Birmingham Astrophysics - Rolling Grant 2007-2012
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The work of the Birmingham Astrophysics & Space Research group aims to improve our understanding of the Universe, and the force of gravity which governs its structure and growth. Our extragalactic studies aim to discover the way in which galaxies, such as our own Milky Way galaxy, have developed from the small fluctuations present in the primordial gas which filled the Universe after the Big Bang, as well as probing the mysterious 'dark matter' which appears to account for over 90% of the matter in the Universe at large. Our knowledge of the cosmos to date is gleaned almost entirely from study of the electromagnetic radiation (from radio waves to gamma rays) which reaches the Earth from space. However, a whole new astronomical 'window' is about to open, based on the propagating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Detection of these signals is hugely demanding, but large laser-interferometers are now very close to detecting them for the first time, and the Birmingham group is fully involved in these experiments, and in the plans to move these techniques into space within the next decade. This will ultimately allow us to study the gravitational signals from giant black holes, and from the Big Bang itself. We are working towards the first detection of gravitational waves, but also exploring the new techniques which will be required to turn the study of gravitational waves into a true branch of astronomy.
Organisations
Publications
Sumner T
(2007)
STEP (satellite test of the equivalence principle)
in Advances in Space Research
Croston J
(2008)
Galaxy-cluster gas-density distributions of the representative XMM-Newton cluster structure survey (REXCESS)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bardeau S
(2007)
A CFH12k lensing survey of X-ray luminous galaxy clusters II. Weak lensing analysis and global correlations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Böhringer H
(2007)
The representative XMM-Newton cluster structure survey (REXCESS) of an X-ray luminosity selected galaxy cluster sample
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Zhang Y
(2007)
Scaling relations and mass calibration of the X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at redshift ~0.2: XMM-Newton observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Zhang Y
(2008)
LoCuSS: comparison of observed X-ray and lensing galaxy cluster scaling relations with simulations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tarrant N
(2008)
SMEI observations of previously unseen pulsation frequencies in $\sf \gamma$ Doradus
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pribulla T
(2011)
The nearby eclipsing stellar system d Velorum II. First reliable orbit for the eclipsing pair???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Van Weeren R
(2009)
Radio observations of ZwCl 2341.1+0000: a double radio relic cluster
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Adami C
(2010)
The XMM-LSS survey: optical assessment and properties of different X-ray selected cluster classes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics