Astrophysics and Cosmology Research within the JBCA 2017-2020
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This grant supports the research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Our research is a divided into 3 groups. There are too many specific proposals to describe in detail, do below we have given a brief layman's explanation of the work being carried out by the three groups.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are change with time: things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are non-standard star time, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are change with time: things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are non-standard star time, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Planned Impact
The range of research we undertake and the world-class facilities within and in close association with JBCA (the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, e-MERLIN, the Lovell Telescope, the ALMA ARC and the SKA HQ) will provide key pathways to increasing our already strong impact on UK and global industry, the next generation of scientists and engineers, and the general public. The University's investment in the Jodrell Bank site combined with significant external funding (e.g. from Heritage Lottery Fund) will enable us to expand its use as an iconic venue for public and industrial engagement. The programme described here formed a key part of the School's submission for REF2014, helping it to be ranked highest in the REF for physics impact with 83% at 4* and 17% at 3*. Our outreach \& public engagement programme is extremely strong and continues to grow, particularly through its work with the University's award-winning Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the BBC. With the recent decision on SKA HQ location and our strong research work in this area, there is also growing impact in both outreach and industrial engagement in this area.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 230000 Twitter followers
- Stargazing live
- JB Discovery centre with 150000 visitors per year
- Award winning "Live from Jodrell Bank" rock concerts
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 230000 Twitter followers
- Stargazing live
- JB Discovery centre with 150000 visitors per year
- Award winning "Live from Jodrell Bank" rock concerts
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Organisations
Publications
Issaoun S
(2017)
VLBA imaging of the 3 mm SiO maser emission in the disk-wind from the massive protostellar system Orion Source I
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Williams D
(2017)
Radio jets in NGC 4151: where eMERLIN meets HST
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tafoya D
(2017)
(sub)Millimeter Emission Lines of Molecules in Born-again Stars?.
in Astronomy and astrophysics
Tauris T
(2017)
Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems
in The Astrophysical Journal
Guidetti D
(2017)
The eMERGE Survey - I: Very Large Array 5.5 GHz observations of the GOODS-North Field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Battye R
(2017)
Cosmological perturbation theory in generalized Einstein-Aether models
in Physical Review D
Andreoni I
(2017)
Follow Up of GW170817 and Its Electromagnetic Counterpart by Australian-Led Observing Programmes
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Pleunis Z
(2017)
A Millisecond Pulsar Discovery in a Survey of Unidentified Fermi ? -Ray Sources with LOFAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Etoka S
(2017)
Recurring OH Flares towards o Ceti: I. location and structure of the 1990s' and 2010s' events
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sathyanarayana Rao M
(2017)
Modeling the Radio Foreground for Detection of CMB Spectral Distortions from the Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization
in The Astrophysical Journal
LIGO Scientific Collaboration And The Virgo Collaboration
(2017)
A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant.
in Nature
Green J
(2017)
The 6-GHz multibeam maser survey - II. Statistical analysis and Galactic distribution of 6668-MHz methanol masers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Li H
(2017)
SDSS-IV MaNGA: Variation of the Stellar Initial Mass Function in Spiral and Early-type Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cognard I
(2017)
A Massive-born Neutron Star with a Massive White Dwarf Companion
in The Astrophysical Journal
Petroff E
(2017)
A polarized fast radio burst at low Galactic latitude
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Traficante A
(2017)
Massive 70 µm quiet clumps I: evidence of embedded low/intermediate-mass star formation activity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Csengeri T
(2017)
ALMA survey of massive cluster progenitors from ATLASGAL Limited fragmentation at the early evolutionary stage of massive clumps?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hill A
(2017)
The Fan Region at 1.5 GHz - I. Polarized synchrotron emission extending beyond the Perseus Arm
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Humphreys E
(2017)
Simultaneous 183 GHz H 2 O maser and SiO observations towards evolved stars using APEX SEPIA Band 5
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Berezina M
(2017)
The discovery of two mildly recycled binary pulsars in the Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Herpin F
(2017)
First detection of a THz water maser in NGC 7538-IRS1 with SOFIA and new 22 GHz e-MERLIN maps
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Graikou E
(2017)
Limits on the mass, velocity and orbit of PSR J1933-6211
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wallis C
(2017)
Optimal scan strategies for future CMB satellite experiments
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Edris K
(2017)
OH masers towards IRAS 19092+0841
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dehant V
(2017)
Editorial to the Topical Collection on High Performance Clocks with Special Emphasis on Geodesy and Geophysics and Applications to Other Bodies of the Solar System
in Space Science Reviews
Pace F
(2017)
Effects of tidal gravitational fields in clustering dark energy models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Healy F
(2017)
Multi-epoch radio imaging of ?-ray Nova V959 Mon
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ward-Thompson D
(2017)
First Results from BISTRO: A SCUBA-2 Polarimeter Survey of the Gould Belt
in The Astrophysical Journal
Plotkin R
(2017)
Up and Down the Black Hole Radio/X-Ray Correlation: The 2017 Mini-outbursts from Swift J1753.5-0127
in The Astrophysical Journal
Eden D
(2017)
The JCMT Plane Survey: first complete data release - emission maps and compact source catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Penny M
(2017)
Predictions for the Detection and Characterization of a Population of Free-floating Planets with K2 Campaign 9
in The Astronomical Journal
Espinoza C
(2017)
New long-term braking index measurements for glitching pulsars using a glitch-template method
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smits R
(2017)
The beamformer and correlator for the Large European Array for Pulsars
in Astronomy and Computing
Thomas D
(2017)
Estimating the weak-lensing rotation signal in radio cosmic shear surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McKinney J
(2017)
Double Compton and Cyclo-Synchrotron in Super-Eddington Discs, Magnetized Coronae, and Jets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abbott B
(2017)
Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger *
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Freire P
(2017)
Long-term observations of the pulsars in 47 Tucanae - II. Proper motions, accelerations and jerks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Harper G
(2017)
An Updated 2017 Astrometric Solution for Betelgeuse
in The Astronomical Journal
Shahbaz T
(2017)
Properties of the redback millisecond pulsar binary 3FGL J0212.1+5320
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Morosan D
(2017)
The association of a J -burst with a solar jet
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cesaroni R
(2017)
Chasing discs around O-type (proto)stars: Evidence from ALMA observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
McDonald I
(2017)
Fundamental parameters and infrared excesses of Tycho-Gaia stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bahé Y
(2017)
The Hydrangea simulations: galaxy formation in and around massive clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dexter J
(2017)
Locating the intense interstellar scattering towards the inner Galaxy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cyganowski C
(2017)
Simultaneous low- and high-mass star formation in a massive protocluster: ALMA observations of G11.92-0.61?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bendo G
(2017)
Tests of star formation metrics in the low-metallicity galaxy NGC 5253 using ALMA observations of H30a line emission
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chluba J
(2017)
Evolution of CMB spectral distortion anisotropies and tests of primordial non-Gaussianity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pace F
(2017)
On the implementation of the spherical collapse model for dark energy models
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Hartley P
(2017)
Support vector machine classification of strong gravitational lenses
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Baudry A
(2017)
Vibrationally excited water emission at 658 GHz from evolved stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Description | The consolidated grant supported a wide range of activities in astrophysics and cosmology at the JBCA. This was based around three areas: cosmology - the study of the Universe as a single entity, pulsars - spinning neutron stars which emit pulse of radio waves at regular intervals, astrophysical processes - the study of galaxy and star formation in the universe. Progress was made in all these areas. |
Exploitation Route | The wide range of work produce by the grant has been published in journals. These papers have received significant citations indicating that all the areas have had an impact within the academic research community. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Other |
Description | The research has been used extensively in the outreach program of the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, which attracts 160,000 visitors per annum and focusses on hard-to-reach audiences. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |