ANNUAL REPORT 2017 CAASTRO 1 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CONTENTS

Introduction from the Chair 2 Presentations 68 Vision & Mission Statement 4 Workshops 82 Director’s Report 6 CAASTRO Annual Retreat 86 Research Programs 8 Education & Outreach 88 Case Studies 26 Industry and Innovation 94 CAASTRO Celebrates at Parliament House Canberra 40 The CAASTRO Legacy 96 Life Beyond CAASTRO 42 CAASTRO Locations 98 2017 Publications 44 CAASTRO Linkages 130 Student Life 54 CAASTRO Collaborations 135 CAASTRO Students 56 Key Performance Indicators 138 CAASTRO Governance 60 Financial Statements 141 CAASTRO Membership 62 Grants won by CAASTRO Members in 2017 143 Awards & Honours 64 CAASTRO People 144 Gender Action Committee 66 Glossary 156 CAASTRO acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council and of NSW Trade and Investment. We also acknowledge the financial and in-kind support provided by our participating organisations: The University of Sydney, The University of Western Australia, The University of Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology, The Australian National University, Curtin University and The University of Queensland. © CAASTRO 2017. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, reproduction of any part by any process without prior written permission from the ARC Centre of Excellence for All‑sky Astrophysics is not permitted. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights can be made by contacting Ms Kate Gunn, Chief Operating Officer (University of Sydney). www.caastro.org

Design by Go Media Design 2 CAASTRO 3 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Legacy, noun INTRODUCTION /ˈlɛgəsi/ (say ‘leguhsee) 1. a gift of property, especially personal property, as money, by will; a bequest. 2. anything handed down by an ancestor or predecessor. FROM 3. a consequence … – Macquarie Dictionary

When we talk of a legacy, it is often to refer to the completed at the time CAASTRO was formed – and the THE CHAIR end of one phase of existence and the moving of SAMI (Sydney University–AAO Multi-object Integral- PROFESSOR ROBERT WILLIAMSON AO FRS FAA people and things to another. This is a good way to field spectrograph) instrument, which was also at a CHAIR, CAASTRO ADVISORY BOARD think of CAASTRO. very early stage at the time. Both instruments have CAASTRO is ending, but its legacy is important in proved to be world-class and very productive. at least three ways. First, it has produced a great A highlight this year was an Advisory Board-sponsored deal of science its seven years, with a total of some celebration of CAASTRO in Parliament House, 680 refereed publications. Second, CAASTRO’s way Canberra, in August. Hosted by the Hon Craig Laundy of operating has influenced the people – students, MP, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and postdocs, senior scientists – who have been its Science, it allowed us to bring together CAASTRO members. They, in turn, have contributed to the researchers and students with parliamentarians and organisation’s great programs. CAASTRO’s gender- their advisers. Many who came for the formalities equity program is one of the best, perhaps the best, in stayed on to chat about CAASTRO and astronomy in Australia; the links between CAASTRO and Aboriginal general. The event also gave every researcher a chance initiatives at Uluru are a model for other academic to thank Chief Operating Officer Kate Gunn and her centres; and international links always figured high on colleagues, the fine team who oiled the wheels and the list of achievements. At CAASTRO’s final Annual kept CAASTRO moving forward. Retreat in November, person after person talked about As an ‘outsider’ (a geneticist, not an astrophysicist), how the Centre had changed the culture of astronomy I have been impressed not only by CAASTRO’s in Australia. Finally, CAASTRO’s success helped give science and its community initiatives, but also by birth to two further ARC Centres of Excellence, those the extent to which astronomers and astrophysicists for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) collaborate across Australia (and, indeed, the and for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). world). Perhaps it is because their equipment is so When CAASTRO was put together by Bryan Gaensler, expensive! However, it is a good example to other Elaine Sadler and their colleagues in 2011, it was scientists: because we are funded by the community the first such centre to be proposed for the field of through government, we should work together to astronomy. There was no model to follow, so its achieve results that will benefit the community, and policies and procedures had to be created from scratch. as effectively as possible. CAASTRO has met this The start-up process was challenging; however, an obligation in every way, and it has been a pleasure to excellent administrative team set CAASTRO up with help achieve this worthy outcome. very good foundations. During its seven years of life, CAASTRO has participated in some very exciting science, such as this year’s detection of light and radio waves from a gravitational-wave event – the merger of two neutron stars. The two standout instruments CAASTRO has been associated with have been the Murchison Widefield Array – which had not yet been 4 CAASTRO 5 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

The CAASTRO Vision The CAASTRO Mission CAASTRO aims to be an CAASTRO is carrying out key science with 21st century telescopes. international leader in widefield Our goals are: astronomy, positioning Australia DISCOVER To make groundbreaking advances in our understanding of to address fundamental the Universe, thereby cementing Australia’s reputation as a world leader in unsolved questions about the astrophysical research; Universe with the dramatic capabilities of next-generation INNOVATE To develop innovative new ways of surveying the entire sky, telescopes and advanced processing enormous volumes of astronomical measurements, and visualising instrumentation. complex datasets, so as to build unique expertise in widefield radio and optical astronomy; PERFORM To make high-impact discoveries using Square Kilometre Array pathfinder telescopes, thus positioning Australia to lead the science programs planned for the SKA; EDUCATE To provide compelling new opportunities for students and early- career researchers and exciting stories to inform the public; and UNITE To bring the top astronomers from Australia and around the world together into a focused collaborative environment.

About CAASTRO Astronomy has entered a golden age, in which we seek underpinned by a strong focus on training and enabling to understand the complete evolution of the Universe the next generation of scientists, thus providing a and its constituents. But the key unsolved questions in legacy extending well beyond the Centre’s lifetime. astronomy demand entirely new approaches, requiring The students we mentor and inspire will lead the enormous datasets covering the entire sky. scientific discoveries made on future widefield facilities, In recent years, Australia has invested more than culminating in the ultimate all-sky telescope, the Square $420 million both in innovative widefield telescopes Kilometre Array. CAASTRO is further motivated by the and in the powerful computers needed to process belief that science is a passionate undertaking and this the resulting torrents of data. Using these new tools, passion should be contagious. We aim to leverage the Australia now has established itself at the vanguard of high impact of our discoveries and the strong public the upcoming information revolution centred on all-sky interest they generate to highlight Australian innovation astrophysics. to the general public, and to inspire students to The ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics consider careers in science and engineering. (CAASTRO) has assembled the world-class team who now lead the flagship scientific experiments CAASTRO has received more than $30 million in funding on these new widefield facilities. CAASTRO has over the period 2011–2018. CAASTRO is led by The delivered transformational new science by bringing University of Sydney, in conjunction with The University together unique expertise in radio astronomy, optical of Western Australia, The University of Melbourne, astronomy, theoretical astrophysics and computation, Swinburne University of Technology, The Australian VISION & and by coupling all these capabilities to the powerful National University, Curtin University and The University technology in which Australia has recently invested. of Queensland, complemented by a group of world-class CAASTRO has pursued three interlinked scientific Australian and international partners. MISSION programs, each of which can be addressed only with the all-sky perspective provided by widefield telescopes: ƒƒ The Evolving Universe: When did the first galaxies A Universal Perspective form, and how have they evolved since? A universal perspective of the cosmos, exploring the ƒƒ The Dynamic Universe: What is the high-energy sky in its entirety not just section by section. physics that drives change in the Universe? A universal perspective of science, engaging ƒƒ The Dark Universe: What are the dark energy and teams, scientists and the public in an inclusive and STATEMENT dark matter that dominate the cosmos? egalitarian way. All CAASTRO activities are based on the principle that international leadership comes from commensurate A universal perspective of insight and discovery, investment in cutting-edge facilities and human capital. understanding how knowledge can be used practically In particular, the CAASTRO research program is in the wider world. Uluru at night Credit: Josh Calcino 6 CAASTRO 7 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 DIRECTOR’S REPORT PROFESSOR ELAINE SADLER FAA CAASTRO DIRECTOR

In our final year, it feels as though CAASTRO has that demonstrate a strong commitment to advancing been busier and more active than ever. Many of the the careers of women, and the Gold award recognises Three ARC Centres of Excellence in Astronomy - Directors and COOs projects started in previous years have now come to ‘a truly outstanding sustained commitment’ to best Credit: Fariba Dehghani a successful conclusion, and in this report we look at practice in this area. CAASTRO’s broad impact and legacy as well as the Worldwide, the astronomy highlight of 2017 was scientific highlights from this year. undoubtedly the detection of gravitational waves 2017 saw some changes in the membership of the from the merger of a pair of neutron stars, and the CAASTRO Executive team. Early in the year, we said associated detection of an electromagnetic signal goodbye to CAASTRO Executive members Matthew at many wavelengths. The Laser Interferometer Bailes (now Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the USA and for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)), Carole the Virgo detector in Italy made the initial detection, Jackson (now Director-General of the Netherlands and the alert they issued triggered astronomers around Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)) and Stuart the globe into action. The CAASTRO team led by Wyithe (now deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Tara Murphy (University of Sydney) was the first Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions to confirm a radio detection of the event, and their (ASTRO 3D)). In their place, we welcomed new work featured in several publications (including two in Executive members Ramesh Bhat (Curtin University Science and one in Nature). The Australian results were node leader), Jeremy Mould (Swinburne University announced to the media and streamed online from a node leader), Tara Murphy (Dynamic Universe theme press conference in Canberra arranged by OzGrav, and leader) and Rachel Webster (University of Melbourne attracted considerable attention. node leader). Deputy Director Lister Staveley-Smith Our schedule of meetings and workshops was as has led the Evolving Universe theme since the start busy as ever this year. We organized the third OzSKA of 2017 and Tamara Davis continues to lead the Dark meeting (in Sydney), the third Australia–China ACAMAR Universe theme. workshop (in Hobart) and the galaxy-evolution workshop The CAASTRO Advisory Board held its last face-to- ‘From Black Hole to Environment’ (in Canberra). We face meeting in Canberra in August, the day before a hosted two major international meetings: the Dark CAASTRO Celebration Breakfast at Parliament House Energy Collaboration meeting in Brisbane in November, hosted by the Hon Craig Laundy MP, Assistant Minister and ‘Science at Low Frequencies IV’ in Sydney in for Industry, Innovation and Science. Many CAASTRO December. Our first Galaxy Convention in December, corporate knowledge, and have ensured that the Institute of Medical Research on 1 March 2018. Kate’s members joined the Board and other guests at this ably organised by Janette Ellis and her team, brought Centre continued to flourish in times of change. I contributions to CAASTRO over the past seven years event. Assistant Minister Laundy, Australia’s Chief high school students from all over Australia, together am enormously grateful to them. Warmest thanks go have been immense, and I wish her well in this exciting Scientist (and former CAASTRO Board Chair) Dr Alan with teachers, PhD students and Post Docs to Sydney also to Kylie Williams, Kate Gunn and the CAASTRO new role. Several of our CAASTRO professional staff Finkel, CAASTRO Chief Investigator Professor Brian for two days of meetings and workshops on female A-team for organising this seventh and last retreat, are moving on to roles with the new ARC Centres Schmidt (Australian National University) and current entrepreneurship in STEM (science, technology, and for making it such a memorable occasion. ASTRO 3D and OzGrav, and our researchers are Board Chair Professor Bob Williamson (University engineering and mathematics), with an excellent program starting to take up new positions around Australia of Melbourne) spoke about CAASTRO and its of inspiring speakers. As CAASTRO moves towards its official end date of 31 March 2018, we are starting to say goodbye to or overseas. To all those who have been part of achievements. Many of the parliamentarians and their Our final Annual Retreat was held in South Australia’s CAASTRO over the past seven years, thank you once advisors who attended the breakfast stayed on to some familiar faces. In November, our Events and Barossa Valley in November. We enjoyed a wonderful Communications manager, Kylie Williams, moved again for all you have contributed. I wish you every look at our research displays and talk to CAASTRO’s program of science talks and meetings, as well as a success in your future endeavours. postdoctoral researchers and students about their work. to a new position as Senior Officer, Programs and chance to celebrate the full breadth of CAASTRO’s After seven years, CAASTRO leaves a tremendous Warmest thanks go to the members of the CAASTRO Events, at the Sydney Dental Hospital. Kylie has done achievements over the past seven years. It has legacy. I am proud of what we have achieved, and I Advisory Board, who have consistently provided an outstanding job of running CAASTRO’s events been particularly rewarding to see a new generation program for the past four and a half years, and we hope you are too. us with wise and useful advice on all aspects of of researchers move into leadership positions as CAASTRO’s operations over the past seven years. are grateful for all she has done for CAASTRO. CAASTRO has evolved. Only two members of the CAASTRO’s Education and Outreach manager Wiebke 2017 saw the launch of our Gender Action toolkit, and original 2011 CAASTRO Executive remain in place Ebeling begins a new position in February 2018 as CAASTRO was proud to receive the first Gold Pleiades in 2017 – Deputy Director Lister Staveley-Smith Centre Manager of the Wave Energy Research Centre Award from the Astronomical Society of Australia. and Chief Operating Officer Kate Gunn. Lister and at UWA’s Albany Campus. Kate Gunn will become These awards are given to organisations in astronomy Kate have been the custodians of CAASTRO’s the new Chief Operating Officer at the Garvan 8 CAASTRO 9 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

THE EVOLVING UNIVERSE Theme Leader: Professor Lister Staveley-Smith | University of Western Australia Theme Scientist: Dan Taranu | University of Western Australia

The Evolving Universe theme is concerned with the The first 128 tiles of the Murchison Widefield Array lives of galaxies: how they form, grow and die; the (MWA) began operating in 2012 and observations for forces that shape them; and how they interact with their the MWA EoR experiment began in 2013. By the end of environment. This theme encompasses the whole history 2017, the MWA EoR team had collected four and half of galaxies, from the time of the first stars until today, years of data, over three observing fields. Over those and its researchers have undertaken a wide range of work years, great effort has gone into developing pipelines during CAASTRO’s lifetime. Particularly of note are the for processing EoR data, characterising foregrounds and large projects carried out with the Murchison Widefield studying the effects of the ionosphere. More details of Array, SAMI (the Sydney University–AAO Multi-object this work, particularly that of the last two years, are Integral field spectrograph) and, more recently, the given on page 29. Much of it has implications for the Australian SKA Pathfinder. low-frequency telescope of the Square Kilometre Array, SKA-low, which will be co-located with the MWA at the Observations with the Murchison Widefield Array Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Epoch of Reionisation The EoR data has also been used as a space science The first stars formed during the Epoch of Reionisation tool to explore the ionosphere above the MWA, with (EoR), a time of transition between the ‘dark ages’, results that are encouraging for SKA-low (page 11). when no galaxies existed, and the modern era of It has been used to put limits on the synchrotron abundant galaxies. The EoR is one of the last unexplored emission from the ‘cosmic web’ of intergalactic matter. periods of cosmic history. In 2015 it was used for a ‘blind’ search for slow radio transients that put the most stringent limit to date on The best way we have to investigate the EoR is to these sources. And in 2013, a CAASTRO Honours measure the emission of un-ionised (neutral) hydrogen student, Cleo Loi (University of Sydney) discovered (HI), which was abundant in the early Universe. HI gas the formation of large, tubular ducts of plasma in the produces a unique spectral line that is detectable at radio ionosphere, aligned with the Earth’s magnetic field. wavelengths. As early galaxies formed and heated this Using the MWA, Loi made the first detailed images gas, it became ionised (the atoms lost their sole electron) of these ducts, deduced their heights and sizes, and and no longer produced the HI spectral line. When all of imaged their motion in real time. Her work gained the neutral hydrogen was ionised, the signal vanished, worldwide attention. It also showed the MWA to be a marking the end of the EoR. superb instrument for studying the ionosphere. The EoR HI signal is extremely weak, and heavily Observing foregrounds with GLEAM obscured by signals 100,000 times stronger from our For researchers attempting to detect the Epoch of own Galaxy and other galaxies. To detect the signal Reionisation signal, the foreground signals from our we need guidance from simulations that tell us at what Galaxy and others are a nuisance, something that must RESEARCH frequency the radio signal is likely to be found and be characterised in order to be excised from their data. what it should look like; carefully calibrated telescopes; For other researchers these sources are interesting and sophisticated techniques for ‘peeling’ away the in their own right. For both these reasons, the MWA obscuring foregrounds. was used to carry out the Galactic and Extragalactic Work along these lines for CAASTRO’s EoR project MWA (GLEAM) survey, alongside the EoR observations. started as soon as the Centre itself did. The first GLEAM was the first survey of the southern sky in two years saw new supercomputing simulations of its frequency range, 73–230 MHz. It complements reionisation and the development of algorithms for southern-sky surveys made at higher frequencies and subtracting foregrounds. These activities have continued other low-frequency surveys of the northern sky, and PROGRAMS throughout CAASTRO’s life. This year a new analysis its output will underpin the ‘sky model’ for the low- of foregrounds took into account for the first time the frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array, effects of galaxy clustering (page 29). Factoring this SKA-low, which will be co-located with the MWA. in will be important for future observations of the EoR, Observations for GLEAM were carried out during such as those to be done with the Square Kilometre 2013–2015. GLEAM’s first-year data was published in Array. The analysis also showed that ignoring clustering 2017 as a catalogue of more than 300,000 sources. Professor Tamara Davis, The Dark Universe could lead to a false detection of the EoR signal – that is, Low-frequency imaging surveys are challenging, and Theme Leader a foreground signal mimicking the real thing. Again, this the experience gained from GLEAM will be directly Credit: Cristy Roberts is important for the analysis of any EoR detection. useful for SKA-low. 10 CAASTRO 11 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Investigating the ionosphere at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory Low-frequency polarimetry life of CAASTRO; 2017 saw the outfitting of the final undetected signal from the galaxy PKS B1740–517 at a dish. Commissioning observations have been made redshift of 0.44, a promising result for FLASH. Ground-based optical telescopes must contend with ‘seeing’, Polarimetry, the measurement of polarised emission, since 2013 with varying subsets of the 36 antennas. the stability of the Earth’s atmosphere, which can be is considered challenging at low frequencies. But the Intensity mapping CAASTRO researcher Attila Popping (ICRAR–UWA) has variable. In the same way, radio astronomers working at low MWA has proved to have great potential for this kind of been a member of the commissioning team and many Another way we can detect HI at great distances is frequencies have to deal with variations in the behaviour of observation. It can detect both pulsars and flare stars CAASTRO researchers are part of the science teams with the new technique of intensity mapping. This the ionosphere, a layer of the atmosphere in which a high through their circularly polarised emission, as shown planning big ASKAP projects. involves capturing the aggregate HI emission over large fraction of gas molecules has been ionised, creating a soup of in CAASTRO papers published this year (page 16) and patches of sky, not from individual galaxies. Evolving charged particles. When ‘active’, this layer can distort low- in 2016. Other work in 2016 demonstrated that the One of these projects, WALLABY (the Widefield ASKAP Theme leader Lister Staveley-Smith (ICRAR–UWA) frequency cosmic radio signals in many ways. MWA can also image the diffuse interstellar medium in L-Band Legacy All-Sky Blind Survey), will detect neutral and CAASTRO postdocs Jonghwan Rhee (ICRAR– Low-frequency astronomy has enjoyed a renaissance in the last linear polarisation: doing so over large areas may reveal hydrogen in about 600,000 galaxies out to a redshift UWA) and Laura Wolz (University of Melbourne) have few years. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is one of structures, such as those associated with turbulence, of 0.26. These detections will be used to determine extended our understanding of this. Rhee has an the new generation of low-frequency radio telescopes. In the that could not be detected any other way. This year the distance, gas mass and total mass of every galaxy ongoing project on the Parkes telescope to measure the next few years it will be joined on the same site, the Murchison Emil Lenc (University of Sydney) and collaborators in the survey and used to investigate questions such density of neutral hydrogen out to a redshift of 0.9. In Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), by the low-frequency published a paper addressing the technical challenges as how galaxies form, evolve and interact, and how 2016, Staveley-Smith, Rhee and CAASTRO student telescope of the Square Kilometre Array, SKA-low. To get the of polarimetry with the MWA and their solutions. HI is distributed local Universe. ASKAP ‘early science’ Tristan Reynolds (ICRAR-UWA) showed that using best out of these instruments we need to learn more about how Again, the lessons learned with the MWA will be observations for WALLABY began in October 2016 a phased-array feed receiver on the same telescope the ionosphere above the MRO varies with time. valuable for SKA-low. and were almost complete by the end of 2017: they speeded up the intensity mapping fourfold and, by Detecting sources through scintillation amounted to 700 hours of observations – 220 TB of going to lower frequencies, was able to access HI This year Chris Jordan (ICRAR–Curtin) led work to do just raw data – collected over four fields. The WALLABY at greater distances. This year Wolz, together with that. Jordan’s team used 32 hours of observations already The MWA has also shown itself to be excellent for team, which includes CAASTRO members, will now CAASTRO Chief Investigators Chris Blake (Swinburne) taken for the MWA Epoch of Reionisation project. They finding extragalactic radio sources that twinkle – verify and analyse its data products. and Stuart Wyithe (Melbourne), showed that the processed the data with the MWA real-time data pipeline, then change rapidly in brightness – as a result of charged WALLABY is complemented by DINGO (Deep average per-galaxy mass of HI can be derived by cross- examined and classified them for ionospheric activity. The particles flowing from the Sun. Only highly compact Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins), a neutral- correlating an HI intensity map with an optical galaxy real-time system gave information on the ionosphere with high sources do this and so the technique can be used as hydrogen survey covering a smaller area but with survey (page 13). This promises to be an important spatial and temporal resolution. a quick way to find them (page 35). The commonest greater depth. DINGO will look for evolution in the analytical technique. type among the highly compact, strongly scintillating The team found that only a small number of sampling points density of neutral hydrogen and investigate – among sources was the peaked-spectrum source – young, (100–200) is needed to show the intensity of ionospheric other things – how galaxies acquire gas and angular Looking inside galaxies with SAMI compact radio galaxies. These galaxies were also the activity. It was able to categorise the activity into four types, momentum, and how the cosmic web of matter in the To understand how galaxies evolve, and how their subject of another ground-breaking CAASTRO study, and developed a simple metric, using only two statistics, to Universe grows over time. DINGO and WALLABY will different properties are related, we need to look inside one that used data from the GLEAM catalogue to provide an ‘at a glance’ value for data quality under various together explore the process of galaxy formation over them in detail. At the same time, to draw sound identify them (page 12). ionospheric conditions. This technique is ‘instrument agnostic’ the last four billion years. DINGO is led by CAASTRO conclusions that apply across populations, we need to and could be used by LOFAR (Europe’s Low Frequency Array) Understanding the history of neutral hydrogen Associate Investigator Martin Meyer (ICRAR–UWA). examine large numbers of galaxies. SAMI, the Sydney and SKA-low as well as by the MWA. ASKAP ‘early science’ observations for DINGO began University–AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph Neutral hydrogen (HI) filled the Universe before the in September 2017 and six nights of data have been instrument, is a CAASTRO-funded instrument that Jordan’s team found that the severity and type of ionospheric Epoch of Reionisation and is still ubiquitous today. It collected to date. The DINGO team, including Attila achieves both these aims. SAMI samples the light from activity tends to remain constant across an entire evening of is the material that ultimately becomes stars (after Popping, is investigating ways to combine individual up to 61 points in a galaxy, for 12 galaxies (and one observations. This is good news for low-frequency observatories, condensing into molecular hydrogen). But how it enters observations: given the very long exposure times reference star) at a time. The spectrum of each sample which could adapt their observing schedules to ionospheric galaxies, and the paths it takes within them, are not needed for individual DINGO fields, this is vital for the shows how the stars and gas at that location are conditions early in an evening. Most encouraging of all, the wholly understood. survey’s success. moving. SAMI is based on new technology developed ionosphere was inactive three quarters of the time. This We want to understand the history of the gas the investigation suggests that the core of SKA-low, which will have Although neutral hydrogen is plentiful in the Universe, at the University of Sydney: the ‘hexabundle’, a bundle Universe: its abundance and distribution, and how about the same extent as the MWA, will be highly calibratable. its 21-cm emission line is weak. To detect HI in distant of 61 optical fibres close-packed and fused together. these factors relate to the drastic drop-off in star galaxies, astronomers can look for absorption, the SAMI’s life has coincided with CAASTRO’s. It was formation over the last 10 billion years. CAASTRO Publication imprint that HI leaves on the spectrum of radio emission commissioned on the Anglo-Australian Telescope in researchers have contributed to this. In 2013 and 2016 Jordan, C. H., Murray, S., Trott, C. M., Wayth, R. B., Mitchell, from a strong background source such as a quasar. 2011; after an upgrade, it began work in 2013 on the they applied to radio observations a technique first used D. A., Rahimi, M., Pindor, B., Procopio, P., Morgan, J., One of ASKAP’s major survey projects is FLASH (the SAMI Galaxy Survey, the largest survey of its kind at the in optical astronomy, stacking, to measure the cosmic “Characterization of the ionosphere above the Murchison Radio First Large Absorption Survey in HI), which is aimed at time. Science results began to appear in 2014 and have density of neutral hydrogen, showing that it appears to Observatory using the Murchison Widefield Array”, Monthly finding several hundred new HI absorbing-line systems. included studies of kinematic morphology (classifying have changed little over the last four billion years. But Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 471, 3974 (2017) This project, led by CAASTRO Director Elaine Sadler galaxies as fast or slow rotators), galactic winds, the the details of HI’s life during that time – the ratio of (University of Sydney) will be the first major study effects of environment on star formation, the relation warm to cool gas, and the gas’s distribution – are still of the relationship between HI and the rate of star between angular momentum and optical morphology, unknown. So too is the history of neutral hydrogen in formation in galaxies at redshifts between 0.5 and 1.0 and the relation between galaxy kinematics and stellar individual galaxies beyond the local Universe. – that is, galaxies four to eight billion years back in the mass. Several SAMI papers were published this year, HI studies with ASKAP history of the Universe. Thanks to ASKAP’s wide field including the first accurate determination of the intrinsic Neutral hydrogen’s tell-tale radio emission, its 21-cm of view, FLASH will cover a much larger volume of shapes of galaxies (page 14). Other SAMI investigations spectral line, is a workhorse of radio astronomy: it can space than previous absorption surveys. are outlined on page 33, along with details of the help us learn how galaxies build up both gas and stars, ASKAP’s site, the Murchison Radio-astronomy project’s first data release, issued this year. Plans are and about their dynamics, structure and interactions Observatory, is well protected against radio interference, now under way for an Australian successor to SAMI, with other galaxies. meaning that faint signals that might be missed the Hector instrument. This will build on the experience elsewhere will stand out clearly in the data. This has gained with SAMI and make it possible to observe up to Many of the questions we have about HI will be tackled 100 galaxies at a time. by projects on the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). been demonstrated by CAASTRO Affiliate James Allison This new radio telescope, a set of 36 dishes, is located (CSIRO), a member of the FLASH team, who in 2014 The SAMI project will transition to the new ARC Centre at the same site as the MWA, CSIRO’s Murchison used ASKAP to make the first ‘blind’ search of HI in of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions Line plots of the ionospheric quality metric for each of the four ionospheric Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. absorption (that is, a search that didn’t target objects at (ASTRO 3D), as will a number of other projects in the types identified in this work, as well as another night showing a transition ASKAP has been under construction throughout the known redshifts). Allison’s search turned up a previously Evolving Universe theme. from one type to another. Types 1, 3 and 4 vary little in their metric while Type 2 is less stable. The ‘transitional’ activity drops after about an hour: this indicates that ionospheric activity should be monitored at least hourly during observations. (From Jordan et al. 2017) 12 CAASTRO 13 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Young or frustrated? Data trove may help decide Wringing more from intensity mapping

The Murchison Widefield Array has revealed an ƒƒ Each source’s peak may be determined by an CAASTRO researchers have developed another way to gain In their new work, Wolz and her collaborators show abundance of unusual galaxies that may help to settle a inhomogenous medium that differs from source more information about neutral hydrogen in distant galaxies. that such cross-correlation can be used to measure the decades-old question. to source. That’s implied by the sources’ diverse Searching individual galaxies for neutral hydrogen (HI) average HI content of the optically selected galaxies. spectral characteristics. Correlating the two maps produces a cross-power A radio source’s spectrum (the energy it emits at different can be slow. And HI emission is weak: it can’t be spectrum: this, they show, can be decomposed into a radio frequencies) is the chief clue to the processes ƒƒ The frequency at which the spectrum peaks isn’t detected at great distances (high redshifts). This makes term that represents the galaxy clustering, and another producing its radio emission. Most sources can be related to the object’s redshift. That suggests the it difficult to test models of how HI has evolved in the – the shot noise term – that represents the average readily classified this way. But some have a peak in their sources are a mix of nearby ones that intrinsically Universe over time. We can overcome this through intensity of the HI emission from the optically selected spectrum that has been argued about since the 1960s. peak at low frequencies, and distant (high-redshift) intensity mapping. Like spectral stacking, it is a way ones whose intrinsic high-frequency peaks have been to aggregate information about HI in an ensemble galaxies. This technique can estimate the HI content These sources differ in physical size and peak in different redshifted to a lower frequency. of galaxies. But whereas in spectral stacking the of galaxy populations (e.g. distant ones) whose HI frequency ranges: this divides them into three groups emission is too faint to observe. Furthermore, if the ƒƒ Six sources may have spectra inconsistent with aggregation takes place at the level of individual spectra, (gigahertz-peaked spectrum, compact steep spectrum, and optically selected galaxies are chosen on the basis of synchrotron self-absorption (SSA). If confirmed, this in intensity mapping we are effectively recording the HI high-frequency peaked). Some are large enough to image, particular attributes, such as luminosity or colour, it will would indicate that they are ‘frustrated’ rather than signal within large, 3D pixels – large areas of sky (tens of be possible to determine any relationship between those and doing so shows that they have a radio-emitting core young, perhaps settling 50 years of debate. megaparsecs across) within a narrow range of redshifts. flanked by two radio emitting lobes. They are compact but Intensity mapping can tell us how HI distribution and properties and their HI content. Wolz and her co-authors powerful versions of the much larger galaxies that harbour This investigation has uncovered a wealth of sources to demonstrate that HI masses could be recovered in this be followed up, and highlights the value of low-frequency abundance have changed over time. But CAASTRO active black holes – active galactic nuclei or AGN. postdoc Laura Wolz (Melbourne) and her collaborators way from observations with the DINGO survey to be observations. carried out with ASKAP (page 10). Are the peaked-spectrum sources just young AGN in the Chris Blake (Swinburne) and Stuart Wyithe (Melbourne) making? Perhaps. But they might instead be ‘frustrated’, Publication have now shown that the technique offers more. Publication small only because their AGN activity is confined by a Callingham, J. R., Ekers, R. D., Gaensler, B. M. and Like all techniques, intensity mapping has its problems. Wolz, L., Blake, C., Wyithe, J. S. B., “Determining the dense medium at the galaxy’s core. 21 co-authors, “Extragalactic Peaked-spectrum Radio These include instability in telescope systems, radio HI content of galaxies via intensity mapping cross- The sources’ spectra should settle the question. Examined Sources at Low Frequencies”, The Astrophysical Journal, interference from human activities, and foreground radio correlations”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical carefully, they should favour one radio-producing process 836, 174 (2017) sources in our Galaxy. But it’s been known for some Society, 470, 3220 (2017) years that these problems can be reduced by cross- (synchrotron self-absorption, SSA) or another (free-free correlating the HI intensity map with an optical survey absorption, FFA). That would point to the sources being of galaxies (a map of galaxies detected by visible light either young (SSA) or frustrated (FFA). rather than radio waves). To distinguish between the models like this, we need spectra that are well sampled (have lots of data points). Low-frequency data has been sparse until now. But the The forecast for an intensity-mapping cross-power spectrum measurement between the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) has changed that. ASKAP–DINGO survey and an overlapping optical survey, for the ‘deep’ and ‘ultra-deep’ DINGO The MWA survey GLEAM (Galactic Extragalactic All-sky configurations. The HI cross-shot noise contribution is marked as the dotted line assuming an average HI mass 109 h per optical galaxy. The noise in the cross-power spectrum is marked MWA survey) recorded 300,000 sources, taking data as the red solid lines, −2which are up to three orders of magnitudes smaller than the expected shot ⊙ simultaneously in 20 frequency bands between 72 and noise signal for both DINGO M surveys. (From Wolz et al. 2017) 231 MHz. PhD student Joseph Callingham (University of Sydney) has led an investigation looking for sources that peak in this data-rich region. To select their sources, Callingham’s team cross- matched the GLEAM catalogue with those of two other surveys, NVSS (NRAO VLA Sky Survey) and SUMSS (Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey). This identified 1,483 sources that peak between 72 MHz and 1.4 GHz. Seventy-three of these sources were known and had had their spectral peaks determined but 1,410 were completely new. Callingham’s team drew several conclusions from their rich haul. ƒƒ Some objects might have been active more than once. Six sources had spectra that peaked above 5 GHz, dipped then rose again at GLEAM frequencies. ƒƒ Steep-spectrum sources with a low-frequency peak may be likely to lie at high redshift (large distance). Previous studies had identified sources with a steeply Spectra of six sources in this study that have a convex falling spectrum and no peak. Callingham’s team pattern between 72 MHz and 1.4 GHz. Dark green diamonds found that a number of these sources peaked in and yellow hexagons depict data from the AT20G and TXS surveys, respectively. The blue circle in the inset plot highlights GLEAM frequencies. Where the redshift of these the position of each source in colour–colour diagram. (From sources was known, it was high (z > 2). Callingham et al. 2017) 14 CAASTRO 15 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

THE DYNAMIC UNIVERSE Determining galaxies’ true shapes with SAMI Theme Leader: Associate Professor Tara Murphy | The University of Sydney A galaxy’s shape reflects its history. The shape can sample from SAMI, more than three times bigger than indicate properties of the dark matter halo in which the that of any previous study. This larger sample makes it Theme Scientist: Dr Christene Lynch | University of Sydney galaxy formed. It will also be influence by mergers with possible to look for how a galaxy’s shape is related to other galaxies, and particular histories of star formation. other fundamental properties. Flares and flashes, pulses and bursts: the Dynamic In just a few years’ time, telescopes such as LSST Measuring the true shapes of galaxies will give us Foster and her team found that most galaxies in the Universe theme deals with rapid, dramatic events (the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) and the SKA insight into these processes. SAMI Galaxy Survey resemble squashed spheres (they in the Universe. These events take place on human (Square Kilometre Array) will be generating terabytes But it’s not an easy problem: indeed, it’s one are oblate axisymmetric). Faster-spinning galaxies are timescales, from milliseconds to years, and so can of data from sky surveys, every day. Picking out the astronomers have been trying to solve since the 1920s. flatter than their slower-spinning siblings. Among the be studied as they happen. During the seven years of best candidates for follow-up will have to be done The difficulty is that galaxies are scattered through spiral galaxies, which have disks of stars, the faster- CAASTRO’s existence the researchers in this theme by automated systems. In 2014 two CAASTRO PhD space at random angles. We don’t see them all face spinning ones have more circular disks. All this is in line have created new software and hardware tools, new students worked on projects that bring such systems on, for instance. So we don’t directly see their true, with theoretical predictions, but Foster’s work is the collaborations and new surveys, for studying these closer. One assessed how well an existing classifier, intrinsic shapes. Determining the shapes of elliptical first to demonstrate it from observations. fast-changing phenomena. Random Forest, performed on variable and transient X-ray sources, and pointed to directions for future galaxies is particularly hard. These are galaxies with When the SAMI Galaxy Survey is complete it will be The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) was completed in development. The second created a new classifier, significant thickness in three dimensions (they are more able to provide a sample twice as large as the one its initial form in 2013 and expanded in 2016. CAASTRO based on neural networks, for picking the best pulsar like footballs or squashed spheres than pancakes) and used for this work, allowing an even more detailed researchers have used it to put stringent low-frequency candidates from a set – potentially of millions. This their shape is defined by three axes at right angles to investigation of the relationship between a galaxy’s limits on slow transients and make exploratory low- classifier, SPINN (Straightforward Pulsar Identification each other. shape and its other properties. frequency observations of other phenomena, such as using Neutral Networks), was significantly better than A team led by Caroline Foster (University of Sydney) stellar flares (page 16). They have also made pioneering previous ones for this task. has now successfully tackled the problem of Publication observations of radio pulsars at low frequencies: for determining galaxy shapes, using a sample of 845 Foster, C., van de Sande, J., D’Eugenio, F., and 17 co- instance, in previous years they have shown that pulsars Worldwide, the landmark astronomical event of 2017 galaxies observed with SAMI (the Sydney–AAO authors, “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the intrinsic shape can be found not only by classical timing searches but was the merger of two neutron stars, GW170817. Multi-object Integral-field instrument) – in fact, drawn of kinematically selected galaxies”, Monthly Notices of also through their circular polarisation and even more This was the first event to be initially detected through from the SAMI Galaxy Survey (page 33). SAMI maps the Royal Astronomical Society, 472, 966 (2017) complex effects. MWA pulsar observations published the gravitational waves it created, and then through the interior motions of galaxies (their kinematics). For this year are described on page 17. electromagnetic radiation – light, radio waves and other elliptical galaxies in particular, we need this kinematic Classical, high-frequency observations of pulsars have wavelengths. It marks the start of multi-messenger information to reliably determine their intrinsic shapes. not been ignored. Many of our researchers have taken astronomy, in which gravitational waves will augment the information we get from the electromagnetic Foster’s team took the galaxies’ observed properties part in the long-running High Time Resolution Survey, spectrum. The LIGO–Virgo team announced the – how elliptical they appeared, and their kinematic conducted with CSIRO’s Parkes telescope. This survey The intrinsic shape of fast (left) and slow (right) rotators. gravitational-wave detection on 17 August 2017, information – and calculated what underlying recently found one of the most extreme binary pulsars The observed distribution of kinematic misalignments ψ triggering telescopes around the world into action. distribution of intrinsic properties would give rise to and global apparent ellipticity is shown in the top panels known (page 37). A CAASTRO researcher initiated The contributions of many CAASTRO members are those observations, assuming that we see galaxies with the observed (blue) and fitted (orange) smoothed another major Parkes survey, SUPERB (Survey for described on page 19 and a CAASTRO-led team’s from random angles. In the last few years, other groups and normalized distributions F(εψ) and F( ). In the lower Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts). panels, distributions shown in orange with thick and thin success in detecting and monitoring radio waves from have followed the same path to try to determine galaxy lines represent the 68 and 95 per cent probabilityε intervals, The still-mysterious fast radio bursts (FRBs) were the event is outlined more fully on page 39. Follow- shapes. But what sets this new work apart is the large respectively. (From Foster et al. 2017) discovered in 2007 with the Parkes telescope. The up observations of gravitational-wave events will be rate of discovery was initially slow but has picked major strand of work for one of CAASTRO’s successor up considerably during CAASTRO’s lifetime: at the institutions, OzGrav (the ARC Centre of Excellence end of 2014 just nine FRBs had been published, but for Gravitational-wave Discovery). With the end of three years later the number has risen to around 30. CAASTRO, the Dynamic Universe theme comes to a In 2015 a CAASTRO PhD student using Parkes made close, but the work it has pioneered continues. the first detection of an FRB in ‘real time’ (that is, as it happened, rather than by searching recorded data). Keen to make a mark in this new area of science, CAASTRO researchers upgraded the University of Sydney’s Molonglo radio telescope, relaunching it in 2015 as UTMOST, a telescope dedicated to observing FRBs and pulsars. They continue to work to improve its abilities to localise FRBs on the sky. Using UTMOST, a CAASTRO PhD student showed in 2016 that FRBs are definitely cosmic, not terrestrial, signals. Now another Australian telescope has entered the fray. CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder, which has taken shape during CAASTRO’s lifetime, has begun to find FRBs (page 32). Meanwhile, CAASTRO researchers have re-analysed the best existing FRB dataset and made it clear why more, and more uniform, observations are needed (page 18). UTMOST team | Credit: UTMOST 16 CAASTRO 17 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ramping up low-frequency pulsar observations

