Research in astrophysics and cosmology at the University of Bristol
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This proposal is for a grant to researchers in the HH Wills Physics Laboratory of the University of Bristol to investigate important questions in astrophysics and cosmology.
Much cosmology over the past few years has been based on investigations of clusters of galaxies, and the first project is to ensure the usefulness of clusters by making reliable measurements of their masses. This involves statistically rigorous investigations using several methods on samples of clusters derived from X-ray surveys. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we also have to take into account how clusters change in time. The X-rays come from hot gas atmospheres held by the clusters - though low in density these atmospheres account for much of the mass of normal matter, and have other detectable effects, for example on the microwave background radiation. Cross-checks with non-X-ray techniques of mass measurement will ensure the reliability of our results.
On a smaller scale, we know that individual galaxies also change in time, but there is currently little understanding of how these changes depend on galaxy mass and environment: galaxies of different masses change at different rates, for example. How these processes act with and against one another to build the population of galaxies that we see today is unclear, but the multi-band optical data that we have accumulated allows tests of how galaxies change, and how star formation is fuelled, in the low-redshift Universe. At higher redshift we will look for proto-clusters, which contain the fastest-evolving galaxies, to understand how galaxies evolve during the early growth of the first massive structures.
Essentially all massive galaxies contain massive black holes at, or near, their centres, and a third project will investigate how such black holes are able to create intense central radiation sources, and will use the changing brightness and spectrum of X-rays from the inner parts of these systems to study black hole physics and the gas held close to the black hole.
A fourth project looks at how the tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near the central black holes, can affect gas on the large scale - by stopping catastrophic cooling of the atmospheres of clusters of galaxies, and by gradually making cluster atmospheres more magnetic over cosmic time. It is widely believed that a feedback process, in which gas in clusters is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Our calculations have identified the population of sources responsible for this heating, and now want to understand how the process works for these objects.
The fifth project involves the maintenance and improvement of codes used to work with catalogues of astronomical objects. These codes are essential when dealing with modern astronomical data, and are used world-wide, so are of great importance to many astronomers, but require development to deal with the increasing size and complexity of astronomical data. Some of the codes have even found their way into public products like the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope, and others are finding creative uses beyond astronomy.
The final project is theoretical, and investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can also destroy one another. Some of the dusty disks we see around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. The purpose of the high-performance computer calculations to be done in this project is to interpret the extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they are changing because of giant impacts between young planets. The results from the calculations will be compared with continuing observations of changing disk emission.
Much cosmology over the past few years has been based on investigations of clusters of galaxies, and the first project is to ensure the usefulness of clusters by making reliable measurements of their masses. This involves statistically rigorous investigations using several methods on samples of clusters derived from X-ray surveys. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we also have to take into account how clusters change in time. The X-rays come from hot gas atmospheres held by the clusters - though low in density these atmospheres account for much of the mass of normal matter, and have other detectable effects, for example on the microwave background radiation. Cross-checks with non-X-ray techniques of mass measurement will ensure the reliability of our results.
On a smaller scale, we know that individual galaxies also change in time, but there is currently little understanding of how these changes depend on galaxy mass and environment: galaxies of different masses change at different rates, for example. How these processes act with and against one another to build the population of galaxies that we see today is unclear, but the multi-band optical data that we have accumulated allows tests of how galaxies change, and how star formation is fuelled, in the low-redshift Universe. At higher redshift we will look for proto-clusters, which contain the fastest-evolving galaxies, to understand how galaxies evolve during the early growth of the first massive structures.
Essentially all massive galaxies contain massive black holes at, or near, their centres, and a third project will investigate how such black holes are able to create intense central radiation sources, and will use the changing brightness and spectrum of X-rays from the inner parts of these systems to study black hole physics and the gas held close to the black hole.
A fourth project looks at how the tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near the central black holes, can affect gas on the large scale - by stopping catastrophic cooling of the atmospheres of clusters of galaxies, and by gradually making cluster atmospheres more magnetic over cosmic time. It is widely believed that a feedback process, in which gas in clusters is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Our calculations have identified the population of sources responsible for this heating, and now want to understand how the process works for these objects.
The fifth project involves the maintenance and improvement of codes used to work with catalogues of astronomical objects. These codes are essential when dealing with modern astronomical data, and are used world-wide, so are of great importance to many astronomers, but require development to deal with the increasing size and complexity of astronomical data. Some of the codes have even found their way into public products like the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope, and others are finding creative uses beyond astronomy.
The final project is theoretical, and investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can also destroy one another. Some of the dusty disks we see around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. The purpose of the high-performance computer calculations to be done in this project is to interpret the extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they are changing because of giant impacts between young planets. The results from the calculations will be compared with continuing observations of changing disk emission.
Planned Impact
Direct beneficiaries from the research will be our academic colleagues and interested members of the public, who will be exposed to the research results through our lectures, talks in schools, podcasts, press releases, WWW pages, appearances on radio and TV, and exhibits in and around Bristol. More indirectly, the public may be affected by advice given to local MPs or City Councillors (such as Mark Wright, who did a PhD in the Astrophysics Group a few years ago).
Commercial benefits have already been had from the TOPCAT work (projects with Microsoft Research). Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for the radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies (Section 5) has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit. This led recently to the company being awarded two major contracts, ensuring a flow of income for the next five to ten years, and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms.
More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems. We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging (as in recent imaging of moving DNA molecules), and are exploring the application of our techniques to medical imaging through the Clinical Research and Imaging Centre of the University.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into non-academic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
Commercial benefits have already been had from the TOPCAT work (projects with Microsoft Research). Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for the radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies (Section 5) has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit. This led recently to the company being awarded two major contracts, ensuring a flow of income for the next five to ten years, and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms.
More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems. We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging (as in recent imaging of moving DNA molecules), and are exploring the application of our techniques to medical imaging through the Clinical Research and Imaging Centre of the University.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into non-academic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
Organisations
- University of Bristol (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics (Collaboration)
- ESA - ESTEC (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- University of Turin (Collaboration)
- University of Toulouse (Collaboration)
- Sorbonne Universités (Collaboration)
- Western Washington University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (Collaboration)
- University of Arizona (Project Partner)
- Science Centre for Education Bangkok (Project Partner)
Publications
Wong I
(2020)
Optical to Near-infrared Transmission Spectrum of the Warm Sub-Saturn HAT-P-12b
in The Astronomical Journal
Mahajan S
(2020)
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): properties and evolution of red spiral galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Musoke G
(2020)
Numerical simulations of colliding jets in an external wind: application to 3C 75
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Liu W
(2020)
AGN feedback in the FR II galaxy 3C 220.1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collaboration T
(2020)
The Cluster HEritage project with XMM-Newton: Mass Assembly and Thermodynamics at the Endpoint of structure formation. I. Programme overview
in arXiv e-prints
Worrall D
(2020)
The intermediate-power population of radio galaxies: morphologies and interactions
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Sereno M
(2020)
XXL Survey groups and clusters in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey. Scaling relations between X-ray properties and weak lensing mass
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Denman T
(2020)
Atmosphere loss in planet-planet collisions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Taylor Mark
(2020)
TOPCAT Visualisation over the Web
in arXiv e-prints
Slaus B.
(2020)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: The XXL Survey. XLI. GMRT XXL-N 610MHz (Slaus+, 2020)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Michalowski M. J.
(2020)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: JCMT/SCUBA2 objects in COSMOS and UDS fields (Michalowski+ 2017)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Pan ? H
(2020)
SDSS-IV MaNGA: The Nature of an Off-galaxy H a Blob-A Multiwavelength View of Offset Cooling in a Merging Galaxy Group
in The Astrophysical Journal
Taylor E
(2020)
GAMA + KiDS: empirical correlations between halo mass and other galaxy properties near the knee of the stellar-to-halo mass relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lutz Katharina A.
(2020)
Spreading the word -- current status of VO tutorials and schools
in arXiv e-prints
Wakeford H. R.
(2020)
The Exoplanet Perspective on Future Ice Giant Exploration
in arXiv e-prints
Kataria Tiffany
(2020)
Constructing the First Spectroscopic, Multi-Dimensional Map of a Hot Jupiter
in HST Proposal
Šlaus B
(2020)
The XXL Survey XLI. Radio AGN luminosity functions based on the GMRT 610 MHz continuum observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alston William N.
(2020)
A dynamic black hole corona in an active galaxy through X-ray reverberation mapping
in Nature Astronomy
Yao H
(2020)
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): A WISE Study of the Activity of Emission-line Systems in G23
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chachan Y
(2020)
A Featureless Infrared Transmission Spectrum for the Super-puff Planet Kepler-79d
in The Astronomical Journal
Azadi Mojegan
(2020)
Disentangling the AGN and star-formation contributions to the radio-X-ray emission of radio-loud quasars at $1<z<2$
in arXiv e-prints
Hill Matthew J.
(2020)
The Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit
in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXVII
Laginja I
(2020)
ExoTiC-ISM: A Python package for marginalised exoplanet transit parameters across a grid of systematic instrument models
in Journal of Open Source Software
Willis J
(2021)
Understanding X-ray and optical selection of galaxy clusters: a comparison of the XXL and CAMIRA cluster catalogues obtained in the common XXL-HSC SSP area
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chainakun P
(2021)
Evolution of the truncated disc and inner hot-flow of GX 339-4
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Stanford S
(2021)
Euclid Preparation. XIV. The Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation (C3R2) Survey: Data Release 3
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Alam M
(2021)
Evidence of a Clear Atmosphere for WASP-62b: The Only Known Transiting Gas Giant in the JWST Continuous Viewing Zone
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lothringer Joshua D.
(2021)
Formation and impact of silicate clouds on L dwarfs
in JWST Proposal. Cycle 1
Rymer A
(2021)
Neptune and Triton: A Flagship for Everyone
in Bulletin of the AAS
Bourrier V.
(2021)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Synthetic XUV spectra of GJ 3470 (Bourrier+, 2021)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Ben-Jaffel L
(2021)
Signatures of strong magnetization and a metal-poor atmosphere for a Neptune-sized exoplanet
in Nature Astronomy
Taylor Mark
(2021)
Taplint, the TAP Service Validator
in arXiv e-prints
Banks K
(2021)
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The Merging Potential of Brightest Group Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bellstedt Sabine
(2021)
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The inferred mass--metallicity relation from z=0 to 3.5 via forensic SED fitting
in arXiv e-prints
Watt L
(2021)
Planetary embryo collisions and the wiggly nature of extreme debris discs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chainakun P
(2021)
Machine learning application to detect light echoes around black holes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Spake J
(2021)
Abundance measurements of H2O and carbon-bearing species in the atmosphere of WASP-127b confirm its supersolar metallicity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collaboration E
(2021)
Euclid preparation: XI. Mean redshift determination from galaxy redshift probabilities for cosmic shear tomography
in arXiv e-prints
Umetsu K.
(2021)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Concentration-mass relation for XXL clusters (Umetsu+, 2020)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Davies L
(2021)
Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): consistent multiwavelength photometry for the DEVILS regions (COSMOS, XMMLSS, and ECDFS)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sabin L
(2021)
First deep images catalogue of extended IPHAS PNe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rustamkulov Zafar
(2021)
Cloudy mornings and clear afternoons: mapping atmospheric dynamics at the limbs of an exceptional hot Saturn
in HST Proposal
Snios B
(2021)
Discovery of Candidate X-Ray Jets in High-redshift Quasars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wakeford Hannah
(2021)
Good vibrations: Directly measuring Exoplanet aerosol compositions with MIRI spectroscopy
in JWST Proposal. Cycle 1
Scaramella R.
(2021)
Euclid preparation: I. The Euclid Wide Survey
in arXiv e-prints
Sing David K.
(2021)
Sculpting Hubble's Exoplanet Legacy: A Comprehensive Uniform Dataset of Exoplanet Transmission Spectra
in HST Proposal
Thorne J
(2021)
Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): SED fitting in the D10-COSMOS field and the evolution of the stellar mass function and SFR- M ? relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dunlop James S.
