A programme of astronomy at the University of Hertfordshire
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Hertfordshire
Department Name: Science and Technology RI
Abstract
This application is to support the programme of research at The Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR) at the University of Hertfordshire. The research includes: - conducting follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts, the most violent events in the Universe, detected by the Swift space mission, so as to better understand the nature and origin of these remarkable events. We will also use the huge luminosity of GRBs to study the distant regions of the universe where we find them; - understanding the formation and evolution of massive galaxies and the role of submillimetre-luminous galaxies in the early universe; - investigating the nature of a new class of star clusters found in the Milky Way's near neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy. Why no similar clusters exist in the Milky Way is a mystery, and may be telling us that the two galaxies evolved in different ways. We also plan to use our observations of these and other clusters to investigate the properties of so-called 'dark matter', which astronomers think makes up about 90% of the universe but which seems to be completely invisible; - to understand how the centres of active galaxies are fuelled, i.e. those where the energy produced is far more than can be produced by stars, and is most likely from accretion on to a massive black hole; - to determine the structure of active galactic nuclei and to understand why there is such a wide range of radio powers associated with active galaxies; - to determine what are the sufficient and necessary conditions for star formation to commence by studying the star formation process in nearby galaxies at scales of the local Jeans length, and to tie this in with star formation at large look-back times; - understand the energetics of the violent interstellar medium, notably the feedback cycle which links massive star formation to the surrounding medium, and it's impact on the disk-halo interface (ranging from setting up localised blow-out of gas to creating galactic winds, and the subsequent enrichment of the intergalactic medium); - to search for and identify all the massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy and from them learn how massive stars are formed; - to measure the energy distribution at optical and infrared wavelengths for extra-solar planets found close to their parent stars, these will give vital insights into the composition, formation and evolution of giant planets; - to understand the occurrence, formation history and properties of 'failed stars' known as brown dwarfs; - to understand the process of mass loss in evolved stars; this matter returns to the interstellar medium and eventually forms new stars; - using spectra to measure the composition of the oldest known stars in order to determine what types of stars were the first to form after the big bang; - a proposal to construct a new optical imaging camera to be used as a visitor instrument on the WHT, which will allow, among many other collaborative applications, a study of the morphology of massive star formation in galaxies; - the CAR has built a polarimeter (PlanetPol) with sufficiently high sensitivity to detect the polarization signature of the so-called hot-Jupiters (extrasolar planets with a size similar to that of Jupiter but in an orbit very close to the star).
Organisations
- University of Hertfordshire (Lead Research Organisation)
- McMaster University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (Collaboration)
- University of Florida (Collaboration)
- Leiden University (Collaboration)
- The Open University (Collaboration)
- University of Cape Town (Collaboration)
Publications
Aldenius M
(2006)
Experimental Mg I oscillator strengths and radiative lifetimes for astrophysical applications on metal-poor stars New data for the Mg I b triplet
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Shimwell T
(2017)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey I. Survey description and preliminary data release?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sollerman J
(2007)
The nature of the X-ray flash of August 24 2005 Photometric evidence for an on-axis z $\mathsf{= 0.83}$ burst with continuous energy injection and an associated supernova?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Fathi K
(2007)
Evolution of structure in late-type spiral galaxies I. Ionized gas kinematics in NGC 628
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Levan Andrew
(2006)
Infrared and optical observations of GRB 030115 and its extremely red host galaxy:: Implications for dark bursts
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Levan A. J.
(2006)
The first
Swift X-ray flash:: The faint afterglow of XRF 050215B
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Kennicutt
(2007)
Star formation in NGC 5194 (M51a). II. The spatially resolved star formation law
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Diaz-Santos T.
(2007)
Resolving the stellar populations in the circumnuclear ring of NGC 7469
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Bersier D.
(2006)
Evidence for a supernova associated with the X-ray flash 020903
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Chiar J. E.
(2006)
Spectropolarimetry of the 3.4 µm feature in the diffuse ISM toward the Galactic center quintuplet cluster
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Whittet D. C. B.
(2008)
The efficiency of grain alignment in dense interstellar clouds: A reassessment of constraints from near-infrared polarization
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Packham C.
(2007)
Gemini mid-IR polarimetry of NGC 1068: Polarized structures around the nucleus
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Williams Benjamin F.
(2007)
Virgo's intracluster globular clusters as seen by the advanced camera for surveys
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Tamura M.
(2006)
Near-infrared polarization images of the Orion Nebula
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Hashimoto J.
(2008)
Wide-field infrared imaging polarimetry of the NGC 6334 region: A nest of infrared reflection nebulae
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Guidorzi C
(2006)
The Early (<1 hr) Multi-Colour Afterglow of GRB 050502a with the 2-m Liverpool Telescope
in Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
KÖNIGL A
(2012)
STABILITY OF RADIATIVE RELATIVISTIC SHOCKS TO GLOBAL OSCILLATIONS
in International Journal of Modern Physics D
Ustinov E
(2008)
Linearization of radiative heating and cooling rates for the case of non-scattering planetary atmospheres
in Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
Folkes S
(2012)
Identifying ultra-cool dwarfs at low Galactic latitudes: a southern candidate catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Green J
(2009)
The 6-GHz multibeam maser survey - I. Techniques
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lewis G
(2007)
Inside the whale: the structure and dynamics of the isolated Cetus dwarf spheroidal The Cetus dwarf galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clements D
(2008)
The SCUBA Half-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - VIII. The nature of faint submillimetre galaxies in SHADES, SWIRE and SXDF surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Day-Jones A
(2013)
The sub-stellar birth rate from UKIDSS?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hill T
(2006)
Millimetre continuum observations of southern massive star formation regions - II. SCUBA observations of cold cores and the dust grain emissivity index (ß)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Allard E
(2006)
The star formation history and evolution of the circumnuclear region of M100
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | JCMT Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey |
Organisation | Leiden University |
Department | Leiden Observatory |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Collaborator Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Impact | See Wilson et al. MNRAS (2012) 424 (4): 3050-3080. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21453.x and references therein. |
Description | JCMT Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey |
Organisation | McMaster University |
Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Collaborator Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Impact | See Wilson et al. MNRAS (2012) 424 (4): 3050-3080. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21453.x and references therein. |
Description | JCMT Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey |
Organisation | Open University |
Department | School of Physical Sciences |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Collaborator Contribution | participated in drafting the proposal; participated in the observations; participated in drafting the science papers |
Impact | See Wilson et al. MNRAS (2012) 424 (4): 3050-3080. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21453.x and references therein. |
Description | Polarimetry for CanariCam |
Organisation | University of Florida |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Design and scientific justification for adding polarimetry to CanariCam, a mid-IR imager for GranTecan. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided the imager/spectrometer |
Impact | Guaranteed time on GranTecan telescope, resulting in publications |
Description | SHADES |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Active SHADES member - observing and scientific input |
Collaborator Contribution | led from Edinburgh |
Impact | about 5 refereed papers |
Description | THINGS, The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute for Astronomy |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-wrote and co-led the collaboration; responsible for the observations and 33% of the calibration and reduction; involved in all science papers |
Collaborator Contribution | Co-wrote and co-led the collaboration; responsible for the observations of the other 66% of the calibration and reduction; involved in all science papers |
Impact | See The Astronomical Journal Article Compilations: http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/page/THINGS |
Description | THINGS, The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey |
Organisation | University of Cape Town |
Department | Department of Astronomy |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-wrote and co-led the collaboration; responsible for the observations and 33% of the calibration and reduction; involved in all science papers |
Collaborator Contribution | Co-wrote and co-led the collaboration; responsible for the observations of the other 66% of the calibration and reduction; involved in all science papers |
Impact | See The Astronomical Journal Article Compilations: http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/page/THINGS |
Description | UH-Japanese polarization survey |
Organisation | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided the polarization modules for the near-IR survey and scientific input |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided the survey telescope and three-channel camera near-IR camera |
Impact | 2013ApJ...765L...6K 2012AAS...22052308K 2011ApJ...741...35K 2010ApJ...722L..23N 2010OLEB...40..335F 2009ApJ...692L..88F 2008AJ....136..621K 2008ApJ...677L..39H 2007PASJ...59..519N 2007PASJ...59..507S 2007PASJ...59..487K |