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
Cadman J
(2020)
The observational impact of dust trapping in self-gravitating discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Choi A
(2016)
CFHTLenS and RCSLenS: testing photometric redshift distributions using angular cross-correlations with spectroscopic galaxy surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Molina J
(2017)
SINFONI-HiZELS: the dynamics, merger rates and metallicity gradients of 'typical' star-forming galaxies at z = 0.8-2.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cui W
(2020)
Protoclusters at = 5.7: a view from the MultiDark galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bolton J
(2017)
The Sherwood simulation suite: overview and data comparisons with the Lyman a forest at redshifts 2 = z = 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hildebrandt H
(2016)
RCSLenS: The Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gürkan G
(2015)
Herschel -ATLAS: the connection between star formation and AGN activity in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wilkinson A
(2017)
The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: the clustering of submillimetre galaxies in the UKIDSS UDS field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Miraghaei H.
(2017)
The nuclear properties and extended morphologies of powerful radio galaxies: the roles of host galaxy and environment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rice K
(2018)
On fragmentation of turbulent self-gravitating discs in the long cooling time regime
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bruce A
(2017)
Spectral analysis of four 'hypervariable' AGN: a micro-needle in the haystack?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bowler R
(2015)
The galaxy luminosity function at z ? 6 and evidence for rapid evolution in the bright end from z ? 7 to 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Taylor A
(2018)
Cosmic shear bias and calibration in dark energy studies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hattab M
(2019)
A case study of hurdle and generalized additive models in astronomy: the escape of ionizing radiation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sobey C
(2015)
LOFAR discovery of a quiet emission mode in PSR B0823+26
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne N
(2016)
The Herschel -ATLAS Data Release 1 - II. Multi-wavelength counterparts to submillimetre sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mortier A
(2018)
K2-263 b: a 50 d period sub-Neptune with a mass measurement using HARPS-N
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rost A
(2021)
the threehundred : the structure and properties of cosmic filaments in the outskirts of galaxy clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gillman S
(2019)
The dynamics and distribution of angular momentum in HiZELS star-forming galaxies at z = 0.8-3.3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huynh Minh T.
(2017)
The AT-LESS CO(1-0) survey of submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: First results on cold molecular gas in galaxies at z ~ 2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Arias V
(2015)
NGC 147, NGC 185 and CassII: a genetic approach to orbital properties, star formation and tidal debris
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Meiksin A
(2020)
The influence of metagalactic ultraviolet background fluctuations on the high-redshift Lya forest
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schrabback T
(2015)
CFHTLenS: weak lensing constraints on the ellipticity of galaxy-scale matter haloes and the galaxy-halo misalignment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Matthee J
(2017)
The production and escape of Lyman-Continuum radiation from star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 and their redshift evolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Peñarrubia J
(2018)
Fluctuations of the gravitational field generated by a random population of extended substructures
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duncan CA
(2016)
Cluster mass profile reconstruction with size and flux magnification on the HST STAGES survey.
in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
MacLeod C
(2016)
A systematic search for changing-look quasars in SDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kuijken K
(2015)
Gravitational lensing analysis of the Kilo-Degree Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bourne N
(2017)
Erratum: Evolution of cosmic star formation in the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Agarwal B
(2017)
Metallicity evolution of direct collapse black hole hosts: CR7 as a case study
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Marchetti L
(2015)
The HerMES submillimetre local and low-redshift luminosity functions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Williams W
(2016)
LOFAR 150-MHz observations of the Boötes field: catalogue and source counts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Christiansen J
(2020)
Jet feedback and the photon underproduction crisis in simba
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Glowacki M
(2020)
The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation in the simba simulation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bowler R
(2017)
Unveiling the nature of bright z ? 7 galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zurlo A
(2018)
Imaging radial velocity planets with SPHERE
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Ibar E
(2015)
A multiwavelength exploration of the [C ii]/IR ratio in H-ATLAS/GAMA galaxies out to z = 0.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Holland W
(2017)
SONS: The JCMT legacy survey of debris discs in the submillimetre
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
Merlin E
(2018)
Chasing passive galaxies in the early Universe: a critical analysis in CANDELS GOODS-South
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Saxena A
(2020)
The VANDELS survey: a strong correlation between Ly a equivalent width and stellar metallicity at 3 = z = 5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
McLeod D
(2016)
The z = 9-10 galaxy population in the Hubble Frontier Fields and CLASH surveys: the z = 9 luminosity function and further evidence for a smooth decline in ultraviolet luminosity density at z= 8
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mooney S
(2019)
Revisiting the Fanaroff-Riley dichotomy and radio-galaxy morphology with the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Meiksin A
(2017)
Gas around galaxy haloes - III: hydrogen absorption signatures around galaxies and QSOs in the Sherwood simulation suite
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lovell C
(2021)
Reproducing submillimetre galaxy number counts with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stott J
(2016)
The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): dynamical properties, gas and dark matter fractions of typical z ~ 1 star-forming galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Oh B
(2020)
Calibration of a star formation and feedback model for cosmological simulations with enzo
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society