Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham 2008-2013
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Over recent years observational astronomers at Durham have been at the forefront of many major advances in the study of galaxies and cosmology. We have a publication and citation record which we believe speaks for itself (see proposal introduction). Durham astronomers currently lead major international projects that exploit many of the the world's foremost ground and space observatories. We will capitalize on our proven track record in AGN studies, precision spectrophotometric analysis of stellar populations in nearby galaxies, multiwavelength studies of galaxy populations at high redshift and panoramic QSO and galaxy surveys, to answer open questions which lie at the core of modern astrophysics. In this proposal we present the case for support of a coherent and comprehensive programme that builds on our strengths and seizes new opportunities. Our programme addresses key questions in the STFC Roadmap, such as ``What are the laws of physics in extreme conditions?'', ``How do galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve?'' and ``What is the Universe made of and how does it evolve?''. This proposal is constructed around the four core themes of our research: Theme A: AGN: outflows from black holes their growth and environment Theme B: Galaxy evolution and archaeology and closely related to this; Theme C: feedback and the formation of galaxies Theme D: Survey cosmology, using galaxies and clusters as probes of large scale structure and evolution There is a well established deep rooted synergy between our work and the research of the ICC group, and the instrumentation group (CfAI).
Publications
Aharonian F
(2009)
SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF PKS 2155-304 WITH HESS, FERMI , RXTE , AND ATOM: SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS AND VARIABILITY IN A LOW STATE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Liu R
(2009)
HARD X-RAY EMISSION IN KINKING FILAMENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Xue Y
(2010)
COLOR-MAGNITUDE RELATIONS OF ACTIVE AND NON-ACTIVE GALAXIES IN THE CHANDRA DEEP FIELDS: HIGH-REDSHIFT CONSTRAINTS AND STELLAR-MASS SELECTION EFFECTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lutz D
(2010)
THE LABOCA SURVEY OF THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH: TWO MODES OF STAR FORMATION IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS HOSTS?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Liu R
(2009)
IMPLOSION IN A CORONAL ERUPTION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tamura Y
(2010)
SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY IDENTIFICATION OF THE MILLIMETER-SELECTED GALAXY SSA22-AzTEC1: A PROTOQUASAR IN A PROTOCLUSTER?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Coppin K
(2010)
MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF CANDIDATE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI-DOMINATED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
O'Dea K
(2010)
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE FAR-ULTRAVIOLET OBSERVATIONS OF BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES: THE ROLE OF STAR FORMATION IN COOLING FLOWS AND BCG EVOLUTION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hopwood R
(2011)
SPITZER IMAGING OF HERSCHEL -ATLAS GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED SUBMILLIMETER SOURCES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Zheng C
(2008)
FIRST-YEAR SPECTROSCOPY FOR THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY
in The Astronomical Journal
Middelberg E
(2008)
DEEP AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE LARGE AREA SURVEY RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN LARGE AREA ISO SURVEY S1/ SPITZER WIDE-AREA INFRARED EXTRAGALCTIC FIELD
in The Astronomical Journal
Middelberg E
(2008)
ERRATUM: "DEEP AUSTRALIA TELESCOPE LARGE AREA SURVEY RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN LARGE AREA ISO SURVEY S1/ SPITZER WIDE-AREA INFRARED EXTRAGALACTIC FIELD" (2008, AJ, 135, 1276)
in The Astronomical Journal
Alexander D
(2008)
WEIGHING THE BLACK HOLES IN z ˜ 2 SUBMILLIMETER-EMITTING GALAXIES HOSTING ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
in The Astronomical Journal
Frieman J
(2008)
THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY: TECHNICAL SUMMARY
in The Astronomical Journal
Sandman A
(2009)
Comparison of STEREO/EUVI Loops with Potential Magnetic Field Models
in Solar Physics
Negrello M
(2010)
The detection of a population of submillimeter-bright, strongly lensed galaxies.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
VERITAS Collaboration
(2009)
Radio imaging of the very-high-energy gamma-ray emission region in the central engine of a radio galaxy.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Acero F
(2009)
Detection of gamma rays from a starburst galaxy.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Rauscher Bernard J.
(2007)
Detectors for the
James Webb space telescope near-infrared spectrograph.: I.: Readout mode, noise model, and calibration considerations
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Andersen David R.
(2006)
Performance modeling of a wide-field ground-layer adaptive optics system
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Eales S.
(2010)
The Herschel ATLAS
in PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
Kimura M
(2010)
Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) for the Subaru Telescope
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Aharonian F
(2008)
Limits on an energy dependence of the speed of light from a flare of the active galaxy PKS 2155-304.
in Physical review letters
Aharonian F
(2008)
Energy spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons at TeV energies.
in Physical review letters
Aharonian F
(2008)
Search for gamma rays from dark matter annihilations around intermediate mass black holes with the HESS experiment
in Physical Review D
Thomson RR
(2009)
Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics.
in Optics express
Lehnert MD
(2010)
Spectroscopic confirmation of a galaxy at redshift z = 8.6.
in Nature
Smail I
(2009)
Astrophysics: Hidden Universe uncovered.
in Nature
Stark DP
(2008)
The formation and assembly of a typical star-forming galaxy at redshift z approximately 3.
in Nature
Swinbank AM
(2010)
Intense star formation within resolved compact regions in a galaxy at z = 2.3.
in Nature
Gierlinski M
(2008)
A periodicity of approximately 1 hour in X-ray emission from the active galaxy RE J1034+396.
in Nature
Richard J
(2010)
Abell 370 revisited: refurbished Hubble imaging of the first strong lensing cluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Smith R
(2008)
A large population of recently quenched red-sequence dwarf galaxies in the outskirts of the Coma cluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Matsuda Y
(2010)
A search for galaxies in and around an HI overdense region at z = 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Sobral D
(2009)
Bright Lya emitters at z ~ 9: constraints on the LF from Hi z ELS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Geach J
(2009)
CO interferometry of gas-rich spiral galaxies in the outskirts of an intermediate redshift cluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Sawangwit U
(2010)
Beam profile sensitivity of the WMAP CMB power spectrum
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Coppin K
(2010)
Detection of molecular gas in a distant submillimetre galaxy at z = 4.76 with Australia Telescope Compact Array
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Matsuda Y
(2009)
Lya blobs like company: the discovery of a candidate 100 kpc Lya blob near to a radio galaxy with a giant Lya halo B3 J2330+3927 at z = 3.1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Muxlow T
(2010)
Discovery of an unusual new radio source in the star-forming galaxy M82: faint supernova, supermassive black hole or an extragalactic microquasar?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Gerssen J
(2009)
Highly ionized gas on galaxy scales: mapping the interacting Seyfert galaxy LEDA 135736
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Ibar E
(2010)
Deep multi-frequency radio imaging in the Lockman Hole - II. The spectral index of submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Davies G
(2009)
A spectroscopic measure of the star formation rate density in dwarf galaxies at z ~ 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Landt H
(2011)
The near-infrared radius-luminosity relationship for active galactic nuclei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Mullaney J
(2009)
The location and kinematics of the coronal-line emitting regions in active galactic nuclei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Jin C
(2009)
The Seyfert AGN RX J0136.9-3510 and the spectral state of super Eddington accretion flows
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Lane K
(2007)
The colour selection of distant galaxies in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Early Data Release
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Hudson M
(2010)
Colours of bulges and discs within galaxy clusters and the signature of disc fading on infall Colours of bulges and discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Alexander D
(2010)
Searching for evidence of energetic feedback in distant galaxies: a galaxy wide outflow in a z ˜ 2 ultraluminous infrared galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Description | The programme funded by this grant produce a number of observational insights into fundamental features of galaxies, black holes and large-scale structure. To give just one example, using the newly-completed Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) we undertook the first survey of extreme starburst galaxies in the distant Universe, demonstrating that these galaxies are very likely to be the progenitors of the most massive galaxies seen today in the local Universe, but seen in an early and very active phase of formation. |
| Exploitation Route | Further academic research or through the development of new facilities (e.g. ELT and SKA) or observational programmes. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | http://www.astro.dur.ac.uk/Cosmology |
| Description | 6dFGS survey |
| Organisation | Australian Astronomical Observatory |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and construction of the FP catalogue, i.e. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1231C |
| Collaborator Contribution | Many other science contributions, e.g. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444.3926J http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.2677S http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.455..386S |
| Impact | now focused on mostly exclusively on 6dF++, i.e. TAIPAN http://www.taipan-survey.org/ Map the southern cosmography with ~110 k redshifts. First detailed map of the southern hemisphere peculiar velocities. |
| Description | 6dFGS survey |
| Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and construction of the FP catalogue, i.e. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1231C |
| Collaborator Contribution | Many other science contributions, e.g. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444.3926J http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.2677S http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.455..386S |
| Impact | now focused on mostly exclusively on 6dF++, i.e. TAIPAN http://www.taipan-survey.org/ Map the southern cosmography with ~110 k redshifts. First detailed map of the southern hemisphere peculiar velocities. |
| Description | Wide field astronomical surveys |
| Organisation | University of Hawaii |
| Department | Institute for Astronomy |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Durham an offical partnet in the Pan-STARRS consortium, which operate a telescope in Hawaii. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They provide the telscope and operations support. |
| Impact | The principle output is research papers published in refereed journals. |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | Seminars and invited talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Paper Presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | All of the co-applicants on this grants have given numberous seminars and invited talks at universities and international meetings and conferences. These activities help to enhance the wider knowledge of our research, and foster new collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 |