A Programme of Technology, Astrophysics and Cosmology in Cardiff 2012-14
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose a programme of technology development for Astrophysics and Cosmology, along with implementation of technology developed in Cardiff for world-leading projects to investigate star and planet formation in our own and other galaxies, how galaxies form and evolve, and how the Universe we see around us today originated in the big bang. We will continue to develop the world's most sensitive detectors for very long infrared wavelengths, along with associated optical components utilising 'metamaterials' the class of materials designed and manufactured by human beings to have the properties best suited to their task, rather than relying on naturally occurring minerals and plastics. Both of these areas of technology development have potential wide applications outside of Astronomy, in areas such as security scanners and bio-medical imaging for example. The technologies used for imaging can also be extended to undertake spectroscopy, and we propose a programme to develop the capability to obtain a spectrum of every point in a large area image of the sky, which is essential for understanding how far away the objects found in deep surveys are, but also what the conditions in the gas that make up these objects are. We also propose to develop the technique of interferometry, where two separate telescopes are combined to create high angular resolution, for far-infrared wavelengths and to participate in a US-led balloon interferometer experiment. Finally we propose to participate in the Ebex balloon experiment to measure the so-called B-mode polarization signal in the cosmic microwave background, which if found will show us how inflation, the rapid expansion at the very beginning of the Universe, occurred.
Planned Impact
The programme proposed here will have extensive impact outside of astronomy.
Firstly in other academic subject areas such as Earth-observing where the technology is used to look downwards or sideways through the atmosphere rather than upwards, but also in bio-medical imaging, where the Far-infrared wavelength range has many spectral features, and is currently being used in collaboration with the School of Optometry in Cardiff to assess corneal damage.
Secondly we also plan to exploit the technology commercially, through the spinout company QMCI (www.terahertz.co.uk) which operates from within the School, with broad applications from fast plasma diagnostic systems in use in Fusion experiments, through laboratory spectroscopy across a wide range of chemistry and materials applications, through to security imaging.
We also plan a very strong Outreach programme, following on from the skills developed during the very successful Herschel/Planck outreach programme, with web-based and standard media information releases, but also tied in with Open days, school visits, and going out into schools and colleges to give presentations and host workshops. This work is closely aligned also with the in-house science communication company Science Made Simple. The outreach programme will be increasingly coordinated with the Astronomy group as we move toward consolidation over the next year.
Firstly in other academic subject areas such as Earth-observing where the technology is used to look downwards or sideways through the atmosphere rather than upwards, but also in bio-medical imaging, where the Far-infrared wavelength range has many spectral features, and is currently being used in collaboration with the School of Optometry in Cardiff to assess corneal damage.
Secondly we also plan to exploit the technology commercially, through the spinout company QMCI (www.terahertz.co.uk) which operates from within the School, with broad applications from fast plasma diagnostic systems in use in Fusion experiments, through laboratory spectroscopy across a wide range of chemistry and materials applications, through to security imaging.
We also plan a very strong Outreach programme, following on from the skills developed during the very successful Herschel/Planck outreach programme, with web-based and standard media information releases, but also tied in with Open days, school visits, and going out into schools and colleges to give presentations and host workshops. This work is closely aligned also with the in-house science communication company Science Made Simple. The outreach programme will be increasingly coordinated with the Astronomy group as we move toward consolidation over the next year.
Organisations
Publications
Matthews Tristan
(2013)
2010 BLASTPol Observations of the Magnetic Field of the Filamentary Galactic Cloud 'Lupus I'
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
Regibo S
(2012)
A background galaxy in the field of the ß Pictoris debris disk
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
O'Brient R
(2013)
A dual-polarized broadband planar antenna and channelizing filter bank for millimeter wavelengths
in Applied Physics Letters
Van Hoof P
(2013)
A Herschel study of NGC 650
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Savini G
(2012)
A new artificial material approach for flat THz frequency lenses.
in Optics express
Sansom A
(2019)
ALMA observations of massive molecular gas reservoirs in dusty early-type galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oteo I
(2018)
An Extreme Protocluster of Luminous Dusty Starbursts in the Early Universe
in The Astrophysical Journal
Groenewegen M
(2012)
An independent distance estimate to CW Leonis
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Schwan D.
(2012)
APEX-SZ: The Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Instrument
in The Messenger
Kwon W
(2022)
B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO): Magnetic Fields in the Filamentary Structures of Serpens Main
in The Astrophysical Journal
Eales S
(2012)
CAN DUST EMISSION BE USED TO ESTIMATE THE MASS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN GALAXIES-A PILOT PROJECT WITH THE HERSCHEL REFERENCE SURVEY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Greenslade J
(2018)
Candidate high-z protoclusters among the Planck compact sources, as revealed by Herschel-SPIRE
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Yang C.
(2019)
CO, H2O, H2O+ line and dust emission in a z = 3.63 strongly lensed starburst merger at sub-kiloparsec scales
in arXiv e-prints
Wilson C
(2013)
COLD DUST BUT WARM GAS IN THE UNUSUAL ELLIPTICAL GALAXY NGC 4125
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shirokoff E
(2014)
Design and Performance of SuperSpec: An On-Chip, KID-Based, mm-Wavelength Spectrometer
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Comis B.
(2013)
Detection of the tSZ effect with the NIKA camera
in SF2A-2013: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gomez H
(2012)
Dust in historical Galactic Type Ia supernova remnants with Herschel? Dust in the Kepler and Tycho remnants
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Marsh K
(2018)
Dust in the eye of Andromeda
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Doi Y
(2021)
Erratum: "The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Magnetic Fields Associated with a Network of Filaments in NGC 1333" (2020, ApJ, 899, 28)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Zhang Z
(2018)
Far-infrared Herschel SPIRE spectroscopy of lensed starbursts reveals physical conditions of ionized gas
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Grootes M
(2013)
GAMA/H-ATLAS: THE DUST OPACITY-STELLAR MASS SURFACE DENSITY RELATION FOR SPIRAL GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wang L
(2018)
GAMA/H-ATLAS: the local dust mass function and cosmic density as a function of galaxy type - a benchmark for models of galaxy evolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith D
(2012)
Herschel -ATLAS: multi-wavelength SEDs and physical properties of 250 µm selected galaxies at z < 0.5 Herschel sATLAS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Auld R
(2012)
Herschel observations of Cen A: stellar heating of two extragalactic dust clouds Herschel observations of Cen A dust clouds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schady P
(2014)
Herschel observations of gamma-ray burst host galaxies: implications for the topology of the dusty interstellar medium
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bourne N
(2012)
Herschel?-ATLAS/GAMA: a census of dust in optically selected galaxies from stacking at submillimetre wavelengths H-ATLAS/GAMA: dust in optically selected galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rowlands K
(2012)
Herschel?-ATLAS/GAMA: dusty early-type galaxies and passive spirals H-ATLAS/GAMA: dusty ETGs and passive spirals
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Strasburger David
(2015)
Identification and Classification of Infrared Excess Sources in the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) Catalog
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
Calvo M
(2013)
Improved mm-wave photometry for kinetic inductance detectors
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bendo G
(2012)
Investigations of dust heating in M81, M83 and NGC 2403 with the Herschel Space Observatory Dust heating in M81, M83 and NGC 2403
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Saintonge A
(2018)
JINGLE, a JCMT legacy survey of dust and gas for galaxy evolution studies - I. Survey overview and first results
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
POLARBEAR Collaboration POLARBEAR
(2013)
Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Lensing Power Spectrum with the POLARBEAR experiment
in ArXiv e-prints
Dye S
(2018)
Modelling high-resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed highly star-forming galaxies detected by Herschel?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Isensee K
(2012)
NUCLEOSYNTHETIC LAYERS IN THE SHOCKED EJECTA OF CASSIOPEIA A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chang C
(2012)
Optical and Thermal Properties of ANL/KICP Polarization Sensitive Bolometers for SPTpol
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Hailey-Dunsheath S
(2014)
Optical Measurements of SuperSpec: A Millimeter-Wave On-Chip Spectrometer
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Mauskopf P
(2014)
Photon-Noise Limited Performance in Aluminum LEKIDs
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Lazear Justin
(2013)
PIPER: Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221
Duivenvoorden S
(2018)
Red, redder, reddest: SCUBA-2 imaging of colour-selected Herschel sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Moyerman S
(2013)
SCIENTIFIC VERIFICATION OF FARADAY ROTATION MODULATORS: DETECTION OF DIFFUSE POLARIZED GALACTIC EMISSION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pattle K
(2021)
Submillimetre observations of the two-component magnetic field in M82
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ciesla L
(2012)
Submillimetre photometry of 323 nearby galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ciesla L
(2013)
Submillimetre photometry of 323 nearby galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey (Corrigendum)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | Optical components developed for THz radiation, metamaterials with properties unavailable in natural materials. New detectors with migher efficiency and ease of fabrication. |
Exploitation Route | The technology is already and will be used in future both in astronomy for ground-based and satellite osbervatories, but also in other areas such as laboratory spectroscopy, fusion plasma diagnostics and passive imaging, particualrly in security-related areas, such as aiport security and border control. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Security and Diplomacy |
Description | Technology developed on this grant has been used commercially through the spin-out company QMCI co-located within the School of Physics and Astronomy. Technology developed on this grant has also been used in outreach activity demonstratring the astronomy applications, in particular through the Herschel Outreach Programme. A major new initiative based on resesaerch fuinded on this and previous awards is the establishment of the new spin out company Sequestim which has received Border force funbding to develop real-time monitoring of passengers at airports and hidden in vehicles at ports. Thisw has received extensive publicity including a 5 minute slot ofn the ITN 10 pm news. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic |
Description | Astronomy Grants |
Amount | £2,212,225 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/K000926/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2013 |
End | 04/2016 |