Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
An astonishing feature of modern astrophysical research is that we have in principle a chain of explanation that stretches from processes on cosmological scales of billions of light years, down to the creation of stars, planets around the stars and life on the planets. In a sense, this process is almost a closed loop: the early Universe was once of sub-nuclear scale, so that quantum mechanical uncertainty is bound to seed fluctuations in density, which eventually collapse under gravity to make astronomical structures. This is the same physics of the very small that governs the formation of the atoms out of which we are all made.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detail view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detail view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
Planned Impact
Details of our Pathways to Impact are provided in the separate 2-page attachment. In brief, we carry out an extensive programme of public engagement and knowledge transfer, implemented in collaboration with the UK ATC, and our own Wide Field Astronomy Unit. Much stems directly from the research activities that are the subject of this application.
Our work in knowledge transfer and exploitation is exemplified by the case study of MOPED and the resulting spin-out company Blackford Analysis. MOPED (Massively Optimised Parameter Estimation and Data compression) is a unique process that employs a massive data compression step, enabling very rapid analysis without compromising accuracy. The MOPED algorithm was designed at the IfA by Prof. Alan Heavens and Dr Benjamin Panter to solve problems in cosmology, but has since been successfully applied to a number of medical applications, the most obvious being the ability of MOPED to speed up 3-D MRI image reconstruction to the point where it would no longer be necessary to immobilize children with a general anaesthetic for MRI scans. A spin-out company, Blackford Analysis Ltd, started trading in August 2010, has received significant investment, and now employs 9 people in the UK (sited at ROE, allowing continued academic interaction), developing very rapid image alignment tools for the medical imaging market. There has been direct user-engagement in the medical imaging field, through researchers, clinicians and industry luminaries, as well as MRI scanner manufacturers and PACS vendors. Recently Blackford Analysis has expanded its work into applications in other areas, securing a two-year consultancy contract with Rolls Royce worth £65,000, and identifying further commercial applications of MOPED in security imaging and in the oil and gas industries.
The case of Blackford Analysis exemplifies how novel techniques developed for astronomical research can be effectively applied to have a major impact in wider society. We plan to replicate this success through the University of Edinburgh's involvement in the new Higgs Centre for Innovation (to be completed at ROE by spring 2016). The Higgs Centre aims to ensure that further technologies, algorithms, and techniques from any of ATC instrumentation, IfA research, or WFAU data handling are effectively transferred to industry through close interactions between our academics/PDRAs and the public and private sectors (with the potential to create of further spinout companies from the STFC incubator). We are also taking the Big Data initiative, and interaction with the commercial sector, very seriously. (i) We have a long tradition of designing and developing new data centre facilities in active collaboration with local companies, who then use their experience with other commercial customers. (ii) As part of leading a proposal for UK participation in LSST, we are working with STFC to identify BIS infrastructure funding to work with industry. (iii) We are currently advertising for a new position specialising in novel data handling techniques.
We are also involved in a particularly vigorous programme of Public Outreach, Engagement & Education, under the auspices of the ROE Visitor Centre (www.roe.ac.uk/vc; jointly funded by the University and STFC) that draws directly on the cutting-edge research supported by our STFC Consolidated grant. Within the UK university sector, this programme is unusual in its breadth and scope, extending well beyond the normal expectation of public talks, press releases and media interviews. This is in part because university staff, PDRAs and students have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Visitor Centre Staff, but is also due to the unique advantages afforded by the ROE site, with its unusual combination of front-line astronomical research, world-leadiing instrument development, and astronomical history/heritage. Further details of activities and impact are provided in the Pathways to Impact attachment.
Our work in knowledge transfer and exploitation is exemplified by the case study of MOPED and the resulting spin-out company Blackford Analysis. MOPED (Massively Optimised Parameter Estimation and Data compression) is a unique process that employs a massive data compression step, enabling very rapid analysis without compromising accuracy. The MOPED algorithm was designed at the IfA by Prof. Alan Heavens and Dr Benjamin Panter to solve problems in cosmology, but has since been successfully applied to a number of medical applications, the most obvious being the ability of MOPED to speed up 3-D MRI image reconstruction to the point where it would no longer be necessary to immobilize children with a general anaesthetic for MRI scans. A spin-out company, Blackford Analysis Ltd, started trading in August 2010, has received significant investment, and now employs 9 people in the UK (sited at ROE, allowing continued academic interaction), developing very rapid image alignment tools for the medical imaging market. There has been direct user-engagement in the medical imaging field, through researchers, clinicians and industry luminaries, as well as MRI scanner manufacturers and PACS vendors. Recently Blackford Analysis has expanded its work into applications in other areas, securing a two-year consultancy contract with Rolls Royce worth £65,000, and identifying further commercial applications of MOPED in security imaging and in the oil and gas industries.
The case of Blackford Analysis exemplifies how novel techniques developed for astronomical research can be effectively applied to have a major impact in wider society. We plan to replicate this success through the University of Edinburgh's involvement in the new Higgs Centre for Innovation (to be completed at ROE by spring 2016). The Higgs Centre aims to ensure that further technologies, algorithms, and techniques from any of ATC instrumentation, IfA research, or WFAU data handling are effectively transferred to industry through close interactions between our academics/PDRAs and the public and private sectors (with the potential to create of further spinout companies from the STFC incubator). We are also taking the Big Data initiative, and interaction with the commercial sector, very seriously. (i) We have a long tradition of designing and developing new data centre facilities in active collaboration with local companies, who then use their experience with other commercial customers. (ii) As part of leading a proposal for UK participation in LSST, we are working with STFC to identify BIS infrastructure funding to work with industry. (iii) We are currently advertising for a new position specialising in novel data handling techniques.
We are also involved in a particularly vigorous programme of Public Outreach, Engagement & Education, under the auspices of the ROE Visitor Centre (www.roe.ac.uk/vc; jointly funded by the University and STFC) that draws directly on the cutting-edge research supported by our STFC Consolidated grant. Within the UK university sector, this programme is unusual in its breadth and scope, extending well beyond the normal expectation of public talks, press releases and media interviews. This is in part because university staff, PDRAs and students have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Visitor Centre Staff, but is also due to the unique advantages afforded by the ROE site, with its unusual combination of front-line astronomical research, world-leadiing instrument development, and astronomical history/heritage. Further details of activities and impact are provided in the Pathways to Impact attachment.
Organisations
Publications

Aayush Saxena
(2019)
The nature of faint radio galaxies at high redshifts

Aayush Saxena
(2019)
The nature of faint radio galaxies at high redshifts

Abbott B
(2017)
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger *
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Abbott T
(2020)
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological constraints from cluster abundances and weak lensing
in Physical Review D

Agarwal B
(2017)
Effects of binary stellar populations on direct collapse black hole formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

Agarwal B
(2016)
Detecting direct collapse black holes: making the case for CR7
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Agarwal B
(2016)
New constraints on direct collapse black hole formation in the early Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Agarwal B
(2017)
Metallicity evolution of direct collapse black hole hosts: CR7 as a case study
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Agarwal Bhaskar
(2016)
Effects of binary stellar populations on direct collapse black hole formation
in ArXiv e-prints

Agarwal Bhaskar
(2015)
Detecting Direct Collapse Black Holes: making the case for CR7
in ArXiv e-prints
Title | AMIGA XIII. HI properties |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies. XIII. The HI content of an almost "nurture free" sample.' (bibcode: 2018A&A...609A..17J) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/609/A17 |
Title | Broad absorption line quasars in LDR1 |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The origin of radio emission in broad absorption line quasars: Results from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..15M) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A15 |
Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. I. Survey Description and Preliminary Data Release.' (bibcode: 2017A&A...598A.104S) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/598/A104 |
Title | LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey DR1 source catalog |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. II. First data release.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A...1S) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A1 |
Title | LOFAR observations XMM-LSS field |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LOFAR observations of the XMM-LSS field.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A...4H) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A4 |
Title | LoTSS/HETDEX. Optical quasars. I. |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LoTSS/HETDEX: Optical quasars. I. Low-frequency radio properties of optically selected quasars.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..11G) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A11 |
Title | New binaries from the SHINE survey |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'New binaries from the SHINE survey.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...663A.144B) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/663/A144 |
Title | Polarized point sources in LOTSS-HETDEX |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Polarized point sources in the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: A preliminary catalog.' (bibcode: 2018A&A...613A..58V) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/613/A58 |
Title | Properties of VIS3COS galaxies |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'VIS^3^COS: I. survey overview and the role of environment and stellar mass on star formation.' (bibcode: 2018A&A...620A.186P) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/620/A186 |
Title | SHINE sample definition |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE). I. Sample definition and target characterization' (bibcode: 2021A&A...651A..70D) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/651/A70 |
Title | VIS3COS. III. Galaxy spectra |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'VIS3COS. III. Environmental effects on the star formation histories of galaxies at z~0.8 seen in [OII], H{delta}, and D_n_4000.' (bibcode: 2020A&A...633A..70P) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/633/A70 |
Title | VLA double-double radio galaxy candidates images |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LoTSS DR1: Double-double radio galaxies in the HETDEX field.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..13M) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A13 |
Title | VLBA observations of the COSMOS field |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The faint radio sky: VLBA observations of the COSMOS field.' (bibcode: 2017A&A...607A.132H) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/607/A132 |
Title | VLT/NaCo Large program. IV. Statistical analysis |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The VLT/NaCo large program to probe the occurrence of exoplanets and brown dwarfs at wide orbits. IV. Gravitational instability rarely forms wide, giant planets.' (bibcode: 2017A&A...603A...3V) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/603/A3 |