Astrophysics at St Andrews: 2012-2014
Lead Research Organisation:
University of St Andrews
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The St Andrews astronomy group is interested in questions of origins: where do galaxies, stars and planets come from, and what fundamental physics explains their formation? We are world leaders in solving intricate mathematical problems, and we use novel methods such as observations at very high precision and simulations with super-computers. We are joined by other groups across Scotland via the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), and internationally, in searching for hot and cool Earth-sized planets, homing in on habitable worlds where life could exist.
Our research spans a wide range of size scales, from discovering planetary systems around stars a few light years away to measuring the force of gravity acting on the whole universe. We discover `hot Jupiters' by using robotic wide-angle cameras that monitor thousands of stars to find those that briefly dim each time an orbiting planet passes in front of its parent star. We discover cooler and smaller more Earth-like planets, using robotic telescopes to watch gravitational lenses, exploiting Einstein's prediction that a planet drifting across the sightline to a distant background star bends its light. We are learning about how planets form by looking at the radiation from dust grains and pebbles, which are either in the process of forming planets or, like our comets, remnants of the planet forming process.
Young stars have strong magnetic fields that interact with orbiting planets and their own magnetic fields. We are studying the signatures of this interaction, which will help us to understand how planets form and evolve. We are investigating the physics of mineral clouds and lightning in atmospheres of cool brown dwarf stars and extrasolar planets. These processes alter our view of planetary systems and will help us understand dust and lightning in volcanic eruptions on Earth. We are using observations and numerical simulations to study how stars form in galaxies and how feedback from young stars drives a dynamic, bubbling interstellar medium, the dusty gas from which new stars are born. We include energetic supernova explosions when massive stars die and the ionising radiation from massive stars that heats the gas in the galaxy to temperatures above than 10,000 degrees Centigrade.
On cosmological scales, we are conducting a survey of 350,000 galaxies to study how their structure emerges. We will learn how galaxies form into their characteristic shapes of flat discs, spiral arms and central bulges. This will help us to understand more exotic phenomena such as the central engines of galaxies, the supermassive black holes that lurk in their central regions, with the aim of understanding how they grow. We are studying how gravity works on the scale of galaxies and the universe. Stars orbit in galaxies so fast that there does not appear to be enough mass to hold the galaxies together. On larger scales, the expansion of the universe itself is accelerating. These puzzles tell us that although we understand gravity on small scales, well enough to send space probes to other planets, it may be different on the larger scales of galaxies and beyond. We are studying alternatives to current ideas of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, comparing our predictions with observations to test how gravity works.
Thus we address key questions in the Science Roadmap: What are the laws of physics in extreme conditions? How do galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve? Are we alone in the Universe? Our science programme exploits major international and space observatories such as ASKAP, eMERLIN, Herschel, Kepler, Spitzer, HST, future facilities including ALMA, JWST, SKA, and PLATO.
Our research spans a wide range of size scales, from discovering planetary systems around stars a few light years away to measuring the force of gravity acting on the whole universe. We discover `hot Jupiters' by using robotic wide-angle cameras that monitor thousands of stars to find those that briefly dim each time an orbiting planet passes in front of its parent star. We discover cooler and smaller more Earth-like planets, using robotic telescopes to watch gravitational lenses, exploiting Einstein's prediction that a planet drifting across the sightline to a distant background star bends its light. We are learning about how planets form by looking at the radiation from dust grains and pebbles, which are either in the process of forming planets or, like our comets, remnants of the planet forming process.
Young stars have strong magnetic fields that interact with orbiting planets and their own magnetic fields. We are studying the signatures of this interaction, which will help us to understand how planets form and evolve. We are investigating the physics of mineral clouds and lightning in atmospheres of cool brown dwarf stars and extrasolar planets. These processes alter our view of planetary systems and will help us understand dust and lightning in volcanic eruptions on Earth. We are using observations and numerical simulations to study how stars form in galaxies and how feedback from young stars drives a dynamic, bubbling interstellar medium, the dusty gas from which new stars are born. We include energetic supernova explosions when massive stars die and the ionising radiation from massive stars that heats the gas in the galaxy to temperatures above than 10,000 degrees Centigrade.
On cosmological scales, we are conducting a survey of 350,000 galaxies to study how their structure emerges. We will learn how galaxies form into their characteristic shapes of flat discs, spiral arms and central bulges. This will help us to understand more exotic phenomena such as the central engines of galaxies, the supermassive black holes that lurk in their central regions, with the aim of understanding how they grow. We are studying how gravity works on the scale of galaxies and the universe. Stars orbit in galaxies so fast that there does not appear to be enough mass to hold the galaxies together. On larger scales, the expansion of the universe itself is accelerating. These puzzles tell us that although we understand gravity on small scales, well enough to send space probes to other planets, it may be different on the larger scales of galaxies and beyond. We are studying alternatives to current ideas of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, comparing our predictions with observations to test how gravity works.
Thus we address key questions in the Science Roadmap: What are the laws of physics in extreme conditions? How do galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve? Are we alone in the Universe? Our science programme exploits major international and space observatories such as ASKAP, eMERLIN, Herschel, Kepler, Spitzer, HST, future facilities including ALMA, JWST, SKA, and PLATO.
Planned Impact
Our research creates three major kinds of impact, related to
(1) the insatiable public interest in the fundamental questions behind our existence that are being addressed,
(2) the practical implications for understanding atmospheric processes,
(3) the universality of techniques pioneered by our cutting-edge scientific endeavour.
The widespread public fascination about objects in the sky is rooted in astronomy providing context to life on Earth. Our research on extra-solar planets, astrobiology, formation processes, and large-scale forces provides answers that cannot be found on our home planet. We thereby directly affect the culture of our society, using the media, museums, or other outreach organisations as intermediaries to stipulate members of various age groups to wonder, explore and investigate. Moreover, beyond any other scientific discipline, we inspire young people and motivate more of them to pursue careers in STEM subjects, leading to them acquiring skills that are essential for safeguarding the economic competitiveness of the UK.
Our research work and its consequences are widely and frequently presented in the national and world-wide media, both as news reports and features in major newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV stations, with several of our PIs having gained a substantial reputation. We moreover address the wide general public by means of exhibits as well as documentary films, having worked with the Dundee Science Centre, the American Museum of Natural
History, the National Museum of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Science Festival, and the Royal Society for their Summer Science Exhibition. A new University development will enable us to establish a writer-in-residence programme, public fora, and a permanent exhibition. Moreover, with a local secondary school moving right next to our campus, we will cascade down our unique student experience, and in particular open their minds by providing live access to remotely-controlled telescopes during daytime hours. By providing live data from research projects,
exploiting electronic media, and developing intelligent citizen science projects, we engage a world-wide society in science and contribute to a cultural approach that manifests the role of science as an integral part of society.
The study of dust and cloud formation processes in stellar and planetary atmospheres is core to exploiting new opportunities to extend comparative planetology beyond the Solar system, and ultimately learn more about
planet Earth and processes in its atmosphere. Potential end applications include dust charging on Mars as a hazard for future explorations, the safety of airports near volcanoes, the inverse problem of eliminating charged dust that contaminates plasma-processing devices, or fusion reactor safety. All of these are not only of substantial commercial value, but the safety aspects are of major importance for our quality of life.
The transfer of gained technical expertise from our research into other areas as well as the generalisation of the problems we are working on and the application of obtained solutions in different contexts is facilitated by efficient informal networks within the University, as recent examples of interaction with Marine Biology and Computer Science demonstrate. The application of astronomical techniques can be taken further into the commercial or medical sectors. Most notably, we established a cooperation with Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on photodynamic therapy for the treatment of skin cancer, using simulations of light propagation through human tissue and fluorescence based on radiation transfer codes that were originally written for astronomical scenarios.
(1) the insatiable public interest in the fundamental questions behind our existence that are being addressed,
(2) the practical implications for understanding atmospheric processes,
(3) the universality of techniques pioneered by our cutting-edge scientific endeavour.
The widespread public fascination about objects in the sky is rooted in astronomy providing context to life on Earth. Our research on extra-solar planets, astrobiology, formation processes, and large-scale forces provides answers that cannot be found on our home planet. We thereby directly affect the culture of our society, using the media, museums, or other outreach organisations as intermediaries to stipulate members of various age groups to wonder, explore and investigate. Moreover, beyond any other scientific discipline, we inspire young people and motivate more of them to pursue careers in STEM subjects, leading to them acquiring skills that are essential for safeguarding the economic competitiveness of the UK.
Our research work and its consequences are widely and frequently presented in the national and world-wide media, both as news reports and features in major newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV stations, with several of our PIs having gained a substantial reputation. We moreover address the wide general public by means of exhibits as well as documentary films, having worked with the Dundee Science Centre, the American Museum of Natural
History, the National Museum of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Science Festival, and the Royal Society for their Summer Science Exhibition. A new University development will enable us to establish a writer-in-residence programme, public fora, and a permanent exhibition. Moreover, with a local secondary school moving right next to our campus, we will cascade down our unique student experience, and in particular open their minds by providing live access to remotely-controlled telescopes during daytime hours. By providing live data from research projects,
exploiting electronic media, and developing intelligent citizen science projects, we engage a world-wide society in science and contribute to a cultural approach that manifests the role of science as an integral part of society.
The study of dust and cloud formation processes in stellar and planetary atmospheres is core to exploiting new opportunities to extend comparative planetology beyond the Solar system, and ultimately learn more about
planet Earth and processes in its atmosphere. Potential end applications include dust charging on Mars as a hazard for future explorations, the safety of airports near volcanoes, the inverse problem of eliminating charged dust that contaminates plasma-processing devices, or fusion reactor safety. All of these are not only of substantial commercial value, but the safety aspects are of major importance for our quality of life.
The transfer of gained technical expertise from our research into other areas as well as the generalisation of the problems we are working on and the application of obtained solutions in different contexts is facilitated by efficient informal networks within the University, as recent examples of interaction with Marine Biology and Computer Science demonstrate. The application of astronomical techniques can be taken further into the commercial or medical sectors. Most notably, we established a cooperation with Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on photodynamic therapy for the treatment of skin cancer, using simulations of light propagation through human tissue and fluorescence based on radiation transfer codes that were originally written for astronomical scenarios.
Organisations
Publications
Dale J
(2013)
Ionization-induced star formation - IV. Triggering in bound clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dale J
(2015)
Early evolution of embedded clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dale J
(2012)
Ionizing feedback from massive stars in massive clusters - II. Disruption of bound clusters by photoionization Massive stars in massive clusters - II
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dale J
(2012)
Ionization-induced star formation - III. Effects of external triggering on the initial mass function in clusters Ionization-induced star formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dale J
(2014)
Before the first supernova: combined effects of H ii regions and winds on molecular clouds
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
David T
(2015)
HII 2407: AN ECLIPSING BINARY REVEALED BY K2 OBSERVATIONS OF THE PLEIADES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Davies C
(2014)
Accretion discs as regulators of stellar angular momentum evolution in the ONC and Taurus-Auriga
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dawson P
(2013)
New brown dwarf discs in Upper Scorpius observed with WISE
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Vries BL
(2012)
Comet-like mineralogy of olivine crystals in an extrasolar proto-Kuiper belt.
in Nature
Delrez L
(2014)
Transiting planets from WASP-South, Euler, and TRAPPIST WASP-68 b, WASP-73 b, and WASP-88 b, three hot Jupiters transiting evolved solar-type stars???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dent WR
(2014)
Molecular gas clumps from the destruction of icy bodies in the ß Pictoris debris disk.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
De Lorenzo-Cáceres A
(2019)
Deconstructing double-barred galaxies in 2D and 3D -- I. Classical nature of the dominant bulges
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dodds P
(2015)
The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: low-mass protoplanetary discs from a SCUBA-2 census of NGC 1333
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dominik M
(2012)
Invited Pesek lecture: Exploration rather than speculation-assembling the puzzle of potential life beyond Earth
in Acta Astronautica
Dominik M
(2012)
Planet populations in the Milky Way and beyond
in Acta Astronautica
Donati J
(2013)
Magnetospheric accretion on the fully convective classical T Tauri star DN Tau
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Donati J
(2012)
Magnetometry of the classical T Tauri star GQ Lup: non-stationary dynamos and spin evolution of young Suns Magnetometry of the cTTS GQ Lup
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Donati J
(2014)
Modelling the magnetic activity and filtering radial velocity curves of young Suns : the weak-line T Tauri star LkCa 4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Donati J
(2015)
Magnetic activity and hot Jupiters of young Suns: the weak-line T Tauri stars V819 Tau and V830 Tau
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dong S
(2014)
OGLE-LMC-ECL-11893: THE DISCOVERY OF A LONG-PERIOD ECLIPSING BINARY WITH A CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK
in The Astrophysical Journal
Doyle A
(2013)
Accurate spectroscopic parameters of WASP planet host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dressing C
(2015)
THE MASS OF Kepler-93b AND THE COMPOSITION OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Duchêne G
(2014)
SPATIALLY RESOLVED IMAGING OF THE TWO-COMPONENT ? Crv DEBRIS DISK WITH HERSCHEL
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dumusque X
(2014)
THE KEPLER-10 PLANETARY SYSTEM REVISITED BY HARPS-N: A HOT ROCKY WORLD AND A SOLID NEPTUNE-MASS PLANET
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dumusque X
(2015)
HARPS-N OBSERVES THE SUN AS A STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dunlop J
(2013)
The UV continua and inferred stellar populations of galaxies at z ? 7-9 revealed by the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field 2012 campaign
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Díaz R
(2016)
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXVIII. Bayesian re-analysis of three systems. New super-Earths, unconfirmed signals, and magnetic cycles ???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2012)
Transit algorithm performance using real WASP data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2012)
Factors affecting the radii of close-in transiting exoplanets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Faedi F
(2013)
WASP-54b, WASP-56b, and WASP-57b: Three new sub-Jupiter mass planets from SuperWASP
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Falceta-Gonçalves D
(2015)
The onset of large-scale turbulence in the interstellar medium of spiral galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fares R
(2013)
A small survey of the magnetic fields of planet-host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fares R
(2012)
Magnetic field, differential rotation and activity of the hot-Jupiter-hosting star HD 179949 Magnetic field, DR and activity of HD 17994
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Farihi J
(2014)
ALMA and Herschel observations of the prototype dusty and polluted white dwarf G29-38
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fleuren S
(2012)
Herschel -ATLAS: VISTA VIKING near-infrared counterparts in the Phase 1 GAMA 9-h data ? Herschel-ATLAS: VIKING counterparts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fohlmeister J
(2012)
Career situation of female astronomers in Germany
in Astronomische Nachrichten
Forgan D
(2014)
Triple trouble for XZ Tau: deep imaging with the Jansky Very Large Array
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fukui A
(2015)
OGLE-2012-BLG-0563Lb: A SATURN-MASS PLANET AROUND AN M DWARF WITH THE MASS CONSTRAINED BY SUBARU AO IMAGING
in The Astrophysical Journal
Furusawa K
(2013)
MOA-2010-BLG-328Lb: A SUB-NEPTUNE ORBITING VERY LATE M DWARF?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Füllekrug M
(2013)
Electron acceleration above thunderclouds
in Environmental Research Letters
Füllekrug M
(2012)
Energetic Charged Particles Above Thunderclouds
in Surveys in Geophysics
Galbany L
(2014)
Nearby supernova host galaxies from the CALIFA Survey I. Sample, data analysis, and correlation to star-forming regions?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Galianni P
(2012)
Testing quasilinear modified Newtonian dynamics in the Solar System
in Physical Review D
Galianni P
(2013)
A test of the failed disc wind scenario for the origin of the broad-line region in active galactic nuclei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gandolfi D
(2012)
Doppler tomography of transiting exoplanets: a prograde, low-inclined orbit for the hot Jupiter CoRoT-11b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gettel S
(2016)
THE KEPLER-454 SYSTEM: A SMALL, NOT-ROCKY INNER PLANET, A JOVIAN WORLD, AND A DISTANT COMPANION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gibb G
(2014)
Stellar differential rotation and coronal time-scales
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gillon M
(2014)
WASP-103 b: a new planet at the edge of tidal disruption
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2012)
The TRAPPIST survey of southern transiting planets I. Thirty eclipses of the ultra-short period planet WASP-43 b??????
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2013)
WASP-64 b and WASP-72 b: two new transiting highly irradiated giant planets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | We carried out a broad range of astrophysics research ranging from extrasolar planet discovery to studies of star formation and galaxy evolution to the nature of dark matter and dark energy. |
Exploitation Route | Our research findings are published in refereed journals with open access. They are available for anyone to access and make use of. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Our findings have been published in refereed journals from which they are available for use by any and all interested parties. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Title | Data underpinning - The Sun as a planet-host star: Proxies from SDO images for HARPS radial-velocity variations |
Description | |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Title | RV curves of WASP-16, 25 and 31 (Brown+, 2012) |
Description | RV data for all three planetary systems were obtained using the CORALIEhigh-precision echelle spectrograph, mounted on the Swiss 1.2-m Eulertelescope, and with the HARPS high-precision echelle spectrograph mounted on the 3.6-m European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescope at LaSilla. (8 data files). |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | TBC |
URL | http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013yCat..74231503B |