Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
An astonishing feature of modern astrophysical research is that we have in principle a chain of explanation that stretches from processes on cosmological scales of billions of light years, down to the creation of stars, planets around the stars and life on the planets. In a sense, this process is almost a closed loop: the early Universe was once of sub-nuclear scale, so that quantum mechanical uncertainty is bound to seed fluctuations in density, which eventually collapse under gravity to make astronomical structures. This is the same physics of the very small that governs the formation of the atoms out of which we are all made.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detail view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
But unanswered questions abound at all stages of this process. Our theories of the early Universe and explanations of its current expansion rest on the concept that empty space can have weight: the so-called "dark energy". We need to study its properties and understand its origin. In so doing, we often assume that Einstein's relativity describes gravity correctly on all scales, but can we test this? If the standard theory is correct, dark matter is required, and we are driven to follow the processes by which it clumps, and by which the gas within these clumps evolves and eventually collapses to form stars and massive black holes. New large telescopes on the ground, together with observing platforms in space such as the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, allow us to see this process in action and compare the observations with detailed computer simulations. Nearer to home, we can dissect galaxies such as our own Milky Way into individual stars, for the most detail view of how they were assembled. And finally we can study how planets arise around these stars, both from new instruments that can detect the presence of "exo-planets" and by computer simulations of how they may be created within the discs of gas and dust left over from star formation. Ultimately, one can refine the search to planets potentially capable of supporting life, and ask how life might arise within these early planetary systems.
Research in astronomy at Edinburgh attacks all of these connected questions. Progress is rapid, driven by technological breakthroughs in observational facilities and computing power, and our understanding is evolving rapidly. Major progress, even if not final answers, can be expected within a few years. This is an exciting time for our understanding of the full history and structure of our Universe and our place within it.
Planned Impact
Details of our Pathways to Impact are provided in the separate 2-page attachment. In brief, we carry out an extensive programme of public engagement and knowledge transfer, implemented in collaboration with the UK ATC, and our own Wide Field Astronomy Unit. Much stems directly from the research activities that are the subject of this application.
Our work in knowledge transfer and exploitation is exemplified by the case study of MOPED and the resulting spin-out company Blackford Analysis. MOPED (Massively Optimised Parameter Estimation and Data compression) is a unique process that employs a massive data compression step, enabling very rapid analysis without compromising accuracy. The MOPED algorithm was designed at the IfA by Prof. Alan Heavens and Dr Benjamin Panter to solve problems in cosmology, but has since been successfully applied to a number of medical applications, the most obvious being the ability of MOPED to speed up 3-D MRI image reconstruction to the point where it would no longer be necessary to immobilize children with a general anaesthetic for MRI scans. A spin-out company, Blackford Analysis Ltd, started trading in August 2010, has received significant investment, and now employs 9 people in the UK (sited at ROE, allowing continued academic interaction), developing very rapid image alignment tools for the medical imaging market. There has been direct user-engagement in the medical imaging field, through researchers, clinicians and industry luminaries, as well as MRI scanner manufacturers and PACS vendors. Recently Blackford Analysis has expanded its work into applications in other areas, securing a two-year consultancy contract with Rolls Royce worth £65,000, and identifying further commercial applications of MOPED in security imaging and in the oil and gas industries.
The case of Blackford Analysis exemplifies how novel techniques developed for astronomical research can be effectively applied to have a major impact in wider society. We plan to replicate this success through the University of Edinburgh's involvement in the new Higgs Centre for Innovation (to be completed at ROE by spring 2016). The Higgs Centre aims to ensure that further technologies, algorithms, and techniques from any of ATC instrumentation, IfA research, or WFAU data handling are effectively transferred to industry through close interactions between our academics/PDRAs and the public and private sectors (with the potential to create of further spinout companies from the STFC incubator). We are also taking the Big Data initiative, and interaction with the commercial sector, very seriously. (i) We have a long tradition of designing and developing new data centre facilities in active collaboration with local companies, who then use their experience with other commercial customers. (ii) As part of leading a proposal for UK participation in LSST, we are working with STFC to identify BIS infrastructure funding to work with industry. (iii) We are currently advertising for a new position specialising in novel data handling techniques.
We are also involved in a particularly vigorous programme of Public Outreach, Engagement & Education, under the auspices of the ROE Visitor Centre (www.roe.ac.uk/vc; jointly funded by the University and STFC) that draws directly on the cutting-edge research supported by our STFC Consolidated grant. Within the UK university sector, this programme is unusual in its breadth and scope, extending well beyond the normal expectation of public talks, press releases and media interviews. This is in part because university staff, PDRAs and students have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Visitor Centre Staff, but is also due to the unique advantages afforded by the ROE site, with its unusual combination of front-line astronomical research, world-leadiing instrument development, and astronomical history/heritage. Further details of activities and impact are provided in the Pathways to Impact attachment.
