Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
An astonishing feature of modern astrophysical research is that we have in principle a chain of explanation that stretches from processes on cosmological scales of billions of light years, down to the creation of stars, planets around the stars and life on the planets. In a sense, this process is almost a closed loop: the early Universe was once of sub-nuclear scale, so that quantum mechanical uncertainty is bound to seed fluctuations in density, which eventually collapse under gravity to make astronomical structures. This is the same physics of the very small that governs the formation of the atoms out of which we are all made.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detailed view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detailed view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
Planned Impact
Details of our Pathways to Impact are provided in the separate 2-page attachment.
Organisations
Publications
Cockell CS
(2018)
The UK Centre for Astrobiology: A Virtual Astrobiology Centre. Accomplishments and Lessons Learned, 2011-2016.
in Astrobiology
Cockell CS
(2018)
The UK Centre for Astrobiology: A Virtual Astrobiology Centre. Accomplishments and Lessons Learned, 2011-2016.
in Astrobiology
Gratton R
(2021)
Investigating three Sirius-like systems with SPHERE
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tröster T
(2022)
Joint constraints on cosmology and the impact of baryon feedback: Combining KiDS-1000 lensing with the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from Planck and ACT
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hardcastle M
(2021)
The contribution of discrete sources to the sky temperature at 144 MHz
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Shimwell T
(2022)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey V. Second data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Morganti R
(2021)
The best of both worlds: Combining LOFAR and Apertif to derive resolved radio spectral index images
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Siewert T
(2020)
One- and two-point source statistics from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey first data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sonnenfeld A
(2022)
The dark matter halo masses of elliptical galaxies as a function of observationally robust quantities
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Smith D
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields The star-formation rate-radio luminosity relation at low frequencies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Biller B
(2022)
Dynamical masses for two M1 + mid-M dwarf binaries monitored during the SPHERE-SHINE survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Chen C
(2020)
Extended H a over compact far-infrared continuum in dusty submillimeter galaxies Insights into dust distributions and star-formation rates at z ~ 2
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maire A
(2020)
Orbital and spectral characterization of the benchmark T-type brown dwarf HD 19467B
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Van Den Busch J
(2022)
KiDS-1000: Cosmic shear with enhanced redshift calibration
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Martinelli M
(2020)
Euclid : Forecast constraints on the cosmic distance duality relation with complementary external probes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Herrera Ruiz N
(2021)
LOFAR Deep Fields: probing a broader population of polarized radio galaxies in ELAIS-N1
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Shimwell T
(2019)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey II. First data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Stacey H
(2019)
LoTSS/HETDEX: Disentangling star formation and AGN activity in gravitationally lensed radio-quiet quasars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Boccaletti A
(2021)
Investigating point sources in MWC 758 with SPHERE
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Boccaletti A
(2018)
Observations of fast-moving features in the debris disk of AU Mic on a three-year timescale: Confirmation and new discoveries
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Van Eck C
(2019)
Diffuse polarized emission in the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mesa D
(2022)
Constraining masses and separations of unseen companions to five accelerating nearby stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mostert R
(2021)
Unveiling the rarest morphologies of the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey radio source population with self-organised maps
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Phipps F
(2020)
The First Billion Years project: Finding infant globular clusters at z = 6
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Martinelli M
(2021)
Euclid : Constraining dark energy coupled to electromagnetism using astrophysical and laboratory data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gürkan G
(2019)
LoTSS/HETDEX: Optical quasars I. Low-frequency radio properties of optically selected quasars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Langlois M
(2021)
The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE) II. Observations, data reduction and analysis, detection performances, and initial results
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kondapally R
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1 III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Frustagli G
(2020)
An ultra-short period rocky super-Earth orbiting the G2-star HD 80653
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Duncan K
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1 IV. Photometric redshifts and stellar masses
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Galicher R
(2018)
Astrometric and photometric accuracies in high contrast imaging: The SPHERE speckle calibration tool (SpeCal)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Damasso M
(2018)
Eyes on K2-3: A system of three likely sub-Neptunes characterized with HARPS-N and HARPS
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Callingham J
(2023)
V-LoTSS: The circularly polarised LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Schmitz M
(2020)
Euclid : Nonparametric point spread function field recovery through interpolation on a graph Laplacian
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mooney S
(2019)
Blazars in the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey first data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bonato M
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields A new analysis of low-frequency radio luminosity as a star-formation tracer in the Lockman Hole region
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Evans C
(2019)
First stellar spectroscopy in Leo P
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Williams W
(2021)
The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey: Deep Fields I. The Boötes Field
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Wang L
(2021)
The bright end of the infrared luminosity functions and the abundance of hyperluminous infrared galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lagrange A
(2019)
Post-conjunction detection of ß Pictoris b with VLT/SPHERE
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gao F
(2021)
The nature of hyperluminous infrared galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Fumagalli A
(2021)
Euclid : Effects of sample covariance on the number counts of galaxy clusters
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Garilli B
(2021)
The VANDELS ESO public spectroscopic survey Final data release of 2087 spectra and spectroscopic measurements
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Stacey H
(2019)
LoTSS/HETDEX: Disentangling star formation and AGN activity in gravitationally lensed radio-quiet quasars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Donevski D
(2020)
In pursuit of giants I. The evolution of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio in distant dusty galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Duncan K
(2019)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey IV. First Data Release: Photometric redshifts and rest-frame magnitudes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Zucca P
(2018)
Shock location and CME 3D reconstruction of a solar type II radio burst with LOFAR
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tutusaus I
(2020)
Euclid : The importance of galaxy clustering and weak lensing cross-correlations within the photometric Euclid survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Wang L
(2019)
A LOFAR-IRAS cross-match study: the far-infrared radio correlation and the 150 MHz luminosity as a star-formation rate tracer
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bonnefoy M
(2018)
The GJ 504 system revisited Combining interferometric, radial velocity, and high contrast imaging data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
| Title | HiZELS star-forming galaxies at z=0.8-3.3 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' The dynamics and distribution of angular momentum in HiZELS star-forming galaxies at z=0.8-3.3.' (bibcode: 2019MNRAS.486..175G) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/486/175 |
| Title | LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. Survey description and preliminary data release.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A.104D) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A104 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) DR2 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). V. Second data release.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...659A...1S) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/659/A1 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields DR1 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. II. The ELAIS-N1 LOFAR deep field.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...2S) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A2 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields DR1 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...3K) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A3 |
| Title | LoLSS-Deep Bootes 54MHz catalog |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey: Deep Fields I. The Bootes Field.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...655A..40W) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/655/A40 |
| Title | LoTSS Deep Fields DR1 photometric redshifts |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. IV. Photometric redshifts and stellar masses.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...4D) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A4 |
| Title | The nature of hyper luminous infrared galaxies |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The nature of hyper luminous infrared galaxies.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...654A.117G) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/654/A117 |