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
(2009)
A statistically selected Chandra sample of 20 galaxy clusters - II. Gas properties and cool core/non-cool core bimodality
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Swinbank A
(2007)
Resolved spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed L* Lyman-break galaxy at z~ 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jetha N
(2008)
Shock heating in the group atmosphere of the radio galaxy B2 0838+32A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jetha N
(2007)
Erratum: Active galactic nuclei heating in the centres of galaxy groups: a statistical study
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mahajan S
(2010)
Star formation, starbursts and quenching across the Coma supercluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brassington N
(2007)
The Chandra view of galaxy mergers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parkin E
(2009)
3D modelling of the colliding winds in ? Carinae - evidence for radiative inhibition
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stott J
(2009)
The evolution of the red sequence slope in massive galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Salucci P
(2007)
The baryonic and dark matter properties of high-redshift gravitationally lensed disc galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Porter S
(2008)
Star formation in galaxies falling into clusters along supercluster-scale filaments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society