High-energy probes of dense matter and distorted spacetime. This is an ambitious but achievable program with the potential for results which will be highly significant to physicists worldwide. The expected outcomes have the potential to alter our understanding of fundamental physics, and will demonstrate that Australia's high-energy research ability is on par with the world's best. The techniques of X-ray astronomy are increasingly a standard part of the professional astronomer's toolkit, althou ....High-energy probes of dense matter and distorted spacetime. This is an ambitious but achievable program with the potential for results which will be highly significant to physicists worldwide. The expected outcomes have the potential to alter our understanding of fundamental physics, and will demonstrate that Australia's high-energy research ability is on par with the world's best. The techniques of X-ray astronomy are increasingly a standard part of the professional astronomer's toolkit, although Australia has a limited track record in recent years. The international collaborations that this project will build and maintain will help to improve access to, and utilisation of, multi-million dollar international satellite observatories by local observers.Read moreRead less
Fundamental Physics from Accreting Neutron Stars. This is a bold and novel program with the potential for results which will be highly significant to physicists worldwide. The expected outcomes will demonstrate that Australia's high-energy research ability is on par with the world's best. The techniques of X-ray astronomy are increasingly a standard part of the professional astronomer's toolkit, although Australia has a limited track record in recent years. This DP will boost the multiwavelength ....Fundamental Physics from Accreting Neutron Stars. This is a bold and novel program with the potential for results which will be highly significant to physicists worldwide. The expected outcomes will demonstrate that Australia's high-energy research ability is on par with the world's best. The techniques of X-ray astronomy are increasingly a standard part of the professional astronomer's toolkit, although Australia has a limited track record in recent years. This DP will boost the multiwavelength capability of local astronomers by attracting a talented postdoc with experience in X-ray astronomy to Australia, as well as supporting a broader effort to transfer such skills to local students and researchers.Read moreRead less
High energy neutrino astrophysics together with accretion flows into black holes. Neutrinos are very weakly interacting elementary particles that are opening a new view on astrophysical objects such as supernovae and active galactic nuclei (neutrino astronomy). Studies of astrophysical neutrino production, propagation and terrestrial detection will be made. This will shed light on the astrophysics of the sources as well as probing propagation effects such as neutrino oscillations. A distinct pro ....High energy neutrino astrophysics together with accretion flows into black holes. Neutrinos are very weakly interacting elementary particles that are opening a new view on astrophysical objects such as supernovae and active galactic nuclei (neutrino astronomy). Studies of astrophysical neutrino production, propagation and terrestrial detection will be made. This will shed light on the astrophysics of the sources as well as probing propagation effects such as neutrino oscillations. A distinct programme will study a large discrepancy in the energy balance for matter accreting into a black hole. Previous work of Buzzi and Hines will be extended to investigate whether plasma wave energy carried into the black hole can explain the discrepancy. Read moreRead less
Nucleosynthesis of low and intermediate mass stars: A study into the origin of the elements. Everything in our Solar System, including the Sun and all life on Earth, were created out of material forged long ago in fiery stellar furnaces. In the hot dense cores of long dead stars the material most vital to life was created. However, the stellar origin of many elements is unknown although we can make guesses, from observations of stars and by bringing together ideas from different scientific fiel ....Nucleosynthesis of low and intermediate mass stars: A study into the origin of the elements. Everything in our Solar System, including the Sun and all life on Earth, were created out of material forged long ago in fiery stellar furnaces. In the hot dense cores of long dead stars the material most vital to life was created. However, the stellar origin of many elements is unknown although we can make guesses, from observations of stars and by bringing together ideas from different scientific fields including astrophysics, nuclear physics and geochemistry. Using the latest theoretical techniques together with the most recent experimental data, it is possible to piece together the clues
to unravel the mystery of the origin of the elements.
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Fundamental physics in distant galaxies. The fundamental constants of Nature are assumed to characterise physics in our entire Universe, but are they really the same everywhere and throughout its entire 14 billion year history? This project will answer this question with the first large-scale, purpose-built observational programme on one of the world's biggest and best telescopes.
The Early History of Dark Energy. The national benefit will be the inclusion of Australian researchers (Glazebrook and his students/postdocs) in a major UK-Japanese international research project to study dark energy. This will be the successor to the highly successful WiggleZ project (on which Glazebrook is a designer and CI) using the much larger mirror of Subaru to push back the mapping of cosmic sound to much earlier epochs in the history of the Universe. Although Australia built parts of th ....The Early History of Dark Energy. The national benefit will be the inclusion of Australian researchers (Glazebrook and his students/postdocs) in a major UK-Japanese international research project to study dark energy. This will be the successor to the highly successful WiggleZ project (on which Glazebrook is a designer and CI) using the much larger mirror of Subaru to push back the mapping of cosmic sound to much earlier epochs in the history of the Universe. Although Australia built parts of the FMOS instrument (under contract) there is currently no national right of access to any of the science surveys so it is only by developing these collaborations that we can capitalize on our innovative instrument design.Read moreRead less
Fundamental physics with the large scale structure of the Universe. Using data from upcoming galaxy and weak gravitational lensing surveys, this project aims to address fundamental questions of cosmology: how massive are neutrinos? Are there exotic relativistic matter components? How exactly were the initial density fluctuations generated? Current theoretical predictions of the growth of cosmic structures are not able to match the expected precision of future measurements. This project aims to s ....Fundamental physics with the large scale structure of the Universe. Using data from upcoming galaxy and weak gravitational lensing surveys, this project aims to address fundamental questions of cosmology: how massive are neutrinos? Are there exotic relativistic matter components? How exactly were the initial density fluctuations generated? Current theoretical predictions of the growth of cosmic structures are not able to match the expected precision of future measurements. This project aims to solve this problem and allow for the full harnessing of discovery potential of the observations. By combining numerical simulations of the Universe with a machine-learning algorithm, accurate and efficient estimation of cosmological parameters will be made possible.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101859
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Dark matter particle physics and the first sources of light in the universe. Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible substance that underlies all the structure we see in the universe today. The project will show how the first sources of light in the universe were affected by the particle physics of dark matter and will make predictions for how astronomical observations can be used to solve the enigma of dark matter's true nature.
Detecting cosmic rays using precision radio imaging. This project's aim is to identify the source of the highest-energy particles in nature, cosmic rays, and discover new physical processes at energies unreachable by the Large Hadron Collider.
It will do this by using the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope to detect the sub-microsecond pulses from cosmic ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere. The project's intended outcome is a sample of thousands of cosmic ray events, and a new tec ....Detecting cosmic rays using precision radio imaging. This project's aim is to identify the source of the highest-energy particles in nature, cosmic rays, and discover new physical processes at energies unreachable by the Large Hadron Collider.
It will do this by using the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope to detect the sub-microsecond pulses from cosmic ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere. The project's intended outcome is a sample of thousands of cosmic ray events, and a new technique to analyse the structure within them.
The anticipated benefits are the establishment of the Murchison Widefield Array as a world-leading instrument for astroparticle physics, new knowledge of high-energy astro and particle physics, and advances and training in fast signal processing methods.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE200100078
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$250,000.00
Summary
A particle detector array for the Murchison Widefield Array. The project will construct a particle detector array for the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope. The array will identify cosmic ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere, and trigger radio observations. The outcome will be a new capability to study the origin of the highest-energy particles in nature, cosmic rays, and discover new physical processes at energies unreachable by the Large Hadron Collider.
The anticipated benefits ....A particle detector array for the Murchison Widefield Array. The project will construct a particle detector array for the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope. The array will identify cosmic ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere, and trigger radio observations. The outcome will be a new capability to study the origin of the highest-energy particles in nature, cosmic rays, and discover new physical processes at energies unreachable by the Large Hadron Collider.
The anticipated benefits are the establishment of the Murchison Widefield Array as a world-leading instrument for astroparticle physics; to lay the foundations for future research with the Square Kilometre Array; and to provide answers to long-standing scientific questions of public interest.Read moreRead less