Supplement to Queen's University Belfast Consolidated Grant
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Mathematics and Physics
Abstract
Supplementary funding to our Consolidated Grant that will be employed to support our priority programmes.
Planned Impact
Work will be advertised via PUS activities, while aspects of the programme are relevant to fusion studies and detector development.
Publications
Aartsen M
(2015)
THE DETECTION OF A SN IIn IN OPTICAL FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF ICECUBE NEUTRINO EVENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aggarwal K
(2015)
Energy levels, radiative rates and electron impact excitation rates for transitions in C iii
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aggarwal K
(2016)
Radiative rates for E1, E2, M1, and M2 transitions in Br-like ions with 43 = Z = 50
in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables
Aggarwal K
(2015)
Electron impact excitation of Be-like ions: a comparison of darc and icft results
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aschwanden M
(2016)
TRACING THE CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD WITH AIA, IRIS , IBIS, AND ROSA DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bannister M
(2016)
OSSOS. IV. DISCOVERY OF A DWARF PLANET CANDIDATE IN THE 9:2 RESONANCE WITH NEPTUNE
in The Astronomical Journal
Bannister M
(2016)
THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM ORIGINS SURVEY. I. DESIGN AND FIRST-QUARTER DISCOVERIES
in The Astronomical Journal
Barros S
(2016)
WASP-113b and WASP-114b, two inflated hot Jupiters with contrasting densities
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bulla M
(2016)
Predicting polarization signatures for double-detonation and delayed-detonation models of Type Ia supernovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Burton J
(2015)
Defocused transmission spectroscopy: a potential detection of sodium in the atmosphere of WASP-12b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Title | The science in science-fiction films and television programmes |
| Description | This is a collection of presentations which use clips of science-fiction films and television shows (e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek) to show how science is portrayed in these media, and discusses how accurate (or otherwise) these portrayals are. Presentation includes discussion of our research on exoplanets. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2008 |
| Impact | The presentations were first produced back in 2007 - supported by an STFC Public Understanding of Science (PUS) Small Award - and since then have been regularly updated. They have been delivered to audiences totalling many thousands - probably over 3000 over the last 3 years alone, These include the general public, schools, higher educational institutes, research establishments. |
| Description | Many research findings as witnessed by numerous publications in major journals arising from the grant, in solar physics, supernovae studies, exoplanets, astrochemistry and atomic physics data for astrophysics. |
| Exploitation Route | Many - indeed most - of our papers lead to further publications in the relevant research fields by ourselves or other groups. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | Work on atomic physics has been used to study magnetically-confined fusion plasmas, while solar physics work is linked to detector development programme with ANDOR Technology. Our work is also used extensively in our outreach programmes for schoolchildren and the public. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Astronomy Research Grants |
| Amount | £1,307,461 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/P000304/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2017 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | Royal Society International Exchange Scheme |
| Amount | £12,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | IE140343 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2014 |
| End | 06/2017 |
| Description | STFC Astronomy Grants |
| Amount | £2,371,437 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/P000312/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2017 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | UK-India Education and Research Initiative |
| Amount | £48,900 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | UGC -UKIERI -2017/18-014 |
| Organisation | British Council |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Title | ADAS |
| Description | OPEN-ADAS is a system to search and disseminate key data from the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure (ADAS). ADAS is a computer program managed by the University of Strathclyde and made up of a consortium of over twenty members. The OPEN-ADAS system enables non-members, with an interest in fusion and astrophysics, to download and use ADAS data. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | All of the atomic data produced by the QUB team relating to fusion research are place in this database for use by modellers in astrophysics and fusion research. |
| URL | http://open.adas.ac.uk/ |
| Title | ADAS |
| Description | OPEN-ADAS is a system to search and disseminate key data from the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure (ADAS). ADAS is a computer program managed by the University of Strathclyde and made up of a consortium of over twenty members. The OPEN-ADAS system enables non-members, with an interest in fusion and astrophysics, to download and use ADAS data. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | All of the atomic data produced by the QUB team relating to fusion research are place in this database for use by modellers in astrophysics and fusion research. |
| URL | http://open.adas.ac.uk/ |
| Title | CHIANTI |
| Description | CHIANTI consists of a critically evaluated set of up-to-date atomic data, together with user-friendly programs written in Interactive Data Language (IDL) and Python to calculate the spectra from astrophysical plasmas. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | All of the atomic data created at QUB are stored in the CHIANTI database for use by the astrophysics and plasma physics communities. |
| URL | http://www.chiantidatabase.org/ |
| Title | CLOUDY/STOUT |
| Description | Cloudy is a spectral synthesis code designed to simulate conditions in interstellar matter under a broad range of conditions. It is provided for general use under an open source License. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The modelling code CLOUDY, developed by Ferland (University of Kentucky), is employed by astrophysicists worldwide to analyse the spectra of a myriad of astronomical sources, ranging from gaseous nebulae to high- redshift quasars. An essential component of any plasma modelling code is highly accurate atomic data for a range of processes, including radiative rates and electron-impact excitation cross sections. For most of these atomic processes, experimental results are not widely available, and theoretical data must be employed. |
| URL | http://www.nublado.org/ |
| Title | Database of (reduced) data from the ROSA solar imager and instruments on the Swedish Solar Telescope. |
| Description | Database of reduced solar imaging data from the ROSA imager and Swedish Solar Telescope (including application of image reconstruction software to produce images at the diffraction limit). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Databases for both ROSA and SST data are now well established and accessed by the solar physics community. |
| Title | Database of atomic physics calculations |
| Description | Atomic physics calculations from the GRASP, CIV3 and RMATRX codes. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Data have been widely used by the community and included in various modelling codes such as CHIANTI and CLOUDY. |
| Description | ADAS-EU: |
| Organisation | University of Strathclyde |
| Department | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Ramsbottom is an active members of the ADAS-EU consortium. ADAS-EU is a support activity for implementation of atomic data in plasma diagnostics and modelling at fusion laboratories throughout Europe, for management of databases of relevant fundamental and applied data and for promotion of key fundamental atomic data calculation and measurement. It will enable improved effectiveness of analysis of existing fusion experiments and prepare for ITER. Members of this group hail from Universities worldwide, from the USA, UK, Europe and Japan. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As above |
| Impact | Publications |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Atomic Physics for Astrophysics |
| Organisation | Kentucky State University |
| Department | Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Ramsbottom has established a major collaboration with Prof G Ferland of Kentucky University relating to the use of Fe II emission lines as a chronometer for high red-shift quasars. The high red-shift quasars are the most distant objects we can observe spectroscopically and the emission we observe was produced when the Universe had an age of roughly 1 Gyr. This youth limits and simplifies the amount of nucleosynthesis that can have occurred. This innovative project aims to fully simulate the physical conditions within Fe II emitting gas and predict the resulting spectrum. The numerical simulations will be used to deduce iron abundances from Fe II emission in high-redshift quasars. This, in conjunction with predictions of stellar evolution and galactic nucleosynthesis, will result in a chronometer measuring the redshift when the universe passed through an age of 1 Gyr, thus constraining cosmological parameters and the onset of star formation. For this work to be successful, it is imperative that the Fe II scattering model be as large and as complete as possible. Two PhD students have already been supported by the Prof. James Caldwell travel scholarship (QUB) to visit Auburn University, USA and The University of Kentucky, USA to strengthen and initiate new collaborations with international members of the astrophysical community. The group at QUB is responsible for the atomic data generation for this exciting project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The contribution made to the project from Kentucky state University is their expertise in the development, use and experience in the CLOUDY modelling code. Our collaborator Prof G. Ferland is the founder of this internationally used modelling code. |
| Impact | Joint publications Prof Ferland spent 10 months at QUB funded by a Leverhulme visiting program |
| Start Year | 2008 |
| Description | Collaborative agreement for purchase of Swedish Solar Telescope Time 2017 - 2019 |
| Organisation | Stockholm University |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Part-funding to purchase time on the Swedish Solar Telescope (SST) for use by the UK solar physics community during calendar years 2017, 2018 and 2019. |
| Collaborator Contribution | UK partners - Armagh Observatory, Sheffield University and Northumbria University - also provided a financial contribution to purchase the SST time. There is also an agreement between Queen's University Belfast and Stockholm University for the purchase of the SST time from the latter. |
| Impact | The agreement covers the provision of time on the SST only; exploitation of this time, and resultant publications etc, are the responsibility of the relevant UK teams who have been allocated time. They will hence report on the outcomes of their SST time awards in their own Researchfish submissions. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | The International Iron Project: |
| Organisation | University of Strathclyde |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Ramsbottom is a member of the International Iron Project and indeed has been a full and active contributor since 2002. This group of collaborators meet at least once per year to discuss issues relating to the production of accurate atomic data for use in plasma and astrophysical applications. Members hail from Universites in the USA (Auburn, Ohio, Rollins Florida, Venezuela)), the UK (QUB, Strathclyde, UCL, Daresbury) and Europe (Munchen Germany, Nice, Observatoire de Paris France). The next meeting is to be held in Paris France in April 2016. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This group of collaborators meet at least once per year to discuss issues relating to the production of accurate atomic data for use in plasma and astrophysical applications. |
| Impact | Joint publications Regular meetings |
| Description | Annual in-house activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Astronomy lectures and presentations are given at the following annual events: (i) QUB Horizons in Physics} (which attracts around 400 4th- and 5th-form students per year), (ii) Physics Open Days (around 200 6th-form students), (iii) Physics Teachers Conference (about 50 Physics teachers from schools in Ireland). Increased take-up of Physics and Astronomy degree programme over last 3 years. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| Description | Jupiter Watch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Attended by over 500 annually. Increased awareness and appreciation of astronomy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2016 |
| Description | Links with W5 Discovery Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | An ongoing partnership with the W5 Discovery Centre in Belfast (Ireland's award-winning science and discovery centre). We developed the Planet Quest exhibition, based on explaining the multi-wavelength nature of modern astronomy. This includes spectacular infrared images from telescopes and satellites, information stands on the nature of infrared radiation, and hands on activities for children. It showcases high-profile Queen's astrophysics research to illustrate to the public that world-leading, technology-driven research is happening in Belfast. The exhibition initially ran March - September 2012, attracting 10,000 visitors, and we hope to run it again during the period 2014 - 2017. Astrophysics staff also host talks, Q&A sessions and hands-on building games in W5 (aimed at Key Stage 3 pupils), and further support W5 through the creation of astronomy CPD materials and a centralised web resource for secondary school physics teachers. Increased interest in astronomy and science from schoolchildren. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| Description | Michael West lectures |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We have initiated a series of high-profile public lectures, The Michael West Lecture Series in Astronomy, following a philanthropic donation from Dr West which funds a Fellowship with a major outreach and education component. These lectures, which are scheduled typically twice per year, each attract 200 people, and are now the most widely attended public lecture series at Queen's University and indeed in Ireland as a whole. Increased requests for e.g. school talks. Media interviews. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
| URL | https://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/wiki/public/outreach/start |
| Description | School visits |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | All members of the Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC) at Queen's University are involved in schools talks, covering their research topics as well as more general interests in astronomy. Most are at secondary level but also at primary (we actively take part in STEPS), either in the classroom or at Queen's. ARC staff deliver a total of about 40 talks/year to pupils, with typical class sizes of 25. Hard to assess, but in Northern Ireland uptake of Physics at university level has increased steadily in recent years, in contrast to the UK trend. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |