MSc projects
The projects below are those already proposed specifically for an MSc by Research. However, other projects can be designed and agreed through discussion with staff at the interview stage. Prospective students are encouraged to also look at the PhD project webpages for the types of projects that could be adapted for an MSc and should feel free to contact potential supervisors to discuss options. Each project listed below consists of a title, names of the supervisory team (with the principal supervisor in bold text), and a short description of the project.
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Open a window on the early Universe: the origin of the elements
Supervisory Team: Federico Sestito, Chiaki Kobayashi
Soon after the Big Bang, only very light elements (H, He, Li, Be, and B) can be produced, while heavier elements are all formed in stars or ejected by supernovae or by the merging of stars. The oldest and most pristine stars carry the imprints of only a few events, therefore, they can open a window on the nucleosynthetic events in the early Universe. The project is aiming to build a tool to fit and interpret the chemical properties of the ancient stars using the most precise, complete, and up-to-date theoretical yields in the world (already used in Chiaki Kobayashi’s group). This will help in better understanding the various nucleosynthetic channels in the early Universe.
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Predicting habitability across the Universe
Supervisory Team: Rob Yates, Team Member 2
One of the most intriguing questions in astrophysics is "when and where does life form in the Universe?". The answer depends sensitively on many factors, including the chemical composition of the planet-forming gas, the star-formation rate, and the presence of any nearby destructive events such as supernovae (SNe), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). In this project, you will harness the power of the L-GALAXIES simulation to predict the habitability of regions within galaxies across all space and time. You will utilise the simulation output data, which contains millions of galaxies (including their oxygen and carbon abundances, star-formation rates, dust masses, SN+GRB rates, and more) to discover which are best suited to hosting life in the Universe. You will also be able to design new equations for linking galaxy properties to the habitable planet count. This will give us the best picture yet of habitability throughout the Universe from a theoretical perspective.
This project is computational in nature. Therefore, some prior knowledge of python (or a similar programming language) is required.
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Fast outflows of gas near supermassive black holes using resolved spectroscopy
Supervisory Team: Darshan Kakkad, Team Member 2
Most massive galaxies host a supermassive black hole at their centre. These black holes grow by accreting gas and dust from the surrounding interstellar medium, and the intense radiation from the accretion disk can drive galaxy-wide outflows. These outflows can expel molecular gas, the raw material for star formation, from the host galaxy, thereby influencing the host’s growth and evolution. Such outflows are often identified in spectroscopic data through blue-shifted absorption line profiles and/or the presence of broad wings in emission line profiles.
Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is a powerful technique for studying such outflows, as it provides spatially resolved spectroscopic information and allows us to map the structure and kinematics of outflows across a galaxy. In this project, you will use IFS observations of nearby galaxies to resolve outflow structures down to parsec scales, close to the location of the central black hole. You will investigate key scientific questions such as how these outflows are launched from the nuclear regions, how they propagate through the interstellar medium, and how they interact with their surroundings.
You will work with new data from the MUSE IFS instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile, complemented by mid-infrared imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope.
In addition to addressing these scientific questions, this project will provide training in spectroscopic data analysis techniques (such as continuum fitting and emission line modelling) and the development of interdisciplinary skills in data science and data management.
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UV spectra of nearby supermassive black holes from Hubble Space Telescope
Supervisory Team: Darshan Kakkad, Team Member 2
The recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is transforming extragalactic astronomy by providing access to highly sensitive near-infrared and mid-infrared spectroscopic observations. These capabilities have led to the discovery of a large population of distant galaxies in the early universe that are bright in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV). Many of these early galaxies are thought to host supermassive black holes, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), suggesting that black holes may have played a significant role in galaxy evolution since the earliest cosmic epochs.
To understand the physics of AGN-galaxy co-evolution in these distant systems, it is essential to establish a local reference sample of low-redshift AGN host galaxies that spans a wide range of properties, including luminosity, black hole mass, and Eddington ratio, and that is well characterised across the UV, optical, and infrared spectrocopy. Such a reference sample can serve as a benchmark for interpreting the ionisation mechanisms and the physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM) of high-redshift galaxies observed with JWST.
In this project, you will make use of archival data from space-based observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope to study UV spectroscopic properties of low-redshift AGN host galaxies. You will investigate trends in the properties of their ISM as a function of AGN properties and compare your findings with existing JWST observations of high-redshift galaxies. The reference sample built during this work will also help shape future science cases for next-generation space observatories such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
Throughout the project, you will develop strong programming skills in Python for spectroscopic data analysis, including emission and absorption line modelling and stacking techniques. You will also gain experience in data science methods and the use of astronomical data archives.
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Compositions of cool stars from high-resolution spectroscopy
Supervisory Team: Ben Burningham, Hugh Jones
Determining the compositions of cool M dwarf stars is extremely challenging due to the complex nature of their spectra, which are dominated by overlapping molecular bands that inhibit traditional techniques that rely on the existence of a continuum against which absorption lines may be measured and modelled. Whilst a number of methods have been established for estimating aggregated metallicity as a parameter, techniques for inferring more detailed compositional information are less well developed. This project will use the Brewster retrieval framework written by Dr Burningham to derive compositions of M dwarfs. Starting with high-resolution spectroscopy obtained using iShell on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii, we will first focus on M dwarfs in binary systems with FGK stars to benchmark the technique, before targeting brown dwarf and/or planet host stars if time permits.
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Variability of Young Stellar Objects from ZTF
Supervisory Team: Mike Kuhn, Phil Lucas
Young stars (i.e., less than a few million years old) are almost universally variable. Their brightness variations arise from multiple phenomena, including coronal flares, the rotation of starspots into and out of view, and especially the influence of circumstellar discs of gas and dust. As material from these discs accretes onto the star, changes in accretion rate can drive brightening as gravitational potential energy is converted to thermal emission. Conversely, inhomogeneities in the dusty disc may temporarily obscure the star, causing episodic dimming.
In this project, you will examine optical light curves of ~10,000 young stellar objects (YSOs) monitored by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), sampled every few days during the observing seasons from March 2018 to the present. The YSOs have been identified from mid-infrared and X-ray surveys. You will retrieve the ZTF light curves and apply variability metrics. The analysis will include detection of high-amplitude events, classification of 'bursters' and 'dippers,' and statistical comparisons between variability amplitudes and independent disc/accretion diagnostics (e.g., infrared excess and H-alpha equivalent width). The objective is a statistical characterisation of variability across this YSO sample, to better connect variability behaviour to YSO properties.
You will also assist in monitoring real-time alerts from the Fink broker to identify ongoing outbursts in these YSOs.
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Optical methane line list
Supervisory Team: Hugh Jones, William Martin
The peak of the radiation from a Jupiter-like planet is in the optical regime. One of the primary identifiable features are methane absorption bands. In order to properly assess the spectral information from exo-Jupiters at optical wavelengths it is necessary to be able to produce reliable synthetic spectra with the use of line lists for the primary visible species. However, there is a lack of a suitable line list of optical methane transitions. Based on an optical spectrum of slowly rotating Titan we identify over 6000 methane absorption features and are now trying to identify them experimentally in laboratory data. This project will involve setting up a methane absorption cell using a hollow-core fibre and deploying it on a Fourier Transform Spectrometer to extend the laboratory values into the optical regime. The lines will then be identified to particular methane transitions and used to as a robust basis for the ab initio calculation of methane.
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Spectral subtraction technique for binary discovery
Supervisory Team: Hugh Jones, Marie-Cruz Galvez Ortiz (visitor from CAB, Madrid)
Spectral subtraction consists of the fit of the main component, by shifting and rotating the spectrum of a standard or reference, chosen to best match its characteristics (spectral type and class). Then, the best match is subtracted. This allows the features from other components to be seen easily in the residual spectrum. This technique is used successfully in the measurement of activity features, such as Halpha, near infrared Ca II triplet emission lines. The project consists of programming a spectral fitting code, based on the maximum likelihood or Bayesian inference methods, aimed at subtracting the best model to the main component (based in temperature, radial velocity and rotational velocity), and fitting the secondary star in the same way. We will also explore the limits of the technique's application depending on spectral resolution. This can become a key tool for discovery of new binaries and to optimize the output of spectroscopic surveys.
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Finding the weirdest radio sources in the Universe
Supervisory Team: Dan Smith, Luke Holden & Soumyadeep Das
The WEAVE-LOFAR Survey is producing more than a million optical spectra of sources identified in the 150 MHz maps from the LOFAR two metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). This is orders of magnitude larger than any previous study of the optical properties of radio sources, and therefore the unexpected is virtually guaranteed. In this project, the student will inspect the WEAVE-LOFAR data set using a combination of visual inspection and automatic methods (e.g. Outlier detection using a random forest algorithm, MCLOF, Self-organised maps, Chi2) to identify spectra of objects that do not fit in to the traditional classes of source in the faint radio source population, and determine their nature.