Astrophysics at Oxford: 2010-2015
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
Astrophysicists at Oxford are trying to determine six basic things about the Universe. (1) What is it made of? The Universe appears to be at the beginning of a period of accelerated expansion driven by some mysterious stuff known as 'dark energy'. Einstein had a theory for what this stuff is: he called it the Cosmological Constant. We will be testing his theory by measuring the apparent brightnesses of distant exploding stars (supernovae), by measuring the distortions of distant galaxies as light is bent by the gravity of more nearby galaxies, and by measuring the precise positions of about one million galaxies. (2) What is the history of Hydrogen in the Universe? Hydrogen - the most abundant element in the Universe - is the most important building material for making stars. Atoms of Hydrogen combine into molecules within dense clouds, and these clouds provide the nursery for the birth of new stars. We will be using giant new telescopes operating at millimetre and radio wavelengths to observe, and hence understand, this process throughout most of the history of the Universe. (3) What can we learn about how galaxies formed from galaxies observed at current times? We are involved in large observational programmes that can be viewed as 'archaeology' of nearby galaxies looking for clues of important events in their history, for example by finding fast-moving gas orbiting a dormant supermassive black hole. We also study the relation between stellar populations and dark matter by studying the orbits of stars within and beyond the optical light in a galaxy. (4) What can we learn about how galaxies formed from distant galaxies observed at earlier times? Because of the finite speed of light, distant galaxies are seen when the Universe, and the galaxies within it, were young, and often these galaxies are so dusty that they are only effectively studied using infrared and radio observations. We map out the large-scale distribution of galaxies in the distant Universe using a combination of wide-field imaging (taking pictures) and spectroscopy (spreading light out into its constituent colours). We study these systems as they form and evolve, sometimes in dramatic bursts of star formation associated with supermassive black holes. (5) When did the first galaxies form? The Hydrogen in the Universe formed atoms about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, but was largely re-ionized (converted back to protons and electrons) during the so-called Epoch of Reionization. We use giant ground-based telescopes and satellites (e.g. the Hubble Space Telescope) to study these first galaxies and determine whether it was radiation associated with the birth of these galaxies, or stars within them, that was responsible for the re-ionization. (6) How do black holes influence star and galaxy formation? Black holes grow by 'gobbling up' gas and stars in a process called accretion. This process seems commonly to yield outflows in the form of winds and jets, the latter capable of reaching speeds very close to the speed of light. We study these systems in our own galaxy and in distant galaxies to determine the physics of such 'feedback mechanisms' (growth of the black hole is halted, albeit temporarily, by outflows driven by processes associated with the black hole). Our aim is to understand the influence of (compact) black holes on the formation of stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies on much large physical scales.
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Leiden University (Collaboration)
- California Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Collaboration)
- Paris Institute of Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Collaboration)
Publications
Aragon-Calvo M
(2011)
Locally cold flows from large-scale structure
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Yuan F
(2013)
Locations of peculiar supernovae as a diagnostic of their origins
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Taylor P
(2011)
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts: hydrodynamic instabilities in collapsar discs Disc instabilities in LGRBs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Justham S
(2014)
LUMINOUS BLUE VARIABLES AND SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE FROM BINARY MERGERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hallinan G
(2015)
Magnetospherically driven optical and radio aurorae at the end of the stellar main sequence
in Nature
Osborne OG
(2016)
Maintenance of Species Boundaries Despite Ongoing Gene Flow in Ragworts.
in Genome biology and evolution
Mohamed S
(2012)
Mass Transfer in Mira-Type Binaries
in Open Astronomy
Mohamed S.
(2012)
MASS TRANSFER IN MIRA-TYPE BINARIES
in BALTIC ASTRONOMY
Podsiadlowski P
(2010)
Massive binary evolution
in New Astronomy Reviews
Buat V
(2010)
Measures of star formation rates from infrared (Herschel) and UV (GALEX) emissions of galaxies in the HerMES fields SFRs from Herschel and GALEX observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Turner T
(2017)
Measuring light echoes in NGC 4051
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Krajnovic, D And McDermid, RM And Cappellari, M And Davies, RL
(2010)
Measuring the Low Mass End of the M center dot - sigma Relation
Cappellari, M
(2010)
Measuring the Low Mass End of the M center dot - sigma Relation
in HUNTING FOR THE DARK: THE HIDDEN SIDE OF GALAXY FORMATION
Wang X
(2014)
microRNAs are biomarkers of oncogenic human papillomavirus infections.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Tatum M
(2012)
MODELING THE Fe K LINE PROFILES IN TYPE I ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH A COMPTON-THICK DISK WIND
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mohamed S.
(2011)
Modelling the Asymmetric Outflows of Mira-type Binaries
in Asymmetric Planetary Nebulae 5 Conference
Yokoyama S
(2011)
Modification of the halo mass function by kurtosis associated with primordial non-Gaussianity Halo mass function with primordial kurtosis
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Crocker A
(2011)
Molecular gas and star formation in early-type galaxies Molecular gas and star formation in E/S0s
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bureau M
(2011)
Molecular Gas and Star Formation in Local Early-type Galaxies
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Krips M
(2010)
Molecular gas in SAURON early-type galaxies: detection of 13CO and HCN emission? Molecular gas in early-type galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Topal S
(2016)
Molecular gas kinematics and line diagnostics in early-type galaxies: NGC 4710 and NGC 5866
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Topal S
(2014)
Molecular gas properties of the giant molecular cloud complexes in the arms and inter-arms of the spiral galaxy NGC 6946
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Davis O
(2011)
Most massive haloes with Gumbel statistics Most massive haloes with Gumbel statistics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sim S
(2010)
Multidimensional modelling of X-ray spectra for AGN accretion disc outflows - II
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sim S
(2010)
Multidimensional modelling of X-ray spectra for AGN accretion disc outflows - III. Application to a hydrodynamical simulation Multidimensional modelling of X-ray spectra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Steenbrugge K
(2010)
Multiwavelength study of Cygnus A â?? III. Evidence for relic lobe plasma
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barone-Nugent R
(2012)
Near-infrared observations of Type Ia supernovae: the best known standard candle for cosmology NIR Type Ia SNe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lopes I
(2010)
Neutrino spectroscopy can probe the dark matter content in the Sun.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Albornoz Vásquez D
(2012)
Neutron injection during primordial nucleosynthesis alleviates the primordial Li 7 problem
in Physical Review D
Potter W
(2015)
New constraints on the structure and dynamics of black hole jets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Potter W
(2015)
New constraints on the structure and dynamics of black hole jets
Wilkins S
(2011)
New star-forming galaxies at z˜ 7 from Wide Field Camera Three imaging New star-forming galaxies at z ˜ 7
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Davies R
(2011)
New views of old galaxies
in Astronomy & Geophysics
Gulyaev Sergei
(2011)
New Zealand pathway towards Asia-Pacific and global e-VLBI research and development
in arXiv e-prints
Parroni C
(2017)
Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. XXI. The Weak Lensing Masses of the CFHTLS and NGVS RedGOLD Galaxy Clusters and Calibration of the Optical Richness
in The Astrophysical Journal
Alatalo K
(2013)
NGC 1266 AS A LOCAL CANDIDATE FOR RAPID CESSATION OF STAR FORMATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Yabe K
(2012)
NIR Spectroscopy of Star-Forming Galaxies at z ~ 1.4 with Subaru/FMOS: The Mass-Metallicity Relation
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Caruana J
(2013)
No evidence for Lyman emission in spectroscopy of z > 7 candidate galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Garn T
(2010)
Obscured star formation at z = 0.84 with HiZELS: the relationship between star formation rate and Ha or ultraviolet dust extinction
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Van Kerkwijk M
(2010)
OBSERVATIONS OF DOPPLER BOOSTING IN KEPLER LIGHT CURVES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kraemer S
(2012)
OBSERVATIONS OF OUTFLOWING ULTRAVIOLET ABSORBERS IN NGC 4051 WITH THE COSMIC ORIGINS SPECTROGRAPH
in The Astrophysical Journal
D'Eugenio F
(2015)
On the distribution of galaxy ellipticity in clusters
D'Eugenio F
(2015)
On the distribution of galaxy ellipticity in clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Yaqoob T
(2010)
On the efficiency of production of the Fe Kα emission line in neutral matter
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Justham S
(2011)
On the formation of single and binary helium-rich subdwarf O stars The formation of He-rich sdO stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Freire P
(2011)
On the nature and evolution of the unique binary pulsar J1903+0327 PSR J1903+0327
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Podsiadlowski Philipp
(2010)
On the Possibility of Tidal Formation of Binary Planets Around Ordinary Stars
in arXiv e-prints
Podsiadlowski, P And Rappaport, S And Fregeau, JM And Mardling, RA
(2010)
On the Possibility of Tidal Formation of Binary Planets Around Ordinary Stars
Description | Canada France Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) |
Organisation | Leiden University |
Department | Leiden Institute of Physics |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Miller was responsible for the shear measurements for this international collaboration, and took part in the cosmology analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Other aspects of the lensing analysis. |
Impact | Research publications |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Canada France Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) |
