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
Ivison R
(2010)
Gas, dust and stars in the SCUBA galaxy, SMM J0136: the EVLA reveals a colossal galactic nursery
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Balogh M
(2011)
Direct observational evidence for a large transient galaxy population in groups at 0.85 < z < 1 Transient galaxies in groups at z= 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Geach J
(2011)
4098 galaxy clusters to z~ 0.6 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey equatorial Stripe 82 A catalogue of Stripe 82 clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chapin E
(2011)
A joint analysis of BLAST 250-500 µm and LABOCA 870 µm observations in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South BLAST and LABOCA observations of the ECDF-S
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gelbord J
(2009)
AGN with strong forbidden high-ionization lines selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casey C
(2011)
Spectroscopic characterization of 250-µm-selected hyper-luminous star-forming galaxies 250-µm galaxies at z>1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McGee S
(2008)
Evolution in the discs and bulges of group galaxies since z 0.4
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
Bielby R
(2010)
Photometric selection of emission-line galaxies, clustering analysis and a search for the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casey C
(2009)
Constraining star formation and AGN in z ~ 2 massive galaxies using high-resolution MERLIN radio observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Weijmans A
(2010)
Dissecting the Lyman a emission halo of LAB1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ibar E
(2008)
Exploring the infrared/radio correlation at high redshift
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Okamoto T
(2008)
The impact of radio feedback from active galactic nuclei in cosmological simulations: formation of disc galaxies AGN feedback in cosmological simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McCarthy I
(2011)
Gas expulsion by quasar-driven winds as a solution to the overcooling problem in galaxy groups and clusters How quasar winds solve overcooling in groups
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wake D
(2008)
The 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO Survey: evolution of the clustering of luminous red galaxies since z = 0.6
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
Benson A
(2010)
Galaxy formation spanning cosmic history Galaxy formation spanning cosmic history
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Landt H
(2011)
The near-infrared broad emission line region of active galactic nuclei - II. The 1-µm continuum Near-IR BELR of AGN - II. The 1-µm continuum
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smail I
(2008)
A pilot survey for KX QSOs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field
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
Fine S
(2010)
The C iv linewidth distribution for quasars and its implications for broad-line region dynamics and virial mass estimation The C iv linewidth distribution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goulding A
(2011)
Searching for Compton-thick active galactic nuclei at z~ 0.1 Searching for Compton-thick AGNs at z~ 0.1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Geach J
(2008)
HiZELS: a high-redshift survey of Ha emitters - I. The cosmic star formation rate and clustering at z = 2.23 ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Raimundo S
(2010)
Radiation pressure, absorption and AGN feedback in the Chandra Deep Fields Absorption in the Chandra Deep Fields
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Font A
(2008)
The colours of satellite galaxies in groups and clusters The colours of satellite galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Poppett C
(2009)
Strategies for spectroscopy on extremely large telescopes - III. Remapping switched fibre systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goulding A
(2009)
Towards a complete census of AGN in nearby Galaxies: a large population of optically unidentified AGN
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Croom S
(2009)
The 2dF???SDSS LRG and QSO survey: the QSO luminosity function at 0.4 < z < 2.6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
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
Thomson RR
(2009)
Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics.
in Optics express
| 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 |