St Andrews and Glasgow are world-leading groups in solar, magnetospheric, and laboratory plasma physics research. As team members on most major solar physics space missions both groups are poised to make major joint contributions to future international solar and space weather research. Both institutes have a wide range of expertise ranging from signal analysis and interpretation of data to theoretical modelling and supercomputing simulations.

Missions and Instruments:

St. Andrews and Glasgow are team members in the following present and future space missions.

• Present Missions : SoHO, TRACE, RHESSI, Cluster, ACE, Fast.
• Future Missions : Solar-B, SDO, Stereo, Solar Orbiter.

Data Analysis Techniques :

A wide range of analysis techniques span both groups. These include:

• Spectroscopy.
• Wavelet Analysis.
• Inverse Problems.

Theoretical Modelling.

Theoretical modelling with in the groups ranges from 2 & 3D analytical models to 3D supercomputer simulations. The simulations include :

• Full 3d MHD (Magneto-Hydrodynamic) Simulations.
• Kinetic Simulations.
• Particle Codes.

To carry out these simulations both groups own parallel supercomputing clusters.

Edinburgh hosts the UK Astronomical Technology Centre, responsible for developing advanced astronomical instrumentation for telescopes and spacecraft world-wide. It is an STFC establishment, but is co-located with the Institute for Astronomy, with which it has a symbiotic relationship. The ATC also has formal collaborations with Heriot-Watt.

Edinburgh is also a major centre for astronomical surveys and the database techniques associated with serving data to
astronomers world-wide, leading to the UK AstroGrid project providing for the global Virtual Observatory new e-science tools to revolutionise the way we do astrophysics research.

The world reputation of the Glasgow Institute for Gravitational Research also springs from leadership of key technologies.

Scotland is building an international profile in AstroBiology, an interdisciplinary activity aiming to understand the Origin and Diversity of Life on Earth, in the Solar System, and throughout the Universe.

SUPA supports the astrophysics component of this activity, linking Edinburgh and St Andrews.

Observational Studies:

The St Andrews astrotomography programme has achieved significant impact from detection of spiral shocks and magnetic propellers stellar accretion disks, Zeeman-Doppler mapping of magnetic fields and differential rotation on young stars and protostellar disks, and theoretical studies of stellar dynamos and surface magnetic activity.

Glasgow is a leading centre of studies of mass loss in the late stages of stellar evolution.

Edinburgh has led surveys aimed at finding the very nearest cool white dwarfs, and at measuring the sub-stellar mass function.

Edinburgh's world-class cosmology group ( IfA and ATC ) has recently:

• opened the sub-mm window to the high-redshift universe,
• used wide-field galaxy redshift surveys to measure cosmological parameters,
• probed dark matter distributions using weak lensing,
• studied the growth of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei.

Several of the most highly cited papers in physics over the last few years have come from this group.

Glasgow's Cosmology Group develops advanced statistical methods for analysis of redshift surveys to estimate cosmological parameters and test cosmological models.

SUPA's research strengths are:

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• New Course Proposal Form (PDF format / Word format) (updated Sept 2018)
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PhD students are encouraged to take 40 hours of advanced specialist studies and 20 hours of professional development during the first two years of their PhD.  Some universities may require students to do more.  Information about course requirements can be obtained from your Graduate School Committee member.  All SUPA courses can be found in the SUPA Course Catalogue.

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