Rolling Grant Programme in Astrophysics, Planetary Science and Space Instrumentation - 2010-2015
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose a world-class programme of research encompassing astrophysics, planetary science and space instrumentation. In high energy astrophysics, we will investigate a range of extreme phenomena including gamma-ray bursts and accreting black holes, primarily through the use of space observatories such as XMM-Newton and Swift combined with multiwaveband follow-up. Our programme also focuses on the astrophysics of dwarf stars, from hot white dwarfs through to brown dwarfs, utilising observational data in the infrared through to the ultraviolet. We will also continue to search for planets in orbit around nearby stars, exploiting the novel sky survey being conducted by WASP. In planetary science we intend to progress our comparative study of auroral processes on Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury using a combination of remote imaging, in situ spacecraft measurements and modelling. A new strand of research aims at characterising the composition of asteroids and comets and also grains entering the solar system from interstellar space. In space instrumentation, we are engaged in ground-breaking research into X-ray interferometry with the eventual goal of providing, for the first time, an ultra-high resolution imaging capability in high energy astrophysics. We will also investigate the potential of a very low-mass X-ray optic for a diverse range of applications including monitoring the whole sky on a daily basis with an unprecedented sensitivity for transient X-ray events and the imaging of Solar Wind Charge Exchange in the Earth's magnetosphere. Finally we also propose to maintain a very strong commitment to knowledge transfer and to public outreach.
Organisations
Publications
Bagdonaite J
(2014)
Limits on a gravitational field dependence of the proton-electron mass ratio from H2 in white dwarf stars.
in Physical review letters
Huxor A
(2014)
The outer halo globular cluster system of M31 - I. The final PAndAS catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schulze S
(2014)
GRB 120422A/SN 2012bz: Bridging the gap between low- and high-luminosity gamma-ray bursts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Levan A
(2014)
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF THE AFTERGLOW, SUPERNOVA, AND HOST GALAXY ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXTREMELY BRIGHT GRB 130427A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Berger E
(2014)
ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF THE HOST GALAXY OF GRB 090423 AT z = 8.23: DEEP LIMITS ON OBSCURED STAR FORMATION 630 MILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG
in The Astrophysical Journal
Stanway E
(2014)
GRB 080517: a local, low-luminosity gamma-ray burst in a dusty galaxy at z = 0.09
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Evans P
(2014)
GRB 130925A: an ultralong gamma ray burst with a dust-echo afterglow, and implications for the origin of the ultralong GRBs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
D'Elia V
(2014)
VLT/X-shooter spectroscopy of the GRB 120327A afterglow
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Holberg J
(2014)
Hubble Space Telescope imaging and spectroscopy of the sirius-like triple star system HD 217411
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wiersema K
(2014)
Circular polarization in the optical afterglow of GRB 121024A.
in Nature
Bartos I
(2014)
Cherenkov Telescope Array is well suited to follow up gravitational-wave transients
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lyman J
(2014)
The progenitors of calcium-rich transients are not formed in situ*
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rowlinson A
(2014)
Constraining properties of GRB magnetar central engines using the observed plateau luminosity and duration correlation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maselli A
(2014)
GRB 130427A: a nearby ordinary monster.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Schady P
(2015)
Super-solar metallicity at the position of the ultra-long GRB 130925A
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Perley D
(2015)
CONNECTING GRBs AND ULIRGs: A SENSITIVE, UNBIASED SURVEY FOR RADIO EMISSION FROM GAMMA-RAY BURST HOST GALAXIES AT 0 < z < 2.5
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dainotti M
(2015)
Luminosity-time and luminosity-luminosity correlations for GRB prompt and afterglow plateau emissions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Friis M
(2015)
The warm, the excited, and the molecular gas: GRB 121024A shining through its star-forming galaxy?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Krühler T
(2015)
GRB hosts through cosmic time VLT/X-Shooter emission-line spectroscopy of 96 ? -ray-burst-selected galaxies at 0.1 < z < 3.6??????
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ghirlanda G
(2015)
Accessing the population of high-redshift Gamma Ray Bursts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nardini E
(2015)
Galaxy evolution. Black hole feedback in the luminous quasar PDS 456.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Schulze S
(2015)
THE OPTICALLY UNBIASED GRB HOST (TOUGH) SURVEY. VII. THE HOST GALAXY LUMINOSITY FUNCTION: PROBING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRBs AND STAR FORMATION TO REDSHIFT ~6
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pasham D
(2015)
A MULTIWAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE RELATIVISTIC TIDAL DISRUPTION CANDIDATE SWIFT J2058.4+0516 AT LATE TIMES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pasham D
(2015)
A MULTIWAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE RELATIVISTIC TIDAL DISRUPTION CANDIDATE SWIFT J2058.4+0516 AT LATE TIMES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hartoog O
(2015)
VLT/X-Shooter spectroscopy of the afterglow of the Swift GRB 130606A Chemical abundances and reionisation at z ~ 6
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dainotti M
(2015)
Luminosity-time and luminosity-luminosity correlations for GRB prompt and afterglow plateau emissions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Michalowski M
(2015)
Massive stars formed in atomic hydrogen reservoirs: H I observations of gamma-ray burst host galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Miller JM
(2015)
Flows of X-ray gas reveal the disruption of a star by a massive black hole.
in Nature
Van Der Horst A
(2015)
Detailed afterglow modelling and host galaxy properties of the dark GRB 111215A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Pasquale M
(2015)
The optical rebrightening of GRB100814A: an interplay of forward and reverse shocks?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ghirlanda G
(2015)
Accessing the population of high-redshift Gamma Ray Bursts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brown G
(2015)
Swift J1112.2-8238: a candidate relativistic tidal disruption flare
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Japelj J
(2015)
Spectrophotometric analysis of gamma-ray burst afterglow extinction curves with X-Shooter
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Miller JM
(2015)
Flows of X-ray gas reveal the disruption of a star by a massive black hole.
in Nature
Bernard E
(2015)
The nature and origin of substructure in the outskirts of M31 - II. Detailed star formation histories?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cano Z
(2015)
GRB 140606B/iPTF14bfu: detection of shock-breakout emission from a cosmological ?-ray burst?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gompertz B
(2015)
Broad-band modelling of short gamma-ray bursts with energy injection from magnetar spin-down and its implications for radio detectability
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Evans P
(2016)
Swift follow-up of gravitational wave triggers: results from the first aLIGO run and optimization for the future
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bianchi Luciana
(2016)
Characterization of the hot white dwarfs population in the Milky Way with GALEX, SDSS, PanSTARRS, and HST, to understand post-AGB evolution.
in 41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Smith R
(2016)
Arcus: the x-ray grating spectrometer explorer
Evans P
(2016)
Swift follow-up of the gravitational wave source GW150914
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Dainotti M
(2016)
A Study of the Gamma-Ray Burst Fundamental Plane
Preval S. P.
(2016)
Understanding the spectrum of the very hot DA white dwarf PG0948+534
in ArXiv e-prints
Abdalla H
(2016)
H.E.S.S. Limits on Linelike Dark Matter Signatures in the 100 GeV to 2 TeV Energy Range Close to the Galactic Center
in Physical Review Letters
Reeves J
(2016)
DISCOVERY OF BROAD SOFT X-RAY ABSORPTION LINES FROM THE QUASAR WIND IN PDS 456
in The Astrophysical Journal
Evans P
(2016)
Optimization of the Swift X-ray follow-up of Advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave triggers in 2015-16
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barstow M
(2016)
Diamonds in the sky
in Astronomy & Geophysics
| Description | We have undertaken an ambitious set of resewaerch projects in astrophysics and space technology. These have led to innovative X-ray optics, including interferometry, and a numnber of astrophysics and planetary science outcomes. These include studies of the most distant objects in the Universe, the characterisation of asteroid samples, the discovery of exoplanets, the characterisation of compact objects (neutron stars, black holes and white dwarfs) and the statistical properties of active galactic nuclei. |
| Exploitation Route | The astrophsyical results will inform future studies. The hardware/technology findings can be used in future space missions. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | We have used our research to advance knowledge of astrophysics and space science which has been communicated to the public via outreach activties, including presentations at the National Space Centre, at various schools and through public outreach events including Stargazing live. Technology work has been carried out on X-ray optics which has led to designs for international space missions utlising low-cost and light-weight optical modules. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | qsoft - ray tracing and simulation software for X-ray optics and X-ray telescopes |
| Description | qsoft is a comprehensive suite of routines for the simulation of X-ray optics and X-ray telescopes. The routines can be accessed using the scripting languages R and/or Python. The routines are written in Fortran 77 and C and the source is self contained and requires no external packages or libraries. The source is available from GitHub. A fortran compiler (gfortran preferred) and R and/or Python with module f2py are required to build the libraries. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | This software has been used for the design and analysis of a number of existing X-ray telescopes: Rosat WFC, XMM-Newton, Swift, SVOM MXT. It is currently in use for the design of up coming instruments: ESA Theseus, NASA TAO, Chinese Einstein Probe. |
| URL | https://github.com/dickwillingale |
| Description | Numerous public talks and schools visits |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Too numerous to list Inspiration of young and old audiences |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | UCAS recruitment day University of Leicester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The aim is to give prospective undergraduate students a selection of the types of subjects they will study in the University of Leicester College of Science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| Description | Various school visits, astronomical society lectures |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Many presentations, 100s of students, excellent questions and discussion. Audience figures are totals for activities during each year. Improvements in interest in applying for science degrees |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |