The CLoGS project aims to be the first statistically complete survey of galaxy groups observed in the X-ray, optical and radio wavebands. Since >50% of galaxies in the local volume reside in groups, they are a key environment for studies of galaxy evolution. As the locus of much of the mass in the nearby Universe, and the environment in which the hot, X-ray emitting intergalactic medium first becomes important, groups are also fundamental to our understanding of AGN feedback and structure formation. Our main science goals include:

Determining the basic physical properties of a representative sample of groups for the first time.

Examining the temperature and density structure of the gaseous halos of groups, the ability of groups to retain gas, and the fraction of systems with central cooling cores.

Characterisation of the AGN population in groups, and examination of their impact on the intra-group gas and member galaxies.

Study of the galaxy population of groups, and the relationships between galaxies, their groups, star formation and nuclear activity.

Principal Investigator (PI): Dr Ewan O' Sullivan

Collaboration Members: 
Prof. Trevor Ponman  University of Birmingham

Dr. Somak Raychaudhury  University of Birmingham

Dr. Alastair Sanderson  University of Birmingham

Konstantinos Kolokythas  University of Birmingham

Dr. Jan Vrtilek  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Dr. Laurence P. David  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Dr. William Forman  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Dr. Christine Jones  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Dr. Chris Haines  University of Arizona

Dr. Simona Giacintucci  University of Maryland

Dr. Nazirah Jetha  University of Alabama, Huntsville

Dr. Myriam Gitti  INAF - Astronomical Observatory of Bologna/

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Prof. Stephen S. Murray  Johns-Hopkins University

Dr. Nimisha G. Kantharia  National Centre for Radio Astrophysics

Prof. Arif Babul  University of Victoria

The Astrophysics & Space Research Group at the University of Birmingham:

The group's research interests span a wide swathe of astronomy and fundamental physics, including the study of galaxies and larger cosmological structures, of black holes and neutron stars, using both electromagnetic and gravitational radiation, of stars and the planets which appear to orbit many of them, and of our own sun and its surrounding heliosphere. We also study gravity itself, and other ultra-weak forces, using sensitive experiments in the laboratory and in space.