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
Sanderson A
(2010)
X-ray modelling of galaxy cluster gas and mass profiles Modelling cluster gas and mass profiles
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gitti M
(2010)
CAVITIES AND SHOCKS IN THE GALAXY GROUP HCG 62 AS REVEALED BY CHANDRA , XMM-NEWTON , AND GIANT METREWAVE RADIO TELESCOPE DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Accadia T
(2010)
Commissioning status of the Virgo interferometer
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Egami E
(2010)
The Herschel Lensing Survey (HLS): Overview
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
McCarthy I
(2010)
The case for AGN feedback in galaxy groups AGN feedback in galaxy groups
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sesana A
(2010)
Measuring the parameters of massive black hole binary systems with pulsar timing array observations of gravitational waves
in Physical Review D
O'Sullivan E
(2010)
A deep Chandra observation of the poor cluster AWM 4 - I. Properties of the central radio galaxy and its effects on the intracluster medium A deep Chandra observation of AWM 4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bedding T
(2010)
SOLAR-LIKE OSCILLATIONS IN LOW-LUMINOSITY RED GIANTS: FIRST RESULTS FROM KEPLER
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pereira M
(2010)
LoCuSS: A Herschel view of obscured star formation in Abell 1835
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Smith G
(2010)
LoCuSS: Probing galaxy transformation physics with Herschel
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Hild S
(2010)
A xylophone configuration for a third-generation gravitational wave detector
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abadie J
(2010)
Predictions for the rates of compact binary coalescences observable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Okabe N
(2010)
LoCuSS: CALIBRATING MASS-OBSERVABLE SCALING RELATIONS FOR CLUSTER COSMOLOGY WITH SUBARU WEAK-LENSING OBSERVATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Zhang Y
(2010)
LoCuSS: A COMPARISON OF CLUSTER MASS MEASUREMENTS FROM XMM-NEWTON AND SUBARU-TESTING DEVIATION FROM HYDROSTATIC EQUILIBRIUM AND NON-THERMAL PRESSURE SUPPORT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abadie J
(2010)
Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1
in Physical Review D
Mahajan S
(2010)
Star formation, starbursts and quenching across the Coma supercluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stello D
(2010)
DETECTION OF SOLAR-LIKE OSCILLATIONS FROM KEPLER PHOTOMETRY OF THE OPEN CLUSTER NGC 6819
in The Astrophysical Journal
Accadia T
(2010)
Noise from scattered light in Virgo's second science run data
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Veitch J
(2010)
Bayesian coherent analysis of in-spiral gravitational wave signals with a detector network
in Physical Review D
Babak S
(2010)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from challenge 3 to challenge 4
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Zemcov M
(2010)
First detection of the Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect increment at ? < 650 ยต m
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Abadie J
(2010)
All-sky search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first joint LIGO-GEO-Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Pratt G
(2010)
Gas entropy in a representative sample of nearby X-ray galaxy clusters (REXCESS): relationship to gas mass fraction
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Fulda P
(2010)
Experimental demonstration of higher-order Laguerre-Gauss mode interferometry
in Physical Review D
Alshino A
(2010)
Luminosity functions of XMMâ??LSS C1 galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society