Research in Astrophysics at The University of Bristol
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
This proposal is for a grant to researchers in astrophysics at the University of Bristol.
Much recent cosmology has been based on investigations of galaxy clusters. The first project will make reliable measurements of cluster masses and other parameters. This involves statistically rigorous investigations of cluster samples drawn from X-ray sky surveys - the hot gas in the clusters shines in X-rays. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we take into account their evolution over time.
Massive galaxies within current-day clusters have very old stellar populations. They finished forming their stars in the first few billion years after the big bang, unlike most galaxies outside clusters. Understanding details of their formation is crucial to understanding their nature. Our second project will identify and study galaxies in proto-clusters (progenitors of today's clusters) as they form their stars, building a picture of the inter-related evolution of clusters and their galaxies.
A third project explores the physics of matter falling into black holes. It will determine how X-ray observations can reliably measure the black hole mass, spin rate, and geometry of the environment close to the black hole. Galaxies and their central black holes grow together, so reliable measurements of black hole mass and spin rates can test models of galaxy evolution. Observing the close environment of super-massive black holes is both intrinsically interesting, and is a key goal for the next generation of X-ray satellites such as the ESA's Athena observatory.
A fourth project looks at how tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near central black holes, affect gas on the large scale - by stopping cooling of the atmospheres of galaxy clusters, and by making the atmospheres more magnetic over time. A feedback process, in which cluster gas is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Having identified the sources responsible for this heating, we now want to understand how the process works.
The fifth project involves maintenance and improvement of the TOPCAT software, a catalogue and data manipulation tool used world-wide and of great importance to many astronomers in their interactions with data sets of increasing size and complexity and which is now finding creative uses well beyond astronomy. The project will also contribute to the critical international Virtual Observatory framework that enables remote data access for TOPCAT and other software and interoperability between them.
A sixth project will use in-hand HST and guaranteed JWST observations of a transiting giant exoplanet to characterise the chemical makeup, dynamics, and evolution through measurements of its atmospheric transmission and emission in unprecedented detail. We will use these observations to develop new data analysis pipelines for JWST to produce the most complete dataset for a single exoplanet atmosphere.
Two further projects explore exoplanets from a theoretical perspective. Project seven investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can destroy one another. Some disks around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. We will carry out computer calculations to interpret extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they evolve through giant impacts between young planets.The final project is a theoretical study into polar vortices in the atmospheres of planets around other stars and how they may affect their habitability. When combined with JWST observations, it will result in a detailed model of the atmosphere of TRAPPIST-1e, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone.
Much recent cosmology has been based on investigations of galaxy clusters. The first project will make reliable measurements of cluster masses and other parameters. This involves statistically rigorous investigations of cluster samples drawn from X-ray sky surveys - the hot gas in the clusters shines in X-rays. The clusters span a wide mass range and are seen over half the age of the Universe, so we take into account their evolution over time.
Massive galaxies within current-day clusters have very old stellar populations. They finished forming their stars in the first few billion years after the big bang, unlike most galaxies outside clusters. Understanding details of their formation is crucial to understanding their nature. Our second project will identify and study galaxies in proto-clusters (progenitors of today's clusters) as they form their stars, building a picture of the inter-related evolution of clusters and their galaxies.
A third project explores the physics of matter falling into black holes. It will determine how X-ray observations can reliably measure the black hole mass, spin rate, and geometry of the environment close to the black hole. Galaxies and their central black holes grow together, so reliable measurements of black hole mass and spin rates can test models of galaxy evolution. Observing the close environment of super-massive black holes is both intrinsically interesting, and is a key goal for the next generation of X-ray satellites such as the ESA's Athena observatory.
A fourth project looks at how tiny regions in the centres of individual galaxies, near central black holes, affect gas on the large scale - by stopping cooling of the atmospheres of galaxy clusters, and by making the atmospheres more magnetic over time. A feedback process, in which cluster gas is reheated by the ejection of very hot, fast, gas from the regions near black holes is involved, at least in one heating mode. Having identified the sources responsible for this heating, we now want to understand how the process works.
The fifth project involves maintenance and improvement of the TOPCAT software, a catalogue and data manipulation tool used world-wide and of great importance to many astronomers in their interactions with data sets of increasing size and complexity and which is now finding creative uses well beyond astronomy. The project will also contribute to the critical international Virtual Observatory framework that enables remote data access for TOPCAT and other software and interoperability between them.
A sixth project will use in-hand HST and guaranteed JWST observations of a transiting giant exoplanet to characterise the chemical makeup, dynamics, and evolution through measurements of its atmospheric transmission and emission in unprecedented detail. We will use these observations to develop new data analysis pipelines for JWST to produce the most complete dataset for a single exoplanet atmosphere.
Two further projects explore exoplanets from a theoretical perspective. Project seven investigates the nature of the gas/dust disks around young stars in which planets form. As young pieces of planets collide and assemble into larger planets they can destroy one another. Some disks around young stars may show evidence of this destructive side of planet formation. We will carry out computer calculations to interpret extreme examples of dusty disks to see if they evolve through giant impacts between young planets.The final project is a theoretical study into polar vortices in the atmospheres of planets around other stars and how they may affect their habitability. When combined with JWST observations, it will result in a detailed model of the atmosphere of TRAPPIST-1e, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone.
Planned Impact
Direct beneficiaries from the research will be our academic colleagues and interested members of the public, who will be exposed to the research results through our lectures, talks in schools, podcasts, press releases, WWW pages, appearances on radio and TV, and exhibits in and around Bristol. More indirectly, the public may be affected by advice given to local MPs or City Councillors (such as Mark Wright, who did a PhD in the Astrophysics Group a few years ago).
The TOPCAT software is accessible enough for use by non-research users, and is in wide use in undergraduate projects, as well as by amateur astronomers, and in non-astronomy academic and industrial settings.
Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for our local radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit.
Further exploitation through an Impact Accelerator contributed to an industrial collaborator being awarded two significant contracts and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms. More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems.
We advise the Goonhilly Earth Station Company on various technical development and education initiatives related to their ground station and are exploring how this collaboration can benefit the CubeSat project at Bristol.
We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging, and contribute image analysis expertise to a project which uses real-time imaging of bacteria to assess the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments in clinical situations.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into nonacademic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
The TOPCAT software is accessible enough for use by non-research users, and is in wide use in undergraduate projects, as well as by amateur astronomers, and in non-astronomy academic and industrial settings.
Spin-offs from the Fourier Transform spectrometer constructed for our local radio telescope have benefitted BEAM and AlphaData. Research associated with the study of variability in active galaxies has formed the basis of a commercial contract, and provides some support for algorithm development relevant to LSST and SKA, as well as being of commercial benefit.
Further exploitation through an Impact Accelerator contributed to an industrial collaborator being awarded two significant contracts and also providing work for a local SME with whom we work on commercial-quality coding of our algorithms. More generically, the sophisticated image and time-series analysis techniques used in our research can be applied to many problems.
We advise the Goonhilly Earth Station Company on various technical development and education initiatives related to their ground station and are exploring how this collaboration can benefit the CubeSat project at Bristol.
We will continue to work with the Atomic Force Microscopy group in the University to improve their imaging, and contribute image analysis expertise to a project which uses real-time imaging of bacteria to assess the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments in clinical situations.
Finally, the major economic output of this work will continue to be trained PhDs and PDRAs who mostly go into nonacademic areas for their later careers. These careers have included local Government, the defence and security sector, plasma fusion research, meteorology, teaching, and finance.
Organisations
- University of Bristol (Lead Research Organisation)
- Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Africa (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics (Collaboration)
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) (Collaboration)
- ESA - ESTEC (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- University of Toulouse (Collaboration)
- University of Turin (Collaboration)
- Sorbonne Universités (Collaboration)
- Western Washington University (Collaboration)
- CEA Saclay (Collaboration)
- Space Telescope Science Institute (Collaboration)
- European Space Agency (Collaboration)
- Cornell University (Collaboration)
- Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (Collaboration)
- University of Cape Town (Collaboration)
Publications
Wallbank A
(2022)
A systematic comparison of galaxy cluster temperatures measured with NuSTAR and Chandra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Van Eck C
(2023)
RMTable2023 and PolSpectra2023: Standards for Reporting Polarization and Faraday Rotation Measurements of Radio Sources
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Tsai SM
(2023)
Photochemically produced SO2 in the atmosphere of WASP-39b.
in Nature
Thorne J
(2021)
Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): SED fitting in the D10-COSMOS field and the evolution of the stellar mass function and SFR- M ? relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thongkonsing P
(2024)
Investigating scaling relations in X-ray reverberating AGN using symbolic regression
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sullivan A
(2024)
Small-scale radio jets and tidal disruption events: a theory of high-luminosity compact symmetric objects
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stevens G
(2021)
AstronomicAL: an interactive dashboard for visualisation, integration and classification of data with Active Learning
in Journal of Open Source Software
Snios B
(2021)
Discovery of Candidate X-Ray Jets in High-redshift Quasars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Snios B
(2022)
X-Ray Jets in the High-redshift Quasars J1405+0415 and J1610+1811
in The Astrophysical Journal
Description | SPRINT INNOVATION VOUCHER -Applied remote sensing for soil contamination monitoring |
Amount | £49,263 (GBP) |
Funding ID | OW131797P6V1A |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Department | SPRINT |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2021 |
End | 03/2022 |
Title | ExoTIC |
Description | This is a repository for the reduction pipeline detailed in Wakeford, et al., 2016, ApJ. The method implements marginalization across a series of models to represent stochastic models for observatory and instrument systematics. This is primarily for HST WFC3, however, may be extended to STIS in the future. |
Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Pipeline for analysis of JWST & HST data on exoplanet atmospheres |
URL | https://github.com/Exo-TiC |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | Harvard University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications -ongoing |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | University of Turin |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications -ongoing |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | CHeCS |
Organisation | Western Washington University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on cluster sample |
Impact | Publications -ongoing |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | DEVILS |
Organisation | International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Design & analysis of data resulting from large spectroscopic extragalactic survey (ongoing/planned) |
Collaborator Contribution | Observation, image and spectroscopic analysis of full survey, management of survey, ongoing studies with the data from survey |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Euclid survey |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Department | ESA Laboratories |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Pre-launch analysis of calibrations for photometric redshifts. Galaxy image classification preparation. AGN science planning |
Collaborator Contribution | Design of spacecraft, instrumentation & survey to be carried out by mission (to be launched 2023) |
Impact | Many high impact publications after launch |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | GAIA Team |
Organisation | ESA - ESTEC |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Taylor has written much of the database access code for end-users, including major graphical display improvements. |
Collaborator Contribution | ESA satellite project to map star positions in the Galaxy: highly successful at generating vast database, requiring our database access methodology |
Impact | Extensive database for studies of structure of Galaxy. Publications |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | JWST Telescope Scientist GTO Collaboration (Wakeford) |
Organisation | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Subject Level Lead for the Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy team. For this I lead the team of 23 scientists in a large JWST program to measure the definitive spectrum of a hot Jupiter exoplanet with transmission and emission from data analysis to 3D interpretation and mapping. |
Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and theoretical modelling. |
Impact | Data and observations Publications |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | JWST Telescope Scientist GTO Collaboration- Hubble (Wakeford) |
Organisation | Cornell University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | PI (Wakeford) of the Hubble UV-optical Survey of Transiting Legacy Exoplanets program using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe and characterise 14 exoplanets across a range of masses and temperatures to reveal trends in cloud formation and dynamics. Our team will provide data analysis and modelling interpretation for a subset of the planets in the sample. As PI I will provide leadership for the whole program. |
Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and theoretical modelling. |
Impact | Data and observations Publications |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | JWST Telescope Scientist GTO Collaboration- Hubble (Wakeford) |
Organisation | Harvard University |
Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | PI (Wakeford) of the Hubble UV-optical Survey of Transiting Legacy Exoplanets program using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe and characterise 14 exoplanets across a range of masses and temperatures to reveal trends in cloud formation and dynamics. Our team will provide data analysis and modelling interpretation for a subset of the planets in the sample. As PI I will provide leadership for the whole program. |
Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and theoretical modelling. |
Impact | Data and observations Publications |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | LSST:UK |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-authors of study papers Input into governance & strategy via Board |
Collaborator Contribution | Development of UK infrastructure, involvement in and exploitation of Vera Rubin Observatory |
Impact | Access to Rubin observatory. Data analysis and access infrastructure. Detailed science exploitation plan, will result in many high impact publications |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | MeerKAT MIGHTEE Large Survey Program |
Organisation | University of Cape Town |
Department | Department of Astronomy |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | MIGHTEE LSP Management group, co-chair of HI working groupProject management, including data reduction, archiving, data coordination |
Collaborator Contribution | Project management, including data reduction, archiving, data coordination |
Impact | Publications, MSc & PhD Theses. Trained researchers |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | SKA HI and Cosmology SWGs |
Organisation | Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Africa |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | SWG member, was co-chair of SKA Cos HI Galaxies Focus group 2017--2022 |
Collaborator Contribution | Project management, including overseeing projects and SWG communication |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | SKA Magnetism SWG |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working with the team on issues to do with source populations, calibration across wide fields, radio galaxies |
Collaborator Contribution | Studies on wide-field polarisation imaging |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | CEA Saclay |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Harvard University |
Department | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Max Planck Institute For Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | National Institute for Astrophysics |
Department | Bologna Observatory |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | National Institute for Nuclear Physics |
Department | National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Milano |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | Sorbonne Universités |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XMM Heritage programme on Planck clusters |
Organisation | University of Toulouse |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Analysis of X-ray data; statistics |
Collaborator Contribution | Combination with other datasets |
Impact | Publications |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | XXL/XMM-LSS collaboration |
Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Department | Service d'Astrophysique |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-authored multiple papers and proposals |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to XMM-LSS/XXL datasets, pipeline analysis of datasets that allowed selection of clusters for follow-up research |
Impact | Multiple publications on cosmology and astrophysics; development of concept for future surveys. |
Title | Topcat and related software |
Description | TOPCAT and related libraries provide means of accessing, displaying, and comparing catalogue data from remote or local databases. The software is the predominant astronomical catalogue manipulation package. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used for Gaia and many other projects. New versions are frequently released. The most recent public release of TOPCAT is version 4.8-3 reeled 31 January 2022, but continual maintenance updates are regularly released |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ |
Description | Aerospace Bristol Key stage 2 School engagement activity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Members of the group engaged with the museum coordinators to provide scientific insight on telescopes and their observations. We delivered a recorded video presentation on the history and most important discoveries of the Hubble space telescope. This material will be shown to students are preparation before their visit to the museum. We also designed a pin-hole camera with everyday material, suitable for the pupils to create on the day of their visit. Through this activity the students will understand the nature of light. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://aerospacebristol.org/schools |
Description | Engagement activities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) Virtual Conference, May 12th 2021 Filton Schools, Bristol, Yr 5 Q&A Being a Scientist at Bristol, September 22nd 2021 Webb UK Autumn online events, Exoplanets @ National Space Center, October 19th 2021 New Scientist, Interview, Print, November 4th 2021 Auckland Astronomical Society, Burbidge Lecture, November 8th 2021 Naked Scientists, BBC Radio 5 Live, November 23rd 2021 Royal Observatory Greenwich, Christmas Lecture, December 11th 2021 Space Rocks Live, JWST planets special, January 26th 2022 International Women's Day Panel, University of Bristol, March 8th 2022 (with Zoë as well) Cheshire Astronomical Society March 17th 2022 JWST News coverage: Sunday Times, Print, December 9th 2021 BBC News 24, TV, December 24th 2021 BBC 5Live, Radio, December 22nd , 23rd & 24th 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |