Birmingham Astrophysics - Rolling Grant 2007-2012
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The work of the Birmingham Astrophysics & Space Research group aims to improve our understanding of the Universe, and the force of gravity which governs its structure and growth. Our extragalactic studies aim to discover the way in which galaxies, such as our own Milky Way galaxy, have developed from the small fluctuations present in the primordial gas which filled the Universe after the Big Bang, as well as probing the mysterious 'dark matter' which appears to account for over 90% of the matter in the Universe at large. Our knowledge of the cosmos to date is gleaned almost entirely from study of the electromagnetic radiation (from radio waves to gamma rays) which reaches the Earth from space. However, a whole new astronomical 'window' is about to open, based on the propagating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Detection of these signals is hugely demanding, but large laser-interferometers are now very close to detecting them for the first time, and the Birmingham group is fully involved in these experiments, and in the plans to move these techniques into space within the next decade. This will ultimately allow us to study the gravitational signals from giant black holes, and from the Big Bang itself. We are working towards the first detection of gravitational waves, but also exploring the new techniques which will be required to turn the study of gravitational waves into a true branch of astronomy.
Organisations
Publications
Punturo M
(2010)
The third generation of gravitational wave observatories and their science reach
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Babak S
(2008)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 1B to Challenge 3
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Trias M
(2008)
Markov chain Monte Carlo searches for galactic binaries in Mock LISA Data Challenge 1B data sets
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abadie J
(2010)
Predictions for the rates of compact binary coalescences observable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Babak S
(2010)
The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from challenge 3 to challenge 4
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Amelino-Camelia G
(2008)
GAUGE: the GrAnd Unification and Gravity Explorer
in Experimental Astronomy
Acernese F
(2008)
The Real-Time Distributed Control of the Virgo Interferometric Detector of Gravitational Waves
in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Hammond G
(2008)
Noise analysis of a Howland current source
in International Journal of Electronics
Hallam J
(2009)
Coupling of lateral grating displacement to the output ports of a diffractive Fabry-Perot cavity
in Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
Jetha N
(2007)
Erratum: Active galactic nuclei heating in the centres of galaxy groups: a statistical study
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society