The Radio Universe: astronomy and astrophysics at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics 2014-2017

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The Universe is in a state of continuous evolution. The Big Bang left small irregularities which later grew into clusters, galaxies, and stars. Large black holes formed at the centre of the galaxies. Stars and black holesinteract with their environment, heating the gas through jets and supernova explosions, and enriching the galaxies with new elements formed in stars, and with molecules and dust. The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics studies the various phases of evolution especially through radio emission. Radio emission traces ionized plasmas which are found in high energy environments, The irregularities of the Big Bang are studied through the cosmic microwave radio emission. Galaxies emit radio emission from jets emitted by the black holes, and from gas ionized by massive stars. The cores of massive stars, left after their supernova explosions, emit radio pulses as so-called pulsars. All these radio emissions are detected using a variety of telescopes. The Planck Space Telescope observes the cosmic microwave background. The Lovell Telescope detects the emission from pulsars. The e-Merlin array resolves the emission from individual galaxies. Jodrell Bank is active in each of these areas. The research is supported by an active technology program. We develop cryogenically cooled amplifiers, and low noise detectors at high and low frequencies, both for space telescopes and ground-based. Much of our research is based on wide area surveys. In addition to radio surveys, we also make use of high resolution optical surveys. Gravity is an important focus for our research. The bending of light and radio waves can be used to detect material otherwise invisible. We use this to detect planets in the outer regions of the stellar systems. Gravitational waves can be detected through the long-term monitoring of pulsars. The research in this grant covers cosmology, from the origin of large-scale structure in the Universe to the formation of cluster of galaxies, Pulsars, both as objects in their own right and as tracers of gravity, star formation, winds from the Sun, stars and extrasolar planets. It is supported by a vigorous program of development of radio technology.The future of radio astronomy is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), in which the UK has a leading role. The research of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics is directed towards the SKA. Over the next three years, we will continue our study of the radio Universe at all scales. The SKA will bring this to fruition, and provide a unique tracer of the continuing evolution of the Universe.