Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2019-22
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Abstract
This consolidated grant application comprises a portfolio of related projects across the fields of astrophysics and instrumentation.
The astrophysics projects are in three strands: high energy astrophysics; galaxy formation & evolution; and cosmology. These each have a direct and influential connection with the space facilities by which each field is or will be transformed. This is the particular advantage held by the Group, providing a noteworthy dimension to the work we propose. However our programme is by no means limited by MSSL hardware exploitation or even the exploitation of missions flying our hardware. Rather, every route available is considered, including ground-based facilities, when gathering the data necessary to understand the science questions that we address and that have been identified by STFC as being important. The Consolidated Grant also sets the foundation for the expoitation of future missions including JWST, Euclid, PLATO, Athena, IXPE and potentially eXTP and STROBE-X, in which we have significant roles.
Our instrumentation research is focused on the development of a scanning infrared detector.
We present eight projects, aligned with these four fields of expertise. In order, these are three cases in high energy astrophysics/extreme gravity environments (Wu, Zane); two cases in galaxy formation and evolution (one by Kawata, Ferreras, Cropper and one by Page); two cases in cosmology (McEwen, Kitching); and a technical case for the development of a scanning infrared (Cropper), which is an investment in a critical space technology for the future.
The astrophysics projects are in three strands: high energy astrophysics; galaxy formation & evolution; and cosmology. These each have a direct and influential connection with the space facilities by which each field is or will be transformed. This is the particular advantage held by the Group, providing a noteworthy dimension to the work we propose. However our programme is by no means limited by MSSL hardware exploitation or even the exploitation of missions flying our hardware. Rather, every route available is considered, including ground-based facilities, when gathering the data necessary to understand the science questions that we address and that have been identified by STFC as being important. The Consolidated Grant also sets the foundation for the expoitation of future missions including JWST, Euclid, PLATO, Athena, IXPE and potentially eXTP and STROBE-X, in which we have significant roles.
Our instrumentation research is focused on the development of a scanning infrared detector.
We present eight projects, aligned with these four fields of expertise. In order, these are three cases in high energy astrophysics/extreme gravity environments (Wu, Zane); two cases in galaxy formation and evolution (one by Kawata, Ferreras, Cropper and one by Page); two cases in cosmology (McEwen, Kitching); and a technical case for the development of a scanning infrared (Cropper), which is an investment in a critical space technology for the future.
Planned Impact
Beneficiaries:
Members of the UK Science Community, particularly those in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, but also those in the statistical methods, numerical methods, imaging techniques and signal processing communities. Those engaged in space instrumentation development both within academia and industry, especially detector manufacturers Teledyne e2v.
Relevance, and how the benefit will accrue:
The broad relevance of the work in the proposed projects lies in the extension of knowledge and understanding of the Cosmos, which is evidently of almost universal interest. There are also specific relevances in infrared detectors (Project 8), with medium-term commercial opportunities. Space science is an inspirational subject and its promotion has real benefit to the UK economy through greater interest in STEM subjects and a generally greater understanding of science and technology amongst the public. Space projects stimulated by space science inquiry lead to direct industrial benefit, enhanced technology, influence and national kudos. MSSL-UCL, is, through its space instrumentation programme (not requested in this grant except for Project 8) and international links to aerospace companies and national agencies, especially engaged in knowledge transfer at all levels, and in a particularly advantaged position to promote these.
The outcomes from these proposed projects will be analyses and conclusions arising from the work in the projects, and will be published, with open access, in learned journals, and so accessible to all. The benefits will initially accrue to other scientists in the fields addressed in the projects, and then, made known to the wider public as and where possible. UCL has embraced the concept of Open Access.
Examples of specific activities designed to increase impact include:
1) the cooperative engagement of the biomedical and signal processing communities with the astronomical through the BASP meetings (see case) to share and enhance the capability for fundamental information theory approaches in the statistical treatment of surveys and imaging, given noise, biases and incomplete data. This has wide-reaching implications for treatment of extremely large datasets, with applicability in many disciplines, from the financial to engineering to medical and the public policy sphere.
2) through the Euclid work (Project 7) identifying with exquisite detail the extent to which large astronomic surveys can inform detector characteristics (systematic effects, radiation, noise behaviour) to be provided through the instrumentation team to CCD manufacturers Teledyne e2v;
4) the development of a high performance infrared detector that is suitable for scanning applications in collaboration with Teledyne e2V.
Members of the UK Science Community, particularly those in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, but also those in the statistical methods, numerical methods, imaging techniques and signal processing communities. Those engaged in space instrumentation development both within academia and industry, especially detector manufacturers Teledyne e2v.
Relevance, and how the benefit will accrue:
The broad relevance of the work in the proposed projects lies in the extension of knowledge and understanding of the Cosmos, which is evidently of almost universal interest. There are also specific relevances in infrared detectors (Project 8), with medium-term commercial opportunities. Space science is an inspirational subject and its promotion has real benefit to the UK economy through greater interest in STEM subjects and a generally greater understanding of science and technology amongst the public. Space projects stimulated by space science inquiry lead to direct industrial benefit, enhanced technology, influence and national kudos. MSSL-UCL, is, through its space instrumentation programme (not requested in this grant except for Project 8) and international links to aerospace companies and national agencies, especially engaged in knowledge transfer at all levels, and in a particularly advantaged position to promote these.
The outcomes from these proposed projects will be analyses and conclusions arising from the work in the projects, and will be published, with open access, in learned journals, and so accessible to all. The benefits will initially accrue to other scientists in the fields addressed in the projects, and then, made known to the wider public as and where possible. UCL has embraced the concept of Open Access.
Examples of specific activities designed to increase impact include:
1) the cooperative engagement of the biomedical and signal processing communities with the astronomical through the BASP meetings (see case) to share and enhance the capability for fundamental information theory approaches in the statistical treatment of surveys and imaging, given noise, biases and incomplete data. This has wide-reaching implications for treatment of extremely large datasets, with applicability in many disciplines, from the financial to engineering to medical and the public policy sphere.
2) through the Euclid work (Project 7) identifying with exquisite detail the extent to which large astronomic surveys can inform detector characteristics (systematic effects, radiation, noise behaviour) to be provided through the instrumentation team to CCD manufacturers Teledyne e2v;
4) the development of a high performance infrared detector that is suitable for scanning applications in collaboration with Teledyne e2V.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Collaboration)
- Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- University of Geneva (Collaboration)
- University of Grenoble (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- Space Telescope Science Institute (Collaboration)
Publications
De Leon J
(2021)
37 new validated planets in overlapping K2 campaigns
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huber D
(2022)
A 20 Second Cadence View of Solar-type Stars and Their Planets with TESS: Asteroseismology of Solar Analogs and a Recharacterization of p Men c
in The Astronomical Journal
Ho C
(2023)
A deep radius valley revealed by Kepler short cadence observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pires Adriana M.
(2019)
A deep XMM-Newton look on the thermally emitting isolated neutron star RX J1605.3+3249
in arXiv e-prints
Pires A
(2019)
A deep XMM-Newton look on the thermally emitting isolated neutron star RX J1605.3+3249
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
García-Bethencourt G
(2023)
A high fidelity Milky Way simulation with Kraken, Gaia-Enceladus, and Sequoia analogues: clues to their accretion histories
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huber D
(2019)
A Hot Saturn Orbiting an Oscillating Late Subgiant Discovered by TESS
in The Astronomical Journal
Yu B
(2020)
A hydrodynamical study of outflows in starburst galaxies with different driving mechanisms
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Serrano L
(2022)
A low-eccentricity migration pathway for a 13-h-period Earth analogue in a four-planet system
in Nature Astronomy
Munshi D.
(2021)
A New Estimator for Phase Statistics
in arXiv e-prints
Description | A White Paper on best practices for public engagement with UK space missions |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
Impact | These are early times on the path to make public engagement in UK space missions more widespread and effective. Most of the work in this area is on a voluntary, best effort basis by academic and research staff. The WP argues for a more systematic, organised and well funded support of public engagement activities. Small, individual grant applications for outreach are often the only means to realise activities. Direct interaction by academics, researchers, PhD students with school pupils and teachers, especially in disadvantaged parts of the country, is a very effective, successful and rewarding way to engage the young in space projects. |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | National Institute for Astrophysics |
Department | Bologna Observatory |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | Technion - Israel Institute of Technology |
Country | Israel |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | University of Geneva |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Multiwavelength observing campaigns of Seyfert galaxies, still active in 2022 |
Organisation | University of Grenoble |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of some of the data (OM, EPIC and RGS) returned by the XMM-Newton Observatory, dissemination of the results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of the rest of the multiwavelength datasets, dissemination of results by refereed journal papers and presentations. |
Impact | Refereed journal papers, and presentations. There is one discipline (astronomical observing) which is carried out in different wavebands (optical, UV, X-rays). |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Pacific Institute of Mathemactical Sciences Public Lecture (in Canada) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | It was a public lecture on imaging black holes on the event horizon scale, in the light of the first black hole image was obtained by the Event Horizon Telescope Team. It also discussed the future prospects of studying extreme gravity using non-photonic means. The lectures was life streamed. It was jointly sponsored by the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Science, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and University of Saskatchewan. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.pims.math.ca/scientific-event/190710-pplcrasckw |
Description | Press release on our discovery/evidence for the inertial mass of dark matter in the Galactic halo and the slowing bar of the Milky Way. The finding has been reported worldwide (up to Al Jazeera) and there were several interviews, e.g. for the New Scientist. I also provided another interview for the New Scientist + one interview for Physics daily on related questions. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Based on our papers on the slowing bar of the Milky Way and the resulting first evidence for dark matter inertial mass in the halo of the Milky Way, we handed the result to the UCL press office for a press release. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/jun/dark-matter-slowing-spin-milky-ways-galactic-bar This was followed by several interviews in various science journals and quite ample press coverage across the world (URL provided below). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.aljazeera.net/news/science/2021/6/21/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d9%8a%d... |
Description | Public presentations to schools, amateur astronomers, general public continuing to 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | MSSL staff engagement activities always produce demonstrations of great interest from the number of questions and comments received. A point to note is that these activities continued, albeit at a reduced level, during the pandemic, using online connections. And more requests of talks and visits to schools are now arising post-pandemic with face-to-face opportunities always well received. Repeated visits and requests for talks. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |
URL | http://mssl.ucl.ac.uk/SMILE/ |
Description | Public presentations, continuing to 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Generated many questions on the space research we carry out at MSSL and excited the imagination of the audience provoking interest in learning about the Universe. A point to note is that these activities continued, albeit at a reduced level, during the pandemic, using online connections. And MSSL Open Evenings for the public have now re-started with exceptional high number of applications to attend, and great enthusiasm for the topics presented. Repeat visits and presentations |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2022 |
URL | http://mssl.ucl.ac.uk/SMILE/ |
Description | SOC/chairing sessions at Royal Society Meeting of Minds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Scientific organising committee of Royal Society's Meeting of Minds a meeting connecting top-level researchers from all fields of science, selection of speakers, chaired several sessions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |