Astrophysics and Cosmology Research at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics 2023-2026

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.

Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time - signals which go 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.

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.

Publications

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Serafin Nadeau T (2024) A Cacophony of Echoes from Daily Monitoring of the Crab Pulsar at Jodrell Bank in The Astrophysical Journal

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Acharya S (2023) A closer look at dark photon explanations of the excess radio background in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Abbate F (2023) A MeerKAT view of the pulsars in the globular cluster NGC 6522 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Jankowski F (2023) A sample of fast radio bursts discovered and localized with MeerTRAP at the MeerKAT telescope in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Caleb M (2023) A subarcsec localized fast radio burst with a significant host galaxy dispersion measure contribution in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Cunnington S (2024) Accurate Fourier-space statistics for line intensity mapping: Cartesian grid sampling without aliased power in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Wandia K (2023) An interferometric SETI observation of Kepler-111 b in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Golden-Marx J (2023) Characterizing the intracluster light over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.8 in the DES-ACT overlap in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Acharya S (2024) Constraining broad photon spectrum injections from exotic and astrophysical sources in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Garrett M (2023) Constraints on extragalactic transmitters via Breakthrough Listen observations of background sources in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Cyr B (2023) Constraints on the spectral signatures of superconducting cosmic strings in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Chen Z (2023) Detecting the H i power spectrum in the post-reionization Universe with SKA-Low in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Surnis M (2023) Discovery of an extremely intermittent periodic radio source in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

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Ormerod K (2024) EPOCHS VI: the size and shape evolution of galaxies since z ~ 8 with JWST Observations in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Juodžbalis I (2023) EPOCHS VII: discovery of high-redshift (6.5 < z < 12) AGN candidates in JWST ERO and PEARLS data in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Huang ? Q (2023) Estimation of the Flux at 1450 MHz of OB Stars for FAST and SKA in The Astronomical Journal

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Camarena D (2023) Euclid : Testing the Copernican principle with next-generation surveys in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Rhodes L (2023) FRB 20121102A: images of the bursts and the varying radio counterpart in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Driessen L (2024) FRB 20210405I: a nearby Fast Radio Burst localized to sub-arcsecond precision with MeerKAT in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Sormani M (2023) Fuelling the nuclear ring of NGC 1097 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society