Research in astrophysics and cosmology at the University of Bristol
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This proposal is for a grant to researchers in the HH Wills Physics Laboratory of the University of Bristol to investigate important questions in astrophysics and cosmology.
Much cosmology over the past few years has been based on investigations of clusters of galaxies, and the first project is to ensure the usefulness of clusters by making reliable measurements of their masses. This involves statistically rigorous investigations using several methods on samples of clusters derived from X-ray surveys. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we also have to take into account how clusters change in time. The X-rays come from hot gas atmospheres held by the clusters - though low in density these atmospheres account for much of the mass of normal matter, and have other detectable effects, for example on the microwave background radiation. Cross-checks with non-X-ray techniques of mass measurement will ensure the reliability of our results.
On a smaller scale, we know that individual galaxies also change in time, but there is currently little understanding of how these changes depend on galaxy mass and environment: galaxies of different masses change at different rates, for example. How these processes act with and against one another to build the population of galaxies that we see today is unclear, but the multi-band optical data that we have accumulated allows tests of how galaxies change, and how star formation is fuelled, in the low-redshift Universe. At higher redshift we will look for proto-clusters, which contain the fastest-evolving galaxies, to understand how galaxies evolve during the early growth of the first massive structures.
Essentially all massive galaxies contain massive black holes at, or near, their centres, and a third project will investigate how such black holes are able to create intense central radiation sources, and will use the changing brightness and spectrum of X-rays from the inner parts of these systems to study black hole physics and the gas held close to the black hole.
A fourth project looks at how the tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near the central black holes, can affect gas on the large scale - by stopping catastrophic cooling of the atmospheres of clusters of galaxies, and by gradually making cluster atmospheres more magnetic over cosmic time. It is widely believed that a feedback process, in which gas in clusters is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Our calculations have identified the population of sources responsible for this heating, and now want to understand how the process works for these objects.
The fifth project involves the maintenance and improvement of codes used to work with catalogues of astronomical objects. These codes are essential when dealing with modern astronomical data, and are used world-wide, so are of great importance to many astronomers, but require development to deal with the increasing size and complexity of astronomical data. Some of the codes have even found their way into public products like the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope, and others are finding creative uses beyond astronomy.
The final project is theoretical, and investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can also destroy one another. Some of the dusty disks we see around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. The purpose of the high-performance computer calculations to be done in this project is to interpret the extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they are changing because of giant impacts between young planets. The results from the calculations will be compared with continuing observations of changing disk emission.
Much cosmology over the past few years has been based on investigations of clusters of galaxies, and the first project is to ensure the usefulness of clusters by making reliable measurements of their masses. This involves statistically rigorous investigations using several methods on samples of clusters derived from X-ray surveys. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we also have to take into account how clusters change in time. The X-rays come from hot gas atmospheres held by the clusters - though low in density these atmospheres account for much of the mass of normal matter, and have other detectable effects, for example on the microwave background radiation. Cross-checks with non-X-ray techniques of mass measurement will ensure the reliability of our results.
On a smaller scale, we know that individual galaxies also change in time, but there is currently little understanding of how these changes depend on galaxy mass and environment: galaxies of different masses change at different rates, for example. How these processes act with and against one another to build the population of galaxies that we see today is unclear, but the multi-band optical data that we have accumulated allows tests of how galaxies change, and how star formation is fuelled, in the low-redshift Universe. At higher redshift we will look for proto-clusters, which contain the fastest-evolving galaxies, to understand how galaxies evolve during the early growth of the first massive structures.
Essentially all massive galaxies contain massive black holes at, or near, their centres, and a third project will investigate how such black holes are able to create intense central radiation sources, and will use the changing brightness and spectrum of X-rays from the inner parts of these systems to study black hole physics and the gas held close to the black hole.
A fourth project looks at how the tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near the central black holes, can affect gas on the large scale - by stopping catastrophic cooling of the atmospheres of clusters of galaxies, and by gradually making cluster atmospheres more magnetic over cosmic time. It is widely believed that a feedback process, in which gas in clusters is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Our calculations have identified the population of sources responsible for this heating, and now want to understand how the process works for these objects.
The fifth project involves the maintenance and improvement of codes used to work with catalogues of astronomical objects. These codes are essential when dealing with modern astronomical data, and are used world-wide, so are of great importance to many astronomers, but require development to deal with the increasing size and complexity of astronomical data. Some of the codes have even found their way into public products like the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope, and others are finding creative uses beyond astronomy.
The final project is theoretical, and investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can also destroy one another. Some of the dusty disks we see around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. The purpose of the high-performance computer calculations to be done in this project is to interpret the extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they are changing because of giant impacts between young planets. The results from the calculations will be compared with continuing observations of changing disk emission.
Planned Impact
Direct beneficiaries from the research will be our academic colleagues and interested members of the public, who will be exposed to the research results through our lectures, talks in schools, podcasts, press releases, WWW pages, appearances on radio and TV, and exhibits in and around Bristol. More indirectly, the public may be affected by advice given to local MPs or City Councillors (such as Mark Wright, who did a PhD in the Astrophysics Group a few years ago).
