Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
An astonishing feature of modern astrophysical research is that we have in principle a chain of explanation that stretches from processes on cosmological scales of billions of light years, down to the creation of stars, planets around the stars and life on the planets. In a sense, this process is almost a closed loop: the early Universe was once of sub-nuclear scale, so that quantum mechanical uncertainty is bound to seed fluctuations in density, which eventually collapse under gravity to make astronomical structures. This is the same physics of the very small that governs the formation of the atoms out of which we are all made.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detailed view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detailed view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
Planned Impact
Details of our Pathways to Impact are provided in the separate 2-page attachment.
Organisations
Publications
Heesen V
(2019)
Calibrating the relation of low-frequency radio continuum to star formation rate at 1 kpc scale with LOFAR
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Heesen V
(2018)
LOFAR reveals the giant: a low-frequency radio continuum study of the outflow in the nearby FR I radio galaxy 3C 31
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Herrera Ruiz N
(2021)
LOFAR Deep Fields: probing a broader population of polarized radio galaxies in ELAIS-N1
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Herrera Ruiz N
(2018)
VLBA+GBT observations of the COSMOS field and radio source counts at 1.4 GHz
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Heywood I
(2022)
MIGHTEE: total intensity radio continuum imaging and the COSMOS/XMM-LSS Early Science fields
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hicks W
(2021)
External Enrichment of Mini Halos by the First Supernovae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hildebrandt H
(2020)
KiDS+VIKING-450: Cosmic shear tomography with optical and infrared data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hill R
(2018)
High-resolution SMA imaging of bright submillimetre sources from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hill R
(2018)
High-resolution SMA imaging of bright submillimetre sources from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hinkley S
(2022)
The JWST Early Release Science Program for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Hoang D
(2018)
Radio observations of the double-relic galaxy cluster Abell 1240
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Homan D
(2020)
Behaviour of the Mg ii 2798 Å line over the full range of AGN variability
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hoyle B
(2018)
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: redshift distributions of the weak-lensing source galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang H
(2021)
Dark energy survey year 1 results: Constraining baryonic physics in the Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang H
(2021)
Dark energy survey year 1 results: Constraining baryonic physics in the Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang S
(2022)
A new model for including galactic winds in simulations of galaxy formation II: Implementation of PhEW in cosmological simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang S
(2020)
A new model for including galactic winds in simulations of galaxy formation - I. Introducing the Physically Evolved Winds (PhEW) model
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang S
(2020)
The impact of wind scalings on stellar growth and the baryon cycle in cosmological simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang S
(2022)
A new model for including galactic winds in simulations of galaxy formation II: Implementation of PhEW in cosmological simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huang S
(2019)
The robustness of cosmological hydrodynamic simulation predictions to changes in numerics and cooling physics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hwang Y
(2021)
Revisiting the Color-Color Selection: Submillimeter and AGN Properties of NUV-r-J Selected Quiescent Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Iyer K
(2018)
The SFR-M * Correlation Extends to Low Mass at High Redshift
in The Astrophysical Journal
Iyer K
(2020)
The diversity and variability of star formation histories in models of galaxy evolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jacobs C
(2019)
Finding high-redshift strong lenses in DES using convolutional neural networks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Janson M
(2021)
A wide-orbit giant planet in the high-mass b Centauri binary system.
in Nature
Jarvis M
(2021)
Dark Energy Survey year 3 results: point spread function modelling
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jeffrey N
(2021)
Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Curved-sky weak lensing mass map reconstruction
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jiménez Muñoz A
(2021)
Euclid: Estimation of the Impact of Correlated Readout Noise for Flux Measurements with the Euclid NISP Instrument*
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Joachimi B
(2021)
KiDS-1000 methodology: Modelling and inference for joint weak gravitational lensing and spectroscopic galaxy clustering analysis
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Johnson H
(2018)
The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): the origin of disc turbulence in z ˜ 1 star-forming galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jones M
(2018)
The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS): design and capabilities
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jones O
(2021)
Infrared variable stars in the compact elliptical galaxy M32
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jorquera S
(2022)
Large Binocular Telescope Search for Companions and Substructures in the (Pre)transitional Disk of AB Aurigae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jorquera S
(2022)
Large Binocular Telescope Search for Companions and Substructures in the (Pre)transitional Disk of AB Aurigae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jose J
(2020)
A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band Filter. II. The Coolest and Lowest Mass Members of the Serpens-South Star-forming Region
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jurlin N
(2020)
The life cycle of radio galaxies in the LOFAR Lockman Hole field
Jurlin N
(2020)
The life cycle of radio galaxies in the LOFAR Lockman Hole field
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kacprzak T
(2020)
Monte Carlo control loops for cosmic shear cosmology with DES Year 1 data
in Physical Review D
Kalomenopoulos M
(2021)
Mapping the inhomogeneous Universe with standard sirens: degeneracy between inhomogeneity and modified gravity theories
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Karamanis M
(2022)
Accelerating astronomical and cosmological inference with preconditioned Monte Carlo
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Karamanis M
(2022)
pocoMC: A Python package for accelerated Bayesian inference in astronomy and cosmology
in Journal of Open Source Software
Karamanis M
(2021)
zeus : a python implementation of ensemble slice sampling for efficient Bayesian parameter inference
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Katsianis A
(2021)
The specific star formation rate function at different mass scales and quenching: a comparison between cosmological models and SDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kervick C
(2022)
Two-point Separation Functions for Modeling Wide Binary Systems in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kimock B
(2021)
The Origin and Evolution of Lya Blobs in Cosmological Galaxy Formation Simulations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Klitsch A
(2019)
ALMACAL V: absorption-selected galaxies with evidence for excited ISMs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Koekemoer A
(2020)
Timing the earliest quenching events with a robust sample of massive quiescent galaxies at 2 < z < 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kondapally R
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1 III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
| Title | HiZELS star-forming galaxies at z=0.8-3.3 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' The dynamics and distribution of angular momentum in HiZELS star-forming galaxies at z=0.8-3.3.' (bibcode: 2019MNRAS.486..175G) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/486/175 |
| Title | LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. Survey description and preliminary data release.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A.104D) |
| 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/648/A104 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) DR2 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). V. Second data release.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...659A...1S) |
| 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/659/A1 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields DR1 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. II. The ELAIS-N1 LOFAR deep field.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...2S) |
| 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/648/A2 |
| Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields DR1 |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...3K) |
| 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/648/A3 |
| Title | LoLSS-Deep Bootes 54MHz catalog |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey: Deep Fields I. The Bootes Field.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...655A..40W) |
| 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/655/A40 |
| Title | LoTSS Deep Fields DR1 photometric redshifts |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. IV. Photometric redshifts and stellar masses.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...4D) |
| 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/648/A4 |
| Title | The nature of hyper luminous infrared galaxies |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The nature of hyper luminous infrared galaxies.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...654A.117G) |
| 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/654/A117 |