Astrophysics and Cosmology Research at the JBCA 2020-2023
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This grant supports the research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Our research is a divided into 3 groups. There are too many specific proposals to describe in detail, do below we have given a brief layman's explanation of the work being carried out by the three groups.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time- things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are a non-standard star type, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible.
Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time- things which come on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are a non-standard star type, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing.
Planned Impact
The range of research we undertake and the world-class facilities within and in close association with JBCA (the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, e-MERLIN, the Lovell Telescope, the ALMA ARC and the SKA HQ) will provide key pathways to increasing our already strong impact on UK and global industry, the next generation of scientists and engineers, and the general public. The University's investment in the Jodrell Bank site combined with significant external funding (e.g. from Heritage Lottery Fund) will enable us to expand its use as an iconic venue for public and industrial engagement. The programme described here formed a key part of the School's submission for REF2014, helping it to be ranked highest in the REF for physics impact with 83% at 4* and 17% at 3*. Our outreach \& public engagement programme is extremely strong and continues to grow, particularly through its work with the University's award-winning Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the BBC. With the recent decision on SKA HQ location and our strong research work in this area, there is also growing impact in both outreach and industrial engagement in this area.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 215000 Twitter and 18000 Facebook followers
- Stargazing live, Pulsar Hunters, Science Programmes presented by Danielle George
- JB Discovery centre with 190000 visitors per year
- Award winning Bluedot Festivals
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, AEON, Critical Software, MMI, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Our "Pathways to Impact" statement in the case for support outlines things that we have done in recent times under the headings of "Outreach and Public Engagement" and "Industrial and economic impact". We list some highlights below.
- Jodcast: Podcast run by students with 7000 regular listeners.
- 215000 Twitter and 18000 Facebook followers
- Stargazing live, Pulsar Hunters, Science Programmes presented by Danielle George
- JB Discovery centre with 190000 visitors per year
- Award winning Bluedot Festivals
- Industry contracts for SKA work including CISCO, AASL, NPL, AEON, Critical Software, MMI, GEANT
- Newton programme for Radio Astronomy in Africa.
Organisations
Publications
Chen H
(2020)
Searching for obscured AGN in z ~ 2 submillimetre galaxies
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Chen R
(2022)
Measuring Cosmological Parameters with Type Ia Supernovae in redMaGiC Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chen S
(2021)
Common-red-signal analysis with 24-yr high-precision timing of the European Pulsar Timing Array: inferences in the stochastic gravitational-wave background search
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chen W
(2023)
MeerKAT discovery of 13 new pulsars in Omega Centauri
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chen W
(2021)
Wide Field Beamformed Observation with MeerKAT
in Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation
Chen Z
(2023)
Towards optimal foreground mitigation strategies for interferometric H i intensity mapping in the low-redshift Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheng C
(2023)
JWST's PEARLS: A JWST/NIRCam View of ALMA Sources
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Cheng T
(2021)
Beyond the hubble sequence - exploring galaxy morphology with unsupervised machine learning
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cheng T
(2023)
Lessons learned from the two largest Galaxy morphological classification catalogues built by convolutional neural networks
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
Chibueze J
(2022)
A MeerKAT, e-MERLIN, H.E.S.S., and Swift search for persistent and transient emission associated with three localized FRBs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ching T
(2022)
The JCMT BISTRO-2 Survey: Magnetic Fields of the Massive DR21 Filament
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chluba J
(2021)
New horizons in cosmology with spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background
in Experimental Astronomy
Chung D
(2022)
COMAP Early Science. V. Constraints and Forecasts at z ~ 3
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chung D
(2023)
The deconvolved distribution estimator: enhancing reionization-era CO line-intensity mapping analyses with a cross-correlation analogue for one-point statistics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clark C
(2023)
The TRAPUM L -band survey for pulsars in Fermi -LAT gamma-ray sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clark CJ
(2023)
Neutron star mass estimates from gamma-ray eclipses in spider millisecond pulsar binaries.
in Nature astronomy
Cleary K
(2022)
COMAP Early Science. I. Overview
in The Astrophysical Journal
Colín-Beltrán E
(2020)
CHARM: a room-temperature 345GHz receiver for the Large Millimeter Telescope
Conselice C
(2022)
A Direct Measurement of Galaxy Major and Minor Merger Rates and Stellar Mass Accretion Histories at Z < 3 Using Galaxy Pairs in the REFINE Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal
Contarini S
(2022)
Euclid : Cosmological forecasts from the void size function
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Corongiu A
(2023)
PSR J1910-5959A: A rare gravitational laboratory for testing white dwarf models
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Costa A
(2022)
The BINGO project VII. Cosmological forecasts from 21 cm intensity mapping
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Coti Zelati F
(2021)
Simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of the transitional millisecond pulsar candidate CXOU J110926.4-650224 The discovery of a variable radio counterpart
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cullen F
(2023)
The ultraviolet continuum slopes ( ß ) of galaxies at z ? 8-16 from JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society