Welcome to the BRIDGCE UK Network

BRIDGCE [pronounced bridge-C-E] UK Network is a UK-wide network established to BRIdge the Disciplines related to the Galactic Chemical Evolution. The goal of this network is to facilitate collaborations across the different disciplines involved in the study of the origin of the elements.

Also available in presentation mode…

Why was BRIDGCE UK network set-up?

In order to answer questions like: "Where were the elements we are made of created? How different were the first stars compared to nearby stars? Which nuclear reaction rates affect stellar model predictions and thus need to be (re-)measured and with which precision? How efficiently are chemical elements mixed in the interstellar medium? What are the building blocks of our galaxy?", knowledge in various disciplines of astrophysics and nuclear physics is necessary. Indeed, nuclear data (nuclear reaction rates in particular) are a key input for stellar evolution models since nuclear reactions provide the energy that powers stars, thus they determine their lifetimes, and the composition of their final ejecta. Stars, in turn, provide crucial radiative, kinetic, and chemical feedback into the galaxies they belong to through the light they shine, their strong winds and powerful supernova explosions and the multitudes of chemical elements they produce. Stellar evolution model outputs, in turn, therefore are key ingredients for galactic chemical models of galaxies. These models follow successive episodes of star formation and trace the history of the enrichment of chemical elements in various galaxies. The model predictions can then be compared to observations of stars that carry the chemical fingerprints of the cumulative chemical enrichment that preceded their birth. Comparison to observations can thus constrain both the galactic and stellar evolution models and tell us what aspects of the models need to be improved. Stellar evolution models can also be used as virtual nuclear physics laboratories in which we can test the impact of uncertainties in certain nuclear reaction rates.

Despite the fact that there are many experts in the UK trying to answer these questions, research and collaboration across different disciplines of physics is difficult because of the separate funding agencies and the lack of efficient knowledge transfer mechanisms between different disciplines (in particular between nuclear and astrophysics). The BRIDGCE UK network was set-up to remedy this important problem.

The BRIDGCE consortium has been funded by the STFC since 2015 and have organized parallel sessions at the National Astronomy Meeting, as well as annual network meetings (see Events).

Mailing list:

You can register to our mailing list to stay updated about our activies:

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=BRIDGCE

Aims

The main goals of BRIDGCE are the following:

Facilitate transfer of knowledge and collaborations related to the origin of the elements across the various disciplines and institutions in the UK.
Liaise with other national and international networks (e.g. JINA and ChETEC) who share the same goals.
Develop synergy between the various expertise available in the UK.
Enhance PhD students training in this multi-disciplinary research area.

Members

The BRIDGCE UK Network as of Sep 2023 has more than 75 members scattered across 20 institutes.

A steering committee oversees activities in the various disciplines involved and is the main point of contact for new or non-members:

Chiaki Kobayashi (Hertfordshire) for galactic chemical evolution (chair)

Raphael Hirschi (Keele) for stellar astrophysics

Alison Laird (York) for nuclear physics
Stuart Sim (Belfast) for supernovae/transients

Partial list of members (in alphabetic order) is the following:

Armagh Observatory: Erin Higgins, Gautham Sabhahit, Jorick Vink

Queen's University Belfast: Stuart Sim

University of Birmingham: Martin Freer, Tzany Kokalova-Wheldon
University of Bristol: Richard Stancliffe

University of Cambridge: Anna Hourihane, Christopher Tout
Cardiff University: Janet Bowey, Mike Edmunds, Mikako Matsuura, Freeke van de Voort

University College London: Daisuke Kawata

University of Edinburgh: Marialuisa Aliotta, Carlo Bruno, Fergus Cullen, Claudia Lederer-Woods, Alexander Murphy, Phil Woods

University of Hertfordshire: Souradeep Bhattacharya, Emma Curtis-Lake, Vanessa Graber, Chiaki Kobayashi, Thomas Rauscher, Sean Ryan, Federico Sestito, Benjamin Wehmeyer, Rob Yates
University of Hull: Umberto Battino
Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge: Roberto Maiolino

Keele University: Raphael Hirschi, Vishnu Varma

Liverpool John Moores University: Andreea Font, Maurizio Salaris, Ricardo Schiavon

University of Manchester: Ian Lyon, Albert Zijlstra
Newcastle University: Dominic Bowman
University of Oxford: Alex Cameron, Stephen Smartt

University of Portsmouth: Claudia Maraston, Daniel Thomas

University of Surrey: Payel Das, Robert Izzard, Gavin Lotay, Zsolt Podolyak

University of York: Christian Diget, Brian Fulton, Alison Laird

University of Warwick: Elizabeth Stanway

Past BRIDGCE PDRAs:

Gabriele Cescutti (2015-16), now a faculty at University of Trieste, Italy
Fiorenzo Vincenzo (2017-19), now CCAPP Fellow at Ohio State University, USA
Andreas Sander (2018-20), now Emmy Noether Research Group Leader, Heidelberg, Germany

News

Site News

2021 Annual Meeting 13-17 Dec (online): Abstract submission deadline 1st Dec.
2022 Calendar of Women Scientists Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics
News
BRIDGCE became a new partner of IReNA
BRIDGCE UK network members join new €5 MILLION European Nuclear Astrophysics Network
Calendar of Women Scientists Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics: The calendar is produced by EU network ChETEC and is available also in the UK now!
Call for BRIDGCE AM orgenizers: The BRIDGCE annual meeting is planned for the week of 12th December (TBC).
Call for NAM BRIDGCE parallel session organizers
EAS session - submit abstract by 4 March: Alex Cameron from BRIDGCE is the SOC chair of a session at the historically important place for chemical evolution - Padova.
ERC Synergy Grant "HEAVYMETAL": Dr Stuart Sim from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), a member of the BRIDGECE steering committee has been awarded funding as part of the 11M Euro European Research Council Synergy Grant “HEAVYMETAL”.
Meeting Report: "Nucleosynthesis - Origins and Impacts: Meeting Report: "Nucleosynthesis - Origins and Impacts" A Royal Astronomical Society Specialist Discussion. Valentine's Day, 2014
Register NAM 2021 by 5th July: NAM session 2021: Unveiling cosmic chemical evolution: the role of transients, the origin of elements, and galaxy evolution
New STFC-funded project on 3D simulations of massive stars in Keele
New STFC-funded project on mass loss and Ionising flux from massive stars started in Armagh
Nuclei in the Cosmos XVII, Daejeon, South Korea 2023
PDRA Job Advertisement: Closing Date 1st October 2014: PDRA Job Advertisement: Closing Date 1st October 2014 / Keele University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Astrophysics Group / Research Associate in Theoretical Stellar Astrophysics
Abstract submission for BRIDGCE AM 2022: Abstract submission is open for the annual BRIDGCE meeting
Stellar origin of the 182Hf cosmochronometer and the presolar history of solar system matter: New study of the 182Hf cosmochronometer published in Science
Submit abstract for BRIDGCE annual meeting 2024: University of Surrey, 8-10th July 2024
Submit abstract for BRIDGCE annual meeting 2023
UH CAR Research Fellowships: University of Hertfordshire, Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR) closing date: February 20, 2022
Annual meeting in December 2020 - first annoucement: Virtual annual meeting of BRIDGCE network in the week of 14-18th December 2020, on Zoom.

Events

Site Events

Events - Read More…

Publications, talks, ...

Publications and material produced by BRIDGCE members or during BRIDGCE events

Slides of RAS meeting talks: See http://forum.astro.keele.ac.uk:9080/bridgce/news/meeting-report-nucleosynthesis-origins-and-impacts for a brief summary of the meeting