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

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Frieman J (2008) THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY: TECHNICAL SUMMARY in The Astronomical Journal

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Allanson S (2009) THE STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF RED-SEQUENCE GALAXIES, MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS AND THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Balogh M (2010) The stellar and hot gas content of low-mass galaxy clusters Stars and hot gas in low-mass galaxy clusters in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Price J (2011) The stellar populations of bright coma cluster galaxies Stellar populations of bright Coma galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Natarajan P (2009) THE SURVIVAL OF DARK MATTER HALOS IN THE CLUSTER Cl 0024+16 in The Astrophysical Journal

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Ebeling H (2010) The X-ray brightest clusters of galaxies from the Massive Cluster Survey The X-ray brightest MACS clusters in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Lehmer B. D. (2007) The X-ray evolution of early-type galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

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Alexander D (2008) The X-ray-infrared/submillimetre connection and the legacy era of cosmology in Astronomische Nachrichten

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Steffen A. T. (2006) The X-ray-to-optical properties of optically selected active galaxies over wide luminosity and redshift ranges in ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL

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Goulding A (2010) Towards a complete census of active galactic nuclei in nearby galaxies: the incidence of growing black holes The incidence of growing black holes in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Goulding A (2009) Towards a complete census of AGN in nearby Galaxies: a large population of optically unidentified AGN in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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McCarthy I (2008) Towards a holistic view of the heating and cooling of the intracluster medium in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Lehmer B. D. (2008) Tracing the mass-dependent star formation history of late-type galaxies using X-ray emission: Results from the Chandra Deep Fields in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

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Ivison R (2011) Tracing the molecular gas in distant submillimetre galaxies via CO(1-0) imaging with the Expanded Very Large Array EVLA imaging of CO(1-0) in submm galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Hopwood R (2010) ULTRA DEEP AKARI OBSERVATIONS OF ABELL 2218: RESOLVING THE 15 µm EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT in The Astrophysical Journal

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Thomson R (2009) Ultrafast laser inscription: an enabling technology for astrophotonics in Optics Express

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Smith R (2010) Ultraviolet tails and trails in cluster galaxies: a sample of candidate gaseous stripping events in Coma Gaseous stripping candidates in Coma in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Jenkins L. P. (2007) Uncovering the near-IR dwarf galaxy population of the coma cluster with Spitzer IRAC in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

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Wilman D. J. (2008) Unveiling the important role of groups in the evolution of massive galaxies: Insights from an infrared passive sequence at intermediate redshift in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

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Aharonian F (2009) Very high energy ?-ray observations of the binary PSR B1259-63/SS2883 around the 2007 Periastron in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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LENAIN J (2012) VERY HIGH ENERGY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI SYNCHROTRON SELF-COMPTON MODELING TOUR in International Journal of Modern Physics D

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Aharonian F (2008) Very high energy gamma-ray observations of the galaxy clusters Abell 496 and Abell 85 with HESS in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Alexander D (2008) WEIGHING THE BLACK HOLES IN z ˜ 2 SUBMILLIMETER-EMITTING GALAXIES HOSTING ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI in The Astronomical Journal

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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

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Lilly S. J. (2007) zCOSMOS:: A large VLT/VIMOS redshift survey covering 0<z<3 in the COSMOS field in 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