These are imprinted by primordial irregularities in density that grew by gravitational instability in the early Universe. SN 1987A was the first naked-eye supernova since Kepler's supernova in 1604 and is a highly anomalous supernova. Planned radio and submillimetre wavelength experiments using telescopes on balloons (the recent BOOMERANG experiments), satellites (MAP in 2001- and Planck from 2007) and ground-based interferometer arrays will approach a level of sensitivity that will definitively measure many, if not all, cosmological parameters with unprecedented precision. These are seen at times when the Universe was only about one billion years old, and are thus important for studying the earliest observable phases of galaxy formation. The lower right panel shows that the strength of the H-beta Balmer absorption line is constant across the entire galaxy, both the decoupled core and main body. There are good opportunities for graduate students studying for t… Relevant research in this group includes studies of the formation and evolution of dusty galaxies, studies of the formation of stars and planets, investigations into the habitability of planets forming around stars of varied types, the study of the Sun and Sun-like stars, quantification of the variability of the Sun for use … Savilian Professor of Astronomy: Professor Joe Silk The Study of Human Energy Consumption and Nuclear Physics. We are the principal UK partners with Japan in the construction of a wide-field, multi-object, infrared spectrograph project (FMOS). Shape Constraint for Galaxy Image Restoration. The aim of this research is to study the formation and evolution of galaxies and their large-scale distribution. The Universe forms a physics laboratory, in which events take place which cannot be recreated here on Earth and which are settled at the … Research Activity. The Oxford workers are engaged in a long term project towards a comprehensive understanding of the Milky Way. However, these results do not take into account possible evolutionary changes in the population of Type Ia supernova progenitors. The star formation histories of disk and elliptical galaxies and their high redshift counterparts provide vital clues to galactic evolution. Topics of Research The Astrophysical and Planetary Science department at the University of Colorado Boulder is a very diverse department with interests in planets, stars, galaxies, cosmology and the techniques to measure interpret and teach. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics is an international journal publishing original research papers and reviews across all branches of astronomy and astrophysics. Finally, Oxford scientists are working with colleagues in Europe to define the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). Learn more about our faculty’s current research in astrophysics below. Research Topics. The DIRBE instrument that flew on the COBE satellite provided the most detailed picture to date of the Galactic Bulge. Through statistical studies of galaxies in different environments over a range of redshift we can eliminate candidate mechanisms. The radio astronomy group at MIT is currently studying a number of topics in astrophysics, including gravitationallenses, radio stars, quasars, all-sky surveys, and astronomical transient sources. This was striking confirmation of a viewpoint earlier advanced in Oxford and elsewhere that the Milky Way galaxy is barred, with the near-side of the bar lying towards positive longitudes. The astronomical instrumentation group at Oxford has expanded rapidly in the last year, with a strong influx of new personnel and new projects. Drexel is a recognized leader in astrophysics research, with both students and faculty contributing to the field. Active galactic nuclei are thought to be powered by massive black holes. Astrophysics Research. Savilian Professor of Astronomy: Professor Joe Silk Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics & Head of Astrophysics: Professor Roger Davies Professor Steve Rawlings Research at Oxford spans a wide range of astronomy and astrophysics, from the largest scales in the Universe to observational work on stars and the interstellar medium. Privacy • Legal & Trademarks • Campus Map, Affiliated Institutions and Organizations, The APS department recognizes our scientific and educational missions are strengthened by contributions from. Spectra of the close nuclear environment also provide kinematic information about gas in the narrow line region, and allow us to probe the physical conditions and excitation mechanisms of the circumnuclear environment. Physics Research Topics for High School. This latter, more likely, possibility may be understood by irradiation effects which can dramatically change the structure of the irradiated normal star. Rougly speaking a thurd of the course will be devoted to fundamentals, a third to stars and the interstellar medium and a third to galaxies and cosmology. The appearance of the supernova, however, depends sensitively on the pre-supernova structure of the envelope and hence the star's evolutionary history in a binary. In the area of compact binary evolution, we are particularly interested in studying the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries and their relation ot millisecond pulsars, and binaries containing black holes and their possible relation to ultraluminous X-ray sources in external galaxies. The Astrophysics group at Lancaster was set up in 2015 within the Physics Department, complementing the existing Astro-particle Cosmology and Space and Planetary Physics groups. At face value, the results suggest an accelerating Universe, a dramatic break from the previous picture. Physics is the science that deals with matter and energy and with the interaction between them. Among the subjects studied are the Sun, other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. There are two fundamentally different types of supernovae: thermonuclear explosions which occur when a white dwarf is pushed above its maximum mass of 1.4 solar masses (the Chandrasekhar limit) and which leads to the complete disruption of the star (referred to as a 'Type Ia supernova'), and core-collapse supernovae which take place when the core of a massive star has exhausted all of its nuclear fuel. PPARC grants support research into cosmology and extragalactic astrophysics, theoretical cosmology and in astronomical instrumentation. Atoms are the smallest observable component of matter that we have found in the universe. Hypernovae are a rare, new supernova type, first identified in 1998, which are much more energetic than a normal supernova and are probably caused by the collapse of a rapidly rotating helium star to a stellar-mass black hole. During the LMXB phase, it is generally believed that the neutron star is spun up by accretion of matter, leaving a millisecond pulsar once the X-ray phase has ended. Others also bring in ways to use technology and data visualization with students. A major effort (the Oxford Bar Project) aims at developing a series of stellar dynamical models of the inner Galaxy and using them to interpret the radial velocity and proper motion data towards the Galactic Centre. GMOS galaxy image, Ivan Delvecchio – The infrared-radio correlation of star-forming galaxies (TBC), Clarendon Laboratory Key questions include: why do only some active galaxies develop powerful radio-emission; what is the link between extranuclear star formation and nuclear activity; is there a link between the mass and structure of the host galaxy and the type of nuclear activity; why were there large changes in the space density of active galaxies with cosmic time? The modelling involves both analytical and numerical work, with modern theories of non-linear dynamics playing a unifying role. In particular, the secondary may become inflated which leads to accelerated evolution and a shorter duration of the LMXB phase. Logarithmic conformal field theories have been a major activity for many years; at present we are working on the properties of these theories in the presence of boundaries. Earth and Moon (also calendars) How does the tilt of the Earth's axis affect the seasons? When the Universe was about one-third of its present age there were about 100 times more quasars of a given luminosity than there are today, after allowing for the expansion of the Universe since that time. Oxford Another area undergoing rapid development is the study of the Bulge of the Milky Way. Many massive X-ray binaries are predicted to merge in the near future. We are also determining how the entropy injected into the intergalactic medium by jets influences galaxy formation and evolution. Stellar and Nuclear Astrophysics. The frontier of particle physics is beyond the TeV energy range of current generations of accelerators but in the realm of the energy scales of supersymmetry or grand unification, or even quantum gravity. The velocity map shows that, this otherwise ordinary galaxy is rolling around its long axis but the central regions are rotating roughly perpendicular to this! However, whether this is a viable process depends on the response of the normal star when the tidal energy is deposited inside the star (the tidal energy can be a large fraction of the binding energy of the star). Considering that there is no agreement on what the progenitor systems of these supernovae actually are, this seriously weakens the cosmological argument. Download RSS feed: News Articles / In the Media. An improved understanding of protogalaxy evolution will have profound implications for understanding chemical evolution and for interpreting far infrared and submillimetre observations of star- forming galaxies in the distant Universe. Oxford workers are pursuing programmes to study the most distant examples of these objects. Entry is by invitation only. Our group is working on a number of surveys of large-scale structure as traced by galaxies and clusters of galaxies, both nearby and distant. of Durham, UKATC) we have won a competitive bid to design and construct KMOS, the cryogenic, multi-object, near-infrared spectrometer for the ESO VLT. Classical mechanics, particle physics, nuclear, relativity, quantum mechanics, celestial bodies, physical properties, atomic physics, particle physics and cosmology are some of the branches of Physics applied in this broad subject. A focus of our research includes the study of galaxy formation and evolution. One of the most important recent discoveries in this field, which indeed may challenge the above paradigm for LMXBs, is the realization that many stars in so-called Òlow-massÓ X-ray binaries originate from much more massive progenitors (e.g., Cyg X-2, Cyg X-3). Astrophysics Astrophysics is the Physics applied to the understanding of the Universe and all its celestial bodies and their interactions. The mechanism for transporting gas from ~100 pc scales to the immediate vicinity of the black hole is not well understood, although bars and Linblad resonances do play a vital role. The group's research is primarily observational and tackles some of the most important open questions in Astrophysics, broadly centred around understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies and the properties of the Universe itself. Understanding the detailed nature of such signatures will help define a goal for new generations of experiments and satellite missions. New instruments on the Gemini 8-m telescopes allow us to investigate these dusty circumnuclear regions at high spatial resolution for the first time. Our research areas cover massive stars, star formation, interstellar and circumstellar processes, astrochemistry, cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, extra-solar planets, atmospheric physics and instrumentation. Astrophysics is the study of the physical nature of celestial objects and the Universe in which they live. In a complementary attack on large-scale structure, the deep galaxy redshift surveys now underway and which will obtain of order a million redshifts have the sensitivity to probe large-scale power in density fluctuations in the nearby Universe. The stars move on three-dimensional tori. Vernon M. Gerrish, in Semiconductors and Semimetals, 1995. Current research in observational astrophysics and cosmology at Stanford covers a wide range of approaches to tackling the most important frontiers. We are involved in the definition of the science case for such a telescope, with particular focus on the larger end of the range, from 50-100m (this work is supported by the European network OPTICON) Oxford is also involved in a major European technical design study for an ELT. Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. Research topics Black Holes When a giant star—about 10 to 30 times the mass of the Sun—exhausts its fuel, gravity can pull the star's core into a sphere a tiny fraction of its original size. Through a developing link with the CLRC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (also involved in the FMOS project) we are also contributing to the design and construction of a new 4-m. class survey telescope (VISTA) which will be sited close to the VLT in Chile in 2006. The progenitor of SN 1993J on the other hand seems to have been a star mainly consisting of helium and heavier elements with a very small hydrogen-rich envelope. Type Ia supernovae have recently been used as cosmological distance candles (See Section 1.1.9) to measure the curvature of the Universe. No doubt every topic related to the UNIVERSE is interesting but let’s see some famous and “most” interesting topics about the UNIVERSE. Oxford researchers are carrying out a co-ordinated program to build up a larger sample of black hole mass measurements, especially at the low and high mass ends, to explore the dependence of black hole mass on galaxy morphology, level of activity, radio properties etc. This question is surprisingly difficult to answer, even for the simplest case of a perfectly spherical galaxy. Two of the major areas of stellar research involve the study of the late evolution of stars leading to supernova explosions and the modelling of binaries, in particular those containing compact objects. You can also see more topics in NASA and ISRO’s research areas. The Anglo-Australian 2dF Redshift Survey measured redshifts for 250,000 galaxies; this provided the first three-dimensional measurements of galaxy clustering on the large scales that may be studied at early cosmic epochs by measuring fluctuations in the microwave background. By undertaking your own research project at ANU you could open up an exciting career in science. Research Topics Space Physics and Planetary Science Much of space is filled with material in the plasma state (the solar atmosphere and solar wind, planetary magnetospheres etc.). The topics of the seminars have varied over the 3 years that they have offered them. Predictions of inflationary cosmology, such as the origin and spectrum of density fluctuations and the distribution and composition of dark matter, are important to the understanding of galaxy formation and sensitively depend on the details of the correct particle theory. Astronomy and Astrophysics. LMU/USM Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Artificial Intelligence Group. A dedicated team of five researchers has already begun working on the project. As a result of a complete merger, the neutron star sinks to the centre of the massive star forming a new hybrid object, generally referred to as a Thorne-Zytkow object (TZO). We are also involved in a joint OPTICON-PPARC effort to define and develop science programs for the next generation of 30 and 100 meter telescopes (ELTs). In the study of gravitational lenses, the program's main efforts are to discover new lens systems and to use known systems to extract information of astrophysical interest. The particle relics from the beginning of the Universe may surround us today in the form of dark matter in galaxy halos. In addition to using normal and active galaxies as cosmological probes, there are a number of programmes at Oxford which aim to improve our understanding of how active galaxies work. The Oxford instrumentation group have recently won a Marie Curie Excellence Grant from the European Commission for the design and realisation of SWIFT, a novel integral field spectrograph. A Study on the Role of Physics in the Reduction of Global Warming. Oxford will be responsible for the spectrograph module of KMOS, and for part of the data analysis and reduction software. Improved techniques for the analysis of stellar spectra are under development; these take advantage of better computer hardware, numerical methods and (most important of all) recent advances in atomic and molecular physics. This is evidently asymmetric; for example, the infrared light distribution is brighter towards positive longitudes than negative longitudes. By conducting high resolution observations using adaptive optics at near infrared wavelengths, Oxford researchers are studying the close-in nuclear environment of active galaxies. Integral field and long slit data at near infrared wavelengths, where dust extinction is less significant, are being used to probe the nuclei of spiral galaxies, thus complementing present work that has concentrated on early-type galaxies. For example, in globular clusters, LMXBs may form as a result of the tidal capture of a neutron star by a normal star. However, it can be a daunting task to find unique, interesting topics like the ones listed below: How can physics reduce global warming? Research Following the University's motto, 'Ever to Excel', the research in the School is focused in three main areas of excellence: astrophysics, condensed matter physics, and photonics. Perhaps you would like to determine how best to aim a rifle in order to hit a target with a bullet. Understanding how galaxies form and unravelling the nature of the origin of the large-scale structure of the Universe are key unresolved issues in cosmology. The group also coordinates the UK scientific perspectives on the telescopes, instruments and operations and represents these to our international partners. To tackle this problem we need both a physical model for the evolution of quasars, radio sources and active galaxies, and also we need new observational information. The group is involved in a wide-range of projects covering a whole range of frequencies, from low radio frequecies to hundreds of GHz, and develops novel techniques to be used in future experiments. 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