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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Traficante A (2020) Multiscale dynamics in star-forming regions: the interplay between gravity and turbulence in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Cheng T (2020) SCUBA-2 overdensities associated with candidate protoclusters selected from Planck data in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Bakx T (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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Phillipps S (2019) Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Timescales for galaxies crossing the green valley in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Greenslade J (2019) A SCUBA-2 selected Herschel-SPIRE dropout and the nature of this population in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2023) Non-Equilibrium Abundances Treated Holistically (NEATH): the molecular composition of star-forming clouds in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2020) Constraining early-time dust formation in core-collapse supernovae in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2022) The origin of a universal filament width in molecular clouds in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Glass D (2022) Cool interstellar medium as an evolutionary tracer in ALMA-observed local dusty early-type galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Bevan A (2019) A decade of ejecta dust formation in the Type IIn SN 2005ip in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Barna B (2021) SN 2019muj - a well-observed Type Iax supernova that bridges the luminosity gap of the class in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Eales S (2020) Do bulges stop stars forming? in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Yang C (2020) Erratum: The Herschel Bright Sources (HerBS): sample definition and SCUBA-2 observations in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2022) Properties of shocked dust grains in supernova remnants in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Jones G (2023) On the density regime probed by HCN emission in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Shirley R (2021) HELP: the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2019) Erratum: Modelling the ArH+ emission from the Crab Nebula in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Medler K (2022) SN 2020acat: an energetic fast rising Type IIb supernova in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Yang C (2019) The molecular gas properties in the gravitationally lensed merger HATLAS J142935.3-002836 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Whitworth A (2019) The dust in M31 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Priestley F (2023) Do simulated molecular clouds look like real ones? in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Niculescu-Duvaz M (2023) Quantifying the dust in SN 2012aw and iPTF14hls with ORBYTS in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Marsh K (2019) RCW 120: a possible case of hit and run, elucidated by multitemperature dust mapping in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Dunne L (2020) ALMA unveils wider environment of distant red protocluster core in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Chastenet J (2022) SOFIA/HAWC+ observations of the Crab Nebula: dust properties from polarized emission in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Rho J (2023) Far-infrared polarization of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A with SOFIA HAWC + in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Lamperti I (2019) JINGLE V: Dust properties of nearby galaxies derived from hierarchical Bayesian SED fitting in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Hogarth L (2023) Kinematics of molecular gas in star-forming galaxies with large-scale ionized outflows in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Sormani M (2020) Simulations of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone - II. Star formation in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Faustino Vieira H (2024) Molecular clouds in M51 from high-resolution extinction mapping in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Westbrook B (2019) Weak-lensing mass calibration of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect using APEX-SZ galaxy clusters in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Sansom A (2019) ALMA observations of massive molecular gas reservoirs in dusty early-type galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Urquhart J (2022) ATLASGAL - evolutionary trends in high-mass star formation in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Pettitt A (2019) Young stars as tracers of a barred-spiral Milky Way in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society