Our work in knowledge transfer and exploitation is exemplified by the case study of MOPED and the resulting spin-out company Blackford Analysis. MOPED (Massively Optimised Parameter Estimation and Data compression) is a unique process that employs a massive data compression step, enabling very rapid analysis without compromising accuracy. The MOPED algorithm was designed at the IfA by Prof. Alan Heavens and Dr Benjamin Panter to solve problems in cosmology, but has since been successfully applied to a number of medical applications, the most obvious being the ability of MOPED to speed up 3-D MRI image reconstruction to the point where it would no longer be necessary to immobilize children with a general anaesthetic for MRI scans. A spin-out company, Blackford Analysis Ltd, started trading in August 2010, has received significant investment, and now employs 9 people in the UK (sited at ROE, allowing continued academic interaction), developing very rapid image alignment tools for the medical imaging market. There has been direct user-engagement in the medical imaging field, through researchers, clinicians and industry luminaries, as well as MRI scanner manufacturers and PACS vendors. Recently Blackford Analysis has expanded its work into applications in other areas, securing a two-year consultancy contract with Rolls Royce worth £65,000, and identifying further commercial applications of MOPED in security imaging and in the oil and gas industries.
The case of Blackford Analysis exemplifies how novel techniques developed for astronomical research can be effectively applied to have a major impact in wider society. We plan to replicate this success through the University of Edinburgh's involvement in the new Higgs Centre for Innovation (to be completed at ROE by spring 2016). The Higgs Centre aims to ensure that further technologies, algorithms, and techniques from any of ATC instrumentation, IfA research, or WFAU data handling are effectively transferred to industry through close interactions between our academics/PDRAs and the public and private sectors (with the potential to create of further spinout companies from the STFC incubator). We are also taking the Big Data initiative, and interaction with the commercial sector, very seriously. (i) We have a long tradition of designing and developing new data centre facilities in active collaboration with local companies, who then use their experience with other commercial customers. (ii) As part of leading a proposal for UK participation in LSST, we are working with STFC to identify BIS infrastructure funding to work with industry. (iii) We are currently advertising for a new position specialising in novel data handling techniques.
We are also involved in a particularly vigorous programme of Public Outreach, Engagement & Education, under the auspices of the ROE Visitor Centre (www.roe.ac.uk/vc; jointly funded by the University and STFC) that draws directly on the cutting-edge research supported by our STFC Consolidated grant. Within the UK university sector, this programme is unusual in its breadth and scope, extending well beyond the normal expectation of public talks, press releases and media interviews. This is in part because university staff, PDRAs and students have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Visitor Centre Staff, but is also due to the unique advantages afforded by the ROE site, with its unusual combination of front-line astronomical research, world-leadiing instrument development, and astronomical history/heritage. Further details of activities and impact are provided in the Pathways to Impact attachment.
Organisations
Publications
Lombriser L
(2015)
How chameleons core dwarfs with cusps
in Physical Review D
Drake A
(2015)
Evolution of star formation in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field - II. Star formation as a function of stellar mass between z = 1.46 and 0.63
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Crighton N
(2015)
The neutral hydrogen cosmological mass density at z = 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wilson Susan
(2015)
The XMM Cluster Survey: evolution of the velocity dispersion -- temperature relation over half a Hubble time
in ArXiv e-prints
Cappi A
(2015)
The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) Hierarchical scaling and biasing?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maire A
(2015)
The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey. Further constraints on the planet architecture of the HR 8799 system (Corrigendum)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Jong J
(2015)
The first and second data releases of the Kilo-Degree Survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hand N
(2015)
First measurement of the cross-correlation of CMB lensing and galaxy lensing
in Physical Review D
Ashby M. L. N.
(2015)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spitzer-CANDELS catalog within 5 deep fields (Ashby+, 2015)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Ford J
(2015)
CFHTLenS: a weak lensing shear analysis of the 3D-Matched-Filter galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ashby M
(2015)
S-CANDELS: THE SPITZER -COSMIC ASSEMBLY NEAR-INFRARED DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC SURVEY. SURVEY DESIGN, PHOTOMETRY, AND DEEP IRAC SOURCE COUNTS
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Scoville N.
(2015)
ISM Masses and Star Formation at z = 1 to 6 ALMA Observations of Dust Continuum in 180 Galaxies in COSMOS
in arXiv e-prints
Emonts B. H. C.
(2015)
ALMA unveils a triple merger and gas exchange in a hyper-luminous radio galaxy at z=2: the Dragonfly Galaxy (II)
in ArXiv e-prints
Maire A
(2015)
The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey. Further constraints on the planet architecture of the HR 8799 system
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Brienza M
(2015)
LOFAR discovery of a 700-kpc remnant radio galaxy at low redshift
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Varenius E
(2015)
Subarcsecond international LOFAR radio images of the M82 nucleus at 118 MHz and 154 MHz
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Marmol-Queralto E.
(2015)
The evolution of the equivalent width of the Ha emission line and specific star-formation rate in star-forming galaxies at 1
in ArXiv e-prints
Davis T
(2015)
Molecular and atomic gas in dust lane early-type galaxies - I. Low star formation efficiencies in minor merger remnants
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Geach J
(2015)
The Red Radio Ring: a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared radio galaxy at z = 2.553 discovered through the citizen science project Space Warps
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Biller B
(2015)
The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: asymmetries in the HD 141569 disc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Scoville N.
(2015)
ISM masses and the star formation law at Z = 1 to 6 // ALMA observations of dust continuum in 145 galaxies in the COSMOS survey field
in ArXiv e-prints
Meiksin A
(2015)
Gas around galaxy haloes - II. Hydrogen absorption signatures from the environments of galaxies at redshifts 2 < z < 3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Grazian A
(2015)
The Lyman continuum escape fraction of galaxies at z = 3.3 in the VUDS-LBC/COSMOS field
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Laevens B
(2015)
SAGITTARIUS II, DRACO II AND LAEVENS 3: THREE NEW MILKY WAY SATELLITES DISCOVERED IN THE PAN-STARRS 1 3 p SURVEY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bussmann R
(2015)
HerMES: ALMA IMAGING OF HERSCHEL -SELECTED DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Nisbet D
(2015)
The mass fraction of AGN and the Fundamental Plane of black hole activity from a large X-ray-selected sample of LINERs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Davis T
(2015)
Erratum: Molecular and atomic gas in dust lane early-type galaxies - I. Low star formation efficiencies in minor merger remnants: Table 1.
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wahhaj Z
(2015)
Improving signal-to-noise in the direct imaging of exoplanets and circumstellar disks with MLOCI
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pota V
(2015)
The SLUGGS survey: multipopulation dynamical modelling of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1407 from stars and globular clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collaboration P
(2015)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Updated Planck catalogue PSZ1 (Planck+, 2015)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Lizarraga J
(2015)
Fitting BICEP2 with defects, primordial gravitational waves and dust
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Heymans C
(2015)
Sky Survey Casts Light on the Dark Universe
in Physics
Buenzli E
(2015)
CLOUD STRUCTURE OF THE NEAREST BROWN DWARFS. II. HIGH-AMPLITUDE VARIABILITY FOR LUHMAN 16 A AND B IN AND OUT OF THE 0.99 µ m FeH FEATURE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tasca L
(2015)
The evolving star formation rate: M ? relation and sSFR since z ? 5 from the VUDS spectroscopic survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Orrù E
(2015)
Wide-field LOFAR imaging of the field around the double-double radio galaxy B1834+620 A fresh view on a restarted AGN and doubeltjes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Chauvin G
(2015)
The VLT/NaCo large program to probe the occurrence of exoplanets and brown dwarfs at wide orbits II. Survey description, results, and performances
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Finkelstein Steven L.
(2015)
The Case for a James Webb Space Telescope Extragalactic Key Project
in arXiv e-prints
Moldón J
(2015)
The LOFAR long baseline snapshot calibrator survey
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kobayashi T
(2015)
A separate universe view of the asymmetric sky
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Matsuura M
(2015)
A STUBBORNLY LARGE MASS OF COLD DUST IN THE EJECTA OF SUPERNOVA 1987A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kitching T
(2015)
On scale-dependent cosmic shear systematic effects
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pannella M
(2015)
GOODS- HERSCHEL : STAR FORMATION, DUST ATTENUATION, AND THE FIR-RADIO CORRELATION ON THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES UP TO z ? 4
in The Astrophysical Journal
Agius N
(2015)
H-ATLAS/GAMA and HeViCS - dusty early-type galaxies in different environments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cunha E
(2015)
AN ALMA SURVEY OF SUB-MILLIMETER GALAXIES IN THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES DERIVED FROM ULTRAVIOLET-TO-RADIO MODELING
in The Astrophysical Journal
Thomson A
(2015)
Tracing cool molecular gas and star formation on ~100 pc scales within a z ~ 2.3 galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Han J
(2015)
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the halo mass of galaxy groups from maximum-likelihood weak lensing
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wilcox H
(2015)
The XMM Cluster Survey: testing chameleon gravity using the profiles of clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mohammad Faizan G.
(2015)
Group-galaxy correlations in redshift space as a probe of the growth of structure
in ArXiv e-prints