Cambridge astronomers are using the Planck satellite to measure the Universe's age, size, and dark matter content with unprecedented precision. This research tackles two fundamental gaps in our knowledge: what dark matter and dark energy actually are, and how galaxies—including our own Milky Way—formed and evolved over cosmic time. The team combines multiple approaches: studying fossil records of stars in nearby galaxies, observing distant galaxies as they appeared up to 12 billion years ago, and using X-ray spectroscopy to measure the spin of supermassive black holes at galaxy centres. They are also investigating how stars form from giant molecular clouds and how planetary systems develop around other stars. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. However, similar curiosity-driven research into the nature of the Universe has historically led to unexpected technologies—from the World Wide Web, invented at CERN to share particle physics data, to satellite navigation systems that rely on Einstein's theories of relativity. A deeper understanding of dark matter and black hole physics could, over decades, reshape our grasp of gravity and the fundamental forces that govern everything from atomic nuclei to the largest cosmic structures.
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This proposal is for a single Consolidated Grant to support the majority of research in Theoretical and Observational Astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge. The new grant subsumes research activity previously supported by STFC under the three generic themes: "Theory", "X-ray Astrophysics" and "Galaxy Formation and Evolution". The theoretical research profile includes work to understand the origin of the Universe itself. Members of the IoA are play a leading role in the European Space Agency Planck mission, and will lead a definitive determination of the parameters that both define the geometry of the Universe and quantify the age, size, dark matter, dark energy and baryonic content. The research links to one of the key goals in astrophysics: constraining the properties of the dark matter and dark energy content of the Universe. The Universe today is filled with galaxies, of which our own Milky Way is a not atypical example. A full understanding of galaxy formation and evolution requires multiple lines of attack. Observations of the resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and its Local Group companions provide a detailed fossil record of the dynamical assemblies of the galaxies, the formation of stars, and the buildup of heavy elements over a wide range of mass scales and initial conditions. At the other end of the scale, observations of distant galaxies spanning lookback times of up to 12 Gyr provide direct measurements of the evolution of galaxy populations and the buildup of stars and metals with cosmic time. Finally, measurements of the large-scale star formation and abundance properties of nearby galaxies form a vital astrophysical bridge between the studies of nearby resolved stellar populations and the distant high-redshift investigations, by allowing us to characterise the evolutionary properties of the Hubble sequence and the complex "gastrophysical" processes that regulate the accretion of gas and the formation of stars in galaxies. It is now recognised that there is an intimate link between the evolution of galaxies and the origin and properties of super-massive black holes, which reside at the centre of the Milky Way and other galaxies. The regions close to black holes allow the exploration of physics at the extremes. The formation and properties of super-massive black holes and their relation to the galaxies in which they reside is a research theme that involves theory, X-ray astrophysics and observational programmes in the grant. The X-ray based research will measure the spin of both the super-massive black holes, which power the enormous energy emissions from quasars, and the stellar-mass black holes in binary star systems. This work, based on spectroscopy of relativistically-broadened iron lines, will also provide insights into the accretion phenomena that power the systems. Within galaxies, the grant focuses on star formation, from the giant molecular clouds which give birth to stars, down to the more detailed investigations of the processes that lead to the formation of stars and star clusters within these molecular clouds. The investigations will combine state-of-the-art numerical simulations with analytical theory and a new set of multi-wavelength observations of nearby galaxies being obtained with the Herschel and Spitzer space observatories under IoA leadership. The quest to study planetary systems around stars and their formation is another key goal. Research activity in the grant extends from searches for the elusive brown-dwarf companions to normal hot stars through to theoretical work that concentrates on the properties of debris discs, discs of asteroids, cometary objects, and dust surrounding stars. A feature of the research is the investigation of debris discs surrounding both stars on the main sequence (where they spend the majority of their lives) and in the final stages of their evolution.
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