Courtesy APOD

This Week Archive

Week Commencing 3 May 2021

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Wednesday 5 May 2021, 1400 Hours
Title: Exoplanetary Atmospheres in 3D: implications from radiation-chemistry
       (cloud)-hydrodynamics simulations
Speaker: Nathan Mayne, University of Exeter

Abstract: In this presentation I will detail some of our efforts to apply 3D
climate models to the study of exoplanets. Firstly, I will give a brief overview
of the observations and the key questions they pose, before detailing the
approach we have adopted at the Exeter Exoplanet Theory Group. Our studies are
based on the UK Met Office 3D model, termed the Unified Model, and I will
briefly describe the development environment before presenting some of the
physical applications. Starting with gas giant planets, and particularly hot
Jupiters, I will show how the atmospheric flows act to move the large scale
structure, chemical state and observations away from that predicted through
equilibrium and/or 1D considerations. Time permitting, I will very briefly show
results from state-of-the-art 3D simulations of gas giants including clouds,
before finishing with applications to terrestrial exoplanets, exploring the
importance of convection, and how it is treated, in setting the overall climate
of tidally-locked planets.

https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83664378648?pwd=c0Zsbk9Sa3U5YWkwSnBpTW16K3VNdz09
Meeting ID: 836 6437 8648

Topic: PhD meet & greet
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86976649437?pwd=TTVtUW82Y1EyODQzY1BhKzVFbVBVZz09
Meeting ID: 869 7664 9437

Pulsar Timing Arrays – Group Study/Journal Club

Friday 7 May 2021, 1400 Hours
Via Zoom: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87042723078?pwd=TkVYcFZJeHlzTUlGai9YOEZhTUI3Zz09

A small group of us have decided to run something between a group study and
journal 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 astrophysical
signal in the NANOGrav 12.5-year data set is expected to be confirmed, thereby
opening a new observational window on supermassive black holes.

Everyone in the group is welcome to attend. Please circulate this link to
anyone you think might be interested. We will meet once a week, on Fridays
at 2.00pm, starting next week (7th May). We expect this to run for between
6-8 weeks.

For more details, see this webpage: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/~dgerosa/ptaprimer

Chris Moore and Davide Gerosa

Publications

In Science:
Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole -- implications for massive
star winds
James 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/2102.09091
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/02/17/science.abb3363

Its companion, in ApJ:
Wind mass-loss rates of stripped stars inferred from Cygnus X-1
Coenraad J. Neijssel, Serena Vinciguerra, Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Ryosuke Hirai,
James C. A. Miller-Jones, Arash Bahramian, Thomas J. Maccarone, Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.09092

GRB jet structure and the jet break
Gavin P Lamb, D. Alexander Kann, Joseph John Fernández, Ilya Mandel,
Andrew J. Levan, Nial R. Tanvir
https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.11099

Bayesian inference for gravitational waves from binary neutron star mergers
in third-generation observatories
Rory 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 Vitale
https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.12274

Impact of Massive Binary Star and Cosmic Evolution on Gravitational Wave
Observations I: Black Hole - Neutron Star Mergers Floor
S. Broekgaarden, Edo Berger, Coenraad J. Neijssel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez,
Debatri Chattopadhyay, Simon Stevenson, Martyna Chruslinska, Stephen Justham,
Selma E. de Mink, Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.02608

Global calibration of novel 3-hydroxy fatty acid based temperature and
pH proxies
Canfa Wanga, James Bendle, Huan Yang, Yi Yang, Alice Hardman, Afrifa Yamoah,
Amy Thorpe, Ilya Mandel, Sarah Greene, Junhua Huang, Shucheng Xie
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Volume 302, 1 June 2021, Pages 101-119
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703721001563

Week Commencing 16 November 2020

ASR Group Meeting

Wednesday 18 November 2020, 2pm, via Zoom

Kazuhiro 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 meeting

https://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 Zoom
Speaker: Abbas Askar, Lund University
Title: The formation of gravitational wave sources in star clusters:
       From stellar to intermediate-mass black holes

Abstract:
Over the past five years, several merging compact object binary systems have
been detected through gravitational waves by the LIGO /Virgo detectors. While
these observations provide a new window to observe the universe, they also
raise important questions about the astrophysical origin and formation of
these elusive binary systems. In this talk, I will discuss the various
processes by which gravitational wave sources can form in dense stellar
clusters. The retention and long-term evolution of compact objects in stellar
clusters depends on a variety of physical processes that are not fully
understood. I will give an overview of these processes and explain how they
shape the properties and merger rates of binary black holes that originate in
dense environments. Additionally, it has also been suggested that massive and
dense star clusters could be potential sites for forming black holes with
masses between ~ 100 to 10,000 solar masses. I will talk about the key
processes and caveats involved in the formation, retention and growth of
these intermediate-mass black holes in the densest star clusters. I will also
discuss how these clusters that host intermediate-mass black holes can end up
in the galactic centre where they may play a role in seeding the formation of
super-massive black holes.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09

Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176
Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1230-1300 via Zoom
 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98618684986?pwd=YmlTaU1Xd0ZjSzhvMFNGZk9nejBjUT09

Meeting ID: 986 1868 4986
Passcode: 364718

   

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 28 October 2020, 1600 via zoom
Speaker: Jan Zalasiewicz, University of Leicester
Title: The New World of the Anthropocene

Abstract:
Human civilization has grown around the stable shorelines and climate, and
amid the diverse biosphere of, the last ten millenia or so of the Holocene
Epoch: the latest of many interglacial phases of the Quaternary Ice Age, and
the one that the created the world we live in. The growth of human civilization
has now put that stability into question. With the explosion in both human
numbers and energy use since the Industrial Revolution has come sharp and
large-scale changes to landscape, biosphere and climate. These rapid and
large-scale changes have led to the suggestion that we are now living through
the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch – an interval of geological time
dominated by human influence. The term was proposed just two decades ago by
Paul Crutzen, the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist, and has since been
widely used – and sharply debated. Its analysis needs converting the various
kinds of environmental change into different kinds of geology. Physical change
is most strikingly represented by the spread of the ‘urban stratum’, the
refashioning of sand, clay and limestone into our buildings, foundations and
transport systems. Biological changes include the ongoing mass extinction event
and the effect of invasive species (while human-made ‘anthroturbation’ is as
extraordinary as anything in the fossil record). Chemical changes include the
reshaping of the Earth’s natural carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen cycles. The
combined change is of a scale to leave a signal, in strata now forming, that
will persist for many millions of years. Of more immediate significance is
how this new concept in Earth history might be used to help us navigate the
conditions 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 & Zoom

In place of our normal in-person Astronomy in the City events, we are starting
a series of virtual events which are designed to bring you all the familiar
highlights. We hope you will be able to join us for the first event on
Wednesday, 28 October 2020 at 18:00. It will feature talks live streamed via
YouTube 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 City
webpage: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

In this first event, we will feature a talk by University of Birmingham PhD
student Andris Dorozsmai called “The great debate in astronomy - the
Shapley/Curtis debate on the scale of the Universe” as well as a talk about
the night sky in November. Following this, you will have the chance to ask
assembled experts any astronomical questions you may have.

We are currently planning a second event for 25 November 2020, with more
expected in the New Year. We hope to welcome you to one of these virtual
events. Dr Sean McGee, University of Birmingham Observatory Director on
behalf of the The Astronomy in the City Team

Publications

My new paper has been published recently. I believe many of you are interested
in this topic: the first hint of the expansion of the universe in short
distance scales (~0.01 au).

Kazuhiro Agatsuma

https://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 Zoom
Speaker: Savita Mathur
Title: Insights on stellar rotation and magnetism from main-sequence solar
       like stars to red giants

Abstract:
During the last 15 years, photometric data of large samples of stars have been
collected thanks to space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler/K2 or TESS . The high
quality of these data have allowed us to progress on different fields of
astrophysics from exoplanet search to stellar physics, including
galactic-archeology. The study of standing waves generated in stars proved that
they carry crucial information to probe stellar interiors. The asteroseismic
analysis of the the aforementioned data opened a window on the interior of
solar-like stars with an external convective envelope. For instance, it is
possible to measure the depth of these convective envelopes in main-sequence
solar-like stars or to determine the rotation rate of the core of subgiants
and red giants, showing that those rates are much slower than what is predicted
by standard solar models.

Understanding the transport of angular momentum is crucial to better determine
the stellar ages when using stellar evolution models. More than 40 years ago,
Skumanich (1972) showed how rotation and magnetic activity decreased with the
age of a solar-like star. While this result was based on the study of young
cluster stars, later observations of other clusters, still younger than the
Sun, agreed with this age-rotation or “gyrochronology” relationship. With more
recent studies based on Kepler data, this empirical relation does not seem to
hold, opening new questions on stellar dynamics evolution.

In this talk, I will focus on targets from solar-like stars to red giants where
rotation and magnetism could be measured with photometric data. I will show
how the photometric data of Kepler is providing key information on the
understanding of angular momentum transport in stars and of magnetic activity
at different evolutionary stages of a star like the Sun.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09

Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176
Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 1230-1300 via Zoom
     
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98618684986?pwd=YmlTaU1Xd0ZjSzhvMFNGZk9nejBjUT09

Meeting ID: 986 1868 4986
Passcode: 364718

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 14 October 2020, 16.00 via zoom
Speaker: Gerald Gabrielse, Northwestern/Harvard
Title: 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 and
symmetries knitted together by field theory—is the great triumph and the great
frustration of modern physics. The great triumph is its ability to predict the
outcome of laboratory tests with exquisite precision. The great frustration is
its inability to account for basic features of the universe, like how it
survives annihilation after the big bang, why it is made of matter rather than
antimatter, why does gravity not fit well, what is dark matter, etc. The
magnetic and electric dipole moments of the electron, measured using completely
differently methods, illustrate the crucial role of tabletop measurements for
testing the standard model and beyond.

The electron’s magnetic moment, determined to 3 parts in 10^{13}, is the most
precisely determined property of an elementary particle. The measurement with
a one-electron quantum cyclotron tests the most precise prediction of the
standard model. A ten times more precise measurement is currently being
pursued in light of an intriguing 2.4 standard deviation discrepancy that has
recently emerged between the measurement and the prediction. A positron
measurement at the new precision should provide a 200 times improved test of
the standard model’s fundamental CPT symmetry invariance with leptons.

The electron electric dipole, measured using the incredibly strong internal
field on valence electrons within cold molecules in a cold beam, is an
extremely sensitive probe for physics beyond the standard model. The standard
model requires 4th order perturbation theory to produce the CP violation needed
for an electric dipole, while supersymmetric models and other proposed
beyond-the-standard-model improvements predict much large electric dipoles
moments from first order perturbation theory. Following two previous
order-of-magnitude improvements in sensitivity, a new measurement seeks to
improve 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 Homogeneous Evolution: A rapid population synthesis approach
Jeff 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 Zoom
Speaker: Leo Stein
Title: Integrability of eccentric, spinning black-hole binaries up to second
       post-Newtonian order

Abstract:

Accurate gravitational waveforms are necessary for LIGO and LISA sources, and
especially for the prospect of multi-band gravitational wave observations.
Computing these waveforms accurately is expensive because of the complicated
precession dynamics over a very large number of orbits.  The most complicated
scenario is an eccentric binary where both spins and the orbital plane are
precessing.  Current state-of-the-art waveform models rely on analytical
approximations like orbit averaging and a small-eccentricity expansion.  I
will present work towards avoiding these approximations by exploiting
integrability of the Hamiltonian dynamics of eccentric, spinning black hole
binaries.  Integrability lets us construct action-angle variables, which make
the evolution very simple for arbitrarily long times.  We will present four
out of five of the action integrals at 1.5PN.  And while post-Newtonian
corrections break integrability, we can recover it in a perturbative sense.
We will present explicit (perturbative) constants of motion at 2PN order, and
the method that was used to find them.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92396224176?pwd=eXhlb3NjRVdkem5YNWNsQjZyQnJaQT09

Meeting ID: 923 9622 4176
Passcode: 802450

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar PhD Meet & Greet

Wednesday 30 September 2020, 1530-1600 via Zoom
     
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97667447083?pwd=TUpBU3Z0ZTlJWUhzSE5mYkVtdFEvQT09

Meeting ID: 976 6744 7083
Passcode: 822209

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 30 September 2020, 16.00 via zoom
Speaker: Andrew Beggs, University of Birmingham 
Title: COVID-19 for the scientifically minded

Abstract:

SARS -CoV-2 is a clear and present danger to public health, initially being
identified in an outbreak in Wuhan, China in December. Since then it has swept
the world, changing all aspects of life. In this talk I will give the
background to SARS -CoV-2, why it is so dangerous and virulent compared to
other 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 prescriptions
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03890

Ackley et al. (including C. Neijssel, I. Mandel) Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory: A kilohertz-band gravitational-wave detector in the global network
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.03128

Lucy Thomas

Congratulations to Lucy.  Lucy won the national 3- minute Thesis prize for the
best description of PhD work in all subjects in all 48 UK universities, whose
final 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 2020
Due to the time difference with California, the seminar is later than the
usual time slot: 
Time: 16.30-17.30 
Location: Zoom - See below for the login information.

Speaker: Jim Fuller, Caltech
Title: Fun with Binary Stars

Jim has also very kindly agreed to join the PhD meet & greet, so I'm happy to
say that this is also starting back up again. I've opened a zoom channel for
this, with information below. For the same reasons of time differences, this
time the PhD meet & greet will take place after the seminar, at 18.00.

Cheers Silvia

Abstract:
In addition to being the sources of exotic supernovae and gravitational waves,
binary stars allow for interesting new insights in stellar astrophysics. The
pulsations of tidally distorted stars in close binaries are "tidally trapped,"
exhibiting amplitude modulated over the orbital period. I will demonstrate why
this tidal trapping occurs and will discuss how tidally trapped pulsations may
be used for asteroseismology. Stellar oscillations are also excited by tidal
forcing, leading to tidal synchronization and circularization. I will show
compelling observational evidence that a resonance locking process operates
in both planetary systems and stellar binaries such as heartbeat stars, driving
synchronization that can be much more efficient than prior expectations.
Finally, I will examine new discoveries of binary white dwarfs with sub-hour
orbital periods, discussing implications for their formation, tidal physics,
gravitational wave signals, and their impending demise.

Topic: Seminar Jim Fuller
Time: Jun 24, 2020 04:30 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91331367587
Meeting ID: 913 3136 7587

Topic: Phd Meet & Greet Jim Fuller 
Time: Jun 24, 2020 06:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92266243273?pwd=QmxFZm9MY2VmTDZzMG9SY0NhOFhZZz09
Meeting ID: 922 6624 3273
Password: 203173

Publications

Simple recipes for compact remnant masses and natal kicks
Ilya Mandel, Bernhard Müller
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.08360

An outflow powers the optical rise of the nearby, fast-evolving tidal
disruption event AT2019qiz
Matt Nicholl … S.R.Oates … I. Mandel et al.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.02454

The Process of Stellar Tidal Disruption by Supermassive Black Holes.
The first pericenter passage
Elena M. Rossi, Nicholas C. Stone, Jamie A.P. Law-Smith, Morgan MacLeod,
Giuseppe Lodato, Jane L. Dai, Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12528

On the maximum stellar rotation to form a black hole without an accompanying
luminous transient
Ariadna Murguia-Berthier, Aldo Batta, Agnieszka Janiuk, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz,
Ilya Mandel, Scott C. Noble, Rosa Wallace Everson
https://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 Library
At 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 117
Speaker: Tom Collett, University of Portsmouth
Title: The statistical era of strong gravitational lensing cosmology

Abstract: Local measurements of the expansion rate are in tension with those
inferred from observations of the distant Universe. Is this the first sign of
new physics or merely a sign of systematic errors within individual probes?
This key question remains unsolved, because there are only a handful of
established probes. Here I will talk about how strong gravitational lensing
offers a new window on precision cosmology, shining a new light on the dark
Universe. I will present strong lensing constraints on the expansion rate of
the Universe and the equation of state of dark energy. I will also show how
lensing combined with stellar dynamics yields the most precise test to date of
the validity of General Relativity on extragalactic scales.

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
Speaker: Chris Lintott, University of Oxford
Title: From Galaxy Zoo to LSST, Citizen Science in the age of Big Data.

Abstract: Citizen Science projects such as Galaxy Zoo (launched in 2007) have
demonstrated that hundreds of thousands of volunteers can make significant
contributions to astronomical research. Project Principal Investigator Chris
Lintott will review the latest results from the project, covering both 
orphological studies of large populations of galaxies and unusual objects such
as ‘Hanny’s Voorwerp’, a galaxy-scale light echo.  Galaxy Zoo inspired the
creation of the Zooniverse platform, which now hosts nearly 100 projects -
using recent astrophysical examples, including searches for supernovae and
strong lenses, Lintott will argue that there will be a place for volunteer
classification well into the next decade, highlighting in particular novel
machine learning approaches which manage the division of effort between
volunteers and machines in a flexible, optimised manner. The talk includes at
least one picture of penguins.

The colloquium with be followed-up with light refreshments accompanied byr
fruits & cakes. This can be an occasion to discuss with our speaker in a more
informal setting. See also this post-colloquium event as another way to
socialise with colleagues. This will be held in the museum between the small
and large Poynting Theatres.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 4 March 2020, 6.15pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre, S02

University of Birmingham faculty member Dr Dennis Martynov will discuss his
work in a talk titled: "How do we observe and utilize gravitational waves?".
The first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015 has proven that
Einstein was right once again and triggered a new era in astronomy and
astrophysics. This talk will discuss techniques of gravitational-wave detection
and astrophysical properties of black holes and neutron stars observed by the
LIGO and Virgo detectors. Dr Martynov will also mention the future plans of
the gravitational wave community about developing the existing instruments and
building new observatories.

Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity040320.eventbrite.co.uk

This 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. More
details are on our website:

http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

Publications

Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the
neutron star–black hole binary merger S190814bv. K.~Ackley et al.
(including I. Mandel)
arXiv:2002.01950

Cosmic Rates of Black Hole Mergers and Pair-Instability Supernovae from
Chemically Homogeneous 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 Langer
arXiv:2002.11630

Week Commencing 17 February 2020

ASR Group Meeting

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

Physics Colloquium

Wednesday 19 February 2020 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
Speaker: Tom McLeigh, University of York
Title: New Physics from Old: Medieval Science and the Ordered Universe Project.

Abstract: For the English polymath, Robert Grosseteste, light was the
fundamental first form that gave dimensionality and stability to the material
world. In a dozen scientific treatises written in the early 13th Century, he
postulated 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 been
referred to as the ‘Medieval Big Bang’. His arguments are so taut that they
can be translated into mathematics – our resulting numerical simulations show
that Grosseteste’s model does actually work. He also described the method for
developing a universal principle from repeated observations under controlled
conditions and argued that the explanation needing fewer suppositions and
premises was the best. In his theory of colour, we have found through close
examination of the manuscript evidence for his De colore (on colour) and his
De iride (on the rainbow) and a mathematical analysis of their content, that
he 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 collaborative
research approach has revealed new insights into his thought, particularly on
light. An interdisciplinary team of historians, scientists, linguists and
philosophers has developed techniques of joint reading of the medieval texts
that have shown them to be logically consistent and founded on mathematically
based models. We reflect on how a study of this extraordinary medieval
science can help throw fresh light on the history of scientific thought, and
bridge the current perception gap between the study of science and humanities.
The greatest surprise of all is that the project has stimulated many new pieces
of science of contemporary interest (whose publications contain some unusually
old references...)

Week Commencing 27 January 2020

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch

Wednesday 29 January 2020, 1pm, Physics West Library
At 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 103
Speaker: Dr Or Graur
Title: Rage against the dying of the light: Type la supernovae at 1000 days
and beyond

Abstract: Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have famously been used as standard
candles, a use that led to the discovery that the expansion of the Universe
was accelerating under the influence of a mysterious new phenomenon called
"dark energy." And yet, we still do not have a clear picture of the progenitors
of SNe Ia, i.e., what types of star systems end up exploding as these
supernovae. For obvious reasons, most observers study these supernovae when
they are young and at their brightest. In my talk, I will present recent
results from studies of SN Ia rates, from non-detections of SNe Ia in
different types of observations, and from SN Ia observations taken thousands
of days after explosion. I will specifically emphasize how Hubble Space
Telescope observations of old SNe Ia >1000 days after explosion reveal new
information on the progenitors and physics of the explosions and their
aftermath.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 29 January 2020, 6:15 pm, Poynting Building Large Lecture Theatre S02

University of Birmingham Lecturer Dr Davide Gerosa will discuss his work
in a talk titled: "Somewhere in between astronomy and relativity". He will
discuss how, until recently, everything we know about the Universe (planets,
stars, galaxies...) came to us through light. Straddling the boundaries between
astronomy and relativity, gravitational waves provide a fundamentally new way
of exploring the cosmos. Why would we only look at the Universe when we can
also hear it?

Astronomy 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 recent research, and a
question-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions about
the night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if
the weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus.

Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity290120.eventbrite.co.uk

This 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 formation
Alejandro Vigna-Gomez, Morgan MacLeod, Coenraad J. Neijssel,
Floor S. Broekgaarden, Stephen Justham, George Howitt, Selma E. de Mink
and Ilya Mandel

The 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 Stevenson
https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.12257

Week Commencing 6 January 2020

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar

Tuesday 7 January 2020, 3pm, Physics West 106
Speaker: Dr Mike Lau, Monash University
Title: 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 to
constraining the relative importance of different formation channels and
reducing the large uncertainties that characterise key stages of isolated
binary evolution. I discuss how binary evolution physics may be imprinted in
low-frequency gravitational waves of inspiralling double neutron stars (DNSs).
In particular, I talk about some of the recent predictions of detection rates
and properties of DNSs expected to be observed by future spaceborne
interferometer LISA.

Visitors

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

Publications

Detecting Double Neutron Stars with LISA
Mike Y. M. Lau, Ilya Mandel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijssel,
Simon Stevenson, Alberto Sesana
https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.12422

The spectral evolution of AT 2018dyb and the presence of metal lines in tidal
disruption events.
G. Leloudas et al.
ApJ, accepted: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5792
arXiv:1903.03120

Luminous 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 Mandel
MNRAS, accepted
https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.07771

Eclipses of continuous gravitational waves as a probe of stellar structure
Pablo Marchant, Katelyn Breivik, Christopher P. L. Berry, Ilya Mandel,
Shane L. Larson
https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.04268
Phys. Rev. D, accepted.

The effects of unresolved double-degenerates in the white dwarf luminosity
function.
Rebassa-Mansergas, A. Toonen, S., Torres, S., Canals, P.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019arXiv191113128R/abstract

An 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 Theatre
Speaker: Prof Sera Markoff, University of Amsterdam
Title: Imaging (and imagining) Black Holes

Black holes are one of the most exotic consequences of General Relativity, yet
they are also very common players in the Universe, existing on scales ranging
from the stellar up to beasts over a billion times more massive than our sun.
Contrary to their reputation as cosmic vacuum cleaners, they actually power
some 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 than
the Large Hadron Collider at CERN .

Astronomers, astrophysicists and physicists all have reasons for wanting to
understand black holes, yet we have been limited by the resolution of our
telescopes from actually seeing one directly. This situation has changed
dramatically with the coming of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT),
an Earth-sized array operating in the millimeter wavelength regime that can
resolve the event horizons of two nearby supermassive black holes: the black
hole in the active galactic nucleus M87 (published this past April) and
Sgr A* in our own Galactic centre.

I will put these recent results into context by explaining a bit more about
the development of this project, as well as accretion onto black holes, and
methods for modelling and interpretation. I will also present some of the
areas where we still have major questions, and give some examples of the
current cutting edge in modelling and interpretation, as well as challenges
for the coming years that relate to black holes of all sizes,
including stellar-mass.

Astronomy in the City

Wednesday 20 November 2019, 6pm, Poynting Building

The next Astronomy in the City event of the season will take place on
Wednesday 20th November. University of Birmingham researcher Dr Elinore
Roebber will discuss her work in a talk titled: “Detecting Gravitational
Waves from Space”.

Tickets are available from https://astrointhecity112019.eventbrite.co.uk

More 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 115
Speaker: Prof Sera Markoff, University of Amsterdam

Sera 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-doctoral
researcher, she will be based in office 221.

Publications

Valeriya Korol, Ilya Mandel, M. Coleman Miller, Ross P. Church,
Melvyn B. Davies
Merger rates in primordial black hole clusters without initial binaries
https://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 106
Speaker: Dr Tjarda Boekholt
Title: Towards realistic simulations of dense stellar systems and the
       formation of gravitational wave sources

Abstract:
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 channels
and estimating detection rates of gravitational wave events from stellar mass
objects. Simulating dense stellar systems is challenging due to the
multi-physics aspect of the problem. Realistic models should combine
gravitational N-body dynamics, Post-Newtonian effects, stellar evolution,
rotational spins, tidal dissipation etc. The outcome of such detailed
simulations provide not only the astrophysical history of GW sources, but
also the initial conditions for fully relativistic simulations of the actual
merger.

I will present an overview of my research projects in which I gradually
increase 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 in
room 225 (Matt's office).

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch

Wednesday 13 November 2019, 1pm, Physics West Library
At 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 103
Speaker: Hanno Rein, University of Toronto
Title: Long-term dynamical simulations of planetary systems

Abstract:
Accurately predicting the motion of planets has kept astronomers busy since
antiquity. 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 remain
stable over long timescales. By the end of the 18th century Lagrange and
Laplace were able to formulate an analytic theory which was in good agreement
of observation, but the question of stability remained unanswered until
a few decades ago.

Only the advent of fast computers made it possible to calculate the motion of
planets accurately enough to find that the Solar System is on the brink of
instability and has a finite chance of going unstable within the lifetime of
the Sun.  Although we have solved the question about the Solar System’s
stability, the discovery of thousands of other planetary systems beyond our
own Solar System presents new challenges for fast and reliable numerical
integration methods. We need these tools to validate and characterise
planetary systems as well as to understand their formation history. After a
historical overview of the subject at the beginning of my talk, I will discuss
why this is such a hard problem from a mathematical point of view, and how one
can nevertheless solve it. I will present some recent developments of
numerical integrators with very high accuracy.

Hanno will be visiting from Tuesday to Friday. Sign up for a slot to chat with
Hanno (by yourself or as a group) in
https://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 be
working 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 as
a post-doctoral researcher.

Publications

David Liptai, Daniel J. Price, Ilya Mandel, Giuseppe Lodato
Disc formation from tidal disruption of stars on eccentric orbits by Kerr
black holes using GRSPH
https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10154

Mike Y. M. Lau, Ilya Mandel, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Coenraad J. Neijssel,
Simon Stevenson, Alberto Sesana
Detecting Double Neutron Stars with LISA
https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10154
Soumi De, Morgan MacLeod, Rosa Wallace Everson, Andrea Antoni, Ilya Mandel,
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
Common Envelope Wind Tunnel: The Effects of Binary Mass Ratio and Implications
for the Accretion-Driven Growth of LIGO Binary Black Holes
https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.13333

Mobile app - Chirp

PhD students from the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy have released
a new app to encourage members of the public to stay up to date with new
gravitational wave events in near real time.

Chirp, designed for use on mobile phones, displays the latest alerts from
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory/Virgo about a possible
new gravitational wave. For more information please see the link below
https://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 House
The 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 106
Speaker: Stuart Reid, Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University
         of Strathclyde
Title: Fabrication of Ta2O5, Zr:Ta2O5 and aSi by ECR ion beam deposition for
use as high-index coating layers in ultra-stable optical cavities with low
Brownian thermal noise

Abstract: Precision metrology applications, such as mHz-linewidth laser
cavities for optical clocks and stabilized frequency combs, and fundamental
physics experiments such as gravitational wave detectors, impose stringent
requirements on optical and mechanical losses in the multilayer HR mirror
coatings. In the case of current and future gravitational wave detectors, only
ion beam deposition (IBD) has been demonstrated to satisfy the optical
requirements over suitably large areas (mirror diameter ≥340 mm). Advanced
gravitational wave detectors currently use mirror coatings fabricated from
multilayers of silica (SiO₂, low index) and alloys of tantalum pentoxide and
titanium dioxide (Ti:Ta₂ O₅, high index). Coating Brownian thermal noise,
which predominantly arises from the high index materials, sets an important
limit on the astrophysical reach of all current and future detectors.
Developing materials and methods by which the thermal noise can be reduced by
a factor of 2, whilst maintaining the required optical properties, is a goal
for the various international projects in this field.

This presentation will provide an overview of the first use of electron
cyclotron resonance (ECR) IBD processes for the fabrication of optical thin
film coatings, with unprecedented levels of optical and mechanical
losses. ECR ion sources provide a number of key benefits compared to standard
RF ion sources, through extending the accessible ion energies by an order of
magnitude, and in the removal of grids (contamination) in the plasma extraction
process. Amorphous silicon fabricated by ECR-IBD has been demonstrated to have
optical absorptions down to k = 1.2 × 10⁻⁵ at 1550 nm, the lowest ever
reported, and with potential to reach the thermal noise requirements at this
wavelength. Recent results on alloys of tantalum pentoxide and zirconium
dioxide are presented, which shows partial progress towards the same goal
whilst enabling the laser wavelength in the optical cavities to remain at
1064 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 S06
Tea and coffee served at 3.30pm in the Poynting cafe
Speaker: Prof Kostas Nikolopoulos, University of Birmingham
Title: Understanding the origin of mass

The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 completed the experimental observation
of the particle content of the Standard Model. Since then, detailed measurements
of the Higgs boson properties and further searches for extended Higgs sectors
have been performed. These are crucial tasks both to complete our understanding
of this new particle, but also to verify the mass generation mechanisms
implemented in nature. The current status of this programme will be presented
and future directions will be discussed. Although the Higgs boson verified the
mechanism for mass generation for elementary particles, 85% of the mass in the
universe is in a form with an unknown nature that we call “dark matter”. The
status of the experimental searches will be presented, with emphasis on the
search for light Dark Matter being performed here at Birmingham.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 23 October 2019, 6.15pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

Astronomy 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 recent research, and a question-and-answer
session (for everything from beginner's questions about the night sky to the
latest 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 on
Wednesday 23rd October at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Poynting
Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus.  University of Birmingham
researcher Dr Matteo Bianconi will discuss the most massive systems in the
Universe: galaxy clusters.

Hosting thousands of galaxies, these giants are formed through some of the most
energetic phenomena to occur since Big Bang. Their complexity allows scientists
to study many physical processes, including shedding light on the elusive Dark
Matter. By following the development of telescopes and observations, Dr Bianconi
will 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.uk

http://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 Library
Reminder 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 are
welcome. If you haven't, you are welcome anyway: I will try to pack a few
pieces of code into a python package, install it and test it on a virtual
environment (possibly on a cluster, where venvs are most useful). Bring
coffee/tea. Biscuits are on the house. Riccardo Buscicchio

Astrophysics Seminar meet and greet Pizza Lunch
Wednesday 16 October 2019, 1pm, Physics West Library

At 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 103
Speaker: Brunello Tirozzi, Sapienza University of Rome
Title: Artificial Neural Networks and Data Analysis

I will speak about pattern recognition using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)
and SOM (SOM) (self-organizing maps).  First I define the input and output
patterns and the search of the dimension of the patterns. This requires to
look for the correlation length of the time series. I will define the training,
validation and learning error. The dimension of inputs patterns is defined by
the correlation length. The architecture is defined also by the number of input
neurons, layers and synaptic weights. The best architecture is found minimizing
the learning and generalization error studying the variation of the dependence
of these quantities on the possible choices a heuristic research. I will show
examples of networks with exact estimates of the learning error. The
minimization of the error can be performed, both theoretically and
experimentally only if the number of patterns is large. The case in which is
possible to show rigorously the theoretical result holds only for an infinite
number 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 G02
Sebastian’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 visiting
Birmingham sometime during December.

Week Commencing 30 September 2019

Official Opening of Poynting Admin Hub
Monday 30 September 2019, 4pm, Poynting Admin Hub

We would like to invite you to celebrate the official opening of the newly refurbished
Poynting Admin Hub on Monday 30th September 2019 at 1600. The refurbished Poynting Admin
Hub (2nd floor, Poynting Building) is the home of the School of Mathematics and the
School of Physics and Astronomy Education Support Team (UG, GT and PGR), Wellbeing and
the School of Physics Admissions and Outreach, and CDT Administration.

The redesign includes an open-plan office, Wellbeing drop in space, extended kitchen
and storage room, and a redeveloped Poynting Lounge (formally known as the Applicant
Visit space).

It will be an informal occasion, both Heads of School will say a few words and
refreshments 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 Library
At 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 2 October 2019, 2pm, Physics West 106
Speaker: Antoine Petiteau (University Paris Diderot)
Title: LISA, from on board measurements to Gravitational Wave Data Analysis

LISA (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 the
technological demonstrator LISA Pathfinder and the detection of gravitational waves
(GW) by Ground-Based observatories LIGO -Virgo. The LISA Science Case is extremely rich
both for Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Physics: observations of Super Massive
Black Hole Binaries until very high redshift, Extreme and Intermediate Mass Ratio
Inspirals, Stellar Mass Black Hole Binaries, Galactic Binaries, Stochastic GW Background
from early Universe and various foregrounds, etc. While there is no critical technology,
LISA requires very high precision metrology and is a highly integrated instrument from
hardware subsystems until on-ground processing. Actually, before having data stream
usable for extracting GW sources, several processing steps have to be done both on-board
and on-ground, to suppress part of the noises.  In this talk, after a quick presentation
of the mission and an overview of the science case, I will present the LISA measurements
and the various processing applied to the data. Finally, I will present the current
status of the simulation, the Science Ground Segment including the Distributed Data
Processing Center and the Data Analysis Pipeline developed within the LISA Data
Challenge.

Antoine will be around on Wednesday and Thursday. Sign up for a slot to chat with
Antoine (by yourself, as a team, as a research group) in

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRzAHfpS-rPr6oP4ZzUuiC4VExj0wlGyu52t0CkhOjM/edit?usp=sharing"
Astronomy in the City Briefing
Friday 4 October 2019, 11am, Physics West 115
As discussed in the ASR group meeting, Matteo will give a short presentation on how
Astronomy in the city events are conducted, in order to show volunteers how to
contribute 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 contact
details are listed below. I will circulate an updated group list shortly.

Lecturer
Dr Matt Nicholl – office 225

Post Docs
Dr Sam Cooper – office G15 scooper@star.sr.bham.ac.uk
Dr Teng Zhang - office G15 tzhang@star.sr.bham.ac.uk

PhD Students
Riccardo Maggiore - office G26 rccmaggiore@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Andreas Freise
Lucy Thomas – office G27 lthomas@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Patricia Schmidt
Matthew Mould – office G27 mmould@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisors Alberto Vecchio/Davide
                Gerosa
Eliot Finch – office G27 efinch@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Chris Moore
Andras Dorozsmai - office G27 andras@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Silvia Toonen
Cressida Clelland - office G26 cressidac@star.sr.bham.ac.uk Supervisor Sean McGee

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 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 Library
New this year is the pizza lunch preceding the seminars. It'll be at 13.00
in the library (PW125) and a good opportunity to interact with the speaker
and colleagues. It's free to any of us that attend the seminar. Prior to the
pizza lunch is the PhD meet & greet with the seminar speaker (12.30 in the
library).

Nathan will be around on Wednesday and happy to chat with anyone. I want to
encourage everyone to sign up in the google doc for a slot to chat with the
speaker.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LuCwAr1voqM65KEwCbctw1Ghcbm7_k62jzOe4LDDfl0/edit?usp=sharing

Sign up by yourself, as a team, as a research group etc. The visits of seminar
speakers 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 103
Speaker: Nathan Johnson-McDaniel (University of Cambridge).
Title: Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals detected
by LIGO and Virgo

Binary black hole coalescences provide an excellent laboratory to search for
possible deviations from the predictions of general relativity (GR) in the
highly dynamical, strong field regime. Currently, a variety of tests for
deviations from the predictions of GR are applied to the waveforms from binary
black hole coalescences detected by LIGO and Virgo. These range from
consistency tests to checks for dispersion in gravitational wave propagation,
as would be caused by, e.g., a massive graviton. I will describe these tests
and their results when applied to the ten binary black hole signals detected
during the first two observing runs of the advanced gravitational wave
detector network: No evidence is found for deviations from the predictions of
GR, and we are able to place the most stringent constraints to date on possible
deviations from GR’s predictions for binary black hole coalescences.
Additionally, I will give initial results from an ongoing project investigating
the relation between these tests by applying them all to a suite of waveforms
exhibiting 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 2019
A new student, Maud Slangen, is joining the ifolab group for 5 months to work
on the 6D project. Maud is visiting from Eindhoven on an Erasmus internship
programme.
Conor Mow-Lowry

PhD Viva
Monday 9 September 2019
Alejandro Vigna Gomez PhD Viva takes place today.

ASR Management Meeting
Tuesday 10 September 2019, 1pm, Physics West 229

Autumn Open Day
Saturday 14 September 2019
The University open day is scheduled for this Saturday, with the second one
scheduled for Saturday 19 October 2019.

Publications / Recent Submissions
Detection of anti-correlation of hot and cold baryons in galaxy clusters
A. 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-y

Eclipses of continuous gravitational waves as a probe of stellar structure.
Pablo Marchant, Katelyn Breivik, Christopher P L Berry, Ilya Mandel,
Shane Larson

Luminous 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 Mandel
SN2018kzr: 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 Thursday
Jo Cox

Please email Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk to request an addition to the weekly
news b

Week Commencing 22 July 2019

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Monday 22 July 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103
Speaker: Dr Nancy Aggarwal - Nancy graduated from MIT and was a PhD student of
Nergis Mavalvala. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Center for Fundamental
Physics in Northwestern University
Title: Quantum optomechanics at room-temperature

Abstract: The Decades of advancement in technologies pertaining to
interferometric measurements have made it possible for us to make the first
ever direct observation of gravitational waves (GWs). These GWs emitted from
violent events in the distant universe bring us crucial information about the
nature of matter and gravity. In order for us to be able to detect GWs from
even farther or weaker sources, we must further reduce the quantum noise in
our detectors. In order to lower this quantum noise, GW detectors currently
use squeezed light. Squeezed light is a special quantum state of light which
has lower uncertainty in a certain quadrature, at the expense of higher
uncertainty 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 using
optomechanical interaction opens up possibilities for engineering truly
wavelength-independent squeezed light sources that may also be more compact and
robust than traditionally used non-linear crystals. Additionally, this project
inherently involves studying the OM interaction, which is the mechanism for
back-action noise in GW detectors. These observations are the first ever direct
observation of a room temperature oscillator's motion being overwhelmed by
vacuum fluctuations. More so, this is also the first time it has been shown in
the low frequency band, which is relevant to GW detectors, but poses its own
technical challenges, and hence has not been done before. Being in the
back-action dominated regime along with optimized optical properties has also
enabled us to observe OM squeezing in this system. That is the first direct
observation of quantum noise suppression in a room temperature OM system. It is
also the first direct evidence of quantum correlations in a audio frequency
band, in a broadband at non-resonant frequencies.

Publications
The origin of spin in binary black holes: Predicting the distributions of the
main observables of Advanced LIGO
Simone S. Bavera, Tassos Fragos, Ying Qin, Emmanouil Zapartas,
Coenraad J. Neijssel, Ilya Mandel, Aldo Batta, Sebastian M. Gaebel,
Chase Kimball, Simon Stevenson
https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.12257

Multiband gravitational wave event rates and stellar physics
Davide Gerosa, Sizheng Ma, Kaze W.K. Wong, Emanuele Berti,
Richard O'Shaughnessy, Yanbei Chen, Krzysztof Belczynski
https://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 Library
The 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 compact
object 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 Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.08136

Explosions Driven by the Coalescence of a Compact Object with the Core of a
Massive-Star Companion Inside a Common Envelope: Circumstellar Properties,
Light Curves, and Population Statistics
Sophie Lund Schrøder, Morgan MacLeod, Abraham Loeb, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez,
Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.04189

Double Neutron Star Populations and Formation Channels
Jeff J. Andrews, Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12745

End of the Financial Year
Please note that in order to facilitate a clean closure of the 2018/2019
accounts for the University, we would be grateful if you could note and
observe the following deadline for submission of purchase order requisitions
in Oracle. This will ensure requirements can be processed appropriately in
time for year end.

Purchase Orders
Requisitions must be submitted and approved in Oracle to reach the Buying Team
by no later than 16:00pm oN Friday, 5th July 2019. After this date, orders of
a non-urgent nature will not be raised until the start of the new financial
year on 1st August 2019. Please ensure that quotations and relevant
documentation 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 new
system for all of us so please submit your requisitions as quickly as possible
rather than wait for the deadline date to arrive. Should you have any queries
please email BuyingTeam@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Week Commencing 20 May 2019
Outreach Meeting
Monday 20 May 2019, 2pm, Physics West 103
As you might know Chris Collins will be leaving us soon. Amongst many other
things he's been supporting the outreach activities over the last years. Chris
has 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 all
PhDs and post-docs. The activities are usually a lot of fun, and bring good
opportunities as well. I can say that outreach has significantly boosted the
career of several group members, including my own. If you are free, please
come along on Monday.

Andreas Freise

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 22 May 2019, 2.30pm, Watson Lecture Theatre A
Speaker: Mihkel Kama, University of Cambridge
Title: TBC

Publications
Unmodelled Clustering Methods for Gravitational Wave Populations of Compact
Binary Mergers, Jade Powell, Simon Stevenson, Ilya Mandel, Peter Tino
https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.04825

Astrophysical science metrics for next-generation gravitational-wave detectors
Rana 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 Read
https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.02842

STROOPWAFEL: Simulating rare outcomes from astrophysical populations, with
application 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. Neijssel
https://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 103
Speaker: Andreas Joergensen (MPA)
Title: Using 3D envelopes to better understand stellar structures and evolution

Asteroseismology has revolutionized our understanding of stellar structures and
their evolution, requiring better models to interpret the high-quality data
from current and future space missions. It is therefore crucial to go beyond
many of the simplifying assumptions that enter state-of-the-art stellar
evolution codes. For instance, it is well-known that the current treatment of
superadiabatic convection leads to a systematic offset in the predicted seismic
properties, when dealing with stars with convective envelopes. This is known as
the surface effect.

In order to mitigate this shortcoming, we have developed and validated a method
that allows our stellar evolution code to reliably mimic the mean stratification
of 3D simulations of stellar envelopes. Using our method, we are able to
completely overcome the structural contribution to the surface effect.
Furthermore, we find that the improved depiction of superadiabatic convection
in the outermost layers affects the evolution tracks. This has direct
implications for the inferred stellar parameters and hence for any field that
relies on a detailed understanding of stars, including exoplanet research and
the chemo-dynamical evolution of galaxies. Our results hence show how realistic
multi-dimensional simulations of stellar convection can contribute to answering
pressing questions in astrophysics.

ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Philip Jones will give his 2nd year PhD talk.

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 2.30pm, Physics West 117
Speaker: David Nichols, University of Amsterdam
Title: Computing and detecting gravitational-wave memory effects from
       binary-black-hole mergers

Gravitational waves from the mergers of ten binary black holes were detected in
the first two observing runs by the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors; the total
number of detections is likely to double, at least, after the current observing
run. With this large number of increasingly precisely measured binary black
holes, the observations will reveal more subtle features in the gravitational
waves from strongly curved, dynamical spacetimes.

In this talk, I will discuss one such set of features, called gravitational-wave
memory effects, which are predictions of general relativity that are most likely
to be measured from systems with high gravitational-wave luminosities, like
binary black holes. These memory effects are characterized by lasting changes in
the gravitational-wave strain and its time integrals. I will describe how these
effects are related to symmetries and conserved quantities of spacetime. I will
also cover the computation of these memory effects and the prospects for
detecting them with current and planned gravitational-wave detectors. There
could 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 the
properties of the population of merging binary black holes and the rate of
these mergers.

Physics Collopquium
Wednesday 1 May 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: Cristiane Morais Smith, Utrecht University
Title: Atom-by-atom engineering of novel quantum states of matter

The field of quantum simulators has flourished enormously during the last
decades, especially in the areas of nanophotonics and ultracold atoms.
Electronic quantum simulators, however, have not seen much progress.  Based on
a technique pioneered by the group of Manoharan for simulating graphene, we
show here how to design and characterize a Lieb lattice [1] and a Sierpinski
gasket [2]. Then, we explain how to modify their design to control the orbital
degree of freedom. Further tuning of the honeycomb geometry leads to the
emergence of topological edge states. In all cases, we observe an excellent
agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results.
This technique is proving itself to be a very versatile framework for the
engineering and control of electronic systems, and is widening the perspectives
in 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 black
hole mass distribution. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.02821

L. 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 103
Speaker: Hagai Perets. Technion, Israel
Title: Novel progenitors of GW sources & type la supernovae

Hagai is an expert on gravitational dynamics ranging from planetary scales to
supermassive black holes, including transients and GW sources. Hagai is a great
speaker 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 on
novel types of GW sources, their signatures and electromagnetic counterparts.
We also have very exciting results on the origins of type Ia supernovae that
Hagai 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 Library
Joe 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 Library
Matteo Bianconi will present some new results on star formation and dust consumption in
galaxy cluster Abell 1758 from the LoCuSS survey.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 20 March 2019, 2.30pm, Physics West Library
Speaker: Dr Chris Haines
Title: TBC

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 20 March 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: Ken Carslaw - University of Leeds
Title: 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 observed
correlation between the galactic cosmic ray flux and Earth’s cloud cover. The highly
controversial proposal was considered by many climate scientists to lack any physical
explanation. Nevertheless, as in the Wilson cloud chamber, ionization of the
atmosphere can create new cloud particles under the right conditions. The CERN CLOUD
experiment was designed to explore whether such an effect could provide a link between
cosmic ray ionization, clouds and climate. After about 8 years of measurements CLOUD has
made a series of breakthroughs in our understanding of how new aerosol particles are formed
in 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/1903.02135

G. Leloudas et al.
The spectral evolution of AT 2018dyb and the presence of metal lines in tidal disruption
events.
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 Duckworth

Greg will be visiting us to show us a phase grating interferometer. He'll have
some slides as well, but he mainly wants to bring and show the actual
interferometer. 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 LT2
Speaker: Katy Clough, University of Oxford
Title: Investigating fundamental physics using numerical simulations of black
       hole environments

Numerical simulations of binary black holes have gained much (well deserved)
attention since the LIGO detections of gravitational waves, where they are
used to provide templates for the signals produced during the merger
phase. However, the application of these now mature numerical techniques to
problems of fundamental physics is still a relatively new and underdeveloped
area of research.

Much of particle physics and cosmology concerns the behaviour of fields and
their excitations, with some well known examples being the Higgs field, or the
inflaton during inflation. The evolution of even the simplest fields in
strong, dynamical gravity environments is highly non trivial and generally
necessitates a numerical approach. I will describe two examples of how the
study of such fields around black holes may lead to the discovery of new
physics. Firstly, I will describe the behaviour of clusters of light bosonic
particles called axions, which are gaining popularity as dark matter candidates
 and their collisions with compact objects such as black holes and neutron
stars. Secondly, I will discuss the scattering of neutrinos by black holes,
and the information that the resulting interference patterns can give us about
the absolute neutrino masses.

Week Commencing 18 February 2019
Astrophysics Seminar
Wednesday 20 February 2019, 2pm, Physics West 106
Speaker: Yan-Chuan Cai, University of Edinburgh
Title: Cosmology and Astrophysics with the Cosmic Web

On 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 influenced
by the dark components of our Universe. It is the junction where astrophysics and cosmology meet. I will
summarise 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 his
Royal Society URF from Edinburgh to Birmingham. Cai's research interests centre around the large scale structure
of the universe and devising novel tests of the cosmological model and gravity on very large scales. He uses data
from large optical surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Kilo-Degree Survey, and the upcoming Dark
Energy 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 on
Wednesday 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 is
still space in the programme, so please let me know ASAP if you want meet with him. The most flexible times are
Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I encourage everyone, whether student, postdoc, or faculty to step
forward 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 research
too. I suggest that this gathering takes place in the ASR/PP coffee lounge, but am happy for the students to make
other arrangements. In the first instance, please chat among yourselves and/or just email me if interested, and
we/you can go from there. Graham Smith

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 20 February 2019, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: John Sutherland - University of Cambridge.
Title: Origins of Life Systems Chemistry

How can chemistry morph into biology? This is the key question about the origin of life, be it on our planet several
billion years ago, or elsewhere and so we need to think about chemistry in the context of planetary science if we
want to know where we came from and whether or not we are likely to be alone in the Universe. The chemistry
used by biology to fabricate its various components is by and large hopelessly inefficient in the absence of
enzyme catalysts, so we need to look for different chemistry that can make the same componentry efficiently
without enzymes. But where do we look? One approach is to guess at the environment and then use laboratory
simulation to investigate its chemistry.

The problem with this is the guesswork – there were presumably many different environments on early Earth and
it is not obvious what chemistry they might be associated with. An alternative approach is to explore chemistry in
a pretty much unconstrained way to try and find out if all the molecules needed to kick-start biology can be made
under similar conditions from plausible feedstocks. If they can and the conditions required correspond to a
particular environment on early Earth then that environment is strongly implicated and can further guide
chemical investigations. In this lecture, I will present the results of this latter approach and demonstrate how
hellish 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 SO6
Speaker: Dr Chris Moore, University of Birmingham
Title: L_{Planck} = c^5 / G = 3.6 X 10^{52} W

This is the only quantity with units of power, or luminosity, which can be
formed from the universal constants: h, G, and c. It has been conjectured that
it is, in fact, the maximum possible luminosity for any physical process. I will
discuss the motivation for such a maximum luminosity conjecture and the
surprising link with black holes and event horizons. I will present the results
of 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 Solar
and Stellar Physics Group this week and has kindly agreed to give a "crash
course" on stellar evolution. Arlette, beside being a highly-regarded world
expert in stellar evolution, is an extraordinary teacher. If you are interested
in 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 Library
Chiara 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 Library
Speaker: Athira Menon, The Anton Pannekoek Institute (University of Amsterdam)
Title: The supernova that made us rethink stellar evolution and binary stars:
       Supernova SN 1987A

It has been nearly 32 years since the discovery of the most-well observed
supernova 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 and
supernovae explosions. The progenitor identified for SN 1987A was not a red
supergiant as expected from standard theory at the time, but a blue supergiant.
The observational signatures of this blue supergiant indicate that it could
have evolved from the merger of a massive binary system, providing evidence
that such mergers do take place. We know from massive star surveys that nearly
30-40% of all interacting binaries are expected to merge. This talk will focus
on the evolution of the progenitor of SN 1987A from a binary merger scenario,
and present the first set of stellar evolution models that can simultaneously
match the progenitor and the light curve of the supernova.

Athira is visiting us from Monday 4 February until Thursday this week. Athira
has been working on binary star mergers, and in particular the origin of the
(in)famous supernova 1987A. She completed her PhD in Monash (Australia) with
the supervision of Alex Heger. She's currently working with Selma de Mink on
contact binaries.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 6 February 2019, 4.00pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: Fedor Jelezko, University of Ulm, in Germany.
Title: Quantum Sensing, with defects

Diamond is not only the king gemstone, but also a promising material in
quantum technologies. Optically active impurities (colour centers) in diamond
show unique coherence properties under ambient conditions. Their quantum
state can be readout and manipulated using a combination of single molecule
spectroscopy and magnetic resonance techniques. In this talk I will discuss
the potential of atomic magnetometers based on single color centers for
nanoscale sensing and imaging. New photoelectric detection technique allowing
efficient 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 clusters

Globular clusters are among the oldest and brightest structures in the
Universe, and are therefore witnesses of processes from the early up to the
present-day Universe. In turn, they play a major role in the benchmark for
stellar evolution theory and they are used to constrain the assembly histories
of galaxies. Over the last decades, several pieces of ground-breaking
observational evidence were accumulated pointing out the presence of multiple
stellar populations with different chemical compositions in every individual
globular cluster studied in detail so far. I will review the effects of
chemical features typical of these multiple populations on the evolution of
stars and I will show their impact on the properties of their hosting cluster.
Finally, I will briefly discuss their effect at larger scales on external
galaxies.


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 Library

David Ramon Aguilera Dena from the University of Bonn will give a talk titled
"Stripped envelope supernovae and where they come from". Additionally, a
reminder that the next ASR group meeting is on February 6th, featuring
the first of the 2nd year PhD talks, and will continue with its usual bi-weekly
cadence. Matteo

Core collapse supernovae are the endpoints in the evolutionary history of some
massive stars. A significant fraction of them are observed as type Ib and type
Ic SNe, indicating that some process must have stripped them from their
hydrogen envelopes, and of their helium envelopes as well in the case of type
Ic SNe. Evolutionary scenarios involving single stars have a difficult time
explaining the properties of these SNe, and binary evolution seems to be the
preferred path. They are also related to more “exotic” events such as GRBs,
X-ray binaries, hypernovae and gravitational wave sources. I will review the
recent work we’ve done in the Bonn stellar group trying to understand where
SNe type Ic come from, along with some other transients that occur in similar
systems, and discuss some difficulties in understanding massive stars in
general.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Wednesday 30 January 2019, 2.30pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
Speaker: 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 environmental
influences that can affect their evolution, such as ram pressure stripping,
encounters with other galaxies, and tidal mass loss. The Hydrangea
simulations are a spin-off from the EAGLE project designed to study these
processes and their expected imprints on the cluster galaxy population. I
will introduce these simulations and highlight some successes – and failures
– that have emerged from comparison to observations. To illustrate the insight
that can be gained from them, I will then discuss what they predict about the
fate of satellite galaxies in clusters (and groups): are they disrupted
rapidly after accretion, or can they survive in the harsh cluster environment?

Code Review Meeting
Thursday 31 January 2019, 11am, Physics West Library

For those of you who haven't heard about the meeting yet, the idea behind
code review is to have a meeting dedicated to discussing code rather than
science, since for a lot of us coding is an important part of our
methodology and gets mostly overlooked.

The default format is for someone to present some ~100 lines of code they've
been working on (doesn't have to be finished!), which other people can comment
on or ask questions about. We've found this naturally leads to discussing
tools, best practices or style. More eyes mean it's easier to find bugs as
well!

I mentioned it's a python code review meeting (which is because I'm personally
biased, I readily admit this). We like to keep it to one language that all
attendees as familiar with, so that anyone present can participate. That
said, we welcome people with any level of python expertise; ideally if you're
less familiar you can learn from people with more expertise, and if you're
more 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 just
show up to the next meeting. Most announcements are made on mattermost/the
mailing list, so as not to spam the whole group. Janna

Publications
The optical afterglow of GW170817 at one year post-merger
G. 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. Wiersema
https://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 Library

Antoine Klein will give a presentation
Title: Fourier-domain waveforms for eccentric precessing systems

Current formation models predict both massive black hole binaries and
stellar-origin black hole binaries to have significant eccentricities
when they enter the LISA band. Different formation scenarios also
predict different spin magnitude and spin alignment distributions. In
order to be able to discriminate between those models, it is important
to have fast and accurate waveforms that model eccentric systems with
misaligned spins. We will present an inspiral model in the Fourier domain
that could be used to perform such studies.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: Niek van Hulst - ICFO (Barcelona)
Title: Antennas for Molecules

Detection of individual molecules is commonplace in biology and chemistry
for nanoscale imaging and tracking.  Unfortunately, the dependence on
fluorescence comes with low signals and slow dynamics. Optical (nano)
antennas can help to brighten up molecular signals. Here first, I will
show how nanoscale control of molecule-antenna interaction gives 100-1000
times enhancement, high real space resolution (20-40 nm), very faster
radiative decay on picosec timescale and even strong coupling. Single
biomolecules, which otherwise are simply invisible, become discernible.
Next, I will show how combination with tailored ultrafast femtosecond
pulses allows following excited state vibronic dynamics and energy
transfer, all at the level of a single molecule. These nanophotonic
technologies allow uncovering the nature of nanoscale ultrafast energy
transfer in natural light-harvesting system in their ambient conditions.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

Aaron Jones will discuss his research for the LIGO gravitational wave
detectors. In addition to this Aaron, and artist Leon Trimble will showcase
a musical instrument they have developed out of gravitational wave detector
technology.
Tickets are now available from https://astrointhecity11212018.eventbrite.co.uk

The first talk begins at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the
Poynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. Please
arrive 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 you
have questions. The other Astronomy in the City events of this season will
be on Wednesday 23 January 2019 and Wednesday 6 March 2019.

More details are on our website
http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Friday 23 November 2018, 1pm, Physics West 106
Speaker: Yan-Chuan Cai, Edinburgh University
Title: Cosmology with the cosmic web

On large scales, the matter distribution of the Universe follows a web-like
pattern, consisting of knot (cluster), filament, sheet and void. The
cosmic-web is a non-Gaussian field, containing invaluable information about
cosmology and astrophysics. I will summarise recent research activities in
trying to extract this information. I will highlight opportunities and
challenges for cluster cosmology, and show evidence for gas filaments between
pairs of galaxies.

Week Commencing 15 October 2018
Code Review Group
Code Review Group
Monday 15 October 2018, 11am, Physics West Library

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Groups Seminar
Monday 15 October 2018, 1pm, Physics West Seminar Room 103
Speaker: Alexis Finoguenov, University of Helsinki
Title: 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 117
Speaker: James Aird, University of Leicester
Title: X-rays across the galaxy population: tracing star formation and AGN
       activity

Abstract - I will present new work from a series of papers that combines large
samples of galaxies with deep Chandra X-ray data to measure the distribution
of X-ray luminosities across the galaxy population, using a sophisticated
Bayesian technique. Our measurements allow us to trace two origins of the
X-ray emission: star formation and AGN activity.
 
At low luminosities, we identify narrow peaks that we associate with star
formation processes (tracing the combined emission from X-ray binaries
throughout the galaxy). By tracking the position of these peaks as a
function of stellar mass and redshift we provide new, independent measurements
of 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 that
allows us to trace the incidence of AGN. We use these data to measure the
distribution of AGN accretion rates across the galaxy population, as a
function of stellar mass, redshift and star formation rate. Our results reveal
a broad distribution of accretion rates in all galaxy types, reflecting the
flickering of AGN accretion on short timescales relative to the evolution of
galaxy properties. In star-forming galaxies, we find a broad correlation
between the star formation rate and the incidence of AGN (traced by the
fraction of galaxies with AGN and the average specific accretion rates),
indicating the key role of cold gas in AGN fuelling. We also measure the
AGN incidence in galaxies with a wider range of star formation rates at a
fixed stellar mass, spanning the star-forming main sequence and quiescent
galaxy populations. These measurements show enhancements in the incidence of
AGN and reveal the variety of mechanisms that drive black hole growth across
the galaxy population.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06
Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of Sydney
Title: A Golden Age of Asteroseismology with Kepler

Abstract - Stellar astrophysics has entered a new golden age, thanks to
wonderfully precise measurements being returned by NASA ’s Kepler mission.
Kepler is a 0.9-metre space telescope that has been monitoring the brightness
of more than 100,000 stars with extraordinary accuracy for more than four
years. Its main goal is to discover extra-solar planets by detecting the small
dips in light as they transit their parent stars. The mission has been
spectacularly successful, with thousands of candidates reported. Meanwhile,
Kepler’s observations of oscillations in thousands of stars have led to a
revolution in asteroseismology. I will review key results which include
detecting gravity modes in red giant stars and characterizing stars found
to host exoplanets. Results from ESA ’s Gaia mission will add to the
excitement, as has the launch of TESS , which is an all-sky follow-up mission
to Kepler .

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 17 October 2018, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre
The first event will include a talk by Dr Dorottya Szécsi about stars, their
sizes and how they are measured. Tickets
are now available from https://astrointhecity102118.eventbrite.co.uk

Astronomy 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 recent research, and a
question-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions about
the night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if
the weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a
lucky 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 2019

The first talk begins at 6:15 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the
Poynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. Please
arrive by 6:10 pm to be entered into the ballot for trips to the Observatory.

More details are on our website
http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

Week Commencing 8 October 2018
Code Review Group
Monday 8 October 2018, 11am, Physics West Library

Code review is the practice of getting together to talk about code. As
scientists, we tend to talk about the science that goes into our code, but
skip over the implementation, even though this is a significant part of what
we spend our time doing. Talking about line to line code is an effective way
of spotting bugs, improving style and documentation, and learning new coding
practices. 

Our group is for anyone who programs in python and wishes to improve, whether
you are a beginner or experienced coder. The group benefits from having a
range of experience levels and different topics of coding expertise. We have
weekly meetings of one hour where we usually look at a piece of code one of us
is working on.  If this sounds like the thing for you, please come talk to me
or send an email (jgoldstein@star.sr.bham.ac.uk).
Requirements are that you try to attend most of the meetings, and you will
have 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 very
effective if not everyone actually reads whichever language we do. Since I'm
a 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 S06
Speaker: Yamila Miguel, University of Leiden
Title: Jupiter’s interior revealed by Juno

The giant planets of our Solar system were the first planets to form and the
most influential ones. Their interiors and atmospheres have crucial information
to understand the origins of the Solar system and of our own Earth.
With the aim to reach a deeper understanding of Jupiter’s interior and
atmosphere, the Juno spacecraft was sent to the biggest giant in the Solar
system, and its results have fundamentally changed our understanding of this
planet. In this colloquium, I will show the models we use to understand
Jupiter's interior and our latest Juno results, including a much deeper
understanding of Jupiter’s interior and jet streams. This is helping us to
reach a better understanding of Jupiter’s formation history, and of our solar
system’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 117
NOTE THE CHANGE OF TIME
Speaker: Dr Fiorenzo Vincenzo, Hertfordshire

Title: Galactic astroarchaeology with cosmological chemodynamical simulations.

The chemical composition of the interstellar medium of galaxies continuously
evolves as a function of time because of many environmental physical processes.
Restitution of metals from dying stars, astration of metals due to the star
formation activity, gas inflows and outflows, radial mixing of both gas and
stars are all fundamental mechanisms which drive the chemical evolution of
galaxies. Starting from the observed present-day chemical abundances in the
stars and interstellar medium, chemical evolution models aim at reconstructing
the 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 behind
chemical evolution models and present my original contribution in the
foundations of this field. In the second part, I will show how cosmological
hydrodynamical simulations can be effectively used to study the evolution of
the radial (gas-phase and stellar) C, N and O chemical abundance gradients in
galaxies, presenting also new results from high-resolution zoom-in simulations,
where a target galaxy is selected at low redshift from a reference large-scale
cosmological simulation and then re-simulated with a larger number of
resolution elements, starting from the initial conditions of the early
Universe. Finally, I will present some preliminary results from the
chemodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy, that we have developed
to characterise the different chemical evolution histories of the thin and
thin disc stellar components of our Galaxy.

Visitors
Monday 24 September 2018

Floor Broekgaarden from the Netherlands will be visiting the COMPAS group for
a 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 219
and 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-47d390dbfb04

Extracting distribution parameters from multiple uncertain observations with
selection biases
Ilya Mandel, Will M. Farr, Jonathan R. Gair
http://arxiv.org/abs/1809.02063

Comment on “An excess of massive stars in the local 30 Doradus starburst”
Will Farr, Ilya Mandel
Science 361, 6400
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6400/eaat6506

The 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 and
Poynting Physics Buildings)

Come and join EPS colleagues from across the College for a glass of prosecco
and strawberries and cream.

Please register your attendance and advise of any dietary requirements here

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/strategic-framework/eps/resources/college-social.aspx

ASR Journal Club
Wednesday 4 July 2018, 12 noon, Physics West Library

This Journal Club I will attempt to briefly discuss the results of a possible
candidate of a resolved jet of a TDE (tidal disruption even).
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/06/13/science.aao4669

If you want a brief idea what a TDE is, I was recommended (by Ilya) this
semi-popular science review with nice
sketch. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2382

Ilya will take over for the second half and give a bit more in-depth overview
of TDEs and possible mechanisms/hypotheses to put it into a bit of perspective.

Degree Congregation and Procession
Wednesday 4 July 2018

Please be reminded that the School of Physics and Astronomy Degree Congregation
will 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 are
invited to come along to support our graduates and their families on their
special day.

Publications
Merging stellar-mass binary black holes.
Ilya Mandel, Alison Farmer http://arxiv.org/abs/1806.05820

Late-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 
Visitors

Tassos 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, Stephen
Justham, Selma E. de Mink, Bernhard Müller, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Mathieu Renzo, Dorottya Szécsi, Ilya
Mandel.  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 Library

As the 2nd year talks are finished there will be a short talk from
Dr Matteo Bonetti, who is visiting for the next two weeks.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 16 May 2018, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
Speaker: Dr Martin Fullekrug, University of Bath
Title: Lightning into Space

The recent discovery of lightning into space and brief illuminations above
thunderclouds have attracted the broadest interest by the public media. These
illuminations are termed sprites, gigantic jets, elves, halos, and blue jets.

Sprites for example, are reddish illuminations of the Earth's atmosphere
ranging from 40-80 km height and extending up to 50 km in width. Sprites are
seen above the largest thunderstorms on planet Earth, and they are mainly
initiated by super strong lightning flashes to the ground. Recent research on
sprites focused on their impact on the Earth's atmosphere and in particular
on the possibility to be associated with natural particle accelerators above
our heads. A sophisticated camera was just installed on the International
Space Station on April 13th this year to unravel the mysteries of lightning.

These novel phenomena demonstrate that the area above thunderstorms is one of
the least well known 'terra incognita' of the Earth's atmosphere and many more
discoveries 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 Theatre
Speaker: Prof Julia Yeomans, University of Oxford
Title: Topological defects in active matter

Abstract: Active materials such as bacteria, molecular motors and self-propelled
colloids, are Nature’s engines.  They continuously transform chemical energy
from their environment to mechanical work. Dense active matter shows mesoscale
turbulence, the emergence of chaotic flow structures characterised by high
vorticity 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 Theatre
Speaker: Prof Jim Fuller, Caltech
Title: The surprising impact of gravity waves

Gravity waves are low frequency fluid oscillations restored by buoyancy
forces in planetary and stellar interiors.  Despite their ubiquity, the
importance of gravity waves in evolutionary processes and asteroseismology
has only recently been appreciated. For instance, Kepler asteroseismic data
has revealed gravity modes in thousands of red giant stars, providing
unprecedented measurements of core structure and rotation.

I will show how gravity modes (or lack thereof) can also reveal strong
magnetic fields in the cores of red giants, and I will demonstrate that
strong fields appear to be common within “retired” A stars but are absent
in their lower-mass counterparts. In the late phase evolution of massive
stars approaching core-collapse, vigorous convection excites gravity waves
that can redistribute huge amounts of energy within the star. I will present
preliminary models of this process, showing how wave energy redistribution
can drive outbursts and enhanced mass loss in the final years of massive
star evolution, with important consequences for the appearance of
subsequent supernovae.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 7 March 2018, 5.30pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre
Tickets are available for the final event of the season. Details of the
evening and a link to get your tickets are
here: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

We will be having a talk from Amaury Triaud, he will discuss the hunt for
worlds 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 Theatre

Speaker: Miles Padgett

Title: 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 – the
more pixels the “better” the camera. Rather than increasing the number of
pixels we ask the question “how can a camera work with only a single
pixel?”. This talk will link the field of computational ghost imaging to
that of single-pixel cameras explaining how components found within a
standard data projector, more commonly used for projecting films and the
like, can be used to create both still and video cameras using a single
photodiode.

Such single pixel approaches are particularly useful for imaging at
wavelengths where detector arrays are either very expensive or even
unobtainable. The ability to image at unusual wavelengths means that one can
make cameras that can see through fog or smoke or even image invisible gases
as they leak from pipes.

Beyond imaging at these unusual wavelengths, by adding time resolution to
the camera it is possible to see in 3D, perhaps useful for autonomous
vehicles 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 Theatre
Speaker: Prof Rana Adhikari, Caltech
Title: Quantum Entanglement + Deep Learning = Gravitational Waves + Cosmography

The recent pile of black hole mergers has signalled the birth of gravitational
astronomy. Just as the Jyotisha and Gan De eventually lead to Galileo, we too
can look forward to dramatic improvements in what is measurable with
gravitational waves.

I will describe how we can utilize coherent quantum feedback to bypass the
Poisson limits in interferometry, and modern neural networks to remove
terrestrial interference. This imminent increase in our astrophysical reach
should allow for high precision probes of black hole horizons and high fidelity
maps of the shape of the universe.

Visitors
Prof. Rana Adhikari is visiting us from 13th to 16th February 2018. His
project page is below where you can see his research interest. Please let
Haixing Miao know if you would like to meet with him.

http://caltechexperimentalgravity.github.io

Physics Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Thursday 15 February 2018

Please note that the Particle Physics Group has reserved the coffee lounge for
their 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 117

Speaker: Ross Church, Lund

Title: White dwarf-neutron star and white dwarf-black hole binaries
Binaries containing a white dwarf and a neutron star are interesting for a
number of reasons. Their existence and properties allow us to constrain the
evolution of interacting binary stars, probing a number of important
poorly-understood physical processes such as common-envelope evolution and
neutron-star kicks. They may be observable with the LISA gravitational-wave
experiment. Following gravitational-wave emission, their merger may produce
luminous transients, and they are a possible candidate progenitor for
calcium-rich “gap” transients. I will discuss the theory of their formation
and of their ultimate destruction after gravitational-wave inspiral. I will
also touch on their more massive relatives, containing a white dwarf and a
black hole, and attempt to convince you that we have good evidence for the
existence 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 S06
Speaker: Carole Mundell, University of Bath
Title: Black-hole Driven Astrophysics in a Dynamic Universe

Black-hole driven processes in the Universe are now accepted to play a key
role in the evolution – perhaps even formation – of galaxies, the cataclysmic
death of massive stars and ultimately the production of gravitational waves
and, perhaps, heavy elements.

In this talk, I will present recent studies of stellar and supermassive black
holes systems; I will show the ubiquity of fast outflows, the importance and
role of magnetic fields and present prospects for future work in the era of
real-time multi-messenger astronomy. Finally, I will touch on the promise of
lab-based plasma experiments as analogues for understanding relativistic jets.

 Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 24th January 2018, 5.30-10pm, Poynting Building

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/astronomy-in-the-cityjanuary-2018-tickets-40716991618

Each Astronomy in the City event will feature a talk on a different
astrophysical topic connected to the research done at the University of
Birmingham. This month, Alejandro Vigna Gómez will discuss supernovae, the
amazing 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:1712.03958

M. Cantiello et al. 2018. A precise distance to the host galaxy of the binary
neutron star merger GW170817 using surface brightness fluctuations.
arXiv:1801.06080

J.D. Lyman, G.P. Lamb, A.J. Levan, I. Mandel, N. R. Tanvir et al. 2018. The
optical 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 S06
Speaker: Martyn Chipperfield, Leeds and NCEO

Title: Satellite observations of Atmospheric Composition

Abstract:

Atmospheric composition (i.e. trace gases and aerosols) has been observed
from space since the 1970s. Early observations focussed on the stratospheric
ozone layer but there has been an increasing emphasis on the more
challenging lower atmosphere in recent decades. The global, long-term
coverage provided by satellites has greatly changed our understanding of the
dynamics and chemistry of the atmosphere and our ability to tackle major
environmental science questions.
 
In this talk I will briefly summarise the different approaches used to
observe the atmosphere from space – e.g. different viewing geometries (limb
versus nadir), wavelength regions (microwave, IR, visible, UV) and
techniques (emission, absorption). Then, I will focus on the application of
the data, in conjunction with detailed numerical models, to address key
environmental 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 S06
Speaker: Fay Dowker, Imperial
Title: Causal Sets, Discrete Gravity

Abstract: Quantum gravity is the name of a problem, not a theory. The problem
is that we do not have a unified framework for fundamental physics in which
both gravity and quantum theory are incorporated. Causal Set Theory is an
approach to the problem based on the hypothesis that spacetime is fundamentally
discrete or atomic. I will explain the motivation behind this approach and map
out some of the frontiers of current research in the area. I will describe how
causal set theory has already had one empirical success and suggest that more
may 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 G17
Speaker: Matt Nicholl, Harvard
Title: The kilonova counterpart to GW170817

We will have a special seminar by Matt Nicholl on Thursday, 30 November, at
11 AM in Nuffield G17. Matt is a transient observer and he will be visiting
us from Harvard from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, so let me know if
you would like to meet with him at any point during those days. I Mandel

Abstract: On 17 August 2017, the LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave observatories
detected a compact binary merger with a difference: for the first time, the
component masses were consistent with neutron stars rather than black holes.
Moreover, the Fermi satellite simultaneously detected a short gamma-ray burst
from a consistent sky position, marking the beginning of joint GW-EM astronomy.
I will describe our discovery of the optical counterpart using the Dark Energy
Camera, and subsequent follow-up in optical, infrared, UV, X-ray and radio.
The wealth of data reveals multiple emission components including a relativistic
jet and the first clear evidence for a radioactive ‘kilonova’ comprised of
r-process ejecta, proving that neutron star mergers are a key source of the
heaviest elements. I will show how our modelling of the transient and its host
galaxy sheds light on the physical conditions in the system and its pre-merger
history.

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-wave
observations
Submitted, 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 106
Title: Scientific Writing in Astrophysics—Tips and Tricks
Speaker: Dorottya Szécsi

Summary:
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 easily
comprehensible text. Fortunately though, there are tricks and tips that can
help us improve. My talk is aimed for grad-students who are non-native
English speakers, but experienced scientists are also welcome—one can never
stop trying to make their writing style more and more elegant and
reader-friendly.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 22 November 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117
Speaker: Adam Burgasser, UC San Diego.
Title: TBC

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 22 November 2017, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre
Our next event will be Wednesday 22 November 2017. Callum Bellhouse will tell us about his studies of jellyfish
galaxies using telescopes in Chile. Details of the evening and a link to book tickets are on our website

http://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 Lounge
The Astrophysics group have invited any year 4 students who are considering
applying for a PhD to join us on Wednesday, 15 November, in the Physics West
2nd floor coffee lounge. Students will have the opportunity to come along to
chat with our faculty over coffee/tea and cookies about PhD opportunities in
the group

Two slots will be open
11:30-12:30 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 S06
Speaker: Nicola Tartoni, Diamond Light Source
Title: High Energy Physics detector technologies in photon science

Detector systems developed for high energy physics have had a great impact in
fields very different from the original field of application. In particular
some experiments carried out at synchrotron radiation facilities (photon
science) have been revolutionized by detector technologies that were developed
for high energy physics.

In this talk I will give a brief introduction to the research carried out in
photon science and I will present some detector technologies developed for
high energy physics, with an historical perspective, that had a major impact
in photon science. In addition I will give some examples of detector
developments ongoing at Diamond Light Source, the UK synchrotron radiation
facility.

Week Commencing 6 November 2017
Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Tuesday 7 November 2017, 12 noon, Physics West Library
Speaker: Dr Jeff Andrews, Crete
Title: 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 117
Speaker: Dr Victor See, Exeter
Title: Zeeman-Doppler studies and the rotation evolution of low-mass stars

One of the most important and fundamental properties of low-mass main sequence
stars is their rotation period.  It is known to correlate with numerous proxies
of magnetic activity such as X-ray emission, surface magnetic field strengths
and stellar winds. In turn, stellar winds are the main agent of mass- and
angular momentum-loss over the main sequence lifetime, causing the rotation
period to increase as the star ages. While the mechanisms driving stellar winds
are 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 the
Zeeman-Doppler imaging technique.  This technique is capable of mapping the
large-scale magnetic field topology at stellar surfaces of other stars. To
date, ~100 stars have had their surface magnetic fields mapped with this
technique providing new insights into how the magnetic fields of cool dwarfs
vary with parameters such as stellar mass and rotation. In this talk, I will
discuss some of these trends, as well as the implications for stellar rotation
evolution 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:1710.05455

A. 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:1710.05444

J. 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 S06

Speaker: Alberto Vecchio, Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy,
University of Birmingham

Title: The Gravitational-Wave sky so far

In less than two years of operation, gravitational-wave observatories –
Advanced LIGO, and more recently Virgo – have directly detected
gravitational waves, discovered binary black hole mergers, revealing an
abundant population of these systems, and recently observed the first binary
neutron star coalescence. The aftermath of this event was also observed
across the electro-magnetic spectrum, from gamma rays to radio waves,
providing evidence that binary neutron star mergers are engines behind (at
least some) short gamma ray bursts and primary production sites of elements
heavier 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 S06

Speaker: Tassos Fragos, NBI Copenhagen

Title: Open questions in the formation of binary stellar systems containing
       black holes

The recent detection of gravitational waves from coalescing binary black
holes by LIGO allowed for the first time the direct observation of
stellar-mass black holes. These gravitational wave detections, complemented
by a 45-year-long history of indirect observations of black holes in X-ray
binaries, can give us now a more complete picture of the formation and
evolution of binary stellar systems containing black holes. Yet, to date, a
number of physical processes involved in the formation and evolution of
these systems remain poorly understood. In this talk, after briefly
reviewing our current understanding of the evolutionary channels leading to
the formation of black-hole binary, I will discuss the some of the main
uncertainties involved in these formation scenarios: the occurrence of
natal kicks during the core-collapse phase leading to black-hole formation,
the angular momentum content of the formed black holes and the phase of
dynamically unstable mass-transfer also known as common envelope. Finally,
I will present an outlook of how we can improve, in the near future, our
understanding in all these fronts.

Week Commencing 16 October 2017
Announcement of New Gravitational Wave Results
Monday 16 October 2017, 3pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117
Join us for a live streaming of a press conference during which
scientists representing LIGO, Virgo, and some 70 observatories will
reveal new details and discoveries made in the ongoing search for
gravitational waves. This will be followed by short presentations
by 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 S06
Speaker: Ilya Nemenman, Emory University, USA
Title: The physics of cellular sensing

For many years, biology was the refuge from mathematics within the
scientific world. This is no longer true. The last two decades have
witnessed an explosive growth in life sciences, fuelled largely by
quantitative, mathematical reasoning and high-precision experiments
that originated in physical sciences. The times of summarizing
components of biological systems with cartoon diagrams that many of
us remember from high school biology text books are giving way to
quantitative models that make predictions as precise as those in the
inanimate physical world.

In my talk, I will try to guide you through 30+ years of developing
such quantitative models for one relatively simple function that all
living systems must perform to survive in this world: sense their
environment. We can characterize such sensing by living cells in the
same terms as we use to describe man-made information processing
devices. Surprisingly, this leads to the realization that even
“simple” cells are extremely good in sensing tasks, approaching
fundamental physical limits set by molecular diffusion and
thermodynamics, and beating most human-engineered devices. And where
the achievable performance is not sufficient, cells have found
ingenious ways of improving it by comparing their notes to those of
their neighbours, by sharing the workload, by multiplexing their
communications, by trading energy for extra bits of information, etc.
I will illustrate some of these mechanisms with examples from the life
of bacterial and mammalian cells.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

We are delighted to announce the 2017/2018 Astronomy in the City
season! Our first event will be 18th October and will include a
talk on the latest gravitational-wave discoveries from our LIGO team.
Tickets are now available from
https://astrointhecity102017.eventbrite.co.uk
Astronomy 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 recent
research, and a question-and-answer session (for everything from
beginner's questions about the night sky to the latest work done here
in 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 Library
Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 4 October 2017, 4pm, Poynting SLT
Speaker: Dr Sarah Bridle, Manchester University
Title: Climate Change and Food: A Cosmologist’s Perspective

There is an impending perfect storm of pressure on our food production system,
with increasing population and changing consumer tastes, in the face of rising
temperatures and extreme weather events. Tim Gore, head of food policy and
climate change for Oxfam, said “The main way that most people will experience
climate change is through the impact on food: the food they eat, the price
they pay for it, and the availability and choice that they have.”. Yet, at the
same time, food production is a bigger contributor to climate change than
transport. This is why I am leading the new STFC FoodNetwork+ which aims to
engage STFC researchers (astro/particle/nuclear physics) and STFC facilities
(e.g. Diamond) to apply their capabilities to food, from agriculture, supply
chain to nutrition and consumer choice. In this talk I will describe some of
the challenges in food research and how physicists can help.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Thursday 5 October 2017, 1pm, Physics West 106
Speaker: Dr Andrea Bertoldi, LP2N - CNRS Bordeaux
Title: MIGA and GW detection with atom interferometry at low frequency

Atom interferometry has been proposed for the realization of GW detectors in
the infrasound band (10 mHz - 10 Hz) [1]. Such frequency band is forbidden to
current ground based GW detectors due to low frequency gravity gradient noise
that causes a tidal effect on the suspended mirrors used as test masses to
detect gravitational radiation. Adopting as probes arrays of atom clouds in
free fall and interrogated simultaneously in a gravity-gradiometer
configuration allows the suppression of Newtonian Noise [2], enables low
frequency sensitivity, and opens the way toward the realization of infrasound
GW 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 atom
interferometry in the underground environment of LSBB (Rustrel, France).

New Starters
Monday 2 October 2017
Dr Dorottya Szécsi has started work with the group today; she will be based
in 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 SLT

The Autumn School Committee Meeting will be held in the Poynting Small
Lecture Theatre on Thursday 21st September 2017 at 10.00am. All staff
are encouraged to attend.

Cosmic Mergers – from massive black holes to massive clusters
Thursday 21st & Friday 22nd September 2017, Physics West

The Birmingham-Nottingham Extragalactic Workshop series consists of an
informal 2 day event, with the aim of bringing together researchers in
related strands of research in a topical and well-focused area of
extragalactic astronomy.  This year the topic of the workshop is Cosmic
Mergers from Massive Black Holes to Massive Clusters.  More information
can be found here  www.sr.bham.ac.uk/workshop/2017

Visitors
Dr Elena Rossi will be arriving on Monday 18 September 2017; she will be
acting 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 117
Speaker: Dorottya Szecsi, Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Title: Homogeneous 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 117
Speaker: Fabian Schneider, Oxford
Title: 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 S06
Speaker: Prof Mikhail Shifman, University of Minnesota
Title: Quantum Field Theory after Revolution

I give a broad review of field theory from its inception, focusing on the last
revolution –– the discovery of supersymmetric gauge theories and various
impacts it produced on the basic concepts of field theory. Some recent
applications are also discussed .

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Friday 26 May 2017, 13.00, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117
Speaker: Emma Chapman, Imperial College London
Title: Uncovering the First Stars

The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) signals the end of the Dark Ages of the
Universe and the birth of the first stars.  The race is on to make the first
statistical detection of this epoch however the foregrounds swamp the
cosmological data by several orders of magnitude and their removal remains a
significant challenge for both current and future telescopes. I will speak
broadly about the foreground mitigation techniques currently being used with
EoR data, with a focus on blind source separation techniques. Overcoming the
challenges such as the huge foregrounds has not been merely an inconvenience
on the way to the prize ... The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is due to be
built in 2019 and it is vital we embed the lessons learned
from the current EoR experiments before the design of the instrument is
finalised. I will introduce the software OSKAR that I have helped develop in
order to simulate EoR data, such that we can test design options and truly
exploit the incredible power of the SKA.

Publications
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources and neutron-star-black-hole mergers from very
massive close binaries at low metallicity

ASuthors:Marchant, Pablo; Langer, Norbert; Podsiadlowski, Philipp; Tauris,
         Thomas; de Mink, Selma; Mandel, Ilya; Moriya, Takashi
Accepted for publication in A&A
https://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 S06
Speaker: Sarah Bohndiek, University of Cambridge
Title: Making waves in biomedical optics

Several hallmarks of cancer, such as aberrant metabolism, are associated with
highly aggressive disease and poor prognosis. These hallmarks lead to changes
in tissue optical properties that can now be detected non-invasively thanks to
technological advances emerging from telecommunications and remote sensing. In
this talk, I will first provide an overview of the metabolic processes of
interest to our laboratory, particularly in the context of the tumour
microenvironment. I will then detail the technical development of several new
imaging modalities that have the potential to increase early cancer detection
and also improve patient stratification. In each case, I will provide examples
of their biomedical application in living subjects.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Thursday 18 May 2017, 2.30pm, PW 117
Speaker: Robert Izzard, University of Cambridge
Title: (Ex-?) Binary stars in the Galactic thick disc

Recent studies of old stars in the Galactic thick disc suggest it contains a
population of “young” giant stars. These are chemically and kinematically
members 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 thick
disc. Galactic astronomers have suggested they come from a population of stars
that have migrated from the bar of the Galaxy. Because migration away from a
bar 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 which
forms blue stragglers in globular clusters, or they have merged. Through the
carbon–to–nitrogen ratio we relate stellar surface chemistry to stellar mass
using single and binary star models. The latter match the observations far
better than we could have expected. We also predict binary fractions and other
properties of these “young” stars ready for comparison with ongoing and
upcoming 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 117
Speaker: Dan Smith, Hertfordshire
Title: The 850um properties of galaxies in the SCUBA2 Cosmology Legacy Survey

I will present some multi-wavelength studies of galaxies in 0.8 deg2 of 850um
observations 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 most
star-forming galaxies in the Universe. I will then describe a study of the
dust 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 some
brief highlights of the planned WEAVE -LOFAR survey, which is due to begin in
2018.

Birmingham / Frankfurt Workshop
Wednesday 10 – Friday 12 May 2017
Alberto Sesana will be hosting the above workshop. A detailed schedule has
already been circulated.

Astrophysics Seminar
Friday 12 May 2017, 2pm, PW 117
Speaker: Dr Alison Farmer
Title: Adventures in Theoretical Astrophysics and Beyond

Dr Farmer was on a stellar trajectory in astrophysics: Cambridge undergrad,
Caltech PhD with Sterl Phinney and Peter Goldreich, a super-prestigious
postdoc at the Harvard Society of Fellows... Until she decided to switch to
“green" engineering, and embarked on an equally stellar career in the design
of energy-efficient laboratories, working with clients including Stanford
and Harvard universities, AstraZeneca and others, chairing one of the working
groups of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and giving
expert lectures on energy-efficient design and benchmarking.  So please join
me in hearing about Dr Farmer’s adventures in academia and beyond, and get
inspired, whether you are contemplating a career in astrophysics or a switch
to 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 Mink
Nature Communications, 8, 14906 (2017) http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14906

Title: Hierarchical analysis of gravitational-wave measurements of binary
       black hole spin-orbit misalignments.
Authors: Simon Stevenson, Christopher P. L. Berry, Ilya Mandel
https://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 Theatre

Speaker: Anna Watts, University of Amsterdam

Title: Thermonuclear burst oscillations: where firestorms meet fundamental
physics


Neutron stars offer a unique environment in which to develop and test
theories of the strong force. Densities in neutron star cores can reach up
to ten times the density of a normal atomic nucleus, and the stabilising
effect of gravitational confinement permits long-timescale weak
interactions. This generates matter that is neutron-rich, and opens up the
possibility of stable states of strange matter, something that can only
exist in neutron stars. Strong force physics is encoded in the Equation of
State (EOS), the pressure-density relation, which links to macroscopic
observables 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 and
diagnose the underlying dense matter physics.

One very promising technique for simultaneous measurement of M and R
exploits hotspots (burst oscillations) that form on the neutron star surface
when material accreted from a companion star undergoes a thermonuclear
explosion (a Type I X -ray burst). As the star rotates, the hotspot gives
rise to a pulsation. Relativistic effects then encode information about M
and R into the pulse profile. However the mechanism that generates burst
oscillations remains unknown, 20 years after their discovery. Ignition
conditions, flame spread, and the magnetohydrodynamics of the star's ocean
all play a role. I will review the progress that we are making towards
cracking this long-standing problem, and establishing burst oscillations as
a tool par excellence for measuring M and R. This is a major goal for future
large area X-ray telescopes such as eXTP and STROBE -X.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 5.30pm, Poynting Large lecture Theatre

Tickets and full details of the evening are available here:

http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

We will be having a talk from Tiago Campante asteroseismology and hunting
for exoplanets as well as the usual activities.

Publications
Using red clump stars to correct the Gaia DR1 parallaxes

Davies, 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, G11

Speaker: Antonio Garufi, ETH Zurich

Title: The moment planets form: the SPHERE view of protoplanetary disks

The ALMA image of HL Tau is only one of the many spectacular images of
protoplanetary disks obtained during the last five years. With specific
focus on near-IR scattered light images from VLT /SPHERE, I show how these
observations are changing our view of the processes of the planet formation.
It turned out that peculiar features like spirals, rings, shadows, and
cavities are ubiquitous in disks. The increased number of observations
allows us now to draw the first conclusions on the evolution of disks and
their 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 Theatre

Speaker: Clare Burrage, Nottingham University

Title: Detecting Dark Energy: from cosmology to the laboratory

I will discuss why current theories of dark energy, which attempt to explain
the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, lead to the introduction
of new light scalars and associated fifth forces. I’ll introduce non-linear
screening mechanisms, which allows these scalars to have interesting
cosmological effects whilst remaining compatible with terrestrial and solar
system tests of gravity. I will then go on to discuss prospects for
detecting these fields, and explain why our best hope of learning more about
dark energy may be with table top scale experiments.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 8 March 2017, 6pm, Poynting Building
See here for details

Alberto Sesana will speak about the Universes biggest black holes and how
they evolve with their host galaxies.

Week Commencing 27 February
Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Monday 27 February 2017

This is a reminder that Particle Physics have booked the second floor coffee
lounge 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 115
Serena will lead this week's journal club.

I would like to discuss networks in nature and in particular on the
Large-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 106
Speaker: Dr Julian Stirling, NIST Gaithersburg, USA
Title: Determining Big G and the Art of Measuring Small Forces

The Newtonian constant of gravitation, or Big G, is arguably the mostr
frustrating fundamental constant of Nature to measure. Cavendish first
measured Big G in 1798 with an uncertainty of about 1%. After two centuries
of scientific development the uncertainty of G has only fallen by two orders
of magnitude, and many experiments produce conflicting results. By comparison,
in just over one century the Planck constant was both theorised and then
measured with an uncertainty of just twelve parts per billion.

Big G is so hard to measure as the gravitational coupling between matter is so
weak, but with measurements disagreeing by over 10 sigma it is clear something
more has gone awry. We have to wonder, are we seeing effects of undiscovered
physics, or are we simply chasing down the mistakes of other researchers? A
history of improperly calibrated electrostatic servos, unaccounted
anelasticity, and unnoticed Abbe errors have plagued mechanical balances of
the past. With atom interferometer measurements poised to steal the show, or
at least add more results into the fray, NIST is adopting a different approach.
Instead of building a new experiment we are acquiring, investigating, and
repeating suspect experiments to shed light on what is causing the
discrepancies.

We have taken the BIPM torsion balance (currently measuring 9 sigma above the
CODATA recommended value) and placed it on a state of the art coordinate
measuring machine housed in the NIST advance measurement laboratory,
surrounded by world leading calibration laboratories. We are expecting a new
measurement of Big G to be completed in 2017, both with the original copper
source masses and new single crystal sapphire masses.

In this talk I will outline the experimental challenges of performing accurate
measurements 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 115
Sam Cooper will lead on a couple of papers on the beam rotation sensor used
at LIGO.

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 15 February 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117
Speaker: Iain Murray, Edinburgh
Title: Bayesian inference: by MCMC or machine learning methods


Week Commencing 6 February
Second Floor Coffee Lounge
Monday 6 February 2017

This is a reminder that Particle Physics have booked the second floor
coffee lounge for the duration of Monday to host their PhD Open Day

Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 7 February 2017, 12pm, Physics West Library
Speaker: Dr Brett Shapiro, Stanford University
Title: Cryogenic LIGO Test Masses for Next Generation Gravitational Wave Observatories

Abstract:
Now that the 2nd generation of LIGO, Advanced LIGO, is running and making
gravitational wave observations, plans for the 3rd generation are now in
development. The 3rd generation, known as LIGO Voyager, intends to
improve upon Advanced LIGO’s sensitivity by a factor of 3 over a broad
frequency range, increasing the rate of gravitational wave detections by
more than an order of magnitude. One of the proposed upgrades to realize
this improvement involves cooling silicon mirror test masses to cryogenic
temperatures to reduce the thermal noise in the the mirror coatings and
the mirror suspensions. This talk discusses a method to cool these mirrors
to 120 K without compromising the strict vibration isolation requirements.
Recent results and ongoing experimental work from the LIGO group at Stanford
University 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 Theatre
Speaker: Dr Andrew Howard, Science Director Geology and Regional Geophysics,
         British Geological Survey
Title: The role of Geophysics and geophysicists in a national geological
       survey organisation - as seen by a geologist

Most of the world's nations have an organisation, or allied groups of
organisations, that are responsible for acquiring and communicating spatially
referenced knowledge and understanding of national and regional geology. That
knowledge is needed to secure critical mineral, water and energy resources,
inform decisions on sustainable land use and development, forecast and de-risk
the impacts of environmental change and hazards, and provide essential data
for scientific research.


Week Commencing 30 January
Special Astrophysics Seminar
Monday 30 January 2017, 1pm, Nuffield G17
Speaker: Dr Jenne Driggers, Caltech (LIGO Observatory)
Title: Advanced LIGO's second observing run, and beyond
Abstract:
After Advanced LIGO's successful first observing period, during which
gravitational waves were detected, the detectors were turned off for several
months of upgrades and improvements. On November 30th, 2016, the detectors
began their second observing run, which is currently ongoing. In this talk I
will describe some of the upgrades that are now in place, as well as some of
the challenges that were faced. I will conclude with an outlook on future
upgrades that may be added after the next observing run, to further improve
our 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 115

Siyuan Chen to lead the discussion around
"Gravitational encounters and the evolution of the Galactic nuclei", a
series of papers by David Merritt. The focus will be on paper IV with papers
I-III recommended for further reading.

IV: https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08169
III: https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.01263
II: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.03010
I: https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.07516

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 1 February 2017, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Tamara Rogers, Newcastle
Title: Internal Gravity Waves in Massive Stars
Internal Gravity Waves (IGW) can lead to angular momentum transport and
chemical mixing in stellar interiors. In this talk I will present numerical
simulations of these waves in massive stars and discuss how they might
contribute 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 in
G26.


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 Theatre

Speaker: Anna Watts, University of Amsterdam

Title: Thermonuclear burst oscillations: where firestorms meet fundamental
physics


Neutron stars offer a unique environment in which to develop and test
theories of the strong force. Densities in neutron star cores can reach up
to ten times the density of a normal atomic nucleus, and the stabilising
effect of gravitational confinement permits long-timescale weak
interactions. This generates matter that is neutron-rich, and opens up the
possibility of stable states of strange matter, something that can only
exist in neutron stars. Strong force physics is encoded in the Equation of
State (EOS), the pressure-density relation, which links to macroscopic
observables 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 and
diagnose the underlying dense matter physics.

One very promising technique for simultaneous measurement of M and R
exploits hotspots (burst oscillations) that form on the neutron star surface
when material accreted from a companion star undergoes a thermonuclear
explosion (a Type I X -ray burst). As the star rotates, the hotspot gives
rise to a pulsation. Relativistic effects then encode information about M
and R into the pulse profile. However the mechanism that generates burst
oscillations remains unknown, 20 years after their discovery. Ignition
conditions, flame spread, and the magnetohydrodynamics of the star's ocean
all play a role. I will review the progress that we are making towards
cracking this long-standing problem, and establishing burst oscillations as
a tool par excellence for measuring M and R. This is a major goal for future
large area X-ray telescopes such as eXTP and STROBE -X.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 5.30pm, Poynting Large lecture Theatre

Tickets and full details of the evening are available here:

http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

We will be having a talk from Tiago Campante asteroseismology and hunting
for exoplanets as well as the usual activities.

Publications
Using red clump stars to correct the Gaia DR1 parallaxes

Davies, 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 S06
Speaker: Alexei Grinbaum, CEA Saclay/LARSIM
Title: Quantum and postquantum correlations

The amount of correlations allowed by quantum entanglement is higher than the
classical bound but lower than what is mathematically possible. Why this
arbitrary limit? Is it a constant of Nature, a complexity bound or an
artefact of human mind? I'll review several recent attempts to give it a
meaning by studying "postquantum" models.

AstroSoc Lecture
Thursday 12 January 2017, 7pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre S02
Speaker: Professor Cole Miller, University of Maryland, USA

Title: Mysteries of Black Holes

To register https://mysteriesofbhs.eventbrite.co.uk

New Starter
Dr Matteo Bianconi

Dr Matteo Bianconi, has arrived from Innsbruck and has joined us on a
post-doctoral position. We are very fortunate to have Matteo in the group.
He is an expert of galaxy evolution and clusters, but has very broad
interests so I am sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for many of us
to talk and work with him. You can find Matteo in the post-docs office on
the second floor (next to David's office).

Alberto Vecchio

Publications
Christopher P. L. Berry, Robert H. Cole, Priscilla Cañizares, Jonathan R. Gair

Importance of transient resonances in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.94.124042a
https://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 115

I would like to bring your attention to the following paper:
Evidence for vacuum birefringence from the first optical-polarimetry
measurement of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5−3754 which was
covered by the media two days ago.

This seems to be the first observational evidence for the interesting vacuum
birefringence effect, a prediction of the quantum electrodynamics (QED).

Just a side note: Hartmut Grote (AEI) proposed the use of gravitational-wave
detectors for observing this effect: On the possibility of vacuum QED
measurements with gravitational wave detectors

Haixing

Astrophysics & Space Research and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 7 December 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Emily Petroff (ASTRON)
Title: Detection and follow-up of fast radio bursts

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are quickly becoming a subject of intense interest
in time-domain astronomy. FRBs have the exciting potential to be used as
cosmological probes of both matter and fundamental parameters, but such
studies require large populations. Advances in FRB detection using current
and next-generation radio telescopes will enable the growth of the population
in the next few years. Real-time discovery of FRBs is now possible with 6
sources detected in real-time within the past 2 years at the Parkes telescope.
I will discuss the developing strategies for maximising real-time science with
FRBs including polarisation capture and multi-wavelength follow- up.
Particularly, I will focus on the real-time detections of four new sources
that provide a test bed for fast radio burst science. I will also discuss how
our response to these events can inform next generation surveys and pave
the way for the enormous number of FRB discoveries expected in the SKA era.

Publications
Haster, Antonini, Kalogera, Mandel
N-BODY DYNAMICS OF INTERMEDIATE MASS-RATIO INSPIRALS IN STAR CLUSTERS
Astrophysical 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 117
Speaker: Prof Hsien-Chi Yeh, Tianqin Research Center for Gravitational Physics,
School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun yat-sen University, China
Title: Tianqin Mission - space-based gravitational waves detection

TianQin is a proposal for a space-borne detector of gravitational waves in the
millihertz frequency range. The experiment relies on a constellation of three
drag-free spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Interspacecraft laser interferometry
is used to monitor the distances between the test masses that are moving along
geodesics. The experiment is designed to be capable of detecting a signal with
high confidence from a single source of gravitational waves within a few
months of observing time. In this talk, I will introduce the preliminary
mission concept for TianQin, including the candidate source and experimental
designs. I will also present the progress on developing key technologies and
the roadmap of whole mission. We expect TianQin to be flown in the second half
of 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 S06
Speaker: Prof Simon Portegies-Zwart, Leiden University, Netherlands
Title: Foreigners welcome in the Solar System

Dwarf planets live at the edge of the Solar System. Some of these ice-rocks
are best explained if they have been abducted from another star. Do we have
extra-solar material in the Solar System?

Visitors
Dr George Howitt will be visiting Prof Ilya Mandel on Monday 28 & Tuesday 29
November 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 117
Speaker: Chris Copperwheat (LMJU)
Title: The Large Robotic Telescope: a facility for the new era of time domain
       astronomy

The Liverpool Telescope is a fully robotic, 2-metre class optical/infrared in
operation on the Canary island of La Palma. The rapid response and flexibility
of 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 new
discovery facilities such as LSST, plans are being made in Liverpool for a new
robotic telescope to capitalise on this new era. This facility has the working
title 'Liverpool Telescope 2' or the 'Large Robotic Telescope' and we aim to
have it in operation on La Palma by ~2022. The core goal of the facility will
be the follow-up of transients.

The current generation of optical surveys have opened up a new era of
transient astronomy, but at the same time have introduced a new problem: our
discovery capability has dramatically outpaced our follow-up capacity, such
that less than 10 per cent of new transients receive a spectroscopic
classification, let alone any scientific exploitation. The follow-up gap is
going 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 is
of the order of degrees. Surveying this error box is not the biggest problem
in identifying an electromagnetic counterpart: the real challenge is
distinguishing the counterpart from the many unrelated transient events in
the region. The Large Robotic Telescope will be designed for the follow-up
role: a fully robotic 4-metre telescope with a lightweight, fast-slewing
design, providing a world-leading rapid response capability for efficient
programmes of classification spectroscopy and the follow-up of fast-fading
sources. In this talk I will detail the science case and provide an update
on development of this new telescope.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 23 November 2016, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

This month, our new Observatory Director, Sean McGee, will speak about his
research in his talk Nature vs Nurture: The formation of galaxies. We'll also
have 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 observations

Ilya Mandel; Will M. Farr; Andrea Colonna; Simon Stevenson; Peter Tio;
John Veitch

Monthly 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 department
from October 31st to November 16. Massimo is a recognized expert of massive
black hole (binary) evolution and dynamics and galaxy formation at large.
Among other things, he will give a series of lectures particularly targeted
to PhD students but open to everybody on the subject of massive black hole
astrophysics.

Lecture 3:
-MBH evolution through the cosmic history: approaches and open issues -MBH
 spins: how do they evolve, observational estimates, what do they tell us
Lecture 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 106
You are invited to the focus group detailed below, for further details about
the project and focus groups please see www.oamj.org or contact Dr Jenny Fry j.fry@lboro.ac.uk

Buffet lunch provided - for catering purposes rsvp: n.mycock@sheffield.ac.uk
Does 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 group
in your school. Open-access mega-journals are a relatively new phenomenon.
Such journals are typically very large, with a broad subject scope and
operating an open access publishing fee. They also tend to operate a peer
review system that seeks to evaluate only the scientific soundness of papers,
rather than their potential impact or importance to the field. Well known
mega-journals include PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports and Sage Open.
We do not expect participants to know about specifics of mega-journals, or
indeed 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 117
Speaker: Steve Kawaler, Iowa State
Title: More than a theory - connecting highly evolved stars with their younger
selves through space based asteroseismology

Within the last 10 years and at an accelerating pace, space-based observations
have been exposing the interiors of stars at all stages of their development.
The number of stars subject to these studies range from dozens to thousands
depending on the specific type of star. Prior to this era, our studies relied
on in-depth study of individual targets, mostly subject to the handicap of
observing from a rotating, cloud-dotted platform. In this talk, I'll discuss
several recent revelations about how stars evolve after they've left the main
sequence. In particular, we'll look at what the Kepler and K2 missions have
revealed about the interior structure of white dwarfs and core helium-burning
sdB stars – and how internal properties these geriatric stellar types are
connected with their red giant predecessors.

EPS Inaugural lecture
Wednesday 9 November 2016, 5.15pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117
Followed by a drinks reception in the Physics Library.
Professor Ilya Mandel, Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham

Singing binaries: listening to the chirps of black holes

In this lecture, Professor Mandel will discuss the detection of gravitational
waves and explore the potential research opportunities arising from this
revolutionary discovery.  On September 14, 2015, the instruments of the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a disturbance.
This tiny signal was the echo of a very loud song, sung by a pair of black
holes merging more than a billion years ago during the last fraction of a
second of their lives. This discovery heralded the conclusion of a
decades-long search for one of the most difficult to test predictions of
General Relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity.

At the same time, this black-hole was the first note of a beautiful symphony
to reach us through a newly opened window on the Universe. Through this window
of gravitational-wave astronomy, we are already beginning to probe the secrets
of strong-field gravity. In the next few years, we anticipate hearing many
more songs coming from the mergers of compact remnants of massive stars:
neutron stars and black holes. Like palaeontologists who use the skeletons of
dinosaurs to discover what living dinosaurs looked like, we are beginning to
study the evolutionary history of massive stars by observing their merging
remnants.

If you wish to attend this event, please complete the online registration form

For further information please contact: epscommunications@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Awards
Callum Bellhouse

Callum Bellhouse has won a poster competition at a conference in Venice, Italy;
"The galaxy life-cycle: From activity to quiescence, and back, across cosmic
times" which enabled him to give a short presentation.

Serena Vinciguerra

Serena Vinciguerra has recently won the Hartle Award for the best student talkr
in her session at the 21st International conference on General Relativity and
Gravitation in New York (GR21) at the Columbia University Campus
https://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 House
HiROS are hosting the above workshop, more details can be obtained via the
following 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 Library

Dr Massimo Dotti from Universita` di Milano Bicocca will visit our department
from October 31st to November 16. Massimo is a recognized expert of massive
black hole (binary) evolution and dynamics and galaxy formation at large.
Among other things, he will give a series of lectures particularly targeted
to PhD students but open to everybody on the subject of massive black hole
astrophysics.

Following a survey among PhD students, lectures will take place in the Physics
West Library from 10 to 11am on: 1 Nov, 4 Nov, 8 Nov, 11 Nov and 15 Nov 2016

Lectures will involve a mixture of blackboard writing and slides, and will be
a great opportunity for whoever is interested to learn more on this fascinating
and 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 Sesana

Lecture 1:
-Why are we talking about massive black holes (MBHs)
-MBH: an operational definition
-MBH masses (and compactness) from observations. 1: direct methods

Lecture 2:
-AGN phenomenology and introduction to accretion processes -MBH massesr
 (and compactness) from observations. 1: indirect methods -MBH-host galaxy
 scaling relations

Lecture 3:
-MBH evolution through the cosmic history: approaches and open issues -MBH
 spins: how do they evolve, observational estimates, what do they tell us

Lecture 4:
-MBH binaries: cosmological context, formation and dynamical evolution -MBH
 binaries: proposed observational features in the EM landscape

Lecture 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 S06
Speaker: Dr Richard Stainsby, National Nuclear Laboratory
Title: Generation IV Reactors: Opportunities and Challenges

Generation IV reactors offer the promise of reliable, low-carbon, on-demand,
safe and economic nuclear energy which has the potential to be sustainable
for millennia. Closing the nuclear fuel cycle such that 96% of the material
in spent fuel is repeatedly recycled overcomes the limitations imposed by the
very finite natural uranium resource and dramatically reduces the volumes and
long-term radiotoxicity of fuel cycle wastes. Generation IV reactors improve
sustainability by creating the opportunity to use high-grade nuclear heat to
displace conventional fossil-fuelled heat sources to supply process heat to a
diverse range of industrial uses. Novel fuel and coolant combinations, such
as those found in molten salt reactors offer the possibility of integrated
recycling of fuel thus closing the fuel cycle within the boundary of a
reactor site.

Clearly, the above benefits will not be obtained easily. At the moment six
basic systems, based on fuel, coolant, and neutron spectrum combinations are
proposed for further development. Each system faces its own challenges with
regard to materials performance, engineering, economics, the requirements of
licensing and safeguards systems, and public acceptability.

This lecture presents the current status of a selection of Generation IV
reactor technologies, explores applications and opportunities for deployment,
including the prospects to have small modular variants, and address their
main 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 S06

Speaker: Eleanor Campbell, Edinburgh University

Title: Free-flying fullerenes

Fullerenes were discovered over 30 years ago but continue to throw up
surprises and provide convenient model systems for developing theoretical
techniques and studying the fundamental properties of complex molecules.
The recent laboratory confirmation of the presence of fullerenes in
interstellar space by the Maier group in Basel may have far-reaching
consequences for our understanding of astrochemistry.

In this talk I will briefly review some of the fundamental studies of ther
properties of fullerenes in the gas phase that my group has been involved
with over the years that can help explain how fullerenes survive the harsh
conditions of space. I will also discuss our more recent studies of the
seemingly contradictory nature of fullerenes that can be explored by using
angular-resolved fs photoelectron spectroscopy: the appearance of
thermoelectric electrons (modelled with a two-temperature model more familiar
in condensed matter physics) along with evidence for the excitation of well-
resolved states based on the population of diffuse hydrogenic molecular
orbitals. The study illustrates the interesting position of fullerenes, with
properties bridging the gap between atomic/molecular systems and bulk matter.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 19 October 2016, 6pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

Astronomy 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 recent research, and a
question-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions about
the night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if
the weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a
lucky 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 2017

For this month's research talk, Hannah Middleton will tell us about pulsars -
short for "pulsating radio stars". She will introduce us to these strange
objects and discuss how she and others use them as tools to study the
universe.

More details are on our website

Visitors
Camilla Compton will be visiting Conor Mow-Lowry on Thursday and Friday this
week.

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 106

Speaker: Dan Foreman-Mackey, Washington

Title: Long-period transiting exoplanets and their population

Abstract: The Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of exoplanets and
revolutionized our understanding of their population. This large, homogeneous
catalog of discoveries has enabled rigorous studies of the occurrence rate of
exoplanets and extra-Solar planetary systems as a function of their physical
properties.  Transit surveys like Kepler are most sensitive to planets with
shorter orbital periods than the gas giant planets that dominate the dynamics
of our Solar System. I have developed a fully-automated method of discovering
and characterizing long-period transiting planets with only one or two
transits in the Kepler archival light curves. Since the method involves no
human intervention, I can also precisely measure the completeness function of
the discoveries and place constraints on the occurrence rate of exoplanets
with orbital periods longer than 2 years. I will present this method and the
statistical tools developed as part of this project.

ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 12 October 2016, 12pm, Physics West Library

Group meetings will no longer be on the same day as seminars, a new schedule
has been posted on the webpage.

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 12 October 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Ed Daw, Sheffield

Title: The ADMX search for QCD axions in the Galactic Halo

Abstract: Axions are a sometimes-neglected candidate solution to the dark
matter problem. They don't require any new physics at the electroweak scale,
and their existence would complete the standard model by explaining the
observed conservation of CP in the strong interactions. Detecting axions is
not easy because their couplings to more conventional particles are feeble,
but since 1994 the ADMX experiment has been searching for axions with a very
sensitive and beautiful detector based on an RF frequency cryogenic
electromagnetic resonator and the world's lowest noise AM radio! Sheffield
has collaborated on ADMX since 2007. I will summarise both the experiment in
general, as it approaches the beginning of its new run, and on Sheffield work
to solve the long-standing problem of how an RF resonator can be tuned over a
very large range of resonant frequencies.

 Special Astrophysics Seminar
Friday 14 October 2016, 2pm, Physics West Library

Speaker: Lee Whittaker, Manchester

Title: The mitigation of intrinsic alignments in future high precision weak
lensing surveys

Visitors
Gerald Bergmann, AEI will be visiting Conor Mow-Lowry on Wed 12 Oct through
to the 14 Oct 2016.

Sean Leavey, Glasgow will be visiting both Conor Mow-Lowry and Andreas Freise
on 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 Library

This week's journal club will be in a classical style, with Christopher
Berry leading the discussion on a pair of classic papers by Bahcall and
Wolf.  [adsabs.harvard.edu] [adsabs.harvard.edu]

School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 October 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Prof. Sheena Radford (FRS) from the University of Leeds

Title: Proteins Folding and Failing to Fold: How Good is Nature at Origami

Abstract: Evolution has provided humans with more than 30,000 genes that
encode the sequences of amino acids that make up our repertoire of proteins.
Proteins emerge from the ribosome during their synthesis as linear chains of
amino acids. Folding into a unique three dimensional structure, and avoiding
degradation, 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 to
recognise correctly folded proteins from their misfolded counterparts.
Failure of these mechanisms leads to severe human diseases, the majority of
which lack successful therapies. One class of these diseases is amyloidosis,
which includes Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes, which are
major threats to health in the developed and developing worlds.

In this lecture I will introduce current concepts and understandings of how
proteins fold and how and why they misfold, garnered from a host of
structural, biophysical and computational methods. How small changes in
protein sequence enhance the probability of nucleated growth of amyloid
fibrils will be discussed, as well as the properties of amyloid fibrils
themselves 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 117

Speaker: Aris Karastergiou, University of Oxford

Title: Understanding the clock: physics with pulsars

The canonical picture of pulsars as well behaved clocks is being challenged
by recent observations, that reveal time variability of the radio emission
and the rotational properties of a number of sources. The data point towards
intrinsic, magnetospheric, and propagation related effects. I will review
the technique of pulsar timing, which is providing stringent GR tests and
promise of nHZ GW detections in the future, show the ways in which pulsars
are "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 117

Speaker: Riccardo Sturani, University Estadual Paulista

Title: The General Relativistic two body problem: recent results

Gravitational Waves emitted by inspiraling and coalescing compact binary
systems requires for their detection accurate theoretical modeling. In the
early inspiral phase the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation to General
Relativity needs to be pushed to high order for data analysis purposes and
high accuracy comparison with Numerical Relativity computations describing
the final merger and ringdown phases also demand extreme precision. In this
talk an overview of the problem of deriving the equation of motion of
compact binaries will be given, with emphasis on the recent efforts applying
effective field theory techniques within the PN framework, which are also
important for applications to self-force comparisons and effective-one-body
calculations.


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 Veitch

Model-independent inference on compact-binary observations [arxiv.org]
--
S. J. Smartt et al. 2016.

A search for an optical counterpart to the gravitational wave event
GW151226. ApJL, 827, L40. [dx.doi.org]
--
Thomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Shi Qiu, *Ilya Mandel*, Eric Thrane

Limits of Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds 
Phys.  Rev. X 6, 031018 [journals.aps.org]
--
Simon Daley-Yates, Ian R. Stevens, Tom D. Crossland

Sub-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 106

Speaker: Dr Nimish Hathi, (LAM - Marseille)

Title: Galaxy Formation and Evolution in the JWST Era

Abstract: A comprehensive analysis of star-forming galaxies (SFGs), including a
crucial sub-population of Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs), at high redshifts (z>2)
using multi-wavelength photometry and deep spectroscopy is vital for
understanding the physical processes that govern the star formation activity
and galaxy assembly through cosmic time. Until now, such studies were limited
to small number of galaxies because of the lack of large area, deep observations
at high redshifts.

With extensive multi-wavelength photometry from HST deep fields, and deep
ground-based spectroscopy from ESO/VLT, we can now investigate physical
properties of a large sample of SFGs/LAEs at z~2-6. I will present results from
recent studies based on spectroscopic and photometric data of SFGs/LAEs at high
redshift 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;2016
arXiv: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 with
spinning 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 Library

Sebastian Gaebel will be leading a discussion about hierarchical
modelling.

Sebastian says he will address the famous 8 schools problem
and a problem from astrophysics 
 
Visitors
George Hau - 4-8 July 2016

George Hau (ESO, Santiago) will be visiting the group on July 4-8.
George is the SINFONI, EFOSC2 and MUSE instrument scientist.  He has
broad interesting in extragalactic astronomy, including galaxy
formation and galaxy archaeology.  Let me know if you'd be interested
in talking to George. Sean McGee

Publications
S. J. Smartt et al.  2016.

A search for an optical counterpart to the gravitational wave event
GW151226. [arxiv.org]

N-body dynamics of Intermediate mass-ratio inspirals in globular
clusters Carl-Johan Haster, Fabio Antonini, Vicky Kalogera, Ilya
Mandel [arxiv.org]

Week Commencing 6 June
LSST UK Cluster Meeting
Tuesday 7 June 2016, 10am, Physics West 106

Graham Smith will be hosting this meeting.

Science Jamboree
Tuesday 7 June 2016, 11-1pm Physics West Coffee Lounge

Please 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 101

Speaker: Mathilde Jauzac, University of Durham

Title: Hubble Frontiers Fields: Some insights after 2 and half years of
       observation

The Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) initiative constitutes the largest commitment
ever of HST time to the exploration of the distant Universe via gravitational
lensing by massive galaxy clusters. This program devotes 140 orbits of HST
time to deep imaging observations of each of six cluster lenses reaching
m~29 (AB) uniformly from the optical to the near-infrared. These clusters were
chosen for their strong lens properties, and are all highly disturbed objects,
showing major and minor merging on-going processes, making them ideal targets
to trace the Cosmic Web assembly. While combining strong and weak-lensing
regimes to map the total mass with X-rays observations of the hot gas and
spectroscopy of cluster galaxies to look at their direction of motion, we can
thus study the dynamical scenarios in place within these massive galaxy
clusters, and trace the sub-structures engaged. I will present a new
multi-wavelength picture of the first two HFF clusters. The depth of these
dataset makes these clusters amazing Cosmic Telescopes, but also enables us
to get an unprecedented understanding of the cluster physics. I will present
a comparison of the dark matter, light and gas distributions, that will lead
us to the distribution of substructures within the MACSJ0416 , and Abell 2744
vicinities. Finally I will discuss the different clues that these observables
provide 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 mass
modelling techniques, and hopefully improve our methods. I will thus give an
overview of the lensing community's work on SN Refsdal, and discuss the
appearance of its last multiple image.

Visitors
Tatsuya Narikawa - Tuesday 7 June 2016
Tatsuya Narikawa will be visiting the group until the 14 June 2016.

McKenna Davis and Patrick Blackstone - Monday 6 June 2016
Summer students McKenna and Patrick both from the US, will be working with
Haixing & 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 Library

Here 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 neural
networks in a general sense, then I'll lead a discussion on their pros and
cons, especially in an astrophysical setting. Jim Barrett

School Colloquium
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06

Speaker: Prof Chris Pickard, University of Cambridge

Title: Random explorations of material structure space

The use of stochastic optimisation strategies for first principles structure
prediction is now well established. There are many examples of these
techniques making genuine discoveries. Ab Initio Random Structure Searching
(AIRSS), in which initial starting structures are randomly generated and
relaxed repeatedly, is extremely simple, reliable and suited to high
throughput computation. Typical functional materials are ternary, or
quaternary compounds. It is important to perform a search over compositional
space as thoroughly and broadly as possible. I will discuss how AIRSS may be
used to do this, paying particular attention to pulling apart structures we
have 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; Royal
Society 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 117

Speaker: James Guillochon, Harvard CfA

Title: Tidal disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes: dynamics, light
       and relics

Most supermassive black holes in the local universe lie dormant, with only one
in a hundred accreting at their Eddington limits.  Aside from this active
minority, and the black holes in nearby galaxies that we can observe to
influence the dynamics of stars and gas, most remain difficult to study. Tidal
disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes give these dormant black
holes a chance to be seen once every ~10,000 years, and each tidal disruption
brings along with it a host of observable signatures that can be studied from
gigaparsecs away, from the moment of the disruption to millennia after a
disruption has occurred. In my talk I will present work I have done on tidal
disruptions of stars, and describe their dynamics, observational signatures
from real-time monitoring, and relics of disruption that may exist in plain
sight.

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 117

Speaker: Sean Matt, University of Exeter

Title: Rotation, Magnetic Activity and Mass Loss of Sun-Like Stars

An enormous amount of what we know about the universe and our own place on
Earth depends on our understanding of stars. Yet, even for the most familiar
stars, there are still major unsolved questions related to rotation, magnetic
activity, and mass loss. I will discuss an emerging self-consistent picture
that links all of these processes together and to the overall evolution of
Sun-like and low-mass stars. This progress is due to large and diverse new
datasets, advances in physical models for the loss of angular momentum (which
itself depends upon magnetism and mass loss), and the incorporation of these
models 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 117

Speaker: Moira Jardine, St Andrews

Title: The Space Weather of other Suns

Abstract: "Space Weather" describes the impact that the Sun has on its
environment through the magnetically powered flares, mass ejections and wind
that it produces. Although the Sun is a relatively inactive star, the impact
of a large solar mass ejection can damage satellite electronics, shut down
terrestrial power grids and disrupt radio communications. On more active
stars, we might expect even more dramatic space weather and a greater impact
on any orbiting planets. In this talk I will describe how we can use
observations that reveal the geometry of stellar magnetic fields to
understand the nature of the accompanying space weather.

HiROS Lectureship Position
Thursday 28 & Friday 29 April 2016, PW Lecture Theatre 117

We will be holding interviews later this week for a lectureship position inr
the HiROS group. On Thursday 28th, the candidates will be giving open talks
on their research plans in Physics West 117. Please do come along, all are
welcome. The schedule is below:

Lectureship talks, Thu 28th, W117:

11.00 - 11.45 Dr Anne-Marie Broomhall (Warwick) "Seismological insights into
the 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 most
about to help understanding the stars we know nothing about"

15.45 - 16.30 Dr Hannah Schunker (Max Planck, Göttingen), "Solving the Solar
Dynamo Problem"

Visitors
Wednesday 27 April 2016

This 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 O1
observing run and is interested in how we can use LIGO's distance estimation
to improve follow-up strategies. Walter and I have planned to discuss this
topic with Phil, and others are welcome to join too if interested.
Alternatively, if you want to arrange a meeting with Phil while he's here
then 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 in
Gravitational-wave Data 
Cody Messick et al. (including Gareth Thomas)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04324

Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black Hole
Carl L. Rodriguez, Carl-Johan Haster, Sourav Chatterjee, Vicky Kalogera,
Frederic A. Rasio
http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04254

Going the Distance: Mapping Host Galaxies of LIGO Sources in Three Dimensions
Using Local Cosmography and Targeted Follow-up
L. 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. Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.07333

The limits of astrophysics with gravitational wave backgrounds
Thomas Callister, Letizia Sammut, Eric Thrane, Shi Qiu, Ilya Mandel
https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02513

Congratulations to Professor Mandel & Others
I am very pleased to announce that promotions have been conferred by the
University's Promotions and Titles Committee for:

Nicola Wilkin, Professor (TF)
Ilya Mandel, Professor
Paul Norman, Reader (TF)
Dima Gangardt, Reader
Andrey Kaplin, Senior Lecturer

I am sure you would like to join me in congratulating them on their
achievements which recognise contributions ranging from research to
teaching 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 117

Speaker: Daisuke Kawata, UCL

Title: Structure and Metallicity Distributions of Chemically Decomposed
Thick and Thin Disk Populations of the Milky Way Disk

We first summarise the thick and thin disk formation scenario commonly seen
in cosmological N-body simulations. As suggested in Brook et al. (2004), a
hierarchical clustering scenario causes multiple minor gas-rich mergers, and
leads to the formation of kinematically hot disk, thick disk population, at
a high redshift. Once the mergers become less significant at later epoch,
the thin disk population starts building up. Because in this scenario the
thick disk population forms intensively at high redshift through multiple
gas-rich mergers, the thick disk population is compact and has
systematically higher [α/Fe] abundance than the thin disk population. In
addition, we show that the current cosmological simulation also naturally
predict that the thin disk population is flaring at the outer region.
Consequently, at the high vertical height from the disk plane, the compact
thick disk population (low metallicity and high [α/Fe]) is dominant in the
inner region and the flaring thin disk population (high metallicity and low
[α/Fe]) contributes more in the outer region. This helps to explain the
positive radial metallicity gradient and negative radial [α/Fe] gradient
observed at the high vertical height in the Milky Way stellar disk.

We then discuss how radial migration impacts the metallicity distribution of
the thin disc population. We demonstrate that the flaring star forming
region could be required to explain the negative vertical metallicity
gradient observed in the thin disc population.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 23 March 2016, 4pm, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117 (NOTE CHANGE
OF VENUE)

Speaker: Prof Stephen Smartt, Queens University, Belfast

Title: Collapse of massive stars to black holes - the missing progenitors of
supernovae
Massive stars collapse to form neutron stars and black holes. In doing so
they produce the population of core-collapse supernovae we see in the nearby
Universe.  Over the last 15 years we have been able to directly identify
the progenitors of supernovae, link them with explosions and in some cases
confirm the disappearance of the star. The number of discoveries of
progenitors now allows some interesting comparisons between observational
data and explosion models.  There appears to be a distinct lack of bright
supernovae from the most massive stars, which suggests that stars over a
certain mass limit produce black holes with no visible explosion.

I will discuss this mass limit, which could be as low as 16 solar masses and
the implications in the LIGO/Virgo era of detections of compact binary
mergers.

Publications
Published:

Detectability of Gravitational Waves from High-Redshift Binaries Pablo A.
Rosado, Paul D. Lasky, Eric Thrane, Xingjiang Zhu, Ilya Mandel, and Alberto
Sesana Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 101102 – Published 10 March 2016
[journals.aps.org] 

Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compact
objects and intermediate-mass black holes Carl-Johan Haster, Zhilu Wang,
Christopher P. L. Berry, Simon Stevenson, John Veitch, Ilya Mandel MNRAS
457, 4499 [mnras.oxfordjournals.org] 

Submitted:

The Chemically Homogeneous Evolutionary Channel for Binary Black Hole
Mergers: Rates and Properties of Gravitational-Wave Events Detectable by
Advanced 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 106

Gareth Thomas to deliver the science talk

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 9 March 2016, 14.30, Physics West Lecture Theatre 117

Speaker: Guy Davies, University of Birmingham

Title: Solar activity, stellar rotation and anomalous weakened magnetic
braking

Abstract: The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generation
of magnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake on
the rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or so
we thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler space
telescope we have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sun
stop spinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic braking
is that a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic field
occurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for our
understanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggests
that the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in the
not-too-distant future (in stellar evolutionary terms!).

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 9 March 2016, 6pm Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

The fourth of our talks celebrating the 100th anniversary of General
Relativity. Dr Graham Smith will speak about the bending of light,
Einstein's greatest blunder, cosmic acceleration, and the exciting future of
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.  [www.sr.bham.ac.uk]

Publications
Improving gravitational-wave parameter estimation using Gaussian process
regression

Moore, 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 Library

Tuesday, March 1, is our PhD admissions day. I've been in touch with some
of you already about direct involvement, but I hope everyone takes part. 
It's very important for our future success to attract the top students by
showing them what an active, engaging, collaborative and vibrant group of
scientists we are in HiROS and ASR! In particular, many students will be
spending the afternoon (from 1:30 PM onwards) in the second-floor coffee
lounge waiting for their turn to interview. Please come by whenever you can
during that time to chat with them - and in particular at 2:30 PM, when
catered 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 Lecture
Theatre

Speaker: Jun Ye, JILA/NIST, Colorado
Title: TBC

Paper of the month award
Congratulations to Guy Davies et al for winning the College Best Paper of
the Month

"Weakened magnetic braking as the origin of anomalously rapid rotation in
old field stars"

DOI: 10.1038/nature16168

The rotation of Sun-like stars plays a key role in the generation of
magnetic fields by dynamo action. These magnetic fields act as a brake on
the rotation, so that Sun-like stars spins down over their lifetimes. Or so
we thought. Using 4 years of observations from NASA's Kepler space telescope
we have discovered that stars that are more evolved than the Sun stop
spinning down. The most likely cause of this reduced magnetic braking is
that a significant change in the strength or topology of magnetic field
occurs at around the age of the Sun. This has huge implications for our
understanding of the dynamical evolution of Sun-like stars, and suggests
that the Sun may be approaching a significant change in behaviour in the
not-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 CHANGE

Simon Daley-Yates to deliver the science talk

Astrophysics & Space Research Group and HiROS Group Seminar
Wednesday 24 February 2016, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker:  Davide Gerosa, University of Cambridge
TITLE: A NEW PARADIGM TO BLACK-HOLE SPIN PRECESSION

The dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries in the post-Newtonian regime
is deeply characterized by a timescale hierarchy: the orbital timescale is
very short compared to the spin- precession timescale which, in turn, is
much shorter than the radiation-reaction timescale on which the orbit is
shrinking due to gravitational-wave emission. The binary dynamics is
typically studied in an orbit-averaged fashion: one only cares about the
orbit itself, not the instantaneous position of each black hole. Here we
also average over the precessional time, thus considering the precessional
cones "as a whole", without tracking the spin's secular motion. These
solutions improve our understanding of spin precession in much the same way
that the conical sections for Keplerian orbits provide additional insights
beyond Newton's 1/r^2 law. Double averaging leads to impressive
computational speed-up: post-Newtonian inspirals can now be computed from
arbitrarily large separations, thus bridging the gap between astrophysics
and numerical relativity. We also present the discovery of a new dynamical
instability in binary black holes with aligned spins. The onset of the
instability lies in the sensitivity windows of future detectors LIGO /Virgo
and eLISA, thus predicting binaries that start precessing while being
observed. 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 Building

During the forum, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, will be
interviewed by Stephen Khan, Editor of The Conversation UK, on key issues
facing the Higher Education sector and the University of Birmingham


ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 10 February 2016, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE

Anna Green to deliver the science talk

International Day of Women and Girls in Science
Thursday 11 February 2016

11th February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
We're sharing our favourite female scientists using #WomeninSTEM and
this 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 S06

Speaker: Prof Natasha Ivanova, University of Alberta, Canada

Title: Common envelope physics and the transients

Visitors
Jana Goldstein a new PhD student will be visiting the group on Thursday 4 and Friday 5
February 2016

Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds
IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences

17-27 July 2016, Horta, Faial, Azores Islands, Portugal
Website: [www.iastro.pta] Tiago Campante (Chair)

This International Summer School will cover two scientific topics that share many
synergies and resources: Asteroseismology and Exoplanetary Science. Therefore, the
proposed program aims at building opportunities for cooperation and sharing of methods
that will benefit both communities. The School will include both a teaching and a
hands-on components, while bringing together a group of young and dynamic lecturers who
have 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 to
apply) in any field of Astrophysics. Students will also be given the opportunity to
present 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. Faial
is 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 of
expected applications, a pre-registration process will be in place that requires
applicants 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 March
2016. 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 Library

The GW group is running an international school for the students in the EU
initial training network GraWIToN.  The school is focussed on the instrument
development 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 of
the school on the methods tested in BigWaves. Most of the work and the
teaching is done by ourselves (with our students Daniel and Anna taking the
lead) and we have two external teachers: Jerome Degallaix from LMA in Lyon
and 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 CHANGE

Serena 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 117

Speaker: Paula Jofre Pfeil, University of Cambridge

Title: The pillars and the twins of the stars in the Gaia-ESO Survey

With less than a year to come for the first data release of Gaia, thousands
of stars observed with high-resolution spectra are nowadays available. In this
talk I will present our current efforts in defining and analysing the pillar
calibrators of Gaia and its complementary spectroscopic survey Gaia-ESO. I
will then present applications using these calibrator pillars to find stellar
twins in spectroscopic surveys. Twins can be used to determine model-independent
distances, making them excellent candidates to complement Gaia in the near
future.


Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 6pm, Poynting Building

Evenings begin with talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research,
and a question-and-answer session (everything from beginner's questions about
the night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if the
weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a lucky
few 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 SO6

Speaker: Prof Jenny Nelson, Centre for Plastic Electronics & the Department
of Physics, Imperial College London.

Title: Molecular Electronic Materials and their application to Photovoltaics

Abstract: The application of molecular and hybrid semiconductor materials to
optoelectronics presents both an opportunity, in terms of the vast range of
material properties and applications that can be achieved through chemical
synthesis, and a challenge, in relating optoelectronic properties of the
resulting devices to the chemical structure and microstructure of the
materials. The challenge is complicated by the intrinsic disorder in
electronic energy levels, the structural heterogeneity of organic
semiconductors and their dielectric properties. In this seminar, we focus on
the application of these materials to photovoltaic energy conversion, where
the prospect of low-cost solar panel manufacture using printing or coating
has attracted intense interest. We discuss how the molecular nature of the
materials influences the processes of light harvesting and photocurrent
generation in a solar cell. We show how a range of electronic, spectroscopic
and structural measurement techniques, together with molecular and device
modelling, can be used to relate the properties of the materials to their
performance in solar cells. Finally we address the factors that limit power
conversion efficiency in such devices.

HiROS Seminar
Thursday 21 January 2016, 2.30pm, WG12 Aston Webb

Speaker Dr Dimitri Veras, University of Warwick
Title: Planetary Systems through all Stages of Stellar Evolution

Abstract: We know that planetary systems around white dwarfs are just as
common as those around main sequence stars. However, observations reveal
significant gaps in our understanding about how planets, asteroids, comets
and pebbles undergo physical and orbital changes as their parent stars
evolve off of the main sequence. We have performed full-lifetime (14 Gyr)
numerical simulations of multi-planet systems across all phases of stellar
evolution, incorporating realistic profiles for stellar mass loss and
stellar radius variability, and including test particles and wide binary
stellar companions. We demonstrate that closely-packed planetary systems can
remain stable throughout the main sequence and for many Gyr during the white
dwarf phase before unpacking and triggering scattering events. These events
may generate an ever-changing dynamical architecture around the white
dwarfs, and perturb planets onto orbits which can be detectable by transit
photometry.

Additional Information
Hannah Middleton has been awarded (along with others) an STFC small award in
the region of £3,000.

Congratulations to Will Farr and his wife Rachel on the birth of their
daughter 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-mass
X-ray binaries Ilya Mandel Published in MNRAS

The 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 through
chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries.
Published in [www.arxiv.org]

Additional Information
The BEAR PGR Conference Awards

The BEAR PGR conference is an opportunity for post-graduate students and
early-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 for
their 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 2015

Dr Steven Taylor, NASA Post Doc Fellow Jet Propulsion Lab/CALTECH will be
visiting at the beginning of the week. He will be based in the visitors
office.

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 117

Speaker: Ben Pope, Oxford University

Title: Pushing the Limits of K2: Gaussian Process Systematics Correction and
a Kepler/K2 Saturated Star Survey

The Kepler mission, revived in two-wheeled form as K2, observes a succession
of fields in the ecliptic plane in ~80 day photometric campaigns. This has
enabled a dramatic extension of the exoplanetary science and
asteroseismology of Kepler to a number of nearby clusters and standard
stars. With only two reaction wheels, K2 suffers from severe systematics
introduced by its regular pointing corrections. In this talk, I will
describe the Oxford pipeline for K2 systematics correction, using Gaussian
Processes to non-parametrically model photometric errors as a function of
pointing inputs, and will discuss the planet candidates we obtain with this
approach. I will also present the first results of the Kepler/K2 Saturated
Stars Survey (K2S3), where we extract light curves of the brightest stars in
Kepler and K2 from previously-unused calibration data or from their
scattered-light halo.

Many of these stars were not conventionally targeted due to their severe
saturation, and due to their position on the ecliptic, the K2S3 sample is
directly complementary to the targets selected for the upcoming Transiting
Exoplanet Survey Satellite. We have been able to study the asteroseismology
these sources, including RR Lyr and the Pleiades, and search for planets
around some of the nearest stars to the Sun.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 9 December 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06

Speaker: Prof Mark Kasevich, Stanford University

Title: 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 Library

Christopher 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 117

Speaker: Rob Crain, Liverpool John Moores University

Title: The EAGLE Project: Numerical modelling of the 'Evolution and Assembly
of GaLaxies and their Environments'

I will briefly recap the motivation for, and progress towards, numerical
modelling of the formation and evolution of the galaxy population – from
cosmological 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 Virgo
Consortium. These simulations represent a major development in the
discipline, since they are the first to reproduce the key properties of the
evolving galaxy population, and do so using energetically-feasible feedback
mechanisms. I shall present a broad range of results from the first batch of
EAGLE papers, concerning the evolution of galaxy (and black hole) masses,
their luminosities and colours, their atomic and molecular gas content, and
the structure of their host (dark matter + hot gas) haloes. Besides
exploring these interesting astrophysical outcomes, I hope to convey some of
the 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 S06

Speaker: Dr Amanda Cooper-Sarkar, University of Oxford

Title: What have we learnt about/from the deep structure of the proton in
the last 40 years?

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25 November 2015, 6pm, Poynting Building

Talk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Poynting Physics
Building 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 Quantum
Gravity, 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 to
the final analysis. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 32 224019 
[iopscience.iop.org]

Haixing Miao, Yiqiu Ma, Chunnong Zhao, and Yanbei Chen
Enhancing the Bandwidth of Gravitational-Wave Detectors with Unstable
Optomechanical 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 S02

Please inform Pauline Trigg of your attendance asap P.A.Trigg@bham.ac.uk

Visitors
Monday 16 November 2015

David 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 S06

Speaker: Prof Brian Tanner, University of Durham

Title: 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 2015

Ulrike 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 117

Speaker: Saida Caballero-Nieves, University of Sheffield

Title: A Binary View of Massive Stars

The Universe we observe today has been shaped extensively by massive stars.
From birth to death and throughout their entire lives, they mold their near
and far environment in multiple ways, by driving galactic dynamics, and
chemically enriching the interstellar environment through their explosive
deaths. In spite of their obvious importance, observational challenges have
severely limited our knowledge of massive stars. In particular, their great
distances and scarce numbers induce observational challenges to our
understanding of their formation and evolution. However, we do know that
massive stars love company. I will present an overview current picture of
the multiplicity properties of massive stars and discuss the implications on
their 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 117

Speaker: John Stott, University of Oxford

Title: The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): The resolved
Dynamics, Star- Formation and Chemical Properties of 1000 z~1 star forming galaxies

I will present the first results of KROSS, a major UK-led KMOS GTO survey to
observe the redshifted H-alpha emission in ~1000 star-forming galaxies at
z=0.8-1.5. Selecting galaxies from the star-forming "main-sequence" (stellar
masses 1e9.5-1e11.5 Msol and SFR 1-30 Msol/yr), KROSS will measure the
resolved dynamics, chemistry and star formation in a statistical sample of
galaxies 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, stellar
mass 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, in
particular to determine if stellar mass assembly is dominated by secular
isolation or via merger-induced growth. In this talk I will show the first
500+ galaxies from the sample, which already constitutes the largest ever
resolved H-alpha survey at this redshift.

Physics Colloquium
Wednesday 21st October 2015 at 16.00 in Poynting Small Lecture Theatre S06

Speaker: Dr Ineke de Moortel, St Andrews

Title: 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 Building

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein's general relativity, our
best theory of gravity.

General relativity is central too much of modern astrophysics (including
research we do here), explaining everything from black holes to the expansion
of the Universe itself. To celebrate, each Astronomy in the City will feature
a themed talk, covering an aspect of general relativity, including
the most violent explosions in the Universe, the mysterious dark energy and
Nature'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, each
packed with astrophysics; stargazing, and tea and biscuits. Evenings begin
with talks covering astronomical highlights and recent research and a
question-and-answer session (for everything from beginner's questions about
the night sky to the latest work done here in Birmingham). Afterwards, (if
the weather cooperates) we have observing with telescopes on campus, and a
lucky 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 2016

The first talk begins at 6:00 pm, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the
Poynting Physics Building on the University's Edgbaston campus. More details
are on our website and tickets for the October event are available from
astrointhecity102015.eventbrite.co.uk

Week Commencing 5 October 2015
HiROS Workshop - Red Giants Modelling Workshop
Monday 5 - Friday 9 October 2015, Physics West Library / 115

Dr Andrea Miglio will be hosting a week long workshop on red giants.
ASR Management Group

Tuesday 6 October 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229

ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 7 October 2015, 12pm, Physics West 106 NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE

Dr Haixing Miao will the deliver the science talk for the first group
meeting of the academic year.

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 7 October 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Dr Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Aarhus University

Title: 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 Gravitational
Wave 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 2015

This working group will commence at 12pm on Monday 28th and will close on
Wednesday 30th Sep, due to a lack of space, the group will use the second
floor 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 examiner
for 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 203

Head of College, Professor Andy Schofield, will take the opportunity to
outline his thoughts around the upcoming key issues and challenges for the
College and to update colleagues on progress in relation to strategic
projects.

School Committee Meeting
Thursday 17 September 2015, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

The School Committee is for all staff in the School - apologies should go to
Pauline Trigg.

Week Commencing 7 September 2015
In the Footsteps of Galaxies
Monday 7 - Friday 11 September 2015, Soverato, Italy

In the Footsteps of Galaxies conference is taking place this week in Italy

http://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 Library

Speaker: Paul Brook, Oxford

Abstract:

Pulsars can be employed as precision timing tools due to the unwavering
nature of their radio emission and of their rotation; it is hoped that
precise pulsar timing measurements will soon permit the direct detection of
gravitational waves. In recent years, however, we have started to see that
unmodelled variability in some pulsars occurs over a broad range of
timescales, both in their emission and in their rotation. This is, of
course, detrimental to the pulsar's utility as a precision timing tool, and
presents a problem when looking for the faint effects of a passing
gravitational wave. I have analysed the variability of various pulsars using
new techniques and will present the results.



Publications
B. Farr et al. 2015.

Parameter estimation on gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries with
spinning 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 lensed
fluxes.

 http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03439 [arxiv.org]

Week Commencing 6 July 2015
TISI
Thursday 9 July 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLAD
Speaker: Dr Suzanne Aigrain, University of Oxford
Title: Gaussian Processes

Physics PG Workshop - Managing your Supervisor!
Friday 10 July 2015, 3pm, Poynting Physics Bridge

The 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 professional
life coach and runs workshops about getting the most from supervisory
relationships.

You may get along well with your supervisor, or the relationship may be a
little more "complicated", but regardless there are still ways that you
could be working more effectively.

The event will be held in the Poynting Physics Bridge on Friday 10th July
at 1500, and is open to all PG students. As usual, tasty snacks will be
provided.

Looking forward to seeing you there!
The Physics PG reps

Publications
Farr, Mandel, Stevens

An efficient interpolation technique for jump proposals in reversible-jump
Markov chain Monte Carlo calculations published in Royal Society Open Science
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/6/150030

Week Commencing 22 June 2015
Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 23 June 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 103

Speaker: Alex Merson, UCL

Title: Statistical detection of halos in galaxy clusters

Abstract

Statistical detection of halos in galaxy surveys
I will discuss recent work to present a novel Bayesian methodology for
detecting halos of different masses in galaxy survey observations, whilst
jointly quantifying the corresponding uncertainties. This methodology first
uses the previously published HADES algorithm to create an ensemble of
realisations of the matter density field throughout the survey volume. Using
an N-body simulation to relate the density field to halo mass, we then use a
Bayesian chain rule to build up maps of the detection probability of halos
about specific mass thresholds. Demonstration of the methodology using a
realistic galaxy mock catalogue shows an excellent agreement between the
peaks in the probability maps and the positions of the dark matter halos. We
conclude that this method is a promising novel tool for analysing
observations of the large-scale cosmic web.

HiROS Seminar
Wednesday 24 June 2015, 12pm, Nuffield G19
Speaker: Tim Bedding, University of Sydney

Title: Asteroseismology using gravity modes

TISI
Thursday 25 June 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLAD

Speaker: Karla Hemming, University of Birmingham

Title: Bayesian Ellicitation

Reminder Alberto's Party
Friday 26 June 2015, 7pm, 4 Court Oak Road

If 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 117
Speaker: Craig Heinke, University of Alberta
Title: Black Holes in Globular Clusters

Abstract

I'll review searches for black holes (both stellar and intermediate-mass—the
latter meaning 100s-1000s of Msun) in globular clusters. Searches for
intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters have not found convincing
evidence, despite tantalizing hints. Bright X-ray binaries in extragalactic
globular clusters do provide evidence favouring the existence of black holes
in globular clusters. Recently, new discoveries of radio-bright X-ray sources
in 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 Office
Speaker: Rick Bogart

TISI
Thursday 28 May 2015, 3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLAD
Speaker: Dr Ewan Cameron, University of Oxford
Title: Approximate Bayesian Computation

Week Commencing 11 May 2015
ASR Group
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 12pm, Physics West 103 (Please note change of
venue)

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Dr Phil Marshall, Stanford University

Title: TBC

Inaugural Lecture of Prof Andreas Freise
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 5.15pm, Physics West 117, followed by a drinks
reception in the Library

Title: Shining a light on black holes

When black holes collide, their enormous gravitational forces create
ripples in the fabric of space and time. Although Einstein predicted
the existence of these gravitational waves, he was certain that they
could never be detected.

Advances in technology, from lasers to modern quantum optics, have
fundamentally changed the way we design precision instruments.
Measuring a gravitational wave is now a possibility, while remaining one
of the greatest challenges in experimental physics. The task is to
detect tiny changes in the distance between two objects, a change that
is 100,000 times smaller than the core of an atom. Over several decades
a new type of laser interferometer has been developed, and several
kilometre long gravitational wave detectors have been constructed around
the world.

Now, almost exactly a hundred years after Einstein's predictions, two
detectors are beginning to operate with high enough sensitivity to make
the first detection of a gravitational wave, exceeding Einstein's
imagination. Professor Freise will talk about an extraordinary journey
in experimental physics and the invention of new laser instruments to
look into the skies and listen for the echoes of black holes and dying
stars.

Visitors
Monday 11 until Friday 15 May 2015

Riccardo 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 117

Speaker: Manjari Bagchi, Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai

Title: Use of binary radio pulsars with ultra-compact companions to
understand basic physics

Binary radio pulsars with other neutron stars or black holes as companions
can serve as excellent laboratories to test various aspects of basic
physics. In this talk, I will first try to seek an answer to the puzzle of
non-discovery of any neutron star-black hole binary so far. Then, I will
discuss potential problems we might face while timing such pulsars after
the discovery is made. The problem can arise mostly due to the spin-orbit
coupling effect from the spin of the black hole. I will also explore
whether such a neutron star-black hole binary is really superior to
falsify general relativity and establish alternative theories of gravity.
Finally, I will briefly discuss how careful study of radio pulsars in
of radio pulsars in neutron star-neutron star binaries can help to
constrain the dense matter equation of state.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 6 May 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Title: Women and Girls in Astronomy & Physics

TISI
Thursday 7 May, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLAD
Speaker: Prof Michael Hobson, University of Cambridge Kavli Institute

Title: Nested Sampling

Nested sampling provides an alternative to traditional MCMC sampling
methods. MultiNest is a generic Bayesian inference tool that uses nested
sampling to calculates the evidence, with an associated error estimate,
and produces posterior samples from distributions that may contain
multiple modes and pronounced (curving) degeneracies in high dimensions.
This algorithm significantly outperforms existing MCMC techniques in a
wide range of astrophysical inference problems. I will discuss the
principles of nested sampling and describe the MultiNest algorithm and
its application to toy examples and a cosmological inference problem.
The MultiNest software, which is fully parallelized using MPI and
includes an interface to COSMOMC, is available at
http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/software/multinest/ [www.mrao.cam.ac.uk]

Michael is a theoretical astrophysicist with research interests in
Anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. Bayesian analysis
techniques. Star-formation in molecular clouds. Radiative transfer.

For the hands-on session we will be using Multinest which can be
download for free: here

Multinest is available in various interfaces, We recommend that you
install any interface of multi nest well in advance of the session (it
requires pre-registration and approval) so that if you have any problems
you can email me. There will not be time during the session to install
multinest.

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group
Thursday 7 May 2015, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Dr Simon Vaughan, University of Leicester

Title: Variability as a tool to study accreting black holes and neutron
stars

The fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularly
accreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormous
progress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, the
behaviour of matter on the surfaces of neutron stars and improving the
evidence for black holes. Most of this progress has been made by
analysing and modelling time series data in terms of their power- and
cross-spectra.

In this talk I am going to concentrate on a related but often overlooked
aspect of their variability: the rms-flux relation. I will illustrate
the basic idea and its consequences using examples of X-ray variability
from X-ray binaries, Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby
galaxies, 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 117

Speaker: David Van Dyk, Imperial College London

Title: The Unified Statistical Analysis of Populations of Sources:
Advantages of "Shrinkage Estimates" in Astronomy

Astronomical studies often involve samples or populations of sources. The
parameters describing the sources can either be fit to each source in a
separate analysis, or all be fit in a single unified analysis. The latter
strategy allows us to incorporate the population distribution into a
coherent statistical model and exhibits distinct statistical advantages.
In particular, objects with smaller error bars and well-constrained
parameters allow us to estimate the population distribution, which in turn
can be used to better estimate the weakly-constrained parameters
associated with objects with larger error bars.

The fitted values of such weakly-constrained parameters will "shrink
towards" the population mean, and are thus called "shrinkage estimates".
This talk describes both frequentist and Bayesian advantages of shrinkage
estimates and illustrates how they can be used in astronomy. In the first
of two examples we estimate the absolute magnitudes of a SDSS sample of
288 Type Ia Supernovae using shrinkage estimates and illustrate how they
differ from naive estimates.  In the second example, we use photometric
magnitudes of a sample of galactic halo white dwarfs to simultaneously
obtain shrinkage estimates of the stellar ages and an estimate the age of
the halo.

TISI
Thursday 30 April 2015, 1-3pm, Glynn Rooms, CLAD

Speaker: Dr Michael Betancourt from the University of Warwick Department
of Statistics

Title: Scalable Bayesian Inference.

Problems at the frontiers of applied statistics, from physics to ecology
to epidemiology and pharmacology, require not only large data sets but
also the complex statistical models needed to describe the intricacies of
the data. Drawing inferences from these problems necessitates both
scalable and general statistical algorithms and their computationally
efficient yet user-friend implementations. Stan is a user-focused platform
for Bayesian inference that wraps the state-of-the-art Hamiltonian Monte
Carlo sampler with an expressive modeling language that makes it easy to
build and learn from complex models. In this talk I'll review the basics
of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Stan before presenting a series of
interactive examples for the audience.

Michael is a significant contributor to the widely used Hamiltonian Monte
Carlo code STAN.

Week Commencing 20 April 2015
BritGrav 15
Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st April 2015, Physics West 117 & Physics West
Library

The 15th British Gravity (BritGrav) Meeting will be held on 20-21 April
2015 at the University of Birmingham, organised by the Gravitational Physics
Group [www.sr.bham.ac.uk].

The meeting covers all areas of gravity, classical and quantum, including
astrophysics, cosmology, mathematical general relativity, gravitational-wave
data analysis and instrumentation. It is intended to bring together the
entire gravitational research community to further collaboration and allow
young researchers to showcase their work.

Public Lecture Gravitational waves - Advances towards detection
Tuesday 21st April 2015, 7:30pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Prof Jim Hough, University of Glasgow

A 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 most
challenging areas of experimental physics. And the reward for success will
be considerable in that the information carried by these signals will give
us new insight into the hearts of some of the most violent events in the
Cosmos—from the formation of black holes to aspects of the evolution of the
Universe. A global network of gravitational-wave detectors is now reaching
the final stages of construction, with first data expected in 2015. The
nature of gravitational waves, how the detectors work, and what the data
from the detectors can tell us about the Universe we inhabit, will be
discussed.

HiROS Seminar
Tuesday 21 April 2015, 11am, Nuffield G19

Speaker: Dr Thomas Masseron, University of Cambridge

Title: "Inferring stellar evolution and Milky Way history from stellar
spectra"

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’s
day. 

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 matter
cross section, galaxies and x-ray gas, that used archival data from the Hubble
and 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 some
opportunities to visit the University Observatory. This month, Dr Will Farr
will be counting the number of Earth-like planets in the Galaxy. Visit the
Astronomy 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 for
tackling statistical inference problems, focusing on the Python package
emcee 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 117

CANCELLED 

Journal Club
Friday 20 March 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library

Physics & Astronomy Research Poster Showcase
Friday 20 March 2015, 3pm-6pm, Bridge Study Lounge
The purpose of this informal poster conference is to bring postgraduate
students from the different research groups together to talk about their
work, in a relaxed environment. Copious amounts of beer, wine, cheese, and
cake are on order to lubricate the conversation.

Please register your interest at http://bit.ly/1DoWySE [www.google.com] by
Wednesday 18 March.

Posters of any size will be accepted (although ideally A1), and it does not
need 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 Library

Haoyu Wang to deliver the science talk

TISI
Friday 13 March 2015, 1pm, Glynn Room CLAD

Introduction 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 Room

Lunch will be served at 12pm in the Bridge Study Room.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 4 March 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Prof Bill Murray, University of Warwick

Title: 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 Durham

Title: ALMA surveys of high-redshift, star-forming galaxies

I 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 properties
of SMGs (redshift distribution, star formation rates, stellar masses and AGN
activity). I will show that these distant (z = 2.5) Ultra-luminous Infrared
Galaxies have star-formation rates of 300-1000 Msol/yr, substantial stellar
masses (M* = 6E10 Msol) and cold molecular gas fractions of 40% - which are
many of the properties expected for the progenitors of today massive spheroids
and elliptical galaxies. Indeed, accounting for the fading of the stellar
populations, I will show that the space density of the descendent of SMGs are
consistent with the entire population of local luminous ellipticals. Finally,
I will show some recent results from ALMA cycle 1 where we have obtained
higher resolution (0.3arcsec) maps of a sub-sample of bright SMGs.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 25th February 2015, 6pm Poynting Building

This month Simon, one of our PhD students, will talk about observing black
holes.

What do we do after massive stars explode as brilliant supernovae, and then
die as black holes,

vanishing from traditional telescopes? With a gravitational-wave
observatory, 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 the
expert".

Doors open at 5:30pm, with talks/panel at 6-7pm; observing starts shortly
thereafter.

Journal Club
Friday 27th February 2015, 3pm, Physics West Library (Please note the change
of time)

Week Commencing 9 February 2015
Management Group
Tuesday 10th February 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR and HiROS Group

Wednesday 11th February 2015, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13

Speaker: Pavel Ivanov, Lebedev Physical Institute

Title: The dynamics of supermassive binary black hole immersed in an
accretion disc on a retrograde orbit

Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum
Wednesday 11th February 2015 12.30pm - 1.30pm Bramall Music Building, Elgar
Concert Hall

Answering the big questions - Professor Sir David Eastwood in conversation
with the BBC's Education Correspondent Sean Coughlan.

Registration is not required. All staff are encouraged to attend, and to
take advantage of this opportunity to discuss the key topics affecting our
sector and our university.

Journal Club
Friday 13th February 2015, 2pm, Physics West Library

Visitors
Wednesday 11th - Friday 13th February 2015

Dr Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group this week.

Week Commencing 19 January 2015
HiROS Seminar

Monday 19 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 106

Speaker: Mausumi Dikpati

Management Group
Tuesday 20 January 2015, 1pm, Physics West 229

Visitors
Tuesday 20 January 2015

Dr Sean Dougherty - Director of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory
(DRAO) will be visiting Ian Stevens and Diane Brookes on Tuesday Jan 20th
2015.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 21 January 2015, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Prof Edmund Copeland, University of Nottingham

Title: 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 Library

Ben 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 117

Speaker: Don Pollaco, Warwick University

Title: Earth 2 and the search for habitable zone planets

The last decade has seen immense worldwide activity in the discovery and
characterisation of extrasolar planets. Starting from the radial velocity
surveys, the UK's world leading WASP project and the CoRoT and Kepler space
missions, we will review the current state of knowledge emphasising our
understanding of habitable zone planets. We will look forward to upcoming
experiments and in particular PLATO that will be transformational to our
knowledge of rocky planets in the habitable zones of solar type stars.

New Staff
Monday 12 January 2015

Conor 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 117

Speaker: Selma De Mink, Amsterdam

Title: TBC

Journal Club / arXiv

Friday 19 December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library

Visitors
Monday 15 December 2014 - Alexis Finoguenou

Alexis will be visiting Graham Smith on Monday 15th though to Thursday 18th
Dec 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 of
venue)

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 117

Speaker: Jim Geach, University of Hertfordshire

Title: Galaxy-scale feedback in massive galaxies without AGN

In traditional models of galaxy evolution, feedback associated with an
active galactic nucleus (AGN) have been invoked as the standard channel to
regulate stellar mass growth at the massive end of the mass function. We
have been investigating a sample of massive, compact galaxies that exhibit
ultra-fast gas outflows (up to 2500 km/s) with no evidence of significant
AGN activity.

Recently we have shown that in at least one of these galaxies, a significant
amount of molecular gas is being driven out at speeds of up to 1000 km/s. I
will discuss how this sample demonstrates that stellar feedback can be an
effective channel for curtailing stellar mass growth in massive galaxies,
and in particular the role of stellar radiation pressure as a mechanism for
launching 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 Ponman

Trevor will be back from Tuesday through to Friday this week.

Publications
Gravitational-wave sensitivity curves - C J Moore, R H Cole & C P L Berry

Classical & Quantum Gravity; 32(1):015014; 2015

doi: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 Theatre

Speaker: Prof Eugene Gregoryanz, SUPA Centre for Science at Extreme
Conditions, University of Edinburgh

Title: What a Diamond Anvil Cell Can Do.

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 3 December 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building

Come along and join in an (early!) festive version of Astronomy in the
City. Info/tickets:  Astronomy in the City

Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 5th December 2014, 4pm Physics West Library

Visitors
Tuesday 2 December 2014 - Nobuhiro Okabe

Nobuhiro Okabe will be visiting the Extragalactic Astrophysics Group for
three weeks starting 2nd December, working mainly with Graham Smith, Sarah
Mulroy, and Felicia Ziparo. Nobuhiro is based at the Kavli Institute for
the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) in Japan.  He is an
expert in weak gravitational lensing.

Thursday 4 December 2014 - Alberto Sesana
Alberto Sesana will be visiting the group on Thursday 4th Dec until Friday
5th.

Message from Trevor Ponman

Postcard from Cornwall

With apologies for the two month delay, I would like to thank everyone who
signed my farewell card, or contributed to the collection. I didn't know
about the latter, since Alberto was planning to surprise me with a present
from 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 rather
special tree (species still TBD) and some other plants to remind me of your
generosity. The pace of life is different down here, which is one of the
attractions, but we are progressively turning the house from a warehouse
full of boxes into a home, and I think we will be happy. For those of you
who have never seen Mounts Bay, I can recommend it as one of the most
beautiful places in the country to watch the sun set. I'll continue to visit
every few weeks for at least the next year or so, and so will bump into many
of 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 117

Speaker: Nial Tanvir, University of Leicester

Title: Merging neutron stars, gravitational waves and the origin of the
heavy chemical elements

Mergers of compact binaries involving neutron stars lie at the intersection
of several key problems in astrophysics. They are widely thought to lead to
short-duration gamma-ray bursts; to be an important production site for the
nucleosynthesis of r-process heavy elements; and to emit strong
gravitational wave (GW) signals that are the most promising for detection by
the next "advanced" generation of detectors. Recently, the first evidence
for kilonova emission, predicted to be produced by the radioactive decay of
species created during such a merger, was found, associated with sGRB
130603B. I will review this discovery together with other observational
constraints on the nature of sGRBs, and consider the prospects for kilonovae
as electromagnetic signatures of GW events.

Information Theory for Physicists - Short Lecture Course
Thursday 27th November 2014, 2pm, Physics West Library

Dr Christopher Berry will lead the first of three short lecture courses.
Lecture 1: Probabilities, inference and information content - An
introduction to communications theory, including revision of how to use
probabilities (in a Bayesian way) to encode our state of knowledge. An
explanation 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 Library

Following up on some discussions within the gravitational-wave group, I'd
like to offer a Q&A session on "anything * you wanted to know about the
astrophysics of gravitational-wave sources but were afraid to ask" at noon
on 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 not
something you normally work on.

Although I am certainly open to questions on the spot, I would be very
grateful if you could e-mail me your questions in advance so I could plan a
more coherent discussion around the topics of interest. Andreas kindly
agreed to serve as moderator, so he will keep me from veering off topic too
much. 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-frequency
sources, data analysis, and detectors, and perhaps other topics if people
find these useful.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 19th November 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Dr Caroline Terquem, University of Oxford

Title: 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 Library

Science talk by Walter Del Pozzo

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 12th November 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Will Percival, Portsmouth University

Title: Cosmological Measurements from Galaxy Clustering

Large surveys of the angular positions and redshifts of galaxies provide a
wealth of cosmological information about the late-time Universe and its
accelerating expansion. In thisseminar I will review the physical mechanisms
that encode this information in the observed clustering of galaxies, and
present recent results from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS).
I will then look ahead to future surveys including the Dark Energy Spectroscopic
Instrument (DESI) and the ESA Euclid satellite mission, showing how they will
revolutionise 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 Library

Jim 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 106

Speaker: Dr Guy Davies, University of Birmingham

Title: Stellar seismology: The solar-stellar connection

The study of stellar structure and evolution provides one of the fundamental
building blocks of astrophysics and some of the most powerful observational
constraints on these theories are provided by helio and asteroseismology.
Inevitably, the well characterised Sun is an anchor and calibrator to any
theory 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 precise
characterisation of individual stars and ensembles of stars. In addition to
characterising interesting systems, such as exoplanet hosts, asteroseismic
results may allow significant progress on the “grand problems” of solar
physics, particularly related to understanding the solar 22-year magnetic
cycle.

In this talk I will review the current status of the Sun-as-a-star. We will
see that questions remain about the rotation of the deep solar interior, the
changing of the solar magnetic field, and the understanding of the solar
dynamo and space weather. I will show how we can precisely characterise
other Sun-like stars and how we are pushing the boundaries of our
understanding by considering ensembles of stars. I will finish by
speculating how the field of stellar seismology will change with the advent
of the SONG, BiSON Mini, TESS and PLATO observatories.

ASR Group
Wednesday 29th Oct 2014, 12pm, Physics West Library

Dr Ian Stevens will provide an SKA update and Dr Walter Del Pozzo will
deliver the science talk

Astrophysics Seminar - jointly hosted by the ASR Group and HiROS Group
Wednesday 29th Oct 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Don Kurtz, Central Lancashire

Title: Asteroseismology, the new Keplerian Revolution

In 1926 in the opening paragraph of his now-classic book, The Internal
Constitution of the Stars, Sir Arthur Eddington lamented, “What appliance
can pierce through the outer layers of a star and test the conditions
within?” While he considered theory to be the proper answer to that
question, there is now an observational answer: asteroseismology.

We are in a time of a significant advance in our understanding of stellar
astrophysics with data from the Kepler Mission.  From its rich 4-year data
set nearly 4000 exoplanet candidates have been discovered – the majority of
all known. Kepler has also improved our ability to see pulsations and
x variability in stars by 100 to 1000 times compared
with ground-based telescopes, allowing us to probe stars using
asteroseismology. We are seeing as never before: heartbeat stars, novel
eclipsing 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 in
eclipsing binary stars; Doppler boosting; multiple pulsation axes; period
doubling; tidal excitation in highly eccentric binary stars.

Kepler data for solar-like stars are now comparable to data for the Sun seen
as a star, giving us masses, radii and ages for hundreds of single stars,
allowing determination of their orbiting planets’ sizes, and giving new
constraints on stellar evolution theory. It is now even possible to see into
the cores of red giants and observe which stars are hydrogen shell-burning
and which also are helium-core burning. This talk will introduce the
concepts of asteroseismology and show a selection of exciting observational
results from the Kepler mission (with emphasis on work that has not been
done 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 106

Speaker: Dr Brice-Olivier Demory, Cambridge University

Title: Exoplanets - The quest for other worlds

The first exoplanet orbiting a main sequence star was discovered in 1995.
Twenty years later, more than a thousand other planets have been found and
statistical patterns regarding their properties are starting to emerge.
Remarkably, we have been able to probe the atmospheres of several of these
exoplanets, which provide insights about their chemical composition and
climate patterns. Within the coming 3 years, one ESA space mission
dedicated to exoplanets will be launched and two ambitious UK-led
ground-based instruments will be installed. The future of exoplanet science
in the UK has never been so encouraging. I will start by discussing recent
results in exoplanet science. Iwill then detail the synergies between the
future instruments/facilities and show how they fit in an international
framework. I will finally discuss the next pathways to answer one of the
most fascinating questions in astronomy: "are we alone?"

Special Astrophysics Seminar
Tuesday 21 October 2014, 11am, Physics West Library

Speaker: Chris Moore, PhD Student Cambridge University

Title: Gaussian processes to model uncertainties in gravitational waveforms

Chris Moore, a PhD student from Cambridge, will be visiting for the first
half of this week. He'll be giving a talk on using Gaussian processes to
model uncertainties in gravitational-waveforms. This will be primarily of
interest to people who do gravitational-wave data analysis; however,
Gaussian processes are an extremely useful means of fitting non-parametric
models (in a fully Bayesian way), and so might be of interest to a wider
audience.


College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Conference
Wednesday 22 October 2014, 9am until 5pm, Bramall Music Building, followed
by drinks reception

The 2014 conference is designed to celebrate the breadth of College
research excellence and increase cross-college awareness of EPS research
strengths and encourage cross-disciplinary networks.

For more information and to register, please visit the event page online
here. 


School Colloquium
Wednesday 22 October 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Prof Constantin C Coussios, Statutory Chair of Biomedical
Engineering, University of Oxford

Title: Shaken and Stirred: How sound and bubbles can cure our troubles.


Journal Club / arXiv
Friday 24th October 2014, 4pm, Physics West 115

In this week's journal club, Jessica Democles will be leading a discussion
around Chapter 5 of [ned.ipac.caltech.edu] , dealing with mechanisms of
X-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 G13

Speaker: Maarten Van De Meent, Southampton

Title: TBC


Vice-Chancellors Open Forum
Thursday 16 October 2014, 12.30-1.30pm, Bramhall Music Building, Elgar
Concert Hall

Join the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, for his first staff
address of the new academic year. He will be using this opportunity to
look back at our progress over the last five years and to launch the
consultation 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 Symmetry
Magazine on Advanced LIGO [www.symmetrymagazine.org]

Week Commencing 6 October 2014
HiROS Seminar
Monday 6th October 2014, 2pm, Physics West 106

Speaker: Dr Aldo Serenelli Institute of Space Sciences, Bellaterra, Spain

Title: The era of precision stellar astrophysics

Observational stellar astronomy has been revolutionized in the last few
years with the development of large-scale spectroscopic and photometric
surveys and the generalization of techniques such as asteroseismology
hitherto restricted to very limited numbers of stars. This revolution has
not been accompanied with comparable efforts in the development of stellar
models. Fundamental questions, even for the best studied star, remain
unanswered.

In this context I will present some examples, from the Sun to stellar
populations, that show recent successes and limitations of the current
generation of stellar models and will conclude with a personal perspective
of the way ahead.


IMPACT Conference
Wednesday 8th October 2014, 9.45am Lecture Theatre 2 Sport & Exercise
Science Building Y14

School Colloquium
Wednesday 8th October 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Professor Steve Roberts, University of Oxford

Title: 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 115

Big waves will take place for the duration of this week in PW Library from
Monday through until Wednesday and PW 115 for the remainder of the week.

School Committee Meeting
Monday 22 September 2014, 2pm, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre

This is for all staff in the School.

Visitors
Wednesday 24 September 2014

Dr Chris Haines a Post Doc from the University of Chile will be visiting us
on 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 Library

Speaker: Luca Casagrande, Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics,
Australian National University

Title: Asteroseismology for Galactic Archaeology: bridging two fields

Publications

"Energy-Dependent Evolution in IC10 X-1: Hard Evidence for an Extended
Corona 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 interesting
future and may well interest subsequent generations of grav. wave
astronomers (and possibly current ones too).

Week Commencing 21 July 2014
Astro in the City nights recognised by Science & Technology Facilities
Council award
Maggie Lieu was recently awarded one of the Science & Technology Facilities
Council (STFC) small grants for public engagement to support the
continuation of the successful Astronomy in the City nights. The award
totalled £1,852.

Publications
Parameter estimation on compact binary coalescences with abruptly
terminating gravitational waveforms Class. Quantum Grav. 31 (2014) 155005 -
Mandel, Berry, Ohme, Fairhurst, Farr
http://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 Court

To 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 Wednesday
16th 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 106

Speaker: Christian Graef, Glasgow

Title: 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 June
until 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 Oxford

Title: 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 Library

Walter Del Pozzo to give the talk

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 21st May 2014, 2.30pm, Physics West 117

Speaker: Laura Cadonati (usually at the University of Massachusetts,
currently on a sabbatical in Cardiff)

Title: Solar Neutrino Detection with Borexino

Laura will be at Birmingham from 1pm on Tuesday 20th until 2 pm on Thursday
22nd

School Colloquium
Wednesday 21st May 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Speaker: Professor Mike Charlton, Swansea University

Title: 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 14
finalists and we all had three minutes to talk about our research using only
one presentation slide or one video and as many props as we wanted.  The
final took place in the Royal Institution, in the theatre were the Christmas
lectures are given every year, behind Michael Faradays desk!

The talks were engaging and diverse ranging from a rap on dark matter to 
time travelling telescopes and acoustic damage detection on airplanes and
although I didn't win I was really pleased with how I  did and I got some
very positive feedback from the Judges. Overall it was a great experience
and I'd really encourage all our young researchers to have a go next time
this (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 Theatre

Speaker: Professor Terence Rudolph, Imperial College

Title: 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 Centre
of Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore, will be visiting the group from Thursday
8 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 103

Matthew Pieri, Portsmouth

Title: In the Deep, Dark Lyman-alpha Forest: Exploring Dark Energy and Galaxy
       Formation using the Intergalactic Medium

I will discuss probes of the intergalactic medium measuring both the largest
and smallest scale effects in the extragalactic universe. The Lyman-alpha
forest along the line-of-sight to background quasars is measured providing a
new kind of survey. The BOSS survey (as part of SDSS-III) has probed more
than 60,000 Gigaparsecs in path length and is still growing. We have made the
first measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations on 150 Megaparsec scales
to probe the expansion of the universe, and have seen evidence of clumping in
regions around galaxies on 3 0 parsec scales. I will discuss the future of
such surveys and the key role the UK will play as part of a future WEAVE
survey 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 terminating
gravitational 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 Virgo
L. Singer et al.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.5623
Additional News>
Michaela Nelson has been awarded a grant of £1594 from the Royal Society to
do a project with year 6 pupils at Perryfields Primary School. The project
will look at electromagnetism and power generation and will hopefully finish
with a Small wind turbine sited in a partic ularly windy part of the
school 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 the
impression that only the winners went through to the finals but I've been
informed that the runners up also get a plac e in the final so I'll be
in 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 103

Speaker: Dr M Balogh, University of Waterloo (visiting until Tuesday 8
April 2014)

Title: What satellite galaxy evolution tells us about the baryon cycle of
galaxies

Abstract:

The inefficiency of galaxy formation in a cosmological context remains an
unexplained mystery.  There is little doubt that it is a consequence of
the evolution in gas accretion rates, together with energetic "feedback"
phenomena like stellar winds, supernova explosions, and supermassive
black hole-powered accretion. Despite the central importance of this gas
physics, most observational constraints are indirect, and we rely on
comparison with "kitchen-sink" models to tell us whether or not our
understanding of galaxy evolution is on the right track.  One place where
this comparison repeatedly fails is the prediction of the properties of
"satellite" galaxies, and this failure may be indicative of a fundamental
flaw in our understanding of how baryons cycle in and out of galaxies.  I
will present a review of this problem and show what we have learned from
our new results on galaxy groups and clusters at z~1.

VC Review of Physics and Astronomy
15/16 April 2014

Just 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. I
appreciate that people will be attending conferences and other meetings,
but otherwise it would be useful if staff were generally available at
this time.

Professor Andy Schofield

Week Commencing 31 March 2014
Special Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 31 March 2014, 4pm, Physics West Library

Speaker: Dr Haixing Miao, Marie Curie Fellow, Birmingham

Title: Hunting down noises in gravitational-wave detectors

Abstract: Laser interferometric gravitational-wave (GW) detectors are
among the most sensitive instruments that humans have ever built, in
order to measure tiny ripples of spacetime generated by distant yet
energetic astrophysical objects. Achieving the desired sensitivity is not
just a legend about implementing the state-of-the-art technology, but
more about strenuous efforts in understanding and hunting down noises of
both classical and quantum origins. In this talk, I shall give you a tour
of major noises in GW detectors, and remark on some attempts by my
colleagues and me in reducing them. Close to the end of the talk, I will
also mention one interesting spin off the use of quantum-limited GW
detectors as probes for quantum behaviours of macroscopic objects, which
provides us a unique opportunity to test quantum mechanics in a totally
new regime.

ASR Group
Wednesday 2 April 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 2 April 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13

Speaker: Melvyn Davies, Lund Sweden

Title: Exoplanets and compact binaries: the effect of crowded
environments

EPS College Assembly
Thursday 3 April 2014, 1pm Gisbert Kapp Building NG15

Assembly 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 until
Wednesday 2 April 2014. 

 Week Commencing 24 March 2014
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 24 March 2014, 3pm, Physics West Library

Speaker: Dr Ewald Punchwein IoA Cambridge University             

Title: Baryonic and modified gravity effects on cosmic structure
formation

Abstract:

Cosmological surveys are based on luminous objects, while cosmological
models most easily predict the statistics of the dark matter
distribution. Hydrodynamical simulations of cosmic structure formation
are the tool of choice for connecting these two realms.

I will present simulation studies of many of those quantities and
relations that are most relevant in this context, including the effects
of AGN feedback on galaxy cluster scaling relations and the matter power
spectrum, which have direct implications for upcoming X-ray and weak
lensing surveys. I will also discuss numerical predictions of the
Lyman-alpha forest, their uncertainties and how they can be used to
constrain cosmology. For the first time we perform such cosmological
hydrodynamical simulations not only within the framework of standard
general relativity theory, but also for screened modified gravity models
which pose a viable alternative to dark energy

ASR Group - Rescheduled
Just a reminder that this week's ASR Group has been cancelled and
rescheduled 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 Building

Tickets are now available for the third night of Astronomy in the City,
via the observatory web-site:
www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

All are welcome! Contact Graham Smith with any questions.

gps@star.sr.bham.ac.uk, +44 (0)7771 958939, +44 (0)121 414 4600

Programme:

6:00pm Welcome to the University of Birmingham Observatory
6:05pm Exploring the night sky in April with Callum Bellhouse
6:20pm BICEP2 and inflation - the view from Birmingham (Smith and Farr)
6:40pm Ask the experts panel discussion (Chair: Felicia Ziparo)
7:00pm Break for Refreshments
7:15pm 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 have
both been promoted to Senior Lecturer with effect from Oct 2014. I am
sure you all join me in congratulating Nicola and Ilya in these very
well-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 Library

Adam Muzzin, Leiden Observatory

Title: How to Build a Big Galaxy

Abstract

The most massive galaxies in the universe are rare, but because of this,
their formation history imposes some of the strongest constraints on our
models of galaxy formation.  In the local universe, massive galaxies like
M87 appear relatively dull, with elliptical morphologies, old stars, and
little ongoing star formation.  For decades, archeological studies
predicted that most of the action during these galaxies' formation must
have occurred at much higher redshift (z > 2).  With the first deep and
wide field surveys of the near infrared sky coming online, we can now
directly observe the progenitors of local massive galaxies as they are
forming.

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 formation
are in fact extremely dynamic, with huge bursts of dust-obscured star
formation, ubiquitous AGN activity, and significant structural
transformations.  I will also discuss what we expect to learn up to z ~
6-7 in the coming years from ongoing deep/wide surveys such as
UltraVISTA, and what we expect to learn in the JWST era, when we may be
able to observe the process of massive galaxy formation right out to its
initial stages at z ~ 10-20.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 19 March 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Prof Stephen Barnett, University of Glasgow

Title:  The Enigma of Optical Momentum

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 26 March 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building

Tickets 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 of
coalescing binaries: Intrinsic parameters, arXiv:1311.7174,

http://inspirehep.net/record/1266696
Agathos et al, TIGER: A data analysis pipeline for testing the
strong-field dynamics of general relativity with gravitational wave
signals 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 to
the 12th March 2014

Publications
Amplitude variability in satellite photometry of the non-radially
pulsating 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 gravitational
waves" by Mengyao Wang, Haixing Miao, Andreas Freise, and Yanbei Chen has
been accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review D.

The Formation and Gravitational-Wave Detection of Massive Stellar
Black-Hole Binaries Krzysztof Belczynski, Alessandra Buonanno, Matteo
Cantiello, Chris L. Fryer, Daniel E. Holz, Ilya Mandel, M. Coleman
Miller, Marek Walczak  

http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.0677
Comparison of gravitational wave detector network sky localization
approximations K. Grover, S. Fairhurst, B.F. Farr, I. Mandel, C.
Rodriguez, T. Sidery, and A. Vecchio Phys. Rev. D 89, 042004 has been
published in PRD and had one of its plots chosen for the Kaleidoscope
feature: 

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 Room

The post graduate admissions day will commence with lunch in the Bridge
Study Room.  Coffee will be available at 2pm in the second floor coffee
lounge

School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 March 2014, 4pm, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Professor Gerry Gilmore, University of Cambridge

Title: Mapping the Milky Way: Gaia and Gaia-ESO

EPS Distinguished Lecture Series
Wednesday 5th March 2014, 6pm Lecture Theatre 117, Physics West

Drinks reception to follow at 7.30pm

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, OBE FRS FREng, Executive Chairman of
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and Director of the Surrey Space Centre
Title: Keeping Satellites in Space - Where Science and Engineering Meet

If you wish to attend this event please complete the on-line registration
form:

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/eps/distinguished
Stars & Planets
Thursday 6th March 2014, 12pm, Physics West 229

Main topic for discussion - Kepler, searches for transits around red
giants

Publications
Utility of Galaxy Catalogs for Following up Gravitational Waves from
Binary Neutron Star Mergers with Wide-Field Telescopes

By Chad Hanna, Ilya Mandel, Will Vousden , has been published in the
Astrophysical Journal

http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/784/8
You may enjoy reading this new National Geographic article on black
holes:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/black-holes/finkel-text
Some of you may have met the author, Mike Finkel, at the GR20 meeting in
Warsaw last summer, where he came to find out more about the subject.  He
and I stayed in touch since, and you'll see that the University of
Birmingham is mentioned at the very end of the piece (and, apparently, in
the print version as well, though I haven't seen it) as one of the
sources. 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 Library

The speaker is Conor Mow-Lowry who currently works at the Albert Einstein
Institute, to construct a prototype interferometer with the aim of
beating the Standard Quantum Limit of interferometry and to test new
technologies for future gravitational wave detectors.

ASR Group
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115

Carl-Johan Haster to give the talk

Title: TBC

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13

Nate Bastian, Liverpool John Moores

Title: Constraining globular clusters formation through studies of young
massive star clusters

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building

The University of Birmingham Observatory team invite you to attend our
programme of free public events, "Astronomy in the City". Journey with us
from star gazing all the way to exploring the night sky with our powerful
new telescope. Along the way, members of the University's AstroSoc, and
the Birmingham Astronomical Society (BAS) will show you how to use their
portable telescopes. Tours of our Observatory, including observing with
our research telescope will also be offered. Our experts will be on hand
to 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
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 West

As advised previously by Dave Clifford, please can you abide by the
following:

Do NOT leave combustible items in corridors, escape routes and
staircases/stairwells

Clear 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 appropriate
storage cupboard when not in use (DO NOT LEAVE EXCESS QUANTITIES on the
bench).

The inspectors will photograph and note any breaches which will form part
of their report which is submitted to the University, which is then
passed onto to Heads of Colleges for action. We will then be advised of
any breaches within Physics & Astronomy. We will then have to report to

the College H&S Committee regarding the progress in rectifying any
breaches.

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 SO6

Professor Richard E Palmer, Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory,
University of Birmingham

Title: 20 years of nanotechnology: an update on arranging the atoms

Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 24 February 2014, 3pm Physics West Library

The speaker is Conor Mow-Lowry who currently works at the Albert Einstein
Institute, to construct a prototype interferometer with the aim of
beating the Standard Quantum Limit of interferometry and to test new
technologies 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 Music
Building

Join us for an evening lecture on `The British State: Past, Present and
Future', to be delivered by Professor David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Birmingham.  At a time of unprecedented global change
this lecture will reflect on times past and lessons for Britain's
future.  The event is part of the Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Lecture
Series at the University of Birmingham, which attracts leading
intellectuals to focus on the major social, cultural, and policy issues
of our time.
We hope that you will be able to join us in the beautiful surroundings of
the Elgar Concert Hall in the Bramhall Music Building on the Edgbaston
Campus.  To register your interest in attending, please complete our
online form .

If you would like further information please contact Kylie Morris on 0121
414 8782 or email k.morris@bham.ac.uk


ASR Group
Wednesday 12 February 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115

Maggie Lieu to give the talk

Title: TBC

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 12 February 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13

Andrew Young, Bristol

Title: X-ray echoes from active galaxies

Week Commencing 3 February 2014

Weekly AMG Meeting
Tuesday 4 February 2014, 12-2pm Physics West 229

Please note that this is an extended AMG meeting to continue the
discussion on research

School Colloquium
Wednesday 5 February 2014, 4pm Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Professor Terence Rudolph, Imperial College

Title: 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 on
Monday for the day only.


Additional News
From Monday 3rd February Kat Grover will start her job as the Schools
Liaison 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 Times

Tuesday 28 January 2014, 12.30-1.30pm, Bramall Music Building,
        Elgar Concert Hall

Greg Hurst, Education Editor for The Times, will be hosting this term's
Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum. He will interview Professor David Eastwood,
Vice-Chancellor, on key issues facing the higher education sector and the
University of Birmingham.

 
AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 1pm, Physics West 229

ASR Group
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 12pm, Physics West 115

Diane Brookes to give the talk

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 2.30pm, Nuffield G13

Matthew Auger, University of Cambridge

Title: Observing the structure of dark matter on scales from 100pc to 1Mpc

Astronomy in the City
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 6pm, Poynting Building

Journey with us from star gazing, all the way to exploring the night sky
with our powerful new telescope. Along the way, members of the University's
Astrosoc, and the Birmingham Astronomy Society (BAS) will show you how to
use their portable telescopes. Tours of our Observatory, including observing
with our research telescope will also be offered. Our experts will be on hand
to 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 299

Future meetings to take place on the last Friday of every month, to share
current 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 106

Alan Whiting, Washington

Title: Observing the Models: an astronomer looks at complicated calculations of climate

For the past 16 months, Alan has been an AAAS fellow working in Washington on
an international development project to make remote-sensing data available to
developing countries. As such, he has been taking an interest in climate
modelling.

He comments: "I do not present my own results; rather, I give an example of how
a scientist might look at a field different from his own, using his own
background 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 106

Kate Dooley who's currently working at the GEO 600 detector.

Title: Squeezed light: using quantum optics to develop the gravitational wave
detectors of the future

We are rapidly approaching a new era in the decades-long world-wide effort to
directly detect gravitational waves. The first arm lock of both Advanced LIGO
interferometers has just been achieved, and in a few years' time the promise
of delivering detectors with unprecedented strain sensitivity will be realized,
thus opening the door to routine signal detection.  We are already planning
upgrades to the advanced detectors with the understanding that achieving, let
alone surpassing, the design sensitivity is a challenging task. I will present
one such challenge, that of reducing the noise in the frequency band limited by
photon shot noise, a region that brings us just within reach of the exciting
potential to constrain the neutron star equation of state. While the standard
approach to further improve strain sensitivity at these frequencies is to
increase laser power, an alternative is to manipulate the quantum state of the
field in the interferometer. Through the integration of a squeezed vacuum
source at the German-British laser interferometer, GEO 600, we are forging this
path forward. I will present the latest developments of squeezed vacuum control
and how squeezing will affect the future of gravitational wave detectors.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 22 January 2014, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Professor Harvey Brown, University of Oxford

Title: Einstein on special and general relativity: did he understand his
own theories

Week Commencing 13 January 2014
ASR Group Meeting
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 1200 Hours, Physics West 115 (NOTE ROOM
CHANGE)

Sarah Mulroy to give the talk

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13

Andrew Pontzen UCL

Title: 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 in
December.

Clive Speake won EPS College Publication of the Month award in September
(announced just before Christmas) for his publication on the
determination of G.

EPSRC Follow-On Fund
Michaela and Clive have been awarded a University EPSRC Follow-On Fund
for the development of cryogenic feedthroughs for polarisation
maintaining fibres. The grant started on Jan 1st and continues until
December 31 2014.

Additional Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Monday 20 January 2014, 1300 Hours, Physics West 106

Alan Whiting, Washington

Title: Observing the Models: an astronomer looks at complicated
calculations of climate

For the past 16 months, Alan has been an AAAS fellow working in
Washington on an international development project to make remote-sensing
data available to developing countries. As such, he has been taking an
interest in climate modelling.

He comments: "I do not present my own results; rather, I give an example
of how a scientist might look at a field different from his own, using
his own background to allow a better evaluation than is available to a
layman."
 
Week Commencing 6 January 2014
STFC ISL Committee Meeting (For Information)
Monday 6 January 2014, 1000 Hours, Physics West 103

Clive Speake will be hosting an STFC ISL Committee Meeting on Monday 6
Jan 2014.

 AMG Weekly Management Meeting
Tuesday 7 January 2014, 1200 Hours, Physics West 229

An extended AMG meeting will take place to incorporate the second part of
the research discussion

 

Week Commencing 16 December 2013
Astrophysics Christmas Meal
Monday 16 December 2013, 7pm Bank Restaurant 4 Brindley Place, Birmingham
B1 2JB

A 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 Room

The Christmas party this year will be held in the bridge study room at
3.00pm on Wednesday 18th December 2013. Food and drinks will be provided.

Chiara Mingarelli
Chiara Mingarelli has won a Marie Curie International Outgoing
Fellowship, which she will take up at Caltech and the Max Planck
Institute for Radio Astronomy as of June 2014.

Annual fire systems testing and essential maintenance on electrical
infrastructure 
  
Tuesday 17 December 2013

In order to maintain insurance cover for the University's data centres we
are required to carry out a series of tests each year on our fire
detection and suppression systems. The process this year is being
modified to allow us additionally to repair a significant fault on the
Data Centre electrical systems. To minimise the risk of disruption for
University staff, students and visitors, key services will be migrated to
our secondary Data Centre and will remain operational for the duration of
the work, using resilience mechanisms being delivered by the Resilience
Project. Migration periods for key services will be 12-2pm and 7-9pm, on
17 December (note that during migration, individual services will be
subjected to short periods of disruption).

These key services include:

Teaching and Learning Services such as Timetabling, Library Catalogue and
access to online journals

Web Services such as the University website, intranet, and Staff and
Student Portals

Finance Systems (e.g. Payroll, Proactis and Coda)

Admin systems such as Pure, Data Warehouse, Document Management, Business
Intelligence and Student Records (Banner & BIRMS)

Other essential tools such as Email and Filestore

As well as the supporting infrastructure for these services e.g. the
network, virtual servers and storage on which they rely

It should be noted that other services will be at some risk throughout
the testing period.

 
Week Commencing 2 December 2013
School Colloquium
Wednesday 4th December 2013, 1600 Hours in Poynting Small Lecture Theatre
S06

Speaker: Dr Matthew Browning, University of Exeter

Title: 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 Lounge

Dear 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 over
coffee and cookies?

If so, please come along to the Astro group's Coffee and Cookies Chat at
2 PM next Wednesday, December 4, in the lounge on the 2nd floor of
Physics West.

I Mandel

Physics and Astronomy Research Poster Session
Thursday 5th December 2013 1500-1800 Hours, Bridge Study Room

The first annual Physics and Astronomy Research Poster Session on
Thursday 5 December 2013 in the Bridge Study Lounge. The purpose
of this informal poster conference is to get all the postgraduate
students from the different research groups together to talk about
their 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 of
diets (vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian..) to be as inclusive as possible.
 

December Degree Congregation
Wednesday 11th December 2013, 1030 Hours

The Degree Congregation for the School of Physics and Astronomy will be
held on Wednesday 11

December 2013 at 10.30am.

EPS Christmas Social
`
Thursday 12 December, 1400-1600 Hours, Hornton Grange

With the Christmas season fast approaching; please join me for a drink,
buffet and festive entertainment at Hornton Grange on Thursday 12
December.
  Everyone is welcome but please confirm your attendance by
registering 
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 Advanced
LIGO"

For those who don't know him, Stuart Aston was a student working with
Clive, who split his time between advanced LIGO work and the
Euclid-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-Gauss
modes in the 10 m Glasgow prototype interferometer

B'ham co-authors are Paul Fulda (a student working with Andreas now at
Florida), 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 now
been confirmed - see
here for details


Trevor Ponman    

Week Commencing 25 November 2013
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 27th November 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West Library

Coffee and Biscuits with speaker at 1030 Hours Second Floor Coffee Lounge

Andrew Levan, Warwick

Title: TBC
 
Prof Alberto Vecchio's Inaugural Lecture
Wednesday 27 November 2013, 1715 Hours Physics West 117, followed by a
reception in the Physics West Library

Title: Gravitational Waves and the unheard broadcast of the violent
universe


To register visit
here

Postgraduate Open Day
Wednesday 27th November 2013, 1400 Hours Physics West 117

The School will be taking part in the University's postgraduate Open Day
with an event beginning at 2pm in West 117.  There will be a short talk
followed by an opportunity to speak to researchers from areas around the
School about PhD places.

Andy Schofield

EPS Christmas Social
`
`
Thursday 12 December, 1400-1600 Hours, Hornton Grange

With the Christmas season fast approaching; please join me for a drink,
buffet and festive entertainment at Hornton Grange on Thursday 12
December.
  Everyone is welcome but please confirm your attendance by
registering 
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 Cambridge

Title: Frozen in Time: Ice cores and climate

Week Commencing 11 November 2013
ASR Group
Wednesday 13th November 2013, 1200 Hours, Physics West Library

Walter Del Pozzo to lead the session

Title:    TBC


Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 13th November 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13

Stephen Fairhurst, Cardiff

Title: What can we learn from Chirp?


Week Commencing 4 November 2013

Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 6th November 2013, 1400 Hours, Physics West 117

Seminar to be led by Jan Harms

Title: Gravitational Wave Detection at the Twilight of the Dawn

School Colloquium
Wednesday 6th November 2013, 1600 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Prof Malcolm McCulloch, Head of Energy & Power Group, University of Oxford

Title:    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 a
reception in the Physics West Library

Title: Gravitational Waves and the unheard broadcast of the violent
universe

To 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 Library

Trevor Ponman to lead the session `Advice to a young scientist'

 
Astrophysics & Space Research Group Seminar
Wednesday 30th October 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13

Mark Sullivan, Southampton University

Title: The Transient Universe: Cosmic Explosions and Dark Energy


Week Commencing 21 October 2013
School Colloquium

Wednesday 23 October 2013, 1530 Hours, Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Emeritus Prof Colin Gough, University of Birmingham

Title: The search for the Stradivari secret: the science and sounds of
the violin


EPS College Assembly
Tuesday 22 October 2013, 1300 Hours, Watson Building, Lecture Theatre A

You are cordially invited to the EPS College Assembly. It is the start of
a new academic year; an opportunity to congratulate colleagues on a successful
year just past and an opportunity to look forward with optimism.  

Assembly line-up

* Where we're heading - Refreshing our College Strategy (Professor
Richard A Williams)

* Where we are now - Admissions Outcomes 2013 and Recruitment Year Ahead
(Dr Steve Quigley)

* Where we can make a difference - Virtual Environments for
Post-Operative Healthcare

Restoration and Rehabilitation (Professor Robert J Stone)

I would encourage all colleagues in the College to attend and look
forward to seeing you there.

Vice-Chancellor's Open Forum
Thursday 24 October, 12.30pm-1.30pm, Bramall Music Building, Elgar
Concert Hall

Join the Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Eastwood, for his first staff
address of the new academic year. He will report on the challenges and
successes of the past year, and look forward to the

opportunities of the forthcoming academic session as The Times and The
Sunday Times University of the Year.

The Vice-Chancellor encourages all staff to attend and there will be an
opportunity to ask your own questions on the day. If you would prefer
you can submit a question in advance, and in confidence, however these
will 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 Library

Jessica Democles to lead the session

 
Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 16th October 2013, 1430 Hours, Nuffield G13

Nils Andersson, Southampton
Neutron Stars as Cosmic Laboratories


Birmingham Heroes Lecture: Music of the Stars
Thursday 17th October, 6:15-8:30pm, Physics West 117

When you look up at the sky on a clear night to do ever ask yourself: how
many of the twinkling stars have planets, like the planets orbiting our
own sun?  And how many of those planets might be capable of harbouring
life, like the precious planet we live on?  Is there some special
combination of properties that a star must possess to elevate the chances
of it hosting a habitable planet? Or are some sun-like stars just too
unsafe for their planets?

In this second Birmingham Heroes lecture, Professor Bill Chaplin will
discuss the leading role that Birmingham is playing in the study of other
stellar systems in our galaxy. The lecture will be held in Birmingham and
will see Professor Chaplin reprise his `Music of the Stars' lecture given
at the Institute of Physics in May 2013.

The event is free of charge, however registration is essential as places
are 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 soon
heading off to Montreal to work on data from the MOST satellite and will
be 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 Theatre

Prof Martin Dawson, University of Strathclyde

Title: Tiny lights with big potential: Micro-scale gallium nitride
light-emitting diodes for science, instrumentation and communications

Wednesday 9 October 2013, 1300 Hours, Biosciences Lecture Theatre 301

Prof. Dame Athene Donald, University of Cambridge

Prof Dame Athene Donald will be here on 9th October speaking about
"facilitating women's' progression to the top" at 1pm in Biosciences
lecture theatre 301. Athene will be around from 11am until just before
4.   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 Library

Clive Speake to lead the session


Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Thursday 3 October 2013, 1300-1400 Hours, Physics West 106

Harald Pfeiffer CITA - Numerical simulations of binary black holes


Visitors / New Staff /Changing Roles
Harald Pfeiffer will be visiting on the 3 Oct 2013

Richard Reineman from GWR Instruments will be visiting Clive Speake on
the 3 Oct 2013

Professor Alberto Vecchio will take up the role of Head of Astrophysics
and Space Research Group

Dr Ian Stevens will become the Graduate Welfare Officer (Dr Garry Tungate
will 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, Poynting
LLT room S02

All Staff and PG's that have not attended a Fire Safety Lecture in the
past 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 LLT

Surname beginning with L-Z on Wednesday Nov 13th 2.30-3.30pm in Poynting
LLT

If you cannot attend the one assigned, then please attend the other
session.

 

Week Commencing 23 September 2013
Observatory Open Afternoon

Friday 27 September 2013, 1400 - 1800 Hours

You are warmly invited to visit the University of Birmingham Observatory
at Wast Hills Friday afternoon, 27th September 2013. A small team of us
will be at the Observatory from 2pm-6pm (and later if sky is clear) to
show, and demonstrate our new telescope (a 0.5m diameter Ritchey
Chretien), and supporting control systems.
We are still in the process of commissioning the telescope, with several
important unfinished tasks, dangling cables, etc.. So this will be an
informal 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 very
exciting and important landmark! So you will be able to see the telescope
in action. If the sky is clear, you're welcome to stay into the evening
while we do some observing.

The Observatory can accommodate a limited number of people. So it will be
very useful to get an idea of how many people are likely to visit. This
will help us firm up plans next week, including steps to smooth out
visitor numbers through the afternoon if some times prove more popular
than others.

Please email your reply to Jo Cox j.s.cox@bham.ac.uk if you intend to
come, and/or would like more information. Please reply ASAP. We will
start reviewing replies on Monday afternoon and will firm up plans on
Wednesday afternoon.

Please also contact Jo for directions to the Observatory. There is space
for some cars to park at the Observatory and in a nearby layby, however
please try to car share where possible.

I'm happy to answer questions via email, or in person at School Committee
meeting.

Graham Smith
on behalf of Observatory Outreach Team

 

Promotion: Professor Andreas Freise
I am delighted to announce that Andreas Freise has been promoted to
Professor 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 Room

There will be a reception in the Bridge Study Room following the School
Committee Meeting for Professor Ray Jones who will be retiring at the end
of September.


Lucy Collinson
Wednesday 25 September 2013, 1600 Hours Admissions Lounge, TSO

There will be a reception for Lucy Collinson who will be leaving on the
25 September 2013.  Please come along to say goodbye.

Cycling Roadshow
23 - 27 September 2013, 1000 - 1500 Hours, Staff House Square

There 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 Staff
House with Road show

activities 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 try

For 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 2013

1200 Hours Physics West Library

This will be a fairly short meeting (30 mins or so), without any "Friday
Science"-like session.

There are two things that will be covered:

1. News items - please come along with anything you have

2. Discussion regarding the way the Group works

 
Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Friday 6 September 2013

1400 Hours Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Helen Russell, Waterloo

Title: 'Massive molecular gas flows in brightest cluster galaxies'

 
Visitors / New Staff
Monday 2 September 2013

Dr Walter De Pozzo will arrive on Monday 2 September 2013

Publications
The experimental half of the Gravitational Wave group have recently
published a paper in the Journal of Visualized Experiments, which
combines a written article with a video showing the experimental
procedure. 

Our paper, 'The generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams
for Higher-precision Interferometry', is an overview of the work carried
out in the group for the last 5 years on the application of ring shaped
laser beams (Laguerre-Gauss beams) in interferometric Gravitational Wave
detectors.

You can check out the script and video here, look out for some familiar
faces: 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 2013

Dr Will Farr will be arriving on Monday 19 August, prior to the commencement
of 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 your
teaching material for the new academic year. The university has training
courses & online resources to help with this, detailed at webLearn.  Each
school in EPS has a Canvas Champion, who will be at the forefront in using
Canvas and provide advice and guidance to colleagues in their school. Dr I
Mandel is the Canvas Champion for Physics & Astronomy.

Week Commencing 12 August 2013 

Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar

Thursday 15 August 2013

1400 Hours, Physics West 106

Luke Kelley, Harvard University (Talk 1) and Michael Betancourt, Imperial
(Talk 2)

Talk 1 : A jetted tidal disruption: need for dynamically important magnetic
flux threading the supermassive black hole.

Talk 2: A brief introduction to Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

Visitors / New Staff


Monday 12 August 2013 - Luke Kelley Harvard University

Thursday 15 August 2013 - Michael Betancourt, Imperial

Both 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 an
office with Trevor Sidery for the near future.


Publications
The second LSC-all paper on using squeezed light has been published in Nature
photonics letters: `Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave
detector 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 limit
Burke, Kraft, Soria, Maccarone, Raychaudhury, et al., Accepted for publication
in ApJ,

http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.8157
Rodriguez, Farr, Farr, Mandel

Inadequacies of the Fisher Information Matrix in gravitational-wave parameter
estimation



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 Library

Felicia Ziparo to lead the session

 

EPS College Research Conference
Tuesday 16 July 2013, 0900-1630 Hours Avon Room

The programme for the day is detailed below
To find out more, and to register, please follow this link 

(it is important to register for the organisation of the catering)

09:00    Tea/coffee

09:15    Welcome: Richard Williams        
09:30    Bill Chaplin (Physics) - Music of the stars and the search for
         new worlds
10:00    David Craven (Mathematics) - From the local to the global in
         mathematics
10:30    Zoe Schnepp (Chemistry) - Materials from Biomass
11:00    Tea/coffee       
11:30    Paula Mendes (Chem Eng) - Cellular Nanotechnology: Making
         Biological Interfaces Smarter
12:00    Moataz Attallah (Met &Mat) - Advanced Materials Processing: From
         Process to Performance
12:30    Duc Pham (Mech Eng) - Mechanical Engineering ... Open for
         Business
13:00    Posters + lunch       
14:00    Bob Stone (EECE) - Simulation in Defence, Healthcare and
         Heritage - High-Impact Research for Real World Applications
14:30    Jeremy Wyatt (Comp Sci) - Robotics: a unifying grand challenge
         for engineering
15:00    Tea/coffee        
15:30    Jonathan Radcliffe (EECE) - Developing energy research in EPS
         and across the University
16:00    Chris Rogers (Civil) - Sustainable Cities
16:30    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 Alberto
Vecchio was a runner-up for the award. The nomination process not only
involves letters of recommendation from current students, but past
students and the chair of the department as well. This is a highly
competitive award in the University, as both the nominee and the
nominator receive a £1,000 prize. 

These recognitions reflect highly on the level of instruction and
dedication that a graduate student may expect while studying for either
an experimental or data-analysis LSC related PhD. I hope you take the
time to nominate your students and advisors for similar awards!

 
Physics Graduation and Reception
Monday 8th July , 1.45pm, Bridge Study Area

Students from the School will be graduating today Monday 8th July 2013 at
1:45 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 Coffee
Lounge and also onto Chancellors Court. Graduates and their families
appreciate meeting their lecturers and tutors so can I encourage as many
as possible to come and talk to our graduating students over the
reception. Andy Schofield

 

Week Commencing 01 July 2013
College Summer Social
Tuesday 2 July 2013

1330 - 1530 Hours Gardens between the Arts and Watson Buildings

The promised summer season will soon be upon us, but before that, I'd be
delighted if you would join me for a BBQ, strawberries and cream, and a
glass of Pimms or soft drinks. I hope to see you there.  Richard A
Williams, Head of College, Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Publications

Paper on high-power Laguerre-Gauss modes has been published in Physical
Review Letters. It's short and has experimental results, Ludovico has
achieved very high quality results in terms of beam shape and quality
here. This paper is the latest in our series of papers on LG modes for
interferometry, Andreas Freise.

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.251101

 
Title: Characterising gravitational wave stochastic background anisotropy
with Pulsar Timing Arrays.  Authors: Chiara M. F. Mingarelli, Trevor
Sidery, Ilya Mandel and Alberto Vecchio

 

http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.5394 
"Electromagnetic transients as triggers in searches for gravitational
waves from compact binary mergers" by Kelley, Mandel, Ramirez-Ruiz.  Has
been 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 Meeting

Wednesday 19 June 2013

1200 Hours PW Library

Deepali Lodhia to lead the session


Astrophysics & Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 19 June 2013
1430 Hours, PW 103

Stephen Bamford, Nottingham


Open Days
Thursday 20 June, Friday 21 June & Saturday 22 June 2013

University Open Day are to take place this week, a schedule detailing
staff involvement has been circulated.


School Committee Meeting
Monday 17 June 2013

1400 Hours, Poynting Large Lecture Theatre


University Car Parking
Thursday 20 June, Friday 21 June and Saturday 22 June 2013

The University will be holding Open Days on Thursday 20, Friday 21
and Saturday 22 June 2013. Open Day is a core recruitment activity for
the University and will bring a large number of prospective students to
the campus each day. As a result, there will be increased traffic in and
around campus and further pressure on parking.  The South car park and
Pritchatts car park will be closed to staff in order to accommodate
visitor parking. In addition visitor `park and ride' facilities will be
operating on King Edward's School playing fields and the Selly Oak
Hospital site to further relieve congestion and parking problems.

Your cooperation and patience is appreciated. Please use an alternative
mode of transport on these days where possible.

 
Publications
R. J. E. Smith, K. Cannon, C. Hanna, D. Keppel, and I. Mandel Towards
rapid parameter estimation on gravitational waves from compact binaries
using 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 2013

Priorsfield, Edgbaston Park Road

Just a reminder that the annual group garden party will take place today
at 6.30pm.


Window Cleaning - Physics West
Tuesday 11 June 2013 0800 Hours

The University appointed window cleaners (ART CLEANING) will be in
Physics West on Tuesday June 11th from 8am. They will be cleaning
EXTERNAL & INTERNAL WINDOWS where they are able to gain access. If
possible please can you:
 
CLOSE EXTERNAL WINDOWS & CLEAR ACCESS to INTERNAL WINDOWS / CLEAR WINDOW
SILLS.

Week Commencing 3 June 2013
 US Summer Students
Monday 3 June 2013

US summer students, Jenna Klemkowsky and Zachary Hafen will be arriving
on Monday 3 June until the 31 July 2013.


Wednesday Group Meeting
Wednesday 5 June 2013

1200 Hours PW Library

Mark Burke to lead the session

Starting from Wednesday June 5th 2013, and running every 2 weeks outside
the main holiday periods, the group will hold an informal Group Meeting
at 12.00 in the Physics Library. This will start with a short section on
any news (typically just 10-15 minutes) and will be followed by a science
session along the lines of "Friday Science" which will finish around 1pm.

 
College Assembly
Wednesday 5 June 2013

1300 Hours Haworth 101

College Assembly is a great opportunity to learn more about exciting
initiatives, network with colleagues and hear directly from Senior
Management about future plans.I would encourage everyone in the College
to attend and look forward to seeing you all there.  Professor Richard A
Williams, Head of College.

 
Group Garden Party
Monday 10 June 2013

Priorsfield, Edgbaston Park Road

For those of you that have not already responded and would like to attend
could 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 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Chiara Mingarelli to lead the session

Chiara is giving her talk on her new work involving anisotropy in the
gravitational wave background seen by Pulsar Timing Arrays.

Publications
Rory Smith, Chad Hanna, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Vecchio Rapidly evaluating
the 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 Professors
Bill Chaplin and Yvonne Elsworth and Dr Andrea Miglio, for the paper "A
sub-Mercury-sized exoplanet" published in Nature (Volume 494, Issue 7438,
pp. 452-454).


The paper reports the discovery of the smallest planet yet found outside
our solar system, a planet that is smaller than Mercury and not much
larger than the Moon. The planet was discovered by the NASA Kepler space
telescope, and Professor Chaplin led the team that used asteroseismology
to characterize the properties of the star hosting this small planet.
There are also two other planets in this system. Kepler detects planets
by the miniscule dimming of starlight as planets `transit', or pass in
front of, their host star. The fractional dimming depends on the size of
the planet relative to the size of the star; the Birmingham team led the
work that provided an accurate estimate of the size of the star, which
lies just over 200 light years from us, and it was thanks to this crucial
information that it was possible to make such clear statements about the
tiny 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 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Dr K Nikolopoulos, University of Birmingham

Title: The discovery of a standard model-like Higgs boson at the LHC

Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 15 May 2013

1400 Hours - Muirhead 112

Maura McLaughlin, University of West Virginia (currently at Oxford)

Title: A Galactic Scale Gravitational Wave Observatory


Visitors
Wednesday 15 May 2013

Jessica Democles, Post-Doctoral Researcher will be visiting us on
Wednesday 15th May until Friday 17th May 2013.


Publications
The Transient Gravitational-Wave Sky

Andersson et al.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.0816

Archive

Previous issues can be found  here 

Week Commencing 6 May 2013

School Colloquium

Wednesday 8 May 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Prof Anthony Lasenby University of Cambridge

The Cosmic Microwave Background: Recent results and implications for
Cosmology


Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 8 May 2013

1400 Hours - Muirhead 112

Christian Trenkel, Astrium


 
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 10 May 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Kat Grover to lead the session

 

Publications
Aasi et al.

Parameter estimation for compact binary coalescence signals with the
first 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 2013

In order to progress an on-going issue, a network switch that provides
services to the College from within the Physics West building must be
replaced.

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 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Prof Frank Close - University of Oxford

Title: The Infinity Puzzle - The story of the Higgs Boson: From QED to the LHC
via Higgs and the Gang of Six

 

Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 24 April 2013

1400 Hours - Muirhead 112

Nigel Bishop Rhodes University South Africa

Title: Applications of the characteristic formalism in relativity


Friday Science Meeting
Friday 26 April 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West 115

Prof Mike Cruise to lead the session

Title: Open Access Publishing


Publications
Interferometric measurement of angular motion

F.E. Pena Arellano, H. Panjwani, L.Carbone, and C.C. Speake

Review 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 2013

Michal Dominik a student collaborator from Poland will be with us and
using 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 and
data analysis that LIGO can do to find out more about these elusive
objects. We also include a mix of conference reports, news items and
stories 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 2013

1030 Hours - Admission Suite Poynting Building

Just a reminder that Andy Schofield has introduced the coffee hour as an
opportunity for staff to get together, please see below the original message

I am conscious that busyness of academic life and our split site over four
buildings means there are fewer opportunities for us to meet informally as
academic staff. The colloquia and tea beforehand (which Clive organizes so
effectively) are an excellent opportunity to get together and should be seen
as an essential part of School life. I think we need more - so I would like
to try a regular morning gathering once a week:

Coffee/Tea on Mondays from 10:30-11:30 in the Admissions Suite (Poynting
building) starting on Monday 25 Feb.

The urn will be on (and of course one could support Lorna in the coffee lounge
if you want something different). By spanning the teaching hour, hopefully
people will be able to attend one or other half. The time also follows the VCs
meeting with Heads of Schools so occasionally there might be some news to
convey. It's an experiment so we will see how it goes.

College Assembly
Tuesday 19 March

1300 Hours -  G31 School of Mechanical Engineering

The College Assembly is a great opportunity to learn more about exciting
initiatives, network with colleagues and hear directly from Senior Management
about future plans.

 
Arts & Science Festival
Wednesday 20 March 2013

1600 Hours - Physics West

There will be a public engagement event happening in Physics on Wednesday
20th March from 4pm to 9pm as part of the University of Birmingham Arts and
Science Festival and National Science and Engineering Week 18 March through
until 24 March. The whole event is open to families and the talks suitable
for older secondary school children and adults. It will feature hands on
activities and exhibits from particle physics, gravitational waves and the
astronomy society and the following ~30 minute talks:


17:00: Discovering Black holes with Gravitational Waves by Chiara Mingarelli
17:45: Laser Interferometers and Gravitational Waves by Charlotte Bond
18:30: An introduction to Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider by
       Cristina Lazzeroni
19:15: Astronomy talk: tbc

For information on National Science and Engineering Week visit
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-week
For more information on the University Science and Arts Festival visit
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/artsandsciencefestival


School Colloquium
Wednesday 20 March 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Prof Myles Allen - University of Oxford

Title: 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 2013

1030 Hours - Admission Suite Poynting Building

Just a reminder that Andy Schofield has introduced the coffee hour as an
opportunity for staff to get together, please see below the original
message

I am conscious that busyness of academic life and our split site over
four buildings means there are fewer opportunities for us to meet
informally as academic staff. The colloquia and tea beforehand (which
Clive organizes so effectively) are an excellent opportunity to get
together and should be seen as an essential part of School life. I think
we need more - so I would like to try a regular morning gathering once a
week:

Coffee/Tea on Mondays from 10:30-11:30 in the Admissions Suite (Poynting
building) starting on Monday 25 Feb.

The urn will be on (and of course one could support Lorna in the coffee
lounge if you want something different). By spanning the teaching hour,
hopefully people will be able to attend one or other half. The time also
follows the VCs meeting with Heads of Schools so occasionally there might
be some news to convey. It's an experiment so we will see how it goes.


Friday Science Meeting
Friday 15 March 2013
1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Will Vousden to lead the session


Visitors

Monday 11 March - Friday 15 March 2013 - Walter Del Pozzo from the
Netherlands will be using the visitor's room (219) for the week.


 
Publications

"Studies of waveform requirements for intermediate mass-ratio coalescence
searches 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 2013

1400 Hours - Nuffield G13

Suzanne Aigrain Oxford

Title:     Stellar Activity in Planet Searches: from Nuisance to Signal

 

Making the Invisible Visible: discovering forces beyond what we see
Wednesday 20th March 2013

1600 Hours until 2100 Hours - Physics West, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston

The University of Birmingham's Particle Physics Group, Gravitational
Wave Group and Astronomical Society cordially invite you to attend an
evening of discovery on Wednesday the 20th of March from 4pm to 9pm at
the University of Birmingham's Edgbaston campus. The event is a part of
this year's National Science and Engineering Week and the University's
Arts and Science Festival.

We encourage adults, families and children of all ages to learn more
about the physics of the universe we live in via our hands on
activities, lectures and demonstrations. Find out how we use kilometre
size experiments and state of the art computer analysis and simulation
to discover the invisible forces which influence everything from the
smallest subatomic particle to the structure of galaxies.   

For more information please contact Miss Katherine Grover, Doctoral
Researcher in the Gravitational Wave Group:
Email: kat@star.sr.bham.ac.uk
Phone: 01214143721

For information on National Science and Engineering Week visit
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-week
For more information on the University Science and Arts Festival visit
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/artsandsciencefestival



Week Commencing 25 February 2013

Vice Chancellor's Open Forum

Tuesday 26 February 2013

1230-1330 Hours - Bramhall Music Building, Elgar Concert Hall

In this terms Open Forum, the Vice-Chancellor will be interviewed by
David Gregory-Kumar, BBC Midlands Today Science and Environmental
Correspondent, on key issues facing the High Education sector and the
University of Birmingham.

School Colloquium
Wednesday 27 February 2013

1600 Hours - Pointing Small Lecture Theatre

Dr Alex Brand, University of Aberdeen

Title:  Filamentous Fungi - Microbial Space Invaders


Postgraduate Admissions Day
Thursday 28 February 2013

The main event will take place in the Physics West Library, with coffee
available in the 2nd floor coffee lounge at 2pm

Inaugural Lecture
Thursday 28 February 2013

17:15 Hours - Haworth Large Lecture Theatre 101, Haworth Building and
afterwards for a reception in the Haworth foyer

Professor William Chaplin, Professor of Astrophysics, School of Physics
and Astronomy

"Sounding stars and sizing up Exoplanets: Searches for other Solar
Systems"


Friday Science Meeting - CANCELLED
This week's Friday Science has been cancelled, the schedule will resume
as 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 2013

1400 Hours - Nuffield G17

Stefan Hild, Glasgow

Title:    Interferometry beyond the Quantum Limit.  Squeezed vacuum,
stiff photons and other ways to trick Heisenberg

School Colloquium
Wednesday 13 February 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre

Dr Giovanna Tinetti, University College London
Title:    What are Exoplanets Made Of?

 
Friday Science Meeting
Friday 15 February 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Miranda Bradshaw to lead the session

Post Doc Interviews
Wednesday 13 February 2013

Trevor 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 2013

1400 Hours - Nuffield G13

Henk Hoekstra, Leiden

Title:    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 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre (SO6)

Dr Hugh Hunt, University of Cambridge

Title: Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering

 
Friday Science
Friday 1 February 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Melissa 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 2013

1400 Hours - Nuffield G13

Paul Crowther Sheffield

The most massive stars in the local universe.

The lower limit to the mass of stars is well defined, while the upper limit remains
controversial. I shall summarise evidence in support of the currently accepted limit
and present recent VLT -based studies of the brightest members of young, nearby star
clusters which argue for a higher limit. Consideration is given to questions of
binarity using a variety of methods, while we present simulations of star clusters
which argue for an upper mass limit close to 300 solar masses. The wider
significance of this limit is discussed both for the integrated properties of
unresolved star clusters and the possibility that pair-instability supernovae exist
in the local universe, as proposed for SN 2007bi.

Re-Scheduled Friday Science / ASR Group Meeting
Friday 25 January 2013

1300 Hours - Law LT3

Dan Brown to lead the session - Modelling optics in future gravitational
wave detectors


Week Commencing 14 January 2013

Colloquium

Wednesday 16 January 2013

1600 Hours - Poynting Small Lecture Theatre (SO6)

Tea/coffee and biscuits available in the coffee lounge from 3.30pm

Prof Joao Magueijo, Imperial College

Title:    Alternative Theories of Gravity

Friday Science
Friday 18 January 2013

1300 Hours - Physics West Library

Dan 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 2013
1230 hours Large Lecture Theatre, Poynting Building

All staff are invited to attend.

Astrophysics and Space Research Seminar
Wednesday 9 January 2013
1400 - 1500 Hours Muirhead 112
Chris Done, Durham
Title & Abstract:  AGN in the light of stellar mass black holes

I will review what we know about accretion and its associated jet
in stellar mass black holes, and then compare this to AGN to see
which parts of the physics of the accretion flow simply scale with
mass 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 Stargazing
Live series and to
coincide with this the BBC have partnered with the University's
Astronomical Society, academic groups and other local astronomy societies
to 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.  The
events will include activities such as outdoor observing sessions in
Chancellor's Court (weather permitting) as well as planetarium shows,
family performances and talks from people such as Prof Bill Chaplin, Dr
Martin Hendry, Dr Sam George and others. There will also be a telescope
surgery, and many hands-on activities lead by members of the UoB AstroSoc
and the Birmingham Astronomical Society. Additional activities are also
being provided by members of the Gravitational Waves group and the School
of Mathematics. The activities will be based in Physics West, Poynting
Physics and the Nuffield building.



This is a free event, however it is also ticketed. If you would like a
ticket or more information
please get in touch with us at astrosoc@guild.bham.ac.uk or visit
http://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 2012
1200 - 1300 Hours Physics West Library
Christopher Berry (Cambridge)- Extreme mass ratio bursts and supermassive black 
holes.

Friday Science Meeting
Friday 14 December 2012
1200 - 1300 Hours Physics West 106
Ben Aylott - The rise of the machines and strategies for mitigating the risks po
sed 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 2012
1100 - 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 m
aximum 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 fo
r the whole week, he will also be using the visitors room (219).