Palaeoclimate reconstruction in northwestern China. Records of climatic change between semi-arid regions of the two large continents, China and Australia, provide invaluable data on the manner in which the globe has responded to past environmental changes. Such reconstructions impose constraints on possible patterns of future change.
The visit by an established researcher in Prof. Sun Jiamin will provide new data (including new dates) on the evolution of lakes and dunefields in China, and on ....Palaeoclimate reconstruction in northwestern China. Records of climatic change between semi-arid regions of the two large continents, China and Australia, provide invaluable data on the manner in which the globe has responded to past environmental changes. Such reconstructions impose constraints on possible patterns of future change.
The visit by an established researcher in Prof. Sun Jiamin will provide new data (including new dates) on the evolution of lakes and dunefields in China, and on the climatic conditions which controlled them. The visit builds on and extends the established links between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and staff in the Melbourne University, School of Earth Sciences.
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The separation of carbon dioxide from industrial sources using nanoporous carbon. Carbon nanotubes and nanoporous carbon membranes offer the possibility of low cost energy efficient separations of gas mixtures. Possible applications include the purification of greenhouse gases for sequestration and the purification of hydrogen from reformer gas for use in a hydrogen energy economy. The proposed project involves the development of mathematical models and computer simulations to understand and ....The separation of carbon dioxide from industrial sources using nanoporous carbon. Carbon nanotubes and nanoporous carbon membranes offer the possibility of low cost energy efficient separations of gas mixtures. Possible applications include the purification of greenhouse gases for sequestration and the purification of hydrogen from reformer gas for use in a hydrogen energy economy. The proposed project involves the development of mathematical models and computer simulations to understand and optimise the nanoporous structure for different gas separations, and experimental research to produce the carbon nanoporous materials and determine their effectiveness of gas separation.Read moreRead less
High energy neutrino astrophysics together with accretion flows into black holes. Neutrinos are very weakly interacting elementary particles that are opening a new view on astrophysical objects such as supernovae and active galactic nuclei (neutrino astronomy). Studies of astrophysical neutrino production, propagation and terrestrial detection will be made. This will shed light on the astrophysics of the sources as well as probing propagation effects such as neutrino oscillations. A distinct pro ....High energy neutrino astrophysics together with accretion flows into black holes. Neutrinos are very weakly interacting elementary particles that are opening a new view on astrophysical objects such as supernovae and active galactic nuclei (neutrino astronomy). Studies of astrophysical neutrino production, propagation and terrestrial detection will be made. This will shed light on the astrophysics of the sources as well as probing propagation effects such as neutrino oscillations. A distinct programme will study a large discrepancy in the energy balance for matter accreting into a black hole. Previous work of Buzzi and Hines will be extended to investigate whether plasma wave energy carried into the black hole can explain the discrepancy. Read moreRead less
The Chemistry of the Milky Way: From Micro- to Macro-Physics. The physics of galaxy formation in the early Universe is driving the development of billion-dollar investments such as the Next Generation Space Telescope and the Square Kilometre Array. Our team is undertaking a complementary `near-field cosmology' approach, systematically deconstructing the one galaxy in the Universe for which exquisite chemical and kinematical `fingerprints' of its formation remain observable on an individual star ....The Chemistry of the Milky Way: From Micro- to Macro-Physics. The physics of galaxy formation in the early Universe is driving the development of billion-dollar investments such as the Next Generation Space Telescope and the Square Kilometre Array. Our team is undertaking a complementary `near-field cosmology' approach, systematically deconstructing the one galaxy in the Universe for which exquisite chemical and kinematical `fingerprints' of its formation remain observable on an individual star-by-star basis - our own Milky Way. The unique synergy between computational cosmology, galaxy evolution, and stellar nucleosynthesis, intrinsic to our team, allows Australia to be at the forefront of theoretical galaxy formation research, in addition to the leadership role the observational community already enjoys.Read moreRead less
The Early History of Dark Energy. The national benefit will be the inclusion of Australian researchers (Glazebrook and his students/postdocs) in a major UK-Japanese international research project to study dark energy. This will be the successor to the highly successful WiggleZ project (on which Glazebrook is a designer and CI) using the much larger mirror of Subaru to push back the mapping of cosmic sound to much earlier epochs in the history of the Universe. Although Australia built parts of th ....The Early History of Dark Energy. The national benefit will be the inclusion of Australian researchers (Glazebrook and his students/postdocs) in a major UK-Japanese international research project to study dark energy. This will be the successor to the highly successful WiggleZ project (on which Glazebrook is a designer and CI) using the much larger mirror of Subaru to push back the mapping of cosmic sound to much earlier epochs in the history of the Universe. Although Australia built parts of the FMOS instrument (under contract) there is currently no national right of access to any of the science surveys so it is only by developing these collaborations that we can capitalize on our innovative instrument design.Read moreRead less
Near-field Cosmology with Globular Clusters. Globular star clusters are the astronomical equivalent of fossils, and as such they provide unique insight into the early epochs of the Universe. This project will establish a link between two world-leading research groups in this area. This Australian-Canadian collaboration will train the next generation of PhD students, create innovative 3D visualisation applications and produce a book on globular clusters.
The Formation of the Most Massive Galaxies in the Universe. This program aims to solve the mystery of how the most massive
galaxies in the Universe formed. We will employ one of the world's
most powerful telescopes, and the observations will be compared with
cosmological simulations by a supercomputer. A state-of-art technique
will be used to analyse the galaxy dynamics, allowing the distribution
of the mysterious Dark Matter to be probed. The results will be the
deepest and most detailed ....The Formation of the Most Massive Galaxies in the Universe. This program aims to solve the mystery of how the most massive
galaxies in the Universe formed. We will employ one of the world's
most powerful telescopes, and the observations will be compared with
cosmological simulations by a supercomputer. A state-of-art technique
will be used to analyse the galaxy dynamics, allowing the distribution
of the mysterious Dark Matter to be probed. The results will be the
deepest and most detailed studies of this kind to date, with
wide-ranging implications for our current paradigm of galaxy formation
and evolution.
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The First Galaxies and the End of the Dark Ages of the Universe. There is one large gap in our understanding of the early evolution of the universe, namely, when did the first sources of light appear? Resolution of this puzzle requires new theoretical and observational strategies. Several international initiatives are now beginning to tackle the problem, including a major new radio telescope in Western Australia. This Linkage award will facilitate the continuation of a very successful internatio ....The First Galaxies and the End of the Dark Ages of the Universe. There is one large gap in our understanding of the early evolution of the universe, namely, when did the first sources of light appear? Resolution of this puzzle requires new theoretical and observational strategies. Several international initiatives are now beginning to tackle the problem, including a major new radio telescope in Western Australia. This Linkage award will facilitate the continuation of a very successful international collaboration, and will provide a significant Australian contribution at the forefront of modern cosmology.Read moreRead less
A New Approach to Age-Dating Galaxies Throughout the Universe. While galaxies throughout the Universe are dominated by dark matter, the determination of their ages is necessarily dependent upon what astronomers can actually see - the underlying stellar population. Disentangling the competing (and confusing) effects of age and metallicity from the integrated spectroscopy of distant galaxies is a powerful tool in cosmology, and one which we are uniquely poised to exploit. An outcome of this Fell ....A New Approach to Age-Dating Galaxies Throughout the Universe. While galaxies throughout the Universe are dominated by dark matter, the determination of their ages is necessarily dependent upon what astronomers can actually see - the underlying stellar population. Disentangling the competing (and confusing) effects of age and metallicity from the integrated spectroscopy of distant galaxies is a powerful tool in cosmology, and one which we are uniquely poised to exploit. An outcome of this Fellowship will be the release of the most sophisticated spectral synthesis models of galaxies, including physics and stellar input not available elsewhere. These models will be calibrated as part of our Australian-led observational cluster age-dating program.Read moreRead less
Deconstructing galaxy evolution. Using a new technique we will deconstruct the evolutionary
history of individual galaxies. In particular we will measure
relative ages and chemical properties for a large number of
galaxies over the full range of galactic environments.
This will allow us to enhance the data from two Australian-led galaxy surveys and test competing galaxy formation models.