Astrophysics & Space Research Group :: This Week Archive (2024)

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Week Commencing 3 May 2021 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Pulsar Timing Arrays – Group Study/Journal Club Publications Week Commencing 16 November 2020 ASR Group Meeting Publications Week Commencing 26 October 2020 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 12 October 2020 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet Physics Colloquium Publications Week Commencing 28 September 2020 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet Physics Colloquium Publications Lucy Thomas Week Commencing 22 June 2020 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar / PhD Meet & Greet Publications Week Commencing 2 March 2020 ASR Management Group Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 17 February 2020 ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 27 January 2020 Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 6 January 2020 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Visitors Publications Week Commencing 18 November 2019 ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City PhD Student Career Session New Starters Publications Week Commencing 11 November 2019 ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar New Starters Publications Mobile app - Chirp Week Commencing 28 October 2019 ASR Management Meeting Great Network Gravitational School Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 21 October 2019 ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 14 October 2019 ASR Management Meeting Code Review Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics Seminar Sebastian Gaebel PhD Viva Alejandro Vigna Gomez Week Commencing 30 September 2019 Official Opening of Poynting Admin Hub ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics Seminar Astronomy in the City Briefing New Staff & Students Week Commencing 16 September 2019 ASR Management Meeting School Committee Meeting Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch Astrophysics Seminar Week Commencing 09 September 2019 New Starters PhD Viva ASR Management Meeting Autumn Open Day Publications / Recent Submissions Change of Hours Week Commencing 22 July 2019 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Publications Week Commencing 24 June 2019 School Committee Meeting ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Publications End of the Financial Year Week Commencing 20 May 2019 Outreach Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Publications Week Commencing 29 April 2019 Solar and Stellar Physics Group Seminar ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Physics Collopquium Publications Week Commencing 1 April 2019 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting New Starters Week Commencing 18 March 2019 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar Physics Colloquium New Starters Publications Week Commencing 25 February 2019 ASR Management Group Phased Grating Interferometry -a practical measurement application Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar Week Commencing 18 February 2019 Astrophysics Seminar Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 11 February 2019 ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar "Crash Course" on Stellar Evolution Week Commencing 4 February 2019 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar Physics Colloquium Astrophysics Seminar Week Commencing 28 January 2019 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar Code Review Meeting Publications Week Commencing 19 November 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 15 October 2018 Code Review Group Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 8 October 2018 Code Review Group ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Publications Week Commencing 24 September 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Visitors New Staff Publications Week Commencing 2 July 2018 EPS Summer Social ASR Journal Club Degree Congregation and Procession Publications Week Commencing 11 June 2018 Visitors Publications Week Commencing 14 May 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 30 April 2018 ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 5 March 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 19 February 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 12 February2018 ASR Management Group ASR Journal Club School Colloquium Visitors Physics Second Floor Coffee Lounge Week Commencing 29 January 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 22 January 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 8 January 2018 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Week Commencing 27 November 2017 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Special Seminar Publications Week Commencing 20 November 2017 ASR Management Group Scientific Writing Seminar Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 13 November 2017 ASR Management Group Astrophysics Year 4 Welcome Event Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 6 November 2017 Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Publications Published: Submitted: Week Commencing 30 October 2017 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 23 October 2017 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 16 October 2017 Announcement of New Gravitational Wave Results ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 2 October 2017 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar New Starters Week Commencing 18 September 2017 ASR Management Group School Committee Meeting Cosmic Mergers – from massive black holes to massive clusters Visitors Publications Week Commencing 7 August Visitors Archive Week Commencing 22 May ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Journal Club Physics Colloquium Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Publications Week Commencing 15 May ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 8 May ASR Management Meeting Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Birmingham / Frankfurt Workshop Astrophysics Seminar Publications Week Commencing 23 January ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 6 March 2017 ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 27 February Second Floor Coffee Lounge ASR Management Meeting Journal Club Week Commencing 13 February Astrophysics Seminar ASR Management Meeting Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 6 February Second Floor Coffee Lounge Astrophysics Seminar ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Week Commencing 30 January Special Astrophysics Seminar ASR Management Meeting Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Visitors Week Commencing 23 January ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Physics Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 9 January ASR Management Meeting Physics Colloquium AstroSoc Lecture New Starter Publications Week Commencing 6 December ASR Management Meeting ASR Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Publications Week Commencing 28 November Special Seminar ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Visitors Week Commencing 21 November ASR Management Meeting ASR Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 7 November ASR Management Meeting Dr Massimo Dotti Lectures 3 and 4 Focus Group - Does the academic journal have a future? ASR Journal Club Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar EPS Inaugural lecture Awards Week Commencing 31 October TESS Data for Asteroseismology Workshop ASR Management Meeting Dr Massimo Dotti Lectures ASR Group Meeting School Colloquium Week Commencing 17 October ASR Management Meeting School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Visitors Week Commencing 10 October ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics Special Seminar ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Special Astrophysics Seminar Visitors Week Commencing 3 October ASR Management Meeting Journal Club School Colloquium Week Commencing 26 September ASR Management Meeting ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 19 September ASR Management Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 12 September ASR Management Meeting Publications Astrophysics & Space Research /HiROS Groups Seminar Publications Week Commencing 4 July Journal Club Visitors Publications Week Commencing 6 June LSST UK Cluster Meeting Science Jamboree ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Visitors Week Commencing 16 May 2016 ASR Management GroupTuesday 17 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 18 May 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHere are a couple of references ahead of my journal club on Wednesday;[www.youtube.com] (A nice introductory lecture)[www.astro.caltech.edu] (A summary article of a few of the potential astrophysical interpretations)My rough plan is to spend the first half of my talk introducing neuralnetworks in a general sense, then I'll lead a discussion on their pros andcons, especially in an astrophysical setting. Jim BarrettSchool ColloquiumWednesday 18 May 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Chris Pickard, University of CambridgeTitle: Random explorations of material structure spaceThe use of stochastic optimisation strategies for first principles structureprediction is now well established. There are many examples of thesetechniques making genuine discoveries. Ab Initio Random Structure Searching(AIRSS), in which initial starting structures are randomly generated andrelaxed repeatedly, is extremely simple, reliable and suited to highthroughput computation. Typical functional materials are ternary, orquaternary compounds. It is important to perform a search over compositionalspace as thoroughly and broadly as possible. I will discuss how AIRSS may beused to do this, paying particular attention to pulling apart structures wehave already found, to make new, random ones.PublicationsMoore, C. J., Chua, A. J. K., Berry, C. P. L. & Gair, J. R.Fast methods for training Gaussian processes on large data sets; RoyalSociety Open Science; 3(5):160125; 2016; arXiv:1604.01250.Week Commencing 9 May 2016Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarMonday 9 May 2016, 2pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: James Guillochon, Harvard CfATitle: Tidal disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes: dynamics, light and relicsMost supermassive black holes in the local universe lie dormant, with only onein a hundred accreting at their Eddington limits. Aside from this activeminority, and the black holes in nearby galaxies that we can observe toinfluence the dynamics of stars and gas, most remain difficult to study. Tidaldisruptions of stars by supermassive black holes give these dormant blackholes a chance to be seen once every ~10,000 years, and each tidal disruptionbrings along with it a host of observable signatures that can be studied fromgigaparsecs away, from the moment of the disruption to millennia after adisruption has occurred. In my talk I will present work I have done on tidaldisruptions of stars, and describe their dynamics, observational signaturesfrom real-time monitoring, and relics of disruption that may exist in plainsight.ASR Management GroupTuesday 10 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 11 May 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Sean Matt, University of ExeterTitle: Rotation, Magnetic Activity and Mass Loss of Sun-Like StarsAn enormous amount of what we know about the universe and our own place onEarth depends on our understanding of stars. Yet, even for the most familiarstars, there are still major unsolved questions related to rotation, magneticactivity, and mass loss. I will discuss an emerging self-consistent picturethat links all of these processes together and to the overall evolution ofSun-like and low-mass stars. This progress is due to large and diverse newdatasets, advances in physical models for the loss of angular momentum (whichitself depends upon magnetism and mass loss), and the incorporation of thesemodels into long-term stellar evolution calculations.Week Commencing 25 April 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 26 April 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR GroupWednesday 27 April 2016, 12pm, PW LibraryAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 27 April 2016, 2.30pm, PW Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Moira Jardine, St AndrewsTitle: The Space Weather of other SunsAbstract: "Space Weather" describes the impact that the Sun has on itsenvironment through the magnetically powered flares, mass ejections and windthat it produces. Although the Sun is a relatively inactive star, the impactof a large solar mass ejection can damage satellite electronics, shut downterrestrial power grids and disrupt radio communications. On more activestars, we might expect even more dramatic space weather and a greater impacton any orbiting planets. In this talk I will describe how we can useobservations that reveal the geometry of stellar magnetic fields tounderstand the nature of the accompanying space weather.HiROS Lectureship PositionThursday 28 & Friday 29 April 2016, PW Lecture Theatre 117We will be holding interviews later this week for a lectureship position inrthe HiROS group. On Thursday 28th, the candidates will be giving open talkson their research plans in Physics West 117. Please do come along, all arewelcome. The schedule is below:Lectureship talks, Thu 28th, W117:11.00 - 11.45 Dr Anne-Marie Broomhall (Warwick) "Seismological insights intothe magnetic activity of the Sun and other stars"11.45 - 12.30 Dr Guy Davies (Birmingham) "The unseen interior of stars:Finding our place in the Universe"15.00 - 15.45 Dr Paula Jofre (IoA, Cambridge) "Using the stars we know mostabout to help understanding the stars we know nothing about"15.45 - 16.30 Dr Hannah Schunker (Max Planck, Göttingen), "Solving the SolarDynamo Problem"VisitorsWednesday 27 April 2016This is just to let you know that Phil Evans from Leicester will be visiting.Phil works with the Swift satellite, looking at GRBs and their afterglows.He's been very active in the joint LIGO-Swift analyses during the O1observing run and is interested in how we can use LIGO's distance estimationto improve follow-up strategies. Walter and I have planned to discuss thistopic with Phil, and others are welcome to join too if interested.Alternatively, if you want to arrange a meeting with Phil while he's herethen let me know; or you can simply come along for lunch at Staff House Dr John Veitch.PublicationsAnalysis Framework for the Prompt Discovery of Compact Binary Mergers inGravitational-wave Data Cody Messick et al. (including Gareth Thomas)http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04324Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black HoleCarl L. Rodriguez, Carl-Johan Haster, Sourav Chatterjee, Vicky Kalogera,Frederic A. Rasiohttp://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04254Going the Distance: Mapping Host Galaxies of LIGO Sources in Three DimensionsUsing Local Cosmography and Targeted Follow-upL. P. Singer, H.-Y. Chen, D. E. Holz, W. M. Farr, L. R. Price, V. Raymond,S. B. Cenko, N. Gehrels, J. Cannizzo, M. M. Kasliwal, S. Nissanke, M. Coughlin,B. Farr, Alex L. Urban, S. Vitale, J. Veitch, P. Graff, C. P. L. Berry, S.Mohapatra, I. Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1603.07333The limits of astrophysics with gravitational wave backgroundsThomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Eric Thrane, Shi Qiu, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02513Congratulations to Professor Mandel & OthersI am very pleased to announce that promotions have been conferred by theUniversity's Promotions and Titles Committee for:Nicola Wilkin, Professor (TF)Ilya Mandel, ProfessorPaul Norman, Reader (TF)Dima Gangardt, ReaderAndrey Kaplin, Senior LecturerI am sure you would like to join me in congratulating them on theirachievements which recognise contributions ranging from research toteaching and impact. Martin FreerWeek Commencing 14 March 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 22 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 23 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Daisuke Kawata, UCLTitle: Structure and Metallicity Distributions of Chemically DecomposedThick and Thin Disk Populations of the Milky Way DiskWe first summarise the thick and thin disk formation scenario commonly seenin cosmological N-body simulations. As suggested in Brook et al. (2004), ahierarchical clustering scenario causes multiple minor gas-rich mergers, andleads to the formation of kinematically hot disk, thick disk population, ata high redshift. Once the mergers become less significant at later epoch,the thin disk population starts building up. Because in this scenario thethick disk population forms intensively at high redshift through multiplegas-rich mergers, the thick disk population is compact and hassystematically higher [α/Fe] abundance than the thin disk population. Inaddition, we show that the current cosmological simulation also naturallypredict that the thin disk population is flaring at the outer region.Consequently, at the high vertical height from the disk plane, the compactthick disk population (low metallicity and high [α/Fe]) is dominant in theinner region and the flaring thin disk population (high metallicity and low[α/Fe]) contributes more in the outer region. This helps to explain thepositive radial metallicity gradient and negative radial [α/Fe] gradientobserved at the high vertical height in the Milky Way stellar disk.We then discuss how radial migration impacts the metallicity distribution ofthe thin disc population. We demonstrate that the flaring star formingregion could be required to explain the negative vertical metallicitygradient observed in the thin disc population.School ColloquiumWednesday 23 March 2016, 4pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117 (NOTE CHANGEOF VENUE)Speaker: Prof Stephen Smartt, Queens University, BelfastTitle: Collapse of massive stars to black holes - the missing progenitors ofsupernovaeMassive stars collapse to form neutron stars and black holes. In doing sothey produce the population of core-collapse supernovae we see in the nearbyUniverse. Over the last 15 years we have been able to directly identifythe progenitors of supernovae, link them with explosions and in some casesconfirm the disappearance of the star. The number of discoveries ofprogenitors now allows some interesting comparisons between observationaldata and explosion models. There appears to be a distinct lack of brightsupernovae from the most massive stars, which suggests that stars over acertain mass limit produce black holes with no visible explosion.I will discuss this mass limit, which could be as low as 16 solar masses andthe implications in the LIGO/Virgo era of detections of compact binarymergers.PublicationsPublished:Detectability of Gravitational Waves from High-Redshift Binaries Pablo A.Rosado, Paul D. Lasky, Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, and AlbertoSesana Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 101102 – Published 10 March 2016[journals.aps.org] Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compactobjects and intermediate-mass black holes Carl-Johan Haster, Zhilu Wang,Christopher P. L. Berry, Simon Stevenson, John Veitch, Ilya Mandel MNRAS457, 4499 [mnras.oxfordjournals.org] Submitted:The Chemically hom*ogeneous Evolutionary Channel for Binary Black HoleMergers: Rates and Properties of Gravitational-Wave Events Detectable byAdvanced LIGO Selma de Mink and Ilya Mandel [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 7 March 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 8 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 9 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106Gareth Thomas to deliver the science talkAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 9 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Guy Davies, University of BirminghamTitle: Solar activity, stellar rotation and anomalous weakened magneticbrakingAbstract: The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generationof magnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler spacetelescope we have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sunstop spinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic brakingis that a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).Astronomy in the CityWednesday 9 March 2016, 6pm Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe fourth of our talks celebrating the 100th anniversary of GeneralRelativity. Dr Graham Smith will speak about the bending of light,Einstein's greatest blunder, cosmic acceleration, and the exciting future ofthe Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]PublicationsImproving gravitational-wave parameter estimation using Gaussian processregressionMoore, C.J., CPLB, Chua, A.J.K. & Gair, J.R.Physical Review D; 93(6):064001(24); 2016 [dx.doi.org] [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 29 February 2016PhD Admission DayTuesday 1 March 2016, Physics West LibraryTuesday, March 1, is our PhD admissions day. I've been in touch with someof you already about direct involvement, but I hope everyone takes part.ÂIt's very important for our future success to attract the top students byshowing them what an active, engaging, collaborative and vibrant group ofscientists we are in HiROS and ASR! In particular, many students will bespending the afternoon (from 1:30 PM onwards) in the second-floor coffeelounge waiting for their turn to interview. Please come by whenever you canduring that time to chat with them - and in particular at 2:30 PM, whencatered coffee will be served!Thank you in advance for your help and participation!Best,Ilya MandelJournal ClubWednesday 2 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibrarySchool ColloquiumWednesday 2 March 2016, 3pm (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE) Poynting Small LectureTheatreSpeaker: Jun Ye, JILA/NIST, ColoradoTitle: TBCPaper of the month awardCongratulations to Guy Davies et al for winning the College Best Paper ofthe Month"Weakened magnetic braking as the origin of anomalously rapid rotation inold field stars"DOI: 10.1038/nature16168The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generation ofmagnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler space telescopewe have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sun stopspinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic braking isthat a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).Week Commencing 22 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 23 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 24 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESimon Daley-Yates to deliver the science talkAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 24 February 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Davide Gerosa, University of CambridgeTITLE: A NEW PARADIGM TO BLACK-HOLE SPIN PRECESSIONThe dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries in the post-Newtonian regimeis deeply characterized by a timescale hierarchy: the orbital timescale isvery short compared to the spin- precession timescale which, in turn, ismuch shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale on which the orbit isshrinking due to gravitational-wave emission. The binary dynamics istypically studied in an orbit-averaged fashion: one only cares about theorbit itself, not the instantaneous position of each black hole. Here wealso average over the precessional time, thus considering the precessionalcones "as a whole", without tracking the spin's secular motion. Thesesolutions improve our understanding of spin precession in much the same waythat the conical sections for Keplerian orbits provide additional insightsbeyond Newton's 1/r^2 law. Double averaging leads to impressivecomputational speed-up: post-Newtonian inspirals can now be computed fromarbitrarily large separations, thus bridging the gap between astrophysicsand numerical relativity. We also present the discovery of a new dynamicalinstability in binary black holes with aligned spins. The onset of theinstability lies in the sensitivity windows of future detectors LIGO /Virgoand eLISA, thus predicting binaries that start precessing while beingobserved. More on arXiv 1411.0674 and 1506.09116 (PRL).OutreachHannah Middleton and Carl Haster won an IOP Public engagement award of £275Week Commencing 8 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 9 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Vice-Chancellor's Open ForumTuesday 9 February 2016, 12.30-1.30pm,Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music BuildingDuring the forum, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, will beinterviewed by Stephen Khan, Editor of The Conversation UK, on key issuesfacing the Higher Education sector and the University of BirminghamASR Group MeetingWednesday 10 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEAnna Green to deliver the science talkInternational Day of Women and Girls in ScienceThursday 11 February 201611th February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.We're sharing our favourite female scientists using #WomeninSTEM andthis poster . Pin it up in your lab - and tweet us a picture on 11 February!Week Commencing 1 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 2 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 3 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryPhysics ColloquiumWednesday 3 February 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Natasha Ivanova, University of Alberta, CanadaTitle: Common envelope physics and the transientsVisitorsJana Goldstein a new PhD student will be visiting the group on Thursday 4 and Friday 5February 2016Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New WorldsIVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences17-27 July 2016, Horta, Faial, Azores Islands, PortugalWebsite: [www.iastro.pta] Tiago Campante (Chair)This International Summer School will cover two scientific topics that share manysynergies and resources: Asteroseismology and Exoplanetary Science. Therefore, theproposed program aims at building opportunities for cooperation and sharing of methodsthat will benefit both communities. The School will include both a teaching and ahands-on components, while bringing together a group of young and dynamic lecturers whohave already established themselves as leaders in their respective fields of research.It is mainly aimed at PhD and MSc students (although postdocs are also encouraged toapply) in any field of Astrophysics. Students will also be given the opportunity topresent their own research work by bringing a poster to the School.The School will take place in the town of Horta, located in the island of Faial. Faialis one of the nine islands that make up the beautiful archipelago of the Azores,situated in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,360 km (850 mi) west of mainland Portugal.The Azores are served by frequent flights from Europe and the US/Canada.There is an upper limit of 40 attendees to the School. Due to the large number ofexpected applications, a pre-registration process will be in place that requiresapplicants to submit a short CV (max. 2 pages) and a motivational letter (max. 1 page).Pre-registration should be done through the School's website and will close on 18 March2016. Information on the registration fee is available on the School's website.For any questions/inquiries, please contact us at faial2016@iastro.pt.Week Commencing 25 January 2016GraWIToN SchoolMonday 25 - Friday 29 January 2016, PW LibraryThe GW group is running an international school for the students in the EUinitial training network GraWIToN. The school is focussed on the instrumentdevelopment for gravitational wave detection, in particular on the topics'optics and simulations'.Some of the GW folks will be interested to hear that we are basing some ofthe school on the methods tested in BigWaves. Most of the work and theteaching is done by ourselves (with our students Daniel and Anna taking thelead) and we have two external teachers: Jerome Degallaix from LMA in Lyonand Peter MacKay from the optics company Gooch & Housego.ASR Management GroupTuesday 26 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 27 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESerena Vinciguerra to deliver the science talkSchool Committee MeetingWednesday 27 January 2016, 2pm,Watson Building, Lecture Theatre A (room G23).You are all invited to attend.Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 27 January 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Paula Jofre Pfeil, University of CambridgeTitle: The pillars and the twins of the stars in the Gaia-ESO SurveyWith less than a year to come for the first data release of Gaia, thousandsof stars observed with high-resolution spectra are nowadays available. In thistalk I will present our current efforts in defining and analysing the pillarcalibrators of Gaia and its complementary spectroscopic survey Gaia-ESO. Iwill then present applications using these calibrator pillars to find stellartwins in spectroscopic surveys. Twins can be used to determine model-independentdistances, making them excellent candidates to complement Gaia in the nearfuture.Astronomy in the CityWednesday 27 January 2016, 6pm, Poynting BuildingEvenings begin with talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research,and a question-and-answer session (everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if theweather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a luckyfew will be taken out to the University's Observatory. Talk begins at 6:00 pm,in the Large Lecture Theatre, Poynting. [http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php]Week Commencing 18 January 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 19 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229School ColloquiuaWednesday 20 January 2016, 4pm Poynting SO6Speaker: Prof Jenny Nelson, Centre for Plastic Electronics & the Departmentof Physics, Imperial College London.Title: Molecular Electronic Materials and their application to PhotovoltaicsAbstract: The application of molecular and hybrid semiconductor materials tooptoelectronics presents both an opportunity, in terms of the vast range ofmaterial properties and applications that can be achieved through chemicalsynthesis, and a challenge, in relating optoelectronic properties of theresulting devices to the chemical structure and microstructure of thematerials. The challenge is complicated by the intrinsic disorder inelectronic energy levels, the structural heterogeneity of organicsemiconductors and their dielectric properties. In this seminar, we focus onthe application of these materials to photovoltaic energy conversion, wherethe prospect of low-cost solar panel manufacture using printing or coatinghas attracted intense interest. We discuss how the molecular nature of thematerials influences the processes of light harvesting and photocurrentgeneration in a solar cell. We show how a range of electronic, spectroscopicand structural measurement techniques, together with molecular and devicemodelling, can be used to relate the properties of the materials to theirperformance in solar cells. Finally we address the factors that limit powerconversion efficiency in such devices.HiROS SeminarThursday 21 January 2016, 2.30pm, WG12 Aston WebbSpeaker Dr Dimitri Veras, University of WarwickTitle: Planetary Systems through all Stages of Stellar EvolutionAbstract: We know that planetary systems around white dwarfs are just ascommon as those around main sequence stars. However, observations revealsignificant gaps in our understanding about how planets, asteroids, cometsand pebbles undergo physical and orbital changes as their parent starsevolve off of the main sequence. We have performed full-lifetime (14 Gyr)numerical simulations of multi-planet systems across all phases of stellarevolution, incorporating realistic profiles for stellar mass loss andstellar radius variability, and including test particles and wide binarystellar companions. We demonstrate that closely-packed planetary systems canremain stable throughout the main sequence and for many Gyr during the whitedwarf phase before unpacking and triggering scattering events. These eventsmay generate an ever-changing dynamical architecture around the whitedwarfs, and perturb planets onto orbits which can be detectable by transitphotometry.Additional InformationHannah Middleton has been awarded (along with others) an STFC small award inthe region of £3,000.Congratulations to Will Farr and his wife Rachel on the birth of theirdaughter Katherine Thessin Farr.Week Commencing 11 January 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 12 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 13 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 115 (NOTE ROOM CHANGE)Jim Barrett to deliver the science talkPublicationsEstimates of black hole natal kick velocities from observations of low-massX-ray binaries Ilya Mandel Published in MNRASThe most distant observable massive objects Pablo A. Rosado, Paul D. Lasky,Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Sesana. Published in [www.arxiv.org]I. Mandel, S. E. de Mink. Merging binary black holes formed throughchemically hom*ogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries.Published in [www.arxiv.org]Additional InformationThe BEAR PGR Conference AwardsThe BEAR PGR conference is an opportunity for post-graduate students andearly-career researchers to exhibit their computational work to academics,industry professionals, and their peers across the University.Many congratulations to Jim Barrett (astrophysics) and Austin Tomlinson(theoretical physics) for being awarded 1st and 2nd place respectively fortheir contributed talks.Week Commencing 14 December 2015Big WavesMonday 14 - Friday 18 December 2015, Physics West LibraryASR Management GroupTuesday 15 December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsMonday 14 December until Tuesday 15 December 2015Dr Steven Taylor, NASA Post Doc Fellow Jet Propulsion Lab/CALTECH will bevisiting at the beginning of the week. He will be based in the visitorsoffice.Week Commencing 7 December 2015ASR Management GroupsTuesday 8th December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsWednesday 9 December 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 9 December 2015, 14.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Ben Pope, Oxford UniversityTitle: Pushing the Limits of K2: Gaussian Process Systematics Correction anda Kepler/K2 Saturated Star SurveyThe Kepler mission, revived in two-wheeled form as K2, observes a successionof fields in the ecliptic plane in ~80 day photometric campaigns. This hasenabled a dramatic extension of the exoplanetary science andasteroseismology of Kepler to a number of nearby clusters and standardstars. With only two reaction wheels, K2 suffers from severe systematicsintroduced by its regular pointing corrections. In this talk, I willdescribe the Oxford pipeline for K2 systematics correction, using GaussianProcesses to non-parametrically model photometric errors as a function ofpointing inputs, and will discuss the planet candidates we obtain with thisapproach. I will also present the first results of the Kepler/K2 SaturatedStars Survey (K2S3), where we extract light curves of the brightest stars inKepler and K2 from previously-unused calibration data or from theirscattered-light halo.Many of these stars were not conventionally targeted due to their severesaturation, and due to their position on the ecliptic, the K2S3 sample isdirectly complementary to the targets selected for the upcoming TransitingExoplanet Survey Satellite. We have been able to study the asteroseismologythese sources, including RR Lyr and the Pleiades, and search for planetsaround some of the nearest stars to the Sun.Physics ColloquiumWednesday 9 December 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Mark Kasevich, Stanford UniversityTitle: Quantum mechanics at macroscopic scalesWeek Commencing 30 November 2015ASR Management GroupsTuesday 1st December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 2nd December 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryChristopher Berry to deliver the science talkAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 2nd December 2015, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Rob Crain, Liverpool John Moores UniversityTitle: The EAGLE Project: Numerical modelling of the 'Evolution and Assemblyof GaLaxies and their Environments'I will briefly recap the motivation for, and progress towards, numericalmodelling of the formation and evolution of the galaxy population – fromcosmological initial conditions at early epochs through to the present day.I will introduce the EAGLE project (Schaye et al. 2015; Crain et al. 2015),a flagship program of such simulations recently conducted by the VirgoConsortium. These simulations represent a major development in thediscipline, since they are the first to reproduce the key properties of theevolving galaxy population, and do so using energetically-feasible feedbackmechanisms. I shall present a broad range of results from the first batch ofEAGLE papers, concerning the evolution of galaxy (and black hole) masses,their luminosities and colours, their atomic and molecular gas content, andthe structure of their host (dark matter + hot gas) haloes. Besidesexploring these interesting astrophysical outcomes, I hope to convey some ofthe strengths and limitations of the current generation of numerical models.Week Commencing 23 November 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 24 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 25 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115School ColloquiumWednesday 25 November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Amanda Cooper-Sarkar, University of OxfordTitle: What have we learnt about/from the deep structure of the proton inthe last 40 years?Astronomy in the CityWednesday 25 November 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingTalk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Poynting PhysicsBuilding on the University's Edgbaston campus. More details are on our website and tickets for the events are available from herePublicationsC W F Everitt et al. (including I Mandel). 2015.The Gravity Probe B test of general relativity. Classical and QuantumGravity, 32 224001 [iopscience.iop.org]A. S. Silbergleit, J. W. Conklin, M. I. Heifetz, T. Holmes, J. Li, I.Mandel, et al. 2015.Gravity Probe B data analysis: II. Science data and their handling prior tothe final analysis. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32 224019 [iopscience.iop.org]Haixing Miao, Yiqiu Ma, Chunnong Zhao, and Yanbei ChenEnhancing the Bandwidth of Gravitational-Wave Detectors with UnstableOptomechanical Filters: Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 211104 (2015)Week Commencing 16 November 2015Vice-Chancellor visit to the School of Physics and AstronomyTuesday, 17 November from 1-2pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre S02Please inform Pauline Trigg of your attendance asap P.A.Trigg@bham.ac.ukVisitorsMonday 16 November 2015David Wu will be visiting Dr Conor Mow-LowryWeek Commencing 9 November 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 10 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229School ColloquiumWednesday 11th November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Brian Tanner, University of DurhamTitle: High Resolution X-ray Scattering and Imaging of Semiconductors:from Science to Spin-outJournal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsThursday 12 November 2015, 9am, Physics West LibraryVisitorsMonday 9 - Tuesday 10 November 2015Ulrike Kuchner, University of Vienna will be visiting Graham Smith.Week Commencing 19 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 3 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 4 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 4 November 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Saida Caballero-Nieves, University of SheffieldTitle: A Binary View of Massive StarsThe Universe we observe today has been shaped extensively by massive stars.From birth to death and throughout their entire lives, they mold their nearand far environment in multiple ways, by driving galactic dynamics, andchemically enriching the interstellar environment through their explosivedeaths. In spite of their obvious importance, observational challenges haveseverely limited our knowledge of massive stars. In particular, their greatdistances and scarce numbers induce observational challenges to ourunderstanding of their formation and evolution. However, we do know thatmassive stars love company. I will present an overview current picture ofthe multiplicity properties of massive stars and discuss the implications ontheir formation.Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Thursday 5 November 2015, 9am, Physics West 115Week Commencing 19 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 20 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 21st October 2015 at 14.30 in Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: John Stott, University of OxfordTitle: The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): The resolvedDynamics, Star- Formation and Chemical Properties of 1000 z~1 star forming galaxiesI will present the first results of KROSS, a major UK-led KMOS GTO survey toobserve the redshifted H-alpha emission in ~1000 star-forming galaxies atz=0.8-1.5. Selecting galaxies from the star-forming "main-sequence" (stellarmasses 1e9.5-1e11.5 Msol and SFR 1-30 Msol/yr), KROSS will measure theresolved dynamics, chemistry and star formation in a statistical sample ofgalaxies in to address: (i) How does the fraction of disks evolve as a function of z and environment?(ii) Are major (and minor) mergers more prevalent at high-z ?(iii) How does the relation between the star-formation, stellar mass and dark halo evolve with z and environment?(iv) How does the angular momentum of galaxy disks evolve with z, stellarmass and environment;(v) Are chemical abundance gradients of early disks stronger or weaker than local spirals?These are critical issues for developing models of galaxy formation, inparticular to determine if stellar mass assembly is dominated by secularisolation or via merger-induced growth. In this talk I will show the first500+ galaxies from the sample, which already constitutes the largest everresolved H-alpha survey at this redshift.Physics ColloquiumWednesday 21st October 2015 at 16.00 in Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Ineke de Moortel, St AndrewsTitle: Transverse, Propagating Velocity Perturbations in Coronal LoopsJournal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsThursday 22 October 2015, 9am, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 12 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 13 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astro in the CityWednesday 14 October 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingThis year marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein's general relativity, ourbest theory of gravity.General relativity is central too much of modern astrophysics (includingresearch we do here), explaining everything from black holes to the expansionof the Universe itself. To celebrate, each Astronomy in the City will featurea themed talk, covering an aspect of general relativity, includingthe most violent explosions in the Universe, the mysterious dark energy andNature's biggest black holes. We hope you are as excited as we are!Astronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and alucky few will be taken out to the University's Observatory.Events will be held:* Wednesday 14 October 2015* Wednesday 25 November 2015* Wednesday 27 January 2016* Wednesday 9 March 2016The first talk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of thePoynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. More detailsare on our website and tickets for the October event are available fromastrointhecity102015.eventbrite.co.ukWeek Commencing 5 October 2015HiROS Workshop - Red Giants Modelling WorkshopMonday 5 - Friday 9 October 2015, Physics West Library / 115Dr Andrea Miglio will be hosting a week long workshop on red giants.ASR Management GroupTuesday 6 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 7 October 2015, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEDr Haixing Miao will the deliver the science talk for the first groupmeeting of the academic year.Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 7 October 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Aarhus UniversityTitle: New insights in the evolution of red giant starsVisitorsDr Rory Smith - will be visiting the group from Monday 5 - 19 October 2015.PublicationsMeasuring Intermediate-Mass Black-Hole Binaries with Advanced GravitationalWave Detectors.John Veitch, Michael Puerrer, Ilya Mandel, has been published in Physical Review LettersWeek Commencing 28 September 2015Cluster Mass & Scaling Relations Working GroupMonday 28 - Wednesday 30 September 2015This working group will commence at 12pm on Monday 28th and will close onWednesday 30th Sep, due to a lack of space, the group will use the secondfloor coffee lounge for lunch on each of these dates.ASR Management GroupTuesday 29 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsDr S Babak will be arriving on Tuesday 29th to act as an external examinerfor a PhD vivaWeek Commencing 14 September 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 15 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229College Discussion ForumWednesday 16 September 2015, 1-2pm, Haworth Lecture Theatre 203Head of College, Professor Andy Schofield, will take the opportunity tooutline his thoughts around the upcoming key issues and challenges for theCollege and to update colleagues on progress in relation to strategicprojects.School Committee MeetingThursday 17 September 2015, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe School Committee is for all staff in the School - apologies should go toPauline Trigg.Week Commencing 7 September 2015In the Footsteps of GalaxiesMonday 7 - Friday 11 September 2015, Soverato, ItalyIn the Footsteps of Galaxies conference is taking place this week in Italyhttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/footsteps15 [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]ASR Management GroupTuesday 8 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics SeminarWednesday 9 September 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Paul Brook, OxfordAbstract:Pulsars can be employed as precision timing tools due to the unwaveringnature of their radio emission and of their rotation; it is hoped thatprecise pulsar timing measurements will soon permit the direct detection ofgravitational waves. In recent years, however,Âwe have started to see thatunmodelled variability in some pulsars occurs over a broad range oftimescales, both in their emission and in their rotation. This is, ofcourse, detrimental to the pulsar's utility as a precision timing tool, andpresents a problem when looking for the faint effects of a passinggravitational wave. I have analysed the variability of various pulsars usingnew techniques and will present the results.PublicationsB. Farr et al. 2015.Parameter estimation on gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries withspinning components. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05336 [arxiv.org]S. A. L. Otaibi, P. Tino, J. Cuevas-Tello, I. Mandel, S. Raychaudhury.Kernel regression estimates of time delays between gravitationally lensedfluxes. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03439 [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 6 July 2015TISIThursday 9 July 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Suzanne Aigrain, University of OxfordTitle: Gaussian ProcessesPhysics PG Workshop - Managing your Supervisor!Friday 10 July 2015, 3pm, Poynting Physics BridgeThe first Physics PG workshop of its kind: Managing your Supervisor!We are trialing the first Physics PG social event with guest speaker,Dr Alex Conner (from the Medical and Dental School). He is a professionallife coach and runs workshops about getting the most from supervisoryrelationships.You may get along well with your supervisor, or the relationship may be alittle more "complicated", but regardless there are still ways that youcould be working more effectively.The event will be held in the Poynting Physics Bridge on Friday 10th Julyat 1500, and is open to all PG students. As usual, tasty snacks will beprovided.Looking forward to seeing you there!The Physics PG repsPublicationsFarr, Mandel, StevensAn efficient interpolation technique for jump proposals in reversible-jumpMarkov chain Monte Carlo calculations published in Royal Society Open Sciencehttp://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/6/150030Week Commencing 22 June 2015Astrophysics SeminarTuesday 23 June 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Alex Merson, UCLTitle: Statistical detection of halos in galaxy clustersAbstractStatistical detection of halos in galaxy surveysI will discuss recent work to present a novel Bayesian methodology fordetecting halos of different masses in galaxy survey observations, whilstjointly quantifying the corresponding uncertainties. This methodology firstuses the previously published HADES algorithm to create an ensemble ofrealisations of the matter density field throughout the survey volume. Usingan N-body simulation to relate the density field to halo mass, we then use aBayesian chain rule to build up maps of the detection probability of halosabout specific mass thresholds. Demonstration of the methodology using arealistic galaxy mock catalogue shows an excellent agreement between thepeaks in the probability maps and the positions of the dark matter halos. Weconclude that this method is a promising novel tool for analysingobservations of the large-scale cosmic web.HiROS SeminarWednesday 24 June 2015, 12pm, Nuffield G19Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of SydneyTitle: Asteroseismology using gravity modesTISIThursday 25 June 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Karla Hemming, University of BirminghamTitle: Bayesian EllicitationReminder Alberto's PartyFriday 26 June 2015, 7pm, 4 Court Oak RoadIf you plan to attend please could you let me know asap, thanks JoWeek Commencing 25 May 2015Management GroupTuesday 26 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 27 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Craig Heinke, University of AlbertaTitle: Black Holes in Globular ClustersAbstractI'll review searches for black holes (both stellar and intermediate-mass—thelatter meaning 100s-1000s of Msun) in globular clusters. Searches forintermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters have not found convincingevidence, despite tantalizing hints. Bright X-ray binaries in extragalacticglobular clusters do provide evidence favouring the existence of black holesin globular clusters. Recently, new discoveries of radio-bright X-ray sourcesin Galactic globular clusters are providing evidence for a population of low-accretion-rate black hole systems with surprising properties.HiROS SeminarThursday 28 May 2015, 11am, HiROS Group OfficeSpeaker: Rick BogartTISIThursday 28 May 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Ewan Cameron, University of OxfordTitle: Approximate Bayesian ComputationWeek Commencing 11 May 2015ASR GroupWednesday 13 May 2015, 12pm, Physics West 103 (Please note change ofvenue)Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 13 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Phil Marshall, Stanford UniversityTitle: TBCInaugural Lecture of Prof Andreas FreiseWednesday 13 May 2015, 5.15pm, Physics West 117, followed by a drinksreception in the LibraryTitle: Shining a light on black holesWhen black holes collide, their enormous gravitational forces createripples in the fabric of space and time. Although Einstein predictedthe existence of these gravitational waves, he was certain that theycould never be detected.Advances in technology, from lasers to modern quantum optics, havefundamentally changed the way we design precision instruments.Measuring a gravitational wave is now a possibility, while remaining oneof the greatest challenges in experimental physics. The task is todetect tiny changes in the distance between two objects, a change thatis 100,000 times smaller than the core of an atom. Over several decadesa new type of laser interferometer has been developed, and severalkilometre long gravitational wave detectors have been constructed aroundthe world.Now, almost exactly a hundred years after Einstein's predictions, twodetectors are beginning to operate with high enough sensitivity to makethe first detection of a gravitational wave, exceeding Einstein'simagination. Professor Freise will talk about an extraordinary journeyin experimental physics and the invention of new laser instruments tolook into the skies and listen for the echoes of black holes and dyingstars.VisitorsMonday 11 until Friday 15 May 2015Riccardo Sturani will be visiting Walter Del Pozzo this week.Week Commencing 4 May 2015Management GroupTuesday 5 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics SeminarTuesday 5 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Manjari Bagchi, Institute of Mathematical Sciences in ChennaiTitle: Use of binary radio pulsars with ultra-compact companions tounderstand basic physicsBinary radio pulsars with other neutron stars or black holes as companionscan serve as excellent laboratories to test various aspects of basicphysics. In this talk, I will first try to seek an answer to the puzzle ofnon-discovery of any neutron star-black hole binary so far. Then, I willdiscuss potential problems we might face while timing such pulsars afterthe discovery is made. The problem can arise mostly due to the spin-orbitcoupling effect from the spin of the black hole. I will also explorewhether such a neutron star-black hole binary is really superior tofalsify general relativity and establish alternative theories of gravity.Finally, I will briefly discuss how careful study of radio pulsars inof radio pulsars in neutron star-neutron star binaries can help toconstrain the dense matter equation of state.School ColloquiumWednesday 6 May 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell BurnellTitle: Women and Girls in Astronomy & PhysicsTISIThursday 7 May, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Prof Michael Hobson, University of Cambridge Kavli InstituteTitle: Nested SamplingNested sampling provides an alternative to traditional MCMC samplingmethods. MultiNest is a generic Bayesian inference tool that uses nestedsampling to calculates the evidence, with an associated error estimate,and produces posterior samples from distributions that may containmultiple modes and pronounced (curving) degeneracies in high dimensions.This algorithm significantly outperforms existing MCMC techniques in awide range of astrophysical inference problems. I will discuss theprinciples of nested sampling and describe the MultiNest algorithm andits application to toy examples and a cosmological inference problem.The MultiNest software, which is fully parallelized using MPI andincludes an interface to COSMOMC, is available athttp://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/software/multinest/ [www.mrao.cam.ac.uk]Michael is a theoretical astrophysicist with research interests inAnisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. Bayesian analysistechniques. Star-formation in molecular clouds. Radiative transfer.For the hands-on session we will be using Multinest which can bedownload for free: hereMultinest is available in various interfaces, We recommend that youinstall any interface of multi nest well in advance of the session (itrequires pre-registration and approval) so that if you have any problemsyou can email me. There will not be time during the session to installmultinest.Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupThursday 7 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Simon Vaughan, University of LeicesterTitle: Variability as a tool to study accreting black holes and neutronstarsThe fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularlyaccreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormousprogress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, thebehaviour of matter on the surfaces of neutron stars and improving theevidence for black holes. Most of this progress has been made byanalysing and modelling time series data in terms of their power- andcross-spectra.In this talk I am going to concentrate on a related but often overlookedaspect of their variability: the rms-flux relation. I will illustratethe basic idea and its consequences using examples of X-ray variabilityfrom X-ray binaries, Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearbygalaxies, and AGN , including Kepler optical monitoring of a Blazar.Week Commencing 27 April 2015Management GroupTuesday 28 April 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 29 April 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: David Van Dyk, Imperial College LondonTitle: The Unified Statistical Analysis of Populations of Sources:Advantages of "Shrinkage Estimates" in AstronomyAstronomical studies often involve samples or populations of sources. Theparameters describing the sources can either be fit to each source in aseparate analysis, or all be fit in a single unified analysis. The latterstrategy allows us to incorporate the population distribution into acoherent statistical model and exhibits distinct statistical advantages.In particular, objects with smaller error bars and well-constrainedparameters allow us to estimate the population distribution, which in turncan be used to better estimate the weakly-constrained parametersassociated with objects with larger error bars.The fitted values of such weakly-constrained parameters will "shrinktowards" the population mean, and are thus called "shrinkage estimates".This talk describes both frequentist and Bayesian advantages of shrinkageestimates and illustrates how they can be used in astronomy. In the firstof two examples we estimate the absolute magnitudes of a SDSS sample of288 Type Ia Supernovae using shrinkage estimates and illustrate how theydiffer from naive estimates. In the second example, we use photometricmagnitudes of a sample of galactic halo white dwarfs to simultaneouslyobtain shrinkage estimates of the stellar ages and an estimate the age ofthe halo.TISIThursday 30 April 2015, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Michael Betancourt from the University of Warwick Departmentof StatisticsTitle: Scalable Bayesian Inference.Problems at the frontiers of applied statistics, from physics to ecologyto epidemiology and pharmacology, require not only large data sets butalso the complex statistical models needed to describe the intricacies ofthe data. Drawing inferences from these problems necessitates bothscalable and general statistical algorithms and their computationallyefficient yet user-friend implementations. Stan is a user-focused platformfor Bayesian inference that wraps the state-of-the-art Hamiltonian MonteCarlo sampler with an expressive modeling language that makes it easy tobuild and learn from complex models. In this talk I'll review the basicsof Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Stan before presenting a series ofinteractive examples for the audience.Michael is a significant contributor to the widely used Hamiltonian MonteCarlo code STAN.Week Commencing 20 April 2015BritGrav 15Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st April 2015, Physics West 117 & Physics WestLibraryThe 15th British Gravity (BritGrav) Meeting will be held on 20-21 April2015 at the University of Birmingham, organised by the Gravitational PhysicsGroup [www.sr.bham.ac.uk].The meeting covers all areas of gravity, classical and quantum, includingastrophysics, cosmology, mathematical general relativity, gravitational-wavedata analysis and instrumentation. It is intended to bring together theentire gravitational research community to further collaboration and allowyoung researchers to showcase their work.Public Lecture Gravitational waves - Advances towards detectionTuesday 21st April 2015, 7:30pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Jim Hough, University of GlasgowA public lecture on gravitational-wave science by Prof. Jim Hough(University of Glasgow), organised to coincide with the BritGrav 15 meeting.All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.The detection of gravitational-wave signals is still one of the mostchallenging areas of experimental physics. And the reward for success willbe considerable in that the information carried by these signals will giveus new insight into the hearts of some of the most violent events in theCosmos—from the formation of black holes to aspects of the evolution of theUniverse. A global network of gravitational-wave detectors is now reachingthe final stages of construction, with first data expected in 2015. Thenature of gravitational waves, how the detectors work, and what the datafrom the detectors can tell us about the Universe we inhabit, will bediscussed.HiROS SeminarTuesday 21 April 2015, 11am, Nuffield G19Speaker: Dr Thomas Masseron, University of CambridgeTitle: "Inferring stellar evolution and Milky Way history from stellarspectra"Week Commencing 23 March 2015Management Group Tuesday 24 March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229 Physics Role Model talk Tuesday 24th March 2015 1.30pm The Barber Institute Lecture Theatre (room G11) Speaker: Prof Yvonne Elsworth, University of Birmingham Title: A random walk from undergraduate to Poynting Professor This talk is being given as the School's contribution to International Women’sday. Refreshments will be served after the talk. ASR Group Wednesday 25 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West Library Graham Smith to deliver the science talk Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Wednesday 25 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117 Speaker: Thomas Kitching, UCL Title: New Constraints on Dark Matter Cross-Sections using Weak Lensing Abstract -I will present new constraints on the relation between dark mattercross section, galaxies and x-ray gas, that used archival data from the Hubbleand Chandra X-ray telescopes. Astronomy in the City Wednesday 25 March 2015, 6pm, Poynting Building We will have our usual talks, followed by observing on campus and someopportunities to visit the University Observatory. This month, Dr Will Farrwill be counting the number of Earth-like planets in the Galaxy. Visit theAstronomy in the City page to book tickets and to find out more. TISI Friday 27 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Rooms CLAD Speaker: Will Farr Title: Using an off the shelf sampler -Emcee In this session we will introduce the use of off-the-shelf samplers fortackling statistical inference problems, focusing on the Python packageemcee as our example. We will also look at useful post-processing tricks such as checking for convergence of chains. Journal Club Friday 27 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library Week Commencing 16 March 2015Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 18 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117CANCELLED Journal ClubFriday 20 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryPhysics & Astronomy Research Poster ShowcaseFriday 20 March 2015, 3pm-6pm, Bridge Study LoungeThe purpose of this informal poster conference is to bring postgraduatestudents from the different research groups together to talk about theirwork, in a relaxed environment. Copious amounts of beer, wine, cheese, andcake are on order to lubricate the conversation.Please register your interest at http://bit.ly/1DoWySE [www.google.com] byWednesday 18 March.Posters of any size will be accepted (although ideally A1), and it does notneed to be perfectly up-to-date; we want to hear about all of your research!We hope to see you all on Friday at 1500. Your PG repsVisitorsTrevor Ponman - Monday 16 March - Wednesday 18 March 2015Week Commencing 9 March 2015ASR GroupWednesday 11 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHaoyu Wang to deliver the science talkTISIFriday 13 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Room CLADIntroduction into MCMC & Metropolis-HastingsJournal ClubFriday 13 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West 115 (Please note change of venue)Week Commencing 2 March 2015Management GroupTuesday 4th March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229PhD Applicant DayWednesday 4 March 2015, 12pm, Poynting Bridge Study RoomLunch will be served at 12pm in the Bridge Study Room.School ColloquiumWednesday 4 March 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Bill Murray, University of WarwickTitle: The Higgs at LHC: Run 1 and a perspective on Run 2Journal ClubFriday 6 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 23 February 2015Management GroupTuesday 24th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 25th February 2015, 2.30pm,Physics West 117 Speaker: Mark Swinbank, University of DurhamTitle: ALMA surveys of high-redshift, star-forming galaxiesI will present some recent results from ALMA cycle 0/1 surveys of distant,sub-mm galaxies (SMGs). The ALMA data allow us to investigate the propertiesof SMGs (redshift distribution, star formation rates, stellar masses and AGNactivity). I will show that these distant (z = 2.5) Ultra-luminous InfraredGalaxies have star-formation rates of 300-1000 Msol/yr, substantial stellarmasses (M* = 6E10 Msol) and cold molecular gas fractions of 40% - which aremany of the properties expected for the progenitors of today massive spheroidsand elliptical galaxies. Indeed, accounting for the fading of the stellarpopulations, I will show that the space density of the descendent of SMGs areconsistent with the entire population of local luminous ellipticals. Finally,I will show some recent results from ALMA cycle 1 where we have obtainedhigher resolution (0.3arcsec) maps of a sub-sample of bright SMGs.Astronomy in the CityWednesday 25th February 2015, 6pm Poynting BuildingThis month Simon, one of our PhD students, will talk about observing blackholes.What do we do after massive stars explode as brilliant supernovae, and thendie as black holes,vanishing from traditional telescopes? With a gravitational-waveobservatory, the story is just beginning...Join us for this exciting talk as well as our popular regulars:observatory trips, observing on campus, March's night sky, and "Ask theexpert".Doors open at 5:30pm, with talks/panel at 6-7pm; observing starts shortlythereafter.Journal ClubFriday 27th February 2015, 3pm, Physics West Library (Please note the changeof time)Week Commencing 9 February 2015Management GroupTuesday 10th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 11th February 2015, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Speaker: Pavel Ivanov, Lebedev Physical InstituteTitle: The dynamics of supermassive binary black hole immersed in anaccretion disc on a retrograde orbitVice-Chancellor's Open ForumWednesday 11th February 2015 12.30pm - 1.30pm Bramall Music Building, ElgarConcert HallAnswering the big questions - Professor Sir David Eastwood in conversationwith the BBC's Education Correspondent Sean Coughlan.Registration is not required. All staff are encouraged to attend, and totake advantage of this opportunity to discuss the key topics affecting oursector and our university.Journal ClubFriday 13th February 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryVisitorsWednesday 11th - Friday 13th February 2015Dr Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group this week.Week Commencing 19 January 2015HiROS SeminarMonday 19 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Mausumi DikpatiManagement GroupTuesday 20 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsTuesday 20 January 2015Dr Sean Dougherty - Director of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory(DRAO) will be visiting Ian Stevens and Diane Brookes on Tuesday Jan 20th2015.School ColloquiumWednesday 21 January 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Edmund Copeland, University of NottinghamTitle: Our Universe: so simple yet so much we don't understandJournal ClubFriday 23 January 2014, 2pm, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 12 January 2015Management GroupTuesday 13 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR GroupWednesday 14 January 2015, 12pm Physics West LibraryBen Bradnick to deliver the science talkAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS GroupWednesday 14 January 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Don Pollaco, Warwick UniversityTitle: Earth 2 and the search for habitable zone planetsThe last decade has seen immense worldwide activity in the discovery andcharacterisation of extrasolar planets. Starting from the radial velocitysurveys, the UK's world leading WASP project and the CoRoT and Kepler spacemissions, we will review the current state of knowledge emphasising ourunderstanding of habitable zone planets. We will look forward to upcomingexperiments and in particular PLATO that will be transformational to ourknowledge of rocky planets in the habitable zones of solar type stars.New StaffMonday 12 January 2015Conor Mow-Lowry starts work with the group today.Week Commencing 15 December 2014Management GroupTuesday 16 December 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS GroupWednesday 17 December 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Selma De Mink, AmsterdamTitle: TBCJournal Club / arXivFriday 19 December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library Tuesday 17 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 18 May 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHere are a couple of references ahead of my journal club on Wednesday;[www.youtube.com] (A nice introductory lecture)[www.astro.caltech.edu] (A summary article of a few of the potential astrophysical interpretations)My rough plan is to spend the first half of my talk introducing neuralnetworks in a general sense, then I'll lead a discussion on their pros andcons, especially in an astrophysical setting. Jim BarrettSchool ColloquiumWednesday 18 May 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Chris Pickard, University of CambridgeTitle: Random explorations of material structure spaceThe use of stochastic optimisation strategies for first principles structureprediction is now well established. There are many examples of thesetechniques making genuine discoveries. Ab Initio Random Structure Searching(AIRSS), in which initial starting structures are randomly generated andrelaxed repeatedly, is extremely simple, reliable and suited to highthroughput computation. Typical functional materials are ternary, orquaternary compounds. It is important to perform a search over compositionalspace as thoroughly and broadly as possible. I will discuss how AIRSS may beused to do this, paying particular attention to pulling apart structures wehave already found, to make new, random ones.PublicationsMoore, C. J., Chua, A. J. K., Berry, C. P. L. & Gair, J. R.Fast methods for training Gaussian processes on large data sets; RoyalSociety Open Science; 3(5):160125; 2016; arXiv:1604.01250.Week Commencing 9 May 2016Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarMonday 9 May 2016, 2pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: James Guillochon, Harvard CfATitle: Tidal disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes: dynamics, light and relicsMost supermassive black holes in the local universe lie dormant, with only onein a hundred accreting at their Eddington limits. Aside from this activeminority, and the black holes in nearby galaxies that we can observe toinfluence the dynamics of stars and gas, most remain difficult to study. Tidaldisruptions of stars by supermassive black holes give these dormant blackholes a chance to be seen once every ~10,000 years, and each tidal disruptionbrings along with it a host of observable signatures that can be studied fromgigaparsecs away, from the moment of the disruption to millennia after adisruption has occurred. In my talk I will present work I have done on tidaldisruptions of stars, and describe their dynamics, observational signaturesfrom real-time monitoring, and relics of disruption that may exist in plainsight.ASR Management GroupTuesday 10 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 11 May 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Sean Matt, University of ExeterTitle: Rotation, Magnetic Activity and Mass Loss of Sun-Like StarsAn enormous amount of what we know about the universe and our own place onEarth depends on our understanding of stars. Yet, even for the most familiarstars, there are still major unsolved questions related to rotation, magneticactivity, and mass loss. I will discuss an emerging self-consistent picturethat links all of these processes together and to the overall evolution ofSun-like and low-mass stars. This progress is due to large and diverse newdatasets, advances in physical models for the loss of angular momentum (whichitself depends upon magnetism and mass loss), and the incorporation of thesemodels into long-term stellar evolution calculations.Week Commencing 25 April 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 26 April 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR GroupWednesday 27 April 2016, 12pm, PW LibraryAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 27 April 2016, 2.30pm, PW Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Moira Jardine, St AndrewsTitle: The Space Weather of other SunsAbstract: "Space Weather" describes the impact that the Sun has on itsenvironment through the magnetically powered flares, mass ejections and windthat it produces. Although the Sun is a relatively inactive star, the impactof a large solar mass ejection can damage satellite electronics, shut downterrestrial power grids and disrupt radio communications. On more activestars, we might expect even more dramatic space weather and a greater impacton any orbiting planets. In this talk I will describe how we can useobservations that reveal the geometry of stellar magnetic fields tounderstand the nature of the accompanying space weather.HiROS Lectureship PositionThursday 28 & Friday 29 April 2016, PW Lecture Theatre 117We will be holding interviews later this week for a lectureship position inrthe HiROS group. On Thursday 28th, the candidates will be giving open talkson their research plans in Physics West 117. Please do come along, all arewelcome. The schedule is below:Lectureship talks, Thu 28th, W117:11.00 - 11.45 Dr Anne-Marie Broomhall (Warwick) "Seismological insights intothe magnetic activity of the Sun and other stars"11.45 - 12.30 Dr Guy Davies (Birmingham) "The unseen interior of stars:Finding our place in the Universe"15.00 - 15.45 Dr Paula Jofre (IoA, Cambridge) "Using the stars we know mostabout to help understanding the stars we know nothing about"15.45 - 16.30 Dr Hannah Schunker (Max Planck, Göttingen), "Solving the SolarDynamo Problem"VisitorsWednesday 27 April 2016This is just to let you know that Phil Evans from Leicester will be visiting.Phil works with the Swift satellite, looking at GRBs and their afterglows.He's been very active in the joint LIGO-Swift analyses during the O1observing run and is interested in how we can use LIGO's distance estimationto improve follow-up strategies. Walter and I have planned to discuss thistopic with Phil, and others are welcome to join too if interested.Alternatively, if you want to arrange a meeting with Phil while he's herethen let me know; or you can simply come along for lunch at Staff House Dr John Veitch.PublicationsAnalysis Framework for the Prompt Discovery of Compact Binary Mergers inGravitational-wave Data Cody Messick et al. (including Gareth Thomas)http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04324Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black HoleCarl L. Rodriguez, Carl-Johan Haster, Sourav Chatterjee, Vicky Kalogera,Frederic A. Rasiohttp://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04254Going the Distance: Mapping Host Galaxies of LIGO Sources in Three DimensionsUsing Local Cosmography and Targeted Follow-upL. P. Singer, H.-Y. Chen, D. E. Holz, W. M. Farr, L. R. Price, V. Raymond,S. B. Cenko, N. Gehrels, J. Cannizzo, M. M. Kasliwal, S. Nissanke, M. Coughlin,B. Farr, Alex L. Urban, S. Vitale, J. Veitch, P. Graff, C. P. L. Berry, S.Mohapatra, I. Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1603.07333The limits of astrophysics with gravitational wave backgroundsThomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Eric Thrane, Shi Qiu, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02513Congratulations to Professor Mandel & OthersI am very pleased to announce that promotions have been conferred by theUniversity's Promotions and Titles Committee for:Nicola Wilkin, Professor (TF)Ilya Mandel, ProfessorPaul Norman, Reader (TF)Dima Gangardt, ReaderAndrey Kaplin, Senior LecturerI am sure you would like to join me in congratulating them on theirachievements which recognise contributions ranging from research toteaching and impact. Martin FreerWeek Commencing 14 March 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 22 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 23 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Daisuke Kawata, UCLTitle: Structure and Metallicity Distributions of Chemically DecomposedThick and Thin Disk Populations of the Milky Way DiskWe first summarise the thick and thin disk formation scenario commonly seenin cosmological N-body simulations. As suggested in Brook et al. (2004), ahierarchical clustering scenario causes multiple minor gas-rich mergers, andleads to the formation of kinematically hot disk, thick disk population, ata high redshift. Once the mergers become less significant at later epoch,the thin disk population starts building up. Because in this scenario thethick disk population forms intensively at high redshift through multiplegas-rich mergers, the thick disk population is compact and hassystematically higher [α/Fe] abundance than the thin disk population. Inaddition, we show that the current cosmological simulation also naturallypredict that the thin disk population is flaring at the outer region.Consequently, at the high vertical height from the disk plane, the compactthick disk population (low metallicity and high [α/Fe]) is dominant in theinner region and the flaring thin disk population (high metallicity and low[α/Fe]) contributes more in the outer region. This helps to explain thepositive radial metallicity gradient and negative radial [α/Fe] gradientobserved at the high vertical height in the Milky Way stellar disk.We then discuss how radial migration impacts the metallicity distribution ofthe thin disc population. We demonstrate that the flaring star formingregion could be required to explain the negative vertical metallicitygradient observed in the thin disc population.School ColloquiumWednesday 23 March 2016, 4pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117 (NOTE CHANGEOF VENUE)Speaker: Prof Stephen Smartt, Queens University, BelfastTitle: Collapse of massive stars to black holes - the missing progenitors ofsupernovaeMassive stars collapse to form neutron stars and black holes. In doing sothey produce the population of core-collapse supernovae we see in the nearbyUniverse. Over the last 15 years we have been able to directly identifythe progenitors of supernovae, link them with explosions and in some casesconfirm the disappearance of the star. The number of discoveries ofprogenitors now allows some interesting comparisons between observationaldata and explosion models. There appears to be a distinct lack of brightsupernovae from the most massive stars, which suggests that stars over acertain mass limit produce black holes with no visible explosion.I will discuss this mass limit, which could be as low as 16 solar masses andthe implications in the LIGO/Virgo era of detections of compact binarymergers.PublicationsPublished:Detectability of Gravitational Waves from High-Redshift Binaries Pablo A.Rosado, Paul D. Lasky, Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, and AlbertoSesana Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 101102 – Published 10 March 2016[journals.aps.org] Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compactobjects and intermediate-mass black holes Carl-Johan Haster, Zhilu Wang,Christopher P. L. Berry, Simon Stevenson, John Veitch, Ilya Mandel MNRAS457, 4499 [mnras.oxfordjournals.org] Submitted:The Chemically hom*ogeneous Evolutionary Channel for Binary Black HoleMergers: Rates and Properties of Gravitational-Wave Events Detectable byAdvanced LIGO Selma de Mink and Ilya Mandel [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 7 March 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 8 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 9 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106Gareth Thomas to deliver the science talkAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 9 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Guy Davies, University of BirminghamTitle: Solar activity, stellar rotation and anomalous weakened magneticbrakingAbstract: The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generationof magnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler spacetelescope we have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sunstop spinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic brakingis that a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).Astronomy in the CityWednesday 9 March 2016, 6pm Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe fourth of our talks celebrating the 100th anniversary of GeneralRelativity. Dr Graham Smith will speak about the bending of light,Einstein's greatest blunder, cosmic acceleration, and the exciting future ofthe Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]PublicationsImproving gravitational-wave parameter estimation using Gaussian processregressionMoore, C.J., CPLB, Chua, A.J.K. & Gair, J.R.Physical Review D; 93(6):064001(24); 2016 [dx.doi.org] [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 29 February 2016PhD Admission DayTuesday 1 March 2016, Physics West LibraryTuesday, March 1, is our PhD admissions day. I've been in touch with someof you already about direct involvement, but I hope everyone takes part.ÂIt's very important for our future success to attract the top students byshowing them what an active, engaging, collaborative and vibrant group ofscientists we are in HiROS and ASR! In particular, many students will bespending the afternoon (from 1:30 PM onwards) in the second-floor coffeelounge waiting for their turn to interview. Please come by whenever you canduring that time to chat with them - and in particular at 2:30 PM, whencatered coffee will be served!Thank you in advance for your help and participation!Best,Ilya MandelJournal ClubWednesday 2 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibrarySchool ColloquiumWednesday 2 March 2016, 3pm (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE) Poynting Small LectureTheatreSpeaker: Jun Ye, JILA/NIST, ColoradoTitle: TBCPaper of the month awardCongratulations to Guy Davies et al for winning the College Best Paper ofthe Month"Weakened magnetic braking as the origin of anomalously rapid rotation inold field stars"DOI: 10.1038/nature16168The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generation ofmagnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler space telescopewe have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sun stopspinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic braking isthat a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).Week Commencing 22 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 23 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 24 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESimon Daley-Yates to deliver the science talkAstrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 24 February 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Davide Gerosa, University of CambridgeTITLE: A NEW PARADIGM TO BLACK-HOLE SPIN PRECESSIONThe dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries in the post-Newtonian regimeis deeply characterized by a timescale hierarchy: the orbital timescale isvery short compared to the spin- precession timescale which, in turn, ismuch shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale on which the orbit isshrinking due to gravitational-wave emission. The binary dynamics istypically studied in an orbit-averaged fashion: one only cares about theorbit itself, not the instantaneous position of each black hole. Here wealso average over the precessional time, thus considering the precessionalcones "as a whole", without tracking the spin's secular motion. Thesesolutions improve our understanding of spin precession in much the same waythat the conical sections for Keplerian orbits provide additional insightsbeyond Newton's 1/r^2 law. Double averaging leads to impressivecomputational speed-up: post-Newtonian inspirals can now be computed fromarbitrarily large separations, thus bridging the gap between astrophysicsand numerical relativity. We also present the discovery of a new dynamicalinstability in binary black holes with aligned spins. The onset of theinstability lies in the sensitivity windows of future detectors LIGO /Virgoand eLISA, thus predicting binaries that start precessing while beingobserved. More on arXiv 1411.0674 and 1506.09116 (PRL).OutreachHannah Middleton and Carl Haster won an IOP Public engagement award of £275Week Commencing 8 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 9 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Vice-Chancellor's Open ForumTuesday 9 February 2016, 12.30-1.30pm,Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music BuildingDuring the forum, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, will beinterviewed by Stephen Khan, Editor of The Conversation UK, on key issuesfacing the Higher Education sector and the University of BirminghamASR Group MeetingWednesday 10 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEAnna Green to deliver the science talkInternational Day of Women and Girls in ScienceThursday 11 February 201611th February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.We're sharing our favourite female scientists using #WomeninSTEM andthis poster . Pin it up in your lab - and tweet us a picture on 11 February!Week Commencing 1 February 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 2 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 3 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryPhysics ColloquiumWednesday 3 February 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Natasha Ivanova, University of Alberta, CanadaTitle: Common envelope physics and the transientsVisitorsJana Goldstein a new PhD student will be visiting the group on Thursday 4 and Friday 5February 2016Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New WorldsIVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences17-27 July 2016, Horta, Faial, Azores Islands, PortugalWebsite: [www.iastro.pta] Tiago Campante (Chair)This International Summer School will cover two scientific topics that share manysynergies and resources: Asteroseismology and Exoplanetary Science. Therefore, theproposed program aims at building opportunities for cooperation and sharing of methodsthat will benefit both communities. The School will include both a teaching and ahands-on components, while bringing together a group of young and dynamic lecturers whohave already established themselves as leaders in their respective fields of research.It is mainly aimed at PhD and MSc students (although postdocs are also encouraged toapply) in any field of Astrophysics. Students will also be given the opportunity topresent their own research work by bringing a poster to the School.The School will take place in the town of Horta, located in the island of Faial. Faialis one of the nine islands that make up the beautiful archipelago of the Azores,situated in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,360 km (850 mi) west of mainland Portugal.The Azores are served by frequent flights from Europe and the US/Canada.There is an upper limit of 40 attendees to the School. Due to the large number ofexpected applications, a pre-registration process will be in place that requiresapplicants to submit a short CV (max. 2 pages) and a motivational letter (max. 1 page).Pre-registration should be done through the School's website and will close on 18 March2016. Information on the registration fee is available on the School's website.For any questions/inquiries, please contact us at faial2016@iastro.pt.Week Commencing 25 January 2016GraWIToN SchoolMonday 25 - Friday 29 January 2016, PW LibraryThe GW group is running an international school for the students in the EUinitial training network GraWIToN. The school is focussed on the instrumentdevelopment for gravitational wave detection, in particular on the topics'optics and simulations'.Some of the GW folks will be interested to hear that we are basing some ofthe school on the methods tested in BigWaves. Most of the work and theteaching is done by ourselves (with our students Daniel and Anna taking thelead) and we have two external teachers: Jerome Degallaix from LMA in Lyonand Peter MacKay from the optics company Gooch & Housego.ASR Management GroupTuesday 26 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 27 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESerena Vinciguerra to deliver the science talkSchool Committee MeetingWednesday 27 January 2016, 2pm,Watson Building, Lecture Theatre A (room G23).You are all invited to attend.Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group SeminarWednesday 27 January 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Paula Jofre Pfeil, University of CambridgeTitle: The pillars and the twins of the stars in the Gaia-ESO SurveyWith less than a year to come for the first data release of Gaia, thousandsof stars observed with high-resolution spectra are nowadays available. In thistalk I will present our current efforts in defining and analysing the pillarcalibrators of Gaia and its complementary spectroscopic survey Gaia-ESO. Iwill then present applications using these calibrator pillars to find stellartwins in spectroscopic surveys. Twins can be used to determine model-independentdistances, making them excellent candidates to complement Gaia in the nearfuture.Astronomy in the CityWednesday 27 January 2016, 6pm, Poynting BuildingEvenings begin with talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research,and a question-and-answer session (everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if theweather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a luckyfew will be taken out to the University's Observatory. Talk begins at 6:00 pm,in the Large Lecture Theatre, Poynting. [http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php]Week Commencing 18 January 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 19 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229School ColloquiuaWednesday 20 January 2016, 4pm Poynting SO6Speaker: Prof Jenny Nelson, Centre for Plastic Electronics & the Departmentof Physics, Imperial College London.Title: Molecular Electronic Materials and their application to PhotovoltaicsAbstract: The application of molecular and hybrid semiconductor materials tooptoelectronics presents both an opportunity, in terms of the vast range ofmaterial properties and applications that can be achieved through chemicalsynthesis, and a challenge, in relating optoelectronic properties of theresulting devices to the chemical structure and microstructure of thematerials. The challenge is complicated by the intrinsic disorder inelectronic energy levels, the structural heterogeneity of organicsemiconductors and their dielectric properties. In this seminar, we focus onthe application of these materials to photovoltaic energy conversion, wherethe prospect of low-cost solar panel manufacture using printing or coatinghas attracted intense interest. We discuss how the molecular nature of thematerials influences the processes of light harvesting and photocurrentgeneration in a solar cell. We show how a range of electronic, spectroscopicand structural measurement techniques, together with molecular and devicemodelling, can be used to relate the properties of the materials to theirperformance in solar cells. Finally we address the factors that limit powerconversion efficiency in such devices.HiROS SeminarThursday 21 January 2016, 2.30pm, WG12 Aston WebbSpeaker Dr Dimitri Veras, University of WarwickTitle: Planetary Systems through all Stages of Stellar EvolutionAbstract: We know that planetary systems around white dwarfs are just ascommon as those around main sequence stars. However, observations revealsignificant gaps in our understanding about how planets, asteroids, cometsand pebbles undergo physical and orbital changes as their parent starsevolve off of the main sequence. We have performed full-lifetime (14 Gyr)numerical simulations of multi-planet systems across all phases of stellarevolution, incorporating realistic profiles for stellar mass loss andstellar radius variability, and including test particles and wide binarystellar companions. We demonstrate that closely-packed planetary systems canremain stable throughout the main sequence and for many Gyr during the whitedwarf phase before unpacking and triggering scattering events. These eventsmay generate an ever-changing dynamical architecture around the whitedwarfs, and perturb planets onto orbits which can be detectable by transitphotometry.Additional InformationHannah Middleton has been awarded (along with others) an STFC small award inthe region of £3,000.Congratulations to Will Farr and his wife Rachel on the birth of theirdaughter Katherine Thessin Farr.Week Commencing 11 January 2016ASR Management GroupTuesday 12 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 13 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 115 (NOTE ROOM CHANGE)Jim Barrett to deliver the science talkPublicationsEstimates of black hole natal kick velocities from observations of low-massX-ray binaries Ilya Mandel Published in MNRASThe most distant observable massive objects Pablo A. Rosado, Paul D. Lasky,Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Sesana. Published in [www.arxiv.org]I. Mandel, S. E. de Mink. Merging binary black holes formed throughchemically hom*ogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries.Published in [www.arxiv.org]Additional InformationThe BEAR PGR Conference AwardsThe BEAR PGR conference is an opportunity for post-graduate students andearly-career researchers to exhibit their computational work to academics,industry professionals, and their peers across the University.Many congratulations to Jim Barrett (astrophysics) and Austin Tomlinson(theoretical physics) for being awarded 1st and 2nd place respectively fortheir contributed talks.Week Commencing 14 December 2015Big WavesMonday 14 - Friday 18 December 2015, Physics West LibraryASR Management GroupTuesday 15 December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsMonday 14 December until Tuesday 15 December 2015Dr Steven Taylor, NASA Post Doc Fellow Jet Propulsion Lab/CALTECH will bevisiting at the beginning of the week. He will be based in the visitorsoffice.Week Commencing 7 December 2015ASR Management GroupsTuesday 8th December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsWednesday 9 December 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 9 December 2015, 14.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Ben Pope, Oxford UniversityTitle: Pushing the Limits of K2: Gaussian Process Systematics Correction anda Kepler/K2 Saturated Star SurveyThe Kepler mission, revived in two-wheeled form as K2, observes a successionof fields in the ecliptic plane in ~80 day photometric campaigns. This hasenabled a dramatic extension of the exoplanetary science andasteroseismology of Kepler to a number of nearby clusters and standardstars. With only two reaction wheels, K2 suffers from severe systematicsintroduced by its regular pointing corrections. In this talk, I willdescribe the Oxford pipeline for K2 systematics correction, using GaussianProcesses to non-parametrically model photometric errors as a function ofpointing inputs, and will discuss the planet candidates we obtain with thisapproach. I will also present the first results of the Kepler/K2 SaturatedStars Survey (K2S3), where we extract light curves of the brightest stars inKepler and K2 from previously-unused calibration data or from theirscattered-light halo.Many of these stars were not conventionally targeted due to their severesaturation, and due to their position on the ecliptic, the K2S3 sample isdirectly complementary to the targets selected for the upcoming TransitingExoplanet Survey Satellite. We have been able to study the asteroseismologythese sources, including RR Lyr and the Pleiades, and search for planetsaround some of the nearest stars to the Sun.Physics ColloquiumWednesday 9 December 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Mark Kasevich, Stanford UniversityTitle: Quantum mechanics at macroscopic scalesWeek Commencing 30 November 2015ASR Management GroupsTuesday 1st December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 2nd December 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryChristopher Berry to deliver the science talkAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 2nd December 2015, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Rob Crain, Liverpool John Moores UniversityTitle: The EAGLE Project: Numerical modelling of the 'Evolution and Assemblyof GaLaxies and their Environments'I will briefly recap the motivation for, and progress towards, numericalmodelling of the formation and evolution of the galaxy population – fromcosmological initial conditions at early epochs through to the present day.I will introduce the EAGLE project (Schaye et al. 2015; Crain et al. 2015),a flagship program of such simulations recently conducted by the VirgoConsortium. These simulations represent a major development in thediscipline, since they are the first to reproduce the key properties of theevolving galaxy population, and do so using energetically-feasible feedbackmechanisms. I shall present a broad range of results from the first batch ofEAGLE papers, concerning the evolution of galaxy (and black hole) masses,their luminosities and colours, their atomic and molecular gas content, andthe structure of their host (dark matter + hot gas) haloes. Besidesexploring these interesting astrophysical outcomes, I hope to convey some ofthe strengths and limitations of the current generation of numerical models.Week Commencing 23 November 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 24 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Journal ClubWednesday 25 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115School ColloquiumWednesday 25 November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Amanda Cooper-Sarkar, University of OxfordTitle: What have we learnt about/from the deep structure of the proton inthe last 40 years?Astronomy in the CityWednesday 25 November 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingTalk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Poynting PhysicsBuilding on the University's Edgbaston campus. More details are on our website and tickets for the events are available from herePublicationsC W F Everitt et al. (including I Mandel). 2015.The Gravity Probe B test of general relativity. Classical and QuantumGravity, 32 224001 [iopscience.iop.org]A. S. Silbergleit, J. W. Conklin, M. I. Heifetz, T. Holmes, J. Li, I.Mandel, et al. 2015.Gravity Probe B data analysis: II. Science data and their handling prior tothe final analysis. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32 224019 [iopscience.iop.org]Haixing Miao, Yiqiu Ma, Chunnong Zhao, and Yanbei ChenEnhancing the Bandwidth of Gravitational-Wave Detectors with UnstableOptomechanical Filters: Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 211104 (2015)Week Commencing 16 November 2015Vice-Chancellor visit to the School of Physics and AstronomyTuesday, 17 November from 1-2pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre S02Please inform Pauline Trigg of your attendance asap P.A.Trigg@bham.ac.ukVisitorsMonday 16 November 2015David Wu will be visiting Dr Conor Mow-LowryWeek Commencing 9 November 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 10 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229School ColloquiumWednesday 11th November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Brian Tanner, University of DurhamTitle: High Resolution X-ray Scattering and Imaging of Semiconductors:from Science to Spin-outJournal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsThursday 12 November 2015, 9am, Physics West LibraryVisitorsMonday 9 - Tuesday 10 November 2015Ulrike Kuchner, University of Vienna will be visiting Graham Smith.Week Commencing 19 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 3 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 4 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 4 November 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Saida Caballero-Nieves, University of SheffieldTitle: A Binary View of Massive StarsThe Universe we observe today has been shaped extensively by massive stars.From birth to death and throughout their entire lives, they mold their nearand far environment in multiple ways, by driving galactic dynamics, andchemically enriching the interstellar environment through their explosivedeaths. In spite of their obvious importance, observational challenges haveseverely limited our knowledge of massive stars. In particular, their greatdistances and scarce numbers induce observational challenges to ourunderstanding of their formation and evolution. However, we do know thatmassive stars love company. I will present an overview current picture ofthe multiplicity properties of massive stars and discuss the implications ontheir formation.Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Thursday 5 November 2015, 9am, Physics West 115Week Commencing 19 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 20 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 21st October 2015 at 14.30 in Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: John Stott, University of OxfordTitle: The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): The resolvedDynamics, Star- Formation and Chemical Properties of 1000 z~1 star forming galaxiesI will present the first results of KROSS, a major UK-led KMOS GTO survey toobserve the redshifted H-alpha emission in ~1000 star-forming galaxies atz=0.8-1.5. Selecting galaxies from the star-forming "main-sequence" (stellarmasses 1e9.5-1e11.5 Msol and SFR 1-30 Msol/yr), KROSS will measure theresolved dynamics, chemistry and star formation in a statistical sample ofgalaxies in to address: (i) How does the fraction of disks evolve as a function of z and environment?(ii) Are major (and minor) mergers more prevalent at high-z ?(iii) How does the relation between the star-formation, stellar mass and dark halo evolve with z and environment?(iv) How does the angular momentum of galaxy disks evolve with z, stellarmass and environment;(v) Are chemical abundance gradients of early disks stronger or weaker than local spirals?These are critical issues for developing models of galaxy formation, inparticular to determine if stellar mass assembly is dominated by secularisolation or via merger-induced growth. In this talk I will show the first500+ galaxies from the sample, which already constitutes the largest everresolved H-alpha survey at this redshift.Physics ColloquiumWednesday 21st October 2015 at 16.00 in Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Ineke de Moortel, St AndrewsTitle: Transverse, Propagating Velocity Perturbations in Coronal LoopsJournal Club / ArXiv DiscussionsThursday 22 October 2015, 9am, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 12 October 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 13 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astro in the CityWednesday 14 October 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingThis year marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein's general relativity, ourbest theory of gravity.General relativity is central too much of modern astrophysics (includingresearch we do here), explaining everything from black holes to the expansionof the Universe itself. To celebrate, each Astronomy in the City will featurea themed talk, covering an aspect of general relativity, includingthe most violent explosions in the Universe, the mysterious dark energy andNature's biggest black holes. We hope you are as excited as we are!Astronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and alucky few will be taken out to the University's Observatory.Events will be held:* Wednesday 14 October 2015* Wednesday 25 November 2015* Wednesday 27 January 2016* Wednesday 9 March 2016The first talk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of thePoynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. More detailsare on our website and tickets for the October event are available fromastrointhecity102015.eventbrite.co.ukWeek Commencing 5 October 2015HiROS Workshop - Red Giants Modelling WorkshopMonday 5 - Friday 9 October 2015, Physics West Library / 115Dr Andrea Miglio will be hosting a week long workshop on red giants.ASR Management GroupTuesday 6 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR Group MeetingWednesday 7 October 2015, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEDr Haixing Miao will the deliver the science talk for the first groupmeeting of the academic year.Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 7 October 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Aarhus UniversityTitle: New insights in the evolution of red giant starsVisitorsDr Rory Smith - will be visiting the group from Monday 5 - 19 October 2015.PublicationsMeasuring Intermediate-Mass Black-Hole Binaries with Advanced GravitationalWave Detectors.John Veitch, Michael Puerrer, Ilya Mandel, has been published in Physical Review LettersWeek Commencing 28 September 2015Cluster Mass & Scaling Relations Working GroupMonday 28 - Wednesday 30 September 2015This working group will commence at 12pm on Monday 28th and will close onWednesday 30th Sep, due to a lack of space, the group will use the secondfloor coffee lounge for lunch on each of these dates.ASR Management GroupTuesday 29 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsDr S Babak will be arriving on Tuesday 29th to act as an external examinerfor a PhD vivaWeek Commencing 14 September 2015ASR Management GroupTuesday 15 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229College Discussion ForumWednesday 16 September 2015, 1-2pm, Haworth Lecture Theatre 203Head of College, Professor Andy Schofield, will take the opportunity tooutline his thoughts around the upcoming key issues and challenges for theCollege and to update colleagues on progress in relation to strategicprojects.School Committee MeetingThursday 17 September 2015, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe School Committee is for all staff in the School - apologies should go toPauline Trigg.Week Commencing 7 September 2015In the Footsteps of GalaxiesMonday 7 - Friday 11 September 2015, Soverato, ItalyIn the Footsteps of Galaxies conference is taking place this week in Italyhttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/footsteps15 [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]ASR Management GroupTuesday 8 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics SeminarWednesday 9 September 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Paul Brook, OxfordAbstract:Pulsars can be employed as precision timing tools due to the unwaveringnature of their radio emission and of their rotation; it is hoped thatprecise pulsar timing measurements will soon permit the direct detection ofgravitational waves. In recent years, however,Âwe have started to see thatunmodelled variability in some pulsars occurs over a broad range oftimescales, both in their emission and in their rotation. This is, ofcourse, detrimental to the pulsar's utility as a precision timing tool, andpresents a problem when looking for the faint effects of a passinggravitational wave. I have analysed the variability of various pulsars usingnew techniques and will present the results.PublicationsB. Farr et al. 2015.Parameter estimation on gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries withspinning components. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05336 [arxiv.org]S. A. L. Otaibi, P. Tino, J. Cuevas-Tello, I. Mandel, S. Raychaudhury.Kernel regression estimates of time delays between gravitationally lensedfluxes. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03439 [arxiv.org]Week Commencing 6 July 2015TISIThursday 9 July 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Suzanne Aigrain, University of OxfordTitle: Gaussian ProcessesPhysics PG Workshop - Managing your Supervisor!Friday 10 July 2015, 3pm, Poynting Physics BridgeThe first Physics PG workshop of its kind: Managing your Supervisor!We are trialing the first Physics PG social event with guest speaker,Dr Alex Conner (from the Medical and Dental School). He is a professionallife coach and runs workshops about getting the most from supervisoryrelationships.You may get along well with your supervisor, or the relationship may be alittle more "complicated", but regardless there are still ways that youcould be working more effectively.The event will be held in the Poynting Physics Bridge on Friday 10th Julyat 1500, and is open to all PG students. As usual, tasty snacks will beprovided.Looking forward to seeing you there!The Physics PG repsPublicationsFarr, Mandel, StevensAn efficient interpolation technique for jump proposals in reversible-jumpMarkov chain Monte Carlo calculations published in Royal Society Open Sciencehttp://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/6/150030Week Commencing 22 June 2015Astrophysics SeminarTuesday 23 June 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Alex Merson, UCLTitle: Statistical detection of halos in galaxy clustersAbstractStatistical detection of halos in galaxy surveysI will discuss recent work to present a novel Bayesian methodology fordetecting halos of different masses in galaxy survey observations, whilstjointly quantifying the corresponding uncertainties. This methodology firstuses the previously published HADES algorithm to create an ensemble ofrealisations of the matter density field throughout the survey volume. Usingan N-body simulation to relate the density field to halo mass, we then use aBayesian chain rule to build up maps of the detection probability of halosabout specific mass thresholds. Demonstration of the methodology using arealistic galaxy mock catalogue shows an excellent agreement between thepeaks in the probability maps and the positions of the dark matter halos. Weconclude that this method is a promising novel tool for analysingobservations of the large-scale cosmic web.HiROS SeminarWednesday 24 June 2015, 12pm, Nuffield G19Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of SydneyTitle: Asteroseismology using gravity modesTISIThursday 25 June 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Karla Hemming, University of BirminghamTitle: Bayesian EllicitationReminder Alberto's PartyFriday 26 June 2015, 7pm, 4 Court Oak RoadIf you plan to attend please could you let me know asap, thanks JoWeek Commencing 25 May 2015Management GroupTuesday 26 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 27 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Craig Heinke, University of AlbertaTitle: Black Holes in Globular ClustersAbstractI'll review searches for black holes (both stellar and intermediate-mass—thelatter meaning 100s-1000s of Msun) in globular clusters. Searches forintermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters have not found convincingevidence, despite tantalizing hints. Bright X-ray binaries in extragalacticglobular clusters do provide evidence favouring the existence of black holesin globular clusters. Recently, new discoveries of radio-bright X-ray sourcesin Galactic globular clusters are providing evidence for a population of low-accretion-rate black hole systems with surprising properties.HiROS SeminarThursday 28 May 2015, 11am, HiROS Group OfficeSpeaker: Rick BogartTISIThursday 28 May 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Ewan Cameron, University of OxfordTitle: Approximate Bayesian ComputationWeek Commencing 11 May 2015ASR GroupWednesday 13 May 2015, 12pm, Physics West 103 (Please note change ofvenue)Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 13 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Phil Marshall, Stanford UniversityTitle: TBCInaugural Lecture of Prof Andreas FreiseWednesday 13 May 2015, 5.15pm, Physics West 117, followed by a drinksreception in the LibraryTitle: Shining a light on black holesWhen black holes collide, their enormous gravitational forces createripples in the fabric of space and time. Although Einstein predictedthe existence of these gravitational waves, he was certain that theycould never be detected.Advances in technology, from lasers to modern quantum optics, havefundamentally changed the way we design precision instruments.Measuring a gravitational wave is now a possibility, while remaining oneof the greatest challenges in experimental physics. The task is todetect tiny changes in the distance between two objects, a change thatis 100,000 times smaller than the core of an atom. Over several decadesa new type of laser interferometer has been developed, and severalkilometre long gravitational wave detectors have been constructed aroundthe world.Now, almost exactly a hundred years after Einstein's predictions, twodetectors are beginning to operate with high enough sensitivity to makethe first detection of a gravitational wave, exceeding Einstein'simagination. Professor Freise will talk about an extraordinary journeyin experimental physics and the invention of new laser instruments tolook into the skies and listen for the echoes of black holes and dyingstars.VisitorsMonday 11 until Friday 15 May 2015Riccardo Sturani will be visiting Walter Del Pozzo this week.Week Commencing 4 May 2015Management GroupTuesday 5 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics SeminarTuesday 5 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Manjari Bagchi, Institute of Mathematical Sciences in ChennaiTitle: Use of binary radio pulsars with ultra-compact companions tounderstand basic physicsBinary radio pulsars with other neutron stars or black holes as companionscan serve as excellent laboratories to test various aspects of basicphysics. In this talk, I will first try to seek an answer to the puzzle ofnon-discovery of any neutron star-black hole binary so far. Then, I willdiscuss potential problems we might face while timing such pulsars afterthe discovery is made. The problem can arise mostly due to the spin-orbitcoupling effect from the spin of the black hole. I will also explorewhether such a neutron star-black hole binary is really superior tofalsify general relativity and establish alternative theories of gravity.Finally, I will briefly discuss how careful study of radio pulsars inof radio pulsars in neutron star-neutron star binaries can help toconstrain the dense matter equation of state.School ColloquiumWednesday 6 May 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell BurnellTitle: Women and Girls in Astronomy & PhysicsTISIThursday 7 May, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Prof Michael Hobson, University of Cambridge Kavli InstituteTitle: Nested SamplingNested sampling provides an alternative to traditional MCMC samplingmethods. MultiNest is a generic Bayesian inference tool that uses nestedsampling to calculates the evidence, with an associated error estimate,and produces posterior samples from distributions that may containmultiple modes and pronounced (curving) degeneracies in high dimensions.This algorithm significantly outperforms existing MCMC techniques in awide range of astrophysical inference problems. I will discuss theprinciples of nested sampling and describe the MultiNest algorithm andits application to toy examples and a cosmological inference problem.The MultiNest software, which is fully parallelized using MPI andincludes an interface to COSMOMC, is available athttp://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/software/multinest/ [www.mrao.cam.ac.uk]Michael is a theoretical astrophysicist with research interests inAnisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. Bayesian analysistechniques. Star-formation in molecular clouds. Radiative transfer.For the hands-on session we will be using Multinest which can bedownload for free: hereMultinest is available in various interfaces, We recommend that youinstall any interface of multi nest well in advance of the session (itrequires pre-registration and approval) so that if you have any problemsyou can email me. There will not be time during the session to installmultinest.Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupThursday 7 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Simon Vaughan, University of LeicesterTitle: Variability as a tool to study accreting black holes and neutronstarsThe fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularlyaccreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormousprogress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, thebehaviour of matter on the surfaces of neutron stars and improving theevidence for black holes. Most of this progress has been made byanalysing and modelling time series data in terms of their power- andcross-spectra.In this talk I am going to concentrate on a related but often overlookedaspect of their variability: the rms-flux relation. I will illustratethe basic idea and its consequences using examples of X-ray variabilityfrom X-ray binaries, Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearbygalaxies, and AGN , including Kepler optical monitoring of a Blazar.Week Commencing 27 April 2015Management GroupTuesday 28 April 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 29 April 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: David Van Dyk, Imperial College LondonTitle: The Unified Statistical Analysis of Populations of Sources:Advantages of "Shrinkage Estimates" in AstronomyAstronomical studies often involve samples or populations of sources. Theparameters describing the sources can either be fit to each source in aseparate analysis, or all be fit in a single unified analysis. The latterstrategy allows us to incorporate the population distribution into acoherent statistical model and exhibits distinct statistical advantages.In particular, objects with smaller error bars and well-constrainedparameters allow us to estimate the population distribution, which in turncan be used to better estimate the weakly-constrained parametersassociated with objects with larger error bars.The fitted values of such weakly-constrained parameters will "shrinktowards" the population mean, and are thus called "shrinkage estimates".This talk describes both frequentist and Bayesian advantages of shrinkageestimates and illustrates how they can be used in astronomy. In the firstof two examples we estimate the absolute magnitudes of a SDSS sample of288 Type Ia Supernovae using shrinkage estimates and illustrate how theydiffer from naive estimates. In the second example, we use photometricmagnitudes of a sample of galactic halo white dwarfs to simultaneouslyobtain shrinkage estimates of the stellar ages and an estimate the age ofthe halo.TISIThursday 30 April 2015, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Michael Betancourt from the University of Warwick Departmentof StatisticsTitle: Scalable Bayesian Inference.Problems at the frontiers of applied statistics, from physics to ecologyto epidemiology and pharmacology, require not only large data sets butalso the complex statistical models needed to describe the intricacies ofthe data. Drawing inferences from these problems necessitates bothscalable and general statistical algorithms and their computationallyefficient yet user-friend implementations. Stan is a user-focused platformfor Bayesian inference that wraps the state-of-the-art Hamiltonian MonteCarlo sampler with an expressive modeling language that makes it easy tobuild and learn from complex models. In this talk I'll review the basicsof Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Stan before presenting a series ofinteractive examples for the audience.Michael is a significant contributor to the widely used Hamiltonian MonteCarlo code STAN.Week Commencing 20 April 2015BritGrav 15Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st April 2015, Physics West 117 & Physics WestLibraryThe 15th British Gravity (BritGrav) Meeting will be held on 20-21 April2015 at the University of Birmingham, organised by the Gravitational PhysicsGroup [www.sr.bham.ac.uk].The meeting covers all areas of gravity, classical and quantum, includingastrophysics, cosmology, mathematical general relativity, gravitational-wavedata analysis and instrumentation. It is intended to bring together theentire gravitational research community to further collaboration and allowyoung researchers to showcase their work.Public Lecture Gravitational waves - Advances towards detectionTuesday 21st April 2015, 7:30pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Jim Hough, University of GlasgowA public lecture on gravitational-wave science by Prof. Jim Hough(University of Glasgow), organised to coincide with the BritGrav 15 meeting.All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.The detection of gravitational-wave signals is still one of the mostchallenging areas of experimental physics. And the reward for success willbe considerable in that the information carried by these signals will giveus new insight into the hearts of some of the most violent events in theCosmos—from the formation of black holes to aspects of the evolution of theUniverse. A global network of gravitational-wave detectors is now reachingthe final stages of construction, with first data expected in 2015. Thenature of gravitational waves, how the detectors work, and what the datafrom the detectors can tell us about the Universe we inhabit, will bediscussed.HiROS SeminarTuesday 21 April 2015, 11am, Nuffield G19Speaker: Dr Thomas Masseron, University of CambridgeTitle: "Inferring stellar evolution and Milky Way history from stellarspectra"Week Commencing 23 March 2015Management Group Tuesday 24 March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229 Physics Role Model talk Tuesday 24th March 2015 1.30pm The Barber Institute Lecture Theatre (room G11) Speaker: Prof Yvonne Elsworth, University of Birmingham Title: A random walk from undergraduate to Poynting Professor This talk is being given as the School's contribution to International Women’sday. Refreshments will be served after the talk. ASR Group Wednesday 25 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West Library Graham Smith to deliver the science talk Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Wednesday 25 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117 Speaker: Thomas Kitching, UCL Title: New Constraints on Dark Matter Cross-Sections using Weak Lensing Abstract -I will present new constraints on the relation between dark mattercross section, galaxies and x-ray gas, that used archival data from the Hubbleand Chandra X-ray telescopes. Astronomy in the City Wednesday 25 March 2015, 6pm, Poynting Building We will have our usual talks, followed by observing on campus and someopportunities to visit the University Observatory. This month, Dr Will Farrwill be counting the number of Earth-like planets in the Galaxy. Visit theAstronomy in the City page to book tickets and to find out more. TISI Friday 27 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Rooms CLAD Speaker: Will Farr Title: Using an off the shelf sampler -Emcee In this session we will introduce the use of off-the-shelf samplers fortackling statistical inference problems, focusing on the Python packageemcee as our example. We will also look at useful post-processing tricks such as checking for convergence of chains. Journal Club Friday 27 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library Week Commencing 16 March 2015Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 18 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117CANCELLED Journal ClubFriday 20 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryPhysics & Astronomy Research Poster ShowcaseFriday 20 March 2015, 3pm-6pm, Bridge Study LoungeThe purpose of this informal poster conference is to bring postgraduatestudents from the different research groups together to talk about theirwork, in a relaxed environment. Copious amounts of beer, wine, cheese, andcake are on order to lubricate the conversation.Please register your interest at http://bit.ly/1DoWySE [www.google.com] byWednesday 18 March.Posters of any size will be accepted (although ideally A1), and it does notneed to be perfectly up-to-date; we want to hear about all of your research!We hope to see you all on Friday at 1500. Your PG repsVisitorsTrevor Ponman - Monday 16 March - Wednesday 18 March 2015Week Commencing 9 March 2015ASR GroupWednesday 11 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHaoyu Wang to deliver the science talkTISIFriday 13 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Room CLADIntroduction into MCMC & Metropolis-HastingsJournal ClubFriday 13 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West 115 (Please note change of venue)Week Commencing 2 March 2015Management GroupTuesday 4th March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229PhD Applicant DayWednesday 4 March 2015, 12pm, Poynting Bridge Study RoomLunch will be served at 12pm in the Bridge Study Room.School ColloquiumWednesday 4 March 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Bill Murray, University of WarwickTitle: The Higgs at LHC: Run 1 and a perspective on Run 2Journal ClubFriday 6 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 23 February 2015Management GroupTuesday 24th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 25th February 2015, 2.30pm,Physics West 117 Speaker: Mark Swinbank, University of DurhamTitle: ALMA surveys of high-redshift, star-forming galaxiesI will present some recent results from ALMA cycle 0/1 surveys of distant,sub-mm galaxies (SMGs). The ALMA data allow us to investigate the propertiesof SMGs (redshift distribution, star formation rates, stellar masses and AGNactivity). I will show that these distant (z = 2.5) Ultra-luminous InfraredGalaxies have star-formation rates of 300-1000 Msol/yr, substantial stellarmasses (M* = 6E10 Msol) and cold molecular gas fractions of 40% - which aremany of the properties expected for the progenitors of today massive spheroidsand elliptical galaxies. Indeed, accounting for the fading of the stellarpopulations, I will show that the space density of the descendent of SMGs areconsistent with the entire population of local luminous ellipticals. Finally,I will show some recent results from ALMA cycle 1 where we have obtainedhigher resolution (0.3arcsec) maps of a sub-sample of bright SMGs.Astronomy in the CityWednesday 25th February 2015, 6pm Poynting BuildingThis month Simon, one of our PhD students, will talk about observing blackholes.What do we do after massive stars explode as brilliant supernovae, and thendie as black holes,vanishing from traditional telescopes? With a gravitational-waveobservatory, the story is just beginning...Join us for this exciting talk as well as our popular regulars:observatory trips, observing on campus, March's night sky, and "Ask theexpert".Doors open at 5:30pm, with talks/panel at 6-7pm; observing starts shortlythereafter.Journal ClubFriday 27th February 2015, 3pm, Physics West Library (Please note the changeof time)Week Commencing 9 February 2015Management GroupTuesday 10th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 11th February 2015, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Speaker: Pavel Ivanov, Lebedev Physical InstituteTitle: The dynamics of supermassive binary black hole immersed in anaccretion disc on a retrograde orbitVice-Chancellor's Open ForumWednesday 11th February 2015 12.30pm - 1.30pm Bramall Music Building, ElgarConcert HallAnswering the big questions - Professor Sir David Eastwood in conversationwith the BBC's Education Correspondent Sean Coughlan.Registration is not required. All staff are encouraged to attend, and totake advantage of this opportunity to discuss the key topics affecting oursector and our university.Journal ClubFriday 13th February 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibraryVisitorsWednesday 11th - Friday 13th February 2015Dr Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group this week.Week Commencing 19 January 2015HiROS SeminarMonday 19 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Mausumi DikpatiManagement GroupTuesday 20 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229VisitorsTuesday 20 January 2015Dr Sean Dougherty - Director of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory(DRAO) will be visiting Ian Stevens and Diane Brookes on Tuesday Jan 20th2015.School ColloquiumWednesday 21 January 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Edmund Copeland, University of NottinghamTitle: Our Universe: so simple yet so much we don't understandJournal ClubFriday 23 January 2014, 2pm, Physics West LibraryWeek Commencing 12 January 2015Management GroupTuesday 13 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229ASR GroupWednesday 14 January 2015, 12pm Physics West LibraryBen Bradnick to deliver the science talkAstrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS GroupWednesday 14 January 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Don Pollaco, Warwick UniversityTitle: Earth 2 and the search for habitable zone planetsThe last decade has seen immense worldwide activity in the discovery andcharacterisation of extrasolar planets. Starting from the radial velocitysurveys, the UK's world leading WASP project and the CoRoT and Kepler spacemissions, we will review the current state of knowledge emphasising ourunderstanding of habitable zone planets. We will look forward to upcomingexperiments and in particular PLATO that will be transformational to ourknowledge of rocky planets in the habitable zones of solar type stars.New StaffMonday 12 January 2015Conor Mow-Lowry starts work with the group today.Week Commencing 15 December 2014Management GroupTuesday 16 December 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS GroupWednesday 17 December 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Selma De Mink, AmsterdamTitle: TBCJournal Club / arXivFriday 19 December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library Journal Club School Colloquium Publications Week Commencing 9 May 2016 Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Week Commencing 25 April 2016 ASR Management Group ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar HiROS Lectureship Position Visitors Publications Congratulations to Professor Mandel & Others Week Commencing 14 March 2016 ASR Management Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar School Colloquium Publications Week Commencing 7 March 2016 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 29 February 2016 PhD Admission Day Journal Club School Colloquium Paper of the month award Week Commencing 22 February 2016 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Outreach Week Commencing 8 February 2016 ASR Management Group Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum ASR Group Meeting International Day of Women and Girls in Science Week Commencing 1 February 2016 ASR Management Group Journal Club Physics Colloquium Visitors Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds Week Commencing 25 January 2016 GraWIToN School ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting School Committee Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 18 January 2016 ASR Management Group School Colloquiua HiROS Seminar Additional Information Week Commencing 11 January 2016 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Publications Additional Information Week Commencing 14 December 2015 Big Waves ASR Management Group Visitors Week Commencing 7 December 2015 ASR Management Groups Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Physics Colloquium Week Commencing 30 November 2015 ASR Management Groups ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Week Commencing 23 November 2015 ASR Management Group Journal Club School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 16 November 2015 Vice-Chancellor visit to the School of Physics and Astronomy Visitors Week Commencing 9 November 2015 ASR Management Group School Colloquium Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Visitors Week Commencing 19 October 2015 ASR Management Group ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Week Commencing 19 October 2015 ASR Management Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Physics Colloquium Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions Week Commencing 12 October 2015 ASR Management Group Astro in the City Week Commencing 5 October 2015 HiROS Workshop - Red Giants Modelling Workshop ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Visitors Publications Week Commencing 28 September 2015 Cluster Mass & Scaling Relations Working Group ASR Management Group Visitors Week Commencing 14 September 2015 ASR Management Group College Discussion Forum School Committee Meeting Week Commencing 7 September 2015 In the Footsteps of Galaxies ASR Management Group Astrophysics Seminar Publications Week Commencing 6 July 2015 TISI Physics PG Workshop - Managing your Supervisor! Publications Week Commencing 22 June 2015 Astrophysics Seminar HiROS Seminar TISI Reminder Alberto's Party Week Commencing 25 May 2015 Management Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group HiROS Seminar TISI Week Commencing 11 May 2015 ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Inaugural Lecture of Prof Andreas Freise Visitors Week Commencing 4 May 2015 Management Group Astrophysics Seminar School Colloquium TISI Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Week Commencing 27 April 2015 Management Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group TISI Week Commencing 20 April 2015 BritGrav 15 Public Lecture Gravitational waves - Advances towards detection HiROS Seminar Week Commencing 23 March 2015 Management Group Physics Role Model talk ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Astronomy in the City TISI Journal Club Week Commencing 16 March 2015 Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Journal Club Physics & Astronomy Research Poster Showcase Visitors Week Commencing 9 March 2015 ASR Group TISI Journal Club Week Commencing 2 March 2015 Management Group PhD Applicant Day School Colloquium Journal Club Week Commencing 23 February 2015 Management Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group Astronomy in the City Journal Club Week Commencing 9 February 2015 Management Group Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum Journal Club Visitors Week Commencing 19 January 2015 HiROS Seminar Management Group Visitors School Colloquium Journal Club Week Commencing 12 January 2015 Management Group ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group New Staff Week Commencing 15 December 2014 Management Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Journal Club / arXiv Visitors Week Commencing 8 December 2014 Management Group HiROS Group Meeting Warwick/Birmingham Meeting ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Journal Club / arXiv Visitors Publications Week Commencing 1 December 2014 Management Group School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Journal Club / arXiv Visitors Thursday 4 December 2014 - Alberto Sesana Message from Trevor Ponman Week Commencing 24 November 2014 HiROS Astro Teaching Meeting - Bill Chaplin Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Information Theory for Physicists - Short Lecture Course Journal Club / arXiv Week Commencing 17 November 2014 GW Q&A Session School Colloquium Journal Club / arXiv Week Commencing 10 November 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Astronomy in the City Journal Club / arXiv Week Commencing 20 October 2014 Special HiROS Seminar ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Jourmal Club / arXiv Week Commencing 20 October 2014 Special HiROS Seminar Special Astrophysics Seminar College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Conference School Colloquium Journal Club / arXiv Week Commencing 13 October 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group Vice-Chancellors Open Forum Journal Club / arXiv Publications / Articles Week Commencing 6 October 2014 HiROS Seminar IMPACT Conference School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Week Commencing 22 September 2014 Big Waves School Committee Meeting Visitors Week Commencing 28 July 2014 HiROS Red Giants Peak Bagging Workshop HiROS Seminar Publications Week Commencing 21 July 2014 Astro in the City nights recognised by Science & Technology FacilitiesCouncil award Publications Week Commencing 14 July 2014 ASR Group EPS Summer Social Visitors Week Commencing 30 June 2014 GraWIToN Supervisor Board Meeting EPS College Assembly Week Commencing 16 June 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Journal Club Visitors Week Commencing 9 June 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Journal Club Publications Week Commencing 19 May 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar School Colloquium Journal Club IOP 3 Minute Wonder Final Update - Michaela Nelson Week Commencing 12 May 2014 ASR Group School Colloquium Journal Club Visitors Week Commencing 28 April 2014 ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar School Committee Meeting Journal Club Publications Additional News> Week Commencing 7 April 2014 Special Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar VC Review of Physics and Astronomy Week Commencing 31 March 2014 Special Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar EPS College Assembly Visitors Week Commencing 24 March 2014 Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar ASR Group - Rescheduled Astronomy in the City - featuring BICEP2: the view from Birmingham Stars & Planets Promotions Publicationa Week Commencing 17 March 2014 Special Astrophysics Seminar School Colloquium Astronomy in the City Publications Week Commencing 10 March 2014 AMG Weekly Management Meeting ASR Group Visitors Publications Week Commencing 3 March 2014 AMG Weekly Management Meeting Post Graduate Admissions Day School Colloquium EPS Distinguished Lecture Series Stars & Planets Publications Week Commencing 24 February 2014 Weekly AMG Meeting Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Astronomy in the City Stars & Planets ArXiv Discussions - Change to Schedule Health & Safety Inspection Week Commencing 17 February 2014 Weekly AMG Meeting School Colloquium Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Week Commencing 10 February 2014 Weekly AMG Meeting Vice Chancellors Evening Lecture ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Week Commencing 3 February 2014 Weekly AMG Meeting School Colloquium New Starters Visitors Additional News Week Commencing 27 January 2014 AMG Weekly Management Meeting ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Astronomy in the City Stars & Planets Meeting Week Commencing 20 January 2014 Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Weekly AMG Meeting Re-Scheduled ASR Group Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar School Colloquium Week Commencing 13 January 2014 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Staff Awards EPSRC Follow-On Fund Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Week Commencing 6 January 2014 STFC ISL Committee Meeting (For Information) AMG Weekly Management Meeting Week Commencing 16 December 2013 Astrophysics Christmas Meal School of Physics and Astronomy End of Year Party Chiara Mingarelli Annual fire systems testing and essential maintenance on electricalinfrastructure Week Commencing 2 December 2013 School Colloquium Astrophysics Coffee & Cookies Meet & Greet Session Physics and Astronomy Research Poster Session December Degree Congregation EPS Christmas Social CQG - highlights for 2012-13 Selection of ATHENA+ and eLISA Week Commencing 25 November 2013 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Prof Alberto Vecchio's Inaugural Lecture Postgraduate Open Day EPS Christmas Social Week Commencing 18 November 2013 ASR Group Meeting (Re-scheduled) School Colloquium Week Commencing 11 November 2013 ASR Group Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Week Commencing 4 November 2013 Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar School Colloquium Prof Alberto Vecchio's Inaugural Lecture Publications Week Commencing 28 October 2013 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar Week Commencing 21 October 2013 School Colloquium EPS College Assembly Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum Visitors Week Commencing 14 October 2013 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Birmingham Heroes Lecture: Music of the Stars Publications Miscellaneous Week Commencing 7 October 2013 School Colloquium Week Commencing 30 September 2013 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Visitors / New Staff /Changing Roles Fire Safety Lectures Week Commencing 23 September 2013 Promotion: Professor Andreas Freise School Committee Meeting Professor Ray Jones Lucy Collinson Cycling Roadshow Week Commencing 2 September 2013 ASR Group Meeting Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Visitors / New Staff Publications Week Commencing 19 August 2013 Visitors / New Staff Publications Canvas now available Week Commencing 12 August 2013 Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Visitors / New Staff Publications Week Commencing 15 July 2013 Wednesday 17 July 2013 EPS College Research Conference Publications Week Commencing 08 July 2013 Excellence in Doctoral Supervision Award Physics Graduation and Reception Week Commencing 01 July 2013 College Summer Social Publications Week Commencing 23 June 2013 There is no news this week Week Commencing 17 June 2013 Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar Open Days School Committee Meeting University Car Parking Publications Additional Information Press release on new results from LoCuSS. Version 1.0 of the interferometer simulation tool Finesse Week Commencing 10 June 2013 Group Garden Party Window Cleaning - Physics West Week Commencing 3 June 2013 US Summer Students Wednesday Group Meeting College Assembly Group Garden Party Week Commencing 27 May 2013 Archive Week Commencing 20 May 2013 Friday Science Meeting Publications EPS Best Publication of the Month Award Week Commencing 13 May 2013 School Colloquium Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Visitors Publications Archive Week Commencing 6 May 2013 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Friday Science Meeting Publications Week Commencing 29 April 2013 Felicia Ziparo - Post Doctoral Researcher Network Maintenance Week Commencing 22 April 2013 School Colloquium Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Friday Science Meeting Publications Week Commencing 25 March 2013 Visitors Publications Week Commencing 18 March 2013 Coffee Hour College Assembly Arts & Science Festival School Colloquium Publications Week Commencing 11 March 2013 Coffee Hour Friday Science Meeting Visitors Publications Week Commencing 4 March 2013 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Making the Invisible Visible: discovering forces beyond what we see Week Commencing 25 February 2013 Vice Chancellor's Open Forum School Colloquium Postgraduate Admissions Day Inaugural Lecture Friday Science Meeting - CANCELLED Week Commencing 18 February 2013 Week Commencing 11 February 2013 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar School Colloquium Friday Science Meeting Post Doc Interviews Week Commencing 4 February 2013 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Visitors Week Commencing 28 January 2013 School Colloquium Friday Science Professor Mike Cruise Week Commencing 21 January 2013 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Re-Scheduled Friday Science / ASR Group Meeting Week Commencing 14 January 2013 Colloquium Friday Science Visitors Week Commencing 7 January 2013 School Committee Meeting Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Visitors BBC Stargazing Live 2013 Week Commencing 10 December 2012 Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar Friday Science Meeting Coffee & Cake Fire Training for All Staff and Post Graduates College Christmas Social Visitors

Week Commencing 3 May 2021

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 5 May 2021, 1400 HoursTitle: Exoplanetary Atmospheres in 3D: implications from radiation-chemistry (cloud)-hydrodynamics simulationsSpeaker: Nathan Mayne, University of ExeterAbstract: In this presentation I will detail some of our efforts to apply 3Dclimate models to the study of exoplanets. Firstly, I will give a brief overviewof the observations and the key questions they pose, before detailing theapproach we have adopted at the Exeter Exoplanet Theory Group. Our studies arebased on the UK Met Office 3D model, termed the Unified Model, and I willbriefly describe the development environment before presenting some of thephysical applications. Starting with gas giant planets, and particularly hotJupiters, I will show how the atmospheric flows act to move the large scalestructure, chemical state and observations away from that predicted throughequilibrium and/or 1D considerations. Time permitting, I will very briefly showresults from state-of-the-art 3D simulations of gas giants including clouds,before finishing with applications to terrestrial exoplanets, exploring theimportance of convection, and how it is treated, in setting the overall climateof tidally-locked planets.https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83664378648?pwd=c0Zsbk9Sa3U5YWkwSnBpTW16K3VNdz09Meeting ID: 836 6437 8648Topic: PhD meet & greethttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86976649437?pwd=TTVtUW82Y1EyODQzY1BhKzVFbVBVZz09Meeting ID: 869 7664 9437

Pulsar Timing Arrays – Group Study/Journal Club

Friday 7 May 2021, 1400 HoursVia Zoom: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87042723078?pwd=TkVYcFZJeHlzTUlGai9YOEZhTUI3Zz09A small group of us have decided to run something between a group study andjournal club this term to improve our knowledge of pulsar timing arrays.The next few years are expected to be a golden age for pulsar timing array(PTA) science. The recent tentative claim of a detection of an astrophysicalsignal in the NANOGrav 12.5-year data set is expected to be confirmed, therebyopening a new observational window on supermassive black holes.Everyone in the group is welcome to attend. Please circulate this link toanyone you think might be interested. We will meet once a week, on Fridaysat 2.00pm, starting next week (7th May). We expect this to run for between6-8 weeks.For more details, see this webpage: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/~dgerosa/ptaprimerChris Moore and Davide Gerosa

Publications

In Science:Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole -- implications for massivestar windsJames C.A. Miller- Jones, Arash Bahramian, Jerome A. Orosz, Ilya Mandel,Lijun Gou, Thomas J. Maccarone, Coenraad J. Neijssel et al.https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.09091https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/02/17/science.abb3363Its companion, in ApJ:Wind mass-loss rates of stripped stars inferred from Cygnus X-1Coenraad J. Neijssel, Serena Vinciguerra, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Ryosuke Hirai,James C. A. Miller-Jones, Arash Bahramian, Thomas J. Maccarone, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2102.09092GRB jet structure and the jet breakGavin P Lamb, D. Alexander Kann, Joseph John Fernández, Ilya Mandel,Andrew J. Levan, Nial R. Tanvirhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2104.11099Bayesian inference for gravitational waves from binary neutron star mergersin third-generation observatoriesRory Smith, Ssohrab Borhanian, Bangalore Sathyaprakash,Francisco Hernandez Vivanco, Scott Field, Paul Lasky, Ilya Mandel,Soichiro Morisaki, David Ottaway, Bram Slagmolen, Eric Thrane,Daniel Töyrä, Salvatore Vitalehttps://arxiv.org/abs/2103.12274Impact of Massive Binary Star and Cosmic Evolution on Gravitational WaveObservations I: Black Hole - Neutron Star Mergers FloorS. Broekgaarden, Edo Berger, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez,Debatri Chattopadhyay, Simon Stevenson, Martyna Chruslinska, Stephen Justham,Selma E. de Mink, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2103.02608Global calibration of novel 3-hydroxy fatty acid based temperature andpH proxiesCanfa Wanga, James Bendle, Huan Yang, Yi Yang, Alice Hardman, Afrifa Yamoah,Amy Thorpe, Ilya Mandel, Sarah Greene, Junhua Huang, Shucheng XieGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Volume 302, 1 June 2021, Pages 101-119https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703721001563

Week Commencing 16 November 2020

ASR Group Meeting

Wednesday 18 November 2020, 2pm, via ZoomKazuhiro will present his recently accepted paper titled: "The expansion of the universe in binary star systems" (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212686420304453?via%3Dihub Join zoom meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91253599156?pwd=TlhJd29CemVvNERSblFjV3ZFSHVYZz09

Publications

Global calibration of novel 3-hydroxy fatty acid based temperature and pH proxies. C. Wang, J. A. Bendle, H. Yang, Y. Yang, A. Hardman, A. Yamoah, A. Thorpe, I. Mandel, S. E. Greene, J. Huang. Submitted to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Week Commencing 26 October 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1500-1600, via ZoomSpeaker: Abbas Askar, Lund UniversityTitle: The formation of gravitational wave sources in star clusters: From stellar to intermediate-mass black holesAbstract:Over the past five years, several merging compact object binary systems havebeen detected through gravitational waves by the LIGO /Virgo detectors. Whilethese observations provide a new window to observe the universe, they alsoraise important questions about the astrophysical origin and formation ofthese elusive binary systems. In this talk, I will discuss the variousprocesses by which gravitational wave sources can form in dense stellarclusters. The retention and long-term evolution of compact objects in stellarclusters depends on a variety of physical processes that are not fullyunderstood. I will give an overview of these processes and explain how theyshape the properties and merger rates of binary black holes that originate indense environments. Additionally, it has also been suggested that massive anddense star clusters could be potential sites for forming black holes withmasses between ~ 100 to 10,000 solar masses. I will talk about the keyprocesses and caveats involved in the formation, retention and growth ofthese intermediate-mass black holes in the densest star clusters. I will alsodiscuss how these clusters that host intermediate-mass black holes can end upin the galactic centre where they may play a role in seeding the formation ofsuper-massive black holes.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1230-1300 via ZoomÂJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98618684986?pwd=YmlTaU1Xd0ZjSzhvMFNGZk9nejBjUT09Meeting ID: 986 1868 4986Passcode: 364718

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Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1600 via zoomSpeaker: Jan Zalasiewicz, University of LeicesterTitle: The New World of the AnthropoceneAbstract:Human civilization has grown around the stable shorelines and climate, andamid the diverse biosphere of, the last ten millenia or so of the HoloceneEpoch: the latest of many interglacial phases of the Quaternary Ice Age, andthe one that the created the world we live in. The growth of human civilizationhas now put that stability into question. With the explosion in both humannumbers and energy use since the Industrial Revolution has come sharp andlarge-scale changes to landscape, biosphere and climate. These rapid andlarge-scale changes have led to the suggestion that we are now living throughthe beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch – an interval of geological timedominated by human influence. The term was proposed just two decades ago byPaul Crutzen, the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist, and has since beenwidely used – and sharply debated. Its analysis needs converting the variouskinds of environmental change into different kinds of geology. Physical changeis most strikingly represented by the spread of the ‘urban stratum’, therefashioning of sand, clay and limestone into our buildings, foundations andtransport systems. Biological changes include the ongoing mass extinction eventand the effect of invasive species (while human-made ‘anthroturbation’ is asextraordinary as anything in the fossil record). Chemical changes include thereshaping of the Earth’s natural carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen cycles. Thecombined change is of a scale to leave a signal, in strata now forming, thatwill persist for many millions of years. Of more immediate significance ishow this new concept in Earth history might be used to help us navigate theconditions of a changing planet over the decades and centuries to come.The colloquia will take place online, using Zoom. Please follow this link at 4pm:https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96072052168?pwd=V2pIZlZvd3BHZW9GRGF0TCt6OTc1dz09

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1800, Via YouTube & ZoomIn place of our normal in-person Astronomy in the City events, we are startinga series of virtual events which are designed to bring you all the familiarhighlights. We hope you will be able to join us for the first event onWednesday, 28 October 2020 at 18:00. It will feature talks live streamed viaYouTube followed by a live Q&A session on the Zoom platform.The links to the talks and Q&A can be found at the Astronomy in the Citywebpage: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.phpIn this first event, we will feature a talk by University of Birmingham PhDstudent Andris Dorozsmai called “The great debate in astronomy - theShapley/Curtis debate on the scale of the Universe” as well as a talk aboutthe night sky in November. Following this, you will have the chance to askassembled experts any astronomical questions you may have.We are currently planning a second event for 25 November 2020, with moreexpected in the New Year. We hope to welcome you to one of these virtualevents. Dr Sean McGee, University of Birmingham Observatory Director onbehalf of the The Astronomy in the City Team

Publications

My new paper has been published recently. I believe many of you are interestedin this topic: the first hint of the expansion of the universe in shortdistance scales (~0.01 au).Kazuhiro Agatsumahttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.dark.2020.100732

Week Commencing 12 October 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 1400-1500, via ZoomSpeaker: Savita MathurTitle: Insights on stellar rotation and magnetism from main-sequence solar like stars to red giantsAbstract:During the last 15 years, photometric data of large samples of stars have beencollected thanks to space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler/K2 or TESS . The highquality of these data have allowed us to progress on different fields ofastrophysics from exoplanet search to stellar physics, includinggalactic-archeology. The study of standing waves generated in stars proved thatthey carry crucial information to probe stellar interiors. The asteroseismicanalysis of the the aforementioned data opened a window on the interior ofsolar-like stars with an external convective envelope. For instance, it ispossible to measure the depth of these convective envelopes in main-sequencesolar-like stars or to determine the rotation rate of the core of subgiantsand red giants, showing that those rates are much slower than what is predictedby standard solar models.Understanding the transport of angular momentum is crucial to better determinethe stellar ages when using stellar evolution models. More than 40 years ago,Skumanich (1972) showed how rotation and magnetic activity decreased with theage of a solar-like star. While this result was based on the study of youngcluster stars, later observations of other clusters, still younger than theSun, agreed with this age-rotation or “gyrochronology” relationship. With morerecent studies based on Kepler data, this empirical relation does not seem tohold, opening new questions on stellar dynamics evolution.In this talk, I will focus on targets from solar-like stars to red giants whererotation and magnetism could be measured with photometric data. I will showhow the photometric data of Kepler is providing key information on theunderstanding of angular momentum transport in stars and of magnetic activityat different evolutionary stages of a star like the Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 1230-1300 via Zoom  ÂJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98618684986?pwd=YmlTaU1Xd0ZjSzhvMFNGZk9nejBjUT09Meeting ID: 986 1868 4986Passcode: 364718

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 16.00 via zoomSpeaker: Gerald Gabrielse, Northwestern/HarvardTitle: Tabletop Tests of the Standard Model and Beyond: A Tale of Two Electron Dipole Moments.Abstract:The standard model of particle physics—a set of particles, interactions andsymmetries knitted together by field theory—is the great triumph and the greatfrustration of modern physics. The great triumph is its ability to predict theoutcome of laboratory tests with exquisite precision. The great frustration isits inability to account for basic features of the universe, like how itsurvives annihilation after the big bang, why it is made of matter rather thanantimatter, why does gravity not fit well, what is dark matter, etc. Themagnetic and electric dipole moments of the electron, measured using completelydifferently methods, illustrate the crucial role of tabletop measurements fortesting the standard model and beyond.The electron’s magnetic moment, determined to 3 parts in 10^{13}, is the mostprecisely determined property of an elementary particle. The measurement witha one-electron quantum cyclotron tests the most precise prediction of thestandard model. A ten times more precise measurement is currently beingpursued in light of an intriguing 2.4 standard deviation discrepancy that hasrecently emerged between the measurement and the prediction. A positronmeasurement at the new precision should provide a 200 times improved test ofthe standard model’s fundamental CPT symmetry invariance with leptons.The electron electric dipole, measured using the incredibly strong internalfield on valence electrons within cold molecules in a cold beam, is anextremely sensitive probe for physics beyond the standard model. The standardmodel requires 4th order perturbation theory to produce the CP violation neededfor an electric dipole, while supersymmetric models and other proposedbeyond-the-standard-model improvements predict much large electric dipolesmoments from first order perturbation theory. Following two previousorder-of-magnitude improvements in sensitivity, a new measurement seeks toimprove the sensitivity by another order of magnitude.The colloquia will take place online, using Zoom. Please follow this link at 4pm:https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96072052168?pwd=V2pIZlZvd3BHZW9GRGF0TCt6OTc1dz09

Publications

Chemically hom*ogeneous Evolution: A rapid population synthesis approachJeff Riley, Ilya Mandel, Pablo Marchant, Ellen Butler, Kaila Nathaniel,Coenraad Neijssel, Spencer Shortt, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.00002

Week Commencing 28 September 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 30 September 2020, 1400-1500, via ZoomSpeaker: Leo SteinTitle: Integrability of eccentric, spinning black-hole binaries up to second post-Newtonian orderAbstract:Accurate gravitational waveforms are necessary for LIGO and LISA sources, andespecially for the prospect of multi-band gravitational wave observations.Computing these waveforms accurately is expensive because of the complicatedprecession dynamics over a very large number of orbits. The most complicatedscenario is an eccentric binary where both spins and the orbital plane areprecessing. Current state-of-the-art waveform models rely on analyticalapproximations like orbit averaging and a small-eccentricity expansion. Iwill present work towards avoiding these approximations by exploitingintegrability of the Hamiltonian dynamics of eccentric, spinning black holebinaries. Integrability lets us construct action-angle variables, which makethe evolution very simple for arbitrarily long times. We will present fourout of five of the action integrals at 1.5PN. And while post-Newtoniancorrections break integrability, we can recover it in a perturbative sense.We will present explicit (perturbative) constants of motion at 2PN order, andthe method that was used to find them.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 30 September 2020, 1530-1600 via Zoom  ÂJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97667447083?pwd=TUpBU3Z0ZTlJWUhzSE5mYkVtdFEvQT09Meeting ID: 976 6744 7083Passcode: 822209

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 30 September 2020, 16.00 via zoomSpeaker: Andrew Beggs, University of Birmingham Title: COVID-19 for the scientifically mindedAbstract:SARS -CoV-2 is a clear and present danger to public health, initially beingidentified in an outbreak in Wuhan, China in December. Since then it has sweptthe world, changing all aspects of life. In this talk I will give thebackground to SARS -CoV-2, why it is so dangerous and virulent compared toother epidemics and the technologies and steps that are underway to defeat it.https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96072052168?pwd=V2pIZlZvd3BHZW9GRGF0TCt6OTc1dz0

Publications

Ilya Mandel, Bernhard Mueller, Jeff Riley, Selma E. de Mink, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Debatri Chattopadhyay Binary population synthesis with probabilistic remnant mass and kick prescriptionshttps://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03890Ackley et al. (including C. Neijssel, I. Mandel) Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory: A kilohertz-band gravitational-wave detector in the global networkhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03128

Lucy Thomas

Congratulations to Lucy. Lucy won the national 3- minute Thesis prize for thebest description of PhD work in all subjects in all 48 UK universities, whosefinal was heavily dominated by medicine and life sciences.Details are at https://www.vitae.ac.uk/events/three-minute-thesis-competition

Week Commencing 22 June 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar / PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 24 June 2020Due to the time difference with California, the seminar is later than theusual time slot: Time: 16.30-17.30 Location: Zoom - See below for the login information.Speaker: Jim Fuller, CaltechTitle: Fun with Binary StarsJim has also very kindly agreed to join the PhD meet & greet, so I'm happy tosay that this is also starting back up again. I've opened a zoom channel forthis, with information below. For the same reasons of time differences, thistime the PhD meet & greet will take place after the seminar, at 18.00.Cheers SilviaAbstract:In addition to being the sources of exotic supernovae and gravitational waves,binary stars allow for interesting new insights in stellar astrophysics. Thepulsations of tidally distorted stars in close binaries are "tidally trapped,"exhibiting amplitude modulated over the orbital period. I will demonstrate whythis tidal trapping occurs and will discuss how tidally trapped pulsations maybe used for asteroseismology. Stellar oscillations are also excited by tidalforcing, leading to tidal synchronization and circularization. I will showcompelling observational evidence that a resonance locking process operatesin both planetary systems and stellar binaries such as heartbeat stars, drivingsynchronization that can be much more efficient than prior expectations.Finally, I will examine new discoveries of binary white dwarfs with sub-hourorbital periods, discussing implications for their formation, tidal physics,gravitational wave signals, and their impending demise.Topic: Seminar Jim FullerTime: Jun 24, 2020 04:30 PM LondonJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91331367587Meeting ID: 913 3136 7587Topic: Phd Meet & Greet Jim Fuller Time: Jun 24, 2020 06:00 PM LondonJoin Zoom Meetinghttps://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92266243273?pwd=QmxFZm9MY2VmTDZzMG9SY0NhOFhZZz09Meeting ID: 922 6624 3273Password: 203173

Publications

Simple recipes for compact remnant masses and natal kicksIlya Mandel, Bernhard Müllerhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2006.08360An outflow powers the optical rise of the nearby, fast-evolving tidaldisruption event AT2019qizMatt Nicholl … S.R.Oates … I. Mandel et al.https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.02454The Process of Stellar Tidal Disruption by Supermassive Black Holes.The first pericenter passageElena M. Rossi, Nicholas C. Stone, Jamie A.P. Law-Smith, Morgan MacLeod,Giuseppe Lodato, Jane L. Dai, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12528On the maximum stellar rotation to form a black hole without an accompanyingluminous transientAriadna Murguia-Berthier, Aldo Batta, Agnieszka Janiuk, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz,Ilya Mandel, Scott C. Noble, Rosa Wallace Eversonhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2005.10212

Week Commencing 2 March 2020

ASR Management Group

Tuesday 3 March 2020, 1pm, Physics West 229

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 1pm, Physics West LibraryAt 1pm there is the pizza lunch with the seminar speaker in the library.Preceding the pizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker(12.30 in the library).

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 2pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Tom Collett, University of PortsmouthTitle: The statistical era of strong gravitational lensing cosmologyAbstract: Local measurements of the expansion rate are in tension with thoseinferred from observations of the distant Universe. Is this the first sign ofnew physics or merely a sign of systematic errors within individual probes?This key question remains unsolved, because there are only a handful ofestablished probes. Here I will talk about how strong gravitational lensingoffers a new window on precision cosmology, shining a new light on the darkUniverse. I will present strong lensing constraints on the expansion rate ofthe Universe and the equation of state of dark energy. I will also show howlensing combined with stellar dynamics yields the most precise test to date ofthe validity of General Relativity on extragalactic scales.

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Chris Lintott, University of OxfordTitle: From Galaxy Zoo to LSST, Citizen Science in the age of Big Data.Abstract: Citizen Science projects such as Galaxy Zoo (launched in 2007) havedemonstrated that hundreds of thousands of volunteers can make significantcontributions to astronomical research. Project Principal Investigator ChrisLintott will review the latest results from the project, covering both orphological studies of large populations of galaxies and unusual objects suchas ‘Hanny’s Voorwerp’, a galaxy-scale light echo. Galaxy Zoo inspired thecreation of the Zooniverse platform, which now hosts nearly 100 projects -using recent astrophysical examples, including searches for supernovae andstrong lenses, Lintott will argue that there will be a place for volunteerclassification well into the next decade, highlighting in particular novelmachine learning approaches which manage the division of effort betweenvolunteers and machines in a flexible, optimised manner. The talk includes atleast one picture of penguins.The colloquium with be followed-up with light refreshments accompanied byrfruits & cakes. This can be an occasion to discuss with our speaker in a moreinformal setting. See also this post-colloquium event as another way tosocialise with colleagues. This will be held in the museum between the smalland large Poynting Theatres.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 6.15pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre, S02University of Birmingham faculty member Dr Dennis Martynov will discuss hiswork in a talk titled: "How do we observe and utilize gravitational waves?".The first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015 has proven thatEinstein was right once again and triggered a new era in astronomy andastrophysics. This talk will discuss techniques of gravitational-wave detectionand astrophysical properties of black holes and neutron stars observed by theLIGO and Virgo detectors. Dr Martynov will also mention the future plans ofthe gravitational wave community about developing the existing instruments andbuilding new observatories.Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity040320.eventbrite.co.ukThis will be the final Astronomy in the City event of the 2019/2020 season.We will return with another series of events starting in October 2020. Moredetails are on our website:http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

Publications

Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from theneutron star–black hole binary merger S190814bv. K.~Ackley et al.(including I. Mandel)arXiv:2002.01950Cosmic Rates of Black Hole Mergers and Pair-Instability Supernovae fromChemically hom*ogeneous Binary Evolution Lise du Buisson, Pablo Marchant,Philipp Podsiadlowski, Chiaki Kobayashi, Filipe B. Abdalla,Philip Taylor, Ilya Mandel, Selma E. de Mink, Takashi J. Moriya, Norbert LangerarXiv:2002.11630

Week Commencing 17 February 2020

ASR Group Meeting

Wednesday 19 February 2020, 2pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Valeriya KorolTitle: Galactic Astronomy with LISA

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 19 February 2020 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Tom McLeigh, University of YorkTitle: New Physics from Old: Medieval Science and the Ordered Universe Project.Abstract: For the English polymath, Robert Grosseteste, light was thefundamental first form that gave dimensionality and stability to the materialworld. In a dozen scientific treatises written in the early 13th Century, hepostulated an early physics of light, colour and the rainbow. In his De luce(on light) he extends it to the origin of the Universe in what has beenreferred to as the ‘Medieval Big Bang’. His arguments are so taut that theycan be translated into mathematics – our resulting numerical simulations showthat Grosseteste’s model does actually work. He also described the method fordeveloping a universal principle from repeated observations under controlledconditions and argued that the explanation needing fewer suppositions andpremises was the best. In his theory of colour, we have found through closeexamination of the manuscript evidence for his De colore (on colour) and hisDe iride (on the rainbow) and a mathematical analysis of their content, thathe presents the first three-dimensional theory of perceptual colour space.In this talk, I introduce Robert Grossteste (ca 1170 -1253), the scientist,r teacher, theologian and bishop and describe how a unique collaborativeresearch approach has revealed new insights into his thought, particularly onlight. An interdisciplinary team of historians, scientists, linguists andphilosophers has developed techniques of joint reading of the medieval textsthat have shown them to be logically consistent and founded on mathematicallybased models. We reflect on how a study of this extraordinary medievalscience can help throw fresh light on the history of scientific thought, andbridge the current perception gap between the study of science and humanities.The greatest surprise of all is that the project has stimulated many new piecesof science of contemporary interest (whose publications contain some unusuallyold references...)

Week Commencing 27 January 2020

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch

Wednesday 29 January 2020, 1pm, Physics West LibraryAt 1pm there is the pizza lunch with the seminar speaker in the library.Preceding the pizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker(12.30 in the library).

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 29 January 2020, 2pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Dr Or GraurTitle: Rage against the dying of the light: Type la supernovae at 1000 daysand beyondAbstract: Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have famously been used as standardcandles, a use that led to the discovery that the expansion of the Universewas accelerating under the influence of a mysterious new phenomenon called"dark energy." And yet, we still do not have a clear picture of the progenitorsof SNe Ia, i.e., what types of star systems end up exploding as thesesupernovae. For obvious reasons, most observers study these supernovae whenthey are young and at their brightest. In my talk, I will present recentresults from studies of SN Ia rates, from non-detections of SNe Ia indifferent types of observations, and from SN Ia observations taken thousandsof days after explosion. I will specifically emphasize how Hubble SpaceTelescope observations of old SNe Ia >1000 days after explosion reveal newinformation on the progenitors and physics of the explosions and theiraftermath.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 29 January 2020, 6:15 pm, Poynting Building Large Lecture Theatre S02University of Birmingham Lecturer Dr Davide Gerosa will discuss his workin a talk titled: "Somewhere in between astronomy and relativity". He willdiscuss how, until recently, everything we know about the Universe (planets,stars, galaxies...) came to us through light. Straddling the boundaries betweenastronomy and relativity, gravitational waves provide a fundamentally new wayof exploring the cosmos. Why would we only look at the Universe when we canalso hear it?Astronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research, and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus.Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity290120.eventbrite.co.ukThis will be the third Astronomy in the City event of the 2019/2020 season.A final event of the season is 4 March 2020. More details are on our website:http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

Publications

Common-Envelope Episodes that lead to Double Neutron Star formationAlejandro Vigna-Gomez, Morgan MacLeod, Coenraad J. Neijssel,Floor S. Broekgaarden, Stephen Justham, George Howitt, Selma E. de Minkand Ilya MandelThe origin of spin in binary black holes: Predicting the distributions of ther main observables of Advanced LIGO This one has been accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysics:Simone S. Bavera, Tassos Fragos, Ying Qin, Emmanouil Zapartas,Coenraad J. Neijssel, Ilya Mandel, Aldo Batta, Sebastian M. Gaebel,Chase Kimball, Simon Stevensonhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1906.12257

Week Commencing 6 January 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Tuesday 7 January 2020, 3pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Mike Lau, Monash UniversityTitle: Double Neutron Stars with LISA: What low-frequency gravitational waves tell us about binary star evolution?Abstract:The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors are producing several tens of(and growing) highly significant and credible gravitational wave candidates.The exploration of double compact object population statistics is integral toconstraining the relative importance of different formation channels andreducing the large uncertainties that characterise key stages of isolatedbinary evolution. I discuss how binary evolution physics may be imprinted inlow-frequency gravitational waves of inspiralling double neutron stars (DNSs).In particular, I talk about some of the recent predictions of detection ratesand properties of DNSs expected to be observed by future spaceborneinterferometer LISA.

Visitors

Evgeni Grishin and Mor Rozner will be visiting Dr Silvia Toonen on Wednesday 8January through to Friday 10 January 2020.

Publications

Detecting Double Neutron Stars with LISAMike Y. M. Lau, Ilya Mandel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijssel,Simon Stevenson, Alberto Sesanahttps://arxiv.org/abs/1910.12422The spectral evolution of AT 2018dyb and the presence of metal lines in tidaldisruption events.G. Leloudas et al.ApJ, accepted: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5792arXiv:1903.03120Luminous Red Novae: population models and future prospectsGeorge Howitt, Simon Stevenson, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Stephen Justham,Natasha Ivanova, Tyrone E. Woods, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Ilya MandelMNRAS, acceptedhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1912.07771Eclipses of continuous gravitational waves as a probe of stellar structurePablo Marchant, Katelyn Breivik, Christopher P. L. Berry, Ilya Mandel,Shane L. Larsonhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1912.04268Phys. Rev. D, accepted.The effects of unresolved double-degenerates in the white dwarf luminosityfunction.Rebassa-Mansergas, A. Toonen, S., Torres, S., Canals, P.https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019arXiv191113128R/abstractAn empirical fit for viscoelastic simulations of tertiary tides.Gao, Yan, Toonen, Silvia, Grishin, Evgeni, Comerford, Tom, Kruckow, Matthias U.https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MNRAS.491..264G/abstract

Week Commencing 18 November 2019

ASR Management Meeting

Tuesday 19 November 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229

ASR Group Meeting

Wednesday 20 November 2019, 2pm, Physics West Library

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 20 November 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Sera Markoff, University of AmsterdamTitle: Imaging (and imagining) Black HolesBlack holes are one of the most exotic consequences of General Relativity, yetthey are also very common players in the Universe, existing on scales rangingfrom the stellar up to beasts over a billion times more massive than our sun.Contrary to their reputation as cosmic vacuum cleaners, they actually powersome very energetic processes that can even influence the growth of galaxies.Furthermore, when black holes launch enormous jets of relativistic plasma,they can accelerate particles to energies millions of times higher thanthe Large Hadron Collider at CERN .Astronomers, astrophysicists and physicists all have reasons for wanting tounderstand black holes, yet we have been limited by the resolution of ourtelescopes from actually seeing one directly. This situation has changeddramatically with the coming of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT),an Earth-sized array operating in the millimeter wavelength regime that canresolve the event horizons of two nearby supermassive black holes: the blackhole in the active galactic nucleus M87 (published this past April) andSgr A* in our own Galactic centre.I will put these recent results into context by explaining a bit more aboutthe development of this project, as well as accretion onto black holes, andmethods for modelling and interpretation. I will also present some of theareas where we still have major questions, and give some examples of thecurrent cutting edge in modelling and interpretation, as well as challengesfor the coming years that relate to black holes of all sizes,including stellar-mass.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 20 November 2019, 6pm, Poynting BuildingThe next Astronomy in the City event of the season will take place onWednesday 20th November. University of Birmingham researcher Dr ElinoreRoebber will discuss her work in a talk titled: “Detecting GravitationalWaves from Space”.Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity112019.eventbrite.co.ukMore details are on the website: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

PhD Student Career Session

Thursday 21 November 2019, 10.30 Physics West 115Speaker: Prof Sera Markoff, University of AmsterdamSera Markoff has volunteered to chat to PhD students about careers advice,specifically relating to academic careers. The format is to be a Q&A session

New Starters

Dr Samantha Oates started with the group last week as a post-doctoralresearcher, she will be based in office 221.

Publications

Valeriya Korol, Ilya Mandel, M. Coleman Miller, Ross P. Church,Melvyn B. DaviesMerger rates in primordial black hole clusters without initial binarieshttps://arxiv.org/abs/1911.03483

Week Commencing 11 November 2019

ASR Management Meeting

Tuesday 12 November 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Tuesday 12 November 2019, 3pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Tjarda BoekholtTitle: Towards realistic simulations of dense stellar systems and the formation of gravitational wave sourcesAbstract:Dense stellar systems are the formation sites of stellar binaries and triples,which can eventually evolve to become gravitational wave (GW) sources.Modelling this process is crucial for uncovering formation channelsand estimating detection rates of gravitational wave events from stellar massobjects. Simulating dense stellar systems is challenging due to themulti-physics aspect of the problem. Realistic models should combinegravitational N-body dynamics, Post-Newtonian effects, stellar evolution,rotational spins, tidal dissipation etc. The outcome of such detailedsimulations provide not only the astrophysical history of GW sources, butalso the initial conditions for fully relativistic simulations of the actualmerger.I will present an overview of my research projects in which I graduallyincrease the complexity of my simulations, ranging from black hole formation,star-gas interactions and dissolution of triple systems.Tjarda will be in Birmingham from Monday to Thursday. You can find him inroom 225 (Matt's office).

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch

Wednesday 13 November 2019, 1pm, Physics West LibraryAt 1pm there is the pizza lunch with the seminar speaker in the library.Preceding the pizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker(12.30 in the library).

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar

Wednesday 13 November 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Hanno Rein, University of TorontoTitle: Long-term dynamical simulations of planetary systemsAbstract:Accurately predicting the motion of planets has kept astronomers busy sinceantiquity. After Newton published his law of universal gravitation in 1687,it became clear that none of the planets’ orbits were perfectly periodic.This immediately leads to the question of whether the Solar System can remainstable over long timescales. By the end of the 18th century Lagrange andLaplace were able to formulate an analytic theory which was in good agreementof observation, but the question of stability remained unanswered untila few decades ago.Only the advent of fast computers made it possible to calculate the motion ofplanets accurately enough to find that the Solar System is on the brink ofinstability and has a finite chance of going unstable within the lifetime ofthe Sun. Although we have solved the question about the Solar System’sstability, the discovery of thousands of other planetary systems beyond ourown Solar System presents new challenges for fast and reliable numericalintegration methods. We need these tools to validate and characteriseplanetary systems as well as to understand their formation history. After ahistorical overview of the subject at the beginning of my talk, I will discusswhy this is such a hard problem from a mathematical point of view, and how onecan nevertheless solve it. I will present some recent developments ofnumerical integrators with very high accuracy.Hanno will be visiting from Tuesday to Friday. Sign up for a slot to chat withHanno (by yourself or as a group) inhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1zzSTtxyYbihGo6wi0ctBDFAT8o2NxD2NrMEe8vszs14/edit?usp=sharing

New Starters

Mr Ken Dawkin has started with the group today as a technician, he will beworking alongside David Hoyland and John Bryant, and will be based in PB8E.Dr Samantha Oates will start with the group on Thursday 14 November 2019 asa post-doctoral researcher.

Publications

David Liptai, Daniel J. Price, Ilya Mandel, Giuseppe LodatoDisc formation from tidal disruption of stars on eccentric orbits by Kerrblack holes using GRSPHhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10154Mike Y. M. Lau, Ilya Mandel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijssel,Simon Stevenson, Alberto SesanaDetecting Double Neutron Stars with LISAhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10154Soumi De, Morgan MacLeod, Rosa Wallace Everson, Andrea Antoni, Ilya Mandel,Enrico Ramirez-RuizCommon Envelope Wind Tunnel: The Effects of Binary Mass Ratio and Implicationsfor the Accretion-Driven Growth of LIGO Binary Black Holeshttps://arxiv.org/abs/1910.13333

Mobile app - Chirp

PhD students from the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy have releaseda new app to encourage members of the public to stay up to date with newgravitational wave events in near real time.Chirp, designed for use on mobile phones, displays the latest alerts fromLaser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory/Virgo about a possiblenew gravitational wave. For more information please see the link belowhttps://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2019/11/mobile-app-to-provide-the-latest-on-black-hole-collisions-and-merging-neutron-stars.aspx?utm_source=epsnews1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=epsnewsletter
Week Commencing 28 October 2019
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 29 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Great Network Gravitational School
Monday 28 October – Friday 1 November 2019, Edgbaston Park Hotel / Staff HouseThe latest program can be found via the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/greatnetworkschool
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 30 October 2019, 14.00 Physics West 106Speaker: Stuart Reid, Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of StrathclydeTitle: Fabrication of Ta2O5, Zr:Ta2O5 and aSi by ECR ion beam deposition foruse as high-index coating layers in ultra-stable optical cavities with lowBrownian thermal noiseAbstract: Precision metrology applications, such as mHz-linewidth lasercavities for optical clocks and stabilized frequency combs, and fundamentalphysics experiments such as gravitational wave detectors, impose stringentrequirements on optical and mechanical losses in the multilayer HR mirrorcoatings. In the case of current and future gravitational wave detectors, onlyion beam deposition (IBD) has been demonstrated to satisfy the opticalrequirements over suitably large areas (mirror diameter ≥340 mm). Advancedgravitational wave detectors currently use mirror coatings fabricated frommultilayers of silica (SiO₂, low index) and alloys of tantalum pentoxide andtitanium dioxide (Ti:Ta₂ O₅, high index). Coating Brownian thermal noise,which predominantly arises from the high index materials, sets an importantlimit on the astrophysical reach of all current and future detectors.Developing materials and methods by which the thermal noise can be reduced bya factor of 2, whilst maintaining the required optical properties, is a goalfor the various international projects in this field.This presentation will provide an overview of the first use of electroncyclotron resonance (ECR) IBD processes for the fabrication of optical thinfilm coatings, with unprecedented levels of optical and mechanicallosses. ECR ion sources provide a number of key benefits compared to standardRF ion sources, through extending the accessible ion energies by an order ofmagnitude, and in the removal of grids (contamination) in the plasma extractionprocess. Amorphous silicon fabricated by ECR-IBD has been demonstrated to haveoptical absorptions down to k = 1.2 × 10⁻⁵ at 1550 nm, the lowest everreported, and with potential to reach the thermal noise requirements at thiswavelength. Recent results on alloys of tantalum pentoxide and zirconiumdioxide are presented, which shows partial progress towards the same goalwhilst enabling the laser wavelength in the optical cavities to remain at1064 nm.
Week Commencing 21 October 2019
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 22 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 23 October 2019, 2pm, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 23 October 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Tea and coffee served at 3.30pm in the Poynting cafeSpeaker: Prof Kostas Nikolopoulos, University of BirminghamTitle: Understanding the origin of massThe discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 completed the experimental observationof the particle content of the Standard Model. Since then, detailed measurementsof the Higgs boson properties and further searches for extended Higgs sectorshave been performed. These are crucial tasks both to complete our understandingof this new particle, but also to verify the mass generation mechanismsimplemented in nature. The current status of this programme will be presentedand future directions will be discussed. Although the Higgs boson verified themechanism for mass generation for elementary particles, 85% of the mass in theuniverse is in a form with an unknown nature that we call “dark matter”. Thestatus of the experimental searches will be presented, with emphasis on thesearch for light Dark Matter being performed here at Birmingham.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 23 October 2019, 6.15pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreAstronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, each packedwith astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings begin with talkscovering astronomical highlights and recent research, and a question-and-answersession (for everything from beginner's questions about the night sky to thelatest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if the weather cooperates)we have observing with telescopes on campus.Our first Astronomy in the City event of the season will take place onWednesday 23rd October at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the PoyntingPhysics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. University of Birminghamresearcher Dr Matteo Bianconi will discuss the most massive systems in theUniverse: galaxy clusters.Hosting thousands of galaxies, these giants are formed through some of the mostenergetic phenomena to occur since Big Bang. Their complexity allows scientiststo study many physical processes, including shedding light on the elusive DarkMatter. By following the development of telescopes and observations, Dr Bianconiwill explore the progress of galaxy cluster science in a talk titled"Galaxy clusters: the Universe's biggest laboratories"Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity102319.eventbrite.co.ukhttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php
Week Commencing 14 October 2019
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 15 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Code Review
Tuesday 15 October 2019, 2pm Physics West LibraryReminder of tomorrow's Code review meeting at 2:00PM, Physics West Library.If you have something you'd like to show/present/discuss/ask for help, you arewelcome. If you haven't, you are welcome anyway: I will try to pack a fewpieces of code into a python package, install it and test it on a virtualenvironment (possibly on a cluster, where venvs are most useful). Bringcoffee/tea. Biscuits are on the house. Riccardo Buscicchio
Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch
Wednesday 16 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West LibraryAt 1pm there is the pizza lunch with the seminar speaker in the library.Preceding the pizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker(12.30 in the library).
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 16 October 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Brunello Tirozzi, Sapienza University of RomeTitle: Artificial Neural Networks and Data AnalysisI will speak about pattern recognition using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)and SOM (SOM) (self-organizing maps). First I define the input and outputpatterns and the search of the dimension of the patterns. This requires tolook for the correlation length of the time series. I will define the training,validation and learning error. The dimension of inputs patterns is defined bythe correlation length. The architecture is defined also by the number of inputneurons, layers and synaptic weights. The best architecture is found minimizingthe learning and generalization error studying the variation of the dependenceof these quantities on the possible choices a heuristic research. I will showexamples of networks with exact estimates of the learning error. Theminimization of the error can be performed, both theoretically andexperimentally only if the number of patterns is large. The case in which ispossible to show rigorously the theoretical result holds only for an infinitenumber of patterns and infinite number of neurons.Sign up for a slot to chat with Bruno (by yourself or as a group)in https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HE1n8Ape8kh3sCzp49e_PyNqgoljtmXMvoddH2m0gzk/edit?usp=sharing
Sebastian Gaebel PhD Viva
Thursday 17 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West G02Sebastian’s PhD viva will take place at 1pm on Thursday 17 October 2017
Alejandro Vigna Gomez
Alejandro Vigna Gomez has now started at Copenhagen Uni. (Neils Bohr Institute)his new e-mail address is avignagomez@nbi.ku.dk>. Alejandro will be visitingBirmingham sometime during December.
Week Commencing 30 September 2019
Official Opening of Poynting Admin Hub
Monday 30 September 2019, 4pm, Poynting Admin HubWe would like to invite you to celebrate the official opening of the newly refurbishedPoynting Admin Hub on Monday 30th September 2019 at 1600. The refurbished Poynting AdminHub (2nd floor, Poynting Building) is the home of the School of Mathematics and theSchool of Physics and Astronomy Education Support Team (UG, GT and PGR), Wellbeing andthe School of Physics Admissions and Outreach, and CDT Administration.The redesign includes an open-plan office, Wellbeing drop in space, extended kitchenand storage room, and a redeveloped Poynting Lounge (formally known as the ApplicantVisit space).It will be an informal occasion, both Heads of School will say a few words andrefreshments will be provided so do hope you will be able to join us.Jennifer Clerici, Education Strategy Officer
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 1 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch
Wednesday 2 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West LibraryAt 1pm there is the pizza lunch with the seminar speaker in the library. Preceding thepizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker (12.30 in the library).
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 2 October 2019, 2pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Antoine Petiteau (University Paris Diderot)Title: LISA, from on board measurements to Gravitational Wave Data AnalysisLISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) is the future large mission L3 at ESA(European Space Agency). It has been approved in 2017 after the success of thetechnological demonstrator LISA Pathfinder and the detection of gravitational waves(GW) by Ground-Based observatories LIGO -Virgo. The LISA Science Case is extremely richboth for Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Physics: observations of Super MassiveBlack Hole Binaries until very high redshift, Extreme and Intermediate Mass RatioInspirals, Stellar Mass Black Hole Binaries, Galactic Binaries, Stochastic GW Backgroundfrom early Universe and various foregrounds, etc. While there is no critical technology,LISA requires very high precision metrology and is a highly integrated instrument fromhardware subsystems until on-ground processing. Actually, before having data streamusable for extracting GW sources, several processing steps have to be done both on-boardand on-ground, to suppress part of the noises. In this talk, after a quick presentationof the mission and an overview of the science case, I will present the LISA measurementsand the various processing applied to the data. Finally, I will present the currentstatus of the simulation, the Science Ground Segment including the Distributed DataProcessing Center and the Data Analysis Pipeline developed within the LISA DataChallenge.Antoine will be around on Wednesday and Thursday. Sign up for a slot to chat withAntoine (by yourself, as a team, as a research group) inhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRzAHfpS-rPr6oP4ZzUuiC4VExj0wlGyu52t0CkhOjM/edit?usp=sharing"
Astronomy in the City Briefing
Friday 4 October 2019, 11am, Physics West 115As discussed in the ASR group meeting, Matteo will give a short presentation on howAstronomy in the city events are conducted, in order to show volunteers how tocontribute to the organisation and on the night of the event.
New Staff & Students
We have had a number of new staff and students start recently, names and contactdetails are listed below. I will circulate an updated group list shortly.LecturerDr Matt Nicholl – office 225Post DocsDr Sam Cooper – office G15 scooper@star.sr.bham.ac.ukDr Teng Zhang - office G15 tzhang@star.sr.bham.ac.ukPhD StudentsRiccardo Maggiore - office G26 rccmaggiore@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Andreas FreiseLucy Thomas – office G27 lthomas@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Patricia SchmidtMatthew Mould – office G27 mmould@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisors Alberto Vecchio/Davide GerosaEliot Finch – office G27 efinch@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Chris MooreAndras Dorozsmai - office G27 andras@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Silvia ToonenCressida Clelland - office G26 cressidac@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Sean McGeePlease email Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk to request an addition to theweekly news bulletin. Bulletins will be circulated on the Monday of each week.
Week Commencing 16 September 2019
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 17 September 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Committee Meeting
Wednesday 18 September 2019, 2pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch
Wednesday 18 September 2019, 1pm, Physics West LibraryNew this year is the pizza lunch preceding the seminars. It'll be at 13.00in the library (PW125) and a good opportunity to interact with the speakerand colleagues. It's free to any of us that attend the seminar. Prior to thepizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker (12.30 in thelibrary).Nathan will be around on Wednesday and happy to chat with anyone. I want toencourage everyone to sign up in the google doc for a slot to chat with thespeaker.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LuCwAr1voqM65KEwCbctw1Ghcbm7_k62jzOe4LDDfl0/edit?usp=sharingSign up by yourself, as a team, as a research group etc. The visits of seminarspeakers are a great opportunity to hear more about a topic adjacent to yours,and to expand your network without even leaving Birmingham!Silvia Toonen
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 18 September 2019, 3.30pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Nathan Johnson-McDaniel (University of Cambridge).Title: Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals detectedby LIGO and VirgoBinary black hole coalescences provide an excellent laboratory to search forpossible deviations from the predictions of general relativity (GR) in thehighly dynamical, strong field regime. Currently, a variety of tests fordeviations from the predictions of GR are applied to the waveforms from binaryblack hole coalescences detected by LIGO and Virgo. These range fromconsistency tests to checks for dispersion in gravitational wave propagation,as would be caused by, e.g., a massive graviton. I will describe these testsand their results when applied to the ten binary black hole signals detectedduring the first two observing runs of the advanced gravitational wavedetector network: No evidence is found for deviations from the predictions ofGR, and we are able to place the most stringent constraints to date on possibledeviations from GR’s predictions for binary black hole coalescences.Additionally, I will give initial results from an ongoing project investigatingthe relation between these tests by applying them all to a suite of waveformsexhibiting a variety of possible deviations from GR.
Please email Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk to request an addition to the
weekly news bulletin. Bulletins will be circulated on the Monday of each week.
Week Commencing 09 September 2019
New Starters
Monday 9 September 2019A new student, Maud Slangen, is joining the ifolab group for 5 months to workon the 6D project. Maud is visiting from Eindhoven on an Erasmus internshipprogramme.Conor Mow-Lowry
PhD Viva
Monday 9 September 2019Alejandro Vigna Gomez PhD Viva takes place today.
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 10 September 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Autumn Open Day
Saturday 14 September 2019The University open day is scheduled for this Saturday, with the second onescheduled for Saturday 19 October 2019.
Publications / Recent Submissions
Detection of anti-correlation of hot and cold baryons in galaxy clustersA. Farahi, S. L. Mulroy, A. E. Evrard, G. P. Smith, A. Finoguenov, H. Bourdin,J. E. Carlstrom, C. P. Haines, D. P. Marrone, R. Martino, P. Mazzotta,C. O'Donnell, N. Okabe https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10471-yEclipses of continuous gravitational waves as a probe of stellar structure.Pablo Marchant, Katelyn Breivik, Christopher P L Berry, Ilya Mandel,Shane LarsonLuminous Red Novae: population models and future prospects.George Howitt, Simon Stevenson, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Stephen Justham,Natasha Ivanova, Tyrone E. Woods, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Ilya MandelSN2018kzr: a rapidly declining transient from the destruction of a white dwarf.Owen R. McBrien et al. (including Matt Nicholl, Ilya Mandel)
Change of Hours
Please note that starting this week I will be working slightly different hours.My new office hours are 0900-1330 Monday to ThursdayJo Cox
Please email Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk to request an addition to the weeklynews b
Week Commencing 22 July 2019
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Monday 22 July 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Dr Nancy Aggarwal - Nancy graduated from MIT and was a PhD student ofNergis Mavalvala. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Center for FundamentalPhysics in Northwestern UniversityTitle: Quantum optomechanics at room-temperatureAbstract: The Decades of advancement in technologies pertaining tointerferometric measurements have made it possible for us to make the firstever direct observation of gravitational waves (GWs). These GWs emitted fromviolent events in the distant universe bring us crucial information about thenature of matter and gravity. In order for us to be able to detect GWs fromeven farther or weaker sources, we must further reduce the quantum noise inour detectors. In order to lower this quantum noise, GW detectors currentlyuse squeezed light. Squeezed light is a special quantum state of light whichhas lower uncertainty in a certain quadrature, at the expense of higheruncertainty in the orthogonal quadrature.In this talk, I focus on using radiation-pressure-mediated optomechanical (OM)interaction to generate squeezed light. Creating squeezed states by usingoptomechanical interaction opens up possibilities for engineering trulywavelength-independent squeezed light sources that may also be more compact androbust than traditionally used non-linear crystals. Additionally, this projectinherently involves studying the OM interaction, which is the mechanism forback-action noise in GW detectors. These observations are the first ever directobservation of a room temperature oscillator's motion being overwhelmed byvacuum fluctuations. More so, this is also the first time it has been shown inthe low frequency band, which is relevant to GW detectors, but poses its owntechnical challenges, and hence has not been done before. Being in theback-action dominated regime along with optimized optical properties has alsoenabled us to observe OM squeezing in this system. That is the first directobservation of quantum noise suppression in a room temperature OM system. It isalso the first direct evidence of quantum correlations in a audio frequencyband, in a broadband at non-resonant frequencies.
Publications
The origin of spin in binary black holes: Predicting the distributions of themain observables of Advanced LIGOSimone S. Bavera, Tassos Fragos, Ying Qin, Emmanouil Zapartas,Coenraad J. Neijssel, Ilya Mandel, Aldo Batta, Sebastian M. Gaebel,Chase Kimball, Simon Stevensonhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1906.12257
Multiband gravitational wave event rates and stellar physicsDavide Gerosa, Sizheng Ma, Kaze W.K. Wong, Emanuele Berti,Richard O'Shaughnessy, Yanbei Chen, Krzysztof Belczynskihttps://arxiv.org/abs/1902.00021
Week Commencing 24 June 2019
School Committee Meeting
Tuesday 25 June 2019, 10am, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 25 June 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 26 June 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryThe last ASR group meeting before summer, Chiara Mingarelli, visiting from CCA,will give a presentation on her recent research activity.
Publications
The effect of the metallicity-specific star formation history on double compactobject mergers.Coenraad J. Neijssel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Simon Stevenson, Jim W. Barrett,Sebastian M. Gaebel, Floor Broekgaarden, Selma E. de Mink, Dorottya Szécsi,Serena Vinciguerra, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1906.08136Explosions Driven by the Coalescence of a Compact Object with the Core of aMassive-Star Companion Inside a Common Envelope: Circ*mstellar Properties,Light Curves, and Population StatisticsSophie Lund Schrøder, Morgan MacLeod, Abraham Loeb, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez,Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1906.04189Double Neutron Star Populations and Formation ChannelsJeff J. Andrews, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12745
End of the Financial Year
Please note that in order to facilitate a clean closure of the 2018/2019accounts for the University, we would be grateful if you could note andobserve the following deadline for submission of purchase order requisitionsin Oracle. This will ensure requirements can be processed appropriately intime for year end.Purchase OrdersRequisitions must be submitted and approved in Oracle to reach the Buying Teamby no later than 16:00pm oN Friday, 5th July 2019. After this date, orders ofa non-urgent nature will not be raised until the start of the new financialyear on 1st August 2019. Please ensure that quotations and relevantdocumentation are attached to requisitions where relevant to avoid delays.As you can appreciate, this is the busiest time of the year and it’s a newsystem for all of us so please submit your requisitions as quickly as possiblerather than wait for the deadline date to arrive. Should you have any queriesplease email BuyingTeam@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Week Commencing 20 May 2019
Outreach Meeting
Monday 20 May 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103As you might know Chris Collins will be leaving us soon. Amongst many otherthings he's been supporting the outreach activities over the last years. Chrishas offered to do an informal training session for our outreach kit,Monday at 2pm.We'd very much like to get more people involved with outreach, especially allPhDs and post-docs. The activities are usually a lot of fun, and bring goodopportunities as well. I can say that outreach has significantly boosted thecareer of several group members, including my own. If you are free, pleasecome along on Monday.Andreas Freise
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 22 May 2019, 2.30pm, Watson Lecture Theatre ASpeaker: Mihkel Kama, University of CambridgeTitle: TBC
Publications
Unmodelled Clustering Methods for Gravitational Wave Populations of CompactBinary Mergers, Jade Powell, Simon Stevenson, Ilya Mandel, Peter Tinohttps://arxiv.org/abs/1905.04825Astrophysical science metrics for next-generation gravitational-wave detectorsRana X Adhikari, P Ajith, Yanbei Chen, James A Clark, Vladimir Dergachev,Nicolas V Fotopoulos, Sarah E. Gossan, Ilya Mandel, Maria Okounkova,Vivien Raymond, Jocelyn S Readhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1905.02842STROOPWAFEL: Simulating rare outcomes from astrophysical populations, withapplication to gravitational-wave sources,Floor S. Broekgaarden, Stephen Justham, Selma E. de Mink, Jonathan Gair, Ilya Mandel, Simon Stevenson, Jim W. Barrett, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijsselhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1905.00910
Week Commencing 29 April 2019
Solar and Stellar Physics Group Seminar
Tuesday 30 April 2019, 1.30pm, Physics West Seminar Room 103Speaker: Andreas Joergensen (MPA)Title: Using 3D envelopes to better understand stellar structures and evolutionAsteroseismology has revolutionized our understanding of stellar structures andtheir evolution, requiring better models to interpret the high-quality datafrom current and future space missions. It is therefore crucial to go beyondmany of the simplifying assumptions that enter state-of-the-art stellarevolution codes. For instance, it is well-known that the current treatment ofsuperadiabatic convection leads to a systematic offset in the predicted seismicproperties, when dealing with stars with convective envelopes. This is known asthe surface effect.In order to mitigate this shortcoming, we have developed and validated a methodthat allows our stellar evolution code to reliably mimic the mean stratificationof 3D simulations of stellar envelopes. Using our method, we are able tocompletely overcome the structural contribution to the surface effect.Furthermore, we find that the improved depiction of superadiabatic convectionin the outermost layers affects the evolution tracks. This has directimplications for the inferred stellar parameters and hence for any field thatrelies on a detailed understanding of stars, including exoplanet research andthe chemo-dynamical evolution of galaxies. Our results hence show how realisticmulti-dimensional simulations of stellar convection can contribute to answeringpressing questions in astrophysics.
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryPhilip Jones will give his 2nd year PhD talk.
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: David Nichols, University of AmsterdamTitle: Computing and detecting gravitational-wave memory effects from binary-black-hole mergersGravitational waves from the mergers of ten binary black holes were detected inthe first two observing runs by the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors; the totalnumber of detections is likely to double, at least, after the current observingrun. With this large number of increasingly precisely measured binary blackholes, the observations will reveal more subtle features in the gravitationalwaves from strongly curved, dynamical spacetimes.In this talk, I will discuss one such set of features, called gravitational-wavememory effects, which are predictions of general relativity that are most likelyto be measured from systems with high gravitational-wave luminosities, likebinary black holes. These memory effects are characterized by lasting changes inthe gravitational-wave strain and its time integrals. I will describe how theseeffects are related to symmetries and conserved quantities of spacetime. I willalso cover the computation of these memory effects and the prospects fordetecting them with current and planned gravitational-wave detectors. Therecould be evidence for the memory effect in just a few years of advanced LIGO,Virgo, and KAGRA data, although the precise timescale will depend upon theproperties of the population of merging binary black holes and the rate ofthese mergers.
Physics Collopquium
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Cristiane Morais Smith, Utrecht UniversityTitle: Atom-by-atom engineering of novel quantum states of matterThe field of quantum simulators has flourished enormously during the lastdecades, especially in the areas of nanophotonics and ultracold atoms.Electronic quantum simulators, however, have not seen much progress. Based ona technique pioneered by the group of Manoharan for simulating graphene, weshow here how to design and characterize a Lieb lattice [1] and a Sierpinskigasket [2]. Then, we explain how to modify their design to control the orbitaldegree of freedom. Further tuning of the honeycomb geometry leads to theemergence of topological edge states. In all cases, we observe an excellentagreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results.This technique is proving itself to be a very versatile framework for theengineering and control of electronic systems, and is widening the perspectivesin the field.
Publications
S. Stevenson, M. Sampson, J. Powell, A. Vigna-Gómez, C. J. Neijssel, D. Szécsi, I. Mandel. 2019. The impact of pair-instability mass loss on the binary blackhole mass distribution. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.02821L. Wyrzykowski, I. Mandel. Constraining the masses of microlensing black holes and the mass gap with Gaia DR2.https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.07789
Week Commencing 1 April 2019
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Monday 1st April 2019, 3pm, Physics West Seminar Room 103Speaker: Hagai Perets. Technion, IsraelTitle: Novel progenitors of GW sources & type la supernovaeHagai is an expert on gravitational dynamics ranging from planetary scales tosupermassive black holes, including transients and GW sources. Hagai is a greatspeaker and has offered to show us some of their work in an informal meeting,open to anyone interested to join. He'll show some of their recent work onnovel types of GW sources, their signatures and electromagnetic counterparts.We also have very exciting results on the origins of type Ia supernovae thatHagai will tell you about. Dr Silvia Toonen
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 2 April 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 3 April 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryJoe Bentley will give his 2nd year PhD's talk.
New Starters
Dr Geraint Pratten is arriving on Monday 1 April 2019 to take up his new post.He will be based in office 221.
Week Commencing 18 March 2019
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 20 March 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryMatteo Bianconi will present some new results on star formation and dust consumption ingalaxy cluster Abell 1758 from the LoCuSS survey.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 20 March 2019, 2.30pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Dr Chris HainesTitle: TBC
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 20 March 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Ken Carslaw - University of LeedsTitle: The CERN CLOUD experiment: Do cosmic rays influence Earth’s climate?It was proposed in 1997 that cosmic rays could affect climate change based on an observedcorrelation between the galactic cosmic ray flux and Earth’s cloud cover. The highlycontroversial proposal was considered by many climate scientists to lack any physicalexplanation. Nevertheless, as in the Wilson cloud chamber, ionization of theatmosphere can create new cloud particles under the right conditions. The CERN CLOUDexperiment was designed to explore whether such an effect could provide a link betweencosmic ray ionization, clouds and climate. After about 8 years of measurements CLOUD hasmade a series of breakthroughs in our understanding of how new aerosol particles are formedin our atmosphere. I will describe these breakthroughs and answer the question in the title.
New Starters
Dr Davide Gerosa is arriving on Monday 18 March 2019 to take up his new lectureship post.He will be based in office 223.
Publications
A. Vigna-Gomez, S. Justham, I. Mandel, S. E. de Mink, P. Podsiadlowski. 2019.Massive Stellar Mergers as Precursors of Hydrogen-rich Pulsational Pair Instability Supernovae.https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.02135G. Leloudas et al.The spectral evolution of AT 2018dyb and the presence of metal lines in tidal disruptionevents.https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.03120
Week Commencing 25 February 2019
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 26 February 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Phased Grating Interferometry -a practical measurement application
Tuesday 26 February 2019, 2pm, Watson LTA (G23)Speaker: Greg DuckworthGreg will be visiting us to show us a phase grating interferometer. He'll havesome slides as well, but he mainly wants to bring and show the actualinterferometer. Please feel free to come along if you are interested.Andreas Freise.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 27 February 2019, 2.30pm, Law LT2Speaker: Katy Clough, University of OxfordTitle: Investigating fundamental physics using numerical simulations of black hole environmentsNumerical simulations of binary black holes have gained much (well deserved)attention since the LIGO detections of gravitational waves, where they areused to provide templates for the signals produced during the mergerphase. However, the application of these now mature numerical techniques toproblems of fundamental physics is still a relatively new and underdevelopedarea of research.Much of particle physics and cosmology concerns the behaviour of fields andtheir excitations, with some well known examples being the Higgs field, or theinflaton during inflation. The evolution of even the simplest fields instrong, dynamical gravity environments is highly non trivial and generallynecessitates a numerical approach. I will describe two examples of how thestudy of such fields around black holes may lead to the discovery of newphysics. Firstly, I will describe the behaviour of clusters of light bosonicparticles called axions, which are gaining popularity as dark matter candidates and their collisions with compact objects such as black holes and neutronstars. Secondly, I will discuss the scattering of neutrinos by black holes,and the information that the resulting interference patterns can give us aboutthe absolute neutrino masses.
Week Commencing 18 February 2019
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 20 February 2019, 2pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Yan-Chuan Cai, University of EdinburghTitle: Cosmology and Astrophysics with the Cosmic WebOn large scales, the matter distribution of the Universe follows a web-like pattern, consisting of cluster, filament,sheet and void. The cosmic-web shapes the formation of galaxies as their environment, and is strongly influencedby the dark components of our Universe. It is the junction where astrophysics and cosmology meet. I willsummarise my recent research in this active frontier, focusing on the detection of missing baryons in filaments,and the great opportunities and challenges for using clusters and voids to constrain cosmology.As mentioned at a recent group meeting, Yan-Chuan Cai is visiting us on Feb 19-20, with a view to moving hisRoyal Society URF from Edinburgh to Birmingham. Cai's research interests centre around the large scale structureof the universe and devising novel tests of the cosmological model and gravity on very large scales. He uses datafrom large optical surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Kilo-Degree Survey, and the upcoming DarkEnergy Spectroscopic Instrument.A few of us will be taking Cai out for dinner around 7pm on Tuesday, and we will also have lunch in Staff House onWednesday around 12noon. Please email me if you would like to join either or both of these gatherings.There is also a programme of one-to-one meetings with Cai, to give more time for in depth discussion. There isstill space in the programme, so please let me know ASAP if you want meet with him. The most flexible times areTuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I encourage everyone, whether student, postdoc, or faculty to stepforward and meet with him, he's very engaging and keen to find out about the full range of research in our group.I've also set aside 4-5pm on Tuesday for Cai to meet with postgrads without any postdocs or supervisors present.This will be a nice low-key opportunity to tell Cai about your research and to get to know him and his researchtoo. I suggest that this gathering takes place in the ASR/PP coffee lounge, but am happy for the students to makeother arrangements. In the first instance, please chat among yourselves and/or just email me if interested, andwe/you can go from there. Graham Smith
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 20 February 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: John Sutherland - University of Cambridge.Title: Origins of Life Systems ChemistryHow can chemistry morph into biology? This is the key question about the origin of life, be it on our planet severalbillion years ago, or elsewhere and so we need to think about chemistry in the context of planetary science if wewant to know where we came from and whether or not we are likely to be alone in the Universe. The chemistryused by biology to fabricate its various components is by and large hopelessly inefficient in the absence ofenzyme catalysts, so we need to look for different chemistry that can make the same componentry efficientlywithout enzymes. But where do we look? One approach is to guess at the environment and then use laboratorysimulation to investigate its chemistry.The problem with this is the guesswork – there were presumably many different environments on early Earth andit is not obvious what chemistry they might be associated with. An alternative approach is to explore chemistry ina pretty much unconstrained way to try and find out if all the molecules needed to kick-start biology can be madeunder similar conditions from plausible feedstocks. If they can and the conditions required correspond to aparticular environment on early Earth then that environment is strongly implicated and can further guidechemical investigations. In this lecture, I will present the results of this latter approach and demonstrate howhellish conditions on Hadean-Archean Earth could have set the stage for the transition from chemistry to biology.
Week Commencing 11 February 2019
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 12 February 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 13 February 2019, 2pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre SO6Speaker: Dr Chris Moore, University of BirminghamTitle: L_{Planck} = c^5 / G = 3.6 X 10^{52} WThis is the only quantity with units of power, or luminosity, which can beformed from the universal constants: h, G, and c. It has been conjectured thatit is, in fact, the maximum possible luminosity for any physical process. I willdiscuss the motivation for such a maximum luminosity conjecture and thesurprising link with black holes and event horizons. I will present the resultsof a range of calculations designed to test the robustness of this conjecture.
"Crash Course" on Stellar Evolution
Thursday 14 February 2019, 2-5pm, Arts LR7 (223)Prof Arlette Noels (Université de Liège, Belgium) will be visiting the Solarand Stellar Physics Group this week and has kindly agreed to give a "crashcourse" on stellar evolution. Arlette, beside being a highly-regarded worldexpert in stellar evolution, is an extraordinary teacher. If you are interestedin learning more about stellar physics, please come along.Dr Andrea Miglio
Week Commencing 4 February 2019
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 5 February 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 6 February 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryChiara Di Fronzo will give her 2nd year PhD talk titled"Optical sensors for improving low-frequency performance in GW detectors".
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 6 February 2019, 2.30pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Athira Menon, The Anton Pannekoek Institute (University of Amsterdam)Title: The supernova that made us rethink stellar evolution and binary stars: Supernova SN 1987AIt has been nearly 32 years since the discovery of the most-well observedsupernova in history: SN 1987A , that exploded in the Large Magellanic cloud.It belonged to the most commonly occurring type of supernovae (a Type II event), but its peculiarity made us relook at the physics of stellar evolution andsupernovae explosions. The progenitor identified for SN 1987A was not a redsupergiant as expected from standard theory at the time, but a blue supergiant.The observational signatures of this blue supergiant indicate that it couldhave evolved from the merger of a massive binary system, providing evidencethat such mergers do take place. We know from massive star surveys that nearly30-40% of all interacting binaries are expected to merge. This talk will focuson the evolution of the progenitor of SN 1987A from a binary merger scenario,and present the first set of stellar evolution models that can simultaneouslymatch the progenitor and the light curve of the supernova.Athira is visiting us from Monday 4 February until Thursday this week. Athirahas been working on binary star mergers, and in particular the origin of the(in)famous supernova 1987A. She completed her PhD in Monash (Australia) withthe supervision of Alex Heger. She's currently working with Selma de Mink oncontact binaries.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 6 February 2019, 4.00pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Fedor Jelezko, University of Ulm, in Germany.Title: Quantum Sensing, with defectsDiamond is not only the king gemstone, but also a promising material inquantum technologies. Optically active impurities (colour centers) in diamondshow unique coherence properties under ambient conditions. Their quantumstate can be readout and manipulated using a combination of single moleculespectroscopy and magnetic resonance techniques. In this talk I will discussthe potential of atomic magnetometers based on single color centers fornanoscale sensing and imaging. New photoelectric detection technique allowingefficient readout of single color centers will be discussed.
Astrophysics Seminar
Friday 8 February 2019, 11.30am, AWPG-111 (Alan Walters building).Speaker: William Chantereu (LJMU).Title: The exciting life of old stellar clustersGlobular clusters are among the oldest and brightest structures in theUniverse, and are therefore witnesses of processes from the early up to thepresent-day Universe. In turn, they play a major role in the benchmark forstellar evolution theory and they are used to constrain the assembly historiesof galaxies. Over the last decades, several pieces of ground-breakingobservational evidence were accumulated pointing out the presence of multiplestellar populations with different chemical compositions in every individualglobular cluster studied in detail so far. I will review the effects ofchemical features typical of these multiple populations on the evolution ofstars and I will show their impact on the properties of their hosting cluster.Finally, I will briefly discuss their effect at larger scales on externalgalaxies.
Week Commencing 28 January 2019
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 29 January 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 30 January 2019, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryDavid Ramon Aguilera Dena from the University of Bonn will give a talk titled"Stripped envelope supernovae and where they come from". Additionally, areminder that the next ASR group meeting is on February 6th, featuringthe first of the 2nd year PhD talks, and will continue with its usual bi-weeklycadence. MatteoCore collapse supernovae are the endpoints in the evolutionary history of somemassive stars. A significant fraction of them are observed as type Ib and typeIc SNe, indicating that some process must have stripped them from theirhydrogen envelopes, and of their helium envelopes as well in the case of typeIc SNe. Evolutionary scenarios involving single stars have a difficult timeexplaining the properties of these SNe, and binary evolution seems to be thepreferred path. They are also related to more “exotic” events such as GRBs,X-ray binaries, hypernovae and gravitational wave sources. I will review therecent work we’ve done in the Bonn stellar group trying to understand whereSNe type Ic come from, along with some other transients that occur in similarsystems, and discuss some difficulties in understanding massive stars ingeneral.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 30 January 2019, 2.30pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Yannick Bahe (Leiden)Title: The Hydrangea simulation project: how common is satellite disruption in galaxy clusters? Galaxies in groups and clusters are subject to a variety of environmentalinfluences that can affect their evolution, such as ram pressure stripping,encounters with other galaxies, and tidal mass loss. The Hydrangeasimulations are a spin-off from the EAGLE project designed to study theseprocesses and their expected imprints on the cluster galaxy population. Iwill introduce these simulations and highlight some successes – and failures– that have emerged from comparison to observations. To illustrate the insightthat can be gained from them, I will then discuss what they predict about thefate of satellite galaxies in clusters (and groups): are they disruptedrapidly after accretion, or can they survive in the harsh cluster environment?
Code Review Meeting
Thursday 31 January 2019, 11am, Physics West LibraryFor those of you who haven't heard about the meeting yet, the idea behindcode review is to have a meeting dedicated to discussing code rather thanscience, since for a lot of us coding is an important part of ourmethodology and gets mostly overlooked.The default format is for someone to present some ~100 lines of code they'vebeen working on (doesn't have to be finished!), which other people can commenton or ask questions about. We've found this naturally leads to discussingtools, best practices or style. More eyes mean it's easier to find bugs aswell!I mentioned it's a python code review meeting (which is because I'm personallybiased, I readily admit this). We like to keep it to one language that allattendees as familiar with, so that anyone present can participate. Thatsaid, we welcome people with any level of python expertise; ideally if you'reless familiar you can learn from people with more expertise, and if you'remore experienced you can learn by explaining or from the discussions.If you're interested in joining, please ask David to be on the mailing list(codereview@star.sr.bham.ac.uk) and join the mattermost channel, and/or justshow up to the next meeting. Most announcements are made on mattermost/themailing list, so as not to spam the whole group. Janna
Publications
The optical afterglow of GW170817 at one year post-mergerG. P. Lamb, J. D. Lyman, A. J. Levan, N. R. Tanvir, T. Kangas, A. S. Fruchter,B. Gompertz, J. Hjorth, I. Mandel, S. R. Oates, D. Steeghs, K. Wiersemahttps://arxiv.org/abs/1811.11491
Week Commencing 19 November 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 20 November 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryAntoine Klein will give a presentationTitle: Fourier-domain waveforms for eccentric precessing systemsCurrent formation models predict both massive black hole binaries andstellar-origin black hole binaries to have significant eccentricitieswhen they enter the LISA band. Different formation scenarios alsopredict different spin magnitude and spin alignment distributions. Inorder to be able to discriminate between those models, it is importantto have fast and accurate waveforms that model eccentric systems withmisaligned spins. We will present an inspiral model in the Fourier domainthat could be used to perform such studies.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Niek van Hulst - ICFO (Barcelona)Title: Antennas for MoleculesDetection of individual molecules is commonplace in biology and chemistryfor nanoscale imaging and tracking. Unfortunately, the dependence onfluorescence comes with low signals and slow dynamics. Optical (nano)antennas can help to brighten up molecular signals. Here first, I willshow how nanoscale control of molecule-antenna interaction gives 100-1000times enhancement, high real space resolution (20-40 nm), very fasterradiative decay on picosec timescale and even strong coupling. Singlebiomolecules, which otherwise are simply invisible, become discernible.Next, I will show how combination with tailored ultrafast femtosecondpulses allows following excited state vibronic dynamics and energytransfer, all at the level of a single molecule. These nanophotonictechnologies allow uncovering the nature of nanoscale ultrafast energytransfer in natural light-harvesting system in their ambient conditions.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreAaron Jones will discuss his research for the LIGO gravitational wavedetectors. In addition to this Aaron, and artist Leon Trimble will showcasea musical instrument they have developed out of gravitational wave detectortechnology.Tickets are now available from https://astrointhecity11212018.eventbrite.co.ukThe first talk begins at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of thePoynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. Pleasearrive by 6:10 pm to be entered into the ballot for trips to the Observatory.Visits from school or other groups are welcome; please get in touch if youhave questions. The other Astronomy in the City events of this season willbe on Wednesday 23 January 2019 and Wednesday 6 March 2019.More details are on our websitehttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Friday 23 November 2018, 1pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Yan-Chuan Cai, Edinburgh UniversityTitle: Cosmology with the cosmic webOn large scales, the matter distribution of the Universe follows a web-likepattern, consisting of knot (cluster), filament, sheet and void. Thecosmic-web is a non-Gaussian field, containing invaluable information aboutcosmology and astrophysics. I will summarise recent research activities intrying to extract this information. I will highlight opportunities andchallenges for cluster cosmology, and show evidence for gas filaments betweenpairs of galaxies.
Week Commencing 15 October 2018
Code Review Group
Code Review GroupMonday 15 October 2018, 11am, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Monday 15 October 2018, 1pm, Physics West Seminar Room 103Speaker: Alexis Finoguenov, University of HelsinkiTitle: High-z galaxy groups and their galaxies
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 16 October 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: James Aird, University of LeicesterTitle: X-rays across the galaxy population: tracing star formation and AGN activityAbstract - I will present new work from a series of papers that combines largesamples of galaxies with deep Chandra X-ray data to measure the distributionof X-ray luminosities across the galaxy population, using a sophisticatedBayesian technique. Our measurements allow us to trace two origins of theX-ray emission: star formation and AGN activity. At low luminosities, we identify narrow peaks that we associate with starformation processes (tracing the combined emission from X-ray binariesthroughout the galaxy). By tracking the position of these peaks as afunction of stellar mass and redshift we provide new, independent measurementsof the galaxy “star-forming main sequence”, based on the X-ray emission.We also identify a tail in our distributions to higher X-ray luminosities thatallows us to trace the incidence of AGN. We use these data to measure thedistribution of AGN accretion rates across the galaxy population, as afunction of stellar mass, redshift and star formation rate. Our results reveala broad distribution of accretion rates in all galaxy types, reflecting theflickering of AGN accretion on short timescales relative to the evolution ofgalaxy properties. In star-forming galaxies, we find a broad correlationbetween the star formation rate and the incidence of AGN (traced by thefraction of galaxies with AGN and the average specific accretion rates),indicating the key role of cold gas in AGN fuelling. We also measure theAGN incidence in galaxies with a wider range of star formation rates at afixed stellar mass, spanning the star-forming main sequence and quiescentgalaxy populations. These measurements show enhancements in the incidence ofa*gN and reveal the variety of mechanisms that drive black hole growth acrossthe galaxy population.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of SydneyTitle: A Golden Age of Asteroseismology with KeplerAbstract - Stellar astrophysics has entered a new golden age, thanks towonderfully precise measurements being returned by NASA ’s Kepler mission.Kepler is a 0.9-metre space telescope that has been monitoring the brightnessof more than 100,000 stars with extraordinary accuracy for more than fouryears. Its main goal is to discover extra-solar planets by detecting the smalldips in light as they transit their parent stars. The mission has beenspectacularly successful, with thousands of candidates reported. Meanwhile,Kepler’s observations of oscillations in thousands of stars have led to arevolution in asteroseismology. I will review key results which includedetecting gravity modes in red giant stars and characterizing stars foundto host exoplanets. Results from ESA ’s Gaia mission will add to theexcitement, as has the launch of TESS , which is an all-sky follow-up missionto Kepler .
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe first event will include a talk by Dr Dorottya Szécsi about stars, theirsizes and how they are measured. Ticketsare now available from https://astrointhecity102118.eventbrite.co.ukAstronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research, and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and alucky few will be taken out to the University’s Observatory.Events are planned for* Wednesday 17 October 2018* Wednesday 21 November 2018* Wednesday 23 January 2019* Wednesday 6 March 2019The first talk begins at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of thePoynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. Pleasearrive by 6:10 pm to be entered into the ballot for trips to the Observatory.More details are on our websitehttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php
Week Commencing 8 October 2018
Code Review Group
Monday 8 October 2018, 11am, Physics West LibraryCode review is the practice of getting together to talk about code. Asscientists, we tend to talk about the science that goes into our code, butskip over the implementation, even though this is a significant part of whatwe spend our time doing. Talking about line to line code is an effective wayof spotting bugs, improving style and documentation, and learning new codingpractices. Our group is for anyone who programs in python and wishes to improve, whetheryou are a beginner or experienced coder. The group benefits from having arange of experience levels and different topics of coding expertise. We haveweekly meetings of one hour where we usually look at a piece of code one of usis working on. If this sounds like the thing for you, please come talk to meor send an email (jgoldstein@star.sr.bham.ac.uk).Requirements are that you try to attend most of the meetings, and you willhave to take a turn presenting at some point (no preparation needed, though).Obviously feel free to just come to one of our meetings to see if you like it.Apologies if you'd like to join but are not interested in python specifically,we have tried doing other languages in the past but we found it's not veryeffective if not everyone actually reads whichever language we do. Since I'ma python programmer we are completely biased towards that ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ Janna Goldstein
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 9 October 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 10 October 2018, 12noon Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 10 October 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Yamila Miguel, University of LeidenTitle: Jupiter’s interior revealed by JunoThe giant planets of our Solar system were the first planets to form and themost influential ones. Their interiors and atmospheres have crucial informationto understand the origins of the Solar system and of our own Earth.With the aim to reach a deeper understanding of Jupiter’s interior andatmosphere, the Juno spacecraft was sent to the biggest giant in the Solarsystem, and its results have fundamentally changed our understanding of thisplanet. In this colloquium, I will show the models we use to understandJupiter's interior and our latest Juno results, including a much deeperunderstanding of Jupiter’s interior and jet streams. This is helping us toreach a better understanding of Jupiter’s formation history, and of our solarsystem’s.
Publications
Exploring gravity with the MIGA large scale atom interferometer’,Scientific Reports, volume 8, 14064 (2018)B. Canuel, A. Bertoldi, L. Amand, E. Pozzo di Borgo, T. Chantrait,C. Danquigny, M. Dovale Álvarez, B. Fang, A. Freise,R. Geiger, J. Gillot, S. Henry, J. Hinderer, D. Holleville, J. Junca,G. Lefèvre, M. Merzougui, N. Mielec, T. Monfret, S. Pelisson, M. Prevedelli,S. Reynaud, I. Riou, Y. Rogister, S. Rosat, E. Cormier, A. Landragin,W. Chaibi, S. Gaffet and P. Bouyer:
Week Commencing 24 September 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 25 September, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 26 September 2018, 12 noon Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 26 September 2018, 1.30pm Physics West Lecture Theatre 117NOTE THE CHANGE OF TIMESpeaker: Dr Fiorenzo Vincenzo, HertfordshireTitle: Galactic astroarchaeology with cosmological chemodynamical simulations.The chemical composition of the interstellar medium of galaxies continuouslyevolves as a function of time because of many environmental physical processes.Restitution of metals from dying stars, astration of metals due to the starformation activity, gas inflows and outflows, radial mixing of both gas andstars are all fundamental mechanisms which drive the chemical evolution ofgalaxies. Starting from the observed present-day chemical abundances in thestars and interstellar medium, chemical evolution models aim at reconstructingthe past chemical enrichment history of galaxies, in a typical“astro-archaeological” approach. In the first part of the talk, I will introduce the basic concepts behindchemical evolution models and present my original contribution in thefoundations of this field. In the second part, I will show how cosmologicalhydrodynamical simulations can be effectively used to study the evolution ofthe radial (gas-phase and stellar) C, N and O chemical abundance gradients ingalaxies, presenting also new results from high-resolution zoom-in simulations,where a target galaxy is selected at low redshift from a reference large-scalecosmological simulation and then re-simulated with a larger number ofresolution elements, starting from the initial conditions of the earlyUniverse. Finally, I will present some preliminary results from thechemodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy, that we have developedto characterise the different chemical evolution histories of the thin andthin disc stellar components of our Galaxy.
Visitors
Monday 24 September 2018Floor Broekgaarden from the Netherlands will be visiting the COMPAS group fora month arriving Monday 24 September 2018.
New Staff
The group has welcomed the following new staff.Dr Tyrone Woods and Dr Leonid Prokhorov, who will be based in office 219and Dr Antoine Klein who will be in office 237.
Publications
Vigna-Gómez et al.On the formation history of Galactic double neutron stars MNRAS, accepted https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/sty2463/5092622?guestAccessKey=f735cde2-8df0-4b6a-b38b-47d390dbfb04Extracting distribution parameters from multiple uncertain observations withselection biasesIlya Mandel, Will M. Farr, Jonathan R. Gairhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1809.02063Comment on “An excess of massive stars in the local 30 Doradus starburst”Will Farr, Ilya MandelScience 361, 6400http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6400/eaat6506The optical afterglow of the short gamma-ray burst associated with GW170817 published in Nature Astronomy:Lyman, Lamb, Levan, Mandel, Tanvir et al.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0511-3
Week Commencing 2 July 2018
EPS Summer Social
Tuesday 3 July 2018, 1500 - 1700 Chancellor's Court (between the Watson andPoynting Physics Buildings)Come and join EPS colleagues from across the College for a glass of proseccoand strawberries and cream.Please register your attendance and advise of any dietary requirements herehttps://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/strategic-framework/eps/resources/college-social.aspx
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 4 July 2018, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryThis Journal Club I will attempt to briefly discuss the results of a possiblecandidate of a resolved jet of a TDE (tidal disruption even).http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/06/13/science.aao4669If you want a brief idea what a TDE is, I was recommended (by Ilya) thissemi-popular science review with nicesketch. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2382Ilya will take over for the second half and give a bit more in-depth overviewof TDEs and possible mechanisms/hypotheses to put it into a bit of perspective.
Degree Congregation and Procession
Wednesday 4 July 2018Please be reminded that the School of Physics and Astronomy Degree Congregationwill take place at 5.30pm on 4th July 2018. Due to the timing of the procession,we will be holding our reception in the marquee in Chancellor’s Court at 3.30pm,prior to the procession. The reception will be from 3.30pm – 4.30pm and you areinvited to come along to support our graduates and their families on theirspecial day.
Publications
Merging stellar-mass binary black holes.Ilya Mandel, Alison Farmer http://arxiv.org/abs/1806.05820Late-time Evolution of Afterglows from Off-Axis Neutron-Star Mergers.Gavin P Lamb, Ilya Mandel, Lekshmi Resmi https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.03843
Week Commencing 11 June 2018
Visitors 
VisitorsTassos Fragos will be arriving on Monday 11 June staying until Wednesday 13 June 2018.Tassos will be based in 238. Silvia Toonen will be arriving on Wednesday 13 June staying until Friday 15 June 2018.
Publications
Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Simon Stevenson, Jim W. Barrett, Krzysztof Belczynski, StephenJustham, Selma E. de Mink, Bernhard Müller, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Mathieu Renzo, Dorottya Szécsi, IlyaMandel. On the formation history of Galactic double neutron stars. arXiv:1805.07974
Week Commencing 14 May 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 15 May 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 16 May 2018, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryAs the 2nd year talks are finished there will be a short talk fromDr Matteo Bonetti, who is visiting for the next two weeks.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 16 May 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Dr Martin Fullekrug, University of BathTitle: Lightning into SpaceThe recent discovery of lightning into space and brief illuminations abovethunderclouds have attracted the broadest interest by the public media. Theseilluminations are termed sprites, gigantic jets, elves, halos, and blue jets.Sprites for example, are reddish illuminations of the Earth's atmosphereranging from 40-80 km height and extending up to 50 km in width. Sprites areseen above the largest thunderstorms on planet Earth, and they are mainlyinitiated by super strong lightning flashes to the ground. Recent research onsprites focused on their impact on the Earth's atmosphere and in particularon the possibility to be associated with natural particle accelerators aboveour heads. A sophisticated camera was just installed on the InternationalSpace Station on April 13th this year to unravel the mysteries of lightning.These novel phenomena demonstrate that the area above thunderstorms is one ofthe least well known 'terra incognita' of the Earth's atmosphere and many morediscoveries are expected in the years to come.
Week Commencing 30 April 2018
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 2 May 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 2 May 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Julia Yeomans, University of OxfordTitle: Topological defects in active matterAbstract: Active materials such as bacteria, molecular motors and self-propelledcolloids, are Nature’s engines. They continuously transform chemical energyfrom their environment to mechanical work. Dense active matter shows mesoscaleturbulence, the emergence of chaotic flow structures characterised by highvorticity and motile topological defects.
Week Commencing 5 March 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 6 March 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 7 March 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 7 March 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Jim Fuller, CaltechTitle: The surprising impact of gravity wavesGravity waves are low frequency fluid oscillations restored by buoyancyforces in planetary and stellar interiors. Despite their ubiquity, theimportance of gravity waves in evolutionary processes and asteroseismologyhas only recently been appreciated. For instance, Kepler asteroseismic datahas revealed gravity modes in thousands of red giant stars, providingunprecedented measurements of core structure and rotation.I will show how gravity modes (or lack thereof) can also reveal strongmagnetic fields in the cores of red giants, and I will demonstrate thatstrong fields appear to be common within “retired” A stars but are absentin their lower-mass counterparts. In the late phase evolution of massivestars approaching core-collapse, vigorous convection excites gravity wavesthat can redistribute huge amounts of energy within the star. I will presentpreliminary models of this process, showing how wave energy redistributioncan drive outbursts and enhanced mass loss in the final years of massivestar evolution, with important consequences for the appearance ofsubsequent supernovae.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 7 March 2018, 5.30pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreTickets are available for the final event of the season. Details of theevening and a link to get your tickets arehere: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.phpWe will be having a talk from Amaury Triaud, he will discuss the hunt forworlds around other stars. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
Week Commencing 19 February 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 20 February 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 21 February 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 21 February 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Miles PadgettTitle: How many pixels does your camera have? How many does it need?Cameras are often marketed in terms of the number of pixels they have – themore pixels the “better” the camera. Rather than increasing the number ofpixels we ask the question “how can a camera work with only a singlepixel?”. This talk will link the field of computational ghost imaging tothat of single-pixel cameras explaining how components found within astandard data projector, more commonly used for projecting films and thelike, can be used to create both still and video cameras using a singlephotodiode.Such single pixel approaches are particularly useful for imaging atwavelengths where detector arrays are either very expensive or evenunobtainable. The ability to image at unusual wavelengths means that one canmake cameras that can see through fog or smoke or even image invisible gasesas they leak from pipes.Beyond imaging at these unusual wavelengths, by adding time resolution tothe camera it is possible to see in 3D, perhaps useful for autonomousvehicles and other robotic applications.
Week Commencing 12 February2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 13 February 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 14 February 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 14 February 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Rana Adhikari, CaltechTitle: Quantum Entanglement + Deep Learning = Gravitational Waves + CosmographyThe recent pile of black hole mergers has signalled the birth of gravitationalastronomy. Just as the Jyotisha and Gan De eventually lead to Galileo, we toocan look forward to dramatic improvements in what is measurable withgravitational waves.I will describe how we can utilize coherent quantum feedback to bypass thePoisson limits in interferometry, and modern neural networks to removeterrestrial interference. This imminent increase in our astrophysical reachshould allow for high precision probes of black hole horizons and high fidelitymaps of the shape of the universe.
Visitors
Prof. Rana Adhikari is visiting us from 13th to 16th February 2018. Hisproject page is below where you can see his research interest. Please letHaixing Miao know if you would like to meet with him.http://caltechexperimentalgravity.github.io
Physics Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Thursday 15 February 2018Please note that the Particle Physics Group has reserved the coffee lounge fortheir PhD Applicant Day on
Week Commencing 29 January 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 30 January 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 31 January 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 31 January 2018, 2.30pm Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Ross Church, LundTitle: White dwarf-neutron star and white dwarf-black hole binariesBinaries containing a white dwarf and a neutron star are interesting for anumber of reasons. Their existence and properties allow us to constrain theevolution of interacting binary stars, probing a number of importantpoorly-understood physical processes such as common-envelope evolution andneutron-star kicks. They may be observable with the LISA gravitational-waveexperiment. Following gravitational-wave emission, their merger may produceluminous transients, and they are a possible candidate progenitor forcalcium-rich “gap” transients. I will discuss the theory of their formationand of their ultimate destruction after gravitational-wave inspiral. I willalso touch on their more massive relatives, containing a white dwarf and ablack hole, and attempt to convince you that we have good evidence for theexistence of such a binary in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae.
Week Commencing 22 January 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 23 January 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 24 January 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 24 January 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Carole Mundell, University of BathTitle: Black-hole Driven Astrophysics in a Dynamic UniverseBlack-hole driven processes in the Universe are now accepted to play a keyrole in the evolution – perhaps even formation – of galaxies, the cataclysmicdeath of massive stars and ultimately the production of gravitational wavesand, perhaps, heavy elements.In this talk, I will present recent studies of stellar and supermassive blackholes systems; I will show the ubiquity of fast outflows, the importance androle of magnetic fields and present prospects for future work in the era ofreal-time multi-messenger astronomy. Finally, I will touch on the promise oflab-based plasma experiments as analogues for understanding relativistic jets.
 Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 24th January 2018, 5.30-10pm, Poynting Buildinghttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/astronomy-in-the-cityjanuary-2018-tickets-40716991618Each Astronomy in the City event will feature a talk on a differentastrophysical topic connected to the research done at the University ofBirmingham. This month, Alejandro Vigna Gómez will discuss supernovae, theamazing explosions from dying stars.
 Publications
I. Mandel. 2018. The orbit of GW170817 was inclined by less than 28 degrees to the line of sight. 2018. ApJ Letters, accepted. arXiv:1712.03958M. Cantiello et al. 2018. A precise distance to the host galaxy of the binaryneutron star merger GW170817 using surface brightness fluctuations.arXiv:1801.06080J.D. Lyman, G.P. Lamb, A.J. Levan, I. Mandel, N. R. Tanvir et al. 2018. Theoptical afterglow of the short gamma- ray burst associated with GW170817.arXiv:1801.02669
Week Commencing 8 January 2018
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 9 January 2018, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 10 January 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 10 January 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Martyn Chipperfield, Leeds and NCEOTitle: Satellite observations of Atmospheric CompositionAbstract:Atmospheric composition (i.e. trace gases and aerosols) has been observedfrom space since the 1970s. Early observations focussed on the stratosphericozone layer but there has been an increasing emphasis on the morechallenging lower atmosphere in recent decades. The global, long-termcoverage provided by satellites has greatly changed our understanding of thedynamics and chemistry of the atmosphere and our ability to tackle majorenvironmental science questions. In this talk I will briefly summarise the different approaches used toobserve the atmosphere from space – e.g. different viewing geometries (limbversus nadir), wavelength regions (microwave, IR, visible, UV) andtechniques (emission, absorption). Then, I will focus on the application ofthe data, in conjunction with detailed numerical models, to address keyenvironmental issues such as the depletion of stratospheric ozone layer,climate change and near-surface air quality.
Week Commencing 27 November 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 28 November 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 29 November 2017, 12 noon, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 29 November 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Fay Dowker, ImperialTitle: Causal Sets, Discrete GravityAbstract: Quantum gravity is the name of a problem, not a theory. The problemis that we do not have a unified framework for fundamental physics in whichboth gravity and quantum theory are incorporated. Causal Set Theory is anapproach to the problem based on the hypothesis that spacetime is fundamentallydiscrete or atomic. I will explain the motivation behind this approach and mapout some of the frontiers of current research in the area. I will describe howcausal set theory has already had one empirical success and suggest that moremay be coming as the standard cosmological model (Lambda-Cold-Dark-Matter)comes under pressure from more data.
Special Seminar
Thursday 30 November 2017, 11am, Nuffield G17Speaker: Matt Nicholl, HarvardTitle: The kilonova counterpart to GW170817We will have a special seminar by Matt Nicholl on Thursday, 30 November, at11 AM in Nuffield G17. Matt is a transient observer and he will be visitingus from Harvard from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, so let me know ifyou would like to meet with him at any point during those days. I MandelAbstract: On 17 August 2017, the LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave observatoriesdetected a compact binary merger with a difference: for the first time, thecomponent masses were consistent with neutron stars rather than black holes.Moreover, the Fermi satellite simultaneously detected a short gamma-ray burstfrom a consistent sky position, marking the beginning of joint GW-EM astronomy.I will describe our discovery of the optical counterpart using the Dark EnergyCamera, and subsequent follow-up in optical, infrared, UV, X-ray and radio.The wealth of data reveals multiple emission components including a relativisticjet and the first clear evidence for a radioactive ‘kilonova’ comprised ofr-process ejecta, proving that neutron star mergers are a key source of theheaviest elements. I will show how our modelling of the transient and its hostgalaxy sheds light on the physical conditions in the system and its pre-mergerhistory.
Publications
Jim W. Barrett, Sebastian M. Gaebel, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Simon Stevenson, Christopher P. L. Berry, Will M. Farr, Ilya Mandel.Accuracy of inference on the physics of binary evolution from gravitational-waveobservationsSubmitted, https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.06287
Week Commencing 20 November 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 21 November 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Scientific Writing Seminar
Wednesday 22 November 2017, 12 noon, Physics West 106Title: Scientific Writing in Astrophysics—Tips and TricksSpeaker: Dorottya SzécsiSummary:Writing well for the astro-community is more difficult than one may realize.It is usually not enough to put words after each other to produce an easilycomprehensible text. Fortunately though, there are tricks and tips that canhelp us improve. My talk is aimed for grad-students who are non-nativeEnglish speakers, but experienced scientists are also welcome—one can neverstop trying to make their writing style more and more elegant andreader-friendly.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 22 November 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Adam Burgasser, UC San Diego.Title: TBC
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 22 November 2017, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreOur next event will be Wednesday 22 November 2017. Callum Bellhouse will tell us about his studies of jellyfishgalaxies using telescopes in Chile. Details of the evening and a link to book tickets are on our websitehttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php
Week Commencing 13 November 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 14 November 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Year 4 Welcome Event
Wednesday 15 November 2017, 11.30am–1.30pm, Physics West 2 nd Floor Coffee LoungeThe Astrophysics group have invited any year 4 students who are consideringapplying for a PhD to join us on Wednesday, 15 November, in the Physics West2nd floor coffee lounge. Students will have the opportunity to come along tochat with our faculty over coffee/tea and cookies about PhD opportunities inthe groupTwo slots will be open11:30-12:30 for those interested in observing, theoretical (astro) physics, data analysis, numerical modelling, etc.12:30-13:30 for those interested in experimental work and instrumentation
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 15 November 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Nicola Tartoni, Diamond Light SourceTitle: High Energy Physics detector technologies in photon scienceDetector systems developed for high energy physics have had a great impact infields very different from the original field of application. In particularsome experiments carried out at synchrotron radiation facilities (photonscience) have been revolutionized by detector technologies that were developedfor high energy physics.In this talk I will give a brief introduction to the research carried out inphoton science and I will present some detector technologies developed forhigh energy physics, with an historical perspective, that had a major impactin photon science. In addition I will give some examples of detectordevelopments ongoing at Diamond Light Source, the UK synchrotron radiationfacility.
Week Commencing 6 November 2017
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Tuesday 7 November 2017, 12 noon, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Dr Jeff Andrews, CreteTitle: Binary Population Synthesis with Markov-Chain Monte Carlo
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 7 November 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 8 November 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Victor See, ExeterTitle: Zeeman-Doppler studies and the rotation evolution of low-mass starsOne of the most important and fundamental properties of low-mass main sequencestars is their rotation period. It is known to correlate with numerous proxiesof magnetic activity such as X-ray emission, surface magnetic field strengthsand stellar winds. In turn, stellar winds are the main agent of mass- andangular momentum-loss over the main sequence lifetime, causing the rotationperiod to increase as the star ages. While the mechanisms driving stellar windsare not precisely known, the stellar magnetic field must play an important role.One way in which the magnetic fields of other stars can be studied is via theZeeman-Doppler imaging technique. This technique is capable of mapping thelarge-scale magnetic field topology at stellar surfaces of other stars. Todate, ~100 stars have had their surface magnetic fields mapped with thistechnique providing new insights into how the magnetic fields of cool dwarfsvary with parameters such as stellar mass and rotation. In this talk, I willdiscuss some of these trends, as well as the implications for stellar rotationevolution along the main sequence.
Publications
Published:
N. R. Tanvir, A. J. Levan, C. Gonzalez-Fernandez, O. Korobkin, I. Mandel et al. 2017, The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars. ApJL 848, L27. arXiv:1710.05455A. J. Levan , J. D. Lyman, N. R. Tanvir, J. Hjorth, I. Mandel et al. 2017.The environment of the binary neutron star merger GW170817.ApJL 848, L28. arXiv:1710.05444J. Hjorth et al. 2017.The Distance to NGC 4993: The Host Galaxy of the Gravitational-wave Event GW170817.ApJL 848, L31. arXiv:1710.05856
Submitted:
I. Mandel, A. Sesana, A. Vecchio. 2017.The astrophysical science case for a decihertz gravitational-wave detector.arXiv:1710.11187
Week Commencing 30 October 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 31 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 1 November 2017, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 1 November 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Alberto Vecchio, Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy,University of BirminghamTitle: The Gravitational-Wave sky so farIn less than two years of operation, gravitational-wave observatories –Advanced LIGO, and more recently Virgo – have directly detectedgravitational waves, discovered binary black hole mergers, revealing anabundant population of these systems, and recently observed the first binaryneutron star coalescence. The aftermath of this event was also observedacross the electro-magnetic spectrum, from gamma rays to radio waves,providing evidence that binary neutron star mergers are engines behind (atleast some) short gamma ray bursts and primary production sites of elementsheavier than iron in the Universe. I will summarise the results so far,their main implications and touch upon prospects for the future.
Week Commencing 23 October 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 24 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Thursday 26 October 2017, 1pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Tassos Fragos, NBI CopenhagenTitle: Open questions in the formation of binary stellar systems containing black holesThe recent detection of gravitational waves from coalescing binary blackholes by LIGO allowed for the first time the direct observation ofstellar-mass black holes. These gravitational wave detections, complementedby a 45-year-long history of indirect observations of black holes in X-raybinaries, can give us now a more complete picture of the formation andevolution of binary stellar systems containing black holes. Yet, to date, anumber of physical processes involved in the formation and evolution ofthese systems remain poorly understood. In this talk, after brieflyreviewing our current understanding of the evolutionary channels leading tothe formation of black-hole binary, I will discuss the some of the mainuncertainties involved in these formation scenarios: the occurrence ofnatal kicks during the core-collapse phase leading to black-hole formation,the angular momentum content of the formed black holes and the phase ofdynamically unstable mass-transfer also known as common envelope. Finally,I will present an outlook of how we can improve, in the near future, ourunderstanding in all these fronts.
Week Commencing 16 October 2017
Announcement of New Gravitational Wave Results
Monday 16 October 2017, 3pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Join us for a live streaming of a press conference during whichscientists representing LIGO, Virgo, and some 70 observatories willreveal new details and discoveries made in the ongoing search forgravitational waves. This will be followed by short presentationsby local experts from our Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy,explaining the significance of the discovery and to answer questions.
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 17 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Ilya Nemenman, Emory University, USATitle: The physics of cellular sensingFor many years, biology was the refuge from mathematics within thescientific world. This is no longer true. The last two decades havewitnessed an explosive growth in life sciences, fuelled largely byquantitative, mathematical reasoning and high-precision experimentsthat originated in physical sciences. The times of summarizingcomponents of biological systems with cartoon diagrams that many ofus remember from high school biology text books are giving way toquantitative models that make predictions as precise as those in theinanimate physical world.In my talk, I will try to guide you through 30+ years of developingsuch quantitative models for one relatively simple function that allliving systems must perform to survive in this world: sense theirenvironment. We can characterize such sensing by living cells in thesame terms as we use to describe man-made information processingdevices. Surprisingly, this leads to the realization that even“simple” cells are extremely good in sensing tasks, approachingfundamental physical limits set by molecular diffusion andthermodynamics, and beating most human-engineered devices. And wherethe achievable performance is not sufficient, cells have foundingenious ways of improving it by comparing their notes to those oftheir neighbours, by sharing the workload, by multiplexing theircommunications, by trading energy for extra bits of information, etc.I will illustrate some of these mechanisms with examples from the lifeof bacterial and mammalian cells.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreWe are delighted to announce the 2017/2018 Astronomy in the Cityseason! Our first event will be 18th October and will include atalk on the latest gravitational-wave discoveries from our LIGO team.Tickets are now available fromhttps://astrointhecity102017.eventbrite.co.ukAstronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events,each packed with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits.Evenings begin with talks covering astronomical highlights and recentresearch, and a question-and-answer session (for everything frombeginner's questions about the night sky to the latest work done herein Birmingham).
Week Commencing 2 October 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 3 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 4 October 2017, 12 noon, Physics West LibraryPhysics ColloquiumWednesday 4 October 2017, 4pm, Poynting SLTSpeaker: Dr Sarah Bridle, Manchester UniversityTitle: Climate Change and Food: A Cosmologist’s PerspectiveThere is an impending perfect storm of pressure on our food production system,with increasing population and changing consumer tastes, in the face of risingtemperatures and extreme weather events. Tim Gore, head of food policy andclimate change for Oxfam, said “The main way that most people will experienceclimate change is through the impact on food: the food they eat, the pricethey pay for it, and the availability and choice that they have.”. Yet, at thesame time, food production is a bigger contributor to climate change thantransport. This is why I am leading the new STFC FoodNetwork+ which aims toengage STFC researchers (astro/particle/nuclear physics) and STFC facilities(e.g. Diamond) to apply their capabilities to food, from agriculture, supplychain to nutrition and consumer choice. In this talk I will describe some ofthe challenges in food research and how physicists can help.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Thursday 5 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Andrea Bertoldi, LP2N - CNRS BordeauxTitle: MIGA and GW detection with atom interferometry at low frequencyAtom interferometry has been proposed for the realization of GW detectors inthe infrasound band (10 mHz - 10 Hz) [1]. Such frequency band is forbidden tocurrent ground based GW detectors due to low frequency gravity gradient noisethat causes a tidal effect on the suspended mirrors used as test masses todetect gravitational radiation. Adopting as probes arrays of atom clouds infree fall and interrogated simultaneously in a gravity-gradiometerconfiguration allows the suppression of Newtonian Noise [2], enables lowfrequency sensitivity, and opens the way toward the realization of infrasoundGW detectors on Earth. In this framework, I will report on the MIGA project [3], whose target is to build a demonstrator for GW detection using atominterferometry in the underground environment of LSBB (Rustrel, France).
New Starters
Monday 2 October 2017Dr Dorottya Szécsi has started work with the group today; she will be basedin office 221.
Week Commencing 18 September 2017
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 19 September 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Committee Meeting
Thursday 21st September 2017, 10am, Poynting SLTThe Autumn School Committee Meeting will be held in the Poynting SmallLecture Theatre on Thursday 21st September 2017 at 10.00am. All staffare encouraged to attend.
Cosmic Mergers – from massive black holes to massive clusters
Thursday 21st & Friday 22nd September 2017, Physics WestThe Birmingham-Nottingham Extragalactic Workshop series consists of aninformal 2 day event, with the aim of bringing together researchers inrelated strands of research in a topical and well-focused area ofextragalactic astronomy. This year the topic of the workshop is CosmicMergers from Massive Black Holes to Massive Clusters. More informationcan be found here  www.sr.bham.ac.uk/workshop/2017
Visitors
Dr Elena Rossi will be arriving on Monday 18 September 2017; she will beacting as the external examiner for a PhD Viva.
Publications
Carl Haster’s thesis has been published in the Springer Thesis series“recognising outstanding PhD research”https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-63441-8
Week Commencing 7 August
Visitors
ESA Research Fellow Maggie Lieu is visiting this week
Archive
Previous issues can be found here
Week Commencing 22 May
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 23 May 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Tuesday 23 May 2017, 11.00-11.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Dorottya Szecsi, Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of SciencesTitle: hom*ogeneous evolution and binarity: the progenitor behind various cosmic explosions
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Tuesday 23rd May 2017, 11.30-12.00, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Fabian Schneider, OxfordTitle: A top-heavy stellar initial mass function in 30 Dor and consequences for massive star feedback
Journal Club
Wednesday 24 May 2017, 12.00, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 24 May 2017, 16.00, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Mikhail Shifman, University of MinnesotaTitle: Quantum Field Theory after RevolutionI give a broad review of field theory from its inception, focusing on the lastrevolution –– the discovery of supersymmetric gauge theories and variousimpacts it produced on the basic concepts of field theory. Some recentapplications are also discussed .
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Friday 26 May 2017, 13.00, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Emma Chapman, Imperial College LondonTitle: Uncovering the First StarsThe Epoch of Reionization (EoR) signals the end of the Dark Ages of theUniverse and the birth of the first stars. The race is on to make the firststatistical detection of this epoch however the foregrounds swamp thecosmological data by several orders of magnitude and their removal remains asignificant challenge for both current and future telescopes. I will speakbroadly about the foreground mitigation techniques currently being used withEoR data, with a focus on blind source separation techniques. Overcoming thechallenges such as the huge foregrounds has not been merely an inconvenienceon the way to the prize ... The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is due to bebuilt in 2019 and it is vital we embed the lessons learnedfrom the current EoR experiments before the design of the instrument isfinalised. I will introduce the software OSKAR that I have helped develop inorder to simulate EoR data, such that we can test design options and trulyexploit the incredible power of the SKA.
Publications
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources and neutron-star-black-hole mergers from verymassive close binaries at low metallicityASuthors:Marchant, Pablo; Langer, Norbert; Podsiadlowski, Philipp; Tauris, Thomas; de Mink, Selma; Mandel, Ilya; Moriya, TakashiAccepted for publication in A&Ahttps://arxiv.org/abs/1705.04734>https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.04734
Week Commencing 15 May
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 16 May 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 17 May 2017, 12pm, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 17 May 2017, 16.00, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Sarah Bohndiek, University of CambridgeTitle: Making waves in biomedical opticsSeveral hallmarks of cancer, such as aberrant metabolism, are associated withhighly aggressive disease and poor prognosis. These hallmarks lead to changesin tissue optical properties that can now be detected non-invasively thanks totechnological advances emerging from telecommunications and remote sensing. Inthis talk, I will first provide an overview of the metabolic processes ofinterest to our laboratory, particularly in the context of the tumourmicroenvironment. I will then detail the technical development of several newimaging modalities that have the potential to increase early cancer detectionand also improve patient stratification. In each case, I will provide examplesof their biomedical application in living subjects.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Thursday 18 May 2017, 2.30pm, PW 117Speaker: Robert Izzard, University of CambridgeTitle: (Ex-?) Binary stars in the Galactic thick discRecent studies of old stars in the Galactic thick disc suggest it contains apopulation of “young” giant stars. These are chemically and kinematicallymembers of the thick disc, but their masses – measured by asteroseismology –are up to a factor of two greater than expected given the age of the thickdisc. Galactic astronomers have suggested they come from a population of starsthat have migrated from the bar of the Galaxy. Because migration away from abar is anathema to us, we show that they could instead be (ex-?)binary stars.These stars have undergone mass transfer, a process similar to that whichforms blue stragglers in globular clusters, or they have merged. Through thecarbon–to–nitrogen ratio we relate stellar surface chemistry to stellar massusing single and binary star models. The latter match the observations farbetter than we could have expected. We also predict binary fractions and otherproperties of these “young” stars ready for comparison with ongoing andupcoming observational programmes.
Week Commencing 8 May
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 9 May 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 10 May 2017, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 10 May 2017, 2.30pm, PW 117Speaker: Dan Smith, HertfordshireTitle: The 850um properties of galaxies in the SCUBA2 Cosmology Legacy SurveyI will present some multi-wavelength studies of galaxies in 0.8 deg2 of 850umobservations over the UDS field from the SCUBA -2 Cosmology Legacy Survey.Firstly I will present some new results on the first complete optical/near-infrared redshift distribution of sub-millimetre galaxies, the moststar-forming galaxies in the Universe. I will then describe a study of thedust and gas properties of a sample of 20,000 K < 24.0 galaxies at z > 1,as a function of their rest-frame colours. Finally, I will conclude with somebrief highlights of the planned WEAVE -LOFAR survey, which is due to begin in2018.
Birmingham / Frankfurt Workshop
Wednesday 10 – Friday 12 May 2017Alberto Sesana will be hosting the above workshop. A detailed schedule hasalready been circulated.
Astrophysics Seminar
Friday 12 May 2017, 2pm, PW 117Speaker: Dr Alison FarmerTitle: Adventures in Theoretical Astrophysics and BeyondDr Farmer was on a stellar trajectory in astrophysics: Cambridge undergrad,Caltech PhD with Sterl Phinney and Peter Goldreich, a super-prestigiouspostdoc at the Harvard Society of Fellows... Until she decided to switch to“green" engineering, and embarked on an equally stellar career in the designof energy-efficient laboratories, working with clients including Stanfordand Harvard universities, AstraZeneca and others, chairing one of the workinggroups of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and givingexpert lectures on energy-efficient design and benchmarking. So please joinme in hearing about Dr Farmer’s adventures in academia and beyond, and getinspired, whether you are contemplating a career in astrophysics or a switchto the great world outside.
Publications
Title: Formation of the first three gravitational-wave observations through isolated binary evolution.Authors: Simon Stevenson, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Ilya Mandel, Jim W. Barrett, Coenraad J. Neijssel, David Perkins & Selma E. de MinkNature Communications, 8, 14906 (2017) http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14906Title: Hierarchical analysis of gravitational-wave measurements of binary black hole spin-orbit misalignments.Authors: Simon Stevenson, Christopher P. L. Berry, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1703.06873
Week Commencing 23 January
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Anna Watts, University of AmsterdamTitle: Thermonuclear burst oscillations: where firestorms meet fundamentalphysicsNeutron stars offer a unique environment in which to develop and testtheories of the strong force. Densities in neutron star cores can reach upto ten times the density of a normal atomic nucleus, and the stabilisingeffect of gravitational confinement permits long-timescale weakinteractions. This generates matter that is neutron-rich, and opens up thepossibility of stable states of strange matter, something that can onlyexist in neutron stars. Strong force physics is encoded in the Equation ofState (EOS), the pressure-density relation, which links to macroscopicobservables such as mass M and radius R via the stellar structure equations.By measuring and inverting the M-R relation we can recover the EOS anddiagnose the underlying dense matter physics.One very promising technique for simultaneous measurement of M and Rexploits hotspots (burst oscillations) that form on the neutron star surfacewhen material accreted from a companion star undergoes a thermonuclearexplosion (a Type I X -ray burst). As the star rotates, the hotspot givesrise to a pulsation. Relativistic effects then encode information about Mand R into the pulse profile. However the mechanism that generates burstoscillations remains unknown, 20 years after their discovery. Ignitionconditions, flame spread, and the magnetohydrodynamics of the star's oceanall play a role. I will review the progress that we are making towardscracking this long-standing problem, and establishing burst oscillations asa tool par excellence for measuring M and R. This is a major goal for futurelarge area X-ray telescopes such as eXTP and STROBE -X.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 5.30pm, Poynting Large lecture TheatreTickets and full details of the evening are available here:http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.phpWe will be having a talk from Tiago Campante asteroseismology and huntingfor exoplanets as well as the usual activities.
Publications
Using red clump stars to correct the Gaia DR1 parallaxesDavies, G.R. and Lund, M.N. and Miglio, A. and Elsworth, Y. and Kuszlewicz, J.S. and North, T.S.H. and Rendle, B. and Chaplin, W.J. and Rodrigues, T.S. and Campante, T.L. and Girardi, L. and Hale, S.J. and Hall, O. and Jones, C.D. and Kawaler, S.D. and Roxburgh, I. and Schofield, M. [adsabs.harvard.edu]
Week Commencing 6 March 2017
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 7 March 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Tuesday 7 March 2017, 2.30pm, Barber Institute of Fine Art, G11Speaker: Antonio Garufi, ETH ZurichTitle: The moment planets form: the SPHERE view of protoplanetary disksThe ALMA image of HL Tau is only one of the many spectacular images ofprotoplanetary disks obtained during the last five years. With specificfocus on near-IR scattered light images from VLT /SPHERE, I show how theseobservations are changing our view of the processes of the planet formation.It turned out that peculiar features like spirals, rings, shadows, andcavities are ubiquitous in disks. The increased number of observationsallows us now to draw the first conclusions on the evolution of disks andtheir interaction with (forming) planets.
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 8 March 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115
School Colloquium
Wednesday 8 March 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Clare Burrage, Nottingham UniversityTitle: Detecting Dark Energy: from cosmology to the laboratoryI will discuss why current theories of dark energy, which attempt to explainthe acceleration of the expansion of the universe, lead to the introductionof new light scalars and associated fifth forces. I’ll introduce non-linearscreening mechanisms, which allows these scalars to have interestingcosmological effects whilst remaining compatible with terrestrial and solarsystem tests of gravity. I will then go on to discuss prospects fordetecting these fields, and explain why our best hope of learning more aboutdark energy may be with table top scale experiments.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 8 March 2017, 6pm, Poynting BuildingSee here for detailsAlberto Sesana will speak about the Universes biggest black holes and howthey evolve with their host galaxies.
Week Commencing 27 February
Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Monday 27 February 2017This is a reminder that Particle Physics have booked the second floor coffeelounge for the duration of Monday to host their PhD Open Day
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 28 February 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 1 March 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115Serena will lead this week's journal club.I would like to discuss networks in nature and in particular on theLarge-Scale Structure, this are the main papers I will use:Statistics of Caustics in Large-Scale Structure Formation [arxiv.org]Network Cosmology [www.nature.com]The Network Behind the Cosmic Web [arxiv.org]if you like some background readings this should work: [icc.dur.ac.uk]I found also some notes from lectures here  [www.astro.rug.nl] which might be useful.
Week Commencing 13 February
Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 14 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Julian Stirling, NIST Gaithersburg, USATitle: Determining Big G and the Art of Measuring Small ForcesThe Newtonian constant of gravitation, or Big G, is arguably the mostrfrustrating fundamental constant of Nature to measure. Cavendish firstmeasured Big G in 1798 with an uncertainty of about 1%. After two centuriesof scientific development the uncertainty of G has only fallen by two ordersof magnitude, and many experiments produce conflicting results. By comparison,in just over one century the Planck constant was both theorised and thenmeasured with an uncertainty of just twelve parts per billion.Big G is so hard to measure as the gravitational coupling between matter is soweak, but with measurements disagreeing by over 10 sigma it is clear somethingmore has gone awry. We have to wonder, are we seeing effects of undiscoveredphysics, or are we simply chasing down the mistakes of other researchers? Ahistory of improperly calibrated electrostatic servos, unaccountedanelasticity, and unnoticed Abbe errors have plagued mechanical balances ofthe past. With atom interferometer measurements poised to steal the show, orat least add more results into the fray, NIST is adopting a different approach.Instead of building a new experiment we are acquiring, investigating, andrepeating suspect experiments to shed light on what is causing thediscrepancies.We have taken the BIPM torsion balance (currently measuring 9 sigma above theCODATA recommended value) and placed it on a state of the art coordinatemeasuring machine housed in the NIST advance measurement laboratory,surrounded by world leading calibration laboratories. We are expecting a newmeasurement of Big G to be completed in 2017, both with the original coppersource masses and new single crystal sapphire masses.In this talk I will outline the experimental challenges of performing accuratemeasurements of small forces, from atomic force microscopy to optomechanics,before concentrating on the NIST's new measurement of Big G.
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 14 February 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 15 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115Sam Cooper will lead on a couple of papers on the beam rotation sensor usedat LIGO.
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 15 February 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Iain Murray, EdinburghTitle: Bayesian inference: by MCMC or machine learning methods
Week Commencing 6 February
Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Monday 6 February 2017This is a reminder that Particle Physics have booked the second floorcoffee lounge for the duration of Monday to host their PhD Open Day
Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 7 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Dr Brett Shapiro, Stanford UniversityTitle: Cryogenic LIGO Test Masses for Next Generation Gravitational Wave ObservatoriesAbstract:Now that the 2nd generation of LIGO, Advanced LIGO, is running and makinggravitational wave observations, plans for the 3rd generation are now indevelopment. The 3rd generation, known as LIGO Voyager, intends toimprove upon Advanced LIGO’s sensitivity by a factor of 3 over a broadfrequency range, increasing the rate of gravitational wave detections bymore than an order of magnitude. One of the proposed upgrades to realizethis improvement involves cooling silicon mirror test masses to cryogenictemperatures to reduce the thermal noise in the the mirror coatings andthe mirror suspensions. This talk discusses a method to cool these mirrorsto 120 K without compromising the strict vibration isolation requirements.Recent results and ongoing experimental work from the LIGO group at StanfordUniversity will be shown.
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 7 February 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 8 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115 
School Colloquium
Wednesday 8 February 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Dr Andrew Howard, Science Director Geology and Regional Geophysics, British Geological SurveyTitle: The role of Geophysics and geophysicists in a national geological survey organisation - as seen by a geologistMost of the world's nations have an organisation, or allied groups oforganisations, that are responsible for acquiring and communicating spatiallyreferenced knowledge and understanding of national and regional geology. Thatknowledge is needed to secure critical mineral, water and energy resources,inform decisions on sustainable land use and development, forecast and de-riskthe impacts of environmental change and hazards, and provide essential datafor scientific research.
Week Commencing 30 January
Special Astrophysics Seminar
Monday 30 January 2017, 1pm, Nuffield G17Speaker: Dr Jenne Driggers, Caltech (LIGO Observatory)Title: Advanced LIGO's second observing run, and beyondAbstract:After Advanced LIGO's successful first observing period, during whichgravitational waves were detected, the detectors were turned off for severalmonths of upgrades and improvements. On November 30th, 2016, the detectorsbegan their second observing run, which is currently ongoing. In this talk Iwill describe some of the upgrades that are now in place, as well as some ofthe challenges that were faced. I will conclude with an outlook on futureupgrades that may be added after the next observing run, to further improveour ability to detect gravitational waves.
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 31 January 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 1 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115Siyuan Chen to lead the discussion around"Gravitational encounters and the evolution of the Galactic nuclei", aseries of papers by David Merritt. The focus will be on paper IV with papersI-III recommended for further reading.IV: https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08169III: https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.01263II: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.03010I: https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.07516
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 1 February 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Tamara Rogers, NewcastleTitle: Internal Gravity Waves in Massive StarsInternal Gravity Waves (IGW) can lead to angular momentum transport andchemical mixing in stellar interiors. In this talk I will present numericalsimulations of these waves in massive stars and discuss how they mightcontribute to the understanding of a variety of observational mysteries.
Visitors
Jose Maria Gonzalez Castro, a PhD student at the University of Pisa, Italy,will be visiting for three weeks commencing today, Monday 30 January 2017.He will be working with Daniel Toyra and Serena Vinciguerra and be based inG26.
Week Commencing 23 January
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 24 January 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 12pm, Physics West 115
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Anna Watts, University of AmsterdamTitle: Thermonuclear burst oscillations: where firestorms meet fundamentalphysicsNeutron stars offer a unique environment in which to develop and testtheories of the strong force. Densities in neutron star cores can reach upto ten times the density of a normal atomic nucleus, and the stabilisingeffect of gravitational confinement permits long-timescale weakinteractions. This generates matter that is neutron-rich, and opens up thepossibility of stable states of strange matter, something that can onlyexist in neutron stars. Strong force physics is encoded in the Equation ofState (EOS), the pressure-density relation, which links to macroscopicobservables such as mass M and radius R via the stellar structure equations.By measuring and inverting the M-R relation we can recover the EOS anddiagnose the underlying dense matter physics.One very promising technique for simultaneous measurement of M and Rexploits hotspots (burst oscillations) that form on the neutron star surfacewhen material accreted from a companion star undergoes a thermonuclearexplosion (a Type I X -ray burst). As the star rotates, the hotspot givesrise to a pulsation. Relativistic effects then encode information about Mand R into the pulse profile. However the mechanism that generates burstoscillations remains unknown, 20 years after their discovery. Ignitionconditions, flame spread, and the magnetohydrodynamics of the star's oceanall play a role. I will review the progress that we are making towardscracking this long-standing problem, and establishing burst oscillations asa tool par excellence for measuring M and R. This is a major goal for futurelarge area X-ray telescopes such as eXTP and STROBE -X.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 5.30pm, Poynting Large lecture TheatreTickets and full details of the evening are available here:http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.phpWe will be having a talk from Tiago Campante asteroseismology and huntingfor exoplanets as well as the usual activities.
Publications
Using red clump stars to correct the Gaia DR1 parallaxesDavies, G.R. and Lund, M.N. and Miglio, A. and Elsworth, Y. and Kuszlewicz, J.S. and North, T.S.H. and Rendle, B. and Chaplin, W.J. and Rodrigues, T.S. and Campante, T.L. and Girardi, L. and Hale, S.J. and Hall, O. and Jones, C.D. and Kawaler, S.D. and Roxburgh, I. and Schofield, M. [adsabs.harvard.edu]
Week Commencing 9 January
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 10 January 2017, 1pm, Physics West 229
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 11 January 2017, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Alexei Grinbaum, CEA Saclay/LARSIMTitle: Quantum and postquantum correlationsThe amount of correlations allowed by quantum entanglement is higher than theclassical bound but lower than what is mathematically possible. Why thisarbitrary limit? Is it a constant of Nature, a complexity bound or anartefact of human mind? I'll review several recent attempts to give it ameaning by studying "postquantum" models.
AstroSoc Lecture
Thursday 12 January 2017, 7pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre S02Speaker: Professor Cole Miller, University of Maryland, USATitle: Mysteries of Black HolesTo register https://mysteriesofbhs.eventbrite.co.uk
New Starter
Dr Matteo BianconiDr Matteo Bianconi, has arrived from Innsbruck and has joined us on apost-doctoral position. We are very fortunate to have Matteo in the group.He is an expert of galaxy evolution and clusters, but has very broadinterests so I am sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for many of usto talk and work with him. You can find Matteo in the post-docs office onthe second floor (next to David's office).Alberto Vecchio
Publications
Christopher P. L. Berry, Robert H. Cole, Priscilla Cañizares, Jonathan R. GairImportance of transient resonances in extreme-mass-ratio inspiralshttps://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.94.124042ahttps://arxiv.org/abs/1608.08951
Week Commencing 6 December
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 6 December 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 7 December 2016, 12pm, Physics West 115I would like to bring your attention to the following paper:Evidence for vacuum birefringence from the first optical-polarimetrymeasurement of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5−3754 which wascovered by the media two days ago.This seems to be the first observational evidence for the interesting vacuumbirefringence effect, a prediction of the quantum electrodynamics (QED).Just a side note: Hartmut Grote (AEI) proposed the use of gravitational-wavedetectors for observing this effect: On the possibility of vacuum QEDmeasurements with gravitational wave detectorsHaixing
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 7 December 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Emily Petroff (ASTRON)Title: Detection and follow-up of fast radio burstsFast radio bursts (FRBs) are quickly becoming a subject of intense interestin time-domain astronomy. FRBs have the exciting potential to be used ascosmological probes of both matter and fundamental parameters, but suchstudies require large populations. Advances in FRB detection using currentand next-generation radio telescopes will enable the growth of the populationin the next few years. Real-time discovery of FRBs is now possible with 6sources detected in real-time within the past 2 years at the Parkes telescope.I will discuss the developing strategies for maximising real-time science withFRBs including polarisation capture and multi-wavelength follow- up.Particularly, I will focus on the real-time detections of four new sourcesthat provide a test bed for fast radio burst science. I will also discuss howour response to these events can inform next generation surveys and pavethe way for the enormous number of FRB discoveries expected in the SKA era.
Publications
Haster, Antonini, Kalogera, MandelN-BODY DYNAMICS OF INTERMEDIATE MASS-RATIO INSPIRALS IN STAR CLUSTERSAstrophysical Journal, Volume 832, Number 2 (2016)http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-637X/832/2/192/meta
Week Commencing 28 November
Special Seminar
Monday 28th November 2016, 1pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Prof Hsien-Chi Yeh, Tianqin Research Center for Gravitational Physics,School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun yat-sen University, ChinaTitle: Tianqin Mission - space-based gravitational waves detectionTianQin is a proposal for a space-borne detector of gravitational waves in themillihertz frequency range. The experiment relies on a constellation of threedrag-free spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Interspacecraft laser interferometryis used to monitor the distances between the test masses that are moving alonggeodesics. The experiment is designed to be capable of detecting a signal withhigh confidence from a single source of gravitational waves within a fewmonths of observing time. In this talk, I will introduce the preliminarymission concept for TianQin, including the candidate source and experimentaldesigns. I will also present the progress on developing key technologies andthe roadmap of whole mission. We expect TianQin to be flown in the second halfof the next decade.
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 30 November 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 30 November 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Simon Portegies-Zwart, Leiden University, NetherlandsTitle: Foreigners welcome in the Solar SystemDwarf planets live at the edge of the Solar System. Some of these ice-rocksare best explained if they have been abducted from another star. Do we haveextra-solar material in the Solar System?
Visitors
Dr George Howitt will be visiting Prof Ilya Mandel on Monday 28 & Tuesday 29November 2016
Week Commencing 21 November
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 22 November 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 23 November 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 23 November 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Chris Copperwheat (LMJU)Title: The Large Robotic Telescope: a facility for the new era of time domain astronomyThe Liverpool Telescope is a fully robotic, 2-metre class optical/infrared inoperation on the Canary island of La Palma. The rapid response and flexibilityof robotic telescopes make them ideal tools for study of the time variable sky.With the field of time domain astronomy set to be revolutionised by newdiscovery facilities such as LSST, plans are being made in Liverpool for a newrobotic telescope to capitalise on this new era. This facility has the workingtitle 'Liverpool Telescope 2' or the 'Large Robotic Telescope' and we aim tohave it in operation on La Palma by ~2022. The core goal of the facility willbe the follow-up of transients.The current generation of optical surveys have opened up a new era oftransient astronomy, but at the same time have introduced a new problem: ourdiscovery capability has dramatically outpaced our follow-up capacity, suchthat less than 10 per cent of new transients receive a spectroscopicclassification, let alone any scientific exploitation. The follow-up gap isgoing to increase in size by orders of magnitude as we move into the LSST era.The same problem is inherent in the gravitational wave follow-up programme,the uncertainty in the sky position of any Advanced LIGO / Virgo detection isof the order of degrees. Surveying this error box is not the biggest problemin identifying an electromagnetic counterpart: the real challenge isdistinguishing the counterpart from the many unrelated transient events inthe region. The Large Robotic Telescope will be designed for the follow-uprole: a fully robotic 4-metre telescope with a lightweight, fast-slewingdesign, providing a world-leading rapid response capability for efficientprogrammes of classification spectroscopy and the follow-up of fast-fadingsources. In this talk I will detail the science case and provide an updateon development of this new telescope.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 23 November 2016, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThis month, our new Observatory Director, Sean McGee, will speak about hisresearch in his talk Nature vs Nurture: The formation of galaxies. We'll alsohave our usual talk on the night sky, chance to ask questions, and(weather-dependent) observing. More details are on our website and tickets are available now from here
Publications
Model-independent inference on compact-binary observationsIlya Mandel; Will M. Farr; Andrea Colonna; Simon Stevenson; Peter Tio;John VeitchMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2016; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stw2883
Week Commencing 7 November
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 8 November 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Dr Massimo Dotti Lectures 3 and 4
Dr Massimo Dotti from Universita` di Milano Bicocca will visit our departmentfrom October 31st to November 16. Massimo is a recognized expert of massiveblack hole (binary) evolution and dynamics and galaxy formation at large.Among other things, he will give a series of lectures particularly targetedto PhD students but open to everybody on the subject of massive black holeastrophysics.Lecture 3:-MBH evolution through the cosmic history: approaches and open issues -MBH spins: how do they evolve, observational estimates, what do they tell usLecture 4:-MBH binaries: cosmological context, formation and dynamical evolution -MBH binaries: proposed observational features in the EM landscape
Focus Group - Does the academic journal have a future?
Tuesday 8 November 2016, 1pm Physics West 106You are invited to the focus group detailed below, for further details aboutthe project and focus groups please see www.oamj.org or contact Dr Jenny Fry j.fry@lboro.ac.ukBuffet lunch provided - for catering purposes rsvp: n.myco*ck@sheffield.ac.ukDoes the academic journal have a future?We want to know your views.As part of our AHRC-funded project you are cordially invited to a focus groupin your school. Open-access mega-journals are a relatively new phenomenon.Such journals are typically very large, with a broad subject scope andoperating an open access publishing fee. They also tend to operate a peerreview system that seeks to evaluate only the scientific soundness of papers,rather than their potential impact or importance to the field. Well knownmega-journals include PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports and Sage Open.We do not expect participants to know about specifics of mega-journals, orindeed even to have heard of them.We want to know:- Where you publish and why?- Have you already published in a mega-journal, or would you consider it in the future?- What constitutes 'scientific soundness', and should editors and reviewers be filtering for significance to the discipline?
ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 9 November 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 9 November 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Steve Kawaler, Iowa StateTitle: More than a theory - connecting highly evolved stars with their youngerselves through space based asteroseismologyWithin the last 10 years and at an accelerating pace, space-based observationshave been exposing the interiors of stars at all stages of their development.The number of stars subject to these studies range from dozens to thousandsdepending on the specific type of star. Prior to this era, our studies reliedon in-depth study of individual targets, mostly subject to the handicap ofobserving from a rotating, cloud-dotted platform. In this talk, I'll discussseveral recent revelations about how stars evolve after they've left the mainsequence. In particular, we'll look at what the Kepler and K2 missions haverevealed about the interior structure of white dwarfs and core helium-burningsdB stars – and how internal properties these geriatric stellar types areconnected with their red giant predecessors.
EPS Inaugural lecture
Wednesday 9 November 2016, 5.15pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Followed by a drinks reception in the Physics Library.Professor Ilya Mandel, Professor of Theoretical AstrophysicsSchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of BirminghamSinging binaries: listening to the chirps of black holesIn this lecture, Professor Mandel will discuss the detection of gravitationalwaves and explore the potential research opportunities arising from thisrevolutionary discovery. On September 14, 2015, the instruments of the LaserInterferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a disturbance.This tiny signal was the echo of a very loud song, sung by a pair of blackholes merging more than a billion years ago during the last fraction of asecond of their lives. This discovery heralded the conclusion of adecades-long search for one of the most difficult to test predictions ofGeneral Relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity.At the same time, this black-hole was the first note of a beautiful symphonyto reach us through a newly opened window on the Universe. Through this windowof gravitational-wave astronomy, we are already beginning to probe the secretsof strong-field gravity. In the next few years, we anticipate hearing manymore songs coming from the mergers of compact remnants of massive stars:neutron stars and black holes. Like palaeontologists who use the skeletons ofdinosaurs to discover what living dinosaurs looked like, we are beginning tostudy the evolutionary history of massive stars by observing their mergingremnants.If you wish to attend this event, please complete the online registration formFor further information please contact: epscommunications@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Awards
Callum BellhouseCallum Bellhouse has won a poster competition at a conference in Venice, Italy;"The galaxy life-cycle: From activity to quiescence, and back, across cosmictimes" which enabled him to give a short presentation.Serena VinciguerraSerena Vinciguerra has recently won the Hartle Award for the best student talkrin her session at the 21st International conference on General Relativity andGravitation in New York (GR21) at the Columbia University Campushttps://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/strategic-framework/eps/influence/Serena-wins-Hartle-Award.aspx
Week Commencing 31 October
TESS Data for Asteroseismology Workshop
Monday 31 October - Wednesday 2 November 2016, Lucas HouseHiROS are hosting the above workshop, more details can be obtained via thefollowing link
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 1 November 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Dr Massimo Dotti Lectures
Tuesday 1 - Tuesday 15 November 2016, 10am, Physics West LibraryDr Massimo Dotti from Universita` di Milano Bicocca will visit our departmentfrom October 31st to November 16. Massimo is a recognized expert of massiveblack hole (binary) evolution and dynamics and galaxy formation at large.Among other things, he will give a series of lectures particularly targetedto PhD students but open to everybody on the subject of massive black holeastrophysics.Following a survey among PhD students, lectures will take place in the PhysicsWest Library from 10 to 11am on: 1 Nov, 4 Nov, 8 Nov, 11 Nov and 15 Nov 2016Lectures will involve a mixture of blackboard writing and slides, and will bea great opportunity for whoever is interested to learn more on this fascinatingand prominent subject in today's astrophysics.Below I attach a provisional schedule of the topics covered in the lectures.I look forward to seeing many of you there. Dr Alberto SesanaLecture 1:-Why are we talking about massive black holes (MBHs)-MBH: an operational definition-MBH masses (and compactness) from observations. 1: direct methodsLecture 2:-AGN phenomenology and introduction to accretion processes -MBH massesr (and compactness) from observations. 1: indirect methods -MBH-host galaxy scaling relationsLecture 3:-MBH evolution through the cosmic history: approaches and open issues -MBH spins: how do they evolve, observational estimates, what do they tell usLecture 4:-MBH binaries: cosmological context, formation and dynamical evolution -MBH binaries: proposed observational features in the EM landscapeLecture 5:TBD
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 2 November 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 (NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE)
School Colloquium
Wednesday 2 November 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Richard Stainsby, National Nuclear LaboratoryTitle: Generation IV Reactors: Opportunities and ChallengesGeneration IV reactors offer the promise of reliable, low-carbon, on-demand,safe and economic nuclear energy which has the potential to be sustainablefor millennia. Closing the nuclear fuel cycle such that 96% of the materialin spent fuel is repeatedly recycled overcomes the limitations imposed by thevery finite natural uranium resource and dramatically reduces the volumes andlong-term radiotoxicity of fuel cycle wastes. Generation IV reactors improvesustainability by creating the opportunity to use high-grade nuclear heat todisplace conventional fossil-fuelled heat sources to supply process heat to adiverse range of industrial uses. Novel fuel and coolant combinations, suchas those found in molten salt reactors offer the possibility of integratedrecycling of fuel thus closing the fuel cycle within the boundary of areactor site.Clearly, the above benefits will not be obtained easily. At the moment sixbasic systems, based on fuel, coolant, and neutron spectrum combinations areproposed for further development. Each system faces its own challenges withregard to materials performance, engineering, economics, the requirements oflicensing and safeguards systems, and public acceptability.This lecture presents the current status of a selection of Generation IVreactor technologies, explores applications and opportunities for deployment,including the prospects to have small modular variants, and address theirmain challenge
Week Commencing 17 October
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 18 October 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Colloquium
Wednesday 19 October 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Eleanor Campbell, Edinburgh UniversityTitle: Free-flying fullerenesFullerenes were discovered over 30 years ago but continue to throw upsurprises and provide convenient model systems for developing theoreticaltechniques and studying the fundamental properties of complex molecules.The recent laboratory confirmation of the presence of fullerenes ininterstellar space by the Maier group in Basel may have far-reachingconsequences for our understanding of astrochemistry.In this talk I will briefly review some of the fundamental studies of therproperties of fullerenes in the gas phase that my group has been involvedwith over the years that can help explain how fullerenes survive the harshconditions of space. I will also discuss our more recent studies of theseemingly contradictory nature of fullerenes that can be explored by usingangular-resolved fs photoelectron spectroscopy: the appearance ofthermoelectric electrons (modelled with a two-temperature model more familiarin condensed matter physics) along with evidence for the excitation of well-resolved states based on the population of diffuse hydrogenic molecularorbitals. The study illustrates the interesting position of fullerenes, withproperties bridging the gap between atomic/molecular systems and bulk matter.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 19 October 2016, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreAstronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research, and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and alucky few will be taken out to the University’s Observatory.Events are planned for:* Wednesday 19 October 2016* Wednesday 23 November 2016* Wednesday 25 January 2017* Wednesday 8 March 2017For this month's research talk, Hannah Middleton will tell us about pulsars -short for "pulsating radio stars". She will introduce us to these strangeobjects and discuss how she and others use them as tools to study theuniverse.More details are on our website
Visitors
Camilla Compton will be visiting Conor Mow-Lowry on Thursday and Friday thisweek.
Week Commencing 10 October
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 11 October 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Special Seminar
Tuesday 11 October 2016, 2.30pm Physics West 106Speaker: Dan Foreman-Mackey, WashingtonTitle: Long-period transiting exoplanets and their populationAbstract: The Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of exoplanets andrevolutionized our understanding of their population. This large, hom*ogeneouscatalog of discoveries has enabled rigorous studies of the occurrence rate ofexoplanets and extra-Solar planetary systems as a function of their physicalproperties. Transit surveys like Kepler are most sensitive to planets withshorter orbital periods than the gas giant planets that dominate the dynamicsof our Solar System. I have developed a fully-automated method of discoveringand characterizing long-period transiting planets with only one or twotransits in the Kepler archival light curves. Since the method involves nohuman intervention, I can also precisely measure the completeness function ofthe discoveries and place constraints on the occurrence rate of exoplanetswith orbital periods longer than 2 years. I will present this method and thestatistical tools developed as part of this project.
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 12 October 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryGroup meetings will no longer be on the same day as seminars, a new schedulehas been posted on the webpage.
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 12 October 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Ed Daw, SheffieldTitle: The ADMX search for QCD axions in the Galactic HaloAbstract: Axions are a sometimes-neglected candidate solution to the darkmatter problem. They don't require any new physics at the electroweak scale,and their existence would complete the standard model by explaining theobserved conservation of CP in the strong interactions. Detecting axions isnot easy because their couplings to more conventional particles are feeble,but since 1994 the ADMX experiment has been searching for axions with a verysensitive and beautiful detector based on an RF frequency cryogenicelectromagnetic resonator and the world's lowest noise AM radio! Sheffieldhas collaborated on ADMX since 2007. I will summarise both the experiment ingeneral, as it approaches the beginning of its new run, and on Sheffield workto solve the long-standing problem of how an RF resonator can be tuned over avery large range of resonant frequencies.
 Special Astrophysics Seminar
Friday 14 October 2016, 2pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Lee Whittaker, ManchesterTitle: The mitigation of intrinsic alignments in future high precision weaklensing surveys
Visitors
Gerald Bergmann, AEI will be visiting Conor Mow-Lowry on Wed 12 Oct throughto the 14 Oct 2016.Sean Leavey, Glasgow will be visiting both Conor Mow-Lowry and Andreas Freiseon Wed 12 Oct through to the 14 Oct 2016.
Week Commencing 3 October
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 4 October 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 5 October 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryThis week's journal club will be in a classical style, with ChristopherBerry leading the discussion on a pair of classic papers by Bahcall andWolf. [adsabs.harvard.edu] [adsabs.harvard.edu]
School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 October 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof. Sheena Radford (FRS) from the University of LeedsTitle: Proteins Folding and Failing to Fold: How Good is Nature at OrigamiAbstract: Evolution has provided humans with more than 30,000 genes thatencode the sequences of amino acids that make up our repertoire of proteins.Proteins emerge from the ribosome during their synthesis as linear chains ofamino acids. Folding into a unique three dimensional structure, and avoidingdegradation, is then needed in order for proteins to become functional.Folding is highly controlled in cells, with a myriad of folding factors,chaperones and proteases being carefully controlled and tuned so as torecognise correctly folded proteins from their misfolded counterparts.Failure of these mechanisms leads to severe human diseases, the majority ofwhich lack successful therapies. One class of these diseases is amyloidosis,which includes Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes, which aremajor threats to health in the developed and developing worlds.In this lecture I will introduce current concepts and understandings of howproteins fold and how and why they misfold, garnered from a host ofstructural, biophysical and computational methods. How small changes inprotein sequence enhance the probability of nucleated growth of amyloidfibrils will be discussed, as well as the properties of amyloid fibrilsthemselves which act as toxic nanomaterials.
Week Commencing 26 September
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 28 September 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Aris Karastergiou, University of OxfordTitle: Understanding the clock: physics with pulsarsThe canonical picture of pulsars as well behaved clocks is being challengedby recent observations, that reveal time variability of the radio emissionand the rotational properties of a number of sources. The data point towardsintrinsic, magnetospheric, and propagation related effects. I will reviewthe technique of pulsar timing, which is providing stringent GR tests andpromise of nHZ GW detections in the future, show the ways in which pulsarsare "misbehaving", and discuss the physics we can address while trying to"correct" the clocks.
Week Commencing 19 September
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 20 September 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 21 September 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Riccardo Sturani, University Estadual PaulistaTitle: The General Relativistic two body problem: recent resultsGravitational Waves emitted by inspiraling and coalescing compact binarysystems requires for their detection accurate theoretical modeling. In theearly inspiral phase the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation to GeneralRelativity needs to be pushed to high order for data analysis purposes andhigh accuracy comparison with Numerical Relativity computations describingthe final merger and ringdown phases also demand extreme precision. In thistalk an overview of the problem of deriving the equation of motion ofcompact binaries will be given, with emphasis on the recent efforts applyingeffective field theory techniques within the PN framework, which are alsoimportant for applications to self-force comparisons and effective-one-bodycalculations.
Week Commencing 12 September
ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 13 September 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Publications
Ilya Mandel, Will M. Farr, Andrea Colonna, Simon Stevenson, Peter Tiňo,John VeitchModel-independent inference on compact-binary observations [arxiv.org]--S. J. Smartt et al. 2016.A search for an optical counterpart to the gravitational wave eventGW151226. ApJL, 827, L40. [dx.doi.org]--Thomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Shi Qiu, *Ilya Mandel*, Eric ThraneLimits of Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds Phys. Rev. X 6, 031018 [journals.aps.org]--Simon Daley-Yates, Ian R. Stevens, Tom D. CrosslandSub-mm free-free emission from the winds of massive stars in the age of ALMA [adsabs.harvard.edu]--
Astrophysics & Space Research /HiROS Groups Seminar 
Friday 29 July 2016, 12pm Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Nimish Hathi, (LAM - Marseille)Title: Galaxy Formation and Evolution in the JWST EraAbstract: A comprehensive analysis of star-forming galaxies (SFGs), including acrucial sub-population of Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs), at high redshifts (z>2)using multi-wavelength photometry and deep spectroscopy is vital forunderstanding the physical processes that govern the star formation activityand galaxy assembly through cosmic time. Until now, such studies were limitedto small number of galaxies because of the lack of large area, deep observationsat high redshifts.With extensive multi-wavelength photometry from HST deep fields, and deepground-based spectroscopy from ESO/VLT, we can now investigate physicalproperties of a large sample of SFGs/LAEs at z~2-6. I will present results fromrecent studies based on spectroscopic and photometric data of SFGs/LAEs at highredshift with a look towards upcoming surveys/missions.
Publications
Ghosh, A., Ghosh, A., Johnson-McDaniel, N. K., Kant Mishra, C., Ajith, P.,Del Pozzo, W., Nichols, D. A., Chen, Y., Nielsen, A.B., Berry, C. P. L. &London, L.; Testing general relativity using golden black-hole binaries[adsabs.harvard.edu];Physical Review D [dx.doi.org]; 94(2):021101;2016arXiv:1602.02453 [gr-qc] [arxiv.org].Farr, B., Berry, C. P. L., Farr, W. M., Haster, C.-J., Middleton, H.,Cannon, K., Graff, P. B., Hanna, C., Mandel, I., Pankow, C., Price, L. R.,Sidery, T., Singer, L. P., Urban, A. L., Vecchio, A., Veitch, J. & Vitale, S.;Parameter estimation on gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries withspinning components[adsabs.harvard.edu];Astrophysical Journal [dx.doi.org]; 825(2):116; 2016;arXiv:1508.05336 [arxiv.org]
Week Commencing 4 July
Journal Club
Wednesday 6 July 2016, 12pm Physics West LibrarySebastian Gaebel will be leading a discussion about hierarchicalmodelling.Sebastian says he will address the famous 8 schools problemand a problem from astrophysics  
Visitors
George Hau - 4-8 July 2016George Hau (ESO, Santiago) will be visiting the group on July 4-8.George is the SINFONI, EFOSC2 and MUSE instrument scientist. He hasbroad interesting in extragalactic astronomy, including galaxyformation and galaxy archaeology. Let me know if you'd be interestedin talking to George. Sean McGee
Publications
S. J. Smartt et al. 2016.A search for an optical counterpart to the gravitational wave eventGW151226. [arxiv.org]N-body dynamics of Intermediate mass-ratio inspirals in globularclusters Carl-Johan Haster, Fabio Antonini, Vicky Kalogera, IlyaMandel [arxiv.org]
Week Commencing 6 June
LSST UK Cluster Meeting
Tuesday 7 June 2016, 10am, Physics West 106Graham Smith will be hosting this meeting.
Science Jamboree
Tuesday 7 June 2016, 11-1pm Physics West Coffee LoungePlease see Maggie Lieu for more details.
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 7 June 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 8 June 2016, 2.30pm Watson LT B Room 101Speaker: Mathilde Jauzac, University of DurhamTitle: Hubble Frontiers Fields: Some insights after 2 and half years of observationThe Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) initiative constitutes the largest commitmentever of HST time to the exploration of the distant Universe via gravitationallensing by massive galaxy clusters. This program devotes 140 orbits of HSTtime to deep imaging observations of each of six cluster lenses reachingm~29 (AB) uniformly from the optical to the near-infrared. These clusters werechosen for their strong lens properties, and are all highly disturbed objects,showing major and minor merging on-going processes, making them ideal targetsto trace the Cosmic Web assembly. While combining strong and weak-lensingregimes to map the total mass with X-rays observations of the hot gas andspectroscopy of cluster galaxies to look at their direction of motion, we canthus study the dynamical scenarios in place within these massive galaxyclusters, and trace the sub-structures engaged. I will present a newmulti-wavelength picture of the first two HFF clusters. The depth of thesedataset makes these clusters amazing Cosmic Telescopes, but also enables usto get an unprecedented understanding of the cluster physics. I will presenta comparison of the dark matter, light and gas distributions, that will leadus to the distribution of substructures within the MACSJ0416 , and Abell 2744vicinities. Finally I will discuss the different clues that these observablesprovide on the evolution processes in massive galaxy clusters.If time permits, I will discuss one of the most beautiful HFF discovery,SN Refsdal, the first multiply-lensed supernovae discovered by Kelly et al.(2015) in MACSJ1149 . This particular event is a rare chance to test our massmodelling techniques, and hopefully improve our methods. I will thus give anoverview of the lensing community's work on SN Refsdal, and discuss theappearance of its last multiple image.
Visitors
Tatsuya Narikawa - Tuesday 7 June 2016Tatsuya Narikawa will be visiting the group until the 14 June 2016.McKenna Davis and Patrick Blackstone - Monday 6 June 2016Summer students McKenna and Patrick both from the US, will be working withHaixing & Clive until the 31 July 2016.
Week Commencing 16 May 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 17 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHere are a couple of references ahead of my journal club on Wednesday;[www.youtube.com] (A nice introductory lecture)[www.astro.caltech.edu] (A summary article of a few of the potential astrophysical interpretations)My rough plan is to spend the first half of my talk introducing neuralnetworks in a general sense, then I'll lead a discussion on their pros andcons, especially in an astrophysical setting. Jim Barrett
School Colloquium
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Chris Pickard, University of CambridgeTitle: Random explorations of material structure spaceThe use of stochastic optimisation strategies for first principles structureprediction is now well established. There are many examples of thesetechniques making genuine discoveries. Ab Initio Random Structure Searching(AIRSS), in which initial starting structures are randomly generated andrelaxed repeatedly, is extremely simple, reliable and suited to highthroughput computation. Typical functional materials are ternary, orquaternary compounds. It is important to perform a search over compositionalspace as thoroughly and broadly as possible. I will discuss how AIRSS may beused to do this, paying particular attention to pulling apart structures wehave already found, to make new, random ones.
Publications
Moore, C. J., Chua, A. J. K., Berry, C. P. L. & Gair, J. R.Fast methods for training Gaussian processes on large data sets; RoyalSociety Open Science; 3(5):160125; 2016; arXiv:1604.01250.
Week Commencing 9 May 2016
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Monday 9 May 2016, 2pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: James Guillochon, Harvard CfATitle: Tidal disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes: dynamics, light and relicsMost supermassive black holes in the local universe lie dormant, with only onein a hundred accreting at their Eddington limits. Aside from this activeminority, and the black holes in nearby galaxies that we can observe toinfluence the dynamics of stars and gas, most remain difficult to study. Tidaldisruptions of stars by supermassive black holes give these dormant blackholes a chance to be seen once every ~10,000 years, and each tidal disruptionbrings along with it a host of observable signatures that can be studied fromgigaparsecs away, from the moment of the disruption to millennia after adisruption has occurred. In my talk I will present work I have done on tidaldisruptions of stars, and describe their dynamics, observational signaturesfrom real-time monitoring, and relics of disruption that may exist in plainsight.
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 10 May 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 11 May 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Sean Matt, University of ExeterTitle: Rotation, Magnetic Activity and Mass Loss of Sun-Like StarsAn enormous amount of what we know about the universe and our own place onEarth depends on our understanding of stars. Yet, even for the most familiarstars, there are still major unsolved questions related to rotation, magneticactivity, and mass loss. I will discuss an emerging self-consistent picturethat links all of these processes together and to the overall evolution ofSun-like and low-mass stars. This progress is due to large and diverse newdatasets, advances in physical models for the loss of angular momentum (whichitself depends upon magnetism and mass loss), and the incorporation of thesemodels into long-term stellar evolution calculations.
Week Commencing 25 April 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 26 April 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group
Wednesday 27 April 2016, 12pm, PW Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 27 April 2016, 2.30pm, PW Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Moira Jardine, St AndrewsTitle: The Space Weather of other SunsAbstract: "Space Weather" describes the impact that the Sun has on itsenvironment through the magnetically powered flares, mass ejections and windthat it produces. Although the Sun is a relatively inactive star, the impactof a large solar mass ejection can damage satellite electronics, shut downterrestrial power grids and disrupt radio communications. On more activestars, we might expect even more dramatic space weather and a greater impacton any orbiting planets. In this talk I will describe how we can useobservations that reveal the geometry of stellar magnetic fields tounderstand the nature of the accompanying space weather.
HiROS Lectureship Position
Thursday 28 & Friday 29 April 2016, PW Lecture Theatre 117We will be holding interviews later this week for a lectureship position inrthe HiROS group. On Thursday 28th, the candidates will be giving open talkson their research plans in Physics West 117. Please do come along, all arewelcome. The schedule is below:Lectureship talks, Thu 28th, W117:11.00 - 11.45 Dr Anne-Marie Broomhall (Warwick) "Seismological insights intothe magnetic activity of the Sun and other stars"11.45 - 12.30 Dr Guy Davies (Birmingham) "The unseen interior of stars:Finding our place in the Universe"15.00 - 15.45 Dr Paula Jofre (IoA, Cambridge) "Using the stars we know mostabout to help understanding the stars we know nothing about"15.45 - 16.30 Dr Hannah Schunker (Max Planck, Göttingen), "Solving the SolarDynamo Problem"
Visitors
Wednesday 27 April 2016This is just to let you know that Phil Evans from Leicester will be visiting.Phil works with the Swift satellite, looking at GRBs and their afterglows.He's been very active in the joint LIGO-Swift analyses during the O1observing run and is interested in how we can use LIGO's distance estimationto improve follow-up strategies. Walter and I have planned to discuss thistopic with Phil, and others are welcome to join too if interested.Alternatively, if you want to arrange a meeting with Phil while he's herethen let me know; or you can simply come along for lunch at Staff House Dr John Veitch.
Publications
Analysis Framework for the Prompt Discovery of Compact Binary Mergers inGravitational-wave Data Cody Messick et al. (including Gareth Thomas)http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04324Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black HoleCarl L. Rodriguez, Carl-Johan Haster, Sourav Chatterjee, Vicky Kalogera,Frederic A. Rasiohttp://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04254Going the Distance: Mapping Host Galaxies of LIGO Sources in Three DimensionsUsing Local Cosmography and Targeted Follow-upL. P. Singer, H.-Y. Chen, D. E. Holz, W. M. Farr, L. R. Price, V. Raymond,S. B. Cenko, N. Gehrels, J. Cannizzo, M. M. Kasliwal, S. Nissanke, M. Coughlin,B. Farr, Alex L. Urban, S. Vitale, J. Veitch, P. Graff, C. P. L. Berry, S.Mohapatra, I. Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1603.07333The limits of astrophysics with gravitational wave backgroundsThomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Eric Thrane, Shi Qiu, Ilya Mandelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02513
Congratulations to Professor Mandel & Others
I am very pleased to announce that promotions have been conferred by theUniversity's Promotions and Titles Committee for:Nicola Wilkin, Professor (TF)Ilya Mandel, ProfessorPaul Norman, Reader (TF)Dima Gangardt, ReaderAndrey Kaplin, Senior LecturerI am sure you would like to join me in congratulating them on theirachievements which recognise contributions ranging from research toteaching and impact. Martin Freer
Week Commencing 14 March 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 22 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 23 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Daisuke Kawata, UCLTitle: Structure and Metallicity Distributions of Chemically DecomposedThick and Thin Disk Populations of the Milky Way DiskWe first summarise the thick and thin disk formation scenario commonly seenin cosmological N-body simulations. As suggested in Brook et al. (2004), ahierarchical clustering scenario causes multiple minor gas-rich mergers, andleads to the formation of kinematically hot disk, thick disk population, ata high redshift. Once the mergers become less significant at later epoch,the thin disk population starts building up. Because in this scenario thethick disk population forms intensively at high redshift through multiplegas-rich mergers, the thick disk population is compact and hassystematically higher [α/Fe] abundance than the thin disk population. Inaddition, we show that the current cosmological simulation also naturallypredict that the thin disk population is flaring at the outer region.Consequently, at the high vertical height from the disk plane, the compactthick disk population (low metallicity and high [α/Fe]) is dominant in theinner region and the flaring thin disk population (high metallicity and low[α/Fe]) contributes more in the outer region. This helps to explain thepositive radial metallicity gradient and negative radial [α/Fe] gradientobserved at the high vertical height in the Milky Way stellar disk.We then discuss how radial migration impacts the metallicity distribution ofthe thin disc population. We demonstrate that the flaring star formingregion could be required to explain the negative vertical metallicitygradient observed in the thin disc population.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 23 March 2016, 4pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117 (NOTE CHANGEOF VENUE)Speaker: Prof Stephen Smartt, Queens University, BelfastTitle: Collapse of massive stars to black holes - the missing progenitors ofsupernovaeMassive stars collapse to form neutron stars and black holes. In doing sothey produce the population of core-collapse supernovae we see in the nearbyUniverse. Over the last 15 years we have been able to directly identifythe progenitors of supernovae, link them with explosions and in some casesconfirm the disappearance of the star. The number of discoveries ofprogenitors now allows some interesting comparisons between observationaldata and explosion models. There appears to be a distinct lack of brightsupernovae from the most massive stars, which suggests that stars over acertain mass limit produce black holes with no visible explosion.I will discuss this mass limit, which could be as low as 16 solar masses andthe implications in the LIGO/Virgo era of detections of compact binarymergers.
Publications
Published:Detectability of Gravitational Waves from High-Redshift Binaries Pablo A.Rosado, Paul D. Lasky, Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, and AlbertoSesana Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 101102 – Published 10 March 2016[journals.aps.org] Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compactobjects and intermediate-mass black holes Carl-Johan Haster, Zhilu Wang,Christopher P. L. Berry, Simon Stevenson, John Veitch, Ilya Mandel MNRAS457, 4499 [mnras.oxfordjournals.org] Submitted:The Chemically hom*ogeneous Evolutionary Channel for Binary Black HoleMergers: Rates and Properties of Gravitational-Wave Events Detectable byAdvanced LIGO Selma de Mink and Ilya Mandel [arxiv.org]
Week Commencing 7 March 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 8 March 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 9 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106Gareth Thomas to deliver the science talk
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 9 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Guy Davies, University of BirminghamTitle: Solar activity, stellar rotation and anomalous weakened magneticbrakingAbstract: The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generationof magnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler spacetelescope we have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sunstop spinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic brakingis that a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 9 March 2016, 6pm Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe fourth of our talks celebrating the 100th anniversary of GeneralRelativity. Dr Graham Smith will speak about the bending of light,Einstein's greatest blunder, cosmic acceleration, and the exciting future ofthe Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]
Publications
Improving gravitational-wave parameter estimation using Gaussian processregressionMoore, C.J., CPLB, Chua, A.J.K. & Gair, J.R.Physical Review D; 93(6):064001(24); 2016 [dx.doi.org] [arxiv.org]
Week Commencing 29 February 2016
PhD Admission Day
Tuesday 1 March 2016, Physics West LibraryTuesday, March 1, is our PhD admissions day. I've been in touch with someof you already about direct involvement, but I hope everyone takes part.ÂIt's very important for our future success to attract the top students byshowing them what an active, engaging, collaborative and vibrant group ofscientists we are in HiROS and ASR! In particular, many students will bespending the afternoon (from 1:30 PM onwards) in the second-floor coffeelounge waiting for their turn to interview. Please come by whenever you canduring that time to chat with them - and in particular at 2:30 PM, whencatered coffee will be served!Thank you in advance for your help and participation!Best,Ilya Mandel
Journal Club
Wednesday 2 March 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 2 March 2016, 3pm (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE) Poynting Small LectureTheatreSpeaker: Jun Ye, JILA/NIST, ColoradoTitle: TBC
Paper of the month award
Congratulations to Guy Davies et al for winning the College Best Paper ofthe Month"Weakened magnetic braking as the origin of anomalously rapid rotation inold field stars"DOI: 10.1038/nature16168The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generation ofmagnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake onthe rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or sowe thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler space telescopewe have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sun stopspinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic braking isthat a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic fieldoccurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for ourunderstanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggeststhat the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in thenot-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).
Week Commencing 22 February 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 23 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 24 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESimon Daley-Yates to deliver the science talk
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 24 February 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker:Â Davide Gerosa, University of CambridgeTITLE: A NEW PARADIGM TO BLACK-HOLE SPIN PRECESSIONThe dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries in the post-Newtonian regimeis deeply characterized by a timescale hierarchy: the orbital timescale isvery short compared to the spin- precession timescale which, in turn, ismuch shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale on which the orbit isshrinking due to gravitational-wave emission. The binary dynamics istypically studied in an orbit-averaged fashion: one only cares about theorbit itself, not the instantaneous position of each black hole. Here wealso average over the precessional time, thus considering the precessionalcones "as a whole", without tracking the spin's secular motion. Thesesolutions improve our understanding of spin precession in much the same waythat the conical sections for Keplerian orbits provide additional insightsbeyond Newton's 1/r^2 law. Double averaging leads to impressivecomputational speed-up: post-Newtonian inspirals can now be computed fromarbitrarily large separations, thus bridging the gap between astrophysicsand numerical relativity. We also present the discovery of a new dynamicalinstability in binary black holes with aligned spins. The onset of theinstability lies in the sensitivity windows of future detectors LIGO /Virgoand eLISA, thus predicting binaries that start precessing while beingobserved. More on arXiv 1411.0674 and 1506.09116 (PRL).
Outreach
Hannah Middleton and Carl Haster won an IOP Public engagement award of £275
Week Commencing 8 February 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 9 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum
Tuesday 9 February 2016, 12.30-1.30pm,Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music BuildingDuring the forum, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, will beinterviewed by Stephen Khan, Editor of The Conversation UK, on key issuesfacing the Higher Education sector and the University of Birmingham
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 10 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEAnna Green to deliver the science talk
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
Thursday 11 February 201611th February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.We're sharing our favourite female scientists using #WomeninSTEM andthis poster . Pin it up in your lab - and tweet us a picture on 11 February!
Week Commencing 1 February 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 2 February 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 3 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 3 February 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Natasha Ivanova, University of Alberta, CanadaTitle: Common envelope physics and the transients
Visitors
Jana Goldstein a new PhD student will be visiting the group on Thursday 4 and Friday 5February 2016
Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds
IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences17-27 July 2016, Horta, Faial, Azores Islands, PortugalWebsite: [www.iastro.pta] Tiago Campante (Chair)This International Summer School will cover two scientific topics that share manysynergies and resources: Asteroseismology and Exoplanetary Science. Therefore, theproposed program aims at building opportunities for cooperation and sharing of methodsthat will benefit both communities. The School will include both a teaching and ahands-on components, while bringing together a group of young and dynamic lecturers whohave already established themselves as leaders in their respective fields of research.It is mainly aimed at PhD and MSc students (although postdocs are also encouraged toapply) in any field of Astrophysics. Students will also be given the opportunity topresent their own research work by bringing a poster to the School.The School will take place in the town of Horta, located in the island of Faial. Faialis one of the nine islands that make up the beautiful archipelago of the Azores,situated in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,360 km (850 mi) west of mainland Portugal.The Azores are served by frequent flights from Europe and the US/Canada.There is an upper limit of 40 attendees to the School. Due to the large number ofexpected applications, a pre-registration process will be in place that requiresapplicants to submit a short CV (max. 2 pages) and a motivational letter (max. 1 page).Pre-registration should be done through the School's website and will close on 18 March2016. Information on the registration fee is available on the School's website.For any questions/inquiries, please contact us at faial2016@iastro.pt.
Week Commencing 25 January 2016
GraWIToN School
Monday 25 - Friday 29 January 2016, PW LibraryThe GW group is running an international school for the students in the EUinitial training network GraWIToN. The school is focussed on the instrumentdevelopment for gravitational wave detection, in particular on the topics'optics and simulations'.Some of the GW folks will be interested to hear that we are basing some ofthe school on the methods tested in BigWaves. Most of the work and theteaching is done by ourselves (with our students Daniel and Anna taking thelead) and we have two external teachers: Jerome Degallaix from LMA in Lyonand Peter MacKay from the optics company Gooch & Housego.
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 26 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGESerena Vinciguerra to deliver the science talk
School Committee Meeting
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 2pm,Watson Building, Lecture Theatre A (room G23).You are all invited to attend.
Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Paula Jofre Pfeil, University of CambridgeTitle: The pillars and the twins of the stars in the Gaia-ESO SurveyWith less than a year to come for the first data release of Gaia, thousandsof stars observed with high-resolution spectra are nowadays available. In thistalk I will present our current efforts in defining and analysing the pillarcalibrators of Gaia and its complementary spectroscopic survey Gaia-ESO. Iwill then present applications using these calibrator pillars to find stellartwins in spectroscopic surveys. Twins can be used to determine model-independentdistances, making them excellent candidates to complement Gaia in the nearfuture.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 6pm, Poynting BuildingEvenings begin with talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research,and a question-and-answer session (everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if theweather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a luckyfew will be taken out to the University's Observatory. Talk begins at 6:00 pm,in the Large Lecture Theatre, Poynting. [http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php]
Week Commencing 18 January 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 19 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Colloquiua
Wednesday 20 January 2016, 4pm Poynting SO6Speaker: Prof Jenny Nelson, Centre for Plastic Electronics & the Departmentof Physics, Imperial College London.Title: Molecular Electronic Materials and their application to PhotovoltaicsAbstract: The application of molecular and hybrid semiconductor materials tooptoelectronics presents both an opportunity, in terms of the vast range ofmaterial properties and applications that can be achieved through chemicalsynthesis, and a challenge, in relating optoelectronic properties of theresulting devices to the chemical structure and microstructure of thematerials. The challenge is complicated by the intrinsic disorder inelectronic energy levels, the structural heterogeneity of organicsemiconductors and their dielectric properties. In this seminar, we focus onthe application of these materials to photovoltaic energy conversion, wherethe prospect of low-cost solar panel manufacture using printing or coatinghas attracted intense interest. We discuss how the molecular nature of thematerials influences the processes of light harvesting and photocurrentgeneration in a solar cell. We show how a range of electronic, spectroscopicand structural measurement techniques, together with molecular and devicemodelling, can be used to relate the properties of the materials to theirperformance in solar cells. Finally we address the factors that limit powerconversion efficiency in such devices.
HiROS Seminar
Thursday 21 January 2016, 2.30pm, WG12 Aston WebbSpeaker Dr Dimitri Veras, University of WarwickTitle: Planetary Systems through all Stages of Stellar EvolutionAbstract: We know that planetary systems around white dwarfs are just ascommon as those around main sequence stars. However, observations revealsignificant gaps in our understanding about how planets, asteroids, cometsand pebbles undergo physical and orbital changes as their parent starsevolve off of the main sequence. We have performed full-lifetime (14 Gyr)numerical simulations of multi-planet systems across all phases of stellarevolution, incorporating realistic profiles for stellar mass loss andstellar radius variability, and including test particles and wide binarystellar companions. We demonstrate that closely-packed planetary systems canremain stable throughout the main sequence and for many Gyr during the whitedwarf phase before unpacking and triggering scattering events. These eventsmay generate an ever-changing dynamical architecture around the whitedwarfs, and perturb planets onto orbits which can be detectable by transitphotometry.
Additional Information
Hannah Middleton has been awarded (along with others) an STFC small award inthe region of £3,000.Congratulations to Will Farr and his wife Rachel on the birth of theirdaughter Katherine Thessin Farr.
Week Commencing 11 January 2016
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 12 January 2016, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 13 January 2016, 12pm, Physics West 115 (NOTE ROOM CHANGE)Jim Barrett to deliver the science talk
Publications
Estimates of black hole natal kick velocities from observations of low-massX-ray binaries Ilya Mandel Published in MNRASThe most distant observable massive objects Pablo A. Rosado, Paul D. Lasky,Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Sesana. Published in [www.arxiv.org]I. Mandel, S. E. de Mink. Merging binary black holes formed throughchemically hom*ogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries.Published in [www.arxiv.org]
Additional Information
The BEAR PGR Conference AwardsThe BEAR PGR conference is an opportunity for post-graduate students andearly-career researchers to exhibit their computational work to academics,industry professionals, and their peers across the University.Many congratulations to Jim Barrett (astrophysics) and Austin Tomlinson(theoretical physics) for being awarded 1st and 2nd place respectively fortheir contributed talks.
Week Commencing 14 December 2015
Big Waves
Monday 14 - Friday 18 December 2015, Physics West Library
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 15 December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Visitors
Monday 14 December until Tuesday 15 December 2015Dr Steven Taylor, NASA Post Doc Fellow Jet Propulsion Lab/CALTECH will bevisiting at the beginning of the week. He will be based in the visitorsoffice.
Week Commencing 7 December 2015
ASR Management Groups
Tuesday 8th December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions
Wednesday 9 December 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 9 December 2015, 14.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Ben Pope, Oxford UniversityTitle: Pushing the Limits of K2: Gaussian Process Systematics Correction anda Kepler/K2 Saturated Star SurveyThe Kepler mission, revived in two-wheeled form as K2, observes a successionof fields in the ecliptic plane in ~80 day photometric campaigns. This hasenabled a dramatic extension of the exoplanetary science andasteroseismology of Kepler to a number of nearby clusters and standardstars. With only two reaction wheels, K2 suffers from severe systematicsintroduced by its regular pointing corrections. In this talk, I willdescribe the Oxford pipeline for K2 systematics correction, using GaussianProcesses to non-parametrically model photometric errors as a function ofpointing inputs, and will discuss the planet candidates we obtain with thisapproach. I will also present the first results of the Kepler/K2 SaturatedStars Survey (K2S3), where we extract light curves of the brightest stars inKepler and K2 from previously-unused calibration data or from theirscattered-light halo.Many of these stars were not conventionally targeted due to their severesaturation, and due to their position on the ecliptic, the K2S3 sample isdirectly complementary to the targets selected for the upcoming TransitingExoplanet Survey Satellite. We have been able to study the asteroseismologythese sources, including RR Lyr and the Pleiades, and search for planetsaround some of the nearest stars to the Sun.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 9 December 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Mark Kasevich, Stanford UniversityTitle: Quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales
Week Commencing 30 November 2015
ASR Management Groups
Tuesday 1st December 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 2nd December 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryChristopher Berry to deliver the science talk
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 2nd December 2015, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Rob Crain, Liverpool John Moores UniversityTitle: The EAGLE Project: Numerical modelling of the 'Evolution and Assemblyof GaLaxies and their Environments'I will briefly recap the motivation for, and progress towards, numericalmodelling of the formation and evolution of the galaxy population – fromcosmological initial conditions at early epochs through to the present day.I will introduce the EAGLE project (Schaye et al. 2015; Crain et al. 2015),a flagship program of such simulations recently conducted by the VirgoConsortium. These simulations represent a major development in thediscipline, since they are the first to reproduce the key properties of theevolving galaxy population, and do so using energetically-feasible feedbackmechanisms. I shall present a broad range of results from the first batch ofEAGLE papers, concerning the evolution of galaxy (and black hole) masses,their luminosities and colours, their atomic and molecular gas content, andthe structure of their host (dark matter + hot gas) haloes. Besidesexploring these interesting astrophysical outcomes, I hope to convey some ofthe strengths and limitations of the current generation of numerical models.
Week Commencing 23 November 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 24 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Journal Club
Wednesday 25 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West 115
School Colloquium
Wednesday 25 November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Amanda Cooper-Sarkar, University of OxfordTitle: What have we learnt about/from the deep structure of the proton inthe last 40 years?
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 November 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingTalk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Poynting PhysicsBuilding on the University's Edgbaston campus. More details are on our website and tickets for the events are available from here
Publications
C W F Everitt et al. (including I Mandel). 2015.The Gravity Probe B test of general relativity. Classical and QuantumGravity, 32 224001 [iopscience.iop.org]A. S. Silbergleit, J. W. Conklin, M. I. Heifetz, T. Holmes, J. Li, I.Mandel, et al. 2015.Gravity Probe B data analysis: II. Science data and their handling prior tothe final analysis. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32 224019 [iopscience.iop.org]Haixing Miao, Yiqiu Ma, Chunnong Zhao, and Yanbei ChenEnhancing the Bandwidth of Gravitational-Wave Detectors with UnstableOptomechanical Filters: Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 211104 (2015)
Week Commencing 16 November 2015
Vice-Chancellor visit to the School of Physics and Astronomy
Tuesday, 17 November from 1-2pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre S02Please inform Pauline Trigg of your attendance asap P.A.Trigg@bham.ac.uk
Visitors
Monday 16 November 2015David Wu will be visiting Dr Conor Mow-Lowry
Week Commencing 9 November 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 10 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Colloquium
Wednesday 11th November 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Prof Brian Tanner, University of DurhamTitle: High Resolution X-ray Scattering and Imaging of Semiconductors:from Science to Spin-out
Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions
Thursday 12 November 2015, 9am, Physics West Library
Visitors
Monday 9 - Tuesday 10 November 2015Ulrike Kuchner, University of Vienna will be visiting Graham Smith.
Week Commencing 19 October 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 3 November 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 4 November 2015, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 4 November 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: Saida Caballero-Nieves, University of SheffieldTitle: A Binary View of Massive StarsThe Universe we observe today has been shaped extensively by massive stars.From birth to death and throughout their entire lives, they mold their nearand far environment in multiple ways, by driving galactic dynamics, andchemically enriching the interstellar environment through their explosivedeaths. In spite of their obvious importance, observational challenges haveseverely limited our knowledge of massive stars. In particular, their greatdistances and scarce numbers induce observational challenges to ourunderstanding of their formation and evolution. However, we do know thatmassive stars love company. I will present an overview current picture ofthe multiplicity properties of massive stars and discuss the implications ontheir formation.
Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions 
Thursday 5 November 2015, 9am, Physics West 115
Week Commencing 19 October 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 20 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 21st October 2015 at 14.30 in Physics West Lecture Theatre 117Speaker: John Stott, University of OxfordTitle: The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): The resolvedDynamics, Star- Formation and Chemical Properties of 1000 z~1 star forming galaxiesI will present the first results of KROSS, a major UK-led KMOS GTO survey toobserve the redshifted H-alpha emission in ~1000 star-forming galaxies atz=0.8-1.5. Selecting galaxies from the star-forming "main-sequence" (stellarmasses 1e9.5-1e11.5 Msol and SFR 1-30 Msol/yr), KROSS will measure theresolved dynamics, chemistry and star formation in a statistical sample ofgalaxies in to address: (i) How does the fraction of disks evolve as a function of z and environment?(ii) Are major (and minor) mergers more prevalent at high-z ?(iii) How does the relation between the star-formation, stellar mass and dark halo evolve with z and environment?(iv) How does the angular momentum of galaxy disks evolve with z, stellarmass and environment;(v) Are chemical abundance gradients of early disks stronger or weaker than local spirals?These are critical issues for developing models of galaxy formation, inparticular to determine if stellar mass assembly is dominated by secularisolation or via merger-induced growth. In this talk I will show the first500+ galaxies from the sample, which already constitutes the largest everresolved H-alpha survey at this redshift.
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 21st October 2015 at 16.00 in Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06Speaker: Dr Ineke de Moortel, St AndrewsTitle: Transverse, Propagating Velocity Perturbations in Coronal Loops
Journal Club / ArXiv Discussions
Thursday 22 October 2015, 9am, Physics West Library
Week Commencing 12 October 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 13 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astro in the City
Wednesday 14 October 2015, 6pm, Poynting BuildingThis year marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein's general relativity, ourbest theory of gravity.General relativity is central too much of modern astrophysics (includingresearch we do here), explaining everything from black holes to the expansionof the Universe itself. To celebrate, each Astronomy in the City will featurea themed talk, covering an aspect of general relativity, includingthe most violent explosions in the Universe, the mysterious dark energy andNature's biggest black holes. We hope you are as excited as we are!Astronomy in the City is a series of free all-ticket public events, eachpacked with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings beginwith talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research and aquestion-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions aboutthe night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (ifthe weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and alucky few will be taken out to the University's Observatory.Events will be held:* Wednesday 14 October 2015* Wednesday 25 November 2015* Wednesday 27 January 2016* Wednesday 9 March 2016The first talk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of thePoynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. More detailsare on our website and tickets for the October event are available fromastrointhecity102015.eventbrite.co.uk
Week Commencing 5 October 2015
HiROS Workshop - Red Giants Modelling Workshop
Monday 5 - Friday 9 October 2015, Physics West Library / 115Dr Andrea Miglio will be hosting a week long workshop on red giants.ASR Management GroupTuesday 6 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 7 October 2015, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGEDr Haixing Miao will the deliver the science talk for the first groupmeeting of the academic year.
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 7 October 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Aarhus UniversityTitle: New insights in the evolution of red giant stars
Visitors
Dr Rory Smith - will be visiting the group from Monday 5 - 19 October 2015.
Publications
Measuring Intermediate-Mass Black-Hole Binaries with Advanced GravitationalWave Detectors.John Veitch, Michael Puerrer, Ilya Mandel, has been published in Physical Review Letters
Week Commencing 28 September 2015
Cluster Mass & Scaling Relations Working Group
Monday 28 - Wednesday 30 September 2015This working group will commence at 12pm on Monday 28th and will close onWednesday 30th Sep, due to a lack of space, the group will use the secondfloor coffee lounge for lunch on each of these dates.
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 29 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Visitors
Dr S Babak will be arriving on Tuesday 29th to act as an external examinerfor a PhD viva
Week Commencing 14 September 2015
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 15 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
College Discussion Forum
Wednesday 16 September 2015, 1-2pm, Haworth Lecture Theatre 203Head of College, Professor Andy Schofield, will take the opportunity tooutline his thoughts around the upcoming key issues and challenges for theCollege and to update colleagues on progress in relation to strategicprojects.
School Committee Meeting
Thursday 17 September 2015, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThe School Committee is for all staff in the School - apologies should go toPauline Trigg.
Week Commencing 7 September 2015
In the Footsteps of Galaxies
Monday 7 - Friday 11 September 2015, Soverato, ItalyIn the Footsteps of Galaxies conference is taking place this week in Italyhttp://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/footsteps15 [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]
ASR Management Group
Tuesday 8 September 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 9 September 2015, 2pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Paul Brook, OxfordAbstract:Pulsars can be employed as precision timing tools due to the unwaveringnature of their radio emission and of their rotation; it is hoped thatprecise pulsar timing measurements will soon permit the direct detection ofgravitational waves. In recent years, however,Âwe have started to see thatunmodelled variability in some pulsars occurs over a broad range oftimescales, both in their emission and in their rotation. This is, ofcourse, detrimental to the pulsar's utility as a precision timing tool, andpresents a problem when looking for the faint effects of a passinggravitational wave. I have analysed the variability of various pulsars usingnew techniques and will present the results.
Publications
B. Farr et al. 2015.Parameter estimation on gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries withspinning components. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05336 [arxiv.org]S. A. L. Otaibi, P. Tino, J. Cuevas-Tello, I. Mandel, S. Raychaudhury.Kernel regression estimates of time delays between gravitationally lensedfluxes. http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03439 [arxiv.org]
Week Commencing 6 July 2015
TISI
Thursday 9 July 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Suzanne Aigrain, University of OxfordTitle: Gaussian Processes
Physics PG Workshop - Managing your Supervisor!
Friday 10 July 2015, 3pm, Poynting Physics BridgeThe first Physics PG workshop of its kind: Managing your Supervisor!We are trialing the first Physics PG social event with guest speaker,Dr Alex Conner (from the Medical and Dental School). He is a professionallife coach and runs workshops about getting the most from supervisoryrelationships.You may get along well with your supervisor, or the relationship may be alittle more "complicated", but regardless there are still ways that youcould be working more effectively.The event will be held in the Poynting Physics Bridge on Friday 10th Julyat 1500, and is open to all PG students. As usual, tasty snacks will beprovided.Looking forward to seeing you there!The Physics PG reps
Publications
Farr, Mandel, StevensAn efficient interpolation technique for jump proposals in reversible-jumpMarkov chain Monte Carlo calculations published in Royal Society Open Sciencehttp://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/6/150030
Week Commencing 22 June 2015
Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 23 June 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Alex Merson, UCLTitle: Statistical detection of halos in galaxy clustersAbstractStatistical detection of halos in galaxy surveysI will discuss recent work to present a novel Bayesian methodology fordetecting halos of different masses in galaxy survey observations, whilstjointly quantifying the corresponding uncertainties. This methodology firstuses the previously published HADES algorithm to create an ensemble ofrealisations of the matter density field throughout the survey volume. Usingan N-body simulation to relate the density field to halo mass, we then use aBayesian chain rule to build up maps of the detection probability of halosabout specific mass thresholds. Demonstration of the methodology using arealistic galaxy mock catalogue shows an excellent agreement between thepeaks in the probability maps and the positions of the dark matter halos. Weconclude that this method is a promising novel tool for analysingobservations of the large-scale cosmic web.
HiROS Seminar
Wednesday 24 June 2015, 12pm, Nuffield G19Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of SydneyTitle: Asteroseismology using gravity modes
TISI
Thursday 25 June 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Karla Hemming, University of BirminghamTitle: Bayesian Ellicitation
Reminder Alberto's Party
Friday 26 June 2015, 7pm, 4 Court Oak RoadIf you plan to attend please could you let me know asap, thanks Jo
Week Commencing 25 May 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 26 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 27 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Craig Heinke, University of AlbertaTitle: Black Holes in Globular ClustersAbstractI'll review searches for black holes (both stellar and intermediate-mass—thelatter meaning 100s-1000s of Msun) in globular clusters. Searches forintermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters have not found convincingevidence, despite tantalizing hints. Bright X-ray binaries in extragalacticglobular clusters do provide evidence favouring the existence of black holesin globular clusters. Recently, new discoveries of radio-bright X-ray sourcesin Galactic globular clusters are providing evidence for a population of low-accretion-rate black hole systems with surprising properties.
HiROS Seminar
Thursday 28 May 2015, 11am, HiROS Group OfficeSpeaker: Rick Bogart
TISI
Thursday 28 May 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Ewan Cameron, University of OxfordTitle: Approximate Bayesian Computation
Week Commencing 11 May 2015
ASR Group
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 12pm, Physics West 103 (Please note change ofvenue)
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Phil Marshall, Stanford UniversityTitle: TBC
Inaugural Lecture of Prof Andreas Freise
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 5.15pm, Physics West 117, followed by a drinksreception in the LibraryTitle: Shining a light on black holesWhen black holes collide, their enormous gravitational forces createripples in the fabric of space and time. Although Einstein predictedthe existence of these gravitational waves, he was certain that theycould never be detected.Advances in technology, from lasers to modern quantum optics, havefundamentally changed the way we design precision instruments.Measuring a gravitational wave is now a possibility, while remaining oneof the greatest challenges in experimental physics. The task is todetect tiny changes in the distance between two objects, a change thatis 100,000 times smaller than the core of an atom. Over several decadesa new type of laser interferometer has been developed, and severalkilometre long gravitational wave detectors have been constructed aroundthe world.Now, almost exactly a hundred years after Einstein's predictions, twodetectors are beginning to operate with high enough sensitivity to makethe first detection of a gravitational wave, exceeding Einstein'simagination. Professor Freise will talk about an extraordinary journeyin experimental physics and the invention of new laser instruments tolook into the skies and listen for the echoes of black holes and dyingstars.
Visitors
Monday 11 until Friday 15 May 2015Riccardo Sturani will be visiting Walter Del Pozzo this week.
Week Commencing 4 May 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 5 May 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 5 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Manjari Bagchi, Institute of Mathematical Sciences in ChennaiTitle: Use of binary radio pulsars with ultra-compact companions tounderstand basic physicsBinary radio pulsars with other neutron stars or black holes as companionscan serve as excellent laboratories to test various aspects of basicphysics. In this talk, I will first try to seek an answer to the puzzle ofnon-discovery of any neutron star-black hole binary so far. Then, I willdiscuss potential problems we might face while timing such pulsars afterthe discovery is made. The problem can arise mostly due to the spin-orbitcoupling effect from the spin of the black hole. I will also explorewhether such a neutron star-black hole binary is really superior tofalsify general relativity and establish alternative theories of gravity.Finally, I will briefly discuss how careful study of radio pulsars inof radio pulsars in neutron star-neutron star binaries can help toconstrain the dense matter equation of state.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 6 May 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell BurnellTitle: Women and Girls in Astronomy & Physics
TISI
Thursday 7 May, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Prof Michael Hobson, University of Cambridge Kavli InstituteTitle: Nested SamplingNested sampling provides an alternative to traditional MCMC samplingmethods. MultiNest is a generic Bayesian inference tool that uses nestedsampling to calculates the evidence, with an associated error estimate,and produces posterior samples from distributions that may containmultiple modes and pronounced (curving) degeneracies in high dimensions.This algorithm significantly outperforms existing MCMC techniques in awide range of astrophysical inference problems. I will discuss theprinciples of nested sampling and describe the MultiNest algorithm andits application to toy examples and a cosmological inference problem.The MultiNest software, which is fully parallelized using MPI andincludes an interface to COSMOMC, is available athttp://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/software/multinest/ [www.mrao.cam.ac.uk]Michael is a theoretical astrophysicist with research interests inAnisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. Bayesian analysistechniques. Star-formation in molecular clouds. Radiative transfer.For the hands-on session we will be using Multinest which can bedownload for free: hereMultinest is available in various interfaces, We recommend that youinstall any interface of multi nest well in advance of the session (itrequires pre-registration and approval) so that if you have any problemsyou can email me. There will not be time during the session to installmultinest.
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Thursday 7 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Dr Simon Vaughan, University of LeicesterTitle: Variability as a tool to study accreting black holes and neutronstarsThe fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularlyaccreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormousprogress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, thebehaviour of matter on the surfaces of neutron stars and improving theevidence for black holes. Most of this progress has been made byanalysing and modelling time series data in terms of their power- andcross-spectra.In this talk I am going to concentrate on a related but often overlookedaspect of their variability: the rms-flux relation. I will illustratethe basic idea and its consequences using examples of X-ray variabilityfrom X-ray binaries, Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearbygalaxies, and AGN , including Kepler optical monitoring of a Blazar.
Week Commencing 27 April 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 28 April 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 29 April 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: David Van Dyk, Imperial College LondonTitle: The Unified Statistical Analysis of Populations of Sources:Advantages of "Shrinkage Estimates" in AstronomyAstronomical studies often involve samples or populations of sources. Theparameters describing the sources can either be fit to each source in aseparate analysis, or all be fit in a single unified analysis. The latterstrategy allows us to incorporate the population distribution into acoherent statistical model and exhibits distinct statistical advantages.In particular, objects with smaller error bars and well-constrainedparameters allow us to estimate the population distribution, which in turncan be used to better estimate the weakly-constrained parametersassociated with objects with larger error bars.The fitted values of such weakly-constrained parameters will "shrinktowards" the population mean, and are thus called "shrinkage estimates".This talk describes both frequentist and Bayesian advantages of shrinkageestimates and illustrates how they can be used in astronomy. In the firstof two examples we estimate the absolute magnitudes of a SDSS sample of288 Type Ia Supernovae using shrinkage estimates and illustrate how theydiffer from naive estimates. In the second example, we use photometricmagnitudes of a sample of galactic halo white dwarfs to simultaneouslyobtain shrinkage estimates of the stellar ages and an estimate the age ofthe halo.
TISI
Thursday 30 April 2015, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLADSpeaker: Dr Michael Betancourt from the University of Warwick Departmentof StatisticsTitle: Scalable Bayesian Inference.Problems at the frontiers of applied statistics, from physics to ecologyto epidemiology and pharmacology, require not only large data sets butalso the complex statistical models needed to describe the intricacies ofthe data. Drawing inferences from these problems necessitates bothscalable and general statistical algorithms and their computationallyefficient yet user-friend implementations. Stan is a user-focused platformfor Bayesian inference that wraps the state-of-the-art Hamiltonian MonteCarlo sampler with an expressive modeling language that makes it easy tobuild and learn from complex models. In this talk I'll review the basicsof Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Stan before presenting a series ofinteractive examples for the audience.Michael is a significant contributor to the widely used Hamiltonian MonteCarlo code STAN.
Week Commencing 20 April 2015
BritGrav 15
Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st April 2015, Physics West 117 & Physics WestLibraryThe 15th British Gravity (BritGrav) Meeting will be held on 20-21 April2015 at the University of Birmingham, organised by the Gravitational PhysicsGroup [www.sr.bham.ac.uk].The meeting covers all areas of gravity, classical and quantum, includingastrophysics, cosmology, mathematical general relativity, gravitational-wavedata analysis and instrumentation. It is intended to bring together theentire gravitational research community to further collaboration and allowyoung researchers to showcase their work.
Public Lecture Gravitational waves - Advances towards detection
Tuesday 21st April 2015, 7:30pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Jim Hough, University of GlasgowA public lecture on gravitational-wave science by Prof. Jim Hough(University of Glasgow), organised to coincide with the BritGrav 15 meeting.All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.The detection of gravitational-wave signals is still one of the mostchallenging areas of experimental physics. And the reward for success willbe considerable in that the information carried by these signals will giveus new insight into the hearts of some of the most violent events in theCosmos—from the formation of black holes to aspects of the evolution of theUniverse. A global network of gravitational-wave detectors is now reachingthe final stages of construction, with first data expected in 2015. Thenature of gravitational waves, how the detectors work, and what the datafrom the detectors can tell us about the Universe we inhabit, will bediscussed.
HiROS Seminar
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 11am, Nuffield G19Speaker: Dr Thomas Masseron, University of CambridgeTitle: "Inferring stellar evolution and Milky Way history from stellarspectra"
Week Commencing 23 March 2015
Management Group
 
Tuesday 24 March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229 
Physics Role Model talk
 
Tuesday 24th March 2015 1.30pm The Barber Institute Lecture Theatre (room G11) Speaker: Prof Yvonne Elsworth, University of Birmingham Title: A random walk from undergraduate to Poynting Professor This talk is being given as the School's contribution to International Women’sday. Refreshments will be served after the talk. 
ASR Group
 
Wednesday 25 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West Library Graham Smith to deliver the science talk 
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group 
Wednesday 25 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117 Speaker: Thomas Kitching, UCL Title: New Constraints on Dark Matter Cross-Sections using Weak Lensing Abstract -I will present new constraints on the relation between dark mattercross section, galaxies and x-ray gas, that used archival data from the Hubbleand Chandra X-ray telescopes. 
Astronomy in the City
 
Wednesday 25 March 2015, 6pm, Poynting Building We will have our usual talks, followed by observing on campus and someopportunities to visit the University Observatory. This month, Dr Will Farrwill be counting the number of Earth-like planets in the Galaxy. Visit theAstronomy in the City page to book tickets and to find out more. 
TISI
 
Friday 27 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Rooms CLAD Speaker: Will Farr Title: Using an off the shelf sampler -Emcee In this session we will introduce the use of off-the-shelf samplers fortackling statistical inference problems, focusing on the Python packageemcee as our example. We will also look at useful post-processing tricks such as checking for convergence of chains. 
Journal Club
 
Friday 27 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library 
Week Commencing 16 March 2015
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 18 March 2015, 2.30pm Physics West 117CANCELLED 
Journal Club
Friday 20 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library
Physics & Astronomy Research Poster Showcase
Friday 20 March 2015, 3pm-6pm, Bridge Study LoungeThe purpose of this informal poster conference is to bring postgraduatestudents from the different research groups together to talk about theirwork, in a relaxed environment. Copious amounts of beer, wine, cheese, andcake are on order to lubricate the conversation.Please register your interest at http://bit.ly/1DoWySE [www.google.com] byWednesday 18 March.Posters of any size will be accepted (although ideally A1), and it does notneed to be perfectly up-to-date; we want to hear about all of your research!We hope to see you all on Friday at 1500. Your PG reps
Visitors
Trevor Ponman - Monday 16 March - Wednesday 18 March 2015
Week Commencing 9 March 2015
ASR Group
Wednesday 11 March 2015, 12pm, Physics West LibraryHaoyu Wang to deliver the science talk
TISI
Friday 13 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Room CLADIntroduction into MCMC & Metropolis-Hastings
Journal Club
Friday 13 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West 115 (Please note change of venue)
Week Commencing 2 March 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 4th March 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
PhD Applicant Day
Wednesday 4 March 2015, 12pm, Poynting Bridge Study RoomLunch will be served at 12pm in the Bridge Study Room.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 4 March 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Bill Murray, University of WarwickTitle: The Higgs at LHC: Run 1 and a perspective on Run 2
Journal Club
Friday 6 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library
Week Commencing 23 February 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 24th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 25th February 2015, 2.30pm,Physics West 117 Speaker: Mark Swinbank, University of DurhamTitle: ALMA surveys of high-redshift, star-forming galaxiesI will present some recent results from ALMA cycle 0/1 surveys of distant,sub-mm galaxies (SMGs). The ALMA data allow us to investigate the propertiesof SMGs (redshift distribution, star formation rates, stellar masses and AGNactivity). I will show that these distant (z = 2.5) Ultra-luminous InfraredGalaxies have star-formation rates of 300-1000 Msol/yr, substantial stellarmasses (M* = 6E10 Msol) and cold molecular gas fractions of 40% - which aremany of the properties expected for the progenitors of today massive spheroidsand elliptical galaxies. Indeed, accounting for the fading of the stellarpopulations, I will show that the space density of the descendent of SMGs areconsistent with the entire population of local luminous ellipticals. Finally,I will show some recent results from ALMA cycle 1 where we have obtainedhigher resolution (0.3arcsec) maps of a sub-sample of bright SMGs.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25th February 2015, 6pm Poynting BuildingThis month Simon, one of our PhD students, will talk about observing blackholes.What do we do after massive stars explode as brilliant supernovae, and thendie as black holes,vanishing from traditional telescopes? With a gravitational-waveobservatory, the story is just beginning...Join us for this exciting talk as well as our popular regulars:observatory trips, observing on campus, March's night sky, and "Ask theexpert".Doors open at 5:30pm, with talks/panel at 6-7pm; observing starts shortlythereafter.
Journal Club
Friday 27th February 2015, 3pm, Physics West Library (Please note the changeof time)
Week Commencing 9 February 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 10th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS GroupWednesday 11th February 2015, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Speaker: Pavel Ivanov, Lebedev Physical InstituteTitle: The dynamics of supermassive binary black hole immersed in anaccretion disc on a retrograde orbit
Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum
Wednesday 11th February 2015 12.30pm - 1.30pm Bramall Music Building, ElgarConcert HallAnswering the big questions - Professor Sir David Eastwood in conversationwith the BBC's Education Correspondent Sean Coughlan.Registration is not required. All staff are encouraged to attend, and totake advantage of this opportunity to discuss the key topics affecting oursector and our university.
Journal Club
Friday 13th February 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library
Visitors
Wednesday 11th - Friday 13th February 2015Dr Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group this week.
Week Commencing 19 January 2015
HiROS Seminar
Monday 19 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Mausumi Dikpati
Management Group
Tuesday 20 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
Visitors
Tuesday 20 January 2015Dr Sean Dougherty - Director of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory(DRAO) will be visiting Ian Stevens and Diane Brookes on Tuesday Jan 20th2015.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 21 January 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Edmund Copeland, University of NottinghamTitle: Our Universe: so simple yet so much we don't understand
Journal Club
Friday 23 January 2014, 2pm, Physics West Library
Week Commencing 12 January 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 13 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group
Wednesday 14 January 2015, 12pm Physics West LibraryBen Bradnick to deliver the science talk
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 14 January 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Don Pollaco, Warwick UniversityTitle: Earth 2 and the search for habitable zone planetsThe last decade has seen immense worldwide activity in the discovery andcharacterisation of extrasolar planets. Starting from the radial velocitysurveys, the UK's world leading WASP project and the CoRoT and Kepler spacemissions, we will review the current state of knowledge emphasising ourunderstanding of habitable zone planets. We will look forward to upcomingexperiments and in particular PLATO that will be transformational to ourknowledge of rocky planets in the habitable zones of solar type stars.
New Staff
Monday 12 January 2015Conor Mow-Lowry starts work with the group today.
Week Commencing 15 December 2014
Management Group
Tuesday 16 December 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 17 December 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Selma De Mink, AmsterdamTitle: TBC
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 19 December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library
Visitors
Monday 15 December 2014 - Alexis FinoguenouAlexis will be visiting Graham Smith on Monday 15th though to Thursday 18thDec 2014
Week Commencing 8 December 2014
Management Group
Tuesday 9 December 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
HiROS Group Meeting
Monday 8 December 2014, 10am Physics West 106
Warwick/Birmingham Meeting
Monday 8 December 2014, 1pm Physics West 115
ASR Group
Wednesday 10 December 2014, 12pm Physics West 106 (Please note change ofvenue)Ilya Mandel to deliver the science talk
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 10 December 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Jim Geach, University of HertfordshireTitle: Galaxy-scale feedback in massive galaxies without AGNIn traditional models of galaxy evolution, feedback associated with anactive galactic nucleus (AGN) have been invoked as the standard channel toregulate stellar mass growth at the massive end of the mass function. Wehave been investigating a sample of massive, compact galaxies that exhibitultra-fast gas outflows (up to 2500 km/s) with no evidence of significantAGN activity.Recently we have shown that in at least one of these galaxies, a significantamount of molecular gas is being driven out at speeds of up to 1000 km/s. Iwill discuss how this sample demonstrates that stellar feedback can be aneffective channel for curtailing stellar mass growth in massive galaxies,and in particular the role of stellar radiation pressure as a mechanism forlaunching galaxy scale super winds from high density star forming regions.
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 12 December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library
Visitors
Tuesday 9 December 2014 - Trevor PonmanTrevor will be back from Tuesday through to Friday this week.
Publications
Gravitational-wave sensitivity curves - C J Moore, R H Cole & C P L BerryClassical & Quantum Gravity; 32(1):015014; 2015doi:10.1088/0264-9381/32/1/015014
Week Commencing 1 December 2014
Management Group
Tuesday 2 December 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Colloquium
Wednesday 3 December 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Eugene Gregoryanz, SUPA Centre for Science at ExtremeConditions, University of EdinburghTitle: What a Diamond Anvil Cell Can Do.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 3 December 2014, 6pm, Poynting BuildingCome along and join in an (early!) festive version of Astronomy in theCity. Info/tickets:  Astronomy in the City
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 5th December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library
Visitors
Tuesday 2 December 2014 - Nobuhiro OkabeNobuhiro Okabe will be visiting the Extragalactic Astrophysics Group forthree weeks starting 2nd December, working mainly with Graham Smith, SarahMulroy, and Felicia Ziparo. Nobuhiro is based at the Kavli Institute forthe Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) in Japan. He is anexpert in weak gravitational lensing.
Thursday 4 December 2014 - Alberto Sesana
Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group on Thursday 4th Dec until Friday5th.
Message from Trevor Ponman
Postcard from CornwallWith apologies for the two month delay, I would like to thank everyone whosigned my farewell card, or contributed to the collection. I didn't knowabout the latter, since Alberto was planning to surprise me with a presentfrom the proceeds, before deciding (wisely) that this was not the best idea.We've been down in deepest Cornwall (near Penzance) for 6 weeks now and,having inherited a nice but overgrown garden, my plan is to buy a ratherspecial tree (species still TBD) and some other plants to remind me of yourgenerosity. The pace of life is different down here, which is one of theattractions, but we are progressively turning the house from a warehousefull of boxes into a home, and I think we will be happy. For those of youwho have never seen Mounts Bay, I can recommend it as one of the mostbeautiful places in the country to watch the sun set. I'll continue to visitevery few weeks for at least the next year or so, and so will bump into manyof you from time to time. All the very best for the future. Trevor
Week Commencing 24 November 2014
HiROS Astro Teaching Meeting - Bill Chaplin
Monday 24th November 2014, 1pm, Physics West 106
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 26th November 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Nial Tanvir, University of LeicesterTitle: Merging neutron stars, gravitational waves and the origin of theheavy chemical elementsMergers of compact binaries involving neutron stars lie at the intersectionof several key problems in astrophysics. They are widely thought to lead toshort-duration gamma-ray bursts; to be an important production site for thenucleosynthesis of r-process heavy elements; and to emit stronggravitational wave (GW) signals that are the most promising for detection bythe next "advanced" generation of detectors. Recently, the first evidencefor kilonova emission, predicted to be produced by the radioactive decay ofspecies created during such a merger, was found, associated with sGRB130603B. I will review this discovery together with other observationalconstraints on the nature of sGRBs, and consider the prospects for kilonovaeas electromagnetic signatures of GW events.
Information Theory for Physicists - Short Lecture Course
Thursday 27th November 2014, 2pm, Physics West LibraryDr Christopher Berry will lead the first of three short lecture courses.Lecture 1: Probabilities, inference and information content - Anintroduction to communications theory, including revision of how to useprobabilities (in a Bayesian way) to encode our state of knowledge. Anexplanation of the Shannon information content.
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 28th November 2014, 4pm, Physics West Library
Week Commencing 17 November 2014
GW Q&A Session
Wednesday 19th November 2014, 12pm, Physics West LibraryFollowing up on some discussions within the gravitational-wave group, I'dlike to offer a Q&A session on "anything * you wanted to know about theastrophysics of gravitational-wave sources but were afraid to ask" at noonon November 19. This is very much meant to be open to all of ASR and HiROS,so please come along if the topic interests you, even if this is notsomething you normally work on.Although I am certainly open to questions on the spot, I would be verygrateful if you could e-mail me your questions in advance so I could plan amore coherent discussion around the topics of interest. Andreas kindlyagreed to serve as moderator, so he will keep me from veering off topic toomuch. I Mandel* For this session, let's focus on the astrophysics of LIGO sources.If the format works, we can have additional sessions on low-frequencysources, data analysis, and detectors, and perhaps other topics if peoplefind these useful.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 19th November 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Dr Caroline Terquem, University of OxfordTitle: On the dynamics of extrasolar planets on inclined orbits
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 21st November 2014, 4pm Physics West 115
Week Commencing 10 November 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 12th November 2014, 12pm, Physics West LibraryScience talk by Walter Del Pozzo
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 12th November 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Will Percival, Portsmouth UniversityTitle: Cosmological Measurements from Galaxy ClusteringLarge surveys of the angular positions and redshifts of galaxies provide awealth of cosmological information about the late-time Universe and itsaccelerating expansion. In thisseminar I will review the physical mechanismsthat encode this information in the observed clustering of galaxies, andpresent recent results from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS).I will then look ahead to future surveys including the Dark Energy SpectroscopicInstrument (DESI) and the ESA Euclid satellite mission, showing how they willrevolutionise our understanding of cosmic acceleration.
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 12th November 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 14th November 2014, 4pm Physics West LibraryJim Barrett to lead the discussion on [labs.adsabs.harvard.edu]
Week Commencing 20 October 2014
Special HiROS Seminar
Monday 27th October 2014, 12pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Guy Davies, University of BirminghamTitle: Stellar seismology: The solar-stellar connectionThe study of stellar structure and evolution provides one of the fundamentalbuilding blocks of astrophysics and some of the most powerful observationalconstraints on these theories are provided by helio and asteroseismology.Inevitably, the well characterised Sun is an anchor and calibrator to anytheory of stellar evolution. The Sun drives our understanding of the stars,and it is sensible to ask what the stars can tell us about the Sun. Here,asteroseismology with the Kepler Space Telescope is providing precisecharacterisation of individual stars and ensembles of stars. In addition tocharacterising interesting systems, such as exoplanet hosts, asteroseismicresults may allow significant progress on the “grand problems” of solarphysics, particularly related to understanding the solar 22-year magneticcycle.In this talk I will review the current status of the Sun-as-a-star. We willsee that questions remain about the rotation of the deep solar interior, thechanging of the solar magnetic field, and the understanding of the solardynamo and space weather. I will show how we can precisely characteriseother Sun-like stars and how we are pushing the boundaries of ourunderstanding by considering ensembles of stars. I will finish byspeculating how the field of stellar seismology will change with the adventof the SONG, BiSON Mini, TESS and PLATO observatories.
ASR Group
Wednesday 29th Oct 2014, 12pm, Physics West LibraryDr Ian Stevens will provide an SKA update and Dr Walter Del Pozzo willdeliver the science talk
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 29th Oct 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Don Kurtz, Central LancashireTitle: Asteroseismology, the new Keplerian RevolutionIn 1926 in the opening paragraph of his now-classic book, The InternalConstitution of the Stars, Sir Arthur Eddington lamented, “What appliancecan pierce through the outer layers of a star and test the conditionswithin?” While he considered theory to be the proper answer to thatquestion, there is now an observational answer: asteroseismology.We are in a time of a significant advance in our understanding of stellarastrophysics with data from the Kepler Mission. From its rich 4-year dataset nearly 4000 exoplanet candidates have been discovered – the majority ofall known. Kepler has also improved our ability to see pulsations andx variability in stars by 100 to 1000 times comparedwith ground-based telescopes, allowing us to probe stars usingasteroseismology. We are seeing as never before: heartbeat stars, noveleclipsing stars, spots, flares and magnetic cycles as in our own Sun.Astrophysics that used to be theoretical is now also observational:internal stellar rotation from core to surface; gravitational lensing ineclipsing binary stars; Doppler boosting; multiple pulsation axes; perioddoubling; tidal excitation in highly eccentric binary stars.Kepler data for solar-like stars are now comparable to data for the Sun seenas a star, giving us masses, radii and ages for hundreds of single stars,allowing determination of their orbiting planets’ sizes, and giving newconstraints on stellar evolution theory. It is now even possible to see intothe cores of red giants and observe which stars are hydrogen shell-burningand which also are helium-core burning. This talk will introduce theconcepts of asteroseismology and show a selection of exciting observationalresults from the Kepler mission (with emphasis on work that has not beendone at Birmingham!).
Jourmal Club / arXiv
Friday 31st October, 4pm, PW Library
Week Commencing 20 October 2014
Special HiROS Seminar
Monday 20th October, 2pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Brice-Olivier Demory, Cambridge UniversityTitle: Exoplanets - The quest for other worldsThe first exoplanet orbiting a main sequence star was discovered in 1995.Twenty years later, more than a thousand other planets have been found andstatistical patterns regarding their properties are starting to emerge.Remarkably, we have been able to probe the atmospheres of several of theseexoplanets, which provide insights about their chemical composition andclimate patterns. Within the coming 3 years, one ESA space missiondedicated to exoplanets will be launched and two ambitious UK-ledground-based instruments will be installed. The future of exoplanet sciencein the UK has never been so encouraging. I will start by discussing recentresults in exoplanet science. Iwill then detail the synergies between thefuture instruments/facilities and show how they fit in an internationalframework. I will finally discuss the next pathways to answer one of themost fascinating questions in astronomy: "are we alone?"
Special Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 21 October 2014, 11am, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Chris Moore, PhD Student Cambridge UniversityTitle: Gaussian processes to model uncertainties in gravitational waveformsChris Moore, a PhD student from Cambridge, will be visiting for the firsthalf of this week. He'll be giving a talk on using Gaussian processes tomodel uncertainties in gravitational-waveforms. This will be primarily ofinterest to people who do gravitational-wave data analysis; however,Gaussian processes are an extremely useful means of fitting non-parametricmodels (in a fully Bayesian way), and so might be of interest to a wideraudience.
College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Conference
Wednesday 22 October 2014, 9am until 5pm, Bramall Music Building, followedby drinks receptionThe 2014 conference is designed to celebrate the breadth of Collegeresearch excellence and increase cross-college awareness of EPS researchstrengths and encourage cross-disciplinary networks.For more information and to register, please visit the event page onlinehere. 
School Colloquium
Wednesday 22 October 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Prof Constantin C Coussios, Statutory Chair of BiomedicalEngineering, University of OxfordTitle: Shaken and Stirred: How sound and bubbles can cure our troubles.
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 24th October 2014, 4pm, Physics West 115In this week's journal club, Jessica Democles will be leading a discussionaround Chapter 5 of [ned.ipac.caltech.edu] , dealing with mechanisms ofX-ray emission from galaxy clusters.
Week Commencing 13 October 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 15th Oct 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 15th Oct 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Speaker: Maarten Van De Meent, SouthamptonTitle: TBC
Vice-Chancellors Open Forum
Thursday 16 October 2014, 12.30-1.30pm, Bramhall Music Building, ElgarConcert HallJoin the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, for his first staffaddress of the new academic year. He will be using this opportunity tolook back at our progress over the last five years and to launch theconsultation process for the new Strategic Framework.
Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 17th October, 4pm, PW Library
Publications / Articles
Dr C Berry was interviewed for (a small part of) an article in SymmetryMagazine on Advanced LIGO [www.symmetrymagazine.org]
Week Commencing 6 October 2014
HiROS Seminar
Monday 6th October 2014, 2pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Dr Aldo Serenelli Institute of Space Sciences, Bellaterra, SpainTitle: The era of precision stellar astrophysicsObservational stellar astronomy has been revolutionized in the last fewyears with the development of large-scale spectroscopic and photometricsurveys and the generalization of techniques such as asteroseismologyhitherto restricted to very limited numbers of stars. This revolution hasnot been accompanied with comparable efforts in the development of stellarmodels. Fundamental questions, even for the best studied star, remainunanswered.In this context I will present some examples, from the Sun to stellarpopulations, that show recent successes and limitations of the currentgeneration of stellar models and will conclude with a personal perspectiveof the way ahead.
IMPACT Conference
Wednesday 8th October 2014, 9.45am Lecture Theatre 2 Sport & ExerciseScience Building Y14
School Colloquium
Wednesday 8th October 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Professor Steve Roberts, University of OxfordTitle: Fusion Power - Materials Challenges
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 8th October 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building
Week Commencing 22 September 2014
Big Waves
Monday 22 - Friday 26 September 2014, 9.30 - 5.30pm, PW Library/PW 115Big waves will take place for the duration of this week in PW Library fromMonday through until Wednesday and PW 115 for the remainder of the week.
School Committee Meeting
Monday 22 September 2014, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture TheatreThis is for all staff in the School.
Visitors
Wednesday 24 September 2014Dr Chris Haines a Post Doc from the University of Chile will be visiting uson Wednesday 24 September 2014.
Week Commencing 28 July 2014
HiROS Red Giants Peak Bagging Workshop
Monday 28 July – Friday 1 August 2014, Physics West 106
HiROS Seminar
Friday 1 August 2014, 2pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Luca Casagrande, Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics,Australian National UniversityTitle: Asteroseismology for Galactic Archaeology: bridging two fields
Publications
"Energy-Dependent Evolution in IC10 X-1: Hard Evidence for an ExtendedCorona and Implications"Barnard, R.... Stevens, I.R. et al, ApJ, in press Astro-ph:http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.5650 [arxiv.org] Note: IC10 X-1 is a nearby stellar mass black-hole (and quite a large one)orbiting a massive Wolf-Rayet star - this system will have an interestingfuture and may well interest subsequent generations of grav. waveastronomers (and possibly current ones too).
Week Commencing 21 July 2014
Astro in the City nights recognised by Science & Technology FacilitiesCouncil award
Maggie Lieu was recently awarded one of the Science & Technology FacilitiesCouncil (STFC) small grants for public engagement to support thecontinuation of the successful Astronomy in the City nights. The awardtotalled £1,852.
Publications
Parameter estimation on compact binary coalescences with abruptlyterminating gravitational waveforms Class. Quantum Grav. 31 (2014) 155005 -Mandel, Berry, Ohme, Fairhurst, Farrhttp://stacks.iop.org/0264-9381/31/155005 
Week Commencing 14 July 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 16 July 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
EPS Summer Social
Wednesday 16 July 2014, 2-4pm, Marquee Chancellors CourtTo help with catering, please complete the online form to register your attendance
Visitors
Conor Mow-Lowry will be visiting the group from Monday 14th until Wednesday16th July 2014
Week Commencing 30 June 2014
GraWIToN Supervisor Board Meeting
Thursday 3rd July 2014, 9.30am, Physics West Library (for information)
EPS College Assembly
Tuesday 8th July 2014, 13.30pm in the Haworth Building, room 203
Week Commencing 16 June 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 18th June 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 18th June 2014, 16.00pm, Physics West 106Speaker: Christian Graef, GlasgowTitle: The Glasgow speed meter proof-of-principle experiment
Journal Club
Friday 20th June 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library
Visitors
Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group on Thursday 19th Juneuntil Friday 20th June 2014.
Week Commencing 9 June 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 18th June 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 11th June 2014, 16.00pm, Watson Lecture Theatre C G24(Please note time change)Speaker: Ian Shipsey, Purdue and OxfordTitle: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
Journal Club
Friday 13th June 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library
Publications
Double Compact Objects III: Gravitational Wave Detection Rates: M.Dominik,E.Berti, R.O'Shaughnessy, I.Mandel, K.Belczynski, C.Fryer, T.Bulik,F.Pannarale
 http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.7016 
Week Commencing 19 May 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 21st May 2014, 12pm, Physics West LibraryWalter Del Pozzo to give the talk
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 21st May 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117Speaker: Laura Cadonati (usually at the University of Massachusetts,currently on a sabbatical in Cardiff)Title: Solar Neutrino Detection with BorexinoLaura will be at Birmingham from 1pm on Tuesday 20th until 2 pm on Thursday22nd
School Colloquium
Wednesday 21st May 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Professor Mike Charlton, Swansea UniversityTitle: Antihydrogen trapping and physics
Journal Club
Friday 23rd May 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library
IOP 3 Minute Wonder Final Update - Michaela Nelson
I attended the final of the competition last Thursday evening. There were 14finalists and we all had three minutes to talk about our research using onlyone presentation slide or one video and as many props as we wanted. Thefinal took place in the Royal Institution, in the theatre were the Christmaslectures are given every year, behind Michael Faradays desk!The talks were engaging and diverse ranging from a rap on dark matter toÂtime travelling telescopes and acoustic damage detection on airplanes andalthough I didn't win I was really pleased with how IÂ did and I got somevery positive feedback from the Judges. Overall it was a great experienceand I'd really encourage all our young researchers to have a go next timethis (or similar ) competitions are run.Wednesday 14th May 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
Week Commencing 12 May 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 14th May 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 14th May 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreSpeaker: Professor Terence Rudolph, Imperial CollegeTitle: Realism and the epistemic View of Quantum States
Journal Club
Friday 16th May 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library
Visitors
Archisman Ghosh, who is a postdoctoral fellow from the International Centreof Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore, will be visiting the group from Thursday8 May 2014, for the duration of 1 month
Week Commencing 28 April 2014
ASR Group
Wednesday 30th April 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 30th April 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 103Matthew Pieri, PortsmouthTitle: In the Deep, Dark Lyman-alpha Forest: Exploring Dark Energy and Galaxy Formation using the Intergalactic MediumI will discuss probes of the intergalactic medium measuring both the largestand smallest scale effects in the extragalactic universe. The Lyman-alphaforest along the line-of-sight to background quasars is measured providing anew kind of survey. The BOSS survey (as part of SDSS-III) has probed morethan 60,000 Gigaparsecs in path length and is still growing. We have made thefirst measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations on 150 Megaparsec scalesto probe the expansion of the universe, and have seen evidence of clumping inregions around galaxies on 3 0 parsec scales. I will discuss the future ofsuch surveys and the key role the UK will play as part of a future WEAVEsurvey on the WHT.
School Committee Meeting
Wednesday 30th April 2014, 2pm in Physics West Lecture Theatre – Room 117
Journal Club
Friday 2nd May 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library
Publications
Parameter estimation on compact binary coalescences with abruptly terminatinggravitational waveforms Ilya Mandel, Christopher P L Berry, Frank Ohme,Stephen Fairhurst, Will M Farr
http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.2382
The First Two Years of Electromagnetic Follow-Up with Advanced LIGO and VirgoL. Singer et al.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.5623
Additional News>
Michaela Nelson has been awarded a grant of £1594 from the Royal Society todo a project with year 6 pupils at Perryfields Primary School. The projectwill look at electromagnetism and power generation and will hopefully finishwith a Small wind turbine sited in a partic ularly windy part of theschool grounds.The final of the IOP's 3 minute wonder competition is taking place on 15th May.I was a runner up in the regional heats back in November and I was under theimpression that only the winners went through to the finals but I've beeninformed that the runners up also get a plac e in the final so I'll bein London on the 15th talking about dark energy and gravity.Michaela Nelson
Week Commencing 7 April 2014
Special Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 7 April 2014, 3pm, Physics West 103Speaker: Dr M Balogh, University of Waterloo (visiting until Tuesday 8April 2014)Title: What satellite galaxy evolution tells us about the baryon cycle ofgalaxiesAbstract:The inefficiency of galaxy formation in a cosmological context remains anunexplained mystery. There is little doubt that it is a consequence ofthe evolution in gas accretion rates, together with energetic "feedback"phenomena like stellar winds, supernova explosions, and supermassiveblack hole-powered accretion. Despite the central importance of this gasphysics, most observational constraints are indirect, and we rely oncomparison with "kitchen-sink" models to tell us whether or not ourunderstanding of galaxy evolution is on the right track. One place wherethis comparison repeatedly fails is the prediction of the properties of"satellite" galaxies, and this failure may be indicative of a fundamentalflaw in our understanding of how baryons cycle in and out of galaxies. Iwill present a review of this problem and show what we have learned fromour new results on galaxy groups and clusters at z~1.
VC Review of Physics and Astronomy
15/16 April 2014Just a reminder that the Panel will be visiting on 15/16 April and that,where possible, staff and some students may be called to meetings. Iappreciate that people will be attending conferences and other meetings,but otherwise it would be useful if staff were generally available atthis time.Professor Andy Schofield
Week Commencing 31 March 2014
Special Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 31 March 2014, 4pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Dr Haixing Miao, Marie Curie Fellow, BirminghamTitle: Hunting down noises in gravitational-wave detectorsAbstract: Laser interferometric gravitational-wave (GW) detectors areamong the most sensitive instruments that humans have ever built, inorder to measure tiny ripples of spacetime generated by distant yetenergetic astrophysical objects. Achieving the desired sensitivity is notjust a legend about implementing the state-of-the-art technology, butmore about strenuous efforts in understanding and hunting down noises ofboth classical and quantum origins. In this talk, I shall give you a tourof major noises in GW detectors, and remark on some attempts by mycolleagues and me in reducing them. Close to the end of the talk, I willalso mention one interesting spin off the use of quantum-limited GWdetectors as probes for quantum behaviours of macroscopic objects, whichprovides us a unique opportunity to test quantum mechanics in a totallynew regime.
ASR Group
Wednesday 2 April 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 2 April 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Speaker: Melvyn Davies, Lund SwedenTitle: Exoplanets and compact binaries: the effect of crowdedenvironments
EPS College Assembly
Thursday 3 April 2014, 1pm Gisbert Kapp Building NG15Assembly line-up * Developing our Future Landscape - College Priorities (Professor Richard A Williams) * Reflections of College Professional Services (Clare McCauley) * Research focus: `Gravitational Waves: A New Observational Window on the Universe' (Professor Alberto Vecchio)
Visitors
Habib Khosroshahi will be visiting the group on Monday 31 March untilWednesday 2 April 2014. 
 Week Commencing 24 March 2014
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 24 March 2014, 3pm, Physics West LibrarySpeaker: Dr Ewald Punchwein IoA Cambridge University Title: Baryonic and modified gravity effects on cosmic structureformationAbstract:Cosmological surveys are based on luminous objects, while cosmologicalmodels most easily predict the statistics of the dark matterdistribution. Hydrodynamical simulations of cosmic structure formationare the tool of choice for connecting these two realms.I will present simulation studies of many of those quantities andrelations that are most relevant in this context, including the effectsof AGN feedback on galaxy cluster scaling relations and the matter powerspectrum, which have direct implications for upcoming X-ray and weaklensing surveys. I will also discuss numerical predictions of theLyman-alpha forest, their uncertainties and how they can be used toconstrain cosmology. For the first time we perform such cosmologicalhydrodynamical simulations not only within the framework of standardgeneral relativity theory, but also for screened modified gravity modelswhich pose a viable alternative to dark energy
ASR Group - Rescheduled
Just a reminder that this week's ASR Group has been cancelled andrescheduled for Wednesday 2 April 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115
Astronomy in the City - featuring BICEP2: the view from Birmingham
Wednesday 26 March 2014, 6pm, Poynting BuildingTickets are now available for the third night of Astronomy in the City,via the observatory web-site:www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.phpAll are welcome! Contact Graham Smith with any questions.gps@star.sr.bham.ac.uk, +44 (0)7771 958939, +44 (0)121 414 4600Programme:6:00pm Welcome to the University of Birmingham Observatory6:05pm Exploring the night sky in April with Callum Bellhouse6:20pm BICEP2 and inflation - the view from Birmingham (Smith and Farr)6:40pm Ask the experts panel discussion (Chair: Felicia Ziparo)7:00pm Break for Refreshments7:15pm Observing begins: Chancellors Court, Grubb, Observatory
 
Stars & Planets
Friday 28 March 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
Promotions
I am delighted to announce that Dr Nicola Wilkin and Dr Ilya Mandel haveboth been promoted to Senior Lecturer with effect from Oct 2014. I amsure you all join me in congratulating Nicola and Ilya in these verywell-deserved promotions. Andy Schofield
Publicationa
s
Trevor Ponman - I have a paper which has recently appeared in MNRAS,please see
http://ukads.nottingham.ac.uk/abs/2014MNRAS.439..102S
Week Commencing 17 March 2014
Special Astrophysics Seminar
Monday 17 March 2014, 3pm, Physics West LibraryAdam Muzzin, Leiden ObservatoryTitle: How to Build a Big GalaxyAbstractThe most massive galaxies in the universe are rare, but because of this,their formation history imposes some of the strongest constraints on ourmodels of galaxy formation. In the local universe, massive galaxies likeM87 appear relatively dull, with elliptical morphologies, old stars, andlittle ongoing star formation. For decades, archeological studiespredicted that most of the action during these galaxies' formation musthave occurred at much higher redshift (z > 2). With the first deep andwide field surveys of the near infrared sky coming online, we can nowdirectly observe the progenitors of local massive galaxies as they areforming.I will show state-of-the-art observations of this process up to z ~ 4,where we are finding that the early stages of massive galaxy formationare in fact extremely dynamic, with huge bursts of dust-obscured starformation, ubiquitous AGN activity, and significant structuraltransformations. I will also discuss what we expect to learn up to z ~6-7 in the coming years from ongoing deep/wide surveys such asUltraVISTA, and what we expect to learn in the JWST era, when we may beable to observe the process of massive galaxy formation right out to itsinitial stages at z ~ 10-20.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 19 March 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Stephen Barnett, University of GlasgowTitle: The Enigma of Optical Momentum
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 26 March 2014, 6pm, Poynting BuildingTickets are now available for the third night of Astronomy in the City,via the observatory web-site:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/observatory
Publications
Dent & Veitch, Optimizing gravitational-wave searches for a population ofcoalescing binaries: Intrinsic parameters, arXiv:1311.7174,
http://inspirehep.net/record/1266696
Agathos et al, TIGER: A data analysis pipeline for testing thestrong-field dynamics of general relativity with gravitational wavesignals from coalescing compact binaries, arXiv:1311.0420,
http://inspirehep.net/record/1263178
Week Commencing 10 March 2014
AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 11 March 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group
Wednesday 12 March 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115
Visitors
Michael Purrer will be visiting the group from Monday 10 March through tothe 12th March 2014
Publications
Amplitude variability in satellite photometry of the non-radiallypulsating O9.5V star zeta Oph by Howarth, Stevens et al. MNRAS, in press
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1402.6551H
"Sensitivity of intracavity filtering schemes for detecting gravitationalwaves" by Mengyao Wang, Haixing Miao, Andreas Freise, and Yanbei Chen hasbeen accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review D.
The Formation and Gravitational-Wave Detection of Massive StellarBlack-Hole Binaries Krzysztof Belczynski, Alessandra Buonanno, MatteoCantiello, Chris L. Fryer, Daniel E. Holz, Ilya Mandel, M. ColemanMiller, Marek Walczak 
http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.0677
Comparison of gravitational wave detector network sky localizationapproximations K. Grover, S. Fairhurst, B.F. Farr, I. Mandel, C.Rodriguez, T. Sidery, and A. Vecchio Phys. Rev. D 89, 042004 has beenpublished in PRD and had one of its plots chosen for the Kaleidoscopefeature: 
http://journals.aps.org/prd/kaleidoscope/prd/89/4/042004
Week Commencing 3 March 2014
AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 4 March 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
Post Graduate Admissions Day
Wednesday 5 March 2014, 12pm, Poynting Bridge Study RoomThe post graduate admissions day will commence with lunch in the BridgeStudy Room. Coffee will be available at 2pm in the second floor coffeelounge
School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 March 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProfessor Gerry Gilmore, University of CambridgeTitle: Mapping the Milky Way: Gaia and Gaia-ESO
EPS Distinguished Lecture Series
Wednesday 5th March 2014, 6pm Lecture Theatre 117, Physics WestDrinks reception to follow at 7.30pmProfessor Sir Martin Sweeting, OBE FRS FREng, Executive Chairman ofSurrey Satellite Technology Ltd and Director of the Surrey Space CentreTitle: Keeping Satellites in Space - Where Science and Engineering MeetIf you wish to attend this event please complete the on-line registrationform:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/eps/distinguished
Stars & Planets
Thursday 6th March 2014, 12pm, Physics West 229Main topic for discussion - Kepler, searches for transits around redgiants
Publications
Utility of Galaxy Catalogs for Following up Gravitational Waves fromBinary Neutron Star Mergers with Wide-Field TelescopesBy Chad Hanna, Ilya Mandel, Will Vousden , has been published in theAstrophysical Journal
http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/784/8
You may enjoy reading this new National Geographic article on blackholes:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/black-holes/finkel-text
Some of you may have met the author, Mike Finkel, at the GR20 meeting inWarsaw last summer, where he came to find out more about the subject. Heand I stayed in touch since, and you'll see that the University ofBirmingham is mentioned at the very end of the piece (and, apparently, inthe print version as well, though I haven't seen it) as one of thesources. I Mandel
Week Commencing 24 February 2014
Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 25 February 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 24 February 2014, 3pm Physics West LibraryThe speaker is Conor Mow-Lowry who currently works at the Albert EinsteinInstitute, to construct a prototype interferometer with the aim ofbeating the Standard Quantum Limit of interferometry and to test newtechnologies for future gravitational wave detectors.
ASR Group
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115Carl-Johan Haster to give the talkTitle: TBC
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Nate Bastian, Liverpool John MooresTitle: Constraining globular clusters formation through studies of youngmassive star clusters
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 6pm, Poynting BuildingThe University of Birmingham Observatory team invite you to attend ourprogramme of free public events, "Astronomy in the City". Journey with usfrom star gazing all the way to exploring the night sky with our powerfulnew telescope. Along the way, members of the University's AstroSoc, andthe Birmingham Astronomical Society (BAS) will show you how to use theirportable telescopes. Tours of our Observatory, including observing withour research telescope will also be offered. Our experts will be on handto answer your questions throughout the evening, and in a special "Askthe Expert" session.Provisional Programme: * 6:00pm Welcome and introduction to the Observatory * 6:20pm What's up? Exploring February's night sky * 6:40pm Why? How? Ask our experts your astronomical questions * 7:00pm Break for refreshments * 7:15pm Observing begins
Stars & Planets
Friday 28 February 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
ArXiv Discussions - Change to Schedule
Discussions to move to Fridays at 3pm commencing on Friday 7 March 2014,in Physics West 229
Health & Safety Inspection
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 9.30am, Physics WestAs advised previously by Dave Clifford, please can you abide by thefollowing:Do NOT leave combustible items in corridors, escape routes andstaircases/stairwellsClear any large quantities of combustible materials from under desks etc.Ensure fires doors are NOT WEDGED OPEN and left unattended.Maintain GOOD HOUESKEEPING in workshops/laboratories.Ensure bottles of flammable liquids etc. are returned to the appropriatestorage cupboard when not in use (DO NOT LEAVE EXCESS QUANTITIES on thebench).The inspectors will photograph and note any breaches which will form partof their report which is submitted to the University, which is thenpassed onto to Heads of Colleges for action. We will then be advised ofany breaches within Physics & Astronomy. We will then have to report tothe College H&S Committee regarding the progress in rectifying anybreaches.
Week Commencing 17 February 2014
Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 18 February 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
School Colloquium
Wednesday 19 February 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre SO6Professor Richard E Palmer, Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory,University of BirminghamTitle: 20 years of nanotechnology: an update on arranging the atoms
Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 24 February 2014, 3pm Physics West LibraryThe speaker is Conor Mow-Lowry who currently works at the Albert EinsteinInstitute, to construct a prototype interferometer with the aim ofbeating the Standard Quantum Limit of interferometry and to test newtechnologies for future gravitational wave detectors
 
Week Commencing 10 February 2014
Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 11 February 2014, 1-2pm Physics West 229
Vice Chancellors Evening Lecture
Tuesday 11 February 2014, 6pm - 7pm Elgar Concert Hall, Bramhall MusicBuildingJoin us for an evening lecture on `The British State: Past, Present andFuture', to be delivered by Professor David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor ofthe University of Birmingham. At a time of unprecedented global changethis lecture will reflect on times past and lessons for Britain'sfuture. The event is part of the Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished LectureSeries at the University of Birmingham, which attracts leadingintellectuals to focus on the major social, cultural, and policy issuesof our time.We hope that you will be able to join us in the beautiful surroundings ofthe Elgar Concert Hall in the Bramhall Music Building on the EdgbastonCampus. To register your interest in attending, please complete ouronline form .If you would like further information please contact Kylie Morris on 0121414 8782 or email k.morris@bham.ac.uk
ASR Group
Wednesday 12 February 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115Maggie Lieu to give the talkTitle: TBC
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 12 February 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Andrew Young, BristolTitle: X-ray echoes from active galaxies
Week Commencing 3 February 2014
Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 4 February 2014, 12-2pm Physics West 229Please note that this is an extended AMG meeting to continue thediscussion on research
School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 February 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProfessor Terence Rudolph, Imperial CollegeTitle: Realism and the epistemic view of quantum states
New Starters
Monday 3 February 2014 - John Veitch commences work with the group
Visitors
Monday 3 February 2014 - Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group onMonday for the day only.
Additional News
From Monday 3rd February Kat Grover will start her job as the SchoolsLiaison Officer in the School of Mathematics at Birmingham. "I will be in physics one day a week while I finish up my thesis, so will still be around the group for a while yet! Kat" 
 
Week Commencing 27 January 2014
Vice Chancellor's Open Forum with Greg Hurst, Education Editor, The TimesTuesday 28 January 2014, 12.30-1.30pm, Bramall Music Building, Elgar Concert HallGreg Hurst, Education Editor for The Times, will be hosting this term'sVice-Chancellor's Open Forum. He will interview Professor David Eastwood,Vice-Chancellor, on key issues facing the higher education sector and theUniversity of Birmingham.
 
AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229
ASR Group
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115Diane Brookes to give the talk
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13Matthew Auger, University of CambridgeTitle: Observing the structure of dark matter on scales from 100pc to 1Mpc
Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 6pm, Poynting BuildingJourney with us from star gazing, all the way to exploring the night skywith our powerful new telescope. Along the way, members of the University'sAstrosoc, and the Birmingham Astronomy Society (BAS) will show you how touse their portable telescopes. Tours of our Observatory, including observingwith our research telescope will also be offered. Our experts will be on handto answer your questions throughout the evening, and in a special"Ask the Expert" session.Provisional Programme: * 6:00pm Welcome and introduction to the Observatory * 6:20pm what's up? Exploring February's night sky * 6:40pm Why? How? Ask our experts your astronomical questions * 7:00pm Break for refreshments * 7:15pm Observing begins
Stars & Planets Meeting
Friday 31 January 2014, 1pm, Physics West 299Future meetings to take place on the last Friday of every month, to sharecurrent research results and discuss this "smaller" side of astrophysics. 
Week Commencing 20 January 2014
Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 20 January 2014, 1300 Hours, Physics West 106Alan Whiting, WashingtonTitle: Observing the Models: an astronomer looks at complicated calculations of climateFor the past 16 months, Alan has been an AAAS fellow working in Washington onan international development project to make remote-sensing data available todeveloping countries. As such, he has been taking an interest in climatemodelling.He comments: "I do not present my own results; rather, I give an example of howa scientist might look at a field different from his own, using his ownbackground to allow a better evaluation than is available to a layman."
Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 21 January, 1300 Hours, Physics West 229
Re-Scheduled ASR Group
Wednesday 22 January 2014, 1200 Hours, Strathcona LT3 (NOTE ROOM CHANGE)Sarah Mulroy to give the talk
Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 22 January 2014, 1400 Hours, Physics West 106Kate Dooley who's currently working at the GEO 600 detector.Title: Squeezed light: using quantum optics to develop the gravitational wavedetectors of the futureWe are rapidly approaching a new era in the decades-long world-wide effort todirectly detect gravitational waves. The first arm lock of both Advanced LIGOinterferometers has just been achieved, and in a few years' time the promiseof delivering detectors with unprecedented strain sensitivity will be realized,thus opening the door to routine signal detection. We are already planningupgrades to the advanced detectors with the understanding that achieving, letalone surpassing, the design sensitivity is a challenging task. I will presentone such challenge, that of reducing the noise in the frequency band limited byphoton shot noise, a region that brings us just within reach of the excitingpotential to constrain the neutron star equation of state. While the standardapproach to further improve strain sensitivity at these frequencies is toincrease laser power, an alternative is to manipulate the quantum state of thefield in the interferometer. Through the integration of a squeezed vacuumsource at the German-British laser interferometer, GEO 600, we are forging thispath forward. I will present the latest developments of squeezed vacuum controland how squeezing will affect the future of gravitational wave detectors.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 22 January 2014, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProfessor Harvey Brown, University of OxfordTitle: Einstein on special and general relativity: did he understand hisown theories
Week Commencing 13 January 2014
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 1200 Hours, Physics West 115 (NOTE ROOMCHANGE)Sarah Mulroy to give the talk
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13Andrew Pontzen UCLTitle: The observed and predicted structure of dark matter halos
Staff Awards
Miranda Bradshaw won the University of Birmingham 'New Innovators'competition, announced on the 20th December 2013. The prize was �2000,to help further develop the instrument she is working on. Michaela Nelson was runner up in the IOP's 3 minute wonder competition inDecember.Clive Speake won EPS College Publication of the Month award in September(announced just before Christmas) for his publication on thedetermination of G.
EPSRC Follow-On Fund
Michaela and Clive have been awarded a University EPSRC Follow-On Fundfor the development of cryogenic feedthroughs for polarisationmaintaining fibres. The grant started on Jan 1st and continues untilDecember 31 2014.
Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 20 January 2014, 1300 Hours, Physics West 106Alan Whiting, WashingtonTitle: Observing the Models: an astronomer looks at complicatedcalculations of climateFor the past 16 months, Alan has been an AAAS fellow working inWashington on an international development project to make remote-sensingdata available to developing countries. As such, he has been taking aninterest in climate modelling.He comments: "I do not present my own results; rather, I give an exampleof how a scientist might look at a field different from his own, usinghis own background to allow a better evaluation than is available to alayman."
 
Week Commencing 6 January 2014
STFC ISL Committee Meeting (For Information)
Monday 6 January 2014, 1000 Hours, Physics West 103Clive Speake will be hosting an STFC ISL Committee Meeting on Monday 6Jan 2014.
 AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 7 January 2014, 1200 Hours, Physics West 229An extended AMG meeting will take place to incorporate the second part ofthe research discussion
 
Week Commencing 16 December 2013
Astrophysics Christmas Meal
Monday 16 December 2013, 7pm Bank Restaurant 4 Brindley Place, BirminghamB1 2JBA group are going to the Pitcher and Piano before the meal for drinks,people are leaving the University at around 5.30, for 6pm.
School of Physics and Astronomy End of Year Party
Wednesday 18 December 2013, 3pm, Bridge Study RoomThe Christmas party this year will be held in the bridge study room at3.00pm on Wednesday 18th December 2013. Food and drinks will be provided.
Chiara Mingarelli
Chiara Mingarelli has won a Marie Curie International OutgoingFellowship, which she will take up at Caltech and the Max PlanckInstitute for Radio Astronomy as of June 2014.
Annual fire systems testing and essential maintenance on electricalinfrastructure 
 
Tuesday 17 December 2013In order to maintain insurance cover for the University's data centres weare required to carry out a series of tests each year on our firedetection and suppression systems. The process this year is beingmodified to allow us additionally to repair a significant fault on theData Centre electrical systems. To minimise the risk of disruption forUniversity staff, students and visitors, key services will be migrated toour secondary Data Centre and will remain operational for the duration ofthe work, using resilience mechanisms being delivered by the ResilienceProject. Migration periods for key services will be 12-2pm and 7-9pm, on17 December (note that during migration, individual services will besubjected to short periods of disruption).These key services include:Teaching and Learning Services such as Timetabling, Library Catalogue andaccess to online journalsWeb Services such as the University website, intranet, and Staff andStudent PortalsFinance Systems (e.g. Payroll, Proactis and Coda)Admin systems such as Pure, Data Warehouse, Document Management, BusinessIntelligence and Student Records (Banner & BIRMS)Other essential tools such as Email and FilestoreAs well as the supporting infrastructure for these services e.g. thenetwork, virtual servers and storage on which they relyIt should be noted that other services will be at some risk throughoutthe testing period.
 
Week Commencing 2 December 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 4th December 2013, 1600 Hours in Poynting Small Lecture TheatreS06Speaker: Dr Matthew Browning, University of ExeterTitle: Convection, Rotation and Magnetism in the Sun and other stars
Astrophysics Coffee & Cookies Meet & Greet Session
Wednesday 4th December 2013, 1400 Hours, Second Floor Coffee LoungeDear Yr 3 students: Are you interested in a Yr 4 project?Dear Yr 4 students: Are you thinking about a PhD?Dear all: Do you want to join a few faculty for an informal chat overcoffee and cookies?If so, please come along to the Astro group's Coffee and Cookies Chat at2 PM next Wednesday, December 4, in the lounge on the 2nd floor ofPhysics West.I Mandel
Physics and Astronomy Research Poster Session
Thursday 5th December 2013 1500-1800 Hours, Bridge Study RoomThe first annual Physics and Astronomy Research Poster Session onThursday 5 December 2013 in the Bridge Study Lounge. The purposeof this informal poster conference is to get all the postgraduatestudents from the different research groups together to talk abouttheir work, in a relaxed environment.
Please register your interest, here by 3 December 2013
High quality snacks and refreshments will be provided for a variety ofdiets (vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian..) to be as inclusive as possible.
 
December Degree Congregation
Wednesday 11th December 2013, 1030 HoursThe Degree Congregation for the School of Physics and Astronomy will beheld on Wednesday 11December 2013 at 10.30am.
EPS Christmas Social
`
Thursday 12 December, 1400-1600 Hours, Hornton GrangeWith the Christmas season fast approaching; please join me for a drink,buffet and festive entertainment at Hornton Grange on Thursday 12December.
 Everyone is welcome but please confirm your attendance byregistering 
See Also
Steffi graf playing  - EspagnolJournal articles: 'Maze gardens Attention in children' – GrafiatiTelegram boss Pavel Durov banned from leaving France in criminal probeHow the V-22 Osprey's crash history earned it the nickname of 'the widow-maker'
here
I look forward to seeing you and celebrating a successful year.Richard Williams, Head of College, Engineering and Physical Sciences
CQG - highlights for 2012-13
Birmingham did pretty well, with 2 papers (as far as I can tell):(1) S M Aston et al, "Update on quadruple suspension design for AdvancedLIGO"For those who don't know him, Stuart Aston was a student working withClive, who split his time between advanced LIGO work and theEuclid-sensor development. He now works for LIGO at Livingston.Birmingham co-authors include Dave Hoyland, Deepali, Ludovico and Clive.(2) B. Sorazu et al: Experimental test of higher-order Laguerre-Gaussmodes in the 10 m Glasgow prototype interferometerB'ham co-authors are Paul Fulda (a student working with Andreas now atFlorida), Charlotte and Andreas.
See here
Well done!Alberto Vecchio
Selection of ATHENA+ and eLISA
Selection of ATHENA+ and eLISA for the ESA L2 and L3 missions has nowbeen confirmed - seehere for details

Trevor Ponman 
Week Commencing 25 November 2013
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 27th November 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West LibraryCoffee and Biscuits with speaker at 1030 Hours Second Floor Coffee LoungeAndrew Levan, WarwickTitle: TBC
 
Prof Alberto Vecchio's Inaugural Lecture
Wednesday 27 November 2013, 1715 Hours Physics West 117, followed by areception in the Physics West LibraryTitle: Gravitational Waves and the unheard broadcast of the violentuniverse
To register visithere
Postgraduate Open Day
Wednesday 27th November 2013, 1400 Hours Physics West 117The School will be taking part in the University's postgraduate Open Daywith an event beginning at 2pm in West 117. There will be a short talkfollowed by an opportunity to speak to researchers from areas around theSchool about PhD places.Andy Schofield
EPS Christmas Social
`
`Thursday 12 December, 1400-1600 Hours, Hornton GrangeWith the Christmas season fast approaching; please join me for a drink,buffet and festive entertainment at Hornton Grange on Thursday 12December.
 Everyone is welcome but please confirm your attendance byregistering 
See Also
Journal articles: 'Will they print it? They will print it ".How can you be sure?"" So long Higgins "How do you know ?"' – Grafiati
here
I look forward to seeing you and celebrating a successful year.Richard Williams, Head of College, Engineering and Physical Sciences
Week Commencing 18 November 2013
ASR Group Meeting (Re-scheduled)
Wednesday 20 November 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West Library
School Colloquium
Wednesday 20 November 2013, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre(SO6)Prof Eric Wolff, British Antarctic Survey, University of CambridgeTitle: Frozen in Time: Ice cores and climate
Week Commencing 11 November 2013
ASR Group
Wednesday 13th November 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West LibraryWalter Del Pozzo to lead the sessionTitle: TBC
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 13th November 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13Stephen Fairhurst, CardiffTitle: What can we learn from Chirp?
Week Commencing 4 November 2013
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 6th November 2013, 1400 Hours, Physics West 117Seminar to be led by Jan HarmsTitle: Gravitational Wave Detection at the Twilight of the Dawn
School Colloquium
Wednesday 6th November 2013, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Malcolm McCulloch, Head of Energy & Power Group, University of OxfordTitle: User Centred Smart Energy Systems - the gentle revolution
Prof Alberto Vecchio's Inaugural Lecture
Wednesday 27 November 2013, 1715 Hours Physics West 117, followed by areception in the Physics West LibraryTitle: Gravitational Waves and the unheard broadcast of the violentuniverseTo register visit
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/colleges/eps/events/inaugural-lecture/Alberto-Vecchio-27-11-2013.aspx 
Publications
"Comparison of Gravitational Wave Detector Network Sky Localization Approximations"K. Grover, S. Fairhurst, B. F. Farr, I. Mandel, C. Rodriguez, T. Sidery,A. Vecchio has been submitted to PRD
http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.7454
Week Commencing 28 October 2013
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 30th October 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West LibraryTrevor Ponman to lead the session `Advice to a young scientist'
 
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 30th October 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13Mark Sullivan, Southampton UniversityTitle: The Transient Universe: Cosmic Explosions and Dark Energy
Week Commencing 21 October 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 23 October 2013, 1530 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreEmeritus Prof Colin Gough, University of BirminghamTitle: The search for the Stradivari secret: the science and sounds ofthe violin
EPS College Assembly
Tuesday 22 October 2013, 1300 Hours, Watson Building, Lecture Theatre AYou are cordially invited to the EPS College Assembly. It is the start ofa new academic year; an opportunity to congratulate colleagues on a successfulyear just past and an opportunity to look forward with optimism. Assembly line-up* Where we're heading - Refreshing our College Strategy (ProfessorRichard A Williams)* Where we are now - Admissions Outcomes 2013 and Recruitment Year Ahead(Dr Steve Quigley)* Where we can make a difference - Virtual Environments forPost-Operative HealthcareRestoration and Rehabilitation (Professor Robert J Stone)I would encourage all colleagues in the College to attend and lookforward to seeing you there.
Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum
Thursday 24 October, 12.30pm-1.30pm, Bramall Music Building, ElgarConcert HallJoin the Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Eastwood, for his first staffaddress of the new academic year. He will report on the challenges andsuccesses of the past year, and look forward to theopportunities of the forthcoming academic session as The Times and TheSunday Times University of the Year.The Vice-Chancellor encourages all staff to attend and there will be anopportunity to ask your own questions on the day. If you would preferyou can submit a question in advance, and in confidence, however thesewill be put to the Vice-Chancellor after those asked on the day.Questions can be submitted to internalcomms@contacts.bham.ac.uk or via
@buzzunibham.
Visitors
Dr Alberto Sesana from AEI will be wisiting the group from the 21st to 25th October
Week Commencing 14 October 2013
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 16th October 2013, 1200 Hours, PW LibraryJessica Democles to lead the session
 
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 16th October 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13Nils Andersson, SouthamptonNeutron Stars as Cosmic Laboratories
Birmingham Heroes Lecture: Music of the Stars
Thursday 17th October, 6:15-8:30pm, Physics West 117When you look up at the sky on a clear night to do ever ask yourself: howmany of the twinkling stars have planets, like the planets orbiting ourown sun? And how many of those planets might be capable of harbouringlife, like the precious planet we live on? Is there some specialcombination of properties that a star must possess to elevate the chancesof it hosting a habitable planet? Or are some sun-like stars just toounsafe for their planets?In this second Birmingham Heroes lecture, Professor Bill Chaplin willdiscuss the leading role that Birmingham is playing in the study of otherstellar systems in our galaxy. The lecture will be held in Birmingham andwill see Professor Chaplin reprise his `Music of the Stars' lecture givenat the Institute of Physics in May 2013.The event is free of charge, however registration is essential as placesare limited. To register visit
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/events/items/heroes.aspx
Publications
(Accepted for publication in MNRAS) F Ziparo
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013arXiv1310.1398Z
Miscellaneous
A note about a recent graduate student - Vino Sangaralingam is soonheading off to Montreal to work on data from the MOST satellite and willbe working at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Montreal.I R Stevens
Week Commencing 7 October 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 9 October 2013, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Martin Dawson, University of StrathclydeTitle: Tiny lights with big potential: Micro-scale gallium nitridelight-emitting diodes for science, instrumentation and communicationsWednesday 9 October 2013, 1300 Hours, Biosciences Lecture Theatre 301Prof. Dame Athene Donald, University of CambridgeProf Dame Athene Donald will be here on 9th October speaking about"facilitating women's' progression to the top" at 1pm in Bioscienceslecture theatre 301. Athene will be around from 11am until just before4. After the seminar a room is booked for an open discussion session,which all are welcome to drop into for all or part of the session.Athene's excellent blog can be found on the Occam's Typewriter website."
Week Commencing 30 September 2013
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 2 October 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West LibraryClive Speake to lead the session
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Thursday 3 October 2013, 1300-1400 Hours, Physics West 106Harald Pfeiffer CITA - Numerical simulations of binary black holes
Visitors / New Staff /Changing Roles
Harald Pfeiffer will be visiting on the 3 Oct 2013Richard Reineman from GWR Instruments will be visiting Clive Speake onthe 3 Oct 2013Professor Alberto Vecchio will take up the role of Head of Astrophysicsand Space Research GroupDr Ian Stevens will become the Graduate Welfare Officer (Dr Garry Tungatewill act as Deputy).Dr Trevor Sidery will take up the role of Fixed Term Lecturer.Dr Will Farr has joined the School as a Birmingham Fellow.Dr Christopher Berry will be arriving on the 1 Oct 2013
 
Fire Safety Lectures
Wednesday 16th October 2-3pm & Wednesday Nov 13th 2.30-3.30pm, PoyntingLLT room S02All Staff and PG's that have not attended a Fire Safety Lecture in thepast 2 years are REQUIRED TO ATTEND.To try and equalise the attendance will Staff and PG's attend as follows:Surname beginning with A-K on Wednesday Oct 16th 2-3pm in Poynting LLTSurname beginning with L-Z on Wednesday Nov 13th 2.30-3.30pm in PoyntingLLTIf you cannot attend the one assigned, then please attend the othersession.
 
Week Commencing 23 September 2013
Observatory Open AfternoonFriday 27 September 2013, 1400 - 1800 HoursYou are warmly invited to visit the University of Birmingham Observatoryat Wast Hills Friday afternoon, 27th September 2013. A small team of uswill be at the Observatory from 2pm-6pm (and later if sky is clear) toshow, and demonstrate our new telescope (a 0.5m diameter RitcheyChretien), and supporting control systems.We are still in the process of commissioning the telescope, with severalimportant unfinished tasks, dangling cables, etc.. So this will be aninformal event for colleagues and friends, very much an "open house","take us as you find us", style.That said, we had "first light" with the new telescope last week - a veryexciting and important landmark! So you will be able to see the telescopein action. If the sky is clear, you're welcome to stay into the eveningwhile we do some observing.The Observatory can accommodate a limited number of people. So it will bevery useful to get an idea of how many people are likely to visit. Thiswill help us firm up plans next week, including steps to smooth outvisitor numbers through the afternoon if some times prove more popularthan others.Please email your reply to Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk if you intend tocome, and/or would like more information. Please reply ASAP. We willstart reviewing replies on Monday afternoon and will firm up plans onWednesday afternoon.Please also contact Jo for directions to the Observatory. There is spacefor some cars to park at the Observatory and in a nearby layby, howeverplease try to car share where possible.I'm happy to answer questions via email, or in person at School Committeemeeting.Graham Smithon behalf of Observatory Outreach Team
 
Promotion: Professor Andreas Freise
I am delighted to announce that Andreas Freise has been promoted toProfessor of Experimental Physics.Andy Schofield
School Committee Meeting
Tuesday 24 September 1400 Hours Poynting large lecture theatre.
Professor Ray Jones
Tuesday 24 September 2013, 1530 Bridge Study RoomThere will be a reception in the Bridge Study Room following the SchoolCommittee Meeting for Professor Ray Jones who will be retiring at the endof September.
Lucy Collinson
Wednesday 25 September 2013, 1600 Hours Admissions Lounge, TSOThere will be a reception for Lucy Collinson who will be leaving on the25 September 2013. Please come along to say goodbye.
Cycling Roadshow
23 - 27 September 2013, 1000 - 1500 Hours, Staff House SquareThere will be Cycling Roadshows on campus every day during Welcome Week,10am to 3pm.The road shows will be held in Staff House Square, at the front of StaffHouse with Road showactivities including:- bike maintenance- sale of cycle accessories- sale of discounted d-locks (Wednesday 12-3pm only)- advice on cycling and cycle routes- selection of bicycles to tryFor more information please contact sustainabletravel@contacts.bham.ac.uk
 https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/has/sustainable-travel/Events.aspx
Week Commencing 2 September 2013
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 4 September 20131200 Hours Physics West LibraryThis will be a fairly short meeting (30 mins or so), without any "FridayScience"-like session.There are two things that will be covered:1. News items - please come along with anything you have2. Discussion regarding the way the Group works
 
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Friday 6 September 20131400 Hours Poynting Small Lecture TheatreHelen Russell, WaterlooTitle: 'Massive molecular gas flows in brightest cluster galaxies'
 
Visitors / New Staff
Monday 2 September 2013Dr Walter De Pozzo will arrive on Monday 2 September 2013
Publications
The experimental half of the Gravitational Wave group have recentlypublished a paper in the Journal of Visualized Experiments, whichcombines a written article with a video showing the experimentalprocedure. Our paper, 'The generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beamsfor Higher-precision Interferometry', is an overview of the work carriedout in the group for the last 5 years on the application of ring shapedlaser beams (Laguerre-Gauss beams) in interferometric Gravitational Wavedetectors.You can check out the script and video here, look out for some familiarfaces: Charlotte Bond
http://www.jove.com/video/50564/the-generation-higher-order-laguerre-gauss-optical-beams-for-high 
Week Commencing 19 August 2013
Visitors / New Staff
Monday 19 August 2013Dr Will Farr will be arriving on Monday 19 August, prior to the commencementof his post. He will be based in room 223
 
Publications
Clive Speake is an author on a new paper http://prl.aps.org/accepted/3b070Ye9S7210e4a60466d45da9074cbe69d3745d
Canvas now available
Canvas - the university's new virtual learning environment to replace WebCT -is now available for all staff to access via webLearn.Once your courses are ready you can start to explore Canvas and prepare yourteaching material for the new academic year. The university has trainingcourses & online resources to help with this, detailed at webLearn. Eachschool in EPS has a Canvas Champion, who will be at the forefront in usingCanvas and provide advice and guidance to colleagues in their school. Dr IMandel is the Canvas Champion for Physics & Astronomy.
Week Commencing 12 August 2013 
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Thursday 15 August 20131400 Hours, Physics West 106Luke Kelley, Harvard University (Talk 1) and Michael Betancourt, Imperial(Talk 2)Talk 1 : A jetted tidal disruption: need for dynamically important magneticflux threading the supermassive black hole.Talk 2: A brief introduction to Hamiltonian Monte Carlo
Visitors / New Staff
Monday 12 August 2013 - Luke Kelley Harvard UniversityThursday 15 August 2013 - Michael Betancourt, ImperialBoth visitors will be based in the second floor visitor's office (219)Wednesday 14 August 2013 - Ben Farr will be arriving; Ben will be sharing anoffice with Trevor Sidery for the near future.
Publications
The second LSC-all paper on using squeezed light has been published in Naturephotonics letters: `Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wavedetector by using squeezed states of light' Andreas Freise
http://go.nature.com/CZ8XuF 
The fading of two transient ULXs to below the stellar mass Eddington limitBurke, Kraft, Soria, Maccarone, Raychaudhury, et al., Accepted for publicationin ApJ,
http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.8157
Rodriguez, Farr, Farr, MandelInadequacies of the Fisher Information Matrix in gravitational-wave parameterestimation
http://arxiv.org/abs/1308.1397
Dominik et al.Double Compact Objects II: Cosmological Merger Rates
http://arxiv.org/abs/1308.1546
Week Commencing 15 July 2013
Wednesday 17 July 2013
1200 Hours PW LibraryFelicia Ziparo to lead the session
 
EPS College Research Conference
Tuesday 16 July 2013, 0900-1630 Hours Avon RoomThe programme for the day is detailed belowTo find out more, and to register, please follow this link (it is important to register for the organisation of the catering)09:00 Tea/coffee09:15 Welcome: Richard Williams 09:30 Bill Chaplin (Physics) - Music of the stars and the search for new worlds10:00 David Craven (Mathematics) - From the local to the global in mathematics10:30 Zoe Schnepp (Chemistry) - Materials from Biomass11:00 Tea/coffee 11:30 Paula Mendes (Chem Eng) - Cellular Nanotechnology: Making Biological Interfaces Smarter12:00 Moataz Attallah (Met &Mat) - Advanced Materials Processing: From Process to Performance12:30 Duc Pham (Mech Eng) - Mechanical Engineering ... Open for Business13:00 Posters + lunch 14:00 Bob Stone (EECE) - Simulation in Defence, Healthcare and Heritage - High-Impact Research for Real World Applications14:30 Jeremy Wyatt (Comp Sci) - Robotics: a unifying grand challenge for engineering15:00 Tea/coffee 15:30 Jonathan Radcliffe (EECE) - Developing energy research in EPS and across the University16:00 Chris Rogers (Civil) - Sustainable Cities16:30 Closing remarks: Richard Williams 
Publications
Author: F.Ziparo et al.Title: The lack of star formation gradients in galaxy groups up to z~1.6,accepted for publication in MNRAS.
"http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.0833 
Week Commencing 08 July 2013
Excellence in Doctoral Supervision Award
Andreas Freise was awarded the "Excellence in Doctoral Supervision Award"University of Birmingham Engineering and Physical Sciences, and AlbertoVecchio was a runner-up for the award. The nomination process not onlyinvolves letters of recommendation from current students, but paststudents and the chair of the department as well. This is a highlycompetitive award in the University, as both the nominee and thenominator receive a £1,000 prize. These recognitions reflect highly on the level of instruction anddedication that a graduate student may expect while studying for eitheran experimental or data-analysis LSC related PhD. I hope you take thetime to nominate your students and advisors for similar awards!
 
Physics Graduation and Reception
Monday 8th July , 1.45pm, Bridge Study AreaStudents from the School will be graduating today Monday 8th July 2013 at1:45 and are invited to a reception in the Bridge study area afterwards.There will be up to 350 people and so we will overflow into the CoffeeLounge and also onto Chancellors Court. Graduates and their familiesappreciate meeting their lecturers and tutors so can I encourage as manyas possible to come and talk to our graduating students over thereception. Andy Schofield
 
Week Commencing 01 July 2013
College Summer Social
Tuesday 2 July 20131330 - 1530 Hours Gardens between the Arts and Watson BuildingsThe promised summer season will soon be upon us, but before that, I'd bedelighted if you would join me for a BBQ, strawberries and cream, and aglass of Pimms or soft drinks. I hope to see you there. Richard AWilliams, Head of College, Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Publications
Paper on high-power Laguerre-Gauss modes has been published in PhysicalReview Letters. It's short and has experimental results, Ludovico hasachieved very high quality results in terms of beam shape and qualityhere. This paper is the latest in our series of papers on LG modes forinterferometry, Andreas Freise.
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.251101 
Title: Characterising gravitational wave stochastic background anisotropywith Pulsar Timing Arrays. Authors: Chiara M. F. Mingarelli, TrevorSidery, Ilya Mandel and Alberto Vecchio
 http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.5394 
"Electromagnetic transients as triggers in searches for gravitationalwaves from compact binary mergers" by Kelley, Mandel, Ramirez-Ruiz. Hasbeen published in PRD
http://prd.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v87/i12/e123004
Week Commencing 23 June 2013
There is no news this week
Week Commencing 17 June 2013
Wednesday Group MeetingWednesday 19 June 20131200 Hours PW LibraryDeepali Lodhia to lead the session
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 19 June 20131430 Hours, PW 103Stephen Bamford, Nottingham
Open Days
Thursday 20 June, Friday 21 June & Saturday 22 June 2013University Open Day are to take place this week, a schedule detailingstaff involvement has been circulated.
School Committee Meeting
Monday 17 June 20131400 Hours, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre
University Car Parking
Thursday 20 June, Friday 21 June and Saturday 22 June 2013The University will be holding Open Days on Thursday 20, Friday 21and Saturday 22 June 2013. Open Day is a core recruitment activity forthe University and will bring a large number of prospective students tothe campus each day. As a result, there will be increased traffic in andaround campus and further pressure on parking. The South car park andPritchatts car park will be closed to staff in order to accommodatevisitor parking. In addition visitor `park and ride' facilities will beoperating on King Edward's School playing fields and the Selly OakHospital site to further relieve congestion and parking problems.Your cooperation and patience is appreciated. Please use an alternativemode of transport on these days where possible.
 
Publications
R. J. E. Smith, K. Cannon, C. Hanna, D. Keppel, and I. Mandel Towardsrapid parameter estimation on gravitational waves from compact binariesusing interpolated waveforms Phys. Rev. D 87, 122002 (2013),
http://prd.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v87/i12/e122002 
Additional Information
Press release on new results from LoCuSS.
You can also reach the PR via the banner on the University's home page.
 http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/06/13-Jun-13-Cosmic-giants-shed-new-light-on-dark-matter.aspx
Version 1.0 of the interferometer simulation tool Finesse
See http://www.gwoptics.org/finesse
Week Commencing 10 June 2013
Group Garden Party
Monday 10 June 2013Priorsfield, Edgbaston Park RoadJust a reminder that the annual group garden party will take place todayat 6.30pm.
Window Cleaning - Physics West
Tuesday 11 June 2013 0800 HoursThe University appointed window cleaners (ART CLEANING) will be inPhysics West on Tuesday June 11th from 8am. They will be cleaningEXTERNAL & INTERNAL WINDOWS where they are able to gain access. Ifpossible please can you: CLOSE EXTERNAL WINDOWS & CLEAR ACCESS to INTERNAL WINDOWS / CLEAR WINDOWSILLS.
Week Commencing 3 June 2013
 US Summer Students
Monday 3 June 2013US summer students, Jenna Klemkowsky and Zachary Hafen will be arrivingon Monday 3 June until the 31 July 2013.
Wednesday Group Meeting
Wednesday 5 June 20131200 Hours PW LibraryMark Burke to lead the sessionStarting from Wednesday June 5th 2013, and running every 2 weeks outsidethe main holiday periods, the group will hold an informal Group Meetingat 12.00 in the Physics Library. This will start with a short section onany news (typically just 10-15 minutes) and will be followed by a sciencesession along the lines of "Friday Science" which will finish around 1pm.
 
College Assembly
Wednesday 5 June 20131300 Hours Haworth 101College Assembly is a great opportunity to learn more about excitinginitiatives, network with colleagues and hear directly from SeniorManagement about future plans.I would encourage everyone in the Collegeto attend and look forward to seeing you all there. Professor Richard AWilliams, Head of College.
 
Group Garden Party
Monday 10 June 2013Priorsfield, Edgbaston Park RoadFor those of you that have not already responded and would like to attendcould you please confirm your attendance as soon as possible?
Week Commencing 27 May 2013
There is no news this week
 
Archive
Previous issues can be found  here 
Week Commencing 20 May 2013
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 24 May 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryChiara Mingarelli to lead the sessionChiara is giving her talk on her new work involving anisotropy in thegravitational wave background seen by Pulsar Timing Arrays.
Publications
Rory Smith, Chad Hanna, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Vecchio Rapidly evaluatingthe compact binary likelihood function via interpolationo
http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.3798
EPS Best Publication of the Month Award
The Best Publication of the Month for February was awarded to ProfessorsBill Chaplin and Yvonne Elsworth and Dr Andrea Miglio, for the paper "Asub-Mercury-sized exoplanet" published in Nature (Volume 494, Issue 7438,pp. 452-454).The paper reports the discovery of the smallest planet yet found outsideour solar system, a planet that is smaller than Mercury and not muchlarger than the Moon. The planet was discovered by the NASA Kepler spacetelescope, and Professor Chaplin led the team that used asteroseismologyto characterize the properties of the star hosting this small planet.There are also two other planets in this system. Kepler detects planetsby the miniscule dimming of starlight as planets `transit', or pass infront of, their host star. The fractional dimming depends on the size ofthe planet relative to the size of the star; the Birmingham team led thework that provided an accurate estimate of the size of the star, whichlies just over 200 light years from us, and it was thanks to this crucialinformation that it was possible to make such clear statements about thetiny absolute size of the planet. You can read more about the award here:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/colleges/eps/eps-community/index.aspx 
Week Commencing 13 May 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 15 May 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture TheatreDr K Nikolopoulos, University of BirminghamTitle: The discovery of a standard model-like Higgs boson at the LHC
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 15 May 20131400 Hours - Muirhead 112Maura McLaughlin, University of West Virginia (currently at Oxford)Title: A Galactic Scale Gravitational Wave Observatory
Visitors
Wednesday 15 May 2013Jessica Democles, Post-Doctoral Researcher will be visiting us onWednesday 15th May until Friday 17th May 2013.
Publications
The Transient Gravitational-Wave SkyAndersson et al.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.0816
Archive
Previous issues can be found  here 
Week Commencing 6 May 2013
School ColloquiumWednesday 8 May 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Anthony Lasenby University of CambridgeThe Cosmic Microwave Background: Recent results and implications forCosmology
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 8 May 20131400 Hours - Muirhead 112Christian Trenkel, Astrium
 
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 10 May 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryKat Grover to lead the session
 
Publications
Aasi et al.Parameter estimation for compact binary coalescence signals with thefirst generation gravitational-wave detector network
http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.1775
Week Commencing 29 April 2013
Felicia Ziparo - Post Doctoral Researcher
Felicia starts work with the group on Wednesday 1 May 2013
Network Maintenance
Tuesday 30 April 2013In order to progress an on-going issue, a network switch that providesservices to the College from within the Physics West building must bereplaced.It is proposed to do this work between 7am and 9am on Tuesday 30 April,and during this time a number of services will be interrupted
Week Commencing 22 April 2013
 
School Colloquium
Wednesday 24 April 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Frank Close - University of OxfordTitle: The Infinity Puzzle - The story of the Higgs Boson: From QED to the LHCvia Higgs and the Gang of Six
 
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 24 April 20131400 Hours - Muirhead 112Nigel Bishop Rhodes University South AfricaTitle: Applications of the characteristic formalism in relativity
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 26 April 20131300 Hours - Physics West 115Prof Mike Cruise to lead the sessionTitle: Open Access Publishing
Publications
Interferometric measurement of angular motionF.E. Pena Arellano, H. Panjwani, L.Carbone, and C.C. SpeakeReview of Scientific instruments, Vol. 84, Issue 4, April 2013
http://rsi.aip.org/resource/1/rsinak/v84/i4/p043101_s1
Week Commencing 25 March 2013
Visitors
Thursday 28 March - 12 April 2013Michal Dominik a student collaborator from Poland will be with us andusing the visitor's room from the 28 March until the 12 April.
Publications
We would like to announce the release of LIGO Magazine's second issue.This issue features articles about black holes, and the astrophysics anddata analysis that LIGO can do to find out more about these elusiveobjects. We also include a mix of conference reports, news items andstories from the detector sites. You can download the new magazine from:http://www.ligo.org/magazine/Andreas Freise for the LIGO Magazine editors
Week Commencing 18 March 2013
Coffee Hour
Monday 18 March 20131030 Hours - Admission Suite Poynting BuildingJust a reminder that Andy Schofield has introduced the coffee hour as anopportunity for staff to get together, please see below the original messageI am conscious that busyness of academic life and our split site over fourbuildings means there are fewer opportunities for us to meet informally asacademic staff. The colloquia and tea beforehand (which Clive organizes soeffectively) are an excellent opportunity to get together and should be seenas an essential part of School life. I think we need more - so I would liketo try a regular morning gathering once a week:Coffee/Tea on Mondays from 10:30-11:30 in the Admissions Suite (Poyntingbuilding) starting on Monday 25 Feb.The urn will be on (and of course one could support Lorna in the coffee loungeif you want something different). By spanning the teaching hour, hopefullypeople will be able to attend one or other half. The time also follows the VCsmeeting with Heads of Schools so occasionally there might be some news toconvey. It's an experiment so we will see how it goes.
College Assembly
Tuesday 19 March1300 Hours - G31 School of Mechanical EngineeringThe College Assembly is a great opportunity to learn more about excitinginitiatives, network with colleagues and hear directly from Senior Managementabout future plans.
 
Arts & Science Festival
Wednesday 20 March 20131600 Hours - Physics WestThere will be a public engagement event happening in Physics on Wednesday20th March from 4pm to 9pm as part of the University of Birmingham Arts andScience Festival and National Science and Engineering Week 18 March throughuntil 24 March. The whole event is open to families and the talks suitablefor older secondary school children and adults. It will feature hands onactivities and exhibits from particle physics, gravitational waves and theastronomy society and the following ~30 minute talks:17:00: Discovering Black holes with Gravitational Waves by Chiara Mingarelli17:45: Laser Interferometers and Gravitational Waves by Charlotte Bond18:30: An introduction to Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider by Cristina Lazzeroni19:15: Astronomy talk: tbcFor information on National Science and Engineering Week visithttp://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-weekFor more information on the University Science and Arts Festival visithttp://www.birmingham.ac.uk/artsandsciencefestival
School Colloquium
Wednesday 20 March 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture TheatreProf Myles Allen - University of OxfordTitle: Cumulative carbon, climate response and their implications
 
Publications
"Spectral properties of X-Ray binaries in Centaurus A"Burke et al., ApJ 766 88
 http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/766/2/88/
Week Commencing 11 March 2013
Coffee Hour
Monday 11 March 20131030 Hours - Admission Suite Poynting BuildingJust a reminder that Andy Schofield has introduced the coffee hour as anopportunity for staff to get together, please see below the originalmessageI am conscious that busyness of academic life and our split site overfour buildings means there are fewer opportunities for us to meetinformally as academic staff. The colloquia and tea beforehand (whichClive organizes so effectively) are an excellent opportunity to gettogether and should be seen as an essential part of School life. I thinkwe need more - so I would like to try a regular morning gathering once aweek:Coffee/Tea on Mondays from 10:30-11:30 in the Admissions Suite (Poyntingbuilding) starting on Monday 25 Feb.The urn will be on (and of course one could support Lorna in the coffeelounge if you want something different). By spanning the teaching hour,hopefully people will be able to attend one or other half. The time alsofollows the VCs meeting with Heads of Schools so occasionally there mightbe some news to convey. It's an experiment so we will see how it goes.
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 15 March 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryWill Vousden to lead the session
Visitors
Monday 11 March - Friday 15 March 2013 - Walter Del Pozzo from theNetherlands will be using the visitor's room (219) for the week.
 
Publications
"Studies of waveform requirements for intermediate mass-ratio coalescencesearches with advanced detectors"Smith, Mandel, Vecchio
  http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.6049 
Week Commencing 4 March 2013
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 6 March 20131400 Hours - Nuffield G13Suzanne Aigrain OxfordTitle: Stellar Activity in Planet Searches: from Nuisance to Signal
 
Making the Invisible Visible: discovering forces beyond what we see
Wednesday 20th March 20131600 Hours until 2100 Hours - Physics West, University of Birmingham,EdgbastonThe University of Birmingham's Particle Physics Group, GravitationalWave Group and Astronomical Society cordially invite you to attend anevening of discovery on Wednesday the 20th of March from 4pm to 9pm atthe University of Birmingham's Edgbaston campus. The event is a part ofthis year's National Science and Engineering Week and the University'sArts and Science Festival.We encourage adults, families and children of all ages to learn moreabout the physics of the universe we live in via our hands onactivities, lectures and demonstrations. Find out how we use kilometresize experiments and state of the art computer analysis and simulationto discover the invisible forces which influence everything from thesmallest subatomic particle to the structure of galaxies. For more information please contact Miss Katherine Grover, DoctoralResearcher in the Gravitational Wave Group:Email: kat@star.sr.bham.ac.ukPhone: 01214143721For information on National Science and Engineering Week visithttp://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-weekFor more information on the University Science and Arts Festival visithttp://www.birmingham.ac.uk/artsandsciencefestival
Week Commencing 25 February 2013
Vice Chancellor's Open Forum
Tuesday 26 February 20131230-1330 Hours - Bramhall Music Building, Elgar Concert HallIn this terms Open Forum, the Vice-Chancellor will be interviewed byDavid Gregory-Kumar, BBC Midlands Today Science and EnvironmentalCorrespondent, on key issues facing the High Education sector and theUniversity of Birmingham.
School Colloquium
Wednesday 27 February 20131600 Hours - Pointing Small Lecture TheatreDr Alex Brand, University of AberdeenTitle: Filamentous Fungi - Microbial Space Invaders
Postgraduate Admissions Day
Thursday 28 February 2013The main event will take place in the Physics West Library, with coffeeavailable in the 2nd floor coffee lounge at 2pm
Inaugural Lecture
Thursday 28 February 201317:15 Hours - Haworth Large Lecture Theatre 101, Haworth Building andafterwards for a reception in the Haworth foyerProfessor William Chaplin, Professor of Astrophysics, School of Physicsand Astronomy"Sounding stars and sizing up Exoplanets: Searches for other SolarSystems"
Friday Science Meeting - CANCELLED
This week's Friday Science has been cancelled, the schedule will resumeas planned on Friday 15th March 2013
Week Commencing 18 February 2013
There is no news this week
Week Commencing 11 February 2013
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 13 February 20131400 Hours - Nuffield G17Stefan Hild, GlasgowTitle: Interferometry beyond the Quantum Limit. Squeezed vacuum,stiff photons and other ways to trick Heisenberg
School Colloquium
Wednesday 13 February 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture TheatreDr Giovanna Tinetti, University College LondonTitle: What are Exoplanets Made Of?
 
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 15 February 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryMiranda Bradshaw to lead the session
Post Doc Interviews
Wednesday 13 February 2013Trevor Ponman and Graham Smith will be interviewing candidates. Candidates will be spending the majority of the day at the University,talking to members of the group.
 
Week Commencing 4 February 2013
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 6 February 20131400 Hours - Nuffield G13Henk Hoekstra, LeidenTitle: Looking at the Dark Side: Weak Lensing by Large Scale Structure
 
Visitors
Henk Hoekstra from Leiden will be visiting on the 6th and 7th Feb 2013.
Week Commencing 28 January 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 30 January 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre (SO6)Dr Hugh Hunt, University of CambridgeTitle: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering
 
Friday Science
Friday 1 February 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryMelissa Gillone to lead the session
 
Professor Mike Cruise
Professor Mike Cruise will be at the University on Monday 28 January,from approximately 10am until 3pm.
Week Commencing 21 January 2013
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 23 January 20131400 Hours - Nuffield G13Paul Crowther SheffieldThe most massive stars in the local universe.The lower limit to the mass of stars is well defined, while the upper limit remainscontroversial. I shall summarise evidence in support of the currently accepted limitand present recent VLT -based studies of the brightest members of young, nearby starclusters which argue for a higher limit. Consideration is given to questions ofbinarity using a variety of methods, while we present simulations of star clusterswhich argue for an upper mass limit close to 300 solar masses. The widersignificance of this limit is discussed both for the integrated properties ofunresolved star clusters and the possibility that pair-instability supernovae existin the local universe, as proposed for SN 2007bi.
Re-Scheduled Friday Science / ASR Group Meeting
Friday 25 January 20131300 Hours - Law LT3Dan Brown to lead the session - Modelling optics in future gravitationalwave detectors
Week Commencing 14 January 2013
Colloquium
Wednesday 16 January 20131600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre (SO6)Tea/coffee and biscuits available in the coffee lounge from 3.30pmProf Joao Magueijo, Imperial CollegeTitle: Alternative Theories of Gravity
Friday Science
Friday 18 January 20131300 Hours - Physics West LibraryDan Brown to lead the session
 
Visitors
Wednesday 16 January 2013 - Prof Joao Magueijo, Imperial College.Wednesday 16 January 2013 - David Bacon, PhD External Examiner,Portsmouth
Week Commencing 7 January 2013
School Committee Meeting
Monday 7 January 20131230 hours Large Lecture Theatre, Poynting Building
All staff are invited to attend.
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 9 January 20131400 - 1500 Hours Muirhead 112Chris Done, DurhamTitle & Abstract: AGN in the light of stellar mass black holesI will review what we know about accretion and its associated jetin stellar mass black holes, and then compare this to AGN to seewhich parts of the physics of the accretion flow simply scale withmass and which don't.
Visitors
Chris Done will be arriving at 11am and will using the visitors room 219 on the second floor.
BBC Stargazing Live 2013
On January 8th, 9th and 10th BBC will be airing their third StargazingLive series and tocoincide with this the BBC have partnered with the University'sAstronomical Society, academic groups and other local astronomy societiesto host astronomy events and activities on the evening of Wednesday 9th(17:00-22:00) and the day of Saturday 12th (11:00-17:00) of January. Theevents will include activities such as outdoor observing sessions inChancellor's Court (weather permitting) as well as planetarium shows,family performances and talks from people such as Prof Bill Chaplin, DrMartin Hendry, Dr Sam George and others. There will also be a telescopesurgery, and many hands-on activities lead by members of the UoB AstroSocand the Birmingham Astronomical Society. Additional activities are alsobeing provided by members of the Gravitational Waves group and the Schoolof Mathematics. The activities will be based in Physics West, PoyntingPhysics and the Nuffield building.
This is a free event, however it is also ticketed. If you would like aticket or more informationplease get in touch with us at astrosoc@guild.bham.ac.uk or visithttp://astrosoc.org.uk/index.php/2013/01/07/bbc-stargazing-live-2013-visitor-information
Week Commencing 10 December 2012
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Tuesday 11 December 20121200 - 1300 Hours Physics West LibraryChristopher Berry (Cambridge)- Extreme mass ratio bursts and supermassive black holes.
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 14 December 20121200 - 1300 Hours Physics West 106Ben Aylott - The rise of the machines and strategies for mitigating the risks posed by artificial general intelligences.
Coffee & Cake
Chiara Mingarelli is planning the above event, those interested please complete the on-line Doodle poll to assist with the scheduling.
Fire Training for All Staff and Post Graduates
Tuesday 11 December 20121100 - 1200 Hours Poynting LLT (Priority to staff with surnames K-Z)
College Christmas Social
Tuesday 11 December 2012, 1700-2000 Hours The Barber Institute.Please contact Liam Singleton (l.singleton@bham.ac.uk) as soon as possible to avoid disappointment as the venue can only hold a maximum of 180 guests. Drinks and snacks will be provided.
Visitors
Christopher Berry (Cambridge) will be visiting on Tuesday 11 December, when not in the seminar he will be using the visitors room (219).Steven Taylor, University of Cambridge will be visiting on Monday 10 December for the whole week, he will also be using the visitors room (219).
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