UC Spark

Professor Peter Ledsam Cottrell

Physics and Astronomy

Fields of Research

  • Astronomical instrumentation design and management
  • Communicating physical sciences to the public
  • Stellar pulsations, including both observations and numerical modelling
  • Chemical composition of stars
  • Correlations between motions of stars and their chemical abundance
  • Evolution of stars
  • Spectroscopy of stars
  • Synthesis of the chemical elements

Researcher Summary

Research interests include:
- Spectroscopic and photometric analyses of stars, including a range of pulsating stars: Cepheid variables; R Coronae Borealis stars; RV Tauri stars; post-AGB stars; Extreme He and other rapidly pulsating stars.
- Abundances, particularly s-process elements, in late type stars.
- Astronomical instrumentation developments for Mt John Observatory and the Southern African Large Telescope: Adaptive Optics and SCIDAR measurements at Mt John; High Resolution Spectrograph (SALT HRS) design for SALT.

Subject Area: Disciplines

Future Research

  • Evolution of stars
  • R Coronae Borealis stars in the Magellanic Clouds using SALT
  • S-process element abundances in globular clusters using SALT
  • Synthesis of the chemical elements
  • Chemical composition of stars using SALT and 1m telescope at Mt John
  • Correlations between motions of stars and their chemical abundance
  • Spectroscopy of stars using SALT and 1m telescope at Mt John
  • Stellar pulsations, including both observations and numerical modelling

Key Methodologies

  • CCD detectors to collect astronomical data
  • Data analysis using public domain software
  • Data manipulation using public domain software
  • Mathematical modelling of stellar evolution
  • Mathematical modelling of stellar pulsations using public domain software
  • Photometry using glass filters
  • Project management for astronomical instrument design
  • Spectroscopy using diffraction gratings and prisms

Affiliations

Publications

(Selected outputs for last six years)

  • Worley, C.C. and Cottrell, P.L. (2012) Medium-Resolution s-process Element Survey of 47 Tuc Giant Stars. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 29(1): 29-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AS11048. (Journal Article)
  • Simpson, J.D., Cottrell, P.L. and Worley, C.C. (2012) Spectral matching for abundances and clustering analysis of stars on the giant branches of ω Centauri. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 427(2): 1153-1167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.22012.x. (Journal Article)
  • Brunsden, E., Pollard, K.R., Cottrell, P.L., Wright, D.J. and De Cat, P. (2012) Spectroscopic pulsational frequency identification and mode determination of γ Doradus star HD 12901. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 427(3): 2512-2522. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.22125.x. (Journal Article)
  • Brunsden, E., Pollard, K.R., Cottrell, P.L., Wright, D.J., De Cat, P. and Kilmartin, P.M. (2012) Spectroscopic pulsational frequency identification and mode determination of γ Doradus star HD 135825. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 422(4): 3535-3545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20861.x. (Journal Article)
  • Maisonneuve, F., Pollard, K.R., Cottrell, P.L., Wright, D.J., De Cat, P., Mantegazza, L., Kilmartin, P.M., Suárez, J.C., Rainer, M. and Poretti, E. (2011) Frequency analysis and pulsational mode identification of two γ Doradus stars: HD 40745 and HD 189631. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 415(4): 2977-2992. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17918.x. (Journal Article)
  • Worley, C.C. and Cottrell, P.L. (2010) Heavy element abundances in low gravity globular cluster stars: NGC 362 and NGC 6388. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 406(4): 2504-2520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16837.x. (Journal Article)
  • Worley, C.C., Cottrell, P.L., McDonald, I. and van Loon, J.Th. (2010) Heavy-element abundances in low-gravity globular cluster stars: 47 Tuc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 402(3): 2060-2074. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16041.x. (Journal Article)
  • Worley, C.C., Cottrell, P.L. and Simpson, J.D. (2010) Neutron-capture element abundances in the globular clusters: 47 Tuc, NGC 6388, NGC 362 & omega Cen. Heidelberg, Germany: 11th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos, 19-23 Jul 2010. In Proceedings of Science NIC XI 5pp. http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/100/201/NIC%20XI_201.pdf. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Worley, C.C. and Cottrell, P.L. (2010) Neutron-capture element abundances of luminous giant stars in the Globular Clusters 47 Tuc, NGC 6388 and NGC 362. Christchurch, New Zealand: 10th Torino Workshop on AGB Nucleosynthesis, 25-29 Jan 2010. In Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana 81(4) 1016-1021. http://sait.oat.ts.astro.it/MSAIt810410/PDF/2010MmSAI..81.1016C.pdf. (Conference Contribution - Full conference paper)
  • Mohr, J.L., Johnston, R.A. and Cottrell, P.L. (2010) Optical Turbulence Measurements and Models for Mount John University Observatory. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 27(3): 347-359. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AS10008. (Journal Article)
  • Cottrell, P.L. (2010) Rutherford and Tinsley: the beginning and middle of nucleosynthesis at the University of Canterbury. Christchurch, New Zealand: 10th Torino Workshop on AGB Nucleosynthesis, 25-29 Jan 2010. In Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana 81(4) 949-951. http://sait.oat.ts.astro.it/MSAIt810410/PDF/2010MmSAI..81..949L.pdf. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Maisonneuve, F., Pollard, K.R., Cottrell, P.L., Kilmartin, P.M., Wright, D.J. and De Cat, P. (2010) Spectroscopic mode identification of main-sequence non-radially pulsating stars. Astrophysics and Space Science 328(1-2): 105-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10509-009-0219-z. (Journal Article)
  • Woollands, R.M. and Cottrell, P.L. (2009) A Photometric Analysis of R Coronae Borealis Stars in the Magellanic Clouds. Phuket, Thailand: The Eighth Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics, 5-9 May 2008. In Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series 404 267-271. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Worley, C.C., Cottrell, P.L., Freeman, K.C. and Wylie-de Boer, E.C. (2009) Differential chemical abundance analysis of a 47 Tucanæ asymptotic giant branch star with respect to Arcturus. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 400(2): 1039-1048. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15520.x. (Journal Article)
  • Woollands, R.M., Cottrell, P.L. and Udalski, A. (2009) Photometric Analysis of Magellanic Cloud R Coronae Borealis Stars in the Recovery Phases of Their Declines. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 26(1): 85-91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AS08028. (Journal Article)
  • Maisonneuve, F., Pollard, K.R., Cottrell, P.L., Kilmartin, P.M., Wright, D.J. and De Cat, P. (2009) Spectroscopic Mode-Identification of γ Doradus Stars. Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA: Stellar Pulsation: Challenges for Theory and Observation, 31 May-5 Jun 2009. In AIP Conference Proceedings 1170 474-476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3246546. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Buckley, D.A.H., Barnes, S.I., Burgh, E.B., Crawford, S., Cottrell, P.L., Kniazev, A., Nordsieck, K.H., O'Donoghue, D., Rangwala, N., Zánmar Sánchez, R., Sharples, R.M., Sheinis, A.I., Väisänen, P. and Williams, T.B. (2008) Commissioning of the Southern African Large Telescopes (SALT) first-generation instruments. Marseille, France: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, 23 Jun 2008. In Proceedings of SPIE 7014 701407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.789438. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Mohr, J.L., Johnston, R.A. and Cottrell, P.L. (2008) Detection of wind velocities from scintillation images. Lincoln, New Zealand: 23rd International Conference Image and Vision Computing New Zealand, 26-28 Nov 2008. In Proceedings of IVCNZ08 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IVCNZ.2008.4762089. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Pollard, K.R., Wright, D.J., Zima, W., Cottrell, P L. and De Cat, P. (2008) High-resolution spectroscopy and mode identification in non-radially pulsating stars. Communications in Asteroseismology 157: 118-123. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008CoAst.157..118P. (Journal Article)
  • Mohr, J.L., Johnston, R.A., Worley, C.C. and Cottrell, P.L. (2008) Optical turbulence profiling at Mount John University Observatory. Cardiff, UK: Optics in Atmospheric Propagation and Adaptive Systems XI, 17 Sep 2008. In Proceedings of SPIE 7108 710809. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.799756. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Worley, C.C., Cottrell, P.L. and Wylie de Boer, E.C. (2008) s- and r-Process Element Abundances in the CMD of 47 Tucanæ Using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on SALT. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 25: 53-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AS07031. (Journal Article)
  • Worley, C.C., Cottrell, P.L. and Wylie de Boer, E.C. (2008) s-Process Element Abundance Results for 47 Tuc Stars Using SALT. Torino, Italy: IXth Torino Workshop on Evolution and Nucleosynthesis in AGB Stars, 21-27 Oct 2008. In AIP Conference Proceedings 1001 220-225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2916967. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Wylie de Boer, E.C. and Cottrell, P.L. (2008) s-Process Enhancement During the AGB Phase. Torino, Italy: IXth Torino Workshop on Evolution and Nucleosynthesis in AGB Stars, 21-27 Oct 2007. In AIP Conference Proceedings 1001 213-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2916966. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Barnes, S.I., Cottrell, P.L., Albrow, M.D., Frost, N., Graham, G., Kershaw, G., Ritchie, R., Jones, D., Sharples, R., Bramall, D., Schmoll, J., Luke, P., Clark, P., Tyas, L., Buckley, D.A.H. and Brink, J. (2008) The optical design of the Southern African Large Telescope high resolution spectrograph: SALT HRS. Marseille, France: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, 23 Jun 2008. In Proceedings of SPIE 7014 70140K. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.788219. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Wright, D.J., Pollard, K.R. and Cottrell, P.L. (2007) Analysis tools for non-radially pulsating objects. Vienna, Austria: Vienna Workshop on the Future of Asteroseismology, 20-22 Sep 2006. In Communications in Asteroseismology 150 135-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/cia150s135. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)
  • Aerts, C., Kawaler, S.D., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Bedding, T.R., Cacciari, C., Cottrell, P.L., Cunha, M., Handler, G., Martinez, P., Sasselov, D.D., Somasundaram, S. and Welch, D.L. (2007) Commission 27: Variable Stars. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, 26B. 168-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1743921308023958. (Report for External Body)
  • Pollard, K.R., Wright, D.J., Cottrell, P.L., Woollands, R.M., Ramm, D.J. and Böhm, T. (2007) Coordinated observational campaigns for non-radially pulsating objects. Vienna, Austria: Vienna Workshop on the Future of Asteroseismology, 20-22 Sep 2006. In Communications in Asteroseismology 150 133-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/cia150s133. (Conference Contribution - Paper in published proceedings)