Unveiling the Hidden Universe - From the First Galaxies to Brown Dwarfs
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose a scientific programme that uses three revolutionary new instruments. The Planck Surveyor will map the cosmic microwave background radiation. The Herschel Space Observatory and the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope will observe the universe in the submillimetre waveband, which is still largely unexplored and which probably holds the answers to the questions of the origins of the stars and galaxies. These questions, of course, are two of the biggest ones in astronomy, and the reason we don't yet have very good answers is interstellar dust, the tiny solid particles that fill interstellar space and which, like smoke, hide optical light. This dust is a particular problem in studying the formation of stars and galaxies, which happens in regions where there are especially large amounts of gas and dust - and so the youngest stars, for example, are completely hidden from the view of normal optical telescopes. Fortunately, the dust is warmed by the absorbed optical radiation and then emits submillimetre radiation, and so by observing the submillimetre radiation we can study the objects that are hidden by the dust. Our group will use Herschel and SCUBA-2 for a number of large projects to investigate the origin of stars and galaxies. For example, we are leading a project to use SCUBA-2 to observe the youngest stars in the Gould Belt, a ring of nearby molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars, that circles the sky. We are also part of international teams that will use Herschel to study the same molecular clouds and also to map a large part of the Milky Way in this waveband. We will study the origin and evolution of galaxies using another observational trick: the fact that by looking out into space we are also, because of the finite speed of light, looking back in time. In four huge Herschel projects, three of which we are leading, we will study galaxies from ones in the nearby universe to ones ten billion light years away, which will allow us to study the evolution of galaxies over ten billion years of cosmic history, and especially their birth. Finally, in another Herschel project, we will study the origin of the dust itself, and determine whether dust is formed in the atmospheres of old stars or whether it is formed in supernovae, the colossal explosions that end the lives of massive stars. We will also carry out a set of parallel theoretical programmes to address these questions. For example, we will carry out computer simulations of the formation of both stars and of prestellar cores, which are the densest parts of molecular cloud and the places where the stars actually form. Any computer simulation is necessarily built on a number of assumptions about the way in which stars form, and by comparing the predictions of the simulations with the results of our SCUBA-2 and Herschel surveys, we will test whether these assumptions are correct. The Planck Surveyor will extend the time-machine trick to a time only 400,000 years after the big bang, which is when the cosmic background radiation was emitted. Because this radiation has been travelling in a straight line for almost 14 billion years, its variation over the sky reveals the tiny differences in density that existed in the universe at this time - differences that eventually after 14 billion years (and the effect of gravity acting during this period) turned into the lumpy universe we see around us today. We will use this window into the early universe in two ways. First, using some new statistical techniques we have developed, we will use the properties of the cosmic background radiation to determine the type of universe we live in. Second, by studying the scattering of this radiation by the gas in rich clusters of galaxies, we will study the evolution of clusters over the last 14 billion years.
Organisations
Publications
Clements David
(2010)
The Herschel ATLAS: A Large Area Extragalactic Survey with Herschel
in 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Eales Stephen
(2013)
Practical Cosmology with Lenses
in ArXiv e-prints
Timmons Nicholas
(2015)
Multi-wavelength lens reconstruction of a Planck \& \textit{Herschel}-detected starbursting galaxy
in ArXiv e-prints
Bertincourt B.
(2015)
Comparison of absolute gain photometric calibration between Planck/HFI and Herschel/SPIRE at 545 and 857 GHz
in ArXiv e-prints
Nayyeri H.
(2016)
Candidate Gravitationally Lensed Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in the Herschel Wide Area Surveys
in ArXiv e-prints
Bianchini Federico
(2015)
Toward a tomographic analysis of the cross-correlation between Planck CMB lensing and H-ATLAS galaxies
in ArXiv e-prints
Ibar E.
