Theoretical cosmology interim support for Liddle at Edinburgh
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This grant transfers the residual FEC support for Liddle from Sussex to Edinburgh. The relevant part of the summary of the funded Sussex grant was:
Our proposal seeks funds to continue an extensive programme of research into extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology, seeking to address some of the most pressing astronomical questions of our time, such as "What are the fundamental constituents of the Universe?", "What is the nature of the dark energy believed to be driving an acceleration of the Universe?", "What processes govern the formation of the largest objects and structures in our Universe?", and "How do galaxies form and evolve?". We address these questions by a combination of theoretical work, much of it using high-performance computers, and observational surveys especially from satellite observatories. We aim to be particularly sophisticated in the statistical modelling we carry out to use the observations to learn about our models.
Theme 1: Cosmology We will advance knowledge of the fundamental constituents and processes governing our Universe. This includes the early period of cosmological inflation, believed to be responsible for the origin of structures in the Universe, explored through studies of the origin of cosmic non-gaussianity and through detailed comparisons to emerging data. We will further develop the phenomenology of models featuring cosmic defects such as cosmic strings, and explore the consequent cosmic non-gaussianity both in the microwave background and in the matter distribution. We will complete the preparation and definition stage of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and move to exploitation of DES data to constrain dark energy phenomenology. This component of the project exploits STFC involvement in the Planck Surveyor Satellite, the Dark Energy Survey, and the COSMOS supercomputer.
Our proposal seeks funds to continue an extensive programme of research into extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology, seeking to address some of the most pressing astronomical questions of our time, such as "What are the fundamental constituents of the Universe?", "What is the nature of the dark energy believed to be driving an acceleration of the Universe?", "What processes govern the formation of the largest objects and structures in our Universe?", and "How do galaxies form and evolve?". We address these questions by a combination of theoretical work, much of it using high-performance computers, and observational surveys especially from satellite observatories. We aim to be particularly sophisticated in the statistical modelling we carry out to use the observations to learn about our models.
Theme 1: Cosmology We will advance knowledge of the fundamental constituents and processes governing our Universe. This includes the early period of cosmological inflation, believed to be responsible for the origin of structures in the Universe, explored through studies of the origin of cosmic non-gaussianity and through detailed comparisons to emerging data. We will further develop the phenomenology of models featuring cosmic defects such as cosmic strings, and explore the consequent cosmic non-gaussianity both in the microwave background and in the matter distribution. We will complete the preparation and definition stage of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and move to exploitation of DES data to constrain dark energy phenomenology. This component of the project exploits STFC involvement in the Planck Surveyor Satellite, the Dark Energy Survey, and the COSMOS supercomputer.
Planned Impact
The principal opportunities for impact of this work remain
a) Outreach, particularly to schoolstudents and aided by Edinburgh's extensive outreach programme.
b) Knowledge exchange concerning deployment of Bayesian methodologies such as model selection and machine learning.
a) Outreach, particularly to schoolstudents and aided by Edinburgh's extensive outreach programme.
b) Knowledge exchange concerning deployment of Bayesian methodologies such as model selection and machine learning.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Andrew Liddle (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Byrnes C
(2016)
Curvaton scenarios with inflaton decays into curvatons
in Physical Review D
Byrnes C
(2014)
Comprehensive analysis of the simplest curvaton model
Byrnes C
(2016)
Curvaton scenarios with inflaton decays into curvatons
Byrnes C
(2014)
Comprehensive analysis of the simplest curvaton model
in Physical Review D
Cortês M
(2015)
Tensors, BICEP2 results, prior dependence, and dust
in Physical Review D
Cortês M
(2014)
Tensors, BICEP2, prior dependence, and dust
Dias M
(2013)
Erratum: multifield consequences for D-brane inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Edwards D
(2014)
The observational position of simple non-minimally coupled inflationary scenarios
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Ferté A
(2019)
Testing gravity on cosmological scales with cosmic shear, cosmic microwave background anisotropies, and redshift-space distortions
in Physical Review D
Kobayashi T
(2015)
A separate universe view of the asymmetric sky
Kobayashi T
(2015)
A separate universe view of the asymmetric sky
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Lahav Ofer
The Cosmological Parameters 2014
Li S
(2014)
Observational constraints on Tachyon and DBI inflation
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Liddle A
(2013)
Cosmic microwave background anomalies in an open universe
Liddle A
(2014)
The universe, darkly
in Astronomy & Geophysics
Liddle Andrew R.
(2014)
The universe, darkly
in ASTRONOMY & GEOPHYSICS
Liddle AR
(2013)
Cosmic microwave background anomalies in an open universe.
in Physical review letters
Lima N
(2016)
Reconstructing thawing quintessence with multiple datasets
in Physical Review D
Lima N
(2013)
Linear perturbations in viable f ( R ) theories
in Physical Review D
Lizarraga J
(2014)
Can topological defects mimic the BICEP2 B-mode signal?
in Physical review letters
Lizarraga J
(2014)
Constraining topological defects with temperature and polarization anisotropies
in Physical Review D
Olive K
(2014)
Review of Particle Physics
in Chinese Physics C
Parkinson D
(2013)
Bayesian model averaging in astrophysics: a review
in Statistical Analysis and Data Mining: The ASA Data Science Journal
Smer-Barreto V
(2017)
Planck satellite constraints on pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson quintessence
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Smer-Barreto V
(2015)
Planck Satellite Constraints on Pseudo-Nambu--Goldstone Boson Quintessence
Viana P
(2013)
The XMM Cluster Survey: Present status and latest results
in Astronomische Nachrichten
Description | Developed understanding of fundamental cosmological models, particularly on the nature of the material composition of the Universe. |
Exploitation Route | The work is part of the ongoing global effort to understand cosmological models |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Astronomy responsive grants |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/L000644/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2014 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | Astronomy responsive grants |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/L000644/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2014 |
End | 03/2017 |
Description | Presentation at Edinburgh Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Lively Q&A session followed the presentations (by myself and Catherine Heymans) Considerable interest from the audience, and related talk now set up to be given at Cineworld Edinburgh as part of a `science in films' educational initiative. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Public talk at Cosmo conference, with Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Sell-out audience of 500 attended 3 public talks including mine. Archived in perpetuity on the WWW. None |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |