Astrophysics
Our research spans the whole of Astrophysics. We have large groups working on cosmology, galaxies & black holes ,through to stars & planets. We address these research areas with a combination of theoretical, simulation and observational work. Details of this research can be found in the research themes below.
We also lead or play significant roles in many of the new telescopes that will come online in the next 10 years, both from a technical perspective through our instrumentation group and with our work developing techniques.
This is underlined with the recently established Oxford Centre for Astrophysical Surveys, funded through a generous donation from the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation
The department is also home to Zooniverse.org, the largest and most successful platform for citizen science projects on the web and also leads the Global Jet Watch programme.
We are committed to equality for all our employees and our students. Our goal is to be as diverse as the community around us and for everyone in the department to value that diversity. We are on a programme of continuous improvement to help us achieve that aim.
Research themes
Cosmology
We lead observational and theoretical work to determine what the dark matter is, what is the dark energy, why they behave the way they do and how did the Universe start off this way.
Group Leaders
C-Band All Sky Survey
Angela Taylor, Michael Jones
Cosmic Microwave Background
Cosmological Gravity
Dark Matter & Dark Energy
Euclid
Lance Miller, Matt Jarvis
Experimental Radio Cosmology
Large-Scale Structure
Supernova Cosmology
Weak Lensing
Galaxies & Black Holes
Studying the formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the largest research areas in Oxford. This research is carried out using both observations across all wavelengths coupled with cutting-edge N-body and hydrodynamic simulations.
Group Leaders
Instrumentation
We design and build state-of-the-art instruments for a wide range of ground based observatories.
Group Leaders
Accretion & Jet Physics
Astrophysical Fluids
Exoplanets
Raymond Pierrehumbert, Suzanne Aigrain, Patrick Irwin, Caroline Terquem, Niranjan Thatte, Peter Read, Vivien Parmentier
Pulsars & Compact Objects
Aris Karastergiou, Rob Fender
Stellar Structure & Evolution
Philipp Podsiadlowski, Tony Lynas-Gray
Telescopes
We are involved in many of the largest telescope projects in the world, leading the scientific exploitation as well as building cutting-edge instrumentation
Group Leaders
C-Band All Sky Survey
Angela Taylor, Michael Jones
Cherenkov Telescope Array
Garret Cotter
E-ELT
Euclid
Lance Miller, Matt Jarvis
Experimental Radio Cosmology
JWST
LOFAR
LSST
SDSS-4
SKA
Other research groups
Other groups in Astrophysics
Four Pi Sky
Rob Fender
Plasma Theory
Steven Balbus, Michael Barnes, Tony Bell, James Binney, Garret Cotter, Paul Dellar, Julien Devriendt, Gianluca Gregori, Peter Norreys, Felix Parra Diaz, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Steven Rose, Subir Sarkar, Alexander Schekochihin, Adrianne Slyz, Caroline Terquem
