arXiv subjects

Kevin A. Pimbblet

Publications and source records attributed to Kevin A. Pimbblet.

78 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Ex-nihilo II: Examination Syllabi and the Sequencing of Cosmology Education

Cosmology education has become an integral part of modern physics courses. Directed by National Curricula, major UK examination boards have developed syllabi that contain explicit statements about the model of the Big Bang and the strong observational evidence that supports it. This work examines the similarities and differences in these specifications, addresses when cosmology could be taught within a physics course, what should be included in this teaching and in what sequence it should be taught at different levels.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2002

Ex-nihilo: Obstacles Surrounding Teaching the Standard Model

The model of the Big Bang is an integral part of the national curriculum for England. Previous work (e.g. Baxter 1989) has shown that pupils often come into education with many and varied prior misconceptions emanating from both internal and external sources. Whilst virtually all of these misconceptions can be remedied, there will remain (by its very nature) the obstacle of ex-nihilo, as characterised by the question `how do you get something from nothing?' There are two origins of this obstacle: conceptual (i.e. knowledge-based) and cultural (e.g. deeply held religious viewpoints). The article shows how the citizenship section of the national curriculum, coming `online' in England from September 2002, presents a new opportunity for exploiting these.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

On the Merit of Observations Beyond the Cluster Core

I discuss recent seminal work on the LARCS dataset: a panoramic study of rich clusters of galaxies at z~0.12. The importance of observing beyond the cluster core is illustrated by exploiting these data to examine colour gradients across the clusters.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Software and Sociology in UK Astronomy

I discuss the remit of Starlink's software strategy groups and a particular item on the agenda of a meeting of the image processing software strategy group held on 26th January 2001: `Why don't people use Starlink software?'. The answer to this question was speculated to be primarily a sociological effect: those people supervising UK astronomy Ph.D. students are largely people who had learnt their trade at a time when Starlink had a less than perfect reputation. I report on the recommendations made to Starlink to counter this effect.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Las Campanas/AAT Rich Cluster Survey II: The Environmental Dependance of Galaxy Colours in Clusters at z~0.1

(Abridged) We present a photometric investigation of the variation in galaxy colour with environment in 11 X-ray luminous clusters at 0.07<z<0.16 taken from the Las Campanas/AAT Rich Cluster Survey. We study the properties of the galaxy populations in individual clusters and take advantage of the homogeneity of the sample to combine the clusters together to investigate weaker trends in the composite sample. We find that modal colours of galaxies lying on the colour-magnitude relation in the clusters become bluer by d(B-R)/dr_p=-0.022 \pm 0.004 from the cluster core out to a projected radius of r_p=6 Mpc; further out in radius than any previous study.....

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Las Campanas/AAT Rich Cluster Survey I: Precision and Reliability of the Photometric Catalogue

The Las Campanas Observatory and Anglo--Australian Telescope Rich Cluster Survey (LARCS) is a panoramic imaging and spectroscopic survey of an X-ray luminosity-selected sample of 21 clusters of galaxies at 0.07<z<0.16. CCD imaging was obtained in B and R of typically 2-degree wide regions centred on the 21 clusters, and the galaxy sample selected from the imaging is being used for an on-going spectroscopic survey of the clusters with the 2dF spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This paper presents the reduction of the imaging data and the photometric analysis used in the survey. Based on an overlapping area of 12.3 square degrees, we compare the CCD-based LARCS catalogue with the photographic-based galaxy catalogue used for the input to the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) from the APM, to the completeness of the GRS/APM catalogue, b_J=19.45. This comparison confirms the reliability of the photometry across our mosaics and between the clusters in our survey. This comparison also provides useful information about the properties of the GRS/APM. The stellar contamination in the GRS/APM galaxy catalogue is confirmed to be around 5-10 percent, as originally estimated. However, using the superior sensitivity and spatial resolution in the LARCS survey, we find evidence for four distinct populations of galaxies that are systematically omitted from the GRS/APM catalogue. The characteristics of the `missing' galaxy populations are described, reasons for their absence examined and the impact they will have on the conclusions drawn from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey are discussed.

astro-ph↗