(2015)
A multi-wavelength exploration of the [CII]/IR ratio in H-ATLAS/GAMA galaxies out to z=0.2
in ArXiv e-prints
Cortese L
(2012)
The GALEX view of the Herschel Reference Survey Ultraviolet structural properties of nearby galaxies?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ciesla L
(2014)
Dust spectral energy distributions of nearby galaxies: an insight from the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Herranz D
(2012)
Herschel -ATLAS: Planck sources in the phase 1 fields
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Boquien M
(2012)
The IRX- ß relation on subgalactic scales in star-forming galaxies of the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Boquien M
(2013)
Towards understanding the relation between the gas and the attenuation in galaxies at kpc scales
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Omont A
(2013)
H 2 O emission in high- z ultra-luminous infrared galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cortese L
(2012)
The dust scaling relations of the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Santini P
(2014)
The evolution of the dust and gas content in galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ciesla L
(2012)
Submillimetre photometry of 323 nearby galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Béthermin M
(2012)
HerMES: deep number counts at 250 µ m, 350 µ m and 500 µ m in the COSMOS and GOODS-N fields and the build-up of the cosmic infrared background
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Viaene S
(2016)
The bolometric and UV attenuation in normal spiral galaxies of the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Omont A
(2011)
Observation of H 2 O in a strongly lensed Herschel -ATLAS source at z = 2.3
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ciesla L
(2013)
Submillimetre photometry of 323 nearby galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey (Corrigendum)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Messias H
(2014)
Herschel -ATLAS and ALMA HATLAS J142935.3-002836, a lensed major merger at redshift 1.027
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Fritz J
(2012)
The Herschel Exploitation of Local Galaxy Andromeda (HELGA) I. Global far-infrared and sub-mm morphology
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Arzoumanian D
(2021)
Dust polarized emission observations of NGC 6334 BISTRO reveals the details of the complex but organized magnetic field structure of the high-mass star-forming hub-filament network
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Boselli A
(2012)
Far-infrared colours of nearby late-type galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Oliver S
(2010)
HerMES: SPIRE galaxy number counts at 250, 350, and 500 µ m
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Elbaz D
(2010)
Herschel unveils a puzzling uniformity of distant dusty galaxies
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Vaccari M
(2010)
The HerMES SPIRE submillimeter local luminosity function
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Baes M
(2010)
Herschel -ATLAS: The dust energy balance in the edge-on spiral galaxy UGC 4754
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Sauvage M
(2010)
The central region of spiral galaxies as seen by Herschel M 81, M 99, and M 100
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Schulz B
(2010)
HerMES: The submillimeter spectral energy distributions of Herschel /SPIRE-detected galaxies
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
O'Halloran B
(2010)
Herschel photometric observations of the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC 1705
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Pohlen M
(2010)
Radial distribution of gas and dust in spiral galaxies The case of M 99 (NGC 4254) and M 100 (NGC 4321)
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Eales S
(2010)
First results from HerMES on the evolution of the submillimetre luminosity function
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Dye S
(2010)
Herschel -ATLAS: Evolution of the 250 µm luminosity function out to z = 0.5
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Nguyen H
(2010)
HerMES: The SPIRE confusion limit
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Maddox S
(2010)
Herschel -ATLAS: The angular correlation function of submillimetre galaxies at high and low redshift
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Bendo G
(2010)
The Herschel Space Observatory view of dust in M81
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Roussel H
(2010)
SPIRE imaging of M 82: Cool dust in the wind and tidal streams
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Eales S
(2010)
Mapping the interstellar medium in galaxies with Herschel /SPIRE
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Galametz M
(2010)
Herschel photometric observations of the nearby low metallicity irregular galaxy NGC 6822
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cortese L
(2010)
Herschel -SPIRE observations of the disturbed galaxy NGC 4438
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Ivison R
(2010)
The far-infrared/radio correlation as probed by Herschel
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gomez H
(2010)
The dust morphology of the elliptical Galaxy M 86 with SPIRE
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cooray A
(2010)
HerMES: Halo occupation number and bias properties of dusty galaxies from angular clustering measurements
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Serjeant S
(2010)
Herschel ATLAS: The cosmic star formation history of quasar host galaxies
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Panuzzo P
(2010)
Probing the molecular interstellar medium of M82 with Herschel -SPIRE spectroscopy
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Clements D
(2010)
Herschel -ATLAS: Extragalactic number counts from 250 to 500 microns
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Thompson M
(2010)
A search for debris disks in the Herschel -ATLAS
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
González-Nuevo J
(2010)
Herschel -ATLAS: Blazars in the science demonstration phase field
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
| Description | Herschel website |
| 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 | We produced a website showing the results of the Herschel mission |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |