Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham 2008-2013
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Over recent years observational astronomers at Durham have been at the forefront of many major advances in the study of galaxies and cosmology. We have a publication and citation record which we believe speaks for itself (see proposal introduction). Durham astronomers currently lead major international projects that exploit many of the the world's foremost ground and space observatories. We will capitalize on our proven track record in AGN studies, precision spectrophotometric analysis of stellar populations in nearby galaxies, multiwavelength studies of galaxy populations at high redshift and panoramic QSO and galaxy surveys, to answer open questions which lie at the core of modern astrophysics. In this proposal we present the case for support of a coherent and comprehensive programme that builds on our strengths and seizes new opportunities. Our programme addresses key questions in the STFC Roadmap, such as ``What are the laws of physics in extreme conditions?'', ``How do galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve?'' and ``What is the Universe made of and how does it evolve?''. This proposal is constructed around the four core themes of our research: Theme A: AGN: outflows from black holes their growth and environment Theme B: Galaxy evolution and archaeology and closely related to this; Theme C: feedback and the formation of galaxies Theme D: Survey cosmology, using galaxies and clusters as probes of large scale structure and evolution There is a well established deep rooted synergy between our work and the research of the ICC group, and the instrumentation group (CfAI).
Publications
Aharonian F
(2009)
DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY ?-RAY EMISSION FROM CENTAURUS A WITH H.E.S.S.
in The Astrophysical Journal
Engel H
(2010)
MOST SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES ARE MAJOR MERGERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tamura Y
(2010)
SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY IDENTIFICATION OF THE MILLIMETER-SELECTED GALAXY SSA22-AzTEC1: A PROTOQUASAR IN A PROTOCLUSTER?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aharonian F
(2009)
SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF PKS 2155-304 WITH HESS, FERMI , RXTE , AND ATOM: SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS AND VARIABILITY IN A LOW STATE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bauer F
(2010)
X-RAY CONSTRAINTS ON THE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI PROPERTIES IN SPITZER -INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH IDENTIFIED z ~ 2 ULTRALUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Siana B
(2009)
DETECTION OF FAR-INFRARED AND POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON EMISSION FROM THE COSMIC EYE: PROBING THE DUST AND STAR FORMATION OF LYMAN BREAK GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
O'Dea K
(2010)
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE FAR-ULTRAVIOLET OBSERVATIONS OF BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES: THE ROLE OF STAR FORMATION IN COOLING FLOWS AND BCG EVOLUTION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Weiß A
(2009)
THE LARGE APEX BOLOMETER CAMERA SURVEY OF THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aharonian F
(2009)
A SEARCH FOR A DARK MATTER ANNIHILATION SIGNAL TOWARD THE CANIS MAJOR OVERDENSITY WITH H.E.S.S.
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tian L
(2011)
ON ASYMMETRY OF MAGNETIC HELICITY IN EMERGING ACTIVE REGIONS: HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Messias H
(2010)
A MULTI-WAVELENGTH APPROACH TO THE PROPERTIES OF EXTREMELY RED GALAXY POPULATIONS. I. CONTRIBUTION TO THE STAR FORMATION RATE DENSITY AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS CONTENT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hopwood R
(2010)
ULTRA DEEP AKARI OBSERVATIONS OF ABELL 2218: RESOLVING THE 15 µm EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aharonian F
(2009)
DISCOVERY OF GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE SHELL-TYPE SUPERNOVA REMNANT RCW 86 WITH HESS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Murphy E
(2009)
BALANCING THE ENERGY BUDGET BETWEEN STAR FORMATION AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN HIGH-REDSHIFT INFRARED LUMINOUS GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lehmer B
(2010)
A CHANDRA PERSPECTIVE ON GALAXY-WIDE X-RAY BINARY EMISSION AND ITS CORRELATION WITH STAR FORMATION RATE AND STELLAR MASS: NEW RESULTS FROM LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Donley J
(2010)
THE AGN, STAR-FORMING, AND MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF LUMINOUS IR-BRIGHT/OPTICALLY-FAINT GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Feruglio C
(2011)
DISCOVERY OF STRONG IRON Ka EMITTING COMPTON THICK QUASARS AT z = 2.5 AND 2.9
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tian L
(2009)
ASYMMETRY OF HELICITY INJECTION FLUX IN EMERGING ACTIVE REGIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kashlinsky A
(2010)
A NEW MEASUREMENT OF THE BULK FLOW OF X-RAY LUMINOUS CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Coppin K
(2010)
MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF CANDIDATE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI-DOMINATED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Allanson S
(2009)
THE STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF RED-SEQUENCE GALAXIES, MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS AND THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Reeves J
(2009)
A COMPTON-THICK WIND IN THE HIGH-LUMINOSITY QUASAR, PDS 456
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wilman D
(2009)
MORPHOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF z ~ 0.4 GROUPS: THE SITE OF S0 FORMATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Luo B
(2010)
IDENTIFICATIONS AND PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF THE 2 Ms CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH SOURCES
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Silverman J
(2010)
THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH SURVEY: OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY OF FAINT X-RAY SOURCES WITH THE VLT AND KECK
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Hammer D
(2010)
THE HST /ACS COMA CLUSTER SURVEY. II. DATA DESCRIPTION AND SOURCE CATALOGS
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Description | The programme funded by this grant produce a number of observational insights into fundamental features of galaxies, black holes and large-scale structure. To give just one example, using the newly-completed Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) we undertook the first survey of extreme starburst galaxies in the distant Universe, demonstrating that these galaxies are very likely to be the progenitors of the most massive galaxies seen today in the local Universe, but seen in an early and very active phase of formation. |
Exploitation Route | Further academic research or through the development of new facilities (e.g. ELT and SKA) or observational programmes. |
Sectors | Education |
URL | http://www.astro.dur.ac.uk/Cosmology |
Description | 6dFGS survey |
Organisation | Australian Astronomical Observatory |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Data analysis and construction of the FP catalogue, i.e. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1231C |
Collaborator Contribution | Many other science contributions, e.g. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444.3926J http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.2677S http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.455..386S |
Impact | now focused on mostly exclusively on 6dF++, i.e. TAIPAN http://www.taipan-survey.org/ Map the southern cosmography with ~110 k redshifts. First detailed map of the southern hemisphere peculiar velocities. |
Description | 6dFGS survey |
Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Data analysis and construction of the FP catalogue, i.e. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1231C |
Collaborator Contribution | Many other science contributions, e.g. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444.3926J http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.2677S http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.455..386S |
Impact | now focused on mostly exclusively on 6dF++, i.e. TAIPAN http://www.taipan-survey.org/ Map the southern cosmography with ~110 k redshifts. First detailed map of the southern hemisphere peculiar velocities. |
Description | Wide field astronomical surveys |
Organisation | University of Hawaii |
Department | Institute for Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Durham an offical partnet in the Pan-STARRS consortium, which operate a telescope in Hawaii. |
Collaborator Contribution | They provide the telscope and operations support. |
Impact | The principle output is research papers published in refereed journals. |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Seminars and invited talks |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Paper Presentation |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | All of the co-applicants on this grants have given numberous seminars and invited talks at universities and international meetings and conferences. These activities help to enhance the wider knowledge of our research, and foster new collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 |