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£2.5 million grant for Astrophysics Research Institute

LJMU astronomers are set to consolidate their position as world-leading researchers thanks to a new £2.5 million grant from the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The ARI Team

The scientists, based in LJMU's Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI), are currently ranked in the top 1% of institutions world-wide for its space science research*. Thanks to the new funding, they will be able to expand their research, which spans the extremes of the cosmological time spectrum, to answer fundamental questions on the origins and evolution of the Universe.

Professor Chris Collins, Director of the ARI and Project Leader, explained: "Over the next five years, the ARI will focus its research on finding answers to what the Universe is made of, how galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve and the perplexing riddle of cosmic explosions. Our astronomers are already carrying out world-leading research that is advancing our understanding of the Universe and this substantial grant will enable us to consolidate our position further, placing the ARI and the UK at the forefront of international astronomical research."

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, said: "The ARI undertakes world-leading research, both in examining the rapidly changing sky where events can alter in seconds and in the slower scale of galactic evolution where change takes millennia. Both of these areas help us to answer important questions about how and why the Universe came to look the way it does today."

Professor Michael Brown, LJMU's Vice Chancellor, added: "The Astrophysics Research Institute has led the world in developing robotic telescopes which are already being used by scientists, both in Liverpool and around the world, to achieve fantastic results. I have no doubt that this new funding will enable our astronomers to achieve further significant breakthroughs in this very exciting area of science."

An artist's impression of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy. ARI research will uncover the mystery of what happens when two black holes collide and the role they play in forming galaxies shortly after the Big Bang. Credit: ESA/NASA, the AVO project and P. Padovani The funding will support two interconnected areas of research. The first core area of work will focus on 'time domain astrophysics'. Put simply, this means examining objects or events in space which change in 'real time', over seconds, minutes and hours. Much of the research will focus on discovering more about Gamma Ray Bursts, the most powerful explosions in the Universe. The ARI is already recognised as a leader in this field as demonstrated by the fact that they recently made the earliest ever measurement of a Gamma Ray Burst in polarized light, just 203 seconds after the start of the cosmic explosion**.

Carole Mundell, Head of the ARI Gamma Ray Burst team, said: "Gamma Ray Bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe and their origin remains one of the key outstanding issues in modern astronomy. We believe that they are the result of cataclysmic events, such as when a massive star explodes or when black holes collide with each other. Whatever the cause, the explosion produces a new black hole, whose birth cries are signalled by a powerful burst of gamma-rays. Thanks to this funding we will be able to establish a rapid response team of experts, on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, chasing Gamma Ray Bursts and driving forward new discoveries in physics."

Also under investigation by the team are other rare stellar explosions, such as the recent RS Ophiuchi Nova outburst, which occurred n February 2006. Professor Mike Bode, who is leading the University's novae research, explained: "This nova outburst was the subject of study by an armada of telescopes on the ground and in space. Our observations have discovered a link between this type of object and the even more energetic explosions of supernovae."

The second core area of research will concentrate on finding out more about how the Universe was formed and evolved. Experts will be looking back through time, over billions of light years, to see if galaxies formed soon after the Big Bang have different physical properties to galaxies in our local neighborhood.

Professor Dave Carter, who is leading the galaxies research, said: "Effectively we will be working as space archaeologists examining the Universe's fossil record to uncover clues on what early galaxies were like, and how their mass and surrounding environment affected how they evolved and what role is played by massive black holes."

An artist's impression of the very early universe at the onset of the formation of the first galaxies. ARI research will uncover the mystery of how galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang. Credit: A. Schaller (Space Telescope Institute) Again ARI experts are leaders in this field, having discovered the oldest cluster of galaxies identified to date, 10 billion light years from Earth. While others are currently leading the Hubble Space Telescope survey of the COMA cluster, located some 280 million light years from Earth.

The new grant also recognises and supports the ARI's ground breaking expertise in new e-Science technological solutions, which are at the cutting edge of the next generation of internet-based applications and help drive the astronomical research breakthroughs.

The ARI has already helped design and develop the world's largest robotic telescopes - now located in Hawaii, Australia, China and La Palma, which is home to the LJMU-owned Liverpool Telescope. Collectively these telescopes now form the basis for global robotic telescope networks, such as RoboNet -also funded by the new PPARC award.

Dr Iain Steele, Head of Technology at ARI, added: "This is a very exciting time for astronomy because the technological advances of these new telescopes are enabling us to come closer to formulating answers to some of the most puzzling questions we are trying to address at the ARI concerning the origin of galaxies, stars and the detection of new planets around nearby stars. We've proved that our technological expertise can deliver real results and this funding will enable us to enhance the capabilities of the Liverpool Telescope and other robotic telescope networks through the development of new e-science technology."

Pictures:

Top: The ARI team (left to right) - Martin Burgforf, Chris Mottram, Mike Bode, Chris Moss, Dan Harman, Ivan Baldry (back), Sue Percival, Chris Collins, Chris Simpson (back), Shiho Kobayashi, Toby Moore, Matt Darnley (back), David Bersier, Iain Steele, Carole Mundell, Mustapha Mouhcine, Witold Maceijewski, Dave Carter.
Middle: An artist's impression of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy. ARI research will uncover the mystery of what happens when two black holes collide and the role they play in forming galaxies shortly after the Big Bang. Credit: ESA/NASA, the AVO project and P. Padovani
Bottom: An artist's impression of the very early universe at the onset of the formation of the first galaxies. ARI research will uncover the mystery of how galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang. Credit: A. Schaller (Space Telescope Institute)

*Based on total number of citations over a 10 year period: Essential Science Indicators http://www.in-cites.com/institutions/LivplJhnMoresU-AstrphyResIns.html

** http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/LT_grb.asp