PATT-linked grant for Warwick Astronomy & Astrophysics Group, April 2011 to March 2013
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
At the end of their lives stars settle into one of three possible final compact states known as white dwarfs, neutron stars or black-holes. All three of these are incredibly dense by our standards, so much so that to a neutron star matter at Earth-like densities is only a little different from a vacuum. Many examples of such objects are known, and they are often far from being inactive as they can be so closely paired up with other stars than we can see the effects of gas transferring from one star to the compact object. In such a process the gas can be heated to many millions of degrees making these object efficient X-ray sources. Furthermore, both white dwarfs and neutron stars can show explosive effects as material accreting onto them sparks into uncontrollable fusion, generating vast amounts of energy within seconds or minutes. Such explosions can light up the furthest reaches of the Universe to reveal the history of the build up of structures in the Universe. Our work centres on trying to understand such processes and how the various objects that we see relate to one another. The purpose of this grant is to support the travel needed to observe these objects on ground-based telescopes where we carry out observations of the high-speed processes that occur as material crashes onto these remarkable objects.
Organisations
Publications
Ghodla S
(2022)
Forward modelling the O3(a+b) GW transient mass distributions with bpass by varying compact remnant mass and SNe kick prescriptions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hodgkin S
(2021)
Gaia Early Data Release 3 Gaia photometric science alerts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Byrne C
(2021)
Binary evolution pathways of blue large-amplitude pulsators
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Massey P
(2021)
Testing Evolutionary Models with Red Supergiant and Wolf-Rayet Populations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cooke B
(2020)
Two Transiting Hot Jupiters from the WASP Survey: WASP-150b and WASP-176b
in The Astronomical Journal
Mallonn M
(2016)
Broad-band spectrophotometry of HAT-P-32 b: search for a scattering signature in the planetary spectrum
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk J
(2016)
Transmission spectroscopy of the inflated exoplanet WASP-52b, and evidence for a bright region on the stellar surface
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barentsen G
(2014)
The second data release of the INT Photometric Ha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS DR2)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stanway E
(2014)
Radio observations of GRB host galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kurtz D
(2013)
Hot DAVs: a probable new class of pulsating white dwarf stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parsons S
(2013)
Eclipsing post-common envelope binaries from the Catalina surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Carter P
(2013)
A search for the hidden population of AM CVn binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Copperwheat C
(2013)
Transmission photometry of WASP-12b: simultaneous measurement of the planetary radius in three bands
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maxted PF
(2013)
Multi-periodic pulsations of a stripped red-giant star in an eclipsing binary system.
in Nature
Burton J
(2012)
z '-BAND GROUND-BASED DETECTION OF THE SECONDARY ECLIPSE OF WASP-19b
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Parsons S
(2012)
An accurate mass and radius measurement for an ultracool white dwarf Accurate parameters for an ultracool white dwarf
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pyrzas S
(2012)
Post-common envelope binaries from SDSS - XV. Accurate stellar parameters for a cool 0.4 M? white dwarf and a 0.16 M? M dwarf in a 3 h eclipsing binary SDSS 1210+3347
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bloom JS
(2011)
A possible relativistic jetted outburst from a massive black hole fed by a tidally disrupted star.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Levan AJ
(2011)
An extremely luminous panchromatic outburst from the nucleus of a distant galaxy.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
| Description | Please see related rolling grant. |
| Exploitation Route | Telescope time forms the basis of research papers that are used by others. |
| Sectors | Education Other |
| Description | This grant funded field trips to collect astronomical data, which were then used to investigate hugely dense and compact stars, planet beyond our solar system and galaxies in the distant Universe. Please see the associated rolling grant for details. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural |