Research activity in Astronomy and Particle Physics
​Astronomical Surveys
Across all partners, we are interested in wide-field optical and infrared imaging and spectroscopic surveys. We use these surveys to image large areas of sky and lead spectroscopic follow up. Multi-wavelength studies across the EM spectrum increase the information content and data complexity. We exploit these data to study the static and time-domain universe: galaxy and stellar evolution, the large-scale structure of the universe, and the physical origin of dark energy.
We have key roles in Euclid, VISTA, 4MOST, Dark Energy Survey, DESI, LSST, and the Square Kilometre Array.
​
Staff:
Bacon, Crittenden, Maartens, Amara (Portsmouth)
Childress, Hoenig, Sullivan (Southampton)
Lewis, Loveday, Oliver, Romer, Sargent, Smith, Wilkins (Sussex)
Time-Domain Astrophysics
A key focus of our research concerns the transient sky and variability. We study black holes and neutron stars to understand accretion phenomena, test general relativity, and determine the equation-of-state of degenerate matter. Several of our staff are Affiliated PIs with the LSST survey, a revolutionary all-sky, high-cadence optical survey for the 2020s. Southampton, Sussex and Portsmouth have invested in new multi-object spectrographs (4MOST, DESI) ensuring our global leadership in the spectroscopic follow-up of transients discovered by LSST.
​
Staff:
Clark, Haswell, Kolb, Norton (Open University)
Nichol, Graur (Portsmouth)
Altamirano, Childress, Gandhi, Hoenig, Middleton, Sullivan (Southampton)
Collider Physics
CERN is the pivotal facility in particle physics. After the discovery of the Higgs boson, the next frontier will be the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. Crucial connections exist with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at all faculty levels, spanning from Monte Carlo event generation (HERWIG, CalcHEP) to real data analysis, from numerical tool provision (MVAs, BDTs, Machine Learning algorithms, etc.) to database exploitation (HEPMDB). We have leading roles in ATLAS (Sussex, QMUL) as experimentalists, or CMS (Southampton) as theorists.
Staff:
Bevan, Blumenschein, Di Lodovico, Hays, Katori, Rizvi, Wilson (QMUL)
Moretti, Belyaev, Accomando (Southampton)
Asquith, Banfi, Cerri, De Santo, Jaeger, Salvatore, Sanz, Vivarelli (Sussex)
Lattice Quantum Chromo Dynamics
Detailed numerical simulations test the particle physics Standard Model. Soton is part of the UKQCD Collaboration, exploiting UK (DiRAC) and US supercomputers for Lattice QCD. Among other topics, we are computing direct CP violation in kaon decays, addressing the asymmetry between matter and anti-matter.
​
Staff:
Flynn, Jüttner, Morris (Southampton)
Jaeger (Sussex)
Astrophysics Simulations
Physical interpretation of our survey data requires theory-based models. We develop and perform N-body and hydrodynamical simulations, including gravity, general relativity, and radiation feedback to support our observational efforts in compact objects, galaxy evolution, structure formation, the reionization epoch, and cosmology. These simulations require local high-performance computing capabilities (25,000 cores available across the DISCnet partners), as well as national and international facilities via DiRAC and PRACE.
Staff:
Crittenden, Koyama, Percival (Portsmouth)
Andersson, Di Bari, Ho, Hoenig, Jones, Shankar (Southampton)
Hindmarsh, Iliev, Thomas, Wilkins (Sussex)
Planetary Science, Space Instrumentation and Astrochemistry
We engage in space exploration with building instruments and exploiting the data-streams from planetary missions. Open University hosts instrument PIs of missions such as Huygens (Saturn), Rosetta (comet 67P), and Exomars. Various groups are exploiting these data to determine the history of Mars’s geology, study the magnetic fields of Saturn, and reveal the chemical evolution of our solar system.
​
Staff:
Fraser, Holland, Lewis, Mason, Patel (Open University)
Nelson (QMUL)
Barnett, Brown (Sussex)