Consolidated Grant Astronomy Observation and Theory 2022-2025
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy
Abstract
This consolidated grant proposal is to support leading research in theoretical and observational astronomy at the Institute of Astronomy (IoA), University of Cambridge.
On the largest scales, the proposal includes work to understand the origin and evolution of the Universe itself through analysis of precise observations of the cosmic microwave background with new ground-based telescopes, and signals from neutral hydrogen probing the era of cosmic dawn, when the first generation of stars and black holes reheated and reionized the cold and neutral post-recombination Universe, bringing the cosmic dark ages to an end.
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 third data release from Gaia 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 will be explored in this grant with sophisticated computational simulations of merging galaxies.
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 analysis of precise observations of the cosmic microwave background with new ground-based telescopes, and signals from neutral hydrogen probing the era of cosmic dawn, when the first generation of stars and black holes reheated and reionized the cold and neutral post-recombination Universe, bringing the cosmic dark ages to an end.
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 third data release from Gaia 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 will be explored in this grant with sophisticated computational simulations of merging galaxies.
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.
Publications
Anslow R
(2024)
The plausibility of origins scenarios requiring two impactors
Anslow R
(2025)
The atmospheric entry of cometary impactors
Anslow R
(2023)
Can comets deliver prebiotic molecules to rocky exoplanets?
in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Avsar A
(2024)
A Search for Collisions and Planet-Disk Interactions in the Beta Pictoris Disk with 26 Years of High-precision HST/STIS Imaging
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bajaj N
(2024)
JWST MIRI MRS Observations of T Cha: Discovery of a Spatially Resolved Disk Wind
in The Astronomical Journal
Bennett J
(2024)
The growth of the gargantuan black holes powering high-redshift quasars and their impact on the formation of early galaxies and protoclusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bigwood L
(2024)
Weak lensing combined with the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect: a study of baryonic feedback
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bonsor A
(2023)
Secondary gas in debris discs released following the decay of long-lived radioactive nuclides, catastrophic, or resurfacing collisions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Booth M
(2023)
The clumpy structure of ? Eridani's debris disc revisited by ALMA
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2024)
Dynamics and spin alignment in massive, gravito-turbulent circumbinary discs around supermassive black hole binaries
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne M
(2023)
Recent Progress in Modeling the Macro- and Micro-Physics of Radio Jet Feedback in Galaxy Clusters
in Galaxies
Carter A
(2023)
The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems I: High-contrast Imaging of the Exoplanet HIP 65426 b from 2 to 16 µm
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Casassus S
(2023)
Azimuthal temperature variations in ISO-Oph 2 from multifrequency ALMA observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ceppi S
(2022)
Accretion rates in hierarchical triple systems with discs
Chai Y
(2024)
A JWST MIRI MRS View of the ? Tel Debris Disk and Its Brown Dwarf Companion
in The Astrophysical Journal
Claes R
(2024)
FitteR for Accretion ProPErties of T Tauri stars (FRAPPE): A new approach to use class III spectra to derive stellar and accretion properties
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Columba G
(2024)
Disk Evolution Study Through Imaging of Nearby Young Stars (DESTINYS): HD 34700 A unveils an inner ring
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cronin-Coltsmann P
(2023)
An ALMA Survey of M-dwarfs in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group with two new debris disc detections
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Curone P
(2023)
Radio multiwavelength analysis of the compact disk CX Tau: Presence of strong free-free variability or anomalous microwave emission
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Desgrange C
(2023)
Planetary system architectures with low-mass inner planets Direct imaging exploration of mature systems beyond 1 au
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Franchini A
(2024)
The behaviour of eccentric sub-pc massive black hole binaries embedded in massive discs
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Guarcello M
(2023)
Photoevaporation and Close Encounters: How the Environment around Cygnus OB2 Affects the Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Guarcello M
(2024)
EWOCS-I: The catalog of X-ray sources in Westerlund 1 from the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hegde S
(2024)
A hidden population of active galactic nuclei can explain the overabundance of luminous z > 10 objects observed by JWST
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Imaz Blanco A
(2023)
Inner edges of planetesimal belts: collisionally eroded or truncated?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jankovic M
(2024)
Collisional damping in debris discs: Only significant if collision velocities are low
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Juodžbalis I
(2024)
A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe
in Nature
Koudmani S
(2024)
A unified accretion disc model for supermassive black holes in galaxy formation simulations: method and implementation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lee J
(2024)
Multiple Beads on a String: Dark-matter-deficient Galaxy Formation in a Mini-Bullet Satellite-Satellite Galaxy Collision
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lemon C
(2024)
Searching for Strong Gravitational Lenses
in Space Science Reviews
Lonappan A
(2024)
LiteBIRD science goals and forecasts: a full-sky measurement of gravitational lensing of the CMB
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Longarini C
(2024)
Angular momentum transport via gravitational instability in the Elias 2-27 disc
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maire A
(2023)
Workshop Summary: Exoplanet Orbits and Dynamics
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Marshall J
(2023)
Stirred but not shaken: a multiwavelength view of HD 16743's debris disc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Martin-Alvarez S
(2023)
The Pandora project - I. The impact of radiation, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays on the baryonic and dark matter properties of dwarf galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Martire P
(2024)
Rotation curves in protoplanetary disks with thermal stratification Physical model and observational evidence in MAPS disks
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Matrà L
(2025)
REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars (REASONS) A population of 74 resolved planetesimal belts at millimetre wavelengths
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Namikawa T
(2024)
LiteBIRD science goals and forecasts: improving sensitivity to inflationary gravitational waves with multitracer delensing
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Pearce T
(2024)
The effect of sculpting planets on the steepness of debris-disc inner edges
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Petrovic H
(2024)
Material transport in protoplanetary discs with massive embedded planets
Petrovic H
(2024)
Material transport in protoplanetary discs with massive embedded planets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Petrus S
(2024)
The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems. V. Do Self-consistent Atmospheric Models Represent JWST Spectra? A Showcase with VHS 1256-1257 b
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Ragusa E
(2024)
Probing the eccentricity in protostellar discs: Modelling kinematics and morphologies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ribas Á
(2024)
Inner walls or vortices? Crescent-shaped asymmetries in ALMA observations of protoplanetary discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rilinger A
(2023)
Addendum: "Determining Dust Properties in Protoplanetary Disks: SED-derived Masses and Settling with ALMA" (2023, ApJ, 944, 66)
in The Astrophysical Journal
| Title | Mapping the merging zone of late infall in the AB Aur planet-forming system |
| Description | Animations associated with the publication:Speedie, J., Dong, R., Teague, R., et al. Mapping the merging zone of late infall in the AB Aur planet-forming system. ApJ Letters, resubmitted.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------PV_Slices_Radial.mp4: Position-velocity (PV) slices in ALMA 12CO emission radially through the disk, moving over different azimuths. Like Figures 2 and 9 in the paper.PV_Slices_Azimuthal_v1.mp4: Position-velocity (PV) slices in ALMA 12CO emission azimuthally through the disk, moving over different radii. Like Figure 9 in the paper.PV_Slices_Azimuthal_v2.mp4: Same as above, but with a varying colorbar (also reveals negative bowls at large radii).Keplerian_AntiKeplerian_Masks.mp4: Channel maps of Keplerian and anti-Keplerian masks, before and after spectral smoothing. Like Figure 7 in the paper.12CO_ChannelMaps.mp4: Channel maps of the 12CO data cube, with a severe colorbar stretch to highlight negative bowling and tail-like structure to the south. Supports Figure 8 in the paper.Streamlines_3D.mp4: Three-dimensional view of the AB Aur disk plane and streamline solutions for S1, S2 and S3, rendered with pyvista. Like Figure 10 in the paper. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/media/Mapping_the_merging_zone_of_late_infall_in_the_AB_Aur_planet-for... |
| Title | High-mass YSOs between 350 and 4000pc |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomical Journal (AAS) with title 'Clustering properties of intermediate and high-mass Young Stellar Objects.' (bibcode: 2023AJ....166..183V) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/166/183 |