A consolidated grant for Sheffield Astrophysics 2021-2024
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The aim of this proposal is to support a programme of internationally excellent research in astrophysics at Sheffield, building on our recent research achievements, and tied to the exploitation of leading international facilities supported by STFC and UKSA.
Planned Impact
The main ways in which our research makes an impact outside the academic community is via our knowledge exchange and outreach activities. To summarise:
1. Knowledge exchange. This is primarily based on the building of the ULTRACAM and HiPERCAM instruments, which has led to the development of new CCD detectors, data acquisition and cooling systems, as well as stimulating a project to develop new additive manufacturing techniques in metal to build complex, rigid, lightweight components for astronomical instruments.
2. Outreach. The Sheffield astrophysics group give regular talks to schools and general audiences. We also give regular in-house masterclasses and workshops to school students and teachers. Over the last five years, members of the group have delivered more than 112 such talks/events, and been involved in 19 press releases, all based on their research activities.
Details are given in our attached Pathways to Impact document.
1. Knowledge exchange. This is primarily based on the building of the ULTRACAM and HiPERCAM instruments, which has led to the development of new CCD detectors, data acquisition and cooling systems, as well as stimulating a project to develop new additive manufacturing techniques in metal to build complex, rigid, lightweight components for astronomical instruments.
2. Outreach. The Sheffield astrophysics group give regular talks to schools and general audiences. We also give regular in-house masterclasses and workshops to school students and teachers. Over the last five years, members of the group have delivered more than 112 such talks/events, and been involved in 19 press releases, all based on their research activities.
Details are given in our attached Pathways to Impact document.
Organisations
Publications
Dyer M
(2024)
The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO)
Eappachen D
(2023)
The Fast X-Ray Transient XRT 210423 and Its Host Galaxy
in The Astrophysical Journal
Eappachen D
(2022)
Probing for the host galaxies of the fast X-ray transients XRT 000519 and XRT 110103
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eappachen D
(2023)
The Fast X-ray Transient XRT 210423 and its Host Galaxy
Erdélyi R
(2022)
The Solar Activity Monitor Network - SAMNet
in Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
Farihi J
(2023)
Discovery of dipolar chromospheres in two white dwarfs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Farihi J
(2023)
Discovery of Dipolar Chromospheres in Two White Dwarfs
Farihi J
(2022)
Relentless and complex transits from a planetesimal debris disc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gandhi P
(2025)
Rapid Mid-Infrared Spectral-Timing with JWST : I. GRS 1915+105 during a MIR-bright and X-ray-obscured state
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Green M
(2024)
TIC 378898110: A bright, short-period AM CVn binary in TESS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Green M
(2023)
TIC 378898110: A Bright, Short-Period AM CVn Binary in TESS
Götberg Y
(2023)
Stellar Properties of Observed Stars Stripped in Binaries in the Magellanic Clouds
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hawcroft C
(2024)
X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity III. Terminal wind speeds of ULLYSES massive stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hayes J
(2024)
TransitFit: combined multi-instrument exoplanet transit fitting for JWST, HST , and ground-based transmission spectroscopy studies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ho AYQ
(2023)
Minutes-duration optical flares with supernova luminosities.
