The Madrid Skylitzes: Electronic reproduction and international interdisciplinary study of the first illustrated history book. With its 574 miniatures, the Madrid Skylitzes is the only known illustrated Greek chronicle (and the sole source for certain periods). But is it Europe's first illustrated history book or copied from a Constantinopolitan original? Token Greek resistance to the increasing Latinization of tri-cultural Sicily or Norman propaganda to undermine Byzantine claims to the island? ....The Madrid Skylitzes: Electronic reproduction and international interdisciplinary study of the first illustrated history book. With its 574 miniatures, the Madrid Skylitzes is the only known illustrated Greek chronicle (and the sole source for certain periods). But is it Europe's first illustrated history book or copied from a Constantinopolitan original? Token Greek resistance to the increasing Latinization of tri-cultural Sicily or Norman propaganda to undermine Byzantine claims to the island?
Isolated studies have produced starkly contradictory answers. Recent cross-disciplinary investigations by an international team have yielded better results. The collaborators will apply the methods of codicology, palaeography, stylistics, art history, historiography, computational linguistics, narratology and intertextuality to elucidate this key cultural product.
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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.
Globular Clusters: Shedding Light on Dark Halos. Our overall aim is to use globular clusters as a probe of galaxy formation and their dark matter halos. We will apply new techniques to probe galaxy halos in their outer parts. Outcomes include an observational database for the community, new simulations and a better understanding of the role of dark matter in galaxy formation and evolution.