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.
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.
Organisations
Publications
Böckmann K
(2023)
Probing magnetic fields in the circumgalactic medium using polarization data from MIGHTEE
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Agudo I
(2023)
Panning for gold, but finding helium: Discovery of the ultra-stripped supernova SN 2019wxt from gravitational-wave follow-up observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Geyer M
(2023)
Mass measurements and 3D orbital geometry of PSR J1933-6211
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Saxena A
(2023)
JADES: Discovery of extremely high equivalent width Lyman- a emission from a faint galaxy within an ionized bubble at z = 7.3
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bhat S
(2023)
Investigation of a Machine learning methodology for the SKA pulsar search pipeline
in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Aafreen R
(2023)
High-performance computing for SKA transient search: Use of FPGA-based accelerators
in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Chluba J
(2023)
Spectro-spatial evolution of the CMB. Part I. Discretisation of the thermalisation Green's function
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Chluba J
(2023)
Spectro-spatial evolution of the CMB. Part II. Generalised Boltzmann hierarchy
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Kite T
(2023)
Spectro-spatial evolution of the CMB. Part III. Transfer functions, power spectra and Fisher forecasts
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Mohammadian B
(2023)
The Impact of Surface Passivation on Kapitza Resistance at the Interface Between a Semiconductor and Liquid Nitrogen
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Walmsley M
(2023)
Zoobot: Adaptable Deep Learning Models for Galaxy Morphology
in Journal of Open Source Software
Tramonte D
(2023)
QUIJOTE scientific results - V. The microwave intensity and polarization spectra of the Galactic regions W49, W51 and IC443
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Varadaraj R
(2023)
The bright end of the galaxy luminosity function at z ? 7 from the VISTA VIDEO survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mutie I
(2024)
Radio jets in NGC 1068 with e -MERLIN and VLA: structure and morphology
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Taylor A
(2024)
MIGHTEE polarization early science fields: the deep polarized sky
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
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
Song X
(2023)
The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT - VIII. The subpulse modulation of 1198 pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pan H
(2023)
MIGHTEE-H i : the M H i - M * relation over the last billion years
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Basu A
(2024)
The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT - XII. Discovery of long-term pulse profile evolution in seven young pulsars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bowler R
(2024)
The ALMA REBELS survey: obscured star formation in massive Lyman-break galaxies at z = 4-8 revealed by the IRX-ß and M ? relations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Keller P
(2023)
Search for the Epoch of Reionization with HERA: upper limits on the closure phase delay power spectrum
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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