Astronomy at Durham 2020-2023
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Astronomy can capture the public imagination to a greater extent than almost any other branch of science. It is accessible to anyone who gazes up into the night sky to look at the Moon, the planets, stars, and nearby galaxies. Our understanding of the universe has developed rapidly over the past several decades. On the basis of the standard cosmological model we live in a universe where at least two thirds of the mass energy is in the form of dark energy which causes the Universe to expand at an ever increasing rate. About a quarter of the mass energy is in the form of dark matter, most probably a new weakly interacting elementary particle yet to be detected on Earth (and hence of great interest to particle physicists). The remaining five percent of the mass energy is in the form of ordinary, or baryonic, matter of which only about a tenth is in stars and planets such as the Earth, and the rest resides mostly as gas in between galaxies.
Our programme combines cutting-edge theoretical and observational research with innovative instrumentation development to understand the universe in which we inhabit. We blend theoretical research on the earliest phases of the Universe with theoretical and observational projects to determine the formation and evolution of black holes, galaxies, and the larger-scale structures in which they reside. We confront the predictions from our models with our latest observational results, while actively exploiting innovative instrumentation developments pursued in Durham. We will explore astrophysical clues to the identity of the dark matter and the nature of the dark energy, focus on the evolution of galaxies back to the earliest times in the Universe and the influence on which the larger-scale environment has had on their properties. We will investigate the formation and evolution of black holes and their role in determining the structure and properties of galaxies and their larger scale structures, using the latest instruments on ground-based observatories and Earth-orbiting satellites.
Our programme combines cutting-edge theoretical and observational research with innovative instrumentation development to understand the universe in which we inhabit. We blend theoretical research on the earliest phases of the Universe with theoretical and observational projects to determine the formation and evolution of black holes, galaxies, and the larger-scale structures in which they reside. We confront the predictions from our models with our latest observational results, while actively exploiting innovative instrumentation developments pursued in Durham. We will explore astrophysical clues to the identity of the dark matter and the nature of the dark energy, focus on the evolution of galaxies back to the earliest times in the Universe and the influence on which the larger-scale environment has had on their properties. We will investigate the formation and evolution of black holes and their role in determining the structure and properties of galaxies and their larger scale structures, using the latest instruments on ground-based observatories and Earth-orbiting satellites.
Planned Impact
We have a strong track record of public engagement. What started out as a Physics-centric outreach initiative over a decade ago has become a University wide activity. It has led to the creation of the highly successful Celebrate Science festival in Durham, which attracts ~7,000 people each year. This year we are aiming to quantify the impact of our outreach by sending out carefully designed questionnaires to the local schools attending the Durham University Schools' Science Festival, which attracts over 850 pupils annually. This will allow us to develop our outreach activities into an impact case study for the upcoming REF exercise, combining the six Royal Society Summer Science exhibitions that we have been involved in between 2002-2016. We aim to submit a new proposal for Summer Science 2020 or 2021 to refresh our outreach materials. Building on the Cosmic Architecture and Cosmoscope installations we built for Durham's Lumiere festival in 2017, we plan to include one or more of these in the "greatest hits" version of Lumiere in 2019, the tenth anniversary of the first event, after which we will develop new exhibits for Lumiere 2021.
Our Knowledge Exchange (KE) programme builds upon the strong industry links within all three of the astronomy groups at Durham, and has been expanded in recent years with the establishment of the Durham Data Intensive Science CDT. We will continue to exploit the opportunities afforded by the CDT for placements and team projects with local SMEs and wider UK industries. We will also use these opportunities to build the visibility of our wider research knowledge and skills to industry.
We are expanding our capabilities in precision diamond machining via infrastructure investments from the University and elsewhere, and will seek to develop their economic impact via applications into the STFC FOF and IPS programmes. Our expertise in adaptive optics is recognised worldwide and we will continue develop its international impact with joint programmes in China, Turkey & Thailand. Our work on novel detectors (MKIDs) will naturally support wider European initiatives such as the ATTRACT project.
Finally, our broader research programme underpins the research and development of a cohort of postgraduate students at Durham, providing them with training in specific and transferable skills which is being accelerated by our CDTs. Former students have taken jobs in a range of industries from computer gaming to finance and genetics. Physics students at Durham benefit through their participation in our research work via their 4th year MPhys projects. Our technical training of these post/undergraduate students provides a pool of talented, skilled candidates to the UK economy which will continue throughout the period of our Consolidated Grant proposal. We will continue to add industrial partners to the CDT in Data Intensive Science to offer new placement opportunities for PhD students and for students on our new MSc course in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis.
Our Knowledge Exchange (KE) programme builds upon the strong industry links within all three of the astronomy groups at Durham, and has been expanded in recent years with the establishment of the Durham Data Intensive Science CDT. We will continue to exploit the opportunities afforded by the CDT for placements and team projects with local SMEs and wider UK industries. We will also use these opportunities to build the visibility of our wider research knowledge and skills to industry.
We are expanding our capabilities in precision diamond machining via infrastructure investments from the University and elsewhere, and will seek to develop their economic impact via applications into the STFC FOF and IPS programmes. Our expertise in adaptive optics is recognised worldwide and we will continue develop its international impact with joint programmes in China, Turkey & Thailand. Our work on novel detectors (MKIDs) will naturally support wider European initiatives such as the ATTRACT project.
Finally, our broader research programme underpins the research and development of a cohort of postgraduate students at Durham, providing them with training in specific and transferable skills which is being accelerated by our CDTs. Former students have taken jobs in a range of industries from computer gaming to finance and genetics. Physics students at Durham benefit through their participation in our research work via their 4th year MPhys projects. Our technical training of these post/undergraduate students provides a pool of talented, skilled candidates to the UK economy which will continue throughout the period of our Consolidated Grant proposal. We will continue to add industrial partners to the CDT in Data Intensive Science to offer new placement opportunities for PhD students and for students on our new MSc course in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis.
Publications
Basu S
(2020)
Mesoscale modelling of optical turbulence in the atmosphere: the need for ultrahigh vertical grid resolution
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Loni A
(2023)
NGC 1436: the making of a lenticular galaxy in the Fornax Cluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Roberts T
(2023)
Digging a little deeper: characterizing three new extreme ULX candidates
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mitchell M
(2021)
A general framework to test gravity using galaxy clusters - V. A self-consistent pipeline for unbiased constraints of f ( R ) gravity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huško F
(2023)
The buildup of galaxies and their spheroids: The contributions of mergers, disc instabilities, and star formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ruan C
(2024)
An emulator-based halo model in modified gravity - I. The halo concentration-mass relation and density profile
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith G
(2020)
The distribution of dark matter and gas spanning 6 Mpc around the post-merger galaxy cluster MS 0451-03
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kubota A
(2024)
Disc corona radii and QPO frequencies in black hole binaries: testing Lense- Thirring precession origin
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Borukhovetskaya A
(2022)
The tidal evolution of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal and its globular clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheng T
(2021)
Galaxy morphological classification catalogue of the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data with convolutional neural networks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mao T
(2021)
Baryon acoustic oscillations reconstruction using convolutional neural networks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jauzac M
(2020)
On building a cluster watchlist for identifying strongly lensed supernovae, gravitational waves and kilonovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Llinares C
(2020)
Non-linear phenomenology of disformally coupled quintessence
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Morris S
(2020)
Using realistic host galaxy metallicities to improve the GRB X-ray equivalent total hydrogen column density and constrain the intergalactic medium density
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wang K
(2024)
The individual abundance distributions of disc stars across birth radii in GALAH
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
He Q
(2022)
Galaxy-galaxy strong lens perturbations: line-of-sight haloes versus lens subhaloes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Santos-Santos I
(2021)
Magellanic satellites in ?CDM cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of the Local Group
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rose T
(2020)
A molecular absorption line survey towards the AGN of Hydra-A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheng T
(2022)
Harvesting the Ly a forest with convolutional neural networks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jarvis M
(2020)
K-CLASH: Strangulation and ram pressure stripping in galaxy cluster members at 0.3 < z < 0.6
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Forouhar Moreno V
(2022)
Baryon-driven decontraction in Milky Way-mass haloes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Richings A
(2021)
Unravelling the physics of multiphase AGN winds through emission line tracers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zarrouk P
(2021)
Baryon acoustic oscillations in the projected cross-correlation function between the eBOSS DR16 quasars and photometric galaxies from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Quera-Bofarull A
(2023)
qwind 3: UV line-driven accretion disc wind models for AGN feedback
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jiménez E
(2021)
The assembly bias of emission-line galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McAlpine S
(2020)
Galaxy mergers in eagle do not induce a significant amount of black hole growth yet do increase the rate of luminous AGN
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ansarinejad B
(2020)
Cross-correlating Planck with VST ATLAS LRGs: a new test for the ISW effect in the Southern hemisphere
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Katsianis A
(2020)
The high-redshift SFR-M* relation is sensitive to the employed star formation rate and stellar mass indicators: towards addressing the tension between observations and simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Flower D
(2021)
Collisional cooling of primordial and interstellar media by H2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Grand R
(2020)
The biggest splash
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Reeves A
(2023)
Constraining quenching time-scales in galaxy clusters by forward-modelling stellar ages and quiescent fractions in projected phase space
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cochrane R
(2021)
Resolving a dusty, star-forming SHiZELS galaxy at z = 2.2 with HST , ALMA, and SINFONI on kiloparsec scales
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Benitez-Llambay A
(2020)
The detailed structure and the onset of galaxy formation in low-mass gaseous dark matter haloes
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wilson R
(2020)
Limitations imposed by optical turbulence profile structure and evolution on tomographic reconstruction for the ELT
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fattahi A
(2020)
A tale of two populations: surviving and destroyed dwarf galaxies and the build-up of the Milky Way's stellar halo
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Evans T
(2022)
Observing EAGLE galaxies with JWST : predictions for Milky Way progenitors and their building blocks
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Girdhar A
(2022)
Quasar feedback survey: multiphase outflows, turbulence, and evidence for feedback caused by low power radio jets inclined into the galaxy disc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Li B
(2020)
Measuring the baryon acoustic oscillation peak position with different galaxy selections
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mizumoto M
(2021)
UV line-driven disc wind as the origin of UltraFast Outflows in AGN
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Huško F
(2022)
Statistics of galaxy mergers: bridging the gap between theory and observation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gonzalez A
(2021)
Discovery of a possible splashback feature in the intracluster light of MACS J1149.5+2223
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Annuar A
(2020)
NuSTAR observations of four nearby X-ray faint AGNs: low luminosity or heavy obscuration?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barrera-Hinojosa C
(2021)
Vector modes in ?CDM: the gravitomagnetic potential in dark matter haloes from relativistic N -body simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zhao X
(2021)
The NuSTAR extragalactic survey of the James Webb Space Telescope North Ecliptic Pole time-domain field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tiley A
(2021)
The KMOS galaxy evolution survey (KGES): the angular momentum of star-forming galaxies over the last ˜10 Gyr
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Poci A
(2022)
The Fornax3D project: intrinsic correlations between orbital properties and the stellar initial mass function
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dutta R
(2020)
ALMACAL VII: first interferometric number counts at 650 µm
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Elbers W
(2023)
Persistent topology of the reionization bubble network - II. Evolution and classification
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bollimpalli D
(2020)
Looking for the underlying cause of black hole X-ray variability in GRMHD simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Reiter M
(2020)
Illuminating a tadpole's metamorphosis II: observing the ongoing transformation with ALMA
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | Data Intensive Science Translation Fellow |
Amount | £276,889 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/R005516/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2018 |
End | 06/2021 |
Description | Dirac-3 Operations 2019-2022- Durham |
Amount | £2,232,863 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/S003908/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2019 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | Dirac-3 Operations 2019-2022- Durham |
Amount | £1,748,945 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/V002376/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2019 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | Durham Astronomy Consolidated Grant 2017-2020 |
Amount | £5,911,198 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/P000541/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2017 |
End | 03/2021 |
Description | STFC Durham Physics 2017 DTP |
Amount | £735,070 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/R504725/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Using Cosmic Beasts to Uncover the Nature of Dark Matter |
Amount | £743,842 (GBP) |
Funding ID | MR/S017216/1 |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 04/2023 |
Description | Your Place in the Universe |
Amount | £14,484 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/T00567X/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2020 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Zooming in on feedback in active galaxies: the first high-resolution radio survey |
Amount | £992,150 (GBP) |
Funding ID | MR/T042842/1 |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2020 |
End | 09/2024 |
Description | LOFAR radio telescope |
Organisation | LOFAR |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Development of the processing and reduction of international long-baseline array data |
Collaborator Contribution | Priority access to the LOFAR radio data |
Impact | Publications on the long-baseline LOFAR results will be coming out very soon |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | SKA radio telescope |
Organisation | SKA Square Kilometre Array |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Scientific and technical development through membership of the SKA science committee and member of very long baseline interferometry and extragalactic continuum working groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific planning and development. |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Astronomical society talks (~5/year) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Giving presentations on specialist topics to astronomical societies: typically about 5/year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |
Description | Celebrate Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Celebrate Science is an annual Durham University science festival. It runs for approximately 3 days and attracts about 7000 visitors, many of them school children and their parents: it is scheduled for a half-term week. Each year ~30 members of the astronomy group participate to the Celebrate Science festival. They engage with visitors through exhibits including many created in the astronomy group such as our "Galaxy Maker" and "Gravitational Lens" simulators. Unfortunately, Celebrate Science was cancelled in 2020 due to the covid pandemic and was on line in 2021. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2022 |
URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/celebrate.science/ |
Description | General public talks including Pint of Science |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presenting and discussing ideas in astronomy and cosmology to the general public including the popular "Pint of Science" series of talks organised in a local pubs. Typically about 10 talks/year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |
Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Summer Science Exhibition is run by the Royal Society and is held in London. Over 14,000 members of the public including 2000 school children visit the Summer Science Exhibition each year. Many more are engaged through media coverage on TV and online. Exhibiting at the Royal Society not only engages the school children and the general public in STEM subjects, it also has the potential to influence policy makers and to engage potential funders. We estimate we had direct contact with over 3000 visitors for our astronomy and cosmology exhibits. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2022 |
Description | School visits to enthuse students about STEM subjects (~10/year) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School visits to discuss astronomy to enthuse them in STEM-related subjects. Typically ~10 visits per year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |