Consolidated Grant Astronomy Observation and Theory 2019-2022
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy
Abstract
This proposal is for a single Consolidated Grant to support the majority of research in Theoretical and Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge.
On the largest scales, the proposal includes work to understand the origin and evolution of the Universe itself through precision observations of the cosmic microwave background with new ground-based telescopes, measurements of the 3D positions of galaxies measured with the DES and DESI galaxy surveys, and the development of new techniques to obtain robust constraints on the history of the expansion of the Universe from observations of distant supernovae.
The Universe today is filled with galaxies, of which our own Milky Way is a not atypical example. A full understanding of galaxy formation and evolution requires multiple lines of attack. Observations of the resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and its Local Group companions provide a detailed fossil record of the dynamical assemblies of the galaxies, the formation of stars, and the buildup of heavy elements over a wide range of mass scales and initial conditions. Researchers at the IoA lead key parts of the data processing for the ESA Gaia space mission, which is performing a survey of the Milky Way with unprecedented precision and volume. Several projects in this proposal will exploit the forthcoming second data release from Gaia (a thousand-fold increase in data over the first release) to understand the dynamics of the Galaxy and its companions. At the other end of the scale, observations of distant galaxies spanning lookback times of up to 12 billion years provide direct measurements of the evolution of galaxy populations and the buildup of stars and metals with cosmic time. The light from these first galaxies likely led to the reionization of hydrogen in the intergalactic medium, when the age of the Universe was less than one billion years. Modelling this process requires sophisticated hydrodynamical simulations, including radiative transfer effects, and is a further focus of this proposal.
It is now recognised that there is an intimate link between the evolution of galaxies and the origin and properties of super-massive black holes, which reside at the centre of the Milky Way and other galaxies. The regions close to black holes allow the exploration of physics at the extremes. The formation and properties of super-massive black holes and their relation to the galaxies in which they reside is a research theme that involves theoretical high-energy astrophysics and observational programmes in the grant.
On much smaller scales within galaxies, the grant focusses of the formation of planetary systems through theoretical modelling of the evolution of protoplanetary disks (exploiting high-resolution imaging with ALMA) and their associated debris disks, and on the atmospheres and geology of extrasolar planets.
On the largest scales, the proposal includes work to understand the origin and evolution of the Universe itself through precision observations of the cosmic microwave background with new ground-based telescopes, measurements of the 3D positions of galaxies measured with the DES and DESI galaxy surveys, and the development of new techniques to obtain robust constraints on the history of the expansion of the Universe from observations of distant supernovae.
The Universe today is filled with galaxies, of which our own Milky Way is a not atypical example. A full understanding of galaxy formation and evolution requires multiple lines of attack. Observations of the resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and its Local Group companions provide a detailed fossil record of the dynamical assemblies of the galaxies, the formation of stars, and the buildup of heavy elements over a wide range of mass scales and initial conditions. Researchers at the IoA lead key parts of the data processing for the ESA Gaia space mission, which is performing a survey of the Milky Way with unprecedented precision and volume. Several projects in this proposal will exploit the forthcoming second data release from Gaia (a thousand-fold increase in data over the first release) to understand the dynamics of the Galaxy and its companions. At the other end of the scale, observations of distant galaxies spanning lookback times of up to 12 billion years provide direct measurements of the evolution of galaxy populations and the buildup of stars and metals with cosmic time. The light from these first galaxies likely led to the reionization of hydrogen in the intergalactic medium, when the age of the Universe was less than one billion years. Modelling this process requires sophisticated hydrodynamical simulations, including radiative transfer effects, and is a further focus of this proposal.
It is now recognised that there is an intimate link between the evolution of galaxies and the origin and properties of super-massive black holes, which reside at the centre of the Milky Way and other galaxies. The regions close to black holes allow the exploration of physics at the extremes. The formation and properties of super-massive black holes and their relation to the galaxies in which they reside is a research theme that involves theoretical high-energy astrophysics and observational programmes in the grant.
On much smaller scales within galaxies, the grant focusses of the formation of planetary systems through theoretical modelling of the evolution of protoplanetary disks (exploiting high-resolution imaging with ALMA) and their associated debris disks, and on the atmospheres and geology of extrasolar planets.
Planned Impact
The Institute of Astronomy ensures all students, postdoctoral researchers and staff are actively involved both in delivering high-value science, and also engaging and stimulating a variety of additional knowledge-creation activities. These activities focus on public awareness of astrophysical science, and on applications of research developments in medical, space-industry and commercial spheres.
The University of Cambridge has one of the most successful programmes for nurturing knowledge transfer and the resulting economic and societal impact between University departments and industry both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The extraordinarily successful Cambridge Science Park is well known, with expertise and ideas from Cambridge Astrophysics being involved in the establishment of several businesses in the Cambridge area.
The IoA's approach to the search for impact opportunities is embedded in the mechanisms that the University has in place to facilitate this. The University's Research Office provides the primary point of contact for corporate liaison, and is actively involved in pursuing impact and knowledge-exchange activities and opportunities throughout the University. Cambridge Enterprise, the University's technology transfer and entrepreneurship arm, exists to enhance the University of Cambridge's contribution to society through knowledge transfer from the University to the community. Members of the Institute of Astronomy interact with these organisations regularly. Engagement with the wider economic community is supported by a Collaborative Research Facilitator, based in the Cavendish Laboratory, who is able to provide advice on relevant networking and funding opportunities.
In summary, the research carried out at the IoA supported through this will lead to a wide range of impacts across a broad range of areas from direct and specific impact in the application of analysis techniques to problems in the medical field to inspirational outreach programmes engaging with those teaching the next generation of scientists.
The University of Cambridge has one of the most successful programmes for nurturing knowledge transfer and the resulting economic and societal impact between University departments and industry both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The extraordinarily successful Cambridge Science Park is well known, with expertise and ideas from Cambridge Astrophysics being involved in the establishment of several businesses in the Cambridge area.
The IoA's approach to the search for impact opportunities is embedded in the mechanisms that the University has in place to facilitate this. The University's Research Office provides the primary point of contact for corporate liaison, and is actively involved in pursuing impact and knowledge-exchange activities and opportunities throughout the University. Cambridge Enterprise, the University's technology transfer and entrepreneurship arm, exists to enhance the University of Cambridge's contribution to society through knowledge transfer from the University to the community. Members of the Institute of Astronomy interact with these organisations regularly. Engagement with the wider economic community is supported by a Collaborative Research Facilitator, based in the Cavendish Laboratory, who is able to provide advice on relevant networking and funding opportunities.
In summary, the research carried out at the IoA supported through this will lead to a wide range of impacts across a broad range of areas from direct and specific impact in the application of analysis techniques to problems in the medical field to inspirational outreach programmes engaging with those teaching the next generation of scientists.
Organisations
Publications
Dumitru S
(2019)
Predictions and sensitivity forecasts for reionization-era [C ii ] line intensity mapping
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Coulton W
(2019)
The bispectrum of polarized galactic foregrounds
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
McAllister M
(2019)
The evolutionary status of Cataclysmic Variables: eclipse modelling of 15 systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jiang J
(2019)
High Density Reflection Spectroscopy - II. The density of the inner black hole accretion disc in AGN
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clarke J.P.
(2019)
The Milky Way bar/bulge in proper motions: A 3D view from VIRAC and Gaia
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Evans N
(2019)
Lessons from the curious case of the 'fastest' star in Gaia DR2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shannon A
(2019)
Oort cloud asteroids: collisional evolution, the Nice Model, and the Grand Tack
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thomsen L
(2019)
X-Ray Fluorescence from Super-Eddington Accreting Black Holes
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Ferreira T
(2019)
The asymptotic evolution of the stellar merger V1309 Sco: a Blue Straggler in the making?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2019)
AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: lobe energetics and X-ray properties in a realistic cluster environment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Reed S
(2019)
Three new VHS-DES quasars at 6.7 < z < 6.9 and emission line properties at z > 6.5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Winter A
(2019)
A solution to the proplyd lifetime problem
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Daley C
(2019)
The Mass of Stirring Bodies in the AU Mic Debris Disk Inferred from Resolved Vertical Structure
in The Astrophysical Journal
Long ? F
(2019)
Compact Disks in a High-resolution ALMA Survey of Dust Structures in the Taurus Molecular Cloud
in The Astrophysical Journal
West R
(2019)
NGTS-4b: A sub-Neptune transiting in the desert
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Carniani S
(2019)
Constraints on high-J CO emission lines in z ~ 6 quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McGill P
(2019)
Ongoing astrometric microlensing events from VVV and Gaia
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Miley J
(2019)
Asymmetric mid-plane gas in ALMA images of HD 100546
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Facchini S
(2019)
High gas-to-dust size ratio indicating efficient radial drift in the mm-faint CX Tauri disk
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kingsland M
(2019)
Effects of Anisotropic Viscosity on the Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei Bubbles in Galaxy Clusters
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
De Vries M
(2019)
Evidence for a TDE origin of the radio transient Cygnus A-2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Winter A
(2019)
External photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs in Cygnus OB2: linking discs to star formation dynamical history
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Miley J
(2019)
Asymmetric mid-plane gas in ALMA images of HD 100546
Manara C
(2019)
Observational constraints on dust disk sizes in tidally truncated protoplanetary disks in multiple systems in the Taurus region
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nidever D
(2019)
Spectroscopy of the Young Stellar Association Price-Whelan 1: Origin in the Magellanic Leading Arm and Constraints on the Milky Way Hot Halo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Coutens A
(2019)
VLA cm-wave survey of young stellar objects in the Oph A cluster: constraining extreme UV- and X-ray-driven disk photoevaporation A pathfinder for Square Kilometre Array studies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sepulveda A
(2019)
The REASONS Survey: Resolved Millimeter Observations of a Large Debris Disk around the Nearby F Star HD 170773
in The Astrophysical Journal
Saito R
(2019)
VVV-WIT-04: an extragalactic variable source caught by the VVV Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wevers T
(2019)
Evidence for rapid disc formation and reprocessing in the X-ray bright tidal disruption event candidate AT 2018fyk
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wyatt M
(2019)
Susceptibility of planetary atmospheres to mass loss and growth by planetesimal impacts: the impact shoreline
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maitra S
(2019)
Three- and two-point spatial correlations of intergalactic medium at z ~ 2 using projected quasar triplets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
An J
(2019)
Self-consistent potential-density pairs of thick discs and flattened galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Moór A
(2019)
New Millimeter CO Observations of the Gas-rich Debris Disks 49 Cet and HD 32297
in The Astrophysical Journal
Puchwein E
(2019)
Consistent modelling of the meta-galactic UV background and the thermal/ionization history of the intergalactic medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ishibashi W
(2019)
Radiation pattern and outflow geometry: a new probe of black hole spin?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vasiliev E
(2019)
Submillimeter Signatures from Growing Supermassive Black Holes before Reionization
in The Astrophysical Journal
Comerford T
(2019)
Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion by binary stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gaikwad P
(2019)
Effect of non-equilibrium ionization on derived physical conditions of the high-z intergalactic medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanders J
(2019)
The pattern speed of the Milky Way bar from transverse velocities
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Yelverton B
(2019)
A statistically significant lack of debris discs in medium separation binary systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Matrà L
(2019)
Kuiper Belt-like Hot and Cold Populations of Planetesimal Inclinations in the ß Pictoris Belt Revealed by ALMA
in The Astronomical Journal
Naik A
(2019)
Constraints on chameleon f(R)-gravity from galaxy rotation curves of the SPARC sample
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Everall A
(2019)
The tilt of the local velocity ellipsoid as seen by Gaia
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith M
(2019)
Cosmological simulations of dwarfs: the need for ISM physics beyond SN feedback alone
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Description | Many new discoveries about the formation and evolution of galaxies, star formation, planet formation and particle physics theory have been made possible by the award. |
| Exploitation Route | Many international collaborative projects use our results |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education |
| Title | Data from "Multi-wavelength continuum sizes of protoplanetary discs: scaling relations and implications for grain growth and radial drift" |
| Description | Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 from Tazzari et al., 2021, "Multi-wavelength continuum sizes of protoplanetary discs: scaling relations and implications for grain growth and radial drift", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv:2010.02249 Both tables are available in IPAC format, which is in human- and machine-readable:
|
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4756381 |
| Title | Data from "Multi-wavelength continuum sizes of protoplanetary discs: scaling relations and implications for grain growth and radial drift" |
| Description | Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 from Tazzari et al., 2021, "Multi-wavelength continuum sizes of protoplanetary discs: scaling relations and implications for grain growth and radial drift", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv:2010.02249 Both tables are available in IPAC format, which is in human- and machine-readable:
|
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4756380 |
| Title | Data from "The first ALMA survey of protoplanetary discs at 3 mm: demographics of grain growth in the Lupus region" |
| Description | Table 1 and Table 2 from Tazzari et al., 2021, "The first ALMA survey of protoplanetary discs at 3 mm: demographics of grain growth in the Lupus region", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv:2010.02248 Both tables are available in IPAC format, which is in human- and machine-readable:
|
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4756281 |
| Title | Data from "The first ALMA survey of protoplanetary discs at 3 mm: demographics of grain growth in the Lupus region" |
| Description | Table 1 and Table 2 from Tazzari et al., 2021, "The first ALMA survey of protoplanetary discs at 3 mm: demographics of grain growth in the Lupus region", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, arXiv:2010.02248 Both tables are available in IPAC format, which is in human- and machine-readable:
|
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/4756282 |
| Title | Gaia Photometric Science Alerts |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Gaia Photometric Science Alerts.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...652A..76H) |
| 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/652/A76 |
| Title | HD 163296 disk rings distribution of solids |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Distribution of solids in the rings of the HD 163296 disk: a multiwavelength study.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...664A.137G) |
| 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/664/A137 |
| Title | NGTS clusters survey. IV. |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' NGTS clusters survey. IV. Search for Dipper stars in the Orion Nebular Cluster.' (bibcode: 2023MNRAS.521.1700M) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/521/1700 |