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 (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), 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 detailed 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 (and soon the James Webb Space Telescope), 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 detailed 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.
Organisations
Publications
Cui W
(2020)
Protoclusters at = 5.7: a view from the MultiDark galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cui W
(2018)
The Three Hundred project: a large catalogue of theoretically modelled galaxy clusters for cosmological and astrophysical applications
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cui W
(2022)
The Three Hundred project: The gizmo-simba run
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cui W
(2021)
The origin of galaxy colour bimodality in the scatter of the stellar-to-halo mass relation
in Nature Astronomy
Cullen F
(2018)
The VANDELS survey: dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies at z = 3-4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cullen F
(2021)
The NIRVANDELS Survey: a robust detection of a-enhancement in star-forming galaxies at z ? 3.4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cullen F
(2019)
The VANDELS survey: the stellar metallicities of star-forming galaxies at $\mathbf {2.5\,\, \lt\,\, z\,\, \lt\,\, 5.0}$
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Daisy Leung T
(2020)
Predictions of the L [C ii] -SFR and [Cii] Luminosity Function at the Epoch of Reionization
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dalessandro E
(2021)
First Phase Space Portrait of a Hierarchical Stellar Structure in the Milky Way
in The Astrophysical Journal
Damasso M
(2018)
Eyes on K2-3: A system of three likely sub-Neptunes characterized with HARPS-N and HARPS
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Davé R
(2020)
Galaxy cold gas contents in modern cosmological hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Davé R
(2019)
simba: Cosmological simulations with black hole growth and feedback
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Beurs Z
(2022)
Identifying Exoplanets with Deep Learning. IV. Removing Stellar Activity Signals from Radial Velocity Measurements Using Neural Networks
in The Astronomical Journal
De Blok W
(2018)
A High-resolution Mosaic of the Neutral Hydrogen in the M81 Triplet
in The Astrophysical Journal
De Gasperin F
(2019)
Systematic effects in LOFAR data: A unified calibration strategy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Gasperin F
(2021)
The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey I. Survey description and preliminary data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
De Gasperin F
(2021)
The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey I. survey description and preliminary data release
Defrère D
(2018)
Space-based infrared interferometry to study exoplanetary atmospheres
in Experimental Astronomy
DeRose J
(2022)
Dark Energy Survey Year 3 results: Cosmology from combined galaxy clustering and lensing validation on cosmological simulations
in Physical Review D
Desgrange C
(2022)
In-depth direct imaging and spectroscopic characterization of the young Solar System analog HD 95086
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Deshpande A
(2020)
Euclid : The reduced shear approximation and magnification bias for Stage IV cosmic shear experiments
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Desidera S
(2021)
The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE) I. Sample definition and target characterization
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dickey C
(2021)
IQ Collaboratory. II. The Quiescent Fraction of Isolated, Low-mass Galaxies across Simulations and Observations
in The Astrophysical Journal
DiTomasso V
(2023)
Independent Validation of the Temperate Super-Earth HD 79211 b using HARPS-N
in The Astronomical Journal
Doliva-Dolinsky A
(2022)
The PAndAS View of the Andromeda Satellite System. III. Dwarf Galaxy Detection Limits
in The Astrophysical Journal
Donaldson K
(2022)
Effects on the local dark matter distribution due to the large magellanic cloud
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Donevski D
(2020)
In pursuit of giants I. The evolution of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio in distant dusty galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Doughty C
(2018)
Aligned metal absorbers and the ultraviolet background at the end of reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doux C
(2021)
Dark energy survey internal consistency tests of the joint cosmological probes analysis with posterior predictive distributions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doux C
(2021)
Dark energy survey internal consistency tests of the joint cosmological probes analysis with posterior predictive distributions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doux C
(2021)
Consistency of cosmic shear analyses in harmonic and real space
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doux C
(2022)
Dark energy survey year 3 results: cosmological constraints from the analysis of cosmic shear in harmonic space
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Driver S
(2022)
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Data Release 4 and the z < 0.1 total and z < 0.08 morphological galaxy stellar mass functions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Driver S
(2022)
An empirical measurement of the halo mass function from the combination of GAMA DR4, SDSS DR12, and REFLEX II data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Drlica-Wagner A
(2018)
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: The Photometric Data Set for Cosmology
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Dubber S
(2022)
An optimized survey strategy for the ERIS/NIX imager: searching for young giant exoplanets and very low mass brown dwarfs using the K -peak custom photometric filter
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dubber S
(2021)
A novel survey for young substellar objects with the W -band filter III: Searching for very low-mass brown dwarfs in Serpens South and Serpens Core
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duivenvoorden S
(2018)
Red, redder, reddest: SCUBA-2 imaging of colour-selected Herschel sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dumusque X
(2021)
Three years of HARPS-N high-resolution spectroscopy and precise radial velocity data for the Sun
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Duncan K
(2018)
Photometric redshifts for the next generation of deep radio continuum surveys - I. Template fitting
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duncan K
(2021)
The LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1 IV. Photometric redshifts and stellar masses
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Duncan K
(2019)
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey IV. First Data Release: Photometric redshifts and rest-frame magnitudes
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dunne L
(2018)
The unusual ISM in blue and dusty gas-rich galaxies (BADGRS)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dupuy T
(2018)
The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. III. 2MASS J0249-0557 c: A Wide Planetary-mass Companion to a Low-mass Binary in the ß Pic Moving Group
in The Astronomical Journal
Dye S
(2018)
The UKIRT Hemisphere Survey: definition and J-band data release
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eales S
(2018)
The causes of the red sequence, the blue cloud, the green valley, and the green mountain
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eastwood D
(2018)
How black holes stop their host galaxy from growing without AGN feedback
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eckert K
(2020)
Noise from undetected sources in Dark Energy Survey images
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Elvin-Poole J
(2018)
Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Galaxy clustering for combined probes
in Physical Review D