Binary stars and Planets. Aims: This project aims to study stellar and planetary systems in which the objects' spins are tilted with respect to their orbits, e.g., responsible for the seasons on earth. Significance: Observations show that many exoplanets and binary star systems are usually tilted, affecting their evolution.
Expected outcomes include understanding the final spin states of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, and misaligned hot Jupiter systems.
Benefits: This project sh ....Binary stars and Planets. Aims: This project aims to study stellar and planetary systems in which the objects' spins are tilted with respect to their orbits, e.g., responsible for the seasons on earth. Significance: Observations show that many exoplanets and binary star systems are usually tilted, affecting their evolution.
Expected outcomes include understanding the final spin states of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, and misaligned hot Jupiter systems.
Benefits: This project should bring together expertise in stellar modelling, the theory of tidal interactions, and binary dynamics to make first inroads on this problem by allowing for both differential rotation and varying spin direction inside the star, advancing our knowledge on stars and planets.Read moreRead less
Revealing the Unseen Universe with Gravitational Lensing. This project will analyse new Australian led observations from the Hubble Space Telescope of light being bent around massive galaxies by gravity. To analyse these images we must develop advanced physical models and statistical techniques. This analysis will give us highly magnified views of early galaxy evolution revealing physical details otherwise impossible to see. It will also allow us to put constraints on the nature of invisible dar ....Revealing the Unseen Universe with Gravitational Lensing. This project will analyse new Australian led observations from the Hubble Space Telescope of light being bent around massive galaxies by gravity. To analyse these images we must develop advanced physical models and statistical techniques. This analysis will give us highly magnified views of early galaxy evolution revealing physical details otherwise impossible to see. It will also allow us to put constraints on the nature of invisible dark matter with the possibility of detecting warm dark matter signatures and enable us to probe the expansion of the Universe, testing whether the unseen dark energy is evolving in time. The Hubble sample is much larger and a major advance on previous work, and enables breakthrough science in these areas.Read moreRead less
Unveiling the dead and dusty Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope. This project aims to find the earliest dead and dust obscured galaxies in the Universe. Understanding their astrophysics, explosive growth, and demise have long been among the most important unsolved mysteries of astronomy. Decades in the making, the imminent availability of the James Webb Space Telescope mid-2022 marks a watershed moment. This project uses guaranteed access to the revolutionary space telescope to discove ....Unveiling the dead and dusty Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope. This project aims to find the earliest dead and dust obscured galaxies in the Universe. Understanding their astrophysics, explosive growth, and demise have long been among the most important unsolved mysteries of astronomy. Decades in the making, the imminent availability of the James Webb Space Telescope mid-2022 marks a watershed moment. This project uses guaranteed access to the revolutionary space telescope to discover the first dead galaxies and unveil the previously hidden "dusty" galaxies and shed light on their suspected evolutionary link. The project is expected to significantly enhance Australia's international standing through leadership in use of the world's flagship scientific facility.Read moreRead less
Expanding the Foundation of Planetary Science. Our understanding of the Solar System is based on a foundation of meteorite analyses. Knowing their orbital origin provides a critical spatial context, but we have this data for <0.1% of samples. This project aims to address this issue. There are 66 meteorite falls across Australia with orbits determined by the Desert Fireball Network that await recovery - more than the current global dataset. This project expects to generate new knowledge by applyi ....Expanding the Foundation of Planetary Science. Our understanding of the Solar System is based on a foundation of meteorite analyses. Knowing their orbital origin provides a critical spatial context, but we have this data for <0.1% of samples. This project aims to address this issue. There are 66 meteorite falls across Australia with orbits determined by the Desert Fireball Network that await recovery - more than the current global dataset. This project expects to generate new knowledge by applying an innovative search methodology using drones and machine learning. Expected outcomes include dramatically increasing the number of orbital meteorites. This should provide significant benefits. By linking meteorites to their parent asteroids every rock becomes a small sample-return mission.Read moreRead less
A Transdimensional Approach to Gravitational-Wave Astronomy. This project uses ripples in the fabric of spacetime––gravitational waves––to understand the cosmos and the fundamental nature of reality. We aim to discover new sources of gravitational waves from exploding stars. Using gravitational waves from colliding black holes, we aim to uncover new physics beyond Einstein's theory of general relativity. To achieve these goals we will develop tools from the cutting-edge of data science.
On the origin of very massive back holes. This project aims to investigate the origin of massive black holes observed in recent years by gravitational wave detectors. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of very massive stars utilising stellar evolution models, hydrodynamic simulations, light curve calculations and supernova observations, in order to explain the unexpected absence of a gap in the black hole mass distribution. Expected outcomes of this project include a bett ....On the origin of very massive back holes. This project aims to investigate the origin of massive black holes observed in recent years by gravitational wave detectors. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of very massive stars utilising stellar evolution models, hydrodynamic simulations, light curve calculations and supernova observations, in order to explain the unexpected absence of a gap in the black hole mass distribution. Expected outcomes of this project include a better understanding of mass loss and the collapse of very massive stars as key factors for the observed black hole mass distribution.This should provide significant benefits for gravitational wave astronomy, but also for observations of stellar explosions by informing future survey strategies.
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Imaging the youngest planets. Over 5000 exoplanets have been discovered, demonstrating that planet formation is a robust and widespread process. But we do not know how these planets, including those in our solar system, formed. Our group at Monash pioneered a new technique for detecting "baby" planets --- observed still embedded in the disc of gas and dust from which they are born. The project aims to characterise the youngest detected exoplanets with the world's largest telescopes, including ....Imaging the youngest planets. Over 5000 exoplanets have been discovered, demonstrating that planet formation is a robust and widespread process. But we do not know how these planets, including those in our solar system, formed. Our group at Monash pioneered a new technique for detecting "baby" planets --- observed still embedded in the disc of gas and dust from which they are born. The project aims to characterise the youngest detected exoplanets with the world's largest telescopes, including time already awarded on the James Webb Space Telescope. We will image these planets, and model their birth in 3D. The project will develop state of the art computer algorithms for simulating fluid flow and data analysis technics that can be applied to problems here on Earth. Read moreRead less