(2021)
PRIMER: Public Release IMaging for Extragalactic Research
in JWST Proposal. Cycle 1
Erard S.
(2021)
Planetary Data in the Virtual Observatory: VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access)
in 5th Planetary Data Workshop & Planetary Science Informatics & Analytics
Okabe N
(2021)
Active gas features in three HSC-SSP CAMIRA clusters revealed by high angular resolution analysis of MUSTANG-2 SZE and XXL X-ray observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | Some effects quantifying and explaining the differences in mass measurements of clusters of galaxies, made using different methods, have been reported. These have the potential to resolve some of the inconsistencies in cluster mass data. Issues arising in the understanding of relativistic flows from supermassive black holes in active galaxies have been exposed via a comparison of radio, infra-red, and X-ray data. A number of atmospheres of planets around distant stars have been studied, with implications for how the atmospheres behave. Extensive preparations for the upcoming launch of the Euclid satellite, in terms of preparing for science analysis of the data, have been published. |
Exploitation Route | All the results are available for use for research and education. Some of the software tools have other implications. Several members of the Group, supported by this grant, have been advising STFC, UKRI, ESA, and the Research Councils of Norway on science policy. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Results from the award have been used in outreach events and for preparing podcasts. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Description | Research in Astrophysics at The University of Bristol |
Amount | £1,174,289 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/V000454/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2021 |
End | 03/2024 |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | TOPCAT is the most-used astronomical catalogue handling tool. It is extensively used to handle Gaia data and to create exploration plots of stellar populations, as well as in many other astronomical applications. It is also used for education in astronomical methods in the UK, Africa, and elsewhere. The underlying libraries are also used extensively for software developments. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Extensively used world-wide. |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ |
Title | STILTS |
Description | Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library Tool Set: software for handling tabular data in many formats, including methods compliant with Virtual Observatory protocols. |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Used in many astronomical databases; potential uses for other complicated databases. |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | Tool for operations on catalogues and tables: general catalogue comparison/selection tool, much used by astronomers world-wide. |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Extensible to many table-based datasets where matching of entries is required. Has been used on experimental basis for medical work, for example. |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | Harvard University |
Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | University of Turin |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | Western Washington University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | DARA |
Organisation | University of Leeds |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Birkinshaw was the Unit 1 leader (Zambia) for DARA courses from 2019 onwards, with the 2021 instruction being given entirely online. |
Collaborator Contribution | U. Leeds was the primary grant-holder for the series of awards maintaining this activity. Many national and international universities were and are involved. |
Impact | Many African students introduced to radio astronomy techniques, leading a number on to advanced education in astronomy and roles in the SKA and other major projects. Some spinoff companies (e.g., iDAM, in Ghana, from Bristol students) created by students from the DARA programme. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | GAIA team |
Organisation | ESA - ESTEC |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Taylor has written much of the database access code for end-users, including major graphical display improvements. |
Collaborator Contribution | ESA satellite project to map star positions in the Galaxy: highly successful at generating vast database, requiring our database access methodology |
Impact | Extensive database for studies of structure of Galaxy. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | SKA Magnetism SWG |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working with the team on issues to do with source populations, calibration across wide fields, radio galaxies |
Collaborator Contribution | Studies on wide-field polarisation imaging - paper submitted (Eyles et al.), and Big Data CDT student (Allotey) working on issues. |
Impact | Publications submitted and in preparation. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Harvard University |
Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute For Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | National Institute for Astrophysics |
Department | Bologna Observatory |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | National Institute for Nuclear Physics |
Department | National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Milano |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Department | Service d'Astrophysique |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Sorbonne Universités |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | University of Toulouse |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications will be forthcoming |
Start Year | 2018 |
Title | TOPCAT and related software |
Description | TOPCAT and related libraries provide means of accessing, displaying, and comparing catalogue data from remote or local databases. The software is the predominant astronomical catalogue manipulation package. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used for Gaia and many other projects. New versions are frequently released. The most recent public release of TOPCAT is version 4.6-2, released 2 November 2018. |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ |
Description | Radio interviews |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Variety of radio interviews: BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Bristol, Local radio |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |