Birmingham Astrophysics- Rolling Grant 2010-2015
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The work of the Birmingham Astrophysics & Space Research group aims to improve our understanding of the Universe, and the force of gravity which governs its structure and growth. Our extragalactic studies aim to discover the way in which galaxies, such as our own Milky Way galaxy, have developed from the small fluctuations present in the primordial gas which filled the Universe after the Big Bang, as well as probing the mysterious 'dark matter' which appears to account for over 90% of the matter in the Universe at large. Our knowledge of the cosmos to date is gleaned almost entirely from study of the electromagnetic radiation (from radio waves to gamma rays) which reaches the Earth from space. However, a whole new astronomical 'window' is about to open, based on the propagating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Detection of these signals is hugely demanding, but large laser-interferometers are now very close to detecting them for the first time, and the Birmingham group is fully involved in these experiments, and in the plans to move these techniques into space within the next decade. This will ultimately allow us to study the gravitational signals from giant black holes, and from the Big Bang itself. We are working towards the first detection of gravitational waves, but also exploring the new techniques which will be required to turn the study of gravitational waves into a true branch of astronomy.
Organisations
- University of Birmingham (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- University of Amsterdam (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- University of Glasgow (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER (Collaboration)
Publications
Abbott B
(2017)
Estimating the Contribution of Dynamical Ejecta in the Kilonova Associated with GW170817
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott BP
(2017)
GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence.
in Physical review letters
Abbott B
(2017)
Upper Limits on Gravitational Waves from Scorpius X-1 from a Model-based Cross-correlation Search in Advanced LIGO Data
in The Astrophysical Journal
Albert A
(2017)
Search for high-energy neutrinos from gravitational wave event GW151226 and candidate LVT151012 with ANTARES and IceCube
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2017)
First Search for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars with Advanced LIGO
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2017)
Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the first Advanced LIGO observing run with a hidden Markov model
in Physical Review D
Abbott BP
(2017)
Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Abbott B
(2017)
On the Progenitor of Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott B
(2017)
Erratum: "First Search for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars with Advanced LIGO" (2017, ApJ, 839, 12)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2018)
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in the first Advanced LIGO observing run
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott B
(2018)
Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott BP
(2018)
First Search for Nontensorial Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
GW170817: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Compact Binary Coalescences.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
Erratum: Tests of General Relativity with GW150914 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 221101 (2016)].
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
Search for Subsolar-Mass Ultracompact Binaries in Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
GW170817: Measurements of Neutron Star Radii and Equation of State.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
Search for Tensor, Vector, and Scalar Polarizations in the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background.
in Physical review letters
Abbott B
(2018)
Effects of data quality vetoes on a search for compact binary coalescences in Advanced LIGO's first observing run
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott B
(2018)
Full band all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the O1 LIGO data
in Physical Review D
Abbott BP
(2018)
Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA.
in Living reviews in relativity
Abbott B
(2019)
GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs
in Physical Review X
Perera B
(2019)
The International Pulsar Timing Array: second data release
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abbott B
(2019)
Narrow-band search for gravitational waves from known pulsars using the second LIGO observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for the isotropic stochastic background using data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run
in Physical Review D
| Description | This award supports a wide range of work concerned with open questions in cluster cosmology, astrophysics and compact objects and experimental probes through gravitational-wave observations of the most compact objects in the universe (black holes and neutron stars) and novel experimental techniques to maximise the performance of laser interferometers as gravitational wave observatories. This work has contributed to the direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black hole and the first observation of a binary neutron star merger. |
| Exploitation Route | The results form the basis for further studies of the behaviour of gravity in extreme condition and the use of galaxy clusters as cosmological probes. It also opens a new era in astronomy |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Other |
| URL | https://losc.ligo.org/events |
| Description | public engagement, increasing pupils and students interest in STEM subjects, and development of mobile apps for education |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Astrophysics at the University of Birmingham |
| Amount | £1,837,268 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/S000305/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | Gravitational Wave Excellence Through Alliance Training (GrEAT) Network with China |
| Amount | £6,405 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | n/a |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | Newton STFC Capacity Building ith LIGO-India |
| Amount | £7,951 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2017 |
| End | 05/2020 |
| Title | finesse |
| Description | Frequency domain INterfErometer Simulation SoftwarE |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2007 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | it has allowed design and debug laser interferometers with a simple but powerful tool. It has allowed to simulate many different user-defined optical setups. It has been used for Advanced LIGO |
| URL | http://www.gwoptics.org/finesse/ |
| Description | EPTA |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | analysis of pulsar timing data to search for gravitational waves |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided radio data for gravitational wave searches |
| Impact | there are papers in preparation |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | EPTA |
| Organisation | National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | analysis of pulsar timing data to search for gravitational waves |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided radio data for gravitational wave searches |
| Impact | there are papers in preparation |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | EPTA |
| Organisation | National Institute for Astrophysics |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | analysis of pulsar timing data to search for gravitational waves |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided radio data for gravitational wave searches |
| Impact | there are papers in preparation |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | EPTA |
| Organisation | University of Amsterdam |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | analysis of pulsar timing data to search for gravitational waves |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided radio data for gravitational wave searches |
| Impact | there are papers in preparation |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | EPTA |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | analysis of pulsar timing data to search for gravitational waves |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided radio data for gravitational wave searches |
| Impact | there are papers in preparation |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy Department |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |
| Description | Cavalcando le onde gravitazionali a caccia di buchi neri e chissa' cos'altro |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Many questions and requests for further discussion and participation to events |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.mantovascienza.it/2017/09/15/cavalcando-le-onde-gravitazionali-a-caccia-di-buchi-neri-e-c... |
| Description | RAS public lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 250 people from the general public attended the public lectures that sparkled interest and questions |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://ras.ac.uk |
| Description | The birth of gravitational wave astronomy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 100 people attended the talk that was followed by many questions and conversations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.atomfestival.org.uk/our-team/atom-2017/ |