Annual Report 2007
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KAPTEYN ASTRONOMICAL INSTITUTE University of Groningen ANNUAL REPORT 2007 Groningen, June 2008 Cover: The photo is an artistic impression of what we would see if dark matter were visible. Ninety percent of the universe consists of —dark matter“ which we cannot observe directly. Discovering the constituents of the universe can be compared to trying to deduce the earth‘ population from the lights of the cities. The visible universe is just the tip of the iceberg. CONTENTS . FOREWORD 1 2. EDUCATION 5 3. RESEARCH 9 3.1 Introduction 9 3.2 Circumstellar Matter, Interstellar Medium and Star Formation 9 3.3 Structure, Dynamics and Evolution of Galaxies 13 3.4 Clusters of galaxies 26 3.5 Quasars and Active Galaxies 29 3.6 Gravitational lensing 32 3.7 Cosmology and large scale structure 35 3.8 Computing at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute 43 3.9 Instrumentation 45 APPENDIX I : PUBLICATIONS 2007 51 I.1 Papers in scientific journals, books ...........................................................................51 I.2 Conference papers ....................................................................................................62 I.3 Dissertations.............................................................................................................70 I.4 Popular articles and Reports .....................................................................................71 APPENDIX II : Participation in scientific meetings 73 APPENDIX III : Visits to institutes abroad 79 III.1 Work visits..............................................................................................................79 III.2 Observing trips ......................................................................................................81 APPENDIX IV : Colloquia, popular lectures 83 IV.1 Colloquia given outside Groningen ........................................................................83 IV.2 Popular lectures .....................................................................................................84 APPENDIX V : Colloquia in Groningen 87 APPENDIX VI : Guests in Groningen 91 APPENDIX VII : Memberships, etc. 93 APPENDIX VIII : Personnel (Dec. 31, 2007) 97 APPENDIX IX : Organisation of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute 99 APPENDIX X : Telephone numbers and electronic mail addresses 101 APPENDIX XI : Address 104 1. FOREWORD This annual report gives an overview of the activities of the staff of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute. The staff is responsible for the educational program in astronomy within the School of Natural Sciences and Technology of the University of Groningen and for its astronomical research program, including development of instrumentation and software. The Institute has a close collaboration with the Groningen based Low Energy Astrophysics Division of the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON). Also, it is part of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), which has been awarded extra funding in the "bonus incentives scheme" (known as the "dieptestrategie") for top research schools in the Netherlands. General In July 2007 Lucia van der Voort joined the Institute as new business manager and education coordinator. Until then these organizational tasks at the Institute were carried out part time by Rense Boomsma, who also worked as a postdoc for the EC FP6 Square Kilometre Array Design Studies project, and Annelies Weersing, whose time was made available by the financial department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The Institute underwent a major facelift as a result of the move of the book and journal collection to a central library of the Faculty of Mathematics nd Natural Sciences. The space used as library was remodeled into office space and a new computer cluster with the most modern audio-visual equipment, including a “smart-board”. In September 2007 the University of Groningen handed over its formal administrative role as lead institution (‘penvoerder’) of NOVA to the University of Utrecht. Its last formal act was to sign a € 9.5M contract with ESO for the production of 48 band-9 cartridges for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) by the Groningen based, NOVA sponsored ALMA group. This great success is a clear sign of recognition of the excellent quality of the work by the ALMA group which is closely collaborating with the Groningen based Low Energy Astrophysics division of SRON. Donald Lynden-Bell (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK) was the 2007 Blaauw professor and visited the institute in the spring and the fall of 2007. His presence at the institute and interactions with the staff and students was very stimulating. He delivered the Blaauw lecture on “The History of Massive Black Holes in Galaxies” in September. In April a mini-symposium “Between Cepheids and Mid-infrared Instrumentation” celebrated Jan Willem Pel’s retirement. The organization was in the skillful hands of Reynier Peletier and Hennie Zondervan. In October the Kapteyn Institute (Rien van de Weygaert) in collaboration with the Centre of Theoretical Phsycis and the K.V.I. organized the 9th Astroparticle Physics Symposium. 111 participants attended this event. Education and outreach The new bachelor/master program is now in its second year since its inception and needs continued attention. The staff is concentrating its efforts on defining the minor programs in the new major/minor system, now that the third year of the program, which starts in 2008, is near. Several minors must be offered, one for non-science majors, one for majors within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences but outside the School of Natural Sciences and Technology, and finally one minor for students within the School of Natural Sciences and Technology. The common first semester for all students within the School of Natural Sciences and Technology continues to raise a lot of discussion as it is not yet clear whether it serves the intended goals. 1 In 2007 the first three bachelor diplomas were handed out. In addition four students received their master diploma, of which two with “cum laude” honours. In March the formal QANU review committee reviewed the physics and astronomy education programs, as part of a national evaluation of all physics and astronomy programs. The results were made public in October and can be summarized as a positive advice to continue formal accreditation of the programs. The committee provided several helpful comments which require follow up. Also in 2007 the ‘masterclass’ was a great success, attended by 25 high school students from all over the country. It again involved lectures, labs, a visit to Dwingeloo and the Westerbork and LOFAR observatories. It is clear that this initiative will continue in the coming years. Other outreach activities concerned the public Science Day in October, several events making use of the Discovery Bus of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and public talks by members of the Institute for various organizations. The planning for an observatory on the roof of the new Bernoulliborg, the new building of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences was completed and the dome and telescope were ordered. Delivery is expected in March – April 2008. Research The Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) consists of the astronomical research institutes of the Universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden and Utrecht and the astronomy department at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. It has been awarded extra funding in the ‘bonus-incentives scheme’ (in Dutch ‘dieptestrategie’) for top research schools in the Netherlands in 1998. In 2004 this program was evaluated and the Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) decided to continue funding of all the six research schools originally selected. Following extensive discussions in 2005 the Netherlands Committee for Astronomy, together with NOVA, NWO Exact Sciences and the NWO Institutes ASTRON and SRON wrote a midterm review of the current strategic plan (which runs until 2010) with a forward outlook for Dutch astronomy until 2015. This document was offered to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and to the General Board of NWO at the end of 2006. In August NOVA (and also the other five top research schools) received a letter from the ministry announcing continued funding for another five years after 2008. In 2009–2010 the top research schools will undergo an existential evaluation to help deciding how to continue the ‘dieptestrategie’ after 2013. The preparation for deciding how to use the funds in the period 2009–2013 has begun and will be finalized in 2008. The following staff members received distinguished honours in 2007: Stephanie Cazaux received a NWO VENI award for her proposal “Water in the Universe” and Andrei Barychev received a NWO VENI grant for his proposal “Advanced Heterodyne Mixers for THz Applications”. Eline Tolstoy received the Pastoor Schmeits prize for a significant contribution to astronomy in her early career. Staff In 2007 several people left the Institute. Lodovico Coccato moved to the Max Plank Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, and Martin Smith left to take up a postdoc position at the University of Minnesota. Emanuale Ripamonti, Michael Pohlen and Ronald Vermeij also left to take up positions elsewhere. Eleven graduate students defended their thesis in 2007: Katarina Kova, Willem Schaap, Rense Boomsma, Bruno Letarte, Fabrice Christen, Michiel Brentjens, Giuseppina Battaglia (cum laude), Katia Ganda, Nasser Mohammed, Dieter Poelman