin of the Universe and our place within it.
Our understanding of the universe has developed rapidly over the last few decades. On the basis of the standard cosmological model we live in a universe where at least two thirds of the mass energy is in the form of dark energy which causes the Universe to expand at an ever increasing rate. About a quarter of the mass energy is in the form of dark matter, most probably a new weakly interacting elementary particle yet to be detected on Earth (and hence of great interest to particle physicists). The remaining five percent of the mass energy is in the form of ordinary, or baryonic, matter of which only about a tenth is in stars and planets such as the Earth, and the rest resides mostly as gas in between galaxies. The structures formed by dark and baryonic matter are thought to have been seeded by quantum fluctuations imprinted in the density field of the Universe at the earliest instants of the Big Bang. These produced weak sound waves in the near-uniform primordial plasma that left observable imprints on the heat left over from the Big Bang, emitted when the Universe was only 400,000 years old (now visible as the Cosmic Microwave Background). These tiny ripples grew into the full richness of structures we see around us in the Universe today: galaxies, groups, clusters and larger-scale structures.
Our programme combines cutting-edge theoretical and observational projects to determine the formation and evolution of structure in the Universe and to confront the predictions of our models with our latest observational results, while exploiting instrumentation developments pursued in Durham. We will explore astrophysical clues to the identity of the dark matter, focus on the evolution of galaxies back to the earliest times in the Universe and the influence which their environment has had on their properties. We will investigate the formation and evolution of stars and black holes and their role in determining the structure and properties of galaxies and larger-scale structures, using the latest instruments on ground-based observatories and Earth-orbiting satellites.
Our understanding of the universe has developed rapidly over the last few decades. On the basis of the standard cosmological model we live in a universe where at least two thirds of the mass energy is in the form of dark energy which causes the Universe to expand at an ever increasing rate. About a quarter of the mass energy is in the form of dark matter, most probably a new weakly interacting elementary particle yet to be detected on Earth (and hence of great interest to particle physicists). The remaining five percent of the mass energy is in the form of ordinary, or baryonic, matter of which only about a tenth is in stars and planets such as the Earth, and the rest resides mostly as gas in between galaxies. The structures formed by dark and baryonic matter are thought to have been seeded by quantum fluctuations imprinted in the density field of the Universe at the earliest instants of the Big Bang. These produced weak sound waves in the near-uniform primordial plasma that left observable imprints on the heat left over from the Big Bang, emitted when the Universe was only 400,000 years old (now visible as the Cosmic Microwave Background). These tiny ripples grew into the full richness of structures we see around us in the Universe today: galaxies, groups, clusters and larger-scale structures.
Our programme combines cutting-edge theoretical and observational projects to determine the formation and evolution of structure in the Universe and to confront the predictions of our models with our latest observational results, while exploiting instrumentation developments pursued in Durham. We will explore astrophysical clues to the identity of the dark matter, focus on the evolution of galaxies back to the earliest times in the Universe and the influence which their environment has had on their properties. We will investigate the formation and evolution of stars and black holes and their role in determining the structure and properties of galaxies and larger-scale structures, using the latest instruments on ground-based observatories and Earth-orbiting satellites.
Organisations
- Durham University (Lead Research Organisation)
- ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Collaboration)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Collaboration)
- University of Toronto (Collaboration)
- Leibniz Association (Collaboration)
- Cherenkov Telescope Array Consortium (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER (Collaboration)
Publications
Amvrosiadis A
(2023)
The kinematics of massive high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies
Amvrosiadis A
(2025)
The kinematics of massive high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bachetti M
(2023)
The high energy X-ray probe (HEX-P): studying extreme accretion with ultraluminous X-ray sources
in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Ballard D
(2024)
Gravitational imaging through a triple source plane lens: revisiting the ?CDM-defying dark subhalo in SDSSJ0946+1006
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barra F
(2024)
Examining the nature of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Birkin J
(2024)
KAOSS: turbulent, but disc-like kinematics in dust-obscured star-forming galaxies at z ~ 1.3-2.6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Boorman P
(2024)
The NuSTAR Local AGN N H Distribution Survey (NuLANDS). I. Toward a Truly Representative Column Density Distribution in the Local Universe
in The Astrophysical Journal
Collier M
(2024)
Galaxy clustering in modified gravity from full-physics simulations - I. Two-point correlation functions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Csizi B
(2024)
The PAU Survey: Galaxy stellar population properties estimates with narrowband data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Davies C
(2024)
Constraining modified gravity with weak-lensing peaks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Elbers W
(2025)
The FLAMINGO project: the coupling between baryonic feedback and cosmology in light of the S 8 tension
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Elbers W
(2023)
Where shadows lie: reconstruction of anisotropies in the neutrino sky
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Ghosh S
(2024)
Closing the gap: secular evolution of bar-induced dark gaps in the presence of thick discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Grand R
(2024)
Overview and public data release of the augmented Auriga Project: cosmological simulations of dwarf and Milky Way-mass galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Greenwell C
(2024)
The NuSTAR Serendipitous Survey: The 80 Month Catalog and Source Properties of the High-energy Emitting Active Galactic Nucleus and Quasar Population
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Greenwell C
(2024)
A population of Optically Quiescent Quasars from WISE and SDSS
Greenwell C
(2024)
A population of Optically Quiescent Quasars from WISE and SDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huško F
(2024)
Winds versus jets: a comparison between black hole feedback modes in simulations of idealized galaxy groups and clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Title | New commission for art installation in the Ogden Centre West |
| Description | After the very successful community engagement art work that the Astronomy Group commissioned in 2018 that worked with pupils from two local primary schools, the Astronomy Group have engaged an artist to work with two groups of young people in the care system for a new installation that will be unveiled during the National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham in July 2025. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | The aim of this project is to engage and enthuse a very under represented group of young people (those in the care system) about science and astronomy. |
| Description | Astronomy at Durham 2020-2023 |
| Amount | £4,751,735 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/T000244/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Title | Circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z~4-5 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' Into the Ly {alpha} jungle: exploring the circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z~4-5 with MUSE.' (bibcode: 2020MNRAS.493.5336B) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Data from the Lyman-alpha detections of 4 |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/493/5336 |
| Title | Kinematic study of KGES galaxies |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' The KMOS galaxy evolution survey (KGES): the angular momentum of star-forming galaxies over the last =~ 10 Gyr.' (bibcode: 2021MNRAS.506..323T) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Data from the KGES survey. |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/506/323 |
| Title | MAMMOTH-1 450 and 850um images |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Overdensity of submillimeter galaxies around the z~=2.3 MAMMOTH-1 nebula. The environment and powering of an enormous Lyman-alpha nebula.' (bibcode: 2018A&A...620A.202A) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Availability of a large sub-mm imaging dataset. |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/620/A202 |
| Title | Red and control X-shooter QSO composites |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' Fundamental differences in the properties of red and blue quasars: measuring the reddening and accretion properties with X-shooter.' (bibcode: 2022MNRAS.513.1254F) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Important spectral templates for AGN released to the community. |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/513/1254 |
| Title | Strong lensing dataset in MACS J0416.1-2403 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy and Astrophysics with title ' BUFFALO/Flashlights: Constraints on the abundance of lensed supergiant stars in the Spock galaxy at redshift 1.' (bibcode: 2024A&A...681A.124D) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Data from the BUFFALO Survey of MACS0416-24 |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/681/A124 |
| Title | The DESI Survey Validation: Results from Visual Inspection of the Quasar Survey Spectra |
| Description | Data files to reproduce the published figures from Alexander et al. (2022), AJ, in press (arXiv:2208.08517), titled "The DESI Survey Validation: Results from Visual Inspection of the Quasar Survey Spectra". The figure number is encoded in the file name to make it easy to relate the published figures to the corresponding data file. Please see the published paper for detailed information on what is plotted for each figure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Confirmation of the selection of AGN in the DESI Survey. |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/7316969 |
| Description | 4-metre multi-object spectroscopic telescope (4MOST) |
| Organisation | Leibniz Association |
| Department | Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Survey planning and exploitation by multiple members of the Durham astronomy group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building of a 4000 fibre spectroscopic survey instrument to be commissioned in 2025. |
| Impact | Multiple papers on the selection of targets for these surveys and predictions for the results from simulations. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) |
| Organisation | Cherenkov Telescope Array Consortium |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and design of CTA telescopes. Planning of surveys to be performed by CTA. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Creation of the most powerful gamma-ray telescope to date. |
| Impact | Multiple papers on CTA telescope design and operations. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Dark Energy Survey Instrument (DESI) |
| Organisation | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Planning and execute of the massive spectroscopic surveys. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Operating the largest spectroscopic survey instrument available to astronomers currently. |
| Impact | Multiple papers on the predictions for the DESI surveys and new papers on the first results from years 1-3 of operations. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | LOFAR |
| Organisation | ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of long baseline LOFAR observations and use of LOFAR Sky Survey results. Leadership in upgrades to LOFAR to LOFAR2. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing the most powerful radio telescope available to astronomers currently. |
| Impact | Multiple papers and work on LOFAR long baseline data reduction. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Square Kilometre Array (SKA) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Department | Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and project development. Establishing Durham as an SKA regional data centre |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building the most powerful radio telescope available to astronomers. |
| Impact | None as yet. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | SuperBIT Balloon Experiment |
| Organisation | University of Toronto |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design, construction and flight of the first UV optimised balloon telescope project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The design, construction and flight of the first UV optimised balloon telescope project. A joint project between Durham, Princeton and Toronto. |
| Impact | Papers on the design of the telescope and results from the first long duration flight in Spring 2023. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Celebrate Science week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | During the Autumn half term week Durham University science faculty hold a "Celebrate Science" event for the week on Palace Green outside the Cathedral and there is always several tables and activities led by members of the Astronomy group. Prof Carlton Baugh has been the coordinator of this event for over 10 years. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| URL | http://www.durham.ac.uk/celebrate-science |
| Description | Media engagement |
| 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 | The Astronomy Group have a long and very consistent output of press releases, interviews and several podcasts with group members as presenters. As an example, most recently two group members Prof Mathilde Jauzac and Dr David Lagattuta were featured in a BBC News article (see link below) highlighting their work on gravitational lensing using the James Webb Space Telescope. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9x1vdn403o |
| Description | Multiple schools and community outreach events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Members of the Astronomy Group visit schools, youth groups, Scouts, Guides, Astronomy Societies and other interested groups to give outreach talks and hold events throughout the year. These are too numerous and diverse to list in this submission. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023,2024,2025 |
| Description | Numerous schools visits, science fairs and open days |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The outreach activity in Durham is too wide and frequent to make filling in boxes like this feasible. If any group can they they are\ n't doing enough of it. The public appreciation of astronomy in the North East is higher than it would be without our work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| Description | Numerous schools visits, science fairs and open days |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The outreach activity in Durham is too wide and frequent to make filling in boxes like this feasible. If any group can they they aren't doing enough of it. The public appreciation of astronomy in the North East is higher than it would be without our work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| Description | The Grubb Parsons Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Grubb Parsons Lecture is an annual lecture organised by the Astronomy Group and the Physics Department with sponsorship of the Royal Astronomical Society that celebrates the heritage of the Grubb Parsons telescope builder that was based on Tyneside between 1925 and 1985. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023,2024 |
| URL | https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/physics/major-lecture-series/grubb-parsons/ |