Birmingham Astrophysics - Rolling Grant 2007-2012
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
Publications
Pierre M
(2007)
The XMM-Large Scale Structure catalogue: X-ray sources and associated optical data. Version I
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanderson A
(2009)
A statistically selected Chandra sample of 20 galaxy clusters - II. Gas properties and cool core/non-cool core bimodality
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oguri M
(2010)
Direct measurement of dark matter halo ellipticity from two-dimensional lensing shear maps of 25 massive clusters? Measurement of dark matter halo ellipticity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goss K
(2011)
Variations of the amplitudes of oscillation of the Be star Achernar Variations in the oscillations of Achernar
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mahajan S
(2009)
Red star-forming and blue passive galaxies in clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stott J
(2009)
The evolution of the red sequence slope in massive galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Swinbank A
(2007)
Resolved spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed L* Lyman-break galaxy at z~ 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Haines C
(2009)
LoCuSS: luminous infrared galaxies in the merging cluster Abell 1758 at z = 0.28
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Johnson R
(2009)
A statistical analysis of the Two-Dimensional XMM - Newton Group Survey: the impact of feedback on group properties
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanderson A
(2009)
LoCuSS: the connection between brightest cluster galaxy activity, gas cooling and dynamical disturbance of X-ray cluster cores
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Porter S
(2008)
Star formation in galaxies falling into clusters along supercluster-scale filaments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stott J
(2008)
Near-infrared evolution of brightest cluster galaxies in the most X-ray luminous clusters since z = 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Russell P
(2007)
Bayesian modelling of the cool core galaxy group NGC 4325
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sesana A
(2009)
Gravitational waves from resolvable massive black hole binary systems and observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Alshino A
(2010)
Luminosity functions of XMMâ??LSS C1 galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pacaud F
(2007)
The XMM -LSS survey: the Class 1 cluster sample over the initial 5 deg2 and its cosmological modelling
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McCarthy I
(2010)
The case for AGN feedback in galaxy groups AGN feedback in galaxy groups
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Croston J
(2009)
High-energy particle acceleration at the radio-lobe shock of Centaurus A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rasmussen J
(2008)
Galaxy evolution in Hickson compact groups: the role of ram-pressure stripping and strangulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maughan B
(2008)
Testing the galaxy cluster mass-observable relations at z =1 with XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of XLSSJ022403.9-041328
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith G
(2010)
LoCuSS: connecting the dominance and shape of brightest cluster galaxies with the assembly history of massive clusters LoCuSS: BCG dominance at z = 0.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mahajan S
(2010)
Star formation, starbursts and quenching across the Coma supercluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Spreckley S
(2008)
The period and amplitude changes of Polaris ( UMi) from 2003 to 2007 measured with SMEI
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dariush A
(2010)
The mass assembly of galaxy groups and the evolution of the magnitude gap
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rasmussen J
(2009)
Temperature and abundance profiles of hot gas in galaxy groups - II. Implications for feedback and ICM enrichment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society