Dr Timothy Clifton
Reader in Relativity and Cosmology
Postgraduate Tutor for Astrophysics
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary University of London
Research
Cosmology, General Relativity, Gravity
Interests
I'm a theoretical cosmologist who builds mathematical models of the Universe, in order to understand what cosmological observations can tell us about relativistic gravity and the large-scale structure of space-time.I graduated with a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2006, and have worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University as a Lindemann Fellow, at the University of Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow of Jesus College, and at CERN as a CERN Fellow. I joined Queen Mary in 2012 as a Advanced Fellow of the STFC research council, and am now a Reader in the Astronomy Unit of the School of Physics and Astronomy. I am also a member of the editorial board of Classical and Quantum Gravity, and the post-graduate tutor for astrophysics at Queen Mary.
Publications
Publications of specific relevance to the Centre for Fundamental Physics2024
Emergent cosmological expansion in scalar–tensor theories of gravityBriddon C, Clifton T and Fleury P
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 42 (1)
13-12-2024
Constraining Post-Newtonian Parameters with the Cosmic Microwave BackgroundThomas DB, Anton T, Clifton T and Bull P
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics vol. 2024 (09)
01-09-2024
Hubble diagrams in statistically homogeneous, anisotropic universesAnton T and Clifton T
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 2024 (05), 120-120.
29-05-2024
A Radical Solution to the Hubble Tension ProblemClifton T and Hyatt N
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 08
29-04-2024
2023
Modelling the emergence of cosmic anisotropy from non-linear structuresAnton T and Clifton T
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 40 (14), 145004-145004.
20-06-2023
Scale-dependent gravitational couplings in Parameterised Post-Newtonian CosmologyThomas DB, Clifton T and Anton T
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 2023 (04), 016-016.
11-04-2023
2022
The momentum constraint equation in parameterised post-Newtonian cosmologyAnton T and Clifton T
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 39 (9)
14-04-2022
The 4D Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet theory of gravity: a reviewFernandes PGS, Carrilho P, Clifton T and Mulryne DJ
Classical and Quantum Gravity vol. 39 (6), 063001-063001.
28-02-2022
2021
Multi-Scale Perturbation Theory II: Solutions and Leading-Order Bispectrum in the $Λ$CDM UniverseGallagher CS, Clifton T and Clarkson C
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 08
20-08-2021
Black Holes in the Scalar-Tensor Formulation of 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet
Gravity: Uniqueness of Solutions, and a New Candidate for Dark MatterFernandes PGS, Carrilho P, Clifton T and Mulryne DJ
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, American Physical Society vol. 104
11-08-2021
2020
Observational constraints on the regularized 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravityClifton T, Carrilho P, Fernandes PGS and Mulryne DJ
Physical Review D, American Physical Society vol. 102 (8), 084005-084005.
01-10-2020
Derivation of Regularized Field Equations for the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet
Theory in Four DimensionsFernandes PGS, Carrilho P, Clifton T and Mulryne DJ
Physical Review D, American Physical Society vol. 102 (2)
06-07-2020
Viable Gauge Choices in Cosmologies with Non-Linear StructuresClifton T, Gallagher CS, Goldberg S and Malik KA
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, American Physical Society vol. 101 (6)
25-03-2020
Multi-scale perturbation theory. Part I. Methodology and leading-order bispectrum corrections in the matter-dominated eraGallagher CS, Clifton T and Clarkson C
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 2020 (03), 011-011.
03-03-2020
2019
Cosmological Backreaction in Spherical and Plane Symmetric Dust-Filled
Space-TimesClifton T and Sussman RA
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 36
18-09-2019
Discrete Cosmological Models in the Brans-Dicke Theory of GravityDurk J and Clifton T
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 36 (18)
23-08-2019
Parametrizing theories of gravity on large and small scales in cosmologyClifton T and Sanghai VAA
Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society vol. 122, 011301-011301.
02-01-2019
2018
Relativistic Euler equations in cosmologies with nonlinear structuresGallagher CS and Clifton T
Physical Review D vol. 98 (10), 103516-103516.
14-11-2018
Black-Hole Lattices as Cosmological ModelsCLIFTON TA, Bentivegna E, DURK J, Korzynski M and Rosquist K
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 35
25-07-2018
2017
Perturbation theory for cosmologies with non-linear structureGoldberg SR, Gallagher C and Clifton T
Physical Review -Series D-, American Physical Society vol. 96
10-11-2017
A quasi-static approach to structure formation in black hole universesDurk J and Clifton T
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (10)
12-10-2017
Ray tracing and Hubble diagrams in post-Newtonian cosmologySanghai VAA, Fleury P and Clifton T
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing (7)
17-07-2017
Persistent black holes in bouncing cosmologiesClifton T, Carr B and Coley A
Classical and Quantum Gravity vol. 34 (13)
06-07-2017
Cosmological solutions with charged black holesBibi R, Clifton T and Durk J
General Relativity and Gravitation vol. 49 (7)
30-06-2017
Exact initial data for black hole universes with a cosmological constantCLIFTON TA and Durk J
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 34 (6)
03-03-2017
Decay of the Cosmic Vacuum EnergyClifton T and Barrow JD
Gravity and The Quantum, Festschrift For T. Padmanabhan, Eds. J Singh Bagla and S. Engineer, Series Fundamental Theories of Physics 187, (Springer, New York), Pp. 61-71 (2017)
24-02-2017
Parameterized post-Newtonian cosmologyCLIFTON TA and Sanghai V
Classical and Quantum Gravity, Iop Publishing vol. 34 (6), 065003-065003.
22-02-2017
Cosmology on all scales: A two-parameter perturbation expansionGoldberg S, Clifton TA and Malik K
Physical Review D, American Physical Society vol. 95 (4), 043503-043503.
06-02-2017
The Magnetic Part of the Weyl Tensor, and the Expansion of Discrete UniversesClifton T, Gregoris D and Rosquist K
General Relativity and Gravitation, Springer Us vol. 49, 1-40.
27-01-2017
The magnetic part of the Weyl tensor, and the expansion of discrete universesClifton T, Gregoris D and Rosquist K
General Relativity and Gravitation, Springer Nature vol. 49 (2)
27-01-2017
2016
Cosmological backreaction in the presence of radiation and a cosmological constantSanghai VAA and Clifton T
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology vol. 94 (2), 023505-023505.
01-07-2016
Erratum: Post-Newtonian cosmological modelling (Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology (2015) 91 (103532))Sanghai VAA and Clifton T
Physical Review D vol. 93 (8)
07-04-2016
2015
Applications of black hole lattices in relativistic cosmologyClifton T, Gregoris D and Rosquist K
AIP Conference Proceedings. vol. 1693 (1)
17-12-2015
On the emergence of accelerating cosmic expansion in f(R) theories of gravityClifton T and Dunsby PKS
Physical Review D, American Physical Society (Aps) vol. 91 (10)
15-05-2015
Post-Newtonian cosmological modellingSanghai VAA and Clifton T
Physical Review D, American Physical Society (Aps) vol. 91 (10)
15-05-2015
BACK-REACTION IN RELATIVISTIC COSMOLOGYCLIFTON T
The Thirteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting., 2553-2565.
29-01-2015
2014
Publisher’s Note: Observational constraints on the averaged universe [Phys. Rev. D 85, 043506 (2012)]Clarkson C, Clifton T, Coley A and Sung R
Physical Review D, American Physical Society (Aps) vol. 90 (4)
15-08-2014
Piecewise Silence in Discrete Cosmological ModelsClifton T, Gregoris D and Rosquist K
Class. Quantum Grav. vol. 31
13-02-2014
2013
Exact Evolution of Discrete Relativistic Cosmological ModelsClifton T, Gregoris D, Rosquist K and Tavakol R
Jcap vol. 11
11-09-2013
A Gravitational Entropy ProposalClifton T, Ellis GFR and Tavakol R
Classical and Quantum Gravity vol. 30
22-03-2013
BACK-REACTION IN RELATIVISTIC COSMOLOGYCLIFTON TA
International Journal of Modern Physics D: Gravitation, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Http://Www.Worldscientific.Com/Doi/Pdfplus/10.1142/S0218271813300048 vol. 22 (3)
01-03-2013
G. F. R. Ellis, R. Maartens and M. A. H. MacCallum: Relativistic cosmologyCLIFTON TA
General Relativity and Gravitation
01-01-2013
2012
On the absence of the usual weak-field limit, and the impossibility of
embedding some known solutions for isolated masses in cosmologies with f(R)
dark energyClifton T, Dunsby P, Goswami R and Nzioki AM
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology vol. 87
02-10-2012
Observational Cosmology in Macroscopic GravityClifton T, Coley A and Hoogen RVD
Jcap 10(2012)044
05-09-2012
An exact quantification of backreaction in relativistic cosmologyClifton T, Rosquist K and Tavakol R
Physical Review D vol. 86 (4)
03-08-2012
Local and non-local measures of acceleration in cosmologyCLIFTON TA and Bull P
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology vol. 85 (10)
10-05-2012
Observational constraints on the averaged universeClarkson C, Clifton T, Coley A and Sung R
Physical Review D, American Physical Society (Aps) vol. 85 (4)
07-02-2012
The kSZ effect as a test of general radial inhomogeneity in LTB cosmologyCLIFTON TA, BULL P and FERREIRA PG
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, Cornell University Library vol. 85
03-01-2012
Local and nonlocal measures of acceleration in cosmologyBull P and Clifton T
Physical Review D vol. 85 (10)
01-01-2012
Isotropic Blackbody Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation as Evidence for a Homogeneous UniverseClifton T, Clarkson C and Bull P
Physical Review Letters vol. 109 (5)
01-01-2012
2011
The isotropic blackbody CMB as evidence for a homogeneous universeClifton T, Clarkson C and Bull P
Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 109
16-11-2011
An Improved Treatment of Optics in the Lindquist-Wheeler ModelsClifton T, Ferreira PG and O'Donnell K
Phys. Rev. D vol. 85
14-10-2011
The crossing statistic: dealing with unknown errors in the dispersion of Type Ia supernovaeShafieloo A, Clifton T and Ferreira P
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Iop Publishing vol. 2011 (08), 017-017.
01-08-2011
Modified Gravity and CosmologyClifton T, Ferreira PG, Padilla A and Skordis C
Physics Reports vol. 513
13-06-2011
Is Dark Energy an illusion?Clifton T
Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Elsevier vol. 66 (2), 181-192.
01-04-2011
2010
The Parameterised Post-Newtonian Limit of Bimetric Theories of GravityClifton T, Bañados M and Skordis C
Class.Quant.Grav. vol. 27
29-06-2010
FRW cosmology in Milgrom's bimetric theory of gravityClifton T and Zlosnik TG
Phys.Rev.D vol. 81
07-02-2010
Observational Constraints on the Completeness of Space near
Astrophysical ObjectsClifton T and Barrow JD
Phys.Rev.D vol. 81
25-01-2010
2009
Errors in Estimating Omega_Lambda due to the Fluid ApproximationClifton T and Ferreira PG
Jcap vol. 0910
31-08-2009
Archipelagian Cosmology: Dynamics and Observables in a Universe with
Discretized Matter ContentClifton T and Ferreira PG
Phys.Rev.D80:103503,2009; Phys.Rev.D84:109902,2011 vol. 80 (10)
23-07-2009
Does Dark Energy Really Exist?Clifton T and Ferreira PG
Scientific American, Springer Nature vol. 300 (4), 48-55.
01-04-2009
Perturbation Theory in Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi CosmologyClarkson C, Clifton T and February S
Jcap vol. 06
29-03-2009
What the small angle CMB really tells us about the curvature of the
UniverseClifton T, Ferreira PG and Zuntz J
Jcap vol. 0907
08-02-2009
Hubble Diagram Dispersion From Large-Scale StructureClifton T and Zuntz J
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. vol. 400
04-02-2009
2008
Living in a Void: Testing the Copernican Principle with Distant
SupernovaeClifton T, Ferreira PG and Land K
Phys. Rev. Lett. 101 (2008) 131302 vol. 101 (13)
09-07-2008
The Parameterised Post-Newtonian Limit of Fourth-Order Theories of
GravityClifton T
Phys.Rev.D vol. 77
07-01-2008
2007
A Simple Model for Pulse Profiles from Precessing Pulsars, with Special
Application to Relativistic Binary PSR B1913+16Clifton T and Weisberg JM
Astrophys.J. vol. 679, 687-696.
07-08-2007
Volume Weighted Measures of Eternal Inflation in the Bousso-Polchinski
LandscapeClifton T, Shenker S and Sivanandam N
Jhep vol. 0709
21-06-2007
Exact Friedmann Solutions in Higher-Order Gravity TheoriesClifton T
Class.Quant.Grav. vol. 24, 5073-5091.
26-03-2007
2006
Spherically Symmetric Solutions to Fourth-Order Theories of GravityClifton T
Class.Quant.Grav. vol. 23
22-07-2006
Further Exact Cosmological Solutions to Higher-Order Gravity TheoriesClifton T and Barrow JD
Class.Quant.Grav. vol. 23
27-01-2006
2005
The Existence of Godel, Einstein and de Sitter UniversesClifton T and Barrow JD
Phys.Rev. D vol. 72
14-11-2005
Exact cosmological solutions of scale-invariant gravity theoriesBarrow JD and Clifton T
Class.Quant.Grav. vol. 23
21-09-2005
Constraints on the Variation of G from Primordial NucleosynthesisClifton T, Barrow JD and Scherrer RJ
Phys.Rev. D vol. 71
19-04-2005
2004
Grants
Grants of specific relevance to the Centre for Fundamental PhysicsAstronomy Research at Queen Mary 2023 - 2026Chris Clarkson, Richard Nelson, Timothy Clifton, William Sutherland, Edward Gillen, Karim Malik, Thomas Haworth, Sijme-Jan Paardekooper, Theresa Baker, David Mulryne, Philip Bull, Juan A. Valiente Kroon, Charalampos Markakis, Mohammad Mahdi Godazgar, Katy Clough, Pau Figueras and Arick Shao
£1,625,769 Science & Technology Research Council (STFC)
01-04-2023 - 30-09-2026
Astronomy Research at Queen Mary 2020 - 2023Karim Malik, Philip Bull, Chris Clarkson, Timothy Clifton, Richard Nelson, Sijme-Jan Paardekooper and Juan A. Valiente Kroon
£1,868,745 Science & Technology Research Council (STFC)
01-04-2020 - 31-03-2024
Astromony Researc h at QMRichard Nelson, Craig Agnor, Guillem Anglada Escude, Timothy Clifton, Karim Malik, Sijme-Jan Paardekooper and Chris Clarkson
£1,289,230 Science & Technology Research Council (STFC)
01-04-2017 - 31-03-2021