Astronomy Research at Queen Mary 2012-2015

我们的天文学研究计划包括跨越学科广度的项目。我们将研究太阳系的各个方面，如土星环系统，类地行星的形成，太阳日冕中的粒子加速和太阳风中的湍流。虽然这些项目植根于太阳系，但其结果将与许多其他天体物理环境相关。我们将研究太阳系外行星的各个方面，包括形成和大气层。我们将开展研究宇宙学和宇宙早期历史的项目。虽然我们的大多数项目是理论性的，但我们将开展观测项目，如VISTA调查。大范围的研究领域提供了一个刺激的环境，鼓励天文学作为所有宇宙及其历史的研究。我们现在知道有许多行星围绕太阳以外的恒星运行。这些太阳系外的行星和我们太阳系中的行星是如何形成的，这是一个悬而未决的问题。行星在年轻恒星周围观察到的气体尘埃盘中形成。我们将使用复杂的计算机模拟来模拟这些圆盘，并研究嵌入的星子和行星的演化。我们将研究星子之间的碰撞;行星的迁移;气体吸积和通过形成巨行星在盘中形成间隙。我们将使用模拟行星碰撞的模拟代码来研究岩石类地行星的形成。我们还将研究短周期行星的大气动力学。它们与星星的接近产生了强烈的热量和复杂的流动模式，这些模式可以用来解释对这些热行星的观测。卡西尼号太空使命提供了大量的土星环图像。我们将以F环-普罗米修斯系统为范例，研究一个经过的卫星引起环中引力不稳定性的机制。我们可以在数值模拟中对此进行建模，并通过与卡西尼数据中看到的实际环和伴随的小卫星进行比较来测试我们的结果。土星环的寿命是一个未解决的问题。目前最好的估计表明，环只能存活约400 My，或<太阳系年龄的10%。我们打算研究一种可能的方法来“锁定”环系统，使用与更大质量的外部卫星（如土卫一）的共振。我们还将为罗塞塔CONSERT团队提供有关木星家族彗星的最新信息。日冕是太阳大气层的上层，也是太阳风的来源，太阳风是流经太阳系的等离子体。了解太阳风如何保持高温是一个关键问题，我们将研究等离子体湍流的作用以及它如何在最小的动力学尺度上消散。日冕也是高能粒子的来源，解释电子和离子如何在耀斑中加速是一个长期存在的问题。我们将研究加速过程中使用的波（色散阿尔芬波）和粒子的相互作用，基于现实的非均匀等离子体配置。所有这些研究都将使用大规模的自洽等离子体模拟。近年来，宇宙学已经从一个数据贫乏的领域转变为一个数据丰富的领域。宇宙微波背景（CMB）实验和大尺度结构调查促成了这种转变，挑战理论宇宙学家解释这些数据集。我们将开展四个不同但互补的项目。我们将扩展宇宙微扰理论超越线性秩序，并将其应用到新的现象和观测。我们对暴胀宇宙学的研究集中在早期宇宙的新多场模型及其观测结果。我们将研究黑洞作为宇宙学和粒子物理学的探针，并研究宇宙学中所谓的冲浪效应，以获得使用CMB的偏振对宇称违反的约束。

Our programme of research in Astronomy comprises projects spanning the breadth of the subject. We will study aspects of the solar system such as Saturn's ring system, the formation of the terrestrial planets, particle acceleration in the solar corona and turbulence in the solar wind. Although rooted in the solar system, the results of these projects will be relevant for many other astrophysical environments. We will study aspects of extra-solar planets, including formation and atmospheres. We will carry out projects to study cosmology and the early history of the Universe. Although the majority of our projects are theoretical, we will carry out observational projects such as the VISTA surveys. The large range of research areas provides a stimulating environment which encourages a view of Astronomy as the study of all of the Universe and its history. We now know of many planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. How these extra-solar planets and those in our Solar System formed is a major unsolved question. Planets form in the gas-dust discs observed around young stars. We will use sophisticated computer simulations to model these discs, and examine the evolution of embedded planetesimals and planets. We will study collisions between planetesimals; migration of planets; gas accretion and gap formation in the disc by forming giant planets. We will examine the formation of rocky terrestrial planets using simulation codes which model planetary collisions. We will also examine atmospheric dynamics in short-period planets. Their proximity to the star generates intense heating and complex flow patterns which may be used to interpret observations of these hot planets. The Cassini space mission has provided a wealth of images of the rings of Saturn. We will study the mechanism by which gravitational instability in a ring can be induced by a passing moon using the F ring-Prometheus system as a paradigm. We can model this in numerical simulations and test our results by comparison with actual rings and accompanying moonlets seen in Cassini data. The lifetime of Saturn's rings is an unsolved problem. The current best estimate suggests that the rings can only survive for ~400My, or <10% of the age of the solar system. We intend to investigate a possible means of "locking" the ring system using a resonance with a more massive, exterior moon such as Mimas. We will also provide the Rosetta CONSERT team with the latest information on Jupiter family comets.The corona is the upper layer of the Sun's atmosphere and the source of the solar wind, the plasma which flows out through the solar system. Understanding how the solar wind stays hot is a key problem and we will study the role of plasma turbulence and how it dissipates at the smallest kinetic scales. The solar corona is also a source of energetic particles, and explaining how electrons and ions are accelerated in flares is a long-standing problem. We will study acceleration processes which use the interaction of waves (dispersive Alfven waves) and particles, based on realistic inhomogeneous plasma configurations. All these studies will use large-scale, self-consistent plasma simulations. Cosmology has been transformed in recent years from a data poor to a very data rich area. Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments and Large Scale Structure surveys have contributed to this transformation, challenging theoretical cosmologists to explain these data sets. We will work on four different but complementary projects. We will extend cosmological perturbation theory beyond linear order and apply it to new phenomena and observables. Our study of inflationary cosmology focuses on new multi-field models of the early universe and their observational consequences. We will investigate black holes as a probe of cosmology and particle physics, and study the so-called surfing effect in cosmology to obtain constraints on parity violation using the polarisation of the CMB.