Astronomy at St Andrews 2018-2021

圣安德鲁斯天文学 2018-2021

• 批准号: ST/R000824/1
• 负责人: Moira Jardine
• 金额: $ 171.94万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FR000824%2F1
• 关键词: Astronomy; St; Andrews; 2018; 2021

The St Andrews astronomy group is interested in questions of origins: where do galaxies, stars and planets come from, and what fundamental physics explains their formation? How widespread is life and how did it arise on Earth and on other worlds? We are world leaders in solving intricate mathematical problems, and we use novel methods such as observations at very high precision and simulations with super computers. We are joined by other groups across Scotland via the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), and internationally, in searching for hot and cool Earth-sized planets, homing in on habitable worlds where life could exist, and developing ways to detect life on those distant worlds.Our investigations span a wide range of size scales, from discovering planetary systems around stars a few light years away to measuring the force of gravity acting on the whole universe. We discover `hot Jupiters' by using robotic wide-angle cameras that monitor thousands of stars to find those that briefly dim each time an orbiting planet passes in front of its parent star. We measure the masses of these planets using high-precision spectrographs to measure how much the orbiting planet wobbles its host star. We discover cooler and smaller more Earth-like planets by using a global network of robotic telescopes to watch gravitational lenses, exploiting Einstein's prediction that a planet drifting across the sightline to a distant background star bends its light. We learn about how planets form by studying the light from the gas and dust grains that accumulate to form planets, comparing with our computer simulations to understand the chemistry may lead to formation of biological molecules.Young stars have strong magnetic fields that interact with orbiting planets and their own magnetic fields. We study the signatures of this interaction to understand how planets form and evolve. We investigate the physics of mineral clouds and lightning in atmospheres of cool brown dwarf stars and extrasolar planets, processes that may play a role in the origin of life. We compare observations and computer simulations to study how stars form in galaxies and how feedback from young stars drives a dynamic, bubbling interstellar medium, the dusty gas from which new stars are born. We include energetic supernova explosions when massive stars die and the ionising radiation from massive stars that heats the gas in the galaxy to temperatures above than 10,000 degrees Centigrade.On cosmological scales, we measure how gas and stars move within galaxies to study how galaxies form their characteristic shapes of flat discs, spiral arms and central bulges, and how these change as galaxies collide and merge to grow larger elliptical galaxies. We study the supermassive black holes that lurk in galaxy cores, to understand how they form and grow, and how their huge output of energy and radiation affects the host galaxy evolution. We study how gravity works both within galaxies and across the wider universe. Stars orbit in galaxies so fast that there appears to be too little mass to hold galaxies together, and our expanding universe appears to be accelerating. We understand gravity well enough to send space probes to other planets, but to understand these larger scale puzzles we investigate alternatives to current ideas of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, comparing our predictions with observations to test how gravity works.Thus we address all four of the STFC Science Roadmap Challenges: How did the Universe begin and how is it evolving? How do stars and planetary systems develop and is life unique to our planet? What are the fundamental constituents and fabric of the universe and how do they interact? How can we explore and understand the extremes of the universe? What are the laws of physics in extreme conditions? How do galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve? Are we alone in the Universe?

圣安德鲁斯天文学小组对起源的问题很感兴趣：星系、恒星和行星从哪里来，以及什么基本物理学可以解释它们的形成？生命有多普遍，它是如何在地球和其他世界出现的？我们在解决复杂的数学问题方面处于世界领先地位，我们使用新的方法，如非常高精度的观测和超级计算机模拟。我们通过苏格兰大学物理联盟(SUPA)与苏格兰各地的其他团体一起，以及在国际上，寻找地球大小的炎热和凉爽的行星，寻找可能存在生命的宜居世界，并开发出探测那些遥远世界的生命的方法。我们的研究跨越了广泛的大小范围，从发现几光年外的恒星周围的行星系统到测量作用于整个宇宙的引力。我们发现“热木星”的方法是使用机器人广角摄像机来监视数千颗恒星，以找出每当一颗绕轨道运行的行星从其母恒星前面经过时，那些短暂变暗的恒星。我们使用高精度光谱仪测量这些行星的质量，以测量这颗绕轨道运行的行星对其主恒星的摆动程度。我们通过使用机器人望远镜的全球网络来观察引力透镜，利用爱因斯坦的预测，发现了更冷、更小、更像地球的行星。爱因斯坦预测，一颗漂移到视线上的行星会弯曲其光线。我们通过研究积累形成行星的气体和尘埃颗粒的光来了解行星的形成，并与我们的计算机模拟进行比较，以了解化学可能导致生物分子的形成。年轻的恒星具有与绕轨道运行的行星相互作用的强磁场和它们自己的磁场。我们研究这种相互作用的特征，以了解行星是如何形成和演化的。我们研究了凉爽的棕矮星和太阳系外行星大气中矿物云和闪电的物理学，这些过程可能在生命起源中发挥作用。我们通过比较观测和计算机模拟来研究恒星是如何在星系中形成的，以及年轻恒星的反馈是如何驱动一种动态的、起泡的星际介质--尘埃气体--新恒星的诞生。我们包括当大质量恒星死亡时发生的高能超新星爆炸，以及来自大质量恒星的电离辐射，这些辐射将星系中的气体加热到超过10,000摄氏度。在宇宙尺度上，我们测量气体和恒星如何在星系中移动，以研究星系如何形成其特征形状的平盘、旋臂和中央凸起，以及当星系碰撞和合并形成更大的椭圆星系时，这些变化是如何发生的。我们研究隐藏在星系核心中的超大质量黑洞，以了解它们是如何形成和增长的，以及它们巨大的能量和辐射输出如何影响宿主星系的演化。我们研究引力如何在星系内和更广阔的宇宙中发挥作用。恒星在星系中运行的速度如此之快，以至于质量似乎太小，无法将星系聚集在一起，而我们膨胀的宇宙似乎正在加速。我们对引力的了解足以将太空探测器送到其他行星上，但为了理解这些更大规模的谜题，我们研究了暗物质和暗能量现有概念的替代方案，将我们的预测与观测进行比较，以测试引力是如何工作的。因此，我们解决了STFC科学路线图的所有四个挑战：宇宙是如何开始的，它是如何演化的？恒星和行星系统是如何发展的，生命是我们星球独有的吗？宇宙的基本成分和结构是什么，它们是如何相互作用的？我们怎样才能探索和理解宇宙的极端呢？极端条件下的物理定律是什么？星系、恒星和行星是如何形成和演化的？我们在宇宙中是孤独的吗？

项目成果

MOA-2019-BLG-008Lb: A New Microlensing Detection of an Object at the Planet/Brown Dwarf Boundary

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac78ed
• 发表时间: 2022-05
• 期刊: The Astronomical Journal
• 作者: E. Bachelet;Y. Tsapras;A. Gould;R. Street;D. Bennett;M. Hundertmark;V. Bozza;D. Bramich;A. Cassan;M. Dominik;K. Horne;S. Mao;A. Saha;J. Wambsganss;W. Zang;F. Abe;R. Barry;D. Bennett;A. Bhattacharya;I. Bond;A. Fukui;H. Fujii;Y. Hirao;Y. Itow;R. Kirikawa;I. Kondo;N. Koshimoto;Y. Matsubara;Sho Matsumoto;S. Miyazaki;Y. Muraki;G. Olmschenk;C. Ranc;A. Okamura;N. Rattenbury;Y. Satoh;T. Sumi;D. Suzuki;S. I. Silva;T. Toda;P. Tristram;A. Vandorou;H. Yama;M. Albrow;S. Chung;C. Han;K. Hwang;Y. Jung;Y. Ryu;I. Shin;Y. Shvartzvald;J. Yee;S. Cha;Dong-Jin Kim;Seung-Lee Kim;Chung-Uk Lee;Dong-Joo Lee;Yongseok Lee;B.-G. Park;R. Pogge;A. Udalski;P. Mróz;R. Poleski;J. Skowron;M. Szymański;I. Soszyński;P. Pietrukowicz;S. Kozłowski;K. Ulaczyk;K. Rybicki;P. Iwanek;M. Wrona;M. Gromadzki

Sub-m s-1 upper limits from a deep HARPS-N radial-velocity search for planets orbiting HD 166620 and HD 144579

对围绕 HD 166620 和 HD 144579 运行的行星进行深度 HARPS-N 径向速度搜索的 Sub-m s-1 上限

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad2381
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Anna John A

An ultra-short-period transiting super-Earth orbiting the M3 dwarf TOI-1685

绕 M3 矮星 TOI-1685 运行的超短周期凌日超级地球

• DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202140688
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• 影响因子: 6.5
• 作者: Bluhm P

First Assessment of the Binary Lens OGLE-2015-BLG-0232

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aaedb9
• 发表时间: 2018-11
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: E. Bachelet;V. Bozza;C. Han;A. Udalski;I. Bond;J. Beaulieu;J. Beaulieu;R. Street;Hyosun Kim;D. Bramich;A. Cassan;M. Dominik;R. Jaimes;R. Jaimes;R. Jaimes;K. Horne;M. Hundertmark;M. Hundertmark;S. Mao;J. Menzies;C. Ranc;R. Schmidt;C. Snodgrass;I. Steele;Y. Tsapras;J. Wambsganss;P. Mróz;I. Soszyński;M. Szymański;J. Skowron;P. Pietrukowicz;S. Kozłowski;R. Poleski;K. Ulaczyk;M. Pawlak;F. Abe;R. Barry;D. Bennett;D. Bennett;A. Bhattacharya;A. Bhattacharya;M. Donachie;A. Fukui;A. Fukui;Y. Hirao;Y. Itow;K. Kawasaki;I. Kondo;N. Koshimoto;M. Li;Y. Matsubara;Y. Muraki;Sei Miyazaki;M. Nagakane;N. Rattenbury;H. Suematsu;D. Sullivan;T. Sumi;D. Suzuki;P. Tristram;A. Yonehara

Amplitude Modulation of Short-timescale Hot Spot Variability

短时尺度热点变化的幅度调制

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abc889
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Biddle L