Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham 2020-2023
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Physics & Astronomy
Abstract
The main focus of our research in Nottingham is to understand how galaxies form and how they evolve through time to produce the rich variety of structures we see today. We tackle these problems with a number of complementary approaches. One approach is to study relatively nearby galaxies, which we can observe in greater detail. In Nottingham we are involved in a large international project (MaNGA), designed to dissect thousands of local galaxies and extract far more information than was previously possible. At the other extreme, we also specialise in studying very distant galaxies, observing them in the act of formation and transformation many billions of years ago. Due to the finite speed of light, when we observe very distant galaxies we are also looking far back in time, allowing us to observe galaxy evolution at different stages throughout the history of the Universe. Another aim of our research is to understand the roles of "nature" versus "nurture" in shaping galaxy evolution, and in particular how they are influenced by the environments in which they reside. We tackle these varied and challenging problems using a combination of observational techniques, using some of the largest telescopes in the world and in space, combined with theoretical studies and computer simulations. With the latest supercomputers we can create models to simulate the formation of galaxies and the growth of cosmic structures. Many of the most interesting discoveries occur when we confront our models with the latest data, to directly test our understanding of the key processes shaping the Universe. We also use gravitational lensing, a novel technique that exploits the warping of space time by massive objects, which allows us to map the distribution of matter and structure in the Universe to great precision. Finally, we are also developing new "machine learning" tools to help the astronomical community analyse the vast amounts of data that are now routinely produced by astronomical observations and simulations.
Planned Impact
Impact is embedded in the culture and working of the Group, and we have a well-established track record in its delivery.
Our extensive outreach program includes all the activities traditionally associated with astronomy. We give talks at schools, astronomical societies and events, both locally and across the country. We write popular articles and books. We engage with the media both through regular contributions and one-off press releases presenting our work.
However, we are also committed to pushing boundaries in outreach by undertaking novel activities to reach new audiences in new ways. We have a track record of collaborating with artists to produce engagingly different events and installations. We are involved in the organisation of the citizen science movement to directly involve the public in our research. We have developed a programme of outreach to local schools that prioritises widening participation, which uses an inflatable planetarium (for which we obtained the funding) as the focus for the activity. We have established a very strong presence on YouTube through the Sixty Symbols and Deep Sky Videos channels, reaching a subscriber base of in excess of nearly a million people all across the World.
We also work across the breadth of knowledge exchange. We have developed our success in video presentation by producing YouTube series for external organisations (including STFC). We have spun out an outreach-related company that produces realistic renderings of astronomical objects in glass. We have assisted in the application of our research to other fields, such as applying machine-learning techniques to applications in quantum control and urbanisation.
It is in the nature of innovative research that one cannot predict the precise areas in which possible impact will arise, so it is important to maintain a flexible attitude to its exploitation (whilst insuring that it is not relegated to a minor role because of this uncertainty). The way in which impact is embedded in the culture of the Group ensures that we are in a position to capture and exploit these opportunities as they arise, and our clear strong track record in this area demonstrates that we actually do so in practice. We fully intend to continue with this committed flexible approach through the period of this Consolidated Grant.
Our extensive outreach program includes all the activities traditionally associated with astronomy. We give talks at schools, astronomical societies and events, both locally and across the country. We write popular articles and books. We engage with the media both through regular contributions and one-off press releases presenting our work.
However, we are also committed to pushing boundaries in outreach by undertaking novel activities to reach new audiences in new ways. We have a track record of collaborating with artists to produce engagingly different events and installations. We are involved in the organisation of the citizen science movement to directly involve the public in our research. We have developed a programme of outreach to local schools that prioritises widening participation, which uses an inflatable planetarium (for which we obtained the funding) as the focus for the activity. We have established a very strong presence on YouTube through the Sixty Symbols and Deep Sky Videos channels, reaching a subscriber base of in excess of nearly a million people all across the World.
We also work across the breadth of knowledge exchange. We have developed our success in video presentation by producing YouTube series for external organisations (including STFC). We have spun out an outreach-related company that produces realistic renderings of astronomical objects in glass. We have assisted in the application of our research to other fields, such as applying machine-learning techniques to applications in quantum control and urbanisation.
It is in the nature of innovative research that one cannot predict the precise areas in which possible impact will arise, so it is important to maintain a flexible attitude to its exploitation (whilst insuring that it is not relegated to a minor role because of this uncertainty). The way in which impact is embedded in the culture of the Group ensures that we are in a position to capture and exploit these opportunities as they arise, and our clear strong track record in this area demonstrates that we actually do so in practice. We fully intend to continue with this committed flexible approach through the period of this Consolidated Grant.
Organisations
- University of Nottingham (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- DURHAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Collaboration)
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) (Collaboration)
- University of Chicago (Collaboration)
- University of St Andrews (Collaboration)
- University of Western Australia (Collaboration)
- European Space Agency (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- Autonomous University of Madrid (Collaboration)
Publications

Abdurro'uf
(2022)
The Seventeenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Complete Release of MaNGA, MaStar, and APOGEE-2 Data
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series


Afanasiev A
(2023)
The galaxy mass-size relation in CARLA clusters and proto-clusters at 1.4 < z < 2.8: Larger cluster galaxy sizes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Ahumada R
(2020)
The 16th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

Algera H
(2020)
An ALMA Survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey UKIDSS/UDS Field: The Far-infrared/Radio Correlation for High-redshift Dusty Star-forming Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal

Aniyan S
(2021)
Resolving the Disc-Halo Degeneracy - II: NGC 6946
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Becker G
(2024)
Damping wing absorption associated with a giant Ly a trough at z < 6: direct evidence for late-ending reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Becker G
(2021)
The mean free path of ionizing photons at 5 < z < 6: evidence for rapid evolution near reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society


Berta S
(2021)
Close-up view of a luminous star-forming galaxy at z = 2.95
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham - 2023 to 2026 |
Amount | £2,066,737 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/X000982/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 03/2026 |
Description | SPACE Lab [co-creative art-astronomy experiments] |
Amount | £17,110 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/W005891/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2022 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | EUCLID |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scientific exploitation of data Computational support |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific exploitation of data |
Impact | Scientific publications Space science |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Euclid survey |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | I co-led the legacy science, and lead an analysis of how galaxy morphologies can be measured in the survey |
Collaborator Contribution | I co-led the legacy science, writing papers, carrying out research |
Impact | Paper on joint analysis with LSST science - Scientific Synergy between LSST and Euclid |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | LOFAR - Low-Frequency Array |
Organisation | ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Scientific Research Collaboration Financial Contribution |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific Research Collaboration |
Impact | Scientific Publications |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Lacegal - Latin American Chinese European GALaxy Formation network. |
Organisation | Durham University |
Department | Institute for Computational Cosmology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific Research Collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific Research Collaboration Training of Researchers Financial contribution |
Impact | Scientific Papers Training of Researchers |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | SDSS Manga Survey |
Organisation | University of Chicago |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | x |
Collaborator Contribution | x |
Impact | x |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | SDSS-IV/MaNGA |
Organisation | Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) |
Department | Astrophysical Research Council |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Financial contribution. Scientific expertise. Research activity. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to observing facilities. Access to new survey data. Scientific expertise. Research activity. |
Impact | This is a very recent activity. No outputs so far, but the main outputs will be scientific papers. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | The 300 Collaboration |
Organisation | Autonomous University of Madrid |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Pearce and Gray are members of the Scientific Organising Committee and active members of the collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ongoing science collaboration |
Impact | Outputs listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | The 300 Collaboration |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Pearce and Gray are members of the Scientific Organising Committee and active members of the collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ongoing science collaboration |
Impact | Outputs listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | The 300 Collaboration |
Organisation | University of Western Australia |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Pearce and Gray are members of the Scientific Organising Committee and active members of the collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ongoing science collaboration |
Impact | Outputs listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | The Sherwood simulation project |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (CFAS) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Project led by Bolton in Nottingham. |
Collaborator Contribution | Project led by Bolton in Nottingham. |
Impact | Outputs lsited elswhere. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | UKIRT Hemisphere Survey |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration and expertise |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration and expertise |
Impact | Scientific papers |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | VANDELS |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Almaini is an active member of this consortium. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ongoing science collaboration. |
Impact | Outputs listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | VANDELS |
Organisation | University of St Andrews |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Almaini is an active member of this consortium. |
Collaborator Contribution | Ongoing science collaboration. |
Impact | Outputs listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Virgo Consortium |
Organisation | Durham University |
Department | Institute for Computational Cosmology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scietific Research Collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | Scietific Research Collaboration |
Impact | Scientific Papers |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Inflativerse |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Ongoing programme to take mobile planetarium to local Nottingham-area schools, targetting widening participation areas. During periods of the COVID pandemic where in-person visits were not possible, activities were undertaken online. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
URL | https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/astronomy/planetarium/Home.html |
Description | Public talks and lectures |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Multiple talks to school groups and astronomical societies, in person and online |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
Description | Sixty Ideas |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Curated website for Sixty Symbols YouTube channel matched to A-level curriculum |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022 |
URL | http://nottingham.ac.uk/physics/sixtyideas |
Description | YouTube videos |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Created videos for Deep Sky Videos Youtube channel 250k subscribers 14 million video views since 2011 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
URL | http://deepskyvideos.com |
Description | YouTube videos |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Participation in creating videos for YouTube channel Sixty Symbols. 876k subscribers 100 million video views since 2009 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
URL | http://sixtysymbols.com |