Commercial benefits have already been had from the TOPCAT work (projects with Microsoft Research). Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for the radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies (Section 5) has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit. This led recently to the company being awarded two major contracts, ensuring a flow of income for the next five to ten years, and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms.
More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems. We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging (as in recent imaging of moving DNA molecules), and are exploring the application of our techniques to medical imaging through the Clinical Research and Imaging Centre of the University.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into non-academic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
Commercial benefits have already been had from the TOPCAT work (projects with Microsoft Research). Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for the radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies (Section 5) has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit. This led recently to the company being awarded two major contracts, ensuring a flow of income for the next five to ten years, and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms.
More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems. We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging (as in recent imaging of moving DNA molecules), and are exploring the application of our techniques to medical imaging through the Clinical Research and Imaging Centre of the University.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into non-academic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
Organisations
- University of Bristol, United Kingdom (Lead Research Organisation)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- Australian Astronomical Observatory (Collaboration)
- University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Sorbonne Universités (Collaboration)
- Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (Collaboration)
- Swinburne University of Technology, Australia (Collaboration)
- University of Sydney, Australia (Collaboration)
- University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Harvard University (Collaboration)
- Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Queen Mary, University of London, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Portsmouth (Collaboration)
- Durham University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Turin (Collaboration)
- University of Waterloo (Canada), Canada (Collaboration)
- University of British Columbia, Canada (Collaboration)
- Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) (Collaboration)
- University of Toulouse (Collaboration)
- University of Nottingham (Collaboration)
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Australian National University (ANU) (Collaboration)
- Monash University, Australia (Collaboration)
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- ESTEC, Netherlands (Collaboration)
- European Southern Observatory (ESO) (Collaboration)
- University of the Western Cape, South Africa (Collaboration)
- University of Leiden, Netherlands (Collaboration)
- University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy (Collaboration)
- University of Sussex, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Sao Paolo (Collaboration)
- Western Washington University (Collaboration)
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) (Collaboration)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS) (Collaboration)
- University of Barcelona, Spain (Collaboration)
- University of Canterbury (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Arizona, United States (Project Partner)
- Science Centre for Education Bangkok (Project Partner)
| Description | CHeCS |
| Organisation | Harvard University |
| Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Impact | Publications |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | CHeCS |
| Organisation | University of Turin |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Impact | Publications |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | CHeCS |
| Organisation | Western Washington University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
| Impact | Publications |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | GAIA team |
| Organisation | ESA - ESTEC |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Taylor has written much of the database access code for end-users, including major graphical display improvements. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ESA satellite project to map star positions in the Galaxy: highly successful at generating vast database, requiring our database access methodology |
| Impact | Extensive database for studies of structure of Galaxy. |
| Start Year | 2009 |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Australian Astronomical Observatory |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
| Department | Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Department | Institute for Computational Cosmology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Astrophysics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Leiden University |
| Department | Leiden Observatory |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Department | Astrophysics Research Institute |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Monash University |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | Swinburne University of Technology |
| Department | Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Barcelona |
| Department | Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of British Columbia |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Canterbury |
| Department | Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Central Lancashire |
| Department | Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Department | Institute for Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Nottingham |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Portsmouth |
| Department | Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Sao Paulo |
| Department | Institute Of Astronomy |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of St Andrews |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Sussex |
| Department | Astronomy Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Sydney |
| Department | Sydney Institute for Astronomy |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of Waterloo |
| Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | GAMA |
| Organisation | University of the Western Cape |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Observations, optical image analysis, spectroscopic analysis, clustering properties |
| Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis, luminosity and correlation functions, |
| Impact | Many publications. |
| Description | SKA Magnetism SWG |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Working with the team on issues to do with source populations, calibration across wide fields, radio galaxies |
| Collaborator Contribution | Studies on wide-field polarisation imaging - paper submitted (Eyles et al.), and Big Data CDT student (Allotey) working on issues. |
| Impact | Publications submitted and in preparation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | Harvard University |
| Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute For Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | National Institute for Nuclear Physics |
| Department | National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Milano |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
| Department | Service d'Astrophysique |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | Sorbonne Universités |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Department | School of Physics and Astronomy Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
| Organisation | University of Toulouse |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
| Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
| Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | XMM-LSS collaboration |
| Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
| Department | Service d'Astrophysique |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-authored multiple papers and proposals; performed first SZ observations of sample clusters. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to XMM-LSS datasets, pipeline analysis of datasets that allowed sekection of high-redshift clusters for follow-up research. |
| Impact | Multiple publications on cosmology and astrophysics; development of concept for future surveys. |
| Title | TOPCAT and related software |
| Description | TOPCAT and related libraries provide means of accessing, displaying, and comparing catalogue data from remote or local databases. The software is the predominant astronomical catalogue manipulation package. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Used for Gaia and many other projects. New versions are frequently released. The most recent public release of TOPCAT is version 4.6-2, released 2 November 2018. |
| URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ |
| Description | Radio interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Variety of radio interviews: BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Bristol, Local radio |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |