Research in Theoretical Astrophysics: Accretion, Structure and Evolution in Gravitating Systems
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose to undertake a broad programme of research in theoretical astrophysics. This research will be centered around accretion, structure and evolution in many astrophysical systems. Accretion is the process whereby a gravitating body accumulates mass from its surroundings. As the mass falls towards the body it can give up energy in the form of heat and light. Accretion onto a black hole is the most efficient way of extracting energy from normal matter. Astrophysical systems powered by accretion are among the luminous in the universe. Gravity not only powers these systems but determines their large scaled structure and long term evolution. The systems we aim to study cover many length scales, from compact binary star systems which would happily fit inside the Sun to colliding galaxies which consist of many billions of Sun-like stars.
Publications
McMillan P
(2007)
Initial conditions for disc galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nayakshin S
(2007)
Simulations of star formation in a gaseous disc around Sgr A* - a failed active galactic nucleus
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nayakshin S
(2007)
X-rays from cusps of compact remnants near galactic centres
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith M
(2007)
The RAVE survey: constraining the local Galactic escape speed
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McMillan P
(2007)
The haloes of merger remnants
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Deegan P
(2007)
Constraining the number of compact remnants near Sgr A*
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cuadra J
(2008)
Variable accretion and emission from the stellar winds in the Galactic Centre
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
King A
(2008)
Accretion rates and beaming in ultraluminous X-ray sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Norton A. J.
(2008)
The accretion flows and evolution of magnetic cataclysmic variables
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Fragos T.
(2008)
Models for low-mass X-ray binaries in the elliptical galaxies NGC 3379 and NGC 4278: Comparison with observations
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
King A
(2008)
The evolution of black hole mass and spin in active galactic nuclei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brassington N. J.
(2008)
DEEP
CHANDRA MONITORING OBSERVATIONS OF NGC 3379: CATALOG OF SOURCE PROPERTIES
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES
Troja E
(2008)
Different progenitors of short hard gamma-ray bursts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Trinchieri G.
(2008)
DISCOVERY OF HOT GAS IN OUTFLOW IN NGC 3379
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Zwitter T
(2008)
THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): SECOND DATA RELEASE
in The Astronomical Journal
Hobbs A
(2009)
Simulations of the formation of stellar discs in the Galactic Centre via cloud-cloud collisions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fragos T
(2009)
TRANSIENT LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARY POPULATIONS IN ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES NGC 3379 AND NGC 4278
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wang J
(2009)
EPISODIC RANDOM ACCRETION AND THE COSMOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE SPINS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dehnen W
(2009)
Tailoring triaxial N -body models via a novel made-to-measure method
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Odenkirchen M
(2009)
KINEMATICS OF THE TIDAL DEBRIS OF THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER PALOMAR 5
in The Astronomical Journal
Nayakshin S
(2009)
Dynamic Monte Carlo radiation transfer in SPH: radiation pressure force implementation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ibarra A
(2009)
Pre-nova X-ray observations of V2491 Cygni (Nova Cyg 2008b)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Byckling K
(2009)
Swift observations of GW Lib: a unique insight into a rare outburst
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bartko H
(2009)
EVIDENCE FOR WARPED DISKS OF YOUNG STARS IN THE GALACTIC CENTER
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lodato G
(2009)
Black hole mergers: can gas discs solve the 'final parsec' problem?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
King A
(2009)
HEATING CLUSTER GAS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lodato G
(2009)
Stellar disruption by a supermassive black hole: is the light curve really proportional to t -5/3 ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
King A
(2009)
Masses, beaming and Eddington ratios in ultraluminous X-ray sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Deegan P
(2009)
The outburst duration and duty cycle of GRSâ??1915+105
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Evans P
(2009)
The unusual 2006 dwarf nova outburst of GK Persei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kim D
(2009)
COMPARING GC AND FIELD LMXBs IN ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES WITH DEEP CHANDRA AND HUBBLE DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
King A
(2009)
RS Ophiuchi: thermonuclear explosion or disc instability?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Brassington N
(2009)
DEEP CHANDRA MONITORING OBSERVATIONS OF NGC 4278: CATALOG OF SOURCE PROPERTIES
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
King A
(2009)
Accretion: the gold mine opens Commentary on: Shakura N. I. and Sunyaev R. A., 1973, A&A, 24, 337
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bartko H
(2010)
AN EXTREMELY TOP-HEAVY INITIAL MASS FUNCTION IN THE GALACTIC CENTER STELLAR DISKS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Rossi E
(2010)
Black hole mergers: the first light
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Troja E
(2010)
Going out with a bang: compact object collisions resulting from supernovae in binary systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Adén D
(2010)
An abundance study of red-giant-branch stars in the Hercules dwarf spheroidal galaxy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
King A
(2010)
Black hole outflows
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
King A
(2010)
The accretion disc dynamo in the solar nebula
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Page K
(2010)
Swift observations of the X-ray and UV evolution of V2491 Cyg (Nova Cyg 2008 No. 2)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Actis M
(2011)
Design concepts for the Cherenkov Telescope Array CTA: an advanced facility for ground-based high-energy gamma-ray astronomy
in Experimental Astronomy
Assmann P
(2011)
Star cluster collisions - a formation scenario for the extended globular cluster Scl-dE1 GC1 Formation scenario for Scl-dE1 GC1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nayakshin S
(2011)
Hot Super Earths: disrupted young jupiters? Disrupted hot jupiters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Charbonnier A
(2011)
Dark matter profiles and annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies: prospectives for present and future ?-ray observatories - I. The classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies ?-ray from dark matter annihilation in dSphs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nayakshin S
(2011)
The tidal downsizing hypothesis for planet formation and the composition of Solar system comets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Cha S
(2011)
A numerical simulation of a 'Super-Earth' core delivery from ~100 to ~8 au Super-Earth delivery from 100 au
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Walker M
(2011)
DARK MATTER IN THE CLASSICAL DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES: A ROBUST CONSTRAINT ON THE ASTROPHYSICAL FACTOR FOR ?-RAY FLUX CALCULATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ham Byoung S.
(2011)
Inversion-free, noiseless Raman echoes
in arXiv e-prints
Cioni M
(2011)
The VMC survey I. Strategy and first data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | DiRAC2: Recurrent Costs for 100 Tflop/s HPC cluster |
Amount | £391,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/K003259/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2012 |
End | 01/2016 |
Description | DiRAC |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Department | Distributed Research Utilising Advanced Computing |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I am the PI for two research grants for the procurement and running of the Complexity@DiRAC High Performance Computing cluster at the University of Leicester. This cluster is now in active operation as a national HPC facility. |
Collaborator Contribution | DiRAC is the facility which provides HPC resources for the theoretical astrophysics and particle physics communities within STFC. |
Impact | The establishment and running of a new HPC cluster at the University of Leicester as part of the DiRAC national facility. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Astronomy Ireland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I spoke to about 100 people at the Astronomy Ireland meeting in November 2013 in Trinity College Dublin. My talk was very well received and I have been invited to give another talk to this audience at a later date. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://www.astronomy.ie/lecture201311.php |
Description | BBC Stargazing Live |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentations as part of the BBC Stargazing Live at the National Space Centre and at the University of Leicester, attended by approximately 50 people (2011), 50 people (2012), 300 people (2013), 100 people (2014). The presentation generated lots of questions and discussion from the audience. Local schools had an opportunity to visit the University which is good for inclusivity. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013,2014 |
Description | Cafe Scientifique |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I spoke to the Nottingham Cafe Scientifique about various aspects of the research that myself and others are doing with DiRAC. About 40 people attended. I gave a 25 minute presentation which was followed by more than an hour of questions and discussion. One audience member wrote a blog piece about my talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://nottinghamscience.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/talk-building-galaxies-in-office.html |
Description | Royal Society Summer Exhibition |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Over the course of the four day, more than 600 people attended my talks. The Friday evening presentation was followed by more than an hour of audience questions. Several audience members contacted me to ask additional questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | School Visit (Dublin) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Approximately 90 primary school students (3 classes) aged 8-12 years old attended my talks in Rathfarnham Parish National School. Following my visit, a number of students expressed interest in pursuing a career in science. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Secular Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Spoke to about 50 members of the Leicester Secular Society. My talk generated considerable discussion among the members of the LSS. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://www.leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/calendar/view_entry.php?id=1145&date=20121209 |