Organisation | University of British Columbia |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Miller was responsible for the shear measurements for this international collaboration, and took part in the cosmology analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Other aspects of the lensing analysis. |
Impact | Research publications |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Canada France Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Miller was responsible for the shear measurements for this international collaboration, and took part in the cosmology analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Other aspects of the lensing analysis. |
Impact | Research publications |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | EarLy unIverse Exploration with nIRspec (ELIXIR) |
Organisation | Paris Institute of Astrophysics |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Oxford network node has been analysing data from Hubble Space Telescope deep imaging fields (including those from the new WFC3 infrared camera) to determine observing strategies for JWST, and also to provide an initial target list for spectroscopy with NIRSpec on JWST. |
Collaborator Contribution | This is an EU FP7 network associated with the NIRSpec instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. The Instrument Science Team comprises: Stephane Charlot (IAP, Paris - lead network); Andrew Bunker (Oxford); Marijn Franx (Leiden); Santiago Arribas (Madrid); Roberto Maiolino (Rome); Hans-Walter Rix (MPIA Heidelberg) and Peter Jakobsen (ESA), with out industrial partner (Astrium, Germany). We are responsible for the NIRSpec near-infrared spectrograph, which is being built and tested, and we will execute a 900-hour GTO programme to investigate galaxies at high redshift. The EU FP7 ELIXIR Network is intended to plan the science for this large programme. |
Impact | The Network funds several PhD students and Early Stage Researchers at the nodes across Europe, including two graduate students at Oxford (Joseph Caruana and Silvio Lorenzoni). These researchers have participated in many of the papers from our group, and Lorenzoni has a first-author paper accepted. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Galaxies in the Reionization Epoch |
Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
Department | Caltech Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford has been responsible for reducing the Hubble Space Telescope images and identifying potential high-redshift candidates through colour selection. |
Collaborator Contribution | Oxford has lead this project, in collaboration with Prof Richard Ellis at Caltech, using archival Hubble Space Telescope images with WFC3 to identify Lyman-break galaxies at z=7 and beyond. Caltech has mainly been involved in the spectroscopic follow-up. |
Impact | Five refereed accepted papers so far (Bunker et al. 2010; Wilkins et al. 2010; Lorenzoni et al. 2011; Wilkins et al. 2011, Wilkins et al. 2012). A press release in December 2009, resulting in extensive coverage. Several invited talks at conferences. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Kilo Degree Survey weak lensing collaboration |
Organisation | Leiden University |
Department | Leiden Institute of Physics |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Responsible for the Point Spread Function modelling and weak lensing shear measurement, employed by the survey. Jointly responsible for cosmology analysis and paper writing. |
Collaborator Contribution | All other aspects of data collection, survey analysis and paper writing |
Impact | Research papers |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Kilo Degree Survey weak lensing collaboration |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Responsible for the Point Spread Function modelling and weak lensing shear measurement, employed by the survey. Jointly responsible for cosmology analysis and paper writing. |
Collaborator Contribution | All other aspects of data collection, survey analysis and paper writing |
Impact | Research papers |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | The WFC3 Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey |
Organisation | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
Department | Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford is responsible for studying the star formation rates of these galaxies from their H-alpha line luminosities, and for constructing the line luminosity function at redshifts around one. |
Collaborator Contribution | The WISP collaboration, based at UCLA and also the Spitzer Science Center (in Caltech) and with collaborators elsewhere in the USA and Germany, is responsible for reducing the Hubble Space Telescope slitless grism spectroscopy to search for emission line objects at high redshift. Most of this reduction and cataloging occurs in Los Angeles. |
Impact | One refereed paper on the initial work - Atek et al. (2010) - and several more in preparation. Various presentations by the team at American Astronomical Society meetings. |
Start Year | 2008 |
Description | Press release on the first Hubble WFC3 Deep Infrared Images |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | We issued a press release on our work on 8 December 2009 entitled "Reinvigorated Hubble Space Telescope Reveals Most Distant Galaxies Yet". Our press release results in extensive coverage in the scientific media and the international press including: Nature Blog http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/12/ hubble_revisits_distant_haunt.html BBC News (online) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8401374.stm We also appeared in The Times (print version) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |