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
Smith G
(2010)
LoCuSS: connecting the dominance and shape of brightest cluster galaxies with the assembly history of massive clusters LoCuSS: BCG dominance at z = 0.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith J
(2008)
Measurement and simulation of laser power noise in GEO 600
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Spreckley S
(2008)
The period and amplitude changes of Polaris ( UMi) from 2003 to 2007 measured with SMEI
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
Stott J
(2009)
The evolution of the red sequence slope in massive galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stott J
(2008)
Near-infrared evolution of brightest cluster galaxies in the most X-ray luminous clusters since z = 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sumner T
(2007)
STEP (satellite test of the equivalence principle)
in Advances in Space Research
Swinbank A
(2007)
Resolved spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed L* Lyman-break galaxy at z~ 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Swinbank A
(2007)
The discovery of a massive supercluster at z = 0.9 in the UKIDSS Deep eXtragalactic Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tarrant N
(2008)
Oscillations in ß Ursae Minoris Observations with SMEI
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tarrant N
(2008)
SMEI observations of previously unseen pulsation frequencies in $\sf \gamma$ Doradus
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tarrant N
(2007)
Asteroseismology of red giants: photometric observations of Arcturus by SMEI
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Trias M
(2009)
Studying stellar binary systems with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna using delayed rejection Markov chain Monte Carlo methods
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Trias M
(2008)
Markov chain Monte Carlo searches for galactic binaries in Mock LISA Data Challenge 1B data sets
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Van Der Sluys M
(2008)
Parameter estimation of spinning binary inspirals using Markov chain Monte Carlo
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Van Weeren R
(2009)
Radio observations of ZwCl 2341.1+0000: a double radio relic cluster
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Veitch J
(2008)
Assigning confidence to inspiral gravitational wave candidates with Bayesian model selection
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Veitch J
(2008)
Bayesian approach to the follow-up of candidate gravitational wave signals
in Physical Review D
Veitch J
(2010)
Bayesian coherent analysis of in-spiral gravitational wave signals with a detector network
in Physical Review D
Voss R
(2009)
LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS OF LMXBs IN CENTAURUS A: GLOBULAR CLUSTERS VERSUS THE FIELD
in The Astrophysical Journal
Willems B
(2008)
Erratum: Probing White Dwarf Interiors with LISA: Periastron Precession In Eccentric Double White Dwarfs [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 , 041102 (2008)]
in Physical Review Letters
Willems B
(2008)
Probing white dwarf interiors with LISA: periastron precession in eccentric double white dwarfs.
in Physical review letters
Winkler W
(2007)
The GEO 600 core optics
in Optics Communications
Zemcov M
(2010)
First detection of the Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect increment at ? < 650 µ m
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
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