At Jodrell Bank, researchers are using dead stars as cosmic clocks to test the limits of Einstein's theory of gravity beyond the solar system. This grant funds three broad research groups at the University of Manchester. The cosmology group studies how the Universe's large-scale structure formed, using gravitational lensing and the cosmic microwave background to understand dark matter and dark energy—which together make up more than 95% of the Universe's content. The pulsars group monitors neutron stars whose radio emissions pulse with extraordinary regularity, allowing precise tests of gravity and the nature of spacetime. The Sun, stars and galaxies group investigates how massive stars form and evolve, and how magnetic fields and interstellar gas shape galaxies. This is fundamental science. It does not aim for an immediate practical application. But similar curiosity-driven research has repeatedly produced unexpected breakthroughs—pulsar timing arrays, for instance, are now being used to detect gravitational waves, a technique that could one day improve navigation systems or timing infrastructure. A deeper understanding of gravity and dark matter may also reshape how we model everything from satellite orbits to the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions.
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This grant supports the research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Our research is a divided into 3 groups. There are too many specific proposals to describe in detail, do below we have given a brief layman's explanation of the work being carried out by the three groups. Cosmology: This is the study of the Universe as a whole. The main aim is to understand the processes by which the large scale feature of the Universe formed and to constrain the various different kinds of matter that existed within it. These include dark matter and dark energy which are thought to constitute more than 95% of the total. We do this by comparison to observations of weak and strong gravitational lensing which is the distortion of light predicted to be caused by massive objects in Einstein' Theory of General Relativity, the cosmic microwave background which is the faint emission of radiation created at the time when protons and electrons come together to form hydrogen and the emission given off by neutral hydrogen atoms in galaxies. The research we propose here involves both theory and observation as well as the development of the technology necessary to make the observations possible. Pulsars and Time Domain Astrophysics: The focus of this group is astrophysical signatures that are changing with time - signals which go on and off, often with some kind of regularity. These include Pulsars which are a non-standard star type, known as a neutron star, which is a dead star supported by the quantum pressure of neutrons. The radio emission from these objects pulses on an off with extraordinary regularity allowing them to acts cosmic clocks. The constantly measuring these clocks as the neutron stars spin and move through space, often impacted on by a companion star, allows the most precise constraints on the nature of gravity outside the solar system. Other phenomena studied by this group include Nova explosions, other variable stars, and variability induced by the lensing effects of one star passing in front of another, called microlensing. Sun, Stars and Galaxies: The researchers in this group study a wide range of astrophysical processes that are reasonable for the formation and evolution of the objects in the name of the group. Specific key areas that the group is interested in are the formation of stars much larger than the Sun and the subsequent evolution, the properties of the so-called interstellar medium (ISM) which comprises molecules not bound to stars and the magnetic fields that permeate space.
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