in Nature
Hodgkin S
(2021)
Gaia Early Data Release 3 Gaia photometric science alerts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hollands M
(2023)
A DZ white dwarf with a 30 MG magnetic field
Hollands M
(2024)
Measuring the initial-final mass relation using wide double white dwarf binaries from Gaia DR3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hollands M
(2023)
A DZ white dwarf with a 30 MG magnetic field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Title | HiPERCAM/ULTRACAM observations of PSR J2051-0827 |
| Description | Optical observations of PSR J2051-0827 taken by the high-speed triple-beam CCD camera ULTRACAM on the William Herschel Telescope, and by the high-speed quintuple-beam CCD camera HiPERCAM on the Gran Telescopio Canarias. As presented in Dhillon et al. 2022 (MNRAS, in press, https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.09249). The letter after the underscore in each file name represents the observing filter for that specific file. For the ULTRACAM data, the columns are: 1) orbital phase (in rotations, with phase = 0 corresponding to pulsar's ascending node), 2) flux density (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) 3) flux density uncertainty (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) For the HiPERCAM data, the columns are: 1) MJD time 2) orbital phase (in rotations, with phase = 0 corresponding to pulsar's ascending node), 3) flux density (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) 4) flux density uncertainty (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/7016531 |
| Title | HiPERCAM/ULTRACAM observations of PSR J2051-0827 |
| Description | Optical observations of PSR J2051-0827 taken by the high-speed triple-beam CCD camera ULTRACAM on the William Herschel Telescope, and by the high-speed quintuple-beam CCD camera HiPERCAM on the Gran Telescopio Canarias. As presented in Dhillon et al. 2022 (MNRAS, in press, https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.09249). The letter after the underscore in each file name represents the observing filter for that specific file. For the ULTRACAM data, the columns are: 1) orbital phase (in rotations, with phase = 0 corresponding to pulsar's ascending node), 2) flux density (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) 3) flux density uncertainty (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) For the HiPERCAM data, the columns are: 1) MJD time 2) orbital phase (in rotations, with phase = 0 corresponding to pulsar's ascending node), 3) flux density (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) 4) flux density uncertainty (in erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/7016532 |
| Title | Line luminosities of Galactic and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars |
| Description | Template (optical, continuum subtracted) emission line spectra of Milky Way and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars, presented in Appendix B of Crowther, Rate & Bestenlehner (2023, MNRAS, in press; https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.11297). Ascii format, wavelength (Angstrom) versus monochromatic luminosity (erg/s/Angstrom). Separate templates are provided for single-only and all (single+binary) since binaries are often contaminated by (Balmer) absorption lines from companion OB stars. Highly reddened sources (primarily in Milky Way) also exhibit strong interstellar features (CaII H&K, NaI D, DIBs at 4430, 5780, 5797 Angstrom) and some datasets involved have not been corrected for atmospheric telluric features. Owing to the heterogeneous origin of individual datasets, templates cover a range of wavelength regions, and some exclude the 6070-6400 Ang region, owing to detector gaps for ANU 2.3m + DBS spectroscopy. Separate templates are provided for each galaxy with the exception of WN/C and WO stars, which are also combined into a single dataset (owing to the low total numbers involved). Templates are degraded to a uniform resolution of 10 Angstrom, with average radial velocity corrections of 284 km/s (LMC) and 162 km/s (SMC) applied. Further details are provided in the README.txt file. Please cite Crowther, Rate & Bestenlehner in publications if these templates are used in research. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/7573775 |
| Title | Line luminosities of Galactic and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars |
| Description | Template (optical, continuum subtracted) emission line spectra of Milky Way and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars, presented in Appendix B of Crowther, Rate & Bestenlehner (2023, MNRAS, in press; https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.11297). Ascii format, wavelength (Angstrom) versus monochromatic luminosity (erg/s/Angstrom). Separate templates are provided for single-only and all (single+binary) since binaries are often contaminated by (Balmer) absorption lines from companion OB stars. Highly reddened sources (primarily in Milky Way) also exhibit strong interstellar features (CaII H&K, NaI D, DIBs at 4430, 5780, 5797 Angstrom) and some datasets involved have not been corrected for atmospheric telluric features. Owing to the heterogeneous origin of individual datasets, templates cover a range of wavelength regions, and some exclude the 6070-6400 Ang region, owing to detector gaps for ANU 2.3m + DBS spectroscopy. Separate templates are provided for each galaxy with the exception of WN/C and WO stars, which are also combined into a single dataset (owing to the low total numbers involved). Templates are degraded to a uniform resolution of 10 Angstrom, with average radial velocity corrections of 284 km/s (LMC) and 162 km/s (SMC) applied. Further details are provided in the README.txt file. Please cite Crowther, Rate & Bestenlehner in publications if these templates are used in research. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/7573774 |
| Title | X-ray properties of early-type stars in the Tarantula Nebula from T-ReX |
| Description | X-ray data related to paper with same title. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/6808367 |
| Title | X-ray properties of early-type stars in the Tarantula Nebula from T-ReX |
| Description | X-ray data related to paper with same title. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://zenodo.org/record/6808366 |