Durham University

About: Durham University is a education organization based out in Durham, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 39385 authors who have published 82311 publications receiving 3110994 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Durham & Gallery of Durham University.

Cultural Politics of Everyday Life: Social Constructionism, Rhetoric and Knowing of the Third Kind

Abstract: Traditions of argumentation and knowing of the third kind "getting in touch" - the metamethodology of postmodern sciences of mental life power on the margins - a new place for intellectuals to be Vico and the poetics of practical sociality Wittgenstein and psychology - on our "hook up" to reality Rome Harre - realism and the turn to social constructionism Vygotsky, Volosinov and Bakhtin - "thinking" as a boundary phenomenon conversational realities and academic discourses rhetoric and the social construction of cognitivism what is a "personal relationship"? the politics of identity and belonging epilogue - critical "tool-making" and providential eloquence.

Galaxy Clusters in Hubble Volume Simulations: Cosmological Constraints from Sky Survey Populations

Abstract: We use gigaparticle N-body simulations to study galaxy cluster populations in Hubble volumes of ΛCDM and ΓCDM world models.

Sediment connectivity: a framework for understanding sediment transfer at multiple scales

Abstract: A major challenge for geomorphologists is to scale up small-magnitude processes to produce landscape form, yet existing approaches have been found to be severely limited New ways to scale erosion and transfer of sediment are thus needed This paper evaluates the concept of sediment connectivity as a framework for understanding processes involved in sediment transfer across multiple scales We propose that the concept of sediment connectivity can be used to explain the connected transfer of sediment from a source to a sink in a catchment, and movement of sediment between different zones within a catchment: over hillslopes, between hillslopes and channels, and within channels Using fluvial systems as an example we explore four scenarios of sediment connectivity which represent end-members of behaviour from fully linked to fully unlinked hydrological and sediment connectivity Sediment-travel distance – when combined with an entrainment parameter reflecting the frequency–magnitude response of the system – maps onto these end-members, providing a coherent conceptual model for the upscaling of erosion predictions This conceptual model could be readily expanded to other process domains to provide a more comprehensive underpinning of landscape-evolution models Thus, further research on the controls and dynamics of travel distances under different modes of transport is fundamental Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A hyperluminous galaxy at z = 2.8 found in a deep submillimetre survey

Abstract: We present a detailed study of SMM 02399–0136, a hyperluminous, active galaxy selected from a submm survey of the distant Universe. This galaxy is the brightest source in the fields of six rich, lensing clusters, with a total area of 0.01 deg2, that we have mapped with a sensitivity of ∼ 2 mJy beam−1 at 850 μm. We identify a compact optical counterpart with an apparent magnitude of B ∼ 23 and a low surface-brightness companion ∼ 3 arcsec away. Our spectroscopy shows that both components have the same redshift; z = 2.803 ± 0.003. The emission line widths, FWHM ≃ 1000–1500 km s−1, and line ratios, along with the compact morphology and high luminosity (MB ≃ −24.0) of the galaxy, indicate that SMM 02399–0136 contains a rare dust-embedded, narrow-line or type-2 active galactic nucleus (AGN). The source is gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster, amplifying its apparent luminosity by a factor of 2.5, and our detailed lens model allows us to accurately correct for this. Taking the amplification into account, we estimate that SMM 02399–0136 is intrinsically a factor of five times more luminous than IRAS F 10214+4724. Its far-infrared (FIR) and Hα luminosities and low surface-brightness radio emission are indicative of an interaction-induced starburst, and the star formation rate (SFR) could be several thousand solar masses per year. This assumes that the starburst is the dominant source of energy, but we cannot yet determine reliably the relative contributions of the starburst and the buried AGN. A dust mass of 5–7 × 108 M⊙ is indicated by our data for a dust temperature of 40–50 K, independent of the dominant energy source. We estimate the possible space density of such luminous submm sources, and find that while a large population of these obscured sources could be detected in future wide-field submm surveys, they are unlikely to dominate the faint counts in this waveband. Galaxies such as SMM 02399–0136 and F 10214+4724 cannot easily be detected in conventional AGN/QSO surveys, and so estimates of the prevalence of AGN in the early Universe may require significant revision.