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
Hodgkin S
(2021)
Gaia Early Data Release 3 Gaia photometric science alerts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Coti Zelati F
(2024)
Short-term variability of the transitional pulsar candidate CXOU J110926.4-650224 from X-rays to infrared
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Shenar T
(2024)
Binarity at LOw Metallicity (BLOeM) A spectroscopic VLT monitoring survey of massive stars in the SMC
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sander A
(2024)
X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity IV. Spectral analysis methods and exemplary results for O stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hawcroft C
(2024)
X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity III. Terminal wind speeds of ULLYSES massive stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sana H
(2024)
X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity II. DR1: Advanced optical data products for the Magellanic Clouds
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Antunes Amaral L
(2024)
The double low-mass white dwarf eclipsing binary system J2102-4145 and its possible evolution
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Camisassa M
(2023)
A hidden population of white dwarfs with atmospheric carbon traces in the Gaia bifurcation
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Brands S
(2022)
The R136 star cluster dissected with Hubble Space Telescope/STIS III. The most massive stars and their clumped winds
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Shenar T
(2023)
Constraints on the multiplicity of the most massive stars known: R136 a1, a2, a3, and c
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Erdélyi R
(2022)
The Solar Activity Monitor Network - SAMNet
in Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
Dhillon V
(2022)
Multicolour optical light curves of the companion star to the millisecond pulsar PSR J2051-0827
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Steeghs D
(2022)
The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO): prototype performance and prospects for transient science
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tetarenko A
(2021)
Measuring fundamental jet properties with multiwavelength fast timing of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
O'Brien M
(2023)
Gaia white dwarfs within 40 pc - III. Spectroscopic observations of new candidates in the Southern hemisphere
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stringer J
(2021)
Optical photometry of two transitional millisecond pulsars in the radio pulsar state
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wild J
(2022)
System parameters of three short-period cataclysmic variable stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Robert A
(2024)
The frequency of transiting planetary systems around polluted white dwarfs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Littlefair S
(2024)
The donor star radial velocity curve in the cataclysmic variable GY Cnc confirms white dwarf eclipse modelling mass
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bestenlehner J
(2024)
Spectroscopic analysis of hot, massive stars in large spectroscopic surveys with de-idealized models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shahbaz T
(2023)
A rapid optical and X-ray timing study of the neutron star X-ray binary Swift J1858.6-0814
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dhillon V
(2021)
HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias
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
Farihi J
(2023)
Discovery of dipolar chromospheres in two white dwarfs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duffy C
(2022)
The return of the spin period in DW Cnc and evidence of new high state outbursts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sahman D
(2022)
Searching for nova shells around cataclysmic variables - II. A second campaign
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Noor H
(2024)
White dwarf pollution: one star or two?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maund J
(2023)
A flash of polarized optical light points to an aspherical 'cow'
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
Crowther P
(2024)
Oxygen abundance of ? Vel from [O iii ] 88 µm Herschel /PACS spectroscopy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Crowther P
(2023)
Line luminosities of Galactic and Magellanic Cloud Wolf-Rayet stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Sun N
(2023)
A UV census of the environments of stripped-envelope supernovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rebassa-Mansergas A
(2023)
Main-sequence companions to white dwarfs - II. The age-activity-rotation relation from a sample of Gaia common proper motion pairs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sun N
(2022)
An environmental analysis of the Type Ib SN 2019yvr and the possible presence of an inflated binary companion
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kennedy M
(2022)
Measuring the mass of the black widow PSR J1555-2908
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Crowther P
(2022)
X-ray properties of early-type stars in the Tarantula Nebula from T-ReX
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bestenlehner J
(2022)
Melnick 33Na: a very massive colliding-wind binary system in 30 Doradus
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mong Y
(2021)
Searching for Fermi GRB optical counterparts with the prototype Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Farihi J
(2022)
Relentless and complex transits from a planetesimal debris disc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doyle J
(2022)
Doubling of minute-long quasi-periodic pulsations from super-flares on a low-mass star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Munday J
(2023)
An eclipsing 47 min double white dwarf binary at 400 pc
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duffy C
(2021)
Evidence that short-period AM CVn systems are diverse in outburst behaviour
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sun N
(2023)
An environmental analysis of the fast transient AT2018cow and implications for its progenitor and late-time brightness
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mong Y
(2023)
Self-supervised clustering on image-subtracted data with deep-embedded self-organizing map
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chandra V
(2022)
The SN Ia runaway LP 398-9: detection of circumstellar material and surface rotation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clark C
(2023)
The TRAPUM L -band survey for pulsars in Fermi -LAT gamma-ray sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Crowther P
(2024)
Mapping the core of the Tarantula Nebula with VLT-MUSE - III. A template for metal-poor starburst regions in the visual and far-ultraviolet
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 |