University of Sussex Astronomy Consolidated Grant 2017-2020

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This proposal seeks funds to continue an extensive programme of research into extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology, by addressing some of the most pressing astronomical questions of our time, such as "What are the fundamental constituents of the Universe?", "What is the nature of inflation and dark energy, believed to drive accelerated expansion in the early and late universe", "What processes govern the formation of the largest objects and structure in our universe?, and "How do galaxies form and evolve"? We will do this by combining theoretical work, much of it using high-performance computers, with multi-wavelength observational surveys. We will apply advanced techniques for making numerical predictions, data analysis and modelling, and deploy our skills through a series of international projects.The research consists of fifteen varied but interconnected projects, each involving one or more faculty members and researchers, that can be collected into three broad themes: Early and late universe cosmology; Galaxy simulation and modelling; Galaxy and cluster observations and analysis. In summary:Early and late universe cosmology: a series of projects will address theoretical predictions and observational constraints on inflation, dark energy and large scale structure. Our work encompasses both the development of theoretical frameworks and the analysis of cutting edge observational datasets (including the Planck satellite, the Dark Energy Survey, the XMM-Newton Cluster Survey (XCS), and the POLARBEAR-2 experiment). Galaxy simulation and modelling: we will use Peta-scale computing facilities to carry out detailed studies of the formation and evolution of the first structures, and make statistical predictions that can be used in the exploitation of new and upcoming observational facilities such as JWST, Euclid, LOFAR, ALMA, and SKA.Galaxy and cluster observations: we will make use of multi-wavelength observations to answer a variety of questions concerning the formation and evolution of galaxies. We will continue to exploit our involvement in HerMES, the Dark Energy Survey, the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey, and XCS. In particular we will develop a new set of advanced tools with which to analyse observations from these projects as well as upcoming facilities such as the James Webb Space Telescope.