A Programme of Technology, Astrophysics and Cosmology in Cardiff 2019-22

Lead Research Organisation: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

We propose a programme of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Technology development for Astrophysics and Cosmology, to investigate star and planet formation in our own and other galaxies, how galaxies form and evolve and the signals from the very early Universe embedded in the polarisation properties of the Cosmic Microwave background. This programme will combine observational data from world-class ground and space-based observatories, as well as theoretical modelling and simulations of the processes that result in the Universe we observe around us. We will also continue to develop the world's most sensitive detectors for very long infrared wavelengths, along with associated optical components utilising 'metamaterials' the class of materials designed and manufactured by human beings to have the properties best suited to their task, rather than relying on naturally occurring minerals and plastics. Both of these areas of technology development potentially have wide applications outside of Astronomy, in areas such as security scanners and bio-medical imaging for example.

Planned Impact

The technology programme proposed here will have extensive impact outside of astronomy. Firstly in other academic subject areas such as Earth-observing where the technology is used to look downwards or sideways through the atmosphere rather than upwards, but also in bio-medical imaging, where the Far-infrared wavelength range has many spectral features, and is currently being used in collaboration with the School of Optometry in Cardiff to assess corneal damage, for example. Secondly we also plan to exploit the technology commercially, through the spinout company QMCI (www.terahertz.co.uk) which operates from within the School, with broad applications from fast plasma diagnostic systems in use in Fusion experiments, through laboratory spectroscopy across a wide range of chemistry and materials applications, and the new spinout Sequestym, for security cameras. We also plan a very strong Outreach programme across both the technology developments and the observational and theoretical astrophysics and cosmology programme, following on from the skills developed during the very successful Herschel/Planck outreach programme, with web-based and standard media information releases, but also tied in with Open days, school visits, and going out into schools and colleges to give presentations and host workshops

Publications

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Shimajiri Y (2020) The accretion history of high-mass stars: an ArTéMiS pilot study of infrared dark clouds in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Gupta N (2019) Fractional polarization of extragalactic sources in the 500 deg2 SPTpol survey in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Cheng T (2019) SCUBA-2 observations of candidate starbursting protoclusters selected by Planck and Herschel-SPIRE in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Peretto N (2023) Star cluster progenitors are dynamically decoupled from their parent molecular clouds in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Inserra C (2021) The first Hubble diagram and cosmological constraints using superluminous supernovae in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Bakx Tom J. L. C. (2020) A search for the lenses in the Herschel Bright Sources (HerBS) Sample in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2023) Line emission from filaments in molecular clouds in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Sarzi M (2019) WISDOM project - IV. A molecular gas dynamical measurement of the supermassive black hole mass in NGC 524 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2021) Revisiting the dust destruction efficiency of supernovae in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Eden D (2021) Characteristic scale of star formation - I. Clump formation efficiency on local scales in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Kirchschlager F (2019) Dust survival rates in clumps passing through the Cas A reverse shock - I. Results for a range of clump densities in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2020) Synthetic line and continuum observations of simulated turbulent clouds: the apparent widths of filaments in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Wünsch R (2021) Tree-based solvers for adaptive mesh refinement code flash - II: radiation transport module TreeRay in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Anderson M (2021) An ALMA study of hub-filament systems - I. On the clump mass concentration within the most massive cores in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Li X (2020) The MALATANG survey: dense gas and star formation from high-transition HCN and HCO+ maps of NGC 253 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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North E (2021) WISDOM project - VIII. Multiscale feedback cycles in the brightest cluster galaxy NGC 0708 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Schuller F (2021) The SEDIGISM survey: First Data Release and overview of the Galactic structure in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Choi W (2023) WISDOM Project - XV. Giant molecular clouds in the central region of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5806 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Perley D (2021) Real-time discovery of AT2020xnd: a fast, luminous ultraviolet transient with minimal radioactive ejecta in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Athikkat-Eknath G (2022) Investigating variations in the dust emissivity index in the Andromeda Galaxy in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Wells M (2022) ATLASGAL - star forming efficiencies and the Galactic star formation rate in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Urquhart J (2021) SEDIGISM-ATLASGAL: dense gas fraction and star formation efficiency across the Galactic disc in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Whitworth A (2021) Ionizing feedback from an O star formed in a filament in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Howard A (2019) L1495 revisited: a ppmap view of a star-forming filament in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Ruffa I (2019) The AGN fuelling/feedback cycle in nearby radio galaxies - II. Kinematics of the molecular gas in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Bonato M (2019) ALMA photometry of extragalactic radio sources in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Wesson R (2019) The dust content of the Crab Nebula in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Zabel N (2019) The ALMA Fornax Cluster Survey I: stirring and stripping of the molecular gas in cluster galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Zabel N (2021) AlFoCS  + F3D - II. Unexpectedly low gas-to-dust ratios in the Fornax galaxy cluster in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2023) NEATH - II. N2H+ as a tracer of imminent star formation in quiescent high-density gas in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Van der Werf P (2020) IRAM 30-m-EMIR redshift search of z = 3-4 lensed dusty starbursts selected from the HerBS sample in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Faustino Vieira H (2023) A high-resolution extinction mapping technique for face-on disc galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Dawson J (2019) Using machine learning to study the kinematics of cold gas in galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2020) Dust masses and grain size distributions of a sample of Galactic pulsar wind nebulae in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Whitworth A (2021) A systematic bias in fitting the surface-density profiles of interstellar filaments in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Clark P (2019) Tracing the formation of molecular clouds via [C ii], [C i], and CO emission in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Izquierdo A (2021) The Cloud Factory II: gravoturbulent kinematics of resolved molecular clouds in a galactic potential in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Duarte-Cabral A (2021) The SEDIGISM survey: molecular clouds in the inner Galaxy in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Tress R (2020) Simulations of the Milky Way's central molecular zone - I. Gas dynamics in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society