Opportunities
Pulsar Timing Workshop
Dear all
The Centre for Space Research (CSR) will be hosting an in-person Pulsar Timing Workshop at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus on 25 – 27 September 2023, in collaboration with the University of Cape Town and Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. The goal is to build local capacity in pulsar, neutron star, and gravitational wave science. Although the Workshop will include some theory talks, the major focus will be to attain skills in data analysis of radio pulsar data from the MeerKAT Radio Telescope.
For example, students will analyse MeerKAT data from a pair of neutron stars in a tight 2-hour orbit and verify that it exhibits space-time curvature, eclipses, and its orbit is decaying by a few cm per day due to the emission of gravitational waves.
Lecturers will include experts in pulsars and gravitational waves from Australia and South Africa.
We envision about 30 national participants (Honours, MSc, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows). Participants should bring their own laptops with the software set up beforehand (instructions will be provided).
Please indicate your interest to attend this Workshop by 8 September 2023:
Students need to upload a brief motivation and description of their research interests, a rough travel budget, and a letter of support from their supervisor. We have a limited budget to support participants to attend the Workshop. For those whose attendance is approved, transport and accommodation should be covered and registration will be free (the level of support for each participant will be communicated by 15 September).
Lecturers:
Professor Matthew Bailes is the leader of the MeerKAT MeerTime Collaboration, the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery and the winner of the 2023 Astronomy Shaw Prize for his role in the discovery of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs).
Associate Professor Ryan Shannon is a MeerTime Project Scientist and leads the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array subproject. Ryan is an expert in precision pulsar timing and searches for nanohertz frequency gravitational waves. He also searches for and studies FRBs.
Professor Christo Venter is a professor in Astrophysics at (and past research director of) the Centre for Space Research (CSR), North-West University. He is interested in modelling multi-wavelength / phase-dependent lightcurves, spectra, and spatial emission profiles of pulsar-related systems, including those from rotation-powered isolated pulsars, binary systems, pulsar wind nebulae, and collective signals from pulsars in globular clusters. Of late, he is also interested to learn more about radio pulsar timing and to search for persistent radio emission from FRBs.
Doctor Marisa Geyer is a lecturer at the University of Cape Town, and a MeerTime Project research member. Previously, she worked as part of the SARAO team commissioning the MeerKAT Radio Telescope. She uses MeerTime data to study pulsars in relativistic binaries and is also interested in pulsar propagation effects. As a TRAPUM research member, she is involved in searching for new pulsars in nearby galaxies.
Doctor Daniel Reardon is a postdoctoral researcher at Swinburne University of Technology. He is a member of OzGrav in the Pulsar Timing Division and works with MeerKAT pulsar timing data for a large set of pulsars through the MeerTime Project. He is interested in studying relativistic binary pulsars to improve their models, which can be used to test theories of gravity.
Doctor Tiaan Bezuidenhout is a postdoctoral researcher specialising in searches for pulsars and fast radio transients using the MeerKAT Radio Telescope. He is a member of the MeerTRAP and TRAPUM Collaborations.