Astrophysics and Cosmology Research at the JBCA 2020-2023
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This grant supports the research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Our research is a divided into 3 groups. There are too many specific proposals to describe in detail, do below we have given a brief layman's explanation of the work being carried out by the three groups.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time- things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are a non-standard star type, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time- things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are a non-standard star type, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Planned Impact
The range of research we undertake and the world-class facilities within and in close association with JBCA (the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, e-MERLIN, the Lovell Telescope, the ALMA ARC and the SKA HQ) will provide key pathways to increasing our already strong impact on UK and global industry, the next generation of scientists and engineers, and the general public. The University's investment in the Jodrell Bank site combined with significant external funding (e.g. from Heritage Lottery Fund) will enable us to expand its use as an iconic venue for public and industrial engagement. The programme described here formed a key part of the School's submission for REF2014, helping it to be ranked highest in the REF for physics impact with 83% at 4* and 17% at 3*. Our outreach \& public engagement programme is extremely strong and continues to grow, particularly through its work with the University's award-winning Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the BBC. With the recent decision on SKA HQ location and our strong research work in this area, there is also growing impact in both outreach and industrial engagement in this area.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 215000 Twitter and 18000 Facebook followers
- Stargazing live, Pulsar Hunters, Science Programmes presented by Danielle George
- JB Discovery centre with 190000 visitors per year
- Award winning Bluedot Festivals
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, AEON, Critical Software, MMI, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 215000 Twitter and 18000 Facebook followers
- Stargazing live, Pulsar Hunters, Science Programmes presented by Danielle George
- JB Discovery centre with 190000 visitors per year
- Award winning Bluedot Festivals
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, AEON, Critical Software, MMI, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Organisations
Publications
Sabin L
(2021)
First deep images catalogue of extended IPHAS PNe
Sabin L
(2021)
First deep images catalogue of extended IPHAS PNe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sabin L
(2020)
ALMA reveals the coherence of the magnetic field geometry in OH 231.8+4.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sahu K
(2022)
An Isolated Stellar-mass Black Hole Detected through Astrometric Microlensing*
in The Astrophysical Journal
Samajdar A
(2022)
Robust parameter estimation from pulsar timing data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sandstrom K
(2023)
PHANGS-JWST First Results: Tracing the Diffuse Interstellar Medium with JWST Imaging of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emission in Nearby Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Saremi E
(2020)
The Isaac Newton Telescope Monitoring Survey of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies. I. Survey Overview and First Results for Andromeda I
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sarron F
(2021)
DETECTIFz galaxy groups in the REFINE survey - I. Group detection and quenched fraction evolution at z < 2.5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schilizzi R
(2020)
Letter
in Astronomy & Geophysics
Schisano E
(2020)
The evolutionary status of protostellar clumps hosting class II methanol masers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schmidt T
(2023)
STRIDES: automated uniform models for 30 quadruply imaged quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schmiedeke A
(2021)
Dissecting the Supercritical Filaments Embedded in the 0.5 pc Subsonic Region of Barnard 5
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sengar R
(2022)
The High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey - XVII. PSR J1325-6253, a low eccentricity double neutron star system from an ultra-stripped supernova
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Serylak M
(2021)
The thousand-pulsar-array programme on MeerKAT IV: Polarization properties of young, energetic pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Serylak M
(2022)
The eccentric millisecond pulsar, PSR J0955-6150 I. Pulse profile analysis, mass measurements, and constraints on binary evolution
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sevilla-Noarbe I
(2021)
Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Photometric Data Set for Cosmology
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Shahbaz T
(2022)
The peculiar chemical abundance of the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 - Li enhancement
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shahbaz T
(2023)
A rapid optical and X-ray timing study of the neutron star X-ray binary Swift J1858.6-0814
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shamohammadi M
(2023)
Searches for Shapiro delay in seven binary pulsars using the MeerKAT telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sharma S
(2022)
Wide-band Timing of GMRT-discovered Millisecond Pulsars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shaw B
(2022)
Long-term rotational and emission variability of 17 radio pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shaw B
(2021)
The slow rise and recovery of the 2019 Crab pulsar glitch
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Shim H
(2022)
Multiwavelength properties of 850-µm selected sources from the North Ecliptic Pole SCUBA-2 survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shimajiri Y
(2020)
The accretion history of high-mass stars: an ArTéMiS pilot study of infrared dark clouds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shimwell T
(2022)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey V. Second data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Simpson C
(2023)
How cosmic rays mediate the evolution of the interstellar medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Singh S
(2023)
The GMRT High Resolution Southern Sky Survey for Pulsars and Transients. IV. Discovery of Four New Pulsars with an FFA Search
in The Astrophysical Journal
Singh S
(2022)
The GMRT High Resolution Southern Sky Survey for Pulsars and Transients. III. Searching for Long-period Pulsars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Singha J
(2021)
A real-time automated glitch detection pipeline at Ooty Radio Telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Skipper C
(2022)
A GPU-based Imager with Polarised Primary-beam Correction
Skipper C
(2022)
A GPU-based Imager with Polarised Primary-beam Correction
Slijepcevic I
(2022)
Radio Galaxy Zoo: using semi-supervised learning to leverage large unlabelled data sets for radio galaxy classification under data set shift
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smarra C
(2023)
Second Data Release from the European Pulsar Timing Array: Challenging the Ultralight Dark Matter Paradigm.
in Physical review letters
Smarra C
(2024)
Constraints on conformal ultralight dark matter couplings from the European Pulsar Timing Array
in Physical Review D
Smith C
(2022)
Pulsations of microwave emission from a solar flare in a twisted loop caused by intrinsic magnetohydrodynamic oscillations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sobey C
(2021)
A polarization census of bright pulsars using the ultrawideband receiver on the Parkes radio telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sobey C
(2022)
Searching for pulsars associated with polarised point sources using LOFAR: Initial discoveries from the TULIPP project
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Soler J
(2022)
The Galactic dynamics revealed by the filamentary structure in atomic hydrogen emission
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Soler J
(2020)
The history of dynamics and stellar feedback revealed by the H I filamentary structure in the disk of the Milky Way
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Song X
(2021)
The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT - II. Observing strategy for pulsar monitoring with subarrays
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sormani M
(2020)
Simulations of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone - II. Star formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Specht D
(2020)
MaBµlS-2: high-precision microlensing modelling for the large-scale survey era
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Specht D
(2023)
Kepler K2 Campaign 9 - II. First space-based discovery of an exoplanet using microlensing
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Spencer R
(2022)
Major and minor flares on Cygnus X-3 revisited
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Spiewak R
(2022)
The MeerTime Pulsar Timing Array: A census of emission properties and timing potential
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Spinelli M
(2022)
SKAO H i intensity mapping: blind foreground subtraction challenge
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Title | Comparing recent PTA results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background - full noise and GWB parameter comparison plots |
| Description | A full collection of plots comparing the noise properties of individual pulsars and gravitational wave background parameters discussed in the companion paper Comparing recent PTA results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background (IPTA 2024). Section4_GWB_comparison.zip supplements and expands section 4.1, "Comparing the published GWB measurements," of IPTA (2024). It contains parameter difference distributions for GWB model parameters. There are four different models included. The HD correlated powerlaw (PL) model make up the basis for Figure 2. Additionally, there are three comparisons not included in IPTA (2024). First, comparisons the common uncorrelated red noise (CURN) PL model are included. Finally, comparisons of two free spectral (FS) models (HD and CURN) are included. These comparisons fit the HD and CURN FS posteriors using the ceffyl software package, and then compare the parameters of the resulting powerlaw fits. Section5_Noise_comparison.zip supplements section 5, "Comparing Pulsar Noice Properties," of IPTA (2024). It contains plots for 27 pulsars timed by more than one PTA collaboration, including the plots for PSR J1012+5307, which are presented in Figure 7. The plots include noise parameter posteriors, time domain GP realizations, TOA residuals, and TOA radio frequency. |
| Type Of Art | Image |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10809659 |
| Title | Comparing recent PTA results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background - full noise and GWB parameter comparison plots |
| Description | A full collection of plots comparing the noise properties of individual pulsars and gravitational wave background parameters discussed in the companion paper Comparing recent PTA results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background (IPTA 2024). Section4_GWB_comparison.zip supplements and expands section 4.1, "Comparing the published GWB measurements," of IPTA (2024). It contains parameter difference distributions for GWB model parameters. There are four different models included. The HD correlated powerlaw (PL) model make up the basis for Figure 2. Additionally, there are three comparisons not included in IPTA (2024). First, comparisons the common uncorrelated red noise (CURN) PL model are included. Finally, comparisons of two free spectral (FS) models (HD and CURN) are included. These comparisons fit the HD and CURN FS posteriors using the ceffyl software package, and then compare the parameters of the resulting powerlaw fits. Section5_Noise_comparison.zip supplements section 5, "Comparing Pulsar Noice Properties," of IPTA (2024). It contains plots for 27 pulsars timed by more than one PTA collaboration, including the plots for PSR J1012+5307, which are presented in Figure 7. The plots include noise parameter posteriors, time domain GP realizations, TOA residuals, and TOA radio frequency. |
| Type Of Art | Image |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10809660 |
| Title | IPTA DR2 - GWB analysis MCMC output |
| Description | IPTA DR2 common red noise, MCMC output These files are the primary output from a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling process. They are samples from the posterior probability distribution for a particular model described in the companion paper. Each zipped tarball contains four files. The "chain" file has several tab-separated columns, each of which corresponds to a model parameter, except the last four which are metadata. The parameter names (including metadata) are listed in the companion "params" file. The frequencies used in the common red noise models are listed in the "crn_frequencies" file. Additional information is provided in a README file. Each row of the chain file is one sample from the model posterior. The first samples at the beginning of the MCMC are the "burn-in" phase, before the chain has converged to the posterior. We recommend discarding the first ~25% of samples before using them to make inferences. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/5787556 |
| Title | IPTA DR2 - GWB analysis MCMC output |
| Description | IPTA DR2 common red noise, MCMC output These files are the primary output from a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling process. They are samples from the posterior probability distribution for a particular model described in the companion paper. Each zipped tarball contains four files. The "chain" file has several tab-separated columns, each of which corresponds to a model parameter, except the last four which are metadata. The parameter names (including metadata) are listed in the companion "params" file. The frequencies used in the common red noise models are listed in the "crn_frequencies" file. Additional information is provided in a README file. Each row of the chain file is one sample from the model posterior. The first samples at the beginning of the MCMC are the "burn-in" phase, before the chain has converged to the posterior. We recommend discarding the first ~25% of samples before using them to make inferences. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/5787557 |
| Title | PN chemical abundances in Galactic Bulge |
| Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' A catalogue of planetary nebulae chemical abundances in the Galactic bulge.' (bibcode: 2024MNRAS.527.6363T) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/527/6363 |