Three CAASTRO PhD students have led projects One explanation put forward for fast radio bursts pioneering low-frequency pulsar observations with the (page 15) is that at least some of them are super-giant Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) this year. All three pulses from extragalactic pulsars. Using their low- Stellar flares found through polarised emission projects used the MWA’s Voltage Capture System, frequency value of α for the Crab giant pulses, Meyer’s which allows raw voltages to be recorded directly from team suggests FRBs will be hard to detect at low M dwarfs are unassuming stars: small, dim and red. of metre-wave flare-star emission using a modern low- each of the telescope’s 128 tiles, with high resolution frequencies, if a giant-pulse origin is relevant. This is They are also plentiful. And, it’s now thought, they frequency interferometer. It is also the first instance of in both time and frequency (100 µs and 10 kHz bad news for the ‘giant pulse’ model. respectively). The data can then be reduced in whatever might be good places to look for habitable planets. stellar flares being seen in polarised emission but not in A low-frequency census of southern pulsars The dimming caused by a transiting planet would be total intensity. way best suits the project in hand. relatively easy to spot. Planets crowded close enough Pulsars were first discovered at a low frequency (81.5 Lynch’s team searched for, and found, linearly A ‘drifting carousel’ of pulsar subpulses MHz), yet of the ones we know now were found to the star could fall into its habitable zone, where polarised emission during the brightest of the water is liquid and life is possible. Radio pulsars were discovered 50 years ago, and at much higher frequencies. This is the result of a observed flares, indicating that this flare was yet the mechanism that produces their pulses is still trade-off: while pulsar signals are stronger at low But there’s another factor to consider. Some, perhaps elliptically polarised. The linear polarisation puts not completely understood. Sam McSweeney (Curtin frequencies, the signals are also broader, making them all, M dwarfs are prone to sudden, unpredictable a limit on the Faraday rotation occurring in the University) has investigated the phenomenon of harder to detect, and telescope system temperature changes in brightness called stellar flares. Like flares atmosphere of UV Ceti: the measured rotation sub-pulse drifting, which may hold clues. Sub-pulse is also higher, due to diffuse Galactic emission. But −2 on the Sun, they happen when magnetic field lines measure of 3.0 rad m implies a total Faraday drifting refers to substructures within individual pulses with the more-sensitive low-frequency telescopes reconnect, releasing stored energy. And, like solar rotation (at 154 MHz) of 12 radians. That the flares systematically changing their position in the pulse now operating, low-frequency pulsar observations flares, stellar flares carry energy at all wavelengths, are elliptically polarised suggests that electron phase over time (for instance, gradually moving from are more feasible. Low-frequency emission is from radio to X-rays. But a crucial difference is that cyclotron maser (ECM) emission is the mechanism the start of the pulse phase to the end). For this work thought to arise from higher altitudes in the pulsar’s M-dwarf flares can unleash 1,000 times as much at work. On this basis Lynch’s team calculated a McSweeney made new observations at 185 MHz of a magnetosphere, so multi-frequency observations allow energy as solar ones. And that’s not going to be good local magnetic field strength of 28 Gauss and a local bright single pulsar, PSR J0034−0721. Subpulses are us to model the magnetosphere and inform us about for life, particularly on planets without a protective electron density of n ≤ 7 x 107 cm−3, values that e thought to represent sub-beams caused by discrete beam geometry. Finding and studying pulsars is an magnetic field. With NASA’s TESS (Transiting accord well with previous estimates. emission regions that are stable over many pulsar important goal of the Square Kilometre Array, and the Exoplanet Survey Satellite) launching in 2018, it’s The rotational period of UV Ceti is unknown, but the rotations. In some cases they may be arranged in a MWA is a precursor for SKA-low, the low-frequency timely to learn more about M-dwarf flares. projected rotational velocity, ~ 30 km s-1, limits it to ‘carousel’ pattern centered on the pulsar’s magnetic SKA. CAASTRO PhD student Mengyao Xue (Curtin These flares have been well studied at radio frequencies less than 6.5 hr. The observations fit several periods axis and rotating around it. University) has used archival MWA data (at 185 MHz) of 1–4 GHz, but not much investigated below that. Plus, consistent with the limit, suggesting that the star’s An existing model explains the carousel’s circular to make a first census of southern pulsars already most observations have been made with single dishes, variability may be linked with its rotation. Follow-up motion but doesn’t predict the drift rates seen in known from high-frequency observations. not with interferometers, which can more easily sort observations will better constrain the flare period. some pulsars. PSR J0034−0721, for instance, has Xue’s team processed about 2.6 PB of data from true signals from radio-frequency interference. Dynamic 2 Publication a drift rate that varies over time; abrupt changes multiple projects, covering 17,000 deg , which is more Theme Scientist Christene Lynch (University of Sydney) result in different drift modes. In his project, than half the southern sky. The data were incoherently and collaborators explored this relatively uncharted Lynch, C. R., Lenc, E., Kaplan, D. L., Murphy, T., McSweeney characterised the drifting behavior of summed, to preserve the MWA’s large field of view, territory by observing the ‘classic’ flare star, UV Ceti, Anderson, G. E., “154 MHz Detection of Faint, PSR J0034−0721 with a small number of parameters. but at the cost of reduced sensitivity. The processing with the Murchison Widefield Array at 154 MHz. Polarized Flares from UV Ceti”, The Astrophysical He showed that the drift rate in this pulsar varies made use of the widefield pulsar pipeline (WIPP) that In four sets of observations, totalling about nine hours, Journal, 836, L30 (2017) gradually within individual drift modes, as well as Xue and her collaborators developed especially for this Lynch’s team detected four circularly polarised, low- Benz, A. O., Conway, J., & Gudel, M., “First VLBI sharply between them, and that the separation in time project: it automatically identifies and folds all known level flares from UV Ceti – but not in total intensity images of a main-sequence star”, Astronomy & between two sub-pulses appears to be correlated with (catalogued) pulsars in the field. images, only in the polarised (Stokes V) images, which Astrophysics, 331, 596 (1998) the pulsar’s rotation phase. Overall, he found that Even with just ~1–10% of the full array sensitivity, are ten times more sensitive. This is the first detection the drifting behavior of PSR J0034−0721 is even more than 50 pulsars were detected. The team is more complex than previously thought! However, his now reprocessing the data to realise a ten-fold boost observations also demonstrate for the first time that the in sensitivity, by forming a coherent beam on every MWA can produce high-quality single-pulse data. single pulsar within the sky visible to the MWA. This Spectral flattening of Crab Giant Pulses should lead to hundreds of pulsars being detected. Based on their MWA study, Xue’s team and her A second Curtin PhD student, Bradley Meyers, also collaborators estimate that Phase 1 of SKA-low will studied pulses from a single object: the well-known find ~9,400 pulsars, more than three times the Crab pulsar (PSR J0534+2200). This pulsar was number known to date. discovered through its ‘giant’ pulses, short bursts of emission that last less than 10 μs but which can be Publications thousands of times brighter than the ‘regular’ pulses. McSweeney, S. J., Bhat, N. D. R., Tremblay, S. Just six pulsars are known to exhibit ‘true’ giant E., Deshpande, A. A., Ord, S. M., “Low-frequency pulses, ones whose pulse energies follow a power-law Observations of the Subpulse Drifter PSR J0034−0721 ∝ να distribution with frequency (Sν ). The physics with the Murchison Widefield Array”, The Astrophysical behind giant pulses is unknown. Journal, 836:224 (2017) Meyers’ team made simultaneous wideband Meyers, B. W., Tremblay, S. E., Bhat, N. D. R., observations of the Crab giant pulses with the Parkes Shannon, R. M., Kirsten, F., Sokolowski, M., Tingay, radio telescope and the MWA. They showed, for the S. J., Oronsaye, S. I., Ord, S. M., “Spectral Flattening first time over a wide frequency range, that the average at Low Frequencies in Crab Giant Pulses”, The MWA Stokes I (top) and Stokes V spectrum of Crab giant pulses flattens significantly Astrophysical Journal, 851, 20 (2017) (bottom) images of the UV Ceti field, at low frequencies. The spectral index, α, for giant averaged over the 30 minutes before Xue, M., Bhat, N. D. R., Tremblay, S. E., Ord, S. M., (left) and during (right) the strongest pulses evolves from a steep, narrow distribution at high flare. The 1σ rms in the Stokes I image frequencies to (with a mean α = –2.6 and width Sobey, C., Swainston, N. A., Kaplan, D. L., Johnston, is 85 mJy and in the Stokes V image is S., Meyers, B. W., McSweeney, S. J., “A Census of σα = 0.5) to a wide, flat one at low frequencies (with a 2 mJy. (From Lynch et al. 2017) Southern Pulsars at 185 MHz”, Publications of the mean α = –0.7 and width σα = 1.4). No current model predicts this flattening. Astronomical Society of Australia, 34, e070 (2017) 18 CAASTRO 19 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Conquering the winner’s curse for fast radio bursts

CAASTRO astronomers have done the sums again Macquart and Ekers re-analysed the FRB population on mysterious cosmic radio bursts, finding that they using data from CSIRO’s Parkes telescope, which may have been more common earlier in the Universe’s has found more than half the known FRBs. All these CAASTRO helps detect landmark merger aftermath history than in recent times. detections were made using the telescope’s 13‑beam Twenty-five CAASTRO astronomers from eight Observations were made with other Australian facilities Fast radio bursts – millisecond blips of radio waves – receiver, which looks in 13 different directions simultaneously. The brighter an FRB is, the more likely institutions contributed to landmark observations this but, for a variety of reasons, they did not detect the were discovered in 2007. We still don’t know what year that brought gravitational-wave astronomy and source. On the theoretical side, CAASTRO Research they are. Suggestions have ranged from neutron stars it is to show up in more than one of the telescope’s ‘beams’, and so the fraction of multiple-beam conventional astronomy together for the first time. Staff member Ashley Ruiter (UNSW) and Associate imploding to a propulsion system for alien spacecraft! Investigator Ivo Seitenzahl (UNSW) contributed to Fortunately, we can examine the origins of FRBs just detections to single-beam detections directly measures On 17 August the Laser Interferometer Gravitational- the ratio of extremely bright bursts to fainter ones. A wave Observatory (LIGO) in the USA and the Virgo modelling of the electromagnetic transient. This by measuring how the number of bursts (N) varies with confirmed that, as predicted, the merger had created their apparent brightness (S). previous analysis based on this ratio had suggested that detector in Italy picked up a gravitational-wave signal the distribution is much shallower than the Euclidean from an event dubbed GW170817. The signals’ a kilonova, a transient event with specific spectral If the bursts come from relatively nearby galaxies, N value. However, Macquart and Ekers found that it is characteristics left little doubt that it had been produced characteristics. The work also pointed to neutron-star will have a specific relationship to S: it will follow a much easier to detect fainter FRBs in multiple beams by the merger of two neutron stars – exactly the kind mergers being the source of certain heavy elements, power law with an index of –3/2 (because the volume than had been supposed. of event LIGO and Virgo were expected to find. This including gold. of space increases as distance to the power 3 and the was the fourth gravitational-wave detection to follow GW170817 was detected during the second LIGO– brightness decreases to the power 2). An index of –3/2 To make a new estimate, Macquart and Ekers applied a maximum-likelihood technique developed in the 1970s the historic first one announced in 2016, and the first Virgo observing run. LIGO is now being made even suggests that the bursts are distributed in a manner one from a merging neutron-star binary. more sensitive. LIGO and Virgo will start their third that’s called ‘Euclidean’. However, the power-law index to measure the distribution of quasars in space. They found that the most likely N–S relationship for FRBs The LIGO–Virgo collaboration sent out an alert, triggering observing run in the second half of 2018. When they could be much larger than –3/2. If so, that would imply do, Australian telescopes will be ready and waiting. that the bursts probably originated further away, and was steeper than the Euclidean value. This suggests astronomers worldwide to train their telescopes on that the FRBs come from far off in the Universe and that the rate at which they occur has changed markedly the sky. The leader of CAASTRO’s Dynamic Universe Publications that, like quasars, they were more common earlier in theme, Associate Professor Murphy (University of over the lifetime of the Universe. Such a distribution Andreoni, I., Ackley, K., Cooke, J., and 122 co-authors, would be ‘non-Euclidean’. the life of the Universe. Sydney), roused her Australian team and asked for time on CSIRO’s Compact Array telescope, getting it almost “Follow Up of GW170817 and Its Electromagnetic The relationship between N and S has been a hot The Parkes FRB dataset has been the best available Counterpart by Australian-Led Observing Programmes”, to date but this work has highlighted some of the immediately. The team began observing as soon as the topic among astronomers studying FRBs, and so target area of sky rose over Australia. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, CAASTRO Advisory Board member Ron Ekers (CSIRO) difficulties of interpreting it. The more uniform 34, e069 (2017) and CAASTRO Associate Investigator Jean-Pierre observations now being made by telescopes such as Chile was the first country with the right kinds of the Australian SKA Pathfinder (page 32) will be free of telescopes to see the target area in darkness after the Smartt, S. J., Chen, T.-W., Jerkstrand, A., and 119 co- Macquart (ICRAR–Curtin University) decided to take a authors, “A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart fresh look at it. such problems. With their large fields of view, these event. Images taken 11 hours after the neutron-star telescopes will also detect more of the very bright merger showed a new optical source in the galaxy to a gravitational-wave source”, Nature, 551, 75 (2017) They found that existing estimates of the relationship FRBs, which will better define the distribution. NGC 4993, prompting other telescopes to zero in have been strongly influenced by the extreme on this region. Professor Murphy’s team worked in Publication brightness of the very first FRB discovered, the so- collaboration with observers using the Jansky Very called Lorimer Burst. The Lorimer Burst is an example Macquart, J.-P. & Ekers, R. D., “Fast radio burst Large Array (JVLA) radio telescope in the USA. Both of discovery bias, also known as the winner’s event rate counts – I. Interpreting the observations”, teams detected a radio source in NGC 4993. The curse, in which the first detected instance of a new Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, detection came some days after the neutron-star phenomenon is often highly unrepresentative of its 474, 1900 (2018) merger, as had been predicted. underlying population. Removing the Lorimer Burst from the population statistics makes a big difference to While the radio observations were under way, other estimates of the N–S relationship. CAASTRO astronomers had swung into action with optical telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory. Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) node used the SkyMapper telescope to carry out imaging and photometry (brightness measurements at specific wavelengths). The source was clearly seen through all six of SkyMapper’s colour filters. The ANU result, sent out to the astronomical community in the middle of the night, was the first reported multi-band photometry of the source. This team also carried out spectrometry with the ANU’s 2.3-m telescope at Siding Spring. At the same time, CAASTRO Associate Investigator Chris Lidman (AAO) was busy obtaining spectra with Maximum-likelihood source count slope. the robotic optical-fibre system, 2dF, on the 3.9-m The vertical dotted line denotes the Parkes completeness limit, and the horizontal Anglo-Australian Telescope. Lidman was able to start line indicates the Euclidean source observations just five minutes after the triggering alert count index. The error bars denote the came in, thanks to a new target of opportunity system 68 per cent confidence interval of each that works out the minimum number of optical fibres point, and are derived using the probability that need to be moved. distribution of Crawford et al. (1970). (From Macquart & Ekers 2018) 20 CAASTRO 21 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

THE DARK UNIVERSE OzDES publishes three-year results CAASTRO’s OzDES project reached a milestone this Theme Leader: Professor Tamara Davis | University of Queensland year, publishing the results of its first three years of Theme Scientist: Dr Cullan Howlett | University of Western Australia observations and making its first public release of data. OzDES is the Australian arm of the international Dark The Dark Theme tackles the forces that underpin the WiggleZ dataset, alone and in combination with lensing as a tool. In 2015 a PhD student devised direct Energy Survey (DES), which aims to elucidate the our very existence: the parameters of spacetime and other datasets, using it to test both the ‘standard shear mapping, which makes weak lensing possible nature of dark energy. DES is imaging 5,000 square gravity that make the Universe the way it is, and indeed model’ of cosmology and extensions of general with just one background galaxy. In 2016 another degrees of sky with its Dark Energy Camera (DECAM) make it possible at all. relativity. This year saw the publication of one of the student found a promising way to get the redshifts of on a 4-m telescope in Chile, and using these images the background galaxies, by cross-correlating lensing to investigate dark energy by measuring supernova What are dark energy and dark matter? What is last of CAASTRO’s WiggleZ papers, which detected the observations with a spectroscopic survey. distances, weak gravitational lensing (page 24), and the the correct description of gravity? These are simple BAO separately along the line of sight and perpendicular distribution of galaxies. The supernova measurements questions to ask, but we don’t yet have the answers. to it. In future, BAO surveys may also be done at radio A number of Dark Theme researchers are members of show how the expansion of the Universe changes over Over the course of CAASTRO, Dark Theme researchers wavelengths instead of with visible light. CAASTRO the international Dark Energy Survey (DES). In 2017, time: dark energy is the name given to the cause of have been working to understand them, by generating researchers have been exploring the new technique that DES completed several analyses of its first-year results, the acceleration. OzDES uses the AAT to measure the would underpin this, intensity mapping. one of which used weak lensing to construct the simulations and predictions, testing these against redshifts of the host galaxies of SNe Ia candidates that largest dark-matter map to date (page 24). groundbreaking datasets, and planning future projects. Peculiar velocity surveys DES identifies with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Measuring the expansion of the Universe The expanding and accelerating Universe drives galaxies Testing tensions between datasets Chile. Where possible they also confirm the candidates as supernovae, by obtaining spectra of the supernova In 1929, Edwin Hubble showed that the Universe is apart. At the same time matter, both ‘regular’ (baryonic) Much work by CAASTRO researchers has been aimed while it is live. expanding; in the 1990s, two teams showed that this and dark, generates gravity that draws neighbouring at reducing systematic (measurement) uncertainties of expansion is speeding up. Dark energy is the name galaxies together. Galaxy movements reflect both various kinds, often by combining datasets: two examples Observations are made with the 2dF (2-degree Field) we give to whatever is causing the acceleration. In these effects. If we measure galaxies’ velocities as well appear on page 23. But as measurements become more system, a robotic fibre positioner on the 4-m Anglo- 2011 CAASTRO CI Brian Schmidt shared the Nobel as their positions in space, we can test cosmological precise, discrepancies between results from different Australian Telescope (AAT), and its counterpart Prize for that discovery. The two teams in the ‘90s models, including theories of gravity, by examining how datasets become more stark. A CAASTRO-led team spectrograph, AAOmega. 2dF accesses an area of got their evidence by using a special class of exploding fast the structure in the Universe is growing. has investigated in detail one of the most striking cases, sky that matches DECam’s field of view. OzDES was star, Type Ia supernovae. They worked with just 52 This is the role of peculiar-velocity surveys, which making the first ‘blind’ analysis of the Hubble constant allocated 100 nights of observing time on the AAT over supernovae; since then astronomers have searched tease apart the galaxy motions due to the expanding (page 27). Two other CAASTRO papers this year examine six years; observations began in 2013 and will finish for more, to better measure the acceleration. Two Universe and those caused by local gravity. In 2014 tensions between different types of data, and whether in 2018. The project’s key innovation is to measure CAASTRO projects, the SkyMapper Transient Survey a CAASTRO-led team released the largest sample of those tensions can be resolved by more complicated the redshift of the host galaxy, rather than that of the and OzDES, are part of that effort. SkyMapper has peculiar velocities to date, a subset of almost 9,000 cosmological models (page 25). (quickly fading) supernova itself. Since the redshift of found over 60 nearby supernovae while OzDES+DES objects from the 6-degree-Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS). the hosts can be obtained at any time after the SNe Other developments have spectroscopically confirmed over 300 distant The size of this survey allowed researchers to test for are discovered, one can use the 400 fibres of 2dF supernovae. Most excitingly, OzDES+DES have the first time if our local region is representative of Astroparticles have also been in the Dark Theme’s to obtain the redshifts of hundreds of host galaxies obtained the redshifts of over 5,000 galaxies that the Universe as a whole, and whether our standard remit. Our researchers have constrained neutrino simultaneously rather than one at a time. They have hosted supernovae or other transients, which will cosmological model correctly predicts galaxy masses and modelled the self-annihilation of dark pioneered a technique of efficiently targeting very faint soon enable an entirely new level of detail in the movements. CAASTRO researchers have carried out matter. The joint workshops we have held with CoEpp objects by repeatedly visiting the same fields, and measurement of dark energy (page 21). several analyses of this dataset; two published in 2017 (the ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics moving fibres to new objects as soon as enough signal are described on page 23. at the Terascale) have helped foster an astroparticle to noise has been gathered. Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are used for such work physics community in Australia. CAASTRO researchers because they all have essentially the same brightness. In 2013 a large CAASTRO team ran comprehensive Such advantages are reflected in OzDES’s performance are helping prepare for the southern hemisphere’s first figures. By the end of 2017 OzDES had measured But how uniform are they really? In 2012 CAASTRO simulations to demonstrate how well two planned experiment to directly detect dark matter. Called SABRE researchers confirmed that SNe Ia allow distances to be Australian peculiar-velocity surveys, Taipan and 26,000 redshifts by stacking over 100,000 spectra. (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection), this By revisiting the ten DES fields at monthly intervals, measured with an accuracy of 4 per cent, and are still WALLABY, would be able to test gravity and dark will be run at an underground laboratory in Victoria. the best ‘standard candles’. However, in 2014 other energy. That work is now reaching fulfillment, with OzDES has been able to measure redshifts for objects CAASTRO researchers found that SNe Ia progenitors WALLABY observations beginning in 2017 and Taipan Dark Theme researchers, like those in CAASTRO’s usually considered too faint for a 4-m telescope (down vary significantly in mass, suggesting there may be due to start in 2018. other themes, have been developing the machine- to r-band magnitude of 25): it exceeds the performance more than one path leading to these explosions. learning systems now essential for large surveys, both of some projects on 8-m class telescopes (for example Gravitational lensing photometric and spectroscopic. This year CAASTRO VIPERS, the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Baryon acoustic oscillations Less than a fifth of all the matter in the Universe is the contributed to multidisciplinary work on how to make Survey). In total, the OzDES team has redshifts for Our astronomers have also addressed dark energy familiar (baryonic) kind; the rest is invisible dark matter. machine learning more efficient (page 31). over 5,000 galaxies that hosted supernovae or other through by studying the large-scale distribution of To map the mass in the Universe we need a technique CAASTRO is coming to a close, but work begun in the transients, and has spectroscopically confirmed over galaxies. Sound waves travelling through the early that doesn’t rely on seeing it. Weak gravitational lensing Dark Theme will go on. Our researchers will continue to 300 supernovae. Universe were ‘frozen’ into the distribution of galaxies fits the bill. Foreground galaxies, those nearer to us, participate in the Dark Energy Survey and OzDES looks OzDES has also broken new ground by monitoring as the young Universe expanded and cooled, leaving bend light coming from more distant ones, distorting set to conclude successfully. Exciting new Australian a sample of 771 AGN (active galactic nuclei), a pattern (baryon acoustic oscillations or BAO) their images. This distortion is usually slight but can be surveys, Taipan and WALLABY, are just beginning, and galaxies with active black holes at their centres. that can still be detected today. The WiggleZ Dark detected statistically. Different cosmological models will build on work carried out in the Dark Theme. What The most distant of these has a redshift of 4.5. The Energy Survey, carried out with the Anglo-Australian predict different distributions of mass, and so weak are dark energy and dark matter? What is the correct monitoring is aimed at measuring the masses of the Telescope, was designed to detect the BAO pattern. gravitational lensing can distinguish between them. description of gravity? We have not yet arrived at the black holes through reverberation mapping, which CAASTRO researchers have made many analyses of CAASTRO researchers have helped develop weak answers, but we are further along the road. depends on a time lag in the signal received from 22 CAASTRO 23 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

different parts of the AGN. When OzDES began, Peculiar-velocity surveys Reducing uncertainties through only about 60 black holes had had their masses cross-correlation measured this way. Excitingly, it may prove to be Measuring bulk flows possible to use reverberation mapping to estimate Caitlin Adams and Chris Blake (both of an AGN’s true luminosity. This would open the way Space is expanding. Galaxies, carried along with it, from the standard cosmological model. The error of the move further apart. This Hubble flow accounts for bulk flow determined from the combined dataset is about Swinburne University) have also measured to using AGN as ‘standard candles’ (sources of a fσ , but with a different approach. Peculiar known brightness), giving us another way to measure most of their motion. But it’s not the whole story. 30 per cent less than that of the 6dFGSv dataset alone, 8 velocities are particularly suited for the expansion of the Universe at high redshifts. Galaxies are also pulled together by gravity, and this making this bulk-flow measurement the most accurate to determining structures on large scales. OzDES is also spectroscopically monitoring other gives them another component of motion, their peculiar date. This work also highlights how a survey’s degree of sky However, their uncertainties grow with transients, obtaining redshifts that can be used to velocities. On small scales, galaxies feel the tug of their coverage can introduce bias and systematic errors – valuable distance, so their usefulness is limited train a machine-learning system for photometric near neighbours. On larger scales, cluster of galaxies information for the forthcoming Taipan survey. are reeled in by the gravity of superclusters – large to low redshift. Calculating fσ from just classification, and using galaxies’ redshifts to Publication 8 determine their membership of clusters. concentrations of matter, both visible ‘ordinary’ matter peculiar velocities over a small volume of and the unseen dark matter. The wholesale motion of Qin, F., Howlett, C., Staveley-Smith, L., Hong, T., “Bulk space gives the measurement a minimum By its second year of operations OzDES had began galaxies towards superclusters is called bulk flow. flow in the combined 2MTF and 6dFGSv surveys,” Monthly uncertainty, one intrinsic to the size of the accumulating redshifts at a steady rate of 0.1 redshifts Bulk flows provide a way to measure the total mass of Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. survey. But uncertainty can be reduced per fibre hour. In their three-year results paper, (that is, the measurement made more Childress et al. predict that OzDES will net a total of superclusters, and so tell us how mass is distributed Constraining the growth rate of structure on large scales. Different cosmological models predict precise) by using information about how 5,700 supernova-host redshifts (barring bad weather). In related work, Cullan Howlett (ICRAR–UWA) used the peculiar different distributions; measuring bulk flows can peculiar velocities are correlated with They also forecast the numbers that can be expected velocities from the 2MTF survey to constrain the growth rate of distinguish between them. another observable. from future multi-object spectrographic surveys. structure, fσ , in the local Universe. fσ quantifies how fast the 8 8 Adams and Blake have done this, OzDES’s first data release (DR1), issued along with the To measure bulk flows, we have to compare two web of matter in the Universe is growing. Gravity dictates this establishing how peculiar velocities are three-year results paper, consists of 14,693 redshifts kinds of distance measurement, for many thousands of rate of growth and different theories of gravity predict different correlated with the galaxy clustering. of many types of galaxies; however, it excludes those galaxies. One measurement comes from redshift (the rates. To measure fσ , Howlett and his collaborators used the 8 Previous work with these two kinds of data of supernova host galaxies, which will be released with stretching of wavelengths of light as space expands) peculiar velocities from 2MTF to construct a velocity power future DES analyses. A final redshift catalogue will be while the other is derived from a galaxy’s internal spectrum, a more complex way to capture velocity information had involved determining peculiar velocities released soon after the survey finishes and a final data properties. Comparing the two for a galaxy indicates any than the bulk flow, and one that incorporates information about from galaxy clustering or vice versa, and release, including OzDES spectra, will be made some deviation from the Hubble flow and hence the galaxy’s smaller spatial scales. comparing these ‘reconstructed’ fields peculiar velocity. Combining such measurements for with the observed ones. However, this time after that. Howlett’s team’s values for fσ (calculated for different thousands of galaxies measures bulk flows. However, 8 ‘reconstruction’ technique doesn’t allow scales) were consistent with general relativity. The tight Publication both kinds of distance measurement can be subject to you to test if the growth rate of structure is constraints they were able to obtain on their results highlight systematic errors. This year Fei Qin and Cullan Howlett independent of scale, which is what general Childress, M. J., Lidman, C., Davis, T. M. and 98 co- the strength of peculiar-velocity surveys. A future survey such (both ICRAR–UWA) and their collaborators looked at relativity predicts. authors, “OzDES multifibre spectroscopy for the Dark as Australia’s WALLABY, which will obtain large numbers of how to reduce such errors. The work is timely because Energy Survey: 3-yr results and first data release”, both galaxy redshifts and peculiar velocities, will be able to Adams and Blake have introduced a new Australia is now embarking on two of the new ‘next Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, measure fσ more precisely than traditional surveys of large- approach. Rather than reconstructing one generation’ peculiar-velocity surveys, the optical survey 8 472, 273 (2017) scale structure. field from another, they have modelled Taipan (which will measure velocities for ~50,000 how the two fields are correlated (their galaxies) and the radio survey WALLABY (which, with Publication its northern-hemisphere counterpart, will measure covariance). This correlation is then used in a Howlett, C., Staveley-Smith, L., Elahi, P. J., Hong, T., Jarrett, velocities for ~30,000 galaxies). maximum likelihood method to constrain the T. H., Jones, D. H., Koribalski, B. S., Macri, L. M., Masters, K. growth rate of structure. The mathematical For their study, Qin et al. drew on the 6dFGSv and L., Springob, C. M., “2MTF – VI. Measuring the velocity power expression for the covariance was published 2MTF surveys (the 6-degree-Field Galaxy Survey and spectrum”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, many years ago (Fisher 1995) but had not the 2MASS Tully-Fisher survey respectively). 6DFGSv 471, 3135 (2017) previously been applied to data. Adams goes deep and is also the largest of the current- and Blake used the method on data from generation peculiar-velocity surveys, with ~9,000 Measured bulk flow amplitudes and the prediction of ΛCDM (the the 6-degree-Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS), galaxies; however, it covers only the southern sky. The standard cosmological model). The solid line indicates the most probable obtaining an uncertainty on fσ of 15 per 2MTF survey is shallower and covers fewer galaxies, bulk flow and the blue (yellow) dashed lines the 1σ (2σ) values. Filled 8 cent. The value of fσ itself they found to but has wider coverage. The researchers combined circles are from the new work by Qin et al.; other values are: H14 – 8 be consistent with general relativity. While the two, creating a sample of ~11,000 galaxies. This Hong et al. (2014); W09 – Watkins et al. (2009); S16 – Scrimgeour et al. (2016); C11 – Colin et al. (2011); T12 – Turnbull et al. (2012); N11 the uncertainty only slightly bettered that of increased the effective depth over 2MTF alone, and – Nusser & Davis (2011); D11 – Dai et al. (2011). (From Qin et al.) decreased the bias that 6dFGSv creates by covering previous work, Adams and Blake’s method only one hemisphere. (In their paper, Qin et al. show can easily be expanded and improved. Like how this bias has affected previous peculiar-velocity the other peculiar-velocity work discussed measurements.) Combining the datasets improves the above, it will be valuable for new, large estimate of bulk flow and cosmological parameters. surveys such as Taipan and WALLABY. To analyse this data, Qin et al. developed a new Publications maximum-likelihood method for estimating peculiar Comparison of OzDES–DR1 against outcomes for other major velocities. Given a cosmological model, the estimator Adams, C. & Blake, C., “Improving redshift surveys. The average redshift surface density of calculates the peculiar velocity (or rather, a proxy for it) constraints on the growth rate of structure the survey is plotted against total number of redshifts in the for each galaxy; these values are then compared with by modelling the density-velocity cross- OzDES fields, with the size of each point corresponding to correlation in the 6dF Galaxy Survey”, the median redshift of the survey in our fields. OzDES-DR1 the measured values. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical represents the second highest number of redshifts produced Qin et al. tested their new technique on mock in these fields, with a surface density approaching that of Society, 471, 839 (2017) surveys on larger (8-m class) telescopes. As time progresses, catalogues and then applied it to the two datasets, this point will move further up and to the right, as shown by both individually and combined. All their bulk flow Fisher K. B., 1995, The Astrophysical the dotted line. (From Childress et al. 2017) measurements were consistent with the predictions Journal, 448, 494 24 CAASTRO 25 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

The biggest dark-matter map to date

An international team with CAASTRO members has the map with information about galaxy clustering, then made the largest and most accurate map to date of the cranked the handle. It turns out that the Universe’s distribution of mass in the Universe, and used it to test adult likeness is what the standard model predicts the the standard model of cosmology. This model, just two Planck image should evolve into. decades old, has the Universe dominated by dark energy The nature of dark energy is still being explored. A and cold dark matter. ‘Ordinary’ (baryonic) matter runs a strong contender is a cosmological constant – that is, poor third, accounting for less than five per cent of the an entity with a value that does not change over time. Universe’s matter-energy content. The DES team tested both the standard cosmological DISCOVER We can test this model by predicting how the Universe model (which has a dark-energy term equal to –1) and changes over time. Courtesy of the Planck satellite, a variant of this. The standard model had the edge. we have a detailed ‘baby photo’ of the Universe, an Two points about the analysis are worth noting. image of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) First, to prevent confirmation bias – the tendency to taken just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The CMB choose free parameters to achieve the ‘right’ result is slightly irregular, and its irregularities are the seeds Testing tensions between datasets – most of the analysis was carried out ‘blind’, with that grew into galaxies. We can apply the ‘standard the actual numerical values obscured by offsets. model’, including general relativity, to this picture and Different datasets give different results for certain structure and compared that with data from the Dark Second, combining galaxy clustering with weak lensing predict how the grown-up Universe should look now; cosmological parameters. Where measurement Energy Survey, the South Pole Telescope and Planck. significantly reduces the effect of systematic errors then we can test the prediction against how it actually uncertainties are large, those discrepancies can be (in redshifts, for instance), and gives more precise The inferred expansion histories showed that most of does look now. This sounds simple. But the trick is that waved away. But as measurements have become more cosmological information than can be obtained with the datasets used are consistent with one another and because most of the matter in the Universe is dark, an precise, we have started looking for ways to explain either method alone. with standard cosmological model; however, tension accurate map of the Universe has to show where that the differences. Are they the result of systematic remains for measurements of the Hubble constant. Remarkably, the dark-matter map was constructed from dark matter is. The international Dark Energy Survey (measurement) errors? Or do they point to new physics Together, the datasets tightly constrain the expansion just the first year of data from DES, which is now in its team has made such a map, using a phenomenon called beyond cosmology’s standard model? Two papers history, restricting the range of viable alternatives fifth year of observations. DES’s final map will cover three gravitational lensing. led by Shahab Joudaki (Swinburne) this year have to the standard model. The derived growth rate of times as much area and encompass 300 million galaxies. The gravitational pull of matter bends the path of any examined the tensions between different datasets. structure was also consistent with the standard model. light passing by. As a result, foreground galaxies (which Publication In the first work, Joudaki and his collaborators looked In addition, the researchers constrained the density of dark energy with a precision of two per cent at z = 0 contain both normal and baryonic matter) bend the light DES collaboration, “Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: at the different distributions of matter implied by a and roughly ten per cent by z = 1, and found it to from galaxies further away, distorting their images. Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and weak gravitational lensing survey, KiDS (Kilo Degree be constant across redshift (that is, consistent with a The distortion can be used to map the distribution of Weak Lensing”, arXiv e-print 1708.01530 Survey), and measurements of the cosmic microwave cosmological constant). When data are available from foreground masses. Using its 570-million-pixel Dark background made with the Planck satellite. They tried the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a US Energy Camera (DECAM), the Dark Energy Survey to resolve the discrepancy by extending the standard project starting in 2018, they will tighten these results (DES) team has precisely measured the shapes of the cosmological model with factors such as massive by up to a factor of four. images of 26 million galaxies, over a thirtieth of the neutrinos, a non-zero curvature of space, evolving dark whole sky, and used these measurements to map the The dark-matter map constructed by the Dark Energy Survey. The dark-matter density is high in red regions, low in blue energy, and modified gravity, both separately and in Publications distribution of dark matter. This map is as detailed as ones. Image credit: Chihway Chang of the Kavli Institute for combination. They also modelled systematic effects in the CMB image from Planck, allowing the two images Joudaki, S., Mead, A., Blake, C., and 16 co-authors, Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago and the weak lensing itself. to be directly compared. The researchers supplemented DES collaboration. “KiDS-450: testing extensions to the standard Changes to the lensing systematics didn’t affect the cosmological model”, Monthly Notices of the Royal discrepancy between KiDS and Planck, and neither Astronomical Society, 471, 1259 (2017) did most of the extensions to cosmology. One that Joudaki, S., Kaplinghat, M., Keeley, R., Kirkby, D., +70˚ +60˚ +50˚ +40˚ +30˚ +20˚ +10˚ 0˚ +350˚ +340˚ did was a time-dependent equation of state for dark “Model independent inference of the expansion history energy. This both reconciled the KiDS and Planck and implications for the growth of structure”, arXiv measurements and was moderately favoured (over e-print 1710.04236 the standard model) by the combined dataset. It also aligned measurements of the Hubble constant made in -30˚ the local Universe with those derived from Planck data (page 27). But it’s too early to celebrate: this time- varying dark energy was at odds with results from at

Density of Matter least three galaxy surveys. In a second investigation, Joudaki worked with a different set of co-authors to infer how the Universe had expanded over time, and how structure had grown within it, without drawing on any specific cosmological -40˚ model. To do this, the researchers applied a procedure called Gaussian process regression to several types of data (galaxy and quasar distances, local measurements of the Hubble constant, observations of Type Ia supernovae and measurements of the cosmic microwave background), in various combinations. This gave a number of different expansion histories. For each history, the researchers then calculated the rate of growth of -50˚ 26 CAASTRO 27 Galaxy Convention, December 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 Credit: Nick Smith

National Innovation Priority – Research FIRST ‘BLINDED’ ANALYSIS OF THE HUBBLE CONSTANT

A new analysis has removed confirmation bias from the The analysis incorporated two other procedures not

determination of the Hubble Constant, H0. used in any previous determination of H0 from SNe Ia. One was to fit for all 16 of the necessary parameters The Hubble constant, H0, measures the expansion rate of the local Universe; it therefore determines the simultaneously. The other was to handle the systematic cosmic distance scale. It relates the expansion velocity uncertainties in the SNe Ia data using a covariance of a galaxy, v, to its distance, D: matrix method, as has been done in recent supernova cosmology analyses. Systematic uncertainties, v = H0D. including those arising from calibration uncertainties, This simple equation hides a world of complexity, can be correlated between supernovae; covariance mainly because cosmic distances are hard to measure matrices track how observables vary together with accurately. each systematic. The value of H revealed by this analysis was Two reliable methods for measuring H0 are using 0 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) together with Cepheid 72.5±3.1(statistical uncertainty) ± 0.77(systematic variables (pulsating stars whose periods are related to uncertainty) km s-1 Mpc-1, which is in excellent their luminosities), and using the cosmic microwave agreement with that of both R11 (after adjusting for background (CMB), assuming a cosmological model. a new distance to NGC 4258) and E14. The total Reiss et al. have published analyses of the first type, uncertainty, however, was larger: 4.4% in total, as -1 -1 compared to 3.3% in R11 and 3.4% in E14. This larger in 2011 (H0 = 73.8±2.4 km s Mpc ) and in 2016 -1 -1 uncertainty lessens the difference with the value of H (H0 = 73.0±1.8 km s Mpc ). These are based 0 on hundreds of SNe Ia, calibrated by observations derived from the CMB, but does not erase it. There is of dozens of Cepheid variables in each of their host still a question to be answered here. galaxies. The Planck Collaboration has published much Having tested the validity of their analytical approach, lower values of H0 based on the CMB, most recently Zhang’s team will now apply it to the larger dataset -1 -1 in 2016 (H0 = 67.8±0.9 km s Mpc ). Does this from Riess et al. 2016.

difference in H0 arise from a systematic error in one or CASE both of the measurements, or does it signal that we are assuming the wrong cosmology in the CMB value? Publication As a step towards answering this question, Bonnie Zhang (ANU) and her collaborators have re-analysed Zhang, B. R., Childress, M. J., Davis, T. M., Karpenka, STUDIES the dataset used by Riess et al. (2011) (R11 for short). N. V., Lidman, C., Schmidt, B. P., Smith, M., “A blinded determination of H from low-redshift Type Ia supernovae, This dataset is well understood, having been also been 0 re-analysed by Efstathiou et al. (2014) (E14), and was calibrated by Cepheid variables”, Monthly Notices of the ideal for testing the validity of a new approach. Royal Astronomical Society, 471, 2254 (2017)

The local values of H0 derived from SNe Ia do not depend on a cosmological model, but they may depend on certain choices made in the analysis (for example, any cuts to remove Cepheid outliers). Zhang and her collaborators wanted to carefully explore the analysis procedure itself, particularly the fitting procedures and the handling of uncertainties. They specifically wanted to eliminate confirmation bias – the tendency to shape the analysis to produce the ‘right’ result – so they

chose to the do the first ‘blinded’ determination of 0H based on SNe Ia observations. This involved injecting offsets (unknown to the researchers, but retrievable) into two degenerate variables in the analysis, including

H0. When the analysis was completed but the value

of H0 still obscured, Zhang’s team submitted their paper for review. Once the paper was accepted for publication, they retrieved the offsets, determining a

value for H0. 28 CAASTRO 29 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – Research CONFRONTING THE EPOCH OF REIONISATION

A team using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is is, between us and the EoR). These sources are ~105 one of several around the world striving to explore the stronger than the EoR signal itself. The MWA EoR team last big gap in the Universe’s timeline. has put a large part of its effort into characterising and The Universe’s ‘unknown years’ stretch from the era modelling foregrounds, and determining how they can be of the cosmic microwave background (~300,000 best removed from the data. The team has also studied years after the Big Bang) to about a billion years after other ‘external’ phenomena that impinge on the data, the Big Bang. During this time, space was filled with such as the behaviour of the ionosphere, ‘interplanetary a light-absorbing fog of hydrogen atoms, a barrier scintillation’ (the ‘twinkling’ of radio sources caused by to conventional observations. But we can simulate the solar wind, p. 35) and radio-frequency interference; what must have happened. Within the fog, matter and it has addressed a variety of processes that affect collapsed, forming the first stars (or perhaps black data quality: calibration processes, observing modes, holes). High-energy radiation emitted by these stars antenna performance, and the development of robust gnawed away the fog, turning it from the light- pipelines. Throughout, team members have been passing absorbing hydrogen atoms to ionised hydrogen, on their experience and results to the SKA project. unbound electrons and ions, through which light During 2016–2017 the MWA EoR team has been focused passes freely. This transformation gives the period its on data quality, instrument models and sky models. name: the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). CAASTRO members have made major contributions: Observing the EoR was previously impossible. It is ƒƒ Chris Jordan (Curtin University) led a detailed study only now coming into the realm of the possible, as of ionospheric conditions at the MWA site (the technology advances. Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory). Jordan’s A key tool we have for observing the hydrogen fog is team identified a number of classes of ionospheric the radio waves emitted and absorbed by the hydrogen activity, measured how often those conditions apply, atoms themselves. This radiation, 21 cm long, is and determined how they affect EoR data stretched by the expanding Universe, and has a much ƒƒ Jack Line (University of Melbourne) and collaborators longer wavelength (hence a lower frequency) by the published the Positional Update and Matching time it reaches Earth. Studying it will give us a detailed Algorithm (PUMA), the primary software developed view of the density, temperature and velocity variations by the MWA EoR team to cross-match information in the neutral hydrogen. This in turn will tell us how and from different catalogues to form the best EoR when the first galaxies formed. foreground and calibration sky model To image the EoR – to actually see the hydrogen fog ƒƒ Steven Murray (Curtin University) and collaborators being eroded – we’ll need the sensitivity of the world’s examined how the clustering of foreground sources largest-ever radio telescope, the Square Kilometre affected the EoR power spectrum. They found that, Array (SKA). The design of the SKA is well under way. under some circumstances, a failure to account for Meanwhile, low-frequency radio telescopes such as spatial clustering could lead to a false detection (that is, the MWA and the northern-hemisphere Low-Frequency misinterpreting a foreground signal as the EoR signal) Array (LOFAR) are pioneering technologies and ƒƒ Bart Pindor (University of Melbourne) studied the observing procedures for the SKA. The MWA was the MWA instrument bandpass (how the telescope’s first completed ‘SKA precursor’: an SKA technology response varies with frequency) and explored ways demonstrator on one of the sites intended for the SKA. to correct for it Current telescopes are not sensitive enough to image ƒƒ Pietro Procopio (University of Melbourne) led work the EoR. But the MWA EoR team is striving to detect exploring how closely-spaced double radio sources the EoR statistically, or at least put limits on its in the foreground affected EoR data calibration and characteristics. By measuring the intensity of the 21- analysis, and how to counter their effects cm radio signal at many locations over the sky (and at ƒƒ Cathryn Trott (Curtin University) showed that different distances along the line of sight) we can obtain wavelets, a technique commonly used in image a statistical measure of the structure of the hydrogen processing, could be applied to EoR data to both gas: a ‘power spectrum’ that relates the intensity of the make it easier to disentangle the EoR signal from the emission to the scale of features in the gas. foreground and localise the signal in space. The first 128 tiles of the MWA began operating in Both the consortium that operates the MWA and the 2012 and observations for the MWA EoR experiment EoR team specifically are multinational collaborations Global simultaneous fits to all SNe Ia and Cepheid data. began in 2013. By the end of 2017, the MWA EoR involving many institutions. The connections and (From Zhang et al. 2017 team had collected four and half years of data, over resources provided by CAASTRO have helped three observing fields. researchers learn quickly about how the MWA responds During this time the team has had to address many as instrument, and have facilitated the national and challenges. The main one is the presence of Galactic international collaborations. and extragalactic radio sources in the foreground (that 30 CAASTRO 31 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – Interdisciplinary research CUTTING THE COST OF MACHINE LEARNING

A cross-disciplinary team has evaluated ways to reduce effort is spectacular; however, a three-fold benefit from the size of training sets for machine learning, which is active learning is more typical. Four observations with the Murchison Widefield an essential technique for large astronomical surveys. Most of the heuristics performed similarly: the researchers Array, showing ionospheric offsets overlaid on the reconstructed scalar fields of total electron count. The first data release from the SkyMapper Main therefore suggested that the simplest to compute, The colour scale for each plot is in units of 1016 m−2. Survey, issued in June this year, encompassed ~300 confidence, is a good default choice. The combining The ionospheric offsets are colour-coded according million unique astrophysical objects. This is typical of algorithms also had little to separate them. Bandit to their directions and scaled by a factor of 60. (From the numbers of objects astronomical surveys are now algorithms are more difficult to work with, as they require Jordan et al. 2017) detecting – numbers that are far beyond what even a dataset to be hived off for computing the effectiveness the most dedicated postdocs can eyeball and interpret. of each heuristic the algorithm deploys. The team These large surveys instead rely on machine learning: therefore favours using a simple rank aggregator. algorithms for classifying sources that learn from a Following this comparison of methods, Wolf and carefully assembled training set of objects. colleagues will explore the benefits of active learning Creating a training set usually requires significant for astronomy in particular. human effort. The CAASTRO-led Radio Galaxy Zoo In astronomy, data for developing training sets is most project, for instance, has created a training set for likely to be obtained as a component of surveys that the EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe) survey, have other primary scientific goals. An example is using the voluntary labour of more than 10,000 citizen the recent 2dFLenS survey carried out on the Anglo- scientists. Not all astronomy projects will be able to Australian Telescope, using the 2dF optical-fibre draw on such a workforce, so it is vital to find ways to positioner. A third of the fibres were not being used for cut down the size of an effective training set and the the primary science objective and so, in a sub-project cost and effort of compiling it. led by Wolf, they were used to obtain a good random The traditional way to construct a training set – passive sample for training sets. These training sets will be learning – is to select at random instances from a large used for the SkyMapper Southern Survey to identify pool of data, classify them, and continue doing this quasars and distinguish between stars and galaxies. until the set reaches a certain size, or the classifying The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope in Chile, with its algorithm reaches a certain level of performance. But huge light-collecting capacity, will start operations in the even classifications by experts vary in the amount of early 2020s. In this era, training sets will need to include information they carry: some choices are more valuable fainter objects. That would usually make them costlier, for training than others. Cases that are hard to classify but the cost could be contained by using active learning. could be more valuable than those that are easy, for example. Picking valuable cases for a training set is called active learning. Several active-learning heuristics Publication (picking procedures) have been developed, and they Tran, A., Ong, C. S., Wolf, C., “Combining active learning can be used individually or combined in various ways. suggestions”, PeerJ Computer Science (submitted) Bandit algorithms (a term derived from poker machines) combine heuristics sequentially, while rank aggregators combine them in parallel. Machine learning can be applied to many fields, but data from one field (such as biology) may differ greatly from that in another (such as astronomy). In a cross- disciplinary exploration, CAASTRO’s Christian Wolf Publications (ANU) has worked with machine-learning experts from ANU (The Australian National University) and Jordan, C. H., Murray, S., Trott, C. M., Wayth, R. B., Procopio, P., Wayth, R. B., Line, J., Trott, C. M., CSIRO Data61 to evaluate the performance of active- Mitchell, D. A., Rahimi, M., Pindor, B., Procopio, P., Intema, H. T., Mitchell, D. A., Pindor, B., Riding, learning techniques on 12 diverse datasets. Eleven Morgan, J., “Characterization of the ionosphere above J., Tingay, S. J., Bell, M. E., Callingham, J. R., of these were drawn from the UCI Machine Learning the Murchison Radio Observatory using the Murchison Dwarakanath, K. S., For, B.-Q., Gaensler, B. M., Repository while the twelfth was astronomical, 2.8 Widefield Array”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Hancock, P. J., Hindson, L., Hurley-Walker, N., million spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Johnston-Hollitt, M., Kapińska, A. D., Lenc, E., Astronomical Society, 471, 3974 (2017) (SDSS). The researchers ran repeated trials to assess McKinley, B., Morgan, J., Offringa, A., Staveley-Smith, the performance of eight individual active-learning Line, J. L. B., Webster, R. L., Pindor, B., Mitchell, D. L., Wu, C., Zheng, Q., “A High-Resolution Foreground heuristics and compare them to passive learning. A., Trott, C. M., “PUMA: The Positional Update and Model for the MWA EoR1 Field: Model and Implications Matching Algorithm”, Publications of the Astronomical for EoR Power Spectrum Analysis”, Publications of the The trials showed that active learning can perform Society of Australia, 34, e003 (2017) Astronomical Society of Australia, 34, e033 (2017) much better than passive learning when the dataset is large. For the SDSS dataset, for example, one of The performance of learning systems (accuracy achieved, Y-axis) Murray, S. G., Trott, C. M., Jordan, C. H., “An Trott, C. M., “Exploring the evolution of reionization the new tools was able to classify with 87 per cent plotted against the size of the training set (X-axis), for the Improved Statistical Point-source Foreground Model for using a wavelet transform and the light cone effect”. accuracy when its training set reached a size of 200, astronomical (SDSS) dataset used in the study. Passive learning is in the Epoch of Reionization”, The Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, blue; the other curves show three active learning procedures. The top while passive learning reached this mark only after 845, 7 (2017) 461, 126 (2016) dotted line indicates the maximum performance achieved by using the set reached 1000. A five-fold reduction in training the entire pool of data for training. (From Tran et al. (submitted)) 32 CAASTRO 33 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – Frontier technologies National Innovation Priority – Frontier technologies A FASTER WAY TO FIND FAST RADIO BURSTS SAMI GALAXY SURVEY FIRST DATA RELEASE

ASKAP antennas were used in a non-standard way to cover 240 square degrees of sky, increasing the chance of detecting an FRB. SAMI Credit: Kim Steele Credit: Australian Astronomical Observatory

Using new technology in an innovative way is making patch of sky, they pointed at different patches, thus The SAMI Galaxy Survey has made public a wealth of SAMI was built at the University of Sydney and the Australia a world leader in finding fast radio bursts and covering a total of 240 square degrees. The larger area data on almost 800 galaxies. Australian Astronomical Obsevatory and commissioned understanding their origins. increased the chance of a detection. The researchers on the AAT in July 2011. Following an upgrade to the Dissecting human bodies has given us our found their first FRB within four days of beginning the instrument, the SAMI Galaxy Survey began in February Fast radio bursts (FRBs) – millisecond blips of cosmic understanding of anatomy, and so furthered our radio waves – were discovered in 2007. Exactly what search. By the end of 2017, they had found 11. 2013. This survey, which will run until mid 2018, is knowledge of how they function. So too, ‘dissecting’ targeting 3,600 galaxies, making it the first integral- they are is still unknown, which makes them one of the This number suggests that the bursts originate in galaxies – finely resolving their internal details – is field spectroscopic survey with enough galaxies to hottest topics in astronomy today. distant rather than nearby galaxies: if they came from helping us answer questions about a galaxy’s physics characterise the internal variation in galaxy properties nearby, the search process should have turned up many To learn what the FRBs are, it will help to know where and evolution, questions such as: as a function of both mass and environment. they are: how the population of the bursts is distributed more. Bannister’s team will continue to hunt for more ƒƒ How does a galaxy’s environment affect how it in space. We can learn about the distribution of FRBs FRBs, to determine the characteristics of the population In the spectral region around the Hα emission line (which evolves? by measuring how the number of bursts (N) varies with more precisely. is a measure of star formation), the SAMI Galaxy Survey their apparent brightness (flux density, S). If N and S ƒƒ How does gas get in and out of a galaxy, and how has higher spectral resolution than most other first- and follow a specific relationship (dN ∝ S–(α+1)dS, with α= do these flows affect the galaxy’s evolution? second-generation IFS surveys: as a result, analyses based on SAMI data can better separate distinct 3/2), that implies that the bursts come from relatively ƒ How do a galaxy’s mass and angular momentum ƒ kinematic components (e.g. in outflows); can more nearby galaxies. If the relationship between N and S grow over time? is significantly different, the bursts probably originate accurately measure gas-velocity dispersion in galaxy Using integral-field spectroscopy (IFS), astronomers further away, and the rate at which they occur has disks; and can investigate the kinematics of dwarf changed over time. can sample light from many well-defined points in a galaxies. The survey covers a broad range of galaxy galaxy and analyse it, creating a spectrum for each masses, sampling more low-mass galaxies than previous But even just measuring the number and brightness point. The spectra give information on the galaxy’s surveys do, for instance. The SAMI Galaxy Survey also of the bursts can be difficult. Finding FRBs has been a internal kinematics (the movement of gas and stars). has more complete and accurate measurements of fairly slow process – about 30 have been published to In turn, the kinematics reveal gas flows, mass and environmental density than other IFS surveys, thanks to date – and instrumental effects have made it difficult angular momentum. By studying the kinematics of the depth and spectroscopic completeness of GAMA, to accurately determine the bursts’ brightness. What galaxies with a range of masses, and in a variety of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly Survey, which provides we need is plenty of bursts, measured consistently the main sample for SAMI. with one instrument, and with accurately determined environments (that is, ones more or less crowded with brightnesses. other galaxies), we can get a better understanding of The first major dataset from the SAMI Galaxy Survey, how galaxies evolve. Data Release One (DR1) was released publicly in July We are now on the way to having that, thanks to 2017 (Green et al. 2018). It covers 772 galaxies, about The first generation of IFS surveys, targeting tens to the clever use of new technology. A team jointly led a fifth of the whole survey. For each one, the release hundreds of galaxies, were made up to about 2010. by CAASTRO Affiliate Keith Bannister (CSIRO) and includes two spectral cubes (datasets with two spatial CAASTRO Associate Investigator Jean-Pierre Macquart These surveys were carried out with instruments that dimensions and a third, spectral, dimension) and value- (Curtin–ICRAR) has used CSIRO’s Australian SKA targeted individual galaxies one at a time. Although added products: data for eight major emission lines, Pathfinder (ASKAP) in Western Australia to search they showed that IFS was a useful technique, they presented as a set of spatially-resolved 2D maps, and huge amounts of sky for FRBs. The search is part of The location of the first fast radio burst found with ASKAP, FRB 170107 (in red). The blue circles are the half-power beam did not generate robustly large samples. Surveying maps of dust extinction and star-formation rate. DR1 the more general CRAFT (Commensal Real-time ASKAP contours (1.2° at 1.3 GHz); the background greyscale image is thousands of galaxies requires a different approach. is available online from the Australian Astronomical Fast Transients) project to find ‘fast transient’ radio from the NRAO–VLA Sky Survey. (From Bannister et al. 2017) There are competing technologies, but for widefield, Observatory’s Data Central. sources of all kinds. multi-object optical surveys, systems using optical fibres These data will enable a wide range of science. Thirty- ASKAP is equipped with new phased-array feed are the method of choice. This was the approach for six papers have been published to date on the survey receivers (PAFs), which can be thought of as ‘radio the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph Publication and science derived from it. SAMI publications this year cameras’. They give the telescope a large field of view, (SAMI), which is deployed on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian have covered topics as varied as the intrinsic shape of 30 square degrees, and produce a uniform response to Bannister, K. W., Shannon, R. M., Macquart, J.-P. and Telescope (AAT) at Siding Spring Observatory. The kinematically selected galaxies (Foster et al. 2017), a an FRB appearing in any part of that field of view. 53 co-authors, “The Detection of an Extremely Bright SAMI instrument has 13 integral-field units (IFUs), new model for disk galaxies (Taranu et al. 2017), the Bannister and his team used eight antennas in a non- Fast Radio Burst in a Phased Array Feed Survey”, The allowing it to observe 12 galaxies (and a calibration star) dependence of stellar populations on a galaxy’s size, mass standard mode, so that instead of all pointing at the same Astrophysical Journal, 841, L12 (2017) simultaneously. and environment (Scott et al. 2017), a new estimate of 34 CAASTRO 35 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – Research OLD TECHNIQUE COULD SIMPLIFY NEW TELESCOPE

Engineering Development Array Credit: MWA the fraction of ‘slow rotators’ (van de Sande et al. 2017) Taranu, D. S., Obreschkow, D., Dubinski, J. J. and 26 and the Tully-Fisher relation (Bloom et al. 2017). co-authors, “Self-consistent Bulge/Disk/Halo Galaxy In an interdisciplinary collaboration, the SAMI team Dynamical Modeling Using Integral Field Kinematics”, has been working with researchers at the University The Astrophysical Journal, 850, 70 (2017) of Sydney’s Centre for Translational Data Science to Scott, N., Brough, S., Croom, S. M., Davies, R. L., improve the modelling of how SAMI sampling interacts van de Sande, J., Allen, J. T., Bland-Hawthorn, J., with atmospheric refraction. This has greatly improved Bryant, J. J., Cortese, L., D’Eugenio, F., Federrath, C., the quality of SAMI data cubes. Ferreras, I., Goodwin, M., Groves, B., Konstantopoulos, In future, all data products from the SAMI Galaxy I., Lawrence, J. S., Medling, A. M., Moffett, A. J., Survey will be added to the GAMA Survey within Data Owers, M. S., Richards, S., Robotham, A. S. G., Central, allowing users to query SAMI and GAMA as a Tonini, C., Yi, S. K., “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: global single dataset. The survey’s next public data release is stellar populations on the size–mass plane”, Monthly planned for mid 2018, and will include further value- Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 472, 2833 added products. (2017) van de Sande, J., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Brough, S. and 15 co-authors, “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: revising Publications the fraction of slow rotators in IFS galaxy surveys”, Green, A.W., Croom, S.M., Scott, N. and 48 co- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, authors, “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Data Release 472, 1272 (2017) CAASTRO researchers have updated an old technique this advantage with another: high resolution. In two One with emission-line physics value-added Bloom, J. V., Croom, S. M., Bryant, J. J. and 22 co- that could simplify the operation of the world’s next papers, Morgan, Chhetri and their collaborators have products”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical authors, “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the low-redshift large low-frequency radio telescope, SKA-low. shown that the MWA can swiftly measure IPS for Society, 475, 716 (2018). ArXiv e-print: arxiv.org/ stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation”, Monthly Notices of Astronomers look at the size and structure of a radio many hundreds of sources over the whole of its large 2 abs/1707.08402 the Royal Astronomical Society, 472, 1809 (2017) source to help determine the nature of the source and field of view (~900 deg at ~150 MHz), and have characterised the sources they detected. Foster, C., van de Sande, J., D’Eugenio, F. and 17 co- the physics at work in it. They usually measure source authors, “The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the intrinsic shape size with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), a For the paper led by Chhetri, the researchers made a of kinematically selected galaxies”, Monthly Notices of technique that requires radio telescopes with large single five-minute observation at 162 MHz, recording the Royal Astronomical Society, 472, 966 (2017) distances (baselines) between them. But VLBI is slow: images of the full field every 0.5 seconds. They detected at present it can detect no more than 100 sources an 2,550 continuum sources, of which 302 had an hour. And while low-frequency measurements usefully unambiguous sub-arcsecond component. When viewed complement those made at high frequencies, VLBI is at high frequencies, compact radio sources mainly have technically challenging at low frequencies, where the flat radio spectra, but the bright MWA IPS sources show ionosphere introduces phase errors. a mixture of steep, flat and peaked spectra. A team led by CAASTRO Affiliate John Morgan Surprisingly, the commonest type among the highly (ICRAR–Curtin) and CAASTRO Researcher Rajan compact, strongly scintillating sources was the peaked- Chhetri (ICRAR –Curtin) has now used the spectrum source: all the peaked-spectrum sources Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) to demonstrate a in the subsample were highly scintillating. Peaked- technique that both works at low frequencies and is spectrum sources are young, compact radio galaxies. significantly faster than VLBI. This technique makes Using IPS on the MWA we can readily find examples use of the solar wind, a plasma of charged particles with which to study the interplay of these young streaming from the Sun. The plasma scatters radio galaxies with their environment. signals that pass through it. As a result, compact IPS has other exciting possibilities. It could be used, radio cosmic sources (those less than half an in combination with measurements of spectral indices, arcsecond in angular size) appear to ‘twinkle’. The to efficiently search for extremely rare high-redshift phenomenon is called interplanetary scintillation (z~5) radio galaxies: these were once seen as (IPS). It was discovered in 1964 and quickly used for possible tools for exploring the early Universe, but determining which radio sources have sub-arcsecond have proved hard to find. IPS could also enhance the components. At the time, radio astronomers were search for pulsars. All pulsars in the Galaxy will exhibit desperate to measure the angular sizes of quasars, strong IPS, and looking for sources that show both the nature of which was still unknown, and strong IPS and a steep spectral index will reduce the interferometers were not yet up to the task. number of contaminating extragalactic sources by The technique fell out of favour with astronomers a factor of about 45, very efficiently finding pulsar as interferometers moved to higher frequencies and candidates for conventional follow-up. Morgan and gained resolving power. However, radio telescopes Chhetri’s team detected a known pulsar, PSR J0034– are now dramatically increasing their fields of view, 0721, showing that the MWA is on the threshold of The spatially-resolved maps of [Nii]/ Hα within a 15-arcsec diameter in DR1 galaxies, arranged by stellar mass and star-formation rate. Some maps have becoming able to detect large numbers of sources the sensitivity needed to make new pulsar detections. been shifted slightly to avoid overlap. (From Green et al. 2018) in each observation, and astronomers want to marry That sensitivity will come with SKA-low, the low- 36 CAASTRO 37 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – International collaboration INNOVATE CAASTRO COMPUTING HELPS FIND RECORD-SETTING PULSAR

frequency component of the international Square Publications Supercomputing time awarded through Australia’s each other – offers a test of GR that is around 1000 Kilometre Array telescope, which will be co-located National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) has led times better than that which LIGO can achieve. This with the MWA at CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Morgan, J.S., Macquart, J-P., Ekers, R. and six co- to the discovery of one of the most relativistic binary double pulsar has passed five independent tests of GR, Observatory. authors, “Interplanetary Scintillation with the Murchison pulsars yet known. the most stringent of them (a limit on the quadrupolar Widefield Array I: A sub-arcsecond survey over 900 gravitational-wave radiation) with a measurement In addition, IPS observations could influence the 2 Einstein’s general theory of relativity (GR) has been degrees at 79 and 158 MHz”, Monthly Notices of the uncertainty of only 0.05 per cent (Kramer et al. 2006; operation and even design of SKA-low. MWA IPS Royal Astronomical Society, 473, 2965 (2018) around for a century. It has resisted all attempts to observations could provide candidates for the disprove it; it is one of our most successful physical Breton et al. 2008): this is currently the best limit compact sources SKA-low will need for calibrators. Chhetri, R., Morgan, J., Ekers, R.D., Macquart, theories. But it doesn’t work well with our other most for this parameter. Pulsar tests will continue to be Furthermore, source fluctuations created by the J-P., Sadler, E.M., Giroletti, M., Callingham, J.R., successful physical theory, quantum mechanics, and so competitive with, and provide confirmation of, tests ionosphere would normally complicate sub-arcsecond “Interplanetary Scintillation studies with the Murchison astronomers are continuing to test the limits of GR and made with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, imaging at low frequencies, but IPS observations Wide-field Array – II: Properties of sub-arcsecond compact those of alternative theories of gravity. as long as we can find more of the extremely relativistic sources at low radio frequencies”, Monthly Notices of the pulsar systems. For example, a system like the double can be made on baselines so short that ionospheric Gravitational waves, first directly detected in 2016, effects will almost never be a problem. Information Royal Astronomical Society, 474, 4937 (2018) pulsar but with a shorter, tighter orbit would provide an offer opportunities for testing GR, but the tests we even tougher test of the quadrupolar gravitational-wave about sub-arcsecond structure is encoded in the can currently make using ground-based detectors such IPS scintillations and cannot be removed by the radiation, while some alternative theories of gravity as LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave (scalar-tensor theories) would be best tested by binary ionosphere. Exploring the IPS technique further Observatory) aren’t as challenging as those natural may show that SKA-low could study sub-arcsecond pulsar systems in which the two members have very systems provide. For instance, the first known double different masses. sources without the need for long baselines, side- pulsar system, PSR J0737–3039 – two pulsars orbiting stepping the effects of the ionosphere.

  . Pb h3 Mass–mass diagram for PSR J1757−1854. Shown are the mass constraints imposed under general relativity by each post-Keplerian parameter, along with their 1-σ error bars. The inset shows a zoomed view of the region of intersection; the black dot marks the masses of the pulsar and its companion derived with  the DDGR (Damour–Deruelle General Relativity) model. The grey region is excluded by orbital geometry. (From Cameron et al. 2018)

At left, a standard image of part of the field observed with the MWA and, at right, only the scintillating sources in that area of sky, as revealed by the IPS observations. Each dot is a radio–emitting galaxy. The X and Y axes are right ascension (hh:mm:ss) and declination (dd:mm:ss) respectively. (From Chhetri et al. 2018) 38 CAASTRO 39 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

National Innovation Priority – International collaboration A RADIO DETECTION FROM THE FIRST BINARY NEUTRON-STAR MERGER

PhD student Dougal Dobie and Associate Professor Tara Murphy. Credit: Helen Sim Finding such extreme systems was a key goal of a the value predicted by GR to within five per cent. The Australian observers have taken part in a worldwide search for pulsars called the High Time Resolution team was also able to measure the Shapiro delay, effort to study the first confirmed merger of two Universe (HTRU) South Low Latitude pulsar survey. Led a time delay each radio pulse experiences when it neutron stars. by Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy travels through spacetime curved by the neutron-star (MPIfR) and involving several CAASTRO members, companion. The two parameters that characterise Short gamma-ray bursts – cosmic bursts of gamma this survey was part of the overall HTRU project, a the delay agreed with the GR predictions to within an rays lasting less than two seconds – have been a collaboration between institutions in Australia, the uncertainty of only 1σ. By observing the binary system mystery for decades. The most likely cause seemed to UK, Italy and Germany. Observing for the South over a number of years, the astronomers will be able be the merger of two neutron stars, but such an event Low Latitude survey was done with CSIRO’s 64-m to test at least two more effects predicted by GR: the had never been unambiguously detected. So when one Parkes telescope and covered the inner Galactic Lense–Thirring effect (which causes the pulsar’s orbit finally was, by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave plane (–80° < l < 30° and |b| < 3.5°), the region to precess) and deformation of the elliptical orbit. detectors on 17 August 2017, astronomers worldwide scrambled for their telescopes. This was only the fifth predicted to have the greatest number of extremely The HTRU-S LowLat survey has so far found relativistic binaries. detection of gravitational waves. The previous four another 104 pulsars (but none as dramatic as events had been mergers of black holes, which held The survey used a novel search method: each PSR J1757–1854). The chances are good that, with little promise of generating electromagnetic radiation. observation was divided into smaller and smaller time further surveys and more advanced computational But a neutron-star merger was expected to be a segments and each segment searched for evidence of methods, we will continue to find extreme binary different story. an accelerating object (which would reveal a pulsar in pulsars and ‘push the envelope’ of general relativity. a binary orbit). To fully explore the parameter space Models predict that the ejecta from such an event for binary pulsars targeted by this new technique, at ploughs out through material in the interstellar medium least 1.46 million Fourier transform operations must Publications (ISM) surrounding the doomed stars, generating blast. The source was weak, but detecting it with the be computed for each telescope ‘beam’ (on-sky pixel): radio synchrotron radiation. The mass and speed of two telescopes gave the observers confidence that Cameron, A. D., Champion, D. J., Kramer, M. and the ejecta, and the density of the ISM, determine it was real. (The Australian observers also used the the complete survey consists of more than 16,000 27 co-authors, “The High Time Resolution Universe ‘beams’, representing more than 260 TB of data. Part how bright the radio source becomes and when its Australian SKA Pathfinder and the Murchison Widefield Pulsar Survey – XIII. PSR J1757−1854, the most brightness peaks. Array, but these telescopes did not detect the source.) of the processing of this formidable dataset has been accelerated binary pulsar”, Monthly Notices of the carried out with supercomputing time allocated to Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 475, L57 (2018) Within a few hours of the gravitational-wave detection The ATCA, JVLA and the Giant Meter-wave Radio CAASTRO through the Flagship Allocation Scheme of being announced, CAASTRO’s Dynamic Theme Telescope (GMRT) in India continued to monitor the the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI). Kramer, M., Stairs, I. H., Manchester, R. N. and leader, Tara Murphy (University of Sydney) and her source. Models of short gamma-ray bursts require 12 co-authors, “Tests of General Relativity from Timing colleagues applied for target of opportunity observing that the merging neutron stars create an extremely Among the hundreds of thousands of pulsar candidates the Double Pulsar”, Science, 314, 97 (2006) examined so far, one stood out because of its extreme time on CSIRO’s Australia Telescope Compact Array. fast, ‘ultrarelativistic’ jet of material. But the ongoing acceleration. This object was studied further with Parkes Breton, R. P., Kaspi, V. M., Kramer, M. and seven They worked in collaboration with observers using the radio observations didn’t show any evidence for one. and other telescopes – the University of Manchester’s co-authors, “Relativistic Spin Precession in the Double Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) radio telescope in the Instead, they strongly suggest that the radio emission is 76-m Lovell telescope in the UK, the 100-m Robert C. Pulsar”, Science, 321, 104 (2008) USA. Both telescopes detected a radio source in the instead arising from a slower, broader outflow of radio- Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the USA, and MPIfR’s galaxy that had been identified as the source of the emitting material – a ‘cocoon’. This is probably matter 100-m Effelsberg telescope in Germany. These follow-up thrown out by the explosion that’s been powered up observations confirmed that the HTRU survey had found by a jet hidden inside it. The jet may later break free of a pulsar, PSR J1757–1854, that is locked in a highly the cocoon and create the classic signature of a short eccentric orbit (ε = 0.61) with another neutron star. The gamma-ray burst. two bodies rocket around each other in just 4.4 hours; The aftermath of the merger will be studied for years at their point of closest approach, the distance between to come, and the radio observations will remain key them is less than the radius of the Sun. The pulsar evidence for understanding its physics. They will also experiences a maximum acceleration of ~684 m s-2, help us understand all neutron-star mergers – events almost 70 times that due to the Earth’s gravity, and the that could account for many kinds of transients. most extreme known for a pulsar. The compactness, high eccentricity and short orbital Publications period of this binary make it one of the most relativistic systems known, one that therefore allows powerful Hallinan, G. and 31 co-authors, “A radio counterpart to tests of GR and other theories of gravity. For example, a neutron star merger”, Science, 358, 1579 (2017) the pulsar’s orbit is shrinking as gravitational waves Mooley, K. P. and 24 co-authors, “A mildly relativistic An artist’s impression of neutron stars merging. carry away orbital energy: the HTRU team measured wide-angle outflow in the neutron-star merger event Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center the rate of this shrinkage, and found it to agree with GW170817”, Nature 554, 207 (2017) 40 CAASTRO 41 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

All photos – credit: CAASTRO

AT CAASTRO CELEBRATES PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The CAASTRO Advisory Board held its last face-to-face research displays and talk to CAASTRO’s postdoctoral meeting in Canberra on Tuesday 8 August. The next researchers and students about their work. Along with morning CAASTRO hosted a Celebration Breakfast at our scientific work, CAASTRO’s gender action activities CANBERRA Parliament House, hosted by the Hon Craig Laundy were clearly of great interest to many, and we were MP, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and commended once again for our activities in this area Science. Eighty people attended the event, including and our online Gender Action Toolkit. Members of Parliament, Advisors, CAASTRO members, CAASTRO also presented a short video of its lifetime the Board and other guests at this event. Assistant highlights, which was very well received. This and Minister Laundy, Australia’s Chief Scientist (and former other videos are available for viewing on our CAASTRO CAASTRO Board Chair) Dr Alan Finkel, CAASTRO Legacy website at www.caastro.org. Chief Investigator Professor Brian Schmidt (Australian National University) and current Board Chair Professor Many thanks go to Kate Gunn, Kylie Williams and the Bob Williamson (University of Melbourne) spoke about CAASTRO administration team for their hard work in CAASTRO and its achievements. organising this very successful event. Many of the parliamentarians and their advisors who attended the breakfast stayed on to look at our 42 CAASTRO 43 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

FLASH (First Large Absorption Survey in HI) project. She Eyal Kazin submitted her thesis in 2016 and graduated in 2017. CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher In mid 2016 Reeves became a science curator at the Swinburne University of Technology Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse LIFE BEYOND CAASTRO After finishing his postdoc at Swinburne University, Museum). Her role involves designing science exhibitions Kazin moved to London to start a new career in data for visitors of all ages, writing about the Museum’s Many past members of CAASTRO are now part of our alumni network, CAASTRO Connections. While many are still science. For the past three years he has both worked science collection for the online collection database working in astronomy, others have moved into different fields. Below are descriptions of some of the diverse paths in applied (client-facing) roles and developed tools and blog, and acquiring objects that capture both our alumni have taken. for more efficiently analysing data. For clients he historic and cutting-edge scientific advances into the has modelled topics as varied as the propensity of collection. She has a particular interest in documenting customers to choose particular restaurants, how people astronomical advances and discoveries, and the Catherine de Burgh-Day are likely to vote in an upcoming election, and where telescopes and technology that make these possible. In CAASTRO PhD student a bus company should expand its operations. Kazin’s the last 18 months Reeves has worked on the exhibition University of Melbourne academic research provided him with transferable Experimentations, which introduces primary school skills required for the profession (scientific research, After completing her PhD in early 2016, de Burgh-Day aged students to concepts of physics and chemistry statistics and inference, computer programming and moved to the Bureau of Meteorology, taking up the and the process of scientific investigation; and has also communications); he has supplemented these by role of Software Testing Lead for Numerical Modelling managed the Museum’s acquisition of a perfect silicon acquiring proficiency with machine learning, database in the group responsible for the development and sphere made by CSIRO, and of Australia’s first ever techniques and artificial intelligence. maintenance of the Bureau’s operational models. Her payload to the International Space Station, which was first responsibility was to help transfer the Bureau’s suite launched by Sydney start-up Cuberider. Reeves also of models to its new supercomputer, Australis. She then Jenny Lynch works occasionally as an astronomy guide at Sydney moved back into research, and now works on developing CAASTRO School Education Officer Observatory, a historic site managed by the Powerhouse. applications for the Bureau’s new global seasonal University of Sydney Jessica Bloom (right) was part of the “Shirtloads of Science” forecasting model. She is currently assessing the team with Dr Karl and Dr Alice Williamson Since leaving CAASTRO in 2017, Lynch has focused Richard Scalzo model’s utility for making forecasts of the ocean around on her Sydney-based science communication CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher Credit: Isabelle Benton New Zealand for fisheries and aquaculture industries. business, Creative Science. She runs hands-on science Australian National University Jessica Bloom workshops in preschools and childcare centres and Scalzo is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the CAASTRO PhD student Jacinta den Besten presents professional development workshops for early University of Sydney’s Centre for Translational Data University of Sydney CAASTRO Outreach and Telescopes in Schools childhood teachers and educators. During National Science, which leads interdisciplinary research into new Bloom is excited to be starting work in 2018 at University of Melbourne Science Week in 2017, she performed science shows at the Australian Museum and the Australian Botanic data science and machine-learning techniques that can McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm that Den Besten has a background in education. After Garden, Mount Annan; year round, she offers live be applied to grand-challenge science problems with high serves a huge range of industries and governments working on astronomy outreach with CAASTRO, at science shows to primary schools. Jenny is a product social impact. He has continued his astrophysics research at the highest levels. She will be using the analytical the end of 2016 she became the coordinator for first- designer for the WILD! Science brand of science kits on Type Ia supernovae (and, more recently, the SAMI skills she learnt during her PhD to tackle problems in year physics at the University of Melbourne. In this and works as a science consultant, researcher and Galaxy Survey – page 33) with CAASTRO collaborators; an applied industry setting. Bloom will also continue role she has been teaching labs, lecturing, and helping scriptwriter for children’s television programs. at the same time, he has been leading engineering teams her work in science communication; she is exploring to manage casual teaching staff and senior teaching working on problems in new areas such as molecular opportunities with several podcasts and TV shows. fellows, while ensuring that 1,500 first-year physics Emily Petroff biology, geology and geophysics, political science and students are happy and working hard! In addition, environmental science. Scalzo’s prior experience in den Besten leads the department’s Equity and Diversity CAASTRO PhD student Mike Dalley software development, parallel computing and hierarchical Committee and is involved in a similar committee at the Swinburne University of Technology CAASTRO Affiliate Bayesian inference, honed in the SkyMapper project, has faculty level: in both, she is continuing her commitment Voyages Indigenous Tourism After completing her PhD at Swinburne University proven useful in his new role. to inclusion and diversity that she developed while in 2015, Petroff took a position at ASTRON, the Dalley recently started a business, Inspiring Skies, in CAASTRO. Den Besten is also continuing with her that helps tourism businesses develop and operate Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. She has love of science outreach, and in 2017 contributed continued her research into fast radio bursts (FRBs), Syed Uddin astronomy outreach. Some of his services include to the annual AstroLight festival at Scienceworks CAASTRO PhD student organising VIP/celebrity astronomy experiences, powerful extragalactic radio pulses of unknown origin, (supported by CAASTRO). Recently, thanks to the and is building on her pioneering thesis work in this Swinburne University of Technology servicing and/or installing new astronomy equipment, Laby Foundation, den Besten flew over Antarctica reviewing and developing current astronomy field to try to determine that origin. Petroff has recently Uddin is now a postdoctoral fellow working on to measure the radiation and magnetic field on the developed tools for the FRB community: real-time supernova cosmology at the Purple Mountain experiences, creating exciting new astronomy tours approach to the south magnetic pole. and events, and training in-house astronomy team triggering templates for communicating new events and Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He members. Dalley recently installed a 3D unit with a a publicly available catalogue of all published bursts, works closely with the Chinese Centre for Antarctic Jacinta Den Besten flew over Antarctica (thanks to the Laby brand new telescope at a resort in the Maldives, making www.frbcat.org. She is also contributing to an upgrade Astronomy to discover supernovae from the Antarctic Foundation) to measure the radiation and magnetic field on the of ASTRON’s 50-year-old Westerbork telescope that it the world’s first resort to offer 3D astronomy. approach to the South Magnetic Pole. Transient Survey, and is building a large sample of Type will increase the instrument’s sensitivity and field of Credit: Jacinta Den Besten Ia supernovae to improve distance measurements and view, making it an ideal tool for finding and studying improve cosmological constraints. fast radio bursts. Fang Yuan Sarah Reeves CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher CAASTRO PhD student Australian National University University of Sydney Yuan now works as an Earth-observation data scientist For her PhD Reeves at Geoscience Australia. She is a member of the Digital studied intervening Earth Australia team, using satellite imagery to support neutral hydrogen (HI) decision-making by the Australian Government. Yuan absorption in nearby, develops information products that will help the agency’s gas-rich galaxies, as part Mike Dalley, Inspiring Skies sets up a telescope in the Maldives clients understand changes in land cover and respond to of preparation for the Credit: Mike Dalley natural disasters such as floods and bushfires. 44 CAASTRO 45 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

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D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., James, Kawabe, R., Kohno, K., Motohara, K., Ohta, K., Tamura, Kapińska, A. D., Terentev, I., Wong, O. I., Shabala, Leslie, S. K., Bryant, J. J., Ho, I.-T., Sadler, E. M., D. J., Krause, E., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Lahav, O., Y., Umehata, H., Wilson, G. W., Yabe, K., Yun, M. S., S. S., Andernach, H., Rudnick, L., Storer, L., Banfield, Medling, A. M., Groves, B., Kewley, L. J., Bland- Miquel, R., Plazas, A. A., Romer, A. K., Sanchez, E., “Extremely Red Submillimeter Galaxies: New z ≥ 4-6 J. K., Willett, K. W., de Gasperin, F., Lintott, C. J., Hawthorn, J., Croom, S. M., Wong, O. I., Brough, Santiago, B., Scarpine, V., Smith, R. C., Soares-Santos, Candidates Discovered using ALMA and Jansky VLA”, López-Sánchez, Á. R., Middelberg, E., Norris, R. P., S., Tescari, E., Sweet, S. M., Sharp, R., Green, A. M., Sobreira, F., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. E. 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Andrew Zic Ronniy Joseph Katherine Harborne Fiona Panther University of Sydney Curtin University, ICRAR University of Western Australia, ICRAR Australian National University

I am a first-year PhD student supervised by Tara I am doing my PhD with Cathryn Trott and Randall I am a PhD Student at the International Centre for Radio I am a PhD student at the Australian National Murphy and Christene Lynch at The University of Wayth at CAASTRO’s Curtin University node within Astronomy and Research (ICRAR) at the University University’s Research School of Astronomy and Sydney, and work within CAASTRO’s Dynamic Theme. the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research of Western Australia, supervised by Chris Power and Astrophysics. My supervisors are Roland Crocker and Anais Möller at the ANU, Ashley Ruiter and Ivo I’ve always been interested in astronomy. One of (ICRAR). My research involves developing a generalised Aaron Robotham. I work in the Evolving theme, building calibration framework for fine-tuning radio antennas in galaxy simulations and creating mock IFU (integral field Seitenzahl at UNSW in Canberra, and Chris Lidman my earliest memories is of a trip to Siding Spring at the Australian Astronomical Observatory. I’ve Observatory in NSW, where my sister and I became the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the future unit) kinematic data cubes, in close collaboration with Square Kilometre Array (SKA); my goal is to find the the team using SAMI (the Sydney–AAO Multi-object been working to understand the origin of most of the terrified of the sheer number of stars above us. antimatter in the Milky Way, which we theorise comes My interest grew stronger as I undertook several best way to combine models of the known radio sky Integral field spectrograph). with information from the measurements of the many from a type of exploding star, a supernova. Within undergraduate research projects in astronomy, as well I completed my integrated Master’s degree in physics CAASTRO’s Dynamic theme, I’ve done the first IFU as summer scholarships at The University of Sydney, antennas in these radio telescopes. This project has and astronomy at the University of Nottingham in the been inspired by the stringent fine-tuning requirements (integral field unit) survey of some of the host galaxies Nanjing University and the Australian Astronomical UK. During this time I worked on both computational of these peculiar, ‘SN1991bg-like’ supernovae, and am Observatory. For my Honours degree, I worked on of the MWA Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) project within and observational research projects, most notably the CAASTRO Evolving theme. working with data from the Dark Energy Survey to try devising and testing methods to detect pulsars in studying the dynamics of a high-speed galaxy collision to understand how the rate of these supernovae varies Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) images by exploiting I was born and raised in the Netherlands, completing in the NGC 6338 galaxy group. I did this work at the across cosmic time. their interstellar scintillation. an Astronomy Bachelor’s degree at the University Observatório Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, using the Through CAASTRO, I’ve been able to travel to scientific My current research is focused on low-frequency radio of Groningen. There I worked with the EoR group Chandra X-ray Telescope. using LOFAR (the Low Frequency Array), on design institutions in Australia and beyond. I’ve taken part emission from low-mass stars, such as M dwarfs I began my PhD at ICRAR in October 2016, switching programs such as CAASTRO in the Classroom and and ultra-cool dwarfs. We don’t fully understand the requirements for the SKA and its EoR science goal. I from being an observer to being a theorist, and jumping finished my time in the Netherlands with a Master’s Uluru Astronomer in Residence, which have been great processes that lead these stars to emit strong radio into building stable, isolated galaxy models. Having opportunities to learn how to communicate science bursts. By studying the bursts with low-frequency degree at Leiden University, doing one project on worked only with simulation data generated for me in exoplanet instrumentation and another on the hunt for more effectively. And I’ve also been able to develop telescopes, such as the MWA and the Giant Metre- the past, this was a big leap; in the last year I have my teaching and project management skills through wave Radio Telescope in India, we aim to determine the protoclusters, the progenitors of galaxy clusters. For this learned a huge amount with the help of my supervisors last project I returned to radio telescopes, using radio CAASTRO, by delivering the student writing workshop physical conditions within the stars’ magnetospheres and CAASTRO. I now produce models and study (page 95) at the ANU. and coronae. data from LOFAR and infrared data from the Herschel how observational effects such as projection, seeing space telescope. Having worked on both sides of a radio CAASTRO has enabled me to attend three annual Being a student member of CAASTRO has been a conditions and instrumentation limitations affect our telescope, as a designer and an observer, I wanted to ability to accurately measure galaxy kinematics. retreats, where I’ve had the opportunity to meet a wonderful experience. CAASTRO has supported my understand how radio astronomy really worked. diverse range of individuals and develop rich, ongoing travel within Australia and overseas for conferences, As a member of CAASTRO, I have had the opportunity This ambition led me to my current PhD project, collaborations that I hope will continue long after meetings, and observing runs. This exposure to the to meet and work with astronomers Australia-wide and CAASTRO is gone. And thanks to CAASTRO I was Australian and international astronomical communities which has already proven to be a great opportunity beyond. In particular, the chance to travel to Uluru as the to get to understand the fundamentals of this form of also able to attend the 2017 ISAPP international in the first year of my PhD has been invaluable. It CAASTRO Astronomer in Residence was a wonderful astroparticle physics conference in the Netherlands. has enabled me to get to know the people and ideas astronomical observation. And CAASTRO has been a break from my work as a theorist, as I got to revisit that great help in this endeavour. Thanks to CAASTRO I’ve This conference opened up new career avenues for directly in my research field, and helped me connect excitement of looking at the sky through telescopes and me to pursue, and a chance to share with others what with fellow Australian astronomers across a broad been able to visit many conferences in my first year, passing on stories of the stars to the general public. which has allowed me to meet collaborators from the CAASTRO has shared with me: a spirit of collaboration range of research areas. I was also fortunate to be CAASTRO funding has allowed me to travel and attend and excellence in multidisciplinary astronomy research. the CAASTRO Uluru Astronomer in Residence in United States, Europe and of course across Australia. Those people have been great sources of knowledge conferences across the country. Through meetings and September, and it was a fantastic experience to workshops, such as Mock Perth and SAMI meetings, undertake outreach in such an amazing setting. I feel and have helped me in making advances in my project. On top of that, CAASTRO has organised some great I have been able to collaborate and expand my work very privileged to have been a member of CAASTRO, to provide useful tools to a greater number of people. and am sad to see it end. workshops on skills essential for a modern researcher: coding, writing papers, and staying resilient in the face I hope this work will contribute to the lasting and of stress. Without these opportunities I wouldn’t be incredible legacy of CAASTRO, and continue on within where I am today. ASTRO 3D. 56 CAASTRO 57 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 CAASTRO STUDENTS

2017 CAASTRO New students University of Queensland Lucas Grimes, Evolving, Honours Australian National University SUPERVISORS Michael Drinkwater (UQ) and Tamara Davis Zefeng Li, Dark, Pre PhD (UQ) SUPERVISOR Christian Wolf (ANU) THESIS TITLE High velocity outflows from the centre of active THESIS TITLE A Survey of Luminous Quasars at z~5 in the galaxies Southern Hemisphere in SkyMapper, PanStarrs and WISE University of Sydney ICRAR/Curtin Dougal Dobie, Dynamic, PhD Dilpreet Kaur, Dynamic, PhD SUPERVISORS Tara Murphy (USYD) and Richard Hunstead 2017 CAASTRO Students SUPERVISORSS Ramesh Bhat (CUR) and Steven Tremblay (CUR) (USYD) THESIS TITLE Tracing interstellar space weather towards timing THESIS TITLE Radio Transients with the Australian Square Fiona Panther, Dynamic, PhD ICRAR/UWA array millisecond pulsars SUPERVISORS Roland Crocker (ANU) and Brian Schmidt (ANU) Kilometre Array Pathfinder Kamran Ali, Dark, PhD Nicholas Swainston, Dynamic, Honours THESIS TITLE Stellar origins of galactic bulge positrons Hao Qiu, Dynamic, PhD SUPERVISORS Danail Obreschkow UWA) and Chris Power SUPERVISORS Steven Tremblay (CUR), Ramesh Bhat (CUR) SUPERVISORS Tara Murphy (USYD) and Keith Bannister Mayuri Sathyanarayana Rao, Evolving, PhD (UWA) THESIS TITLE A blind search for pulsars using the Murchisong SUPERVISORS Frank Briggs (ANU), Ravi Subrahmayan (RRI), Widefield Array Phase 2 compact array (CSIRO) THESIS TITLE Information on the cosmic large scale structure THESIS TITLE Exploring the dynamic radio sky with ASKAP Charley Lineweaver (ANU), and Brian Schmidt (ANU) Rodrigo Cañas Vazquez, Evolving, PhD ICRAR/UWA THESIS TITLE On the detection of Spectral Distortions in the Matthew Varidel, Evolving, PhD CMB: Recombination to Reionization SUPERVISORS Claudia Lagos (UWA) and Chris Power (UWA) Qingxiang Chen, Evolving, PhD SUPERVISORS Scott Croom (USYD) and Geraint Lewis THESIS TITLE Diffuse stellar halos in state-of-the-art SUPERVISORS Martin Meyer (UWA), Atilla Popping (UWA), (USYD) Natalia Eire Sommer, Dark, PhD cosmological simulations of galaxy formation Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA), and Jie Wang (NAOC, THESIS TITLE Disk Rotation and Turbulence in SAMI Galaxies SUPERVISORS Brad Tucker (ANU) and Rob Sharp (ANU) China) THESIS TITLE Probing the Transition From Cosmic Deceleration Garima Chauhan, Evolving, Pre PhD Andrew Zic, Dynamic, PhD THESIS TITLE Neutral hydrogen study using stacking technique to Acceleration With Reverberation Mapping SUPERVISORS Chris Power (UWA) and Martin Meyer (UWA) SUPERVISORS Tara Murphy (USYD) and Christene Lynch THESIS TITLE HI in galaxies Lincheng Li, Evolving, PhD NAOC, China (USYD) Bonnie Zhang, Dark/Dynamic, PhD SUPERVISORS Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA), Jonghwan Rhee Katherine Harborne, Evolving, PhD THESIS TITLE Low Frequency Radio Emission from Flare Stars SUPERVISORS Brian Schmidt (ANU), Chris Lidman (AAO), (UWA), and Bo Qin (NAOC, China) Tamara Davis (UQ), Anais Moller (ANU) and Michael SUPERVISORS Chris Power (UWA) and Aaron Robotham THESIS TITLE HI intensity mapping with the Parkes Telescope Childress (Southampton) (UWA) Rhys Poulton, Evolving/Dark, PhD 2017 Continuing Students THESIS TITLE Precise cosmological analysis of Type Ia THESIS TITLE Feedback processes in dwarf galaxies SUPERVISORS Aaron Robotham (UWA) and Chris Power (UWA) supernovae: the Hubble constant and dark energy Katharine Kelley, Dark, PhD THESIS TITLE Studying the orbits and interactions of satellite Australian National University SUPERVISORS Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA), Peter Quinn galaxies in the next generation of surveys and simulations ICRAR/Curtin Matthew Alger, Evolving/Dark/Dynamic, Pre PhD (UWA) and Ian MacArthur (UWA) Tristan Reynolds, Evolving, PhD SUPERVISORS Chris Wolf (ANU) and Chengsoon Ong (ANU/ Ronniy Joseph, Evolving, PhD THESIS TITLE A radio astronomy search for axion dark matter SUPERVISORS Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA), Tobias Westmeier Data61) SUPERVISORS Cath Trott (CUR), Randall Wayth (CUR), and Fei Qin, Dark, PhD (UWA), Jonghwan Rhee (UWA), Martin Meyer (UWA), THESIS TITLE A public Python module for active learning Carole Jackson (ASTRON) SUPERVISORS Lister (UWA), Cullan Howlett (UWA), and Tao and Baerbel Koribalski (CSIRO) THESIS TITLE Probing the Epoch of Reionisation with non- Dilyar Barat, Evolving, PhD Hong (NAOC) THESIS TITLE Observing neutral hydrogen in the local universe traditional hybrid radio interferometers SUPERVISORS Matthew Colless (ANU), Franscesco D’Eugenio THESIS TITLE Bulk f low and the peculiar velocity field of Swinburne University of Technology (ANU), Elisabete Lima da’Cunha (ANU), and Andrew Samuel McSweeney, Dynamic, PhD galaxies Hopkins ( AAO) SUPERVISORS Ramesh Bhat (CUR), Steven Tremblay (CUR) Elise Beaufils, Dark, Pre PhD THESIS TITLE Measuring cosmological parameters in the local THESIS TITLE 3D tomography of pulsar magnetospheres Khaled Said, Dark, PhD University of Cape Town SUPERVISOR Chris Blake (SWIN) universe through galaxy scaling relations SUPERVISORS Renee C Kraan-Korleweg (UCT), Thomas Jar- THESIS TITLE Searching for fifth forces: cosmic growth Bradley Meyers, Dynamic, PhD rett (UCT), and Lister Staveley-Smith (UWA) versus environment Manisha Caleb, Dynamic, PhD SUPERVISORS Steven Tremblay (CUR), Ramesh Bhat (CUR) THESIS TITLE Peculiar f low fields in the ZoA from the NIR SUPERVISORS Frank Briggs (ANU), Matthew Bailes (SWIN), THESIS TITLE A high time, low frequency study of Ellert van der Velden, Evolving/Dark, PhD Tully-Fisher relation SUPERVISORS Alan Duffy (SWIN), Jeremy Mould (SWIN), Brian Schmidt (ANU), and Chris Flynn (ANU) intermittent emission phenomena in radio bursts THESIS TITLE A pursuit of fast radio transients with the Swinburne University of Technology Chris Power (UWA) and Darren Croton (SWIN) Mengyao Xue, Dynamic, PhD UTMOST and Parkes radio telescopes THESIS TITLE Utilizing cosmological simulations to model the SUPERVISORS Ramesh Bhat (CUR), Steven Tremblay (CUR), Caitlin Adams, Dark, PhD growth of galaxies and their role in ionizing the universe Jacob Golding, Evolving, Pre PhD Stephen Ord (CSIRO) SUPERVISORS Chris Blake (Swin), David Parkinson (Korea), and Ixandra Achitouv (Swin) University of Melbourne SUPERVISOR Christian Wolf (ANU) THESIS TITLE New Polarimetric Pulsar Observations with the THESIS TITLE What can SkyMapper do to map recent star Murchison Widefield Array THESIS TITLE Testing the cosmological model in the low- Mohit Bhardwaj, Evolving, Masters formation changes in nearby galaxies? redshift universe SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Ben McKinley Xiang Zhang, Dynamic, PhD (UMELB) Daniel Muthukrishna, Dark, PhD SUPERVISORS Randall Wayth (CUR), Paul Hancock (CUR), Igor Andreoni, Dynamic, PhD THESIS TITLE Epoch of Reionisation Studies: understanding SUPERVISORS Brad Tucker (ANU) and Matthew Colless (ANU) Steven Tingay (INAF), Carole Jackson (ASTRON) SUPERVISORS Jeff Cooke (SWIN) and Matthew Bailes (SWIN) THESIS TITLE artefacts in the data due to shape THESIS TITLE Analysing tensions in local H0 using TAIPAN THESIS TITLE Detection of radio emission from fireballs with Deep multi-wavelength exploration of the fast of the telescope beam galaxies and SN1a from SkyMapper and OzDES the MWA transient Universe 58 CAASTRO 59 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CAASTRO STUDENT COMMITTEE Shivani Bhandari, Dynamic, PhD University of Queensland This year the CAASTRO Student Committee throughout the year as they developed a day-long SUPERVISORS Matthew Bailes (SWIN), Willim van Straten concentrated on delivering workshops that would workshop on good practices for programming, Per Andersen, Dark, PhD (Auck Univ Technology, NZ) and Evan Keane (SKA give PhD students skills they need to succeed in particularly when you want to make your code SUPERVISORS University of Copenhagen Jens Hjorth (Univ. Organisation) their careers. publicly available. This workshop ran in December Copenhagen) and Tamara Davis (UQ) THESIS TITLE Searching and localisation of sources of and covered how to write clear documentation and THESIS TITLE Peculiar velocities We ran a trial paper-writing workshop at dispersed radio emission CAASTRO’s 2016 Annual Retreat. After receiving how to test your code, share it and make it citable. Joshua Calcino, Dark, PhD Alexandru Codoreanu, Evolving, PhD useful feedback on that, we worked closely with The Student Committee teamed up with the SUPERVISOR Tamara Davis (UQ) SUPERVISORS Emma Ryan-Webber (SWIN), Michael Murphy, Christian Wolf (Australian National University) to CAASTRO Postdoc Committee to run a workshop THESIS TITLE Microlensing with the Dark Energy Survey Neil (SWIN) Chrighton (SWIN) expand the materials and make them suitable for for early-career researchers just before CAASTRO’s THESIS TITLE Chemical fingerprints in the highest-redshift Simon Deeley, Evolving, Honours a comprehensive, day-long workshop on scientific 2017 Annual Retreat. This event featured sessions on quasar absorprtion systems: probing the epoch of SUPERVISORS Michael Drinkwater (UQ) and Tamara Davis (UQ) writing in 2017. The content covered how to building resilience and developing ‘the perfect pitch’. hydrogen reionisation THESIS TITLE Galaxy types and galaxy growth in the group structure and plan a manuscript, how to refine first We hope that students will both apply the skills environment drafts, and what to expect from the peer-review they’ve learned and share them with others, so that Christopher Curtin, Dynamic/Evolving, PhD process. We ran the workshop in Melbourne, Samuel Hinton, Dark, PhD the benefits of CAASTRO will continue even as the SUPERVISORS Jeff Cooke (SWIN) and Jeremy Mould (SWIN) Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Perth, and had over SUPERVISORS Tamara Davis (UQ) and Alex Kim (LBNL) organisation itself wraps up. Students have been a key THESIS TITLE High red-shift superluminous supernovae: 100 attendees. We intend to release the workshop THESIS TITLE Hierarchical Bayesian methods for supernova part of CAASTRO and the Student Committee is proud theory, observatories and implications materials as a CAASTRO legacy item so that the cosmology to have represented them. We look forward to seeing Angela Garcia, Evolving, PhD event can be run again in future. CAASTRO students spread around the world, working SUPERVISORS Emma Ryan-Webber, (SWIN) Edoardo Tescari Harry Hobson, Dark, Honours Programming is a major part of PhD projects. We in academia, industry or areas we can’t even imagine! (UMELB), and Stuart Wyithe (UMELB) SUPERVISOR Tamara Davis (UQ) supported Samuel Hinton (University of Queensland) Caitlin Adams THESIS TITLE Diagnosing hydrogen reionisation with metal THESIS TITLE Preliminary reverberation mapping measurement and Fiona Panther (Australian National University) Chair 2017 absorption line ratios of an AGN using DES/OzDES data Fabian Jankowski, Dynamic, PhD Henning Schmitz, Dark, Masters SUPERVISORS Matthew Bailes (SWIN), Willim van Straten SUPERVISOR Tamara Davis (UQ) (Auck Univ Technology, NZ) and Evan Keane (SKA THESIS TITLE Gravitational lensing to search for MACHOS in Organisation) the range of stellar black holes ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CAASTRO POSTDOCTORAL COMMITTEE THESIS TITLE Spectral and rotational properties of radio Merryn Taylor, Dark, Honours pulsars The CAASTRO Postdoc Committee had a very – and sometimes also in front of it – and we learned SUPERVISOR Tamara Davis (UQ) productive first year in 2016: it started a database for valuable lessons about filming and interviewing Aditya Parthasarathy Madapusi, Dynamic, PhD THESIS TITLE Signal in the Noise - using scatter In Supernova jobs and grant proposals for early-career researchers, practices. We reviewed and sorted the five hours of SUPERVISORS Matthew Bailes (SWIN) and Willem van Straten magnitudes to test cosmology composed fact sheets to guide people applying for collected footage with the help of professional editors. (SWIN) Australian Research Council Fellowships, and organised The results were three insightful and entertaining THESIS TITLE High precision pulsar timing in the SKA era University of Sydney sessions on career advice for the 2016 CAASTRO videos, Being part of CAASTRO, Work Life Balance Jessica Bloom, Evolving, PhD Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan, Dynamic, PhD Annual Retreat. and Career Path, which premiered at the CAASTRO SUPERVISORS Joss Bland-Hawthorn (USYD) and Scott Croom SUPERVISORS Matthew Bailes (SWIN), Willim van Straten This year started with the election of a new committee Annual Retreat in November 2017. The videos are (USYD) (Auck Univ Technology, NZ) and Evan Keane (SKA Chair to take over from Dr Wiebke Ebeling (Curtin a great reflection on the insights of students and THESIS TITLE Dynamical interactions in nearby galaxies Organisation) University). The Committee would like to thank Wiebke postdocs and will be part of CAASTRO’s legacy THESIS TITLE Next generation instrumentation for pulsar and Marcin Glowacki, Evolving, PhD for her hard work in establishing the committee. material. For its final event, the Postdoc Committee SUPERVISORS Elaine Sadler (USYD) and James Allison (USYD) fast transient studies with the SKA For its major project of 2017, the committee decided organised a professional development day for early- THESIS TITLE Studies of HI absorption against distant radio to record on video the experiences of CAASTRO’s career researchers at the CAASTRO retreat with University of Melbourne sources with ASKAP early-career researchers and students. The committee sessions on dealing with stress and pitching ideas. We closed the day with a game of Trivial Pursuit, inviting Stephanie Bernard, Dynamic/Evolving, PhD Jing Li, Evolving, Honours composed the interview questions and the committee all CAASTRO members to join in. SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Jeff Cooke (SWIN) SUPERVISOR Julia Bryant (USYD) representatives of each CAASTRO node organised the THESIS TITLE Galaxies and supernovae at cosmic dawn THESIS TITLE Investigating SFRs and the impact of AGN on filming and directed the interviews at their respective Laura Wolz nodes. Fifteen people were interviewed. Chair 2017 Sinem Ozbilgen, Dark, PhD galaxies within clusters using SAMI SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Jeremy Mould Rebecca McElroy, Evolving, PhD For most of us it was a new and very exciting (SWIN) SUPERVISORS Scott Croom (USYD) and Michael Pracy (USYD) experience to be behind the camera for the first time THESIS TITLE Calibrating the Tully-Fisher relationship THESIS TITLE The host galaxies of luminous type II AGN Mahsa Rahimi, Evolving, PhD Aina Musaeva, Evolving, PhD SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Bart Pindor SUPERVISORS Elaine Sadler (USYD) and Bärbel Koribalski (UMELB) (CSIRO) THESIS TITLE Measuring EoR Signal with MWA THESIS TITLE Intermediate mass black holes in dwarf galaxies Jarryd Rasti, Evolving, Honours Adam Schaefer, Evolving, PhD SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Ben McKinley SUPERVISOR Scott Croom (USYD) (UMELB) THESIS TITLE The modulation of star formation by galaxy THESIS TITLE Measuring the beam pattern of the MWA tiles environment using the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Jennifer Riding, Evolving, PhD SUPERVISORS Rachel Webster (UMELB) and Daniel Mitchell Charlotte Ward, Dynamic, Honours (CSIRO) SUPERVISORS Tara Murphy (USYD) and Matthew Kerr (CSIRO) THESIS TITLE Extremely low frequency radio astronomy THESIS TITLE Exploring machine learning techniques for techniques to confirm Epoch of Reionisation theories classification of signals in pulsar search data 2017 CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researchers 60 CAASTRO 61 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO Advisory Board The CAASTRO Advisory Board met twice in 2017, including a half-day strategic meeting held in Canberra in CAASTRO GOVERNANCE August 2017. At this meeting the Board assisted the CAASTRO Executive with transition planning and legacy item discussions. The Board also considered matters of strategy, responding to the changing external environment, collaboration across distances, community outreach, intellectual property and industry engagement. They have also met with students, researchers and professional staff in order to understand CAASTRO activities. CAASTRO is a collaboration six weeks via video-conference, In 2017, the CAASTRO Executive between The University of Sydney, and twice a year at face-to-face met 8 times, including face-to- The Australian National University, meetings. The Centre also has an face meetings at Swinburne, the The University of Melbourne, Advisory Board that meets twice per University of Melbourne, ICRAR CHAIR MEMBER Swinburne University of Technology, year via teleconference and annually University of Western Australia Professor Robert Williamson Professor Kenneth Freeman The University of Queensland, The face-to-face. and ICRAR Curtin University. AO FRS FAA University of Western Australia During 2017 area meetings Duffield Professor of Astronomy, Australian and Curtin University, the latter were held in Sydney, Canberra, Medical researcher and geneticist National University two participating together as the Centre Management Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. The CAASTRO Executive International Centre for Radio In 2017 CAASTRO’s Theme Astronomy Research (ICRAR). team is responsible for the MEMBER MEMBER administration of the Centre, Scientists continued to add value CAASTRO is funded under the to the research program, and gain Ms Soula Bennett Professor Martha Haynes Australian Research Council (ARC) including research output, research training, partnerships, leadership experience and new Director Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy Centre of Excellence program, with skills during this time. Thanks must additional funding from the seven national and international liaison, Quantum Victoria Cornell University policies, performance, financial go to Dr Dan Taranu (Evolving), participating universities and from Dr Christene Lynch (Dynamic) and the NSW State Government’s management, commercialisation Dr Cullan Howlett (Dark) for their MEMBER MEMBER Science Leveraging Fund. and outreach. CAASTRO staff and activities at each Collaborating hard work as CAASTRO Theme Professor Peter Davies Professor Garth Illingworth As the Administering Organisation, Organisation are supported by a Scientists in 2017. Their assistance Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics The University of Sydney manages dedicated administrative officer. in maintaining the Research Project the ARC grant and distributes funds Plans and organising the Theme University of Western Australia University of California Santa Cruz in accordance with the signed The Management Team is: Meetings has been invaluable. Collaboration Agreement. This Professor Elaine Sadler agreement covers how the Centre Centre Director MEMBER MEMBER is managed, and how collaboration Professor Lister Staveley-Smith Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte Dr Rachel Nowak and intellectual property Deputy Director agreements are managed. The School of Information Technologies Director The Brain Dialogue Ms Kate Gunn University of Sydney Monash University The seven collaborating universities Chief Operating Officer are represented on the CAASTRO Executive, which meets every MEMBER MEMBER Professor Ron Ekers Professor Elaine Sadler CSIRO Fellow CAASTRO Director The following diagram shows the CAASTRO Governance structure: Independent advice Advisory Board R. Williamson (Chair) Strategic focus MEMBER Dr Bronwyn Evans CAASTRO Executive Team Chief Executive Officer CAASTRO Director Deputy Director / Evolving Curtin Node Standards Australia U. Melbourne Node / U.Syd Node Universe / UWA Node C. Jackson (Jan – April) R.Webster E. Sadler L. Staveley-Smith R.Bhat (April – Dec)

Dark Universe / Chief Operating Officer ANU Node Swinburne Node Dynamic Universe U. Queensland Node K. Gunn C. Wolf J. Mould T. Murphy T. Davis

Finance Funds, Annual report Centre Office Science, Australian Research reporting Budget Finance, administration, Strategy Council Funding Schedule, operations, outreach CAASTRO agreement Milestones Partners & Collaborators CAASTRO Nodes CAASTRO Executive CSIRO U. Sydney U. Melbourne U. Queensland (L–R) Jeremy Mould, Tamara Davis, Ramesh Bhat, CIs, AIs, staff, students CIs, AIs, staff, students CIs, AIs, staff, students AAO NCI Lister Staveley-Smith, Christian Wolf, Elaine Sadler, Tara Murphy, Kate Gunn. Missing: Rachel Webster. The CAASTRO Advisory Board ANU Swinburne U. ICRAR | Curtin U. ICRAR | UWA International Credit: CAASTRO Credit Kylie Williams CIs, AIs, staff, students CIs, AIs, staff, students CIs, AIs, staff, students CIs, AIs, staff, students Partners 62 CAASTRO 63 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO MEMBERSHIP

CAASTRO has defined categories of membership, and individuals and organisations The University of Sydney Administering Organisation must apply to the CAASTRO Executive addressing certain defined criteria to make ICRAR | The University of Western Australia Collaborating Organisation their case for membership. The CAASTRO Membership categories are: The University of Melbourne Collaborating Organisation Chief Investigators Professional Staff Swinburne University of Technology Collaborating Organisation Chief Investigators (CIs) are senior researchers CAASTRO Professional Staff are employees of a The Australian National University Collaborating Organisation employed by collaborating organisations named in CAASTRO collaborating organisation who are classified the CAASTRO Collaborators’ Agreement. CIs are on the professional/general pay scale, or are working in ICRAR | Curtin University Collaborating Organisation responsible for making a substantial intellectual and a professional role, and are funded from the CAASTRO The University of Queensland Collaborating Organisation strategic contribution to CAASTRO, and for supervising budget or as an in kind contribution to CAASTRO. CAASTRO research staff, CAASTRO professional staff Professional staff are responsible for coordinating the CSIRO Partner Organisation and CAASTRO students. administrative, financial, educational and outreach activities within CAASTRO. All CAASTRO Professional Australian Astronomical Observatory Partner Organisation Partner Investigators Staff must have a CAASTRO CI or the CAASTRO Chief Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Partner Organisation Operating Officer as their line manager. Partner Investigators (PIs) are senior researchers California Institute of Technology Partner Organisation employed by partner organisations named in the CAASTRO Multi-Institute Agreement. PIs are Affiliates The University of Oxford Partner Organisation responsible for making a substantial intellectual and CAASTRO Affiliates are researchers who have a Durham University Partner Organisation strategic contribution to CAASTRO. Where appropriate, scientific association with CAASTRO, but who are they may also co-supervise CAASTRO students. not CIs, PIs, AIs or staff. CAASTRO Affiliates include Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Partner Organisation independently funded researchers (e.g., Future Fellows, DECRAs working alongside CAASTRO researchers The University of Arizona Partner Organisation Associate Investigators at CAASTRO nodes), or researchers who have an Associate Investigators (AIs) are scientists who are The University of Toronto Partner Organisation involvement in CAASTRO not warranting membership funded from a Collaborating Organisation, Partner at the CI, PI or AI levels. Affiliates are not responsible Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies Partner Organisation Organisation or other source, and who are participating for any CAASTRO research deliverables. in CAASTRO research projects with specific Raman Research Institute Partner Organisation deliverables. Associate Investigators are responsible National Computational Infrastructure Partner Organisation for making an intellectual and strategic contribution to Students CAASTRO in their specific area(s) of expertise. AIs are CAASTRO students are postgraduate, Honours, typically researchers for whom membership at the CI or Masters or Pre-PhD students whose research projects All members of CAASTRO agree to: PI level is not suitable for logistical or strategic reasons. make a substantial intellectual contribution to CAASTRO. A CAASTRO student can be enrolled at ƒƒ Support the goals, objectives and research of CAASTRO. Research Staff any higher degree granting institution, but must have a ƒƒ Accept the processes and procedures for joining, maintaining and leaving CAASTRO. CAASTRO CI as an official supervisor or co-supervisor. ƒƒ Allow the CAASTRO Executive the right to refuse membership to any organisation or person at any time. CAASTRO Research Staff are employees of a CAASTRO collaborating organisation, who are classified ƒ ƒ Accept the legal obligations that the Administering Organisation has with the ARC. on the academic pay scale, and are funded at FTE 0.2 Visitors ƒƒ Accept the intellectual property policy of CAASTRO. or higher from the CAASTRO budget. Research staff Visitors are academics from outside Australia who ƒƒ Accept that all disputes regarding membership will be referred to the Director. are responsible for producing the research, technical spend time working at one or more CAASTRO nodes ƒƒ Accept that membership is not transferable between individuals. and outreach results associated with the CAASTRO on a research project with CIs and other research staff. milestones and, where appropriate, may also co- A CAASTRO PI may also be a CAASTRO Visitor during supervise CAASTRO students. All CAASTRO Research time spent working at a CAASTRO node. Staff must have a CAASTRO CI as their line manager. 64 CAASTRO 65 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

AWARDS & HONOURS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA The CAASTRO team gained further external recognition in 2017, with a This year CAASTRO received a Gold Pleiades executive committee. CAASTRO was awarded with number of members receiving awards and honours for their achievements. Award from the Astronomical Society of Australia’s a certificate at the ASA Annual Science Meeting’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Astronomy IDEA Lunch in July 2017. (IDEA) Chapter – the first organisation to do so. The result is an accolade for CAASTRO’s hard- ACT Young Tall Poppy Awards Gruber Foundation Fellowship The Pleiades Awards are given to astronomical working Gender Action Committee, and for all organisations that demonstrate a strong commitment members of CAASTRO who have striven to promote Mr Khaled Said, a CAASTRO PhD student studying at to advancing the careers of women, and the Gold equity and diversity in the workplace. the University of Western Australia node of ICRAR and award recognizes ‘a truly outstanding sustained at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, received commitment’ to best practice in this area. the 2017 International Astronomical Union Fellowship Applications for Pleiades Awards are assessed of The Gruber Foundation. This annual award, worth against the selection criteria by an independent panel US$50 000, is given to a promising young astronomer CAASTRO wins the ASA Gold Pleiades Award of astronomers, in a process endorsed by the ASA’s working in any field of astrophysics. Credit: Helen Sim Khaled studies the distribution and dynamics of galaxies in the local Universe, by looking at galaxies in the region of the sky obscured by the Milky Way. During his Fellowship, which he will take up at the Australian National University, he will continue this work, extending it to cover the whole southern sky.

Order of Australia A CAASTRO Advisory Board member, Professor Ken Freeman of the Australian National University, was made Julie Banfield is the ACT Young Tall Poppy of the year a Companion of the Order of Australia in the mid-year Credit: Australian Institute of Policy and Science Queen’s Birthday Honours List. The citation reads: The Young Tall Poppy Science Awards given by the For eminent service to astronomy through pioneering Australian Institute of Policy and Science recognise contributions in the field of galactic archaeology, as up-and-coming scientists who combine world- a leading astrophysicist and researcher, to tertiary class research with a passionate commitment to science education, to professional academies, and as communicating science. In October CAASTRO’s Dr a mentor of young scientists. Julie Banfield (Australian National University) was Ken was a founding member of the Astronomical named the ACT Young Tall Poppy of the Year at a Society of Australia (ASA) and has served on the ceremony in Canberra. ASA Council several times. He is a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Society, and has received the Prime Minister’s Science Prize and The Gruber Foundation’s Cosmology Prize. Along with his outstanding scientific achievements, Ken has supervised more than 50 PhD students. He remains In addition to this award, several CAASTRO members received individual ASA awards this year. an active collaborator and a mentor to the Australian astronomical community. Louise Webster Prize for Bok Prize for outstanding Charlene Heisler Prize for CAASTRO Flashback to 2011 outstanding research by research in astronomy the most outstanding a scientist early in their by an Honours or eligible PhD thesis in astronomy post-doctoral career Masters student A Highly Commended award was Awarded to Dr Keith Bannister A Highly Commended award was presented to Emily Petroff for (CSIRO) for the paper, ‘Real-time presented to Daniel Muthukrishna for her thesis, ‘The transient radio detection of an extreme scattering his Honours thesis ‘Deep Learning sky observed with the Parkes event: Constraints on Galactic for the Spectral Classification of radio telescope’, completed plasma lenses’, Bannister, et al. Transient Astronomical Objects’ at Swinburne University of (2016) Science, Vol. 351, Issue completed at the University of Technology and supervised by 6271, pp. 354–356. Queensland and supervised by David Willem van Straten (Swinburne Parkinson (University of Queensland) University), Matthew Bailes and Brad Tucker (Australian National (Swinburne University) and Simon University). Johnston (CSIRO).

NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY | The Nobel Foundation 2011 | Photos: Frida Westholm 66 CAASTRO 67 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 Gender Profile GENDER ACTION Female Male

CAASTRO Executive 2011: 17% women | 2017: 56% women All staff

COMMITTEE 2011 (91) 2012 (120) Professor Brian Schmidt AC, FRS, FAA, 2013 (144) CAASTRO Gender Action Committee Chair 2014 (158) 2015 (179) CAASTRO Gender Action Committee. Credit: Sue Lester 2016 (179) 2017 (182)

The CAASTRO Gender Action Committee completed its fourth year of operation this year. The Chief Investigators 2011: 15% women | 2017: 42% women 2011 (13) Committee draws broadly from across the Centre: its members are from different institutions, at 2012 (12) 2013 (14) different career stages, and of different genders and nationalities. Its role has been to contribute to 2014 (14) the development of strategies to meet gender-action challenges, to best achieve CAASTRO’s goals and 2015 (14) 2016 (14) objectives. It recommends ways in which CAASTRO can balance its gender representation and boost 2017 (12) opportunities for our female staff and students; it also monitors progress in these areas. The creation Partner Investigators of the Committee fast-tracked many of our gender initiatives. 2011 (14) 2012 (15) 2013 (15) Activities in 2017 range of implementation arrangements in place. It Membership 2014 (15) promotes a culture of increased staff awareness 2015 (15) The Committee met three times this year, twice by Professor Brian Schmidt, CAATRO 2016 (16) by hosting workshops and encouraging staff to 2017 (16) videoconference and once face-to-face (at Swinburne attend women in leadership conferences, targeted Chief Investigator and Australian University in November). It worked on three major appointments and mentoring, and a strong focus National University Vice- Associate Investigators projects. on family-friendly employment arrangements (such Chancellor, chairs the Committee. 2011 (11) The first was our most ambitious initiative yet: as offering part-time appointments and child-care In the past year the other 2012 (14) arrangements at major conferences). committee members were: 2013 (18) Professors for Change, an independent spinout 2014 (18) company. Based on Male Champions of Change, this The reviewing panel commended the percentage of ƒƒ Dr David Parkinson 2015 (22) new endeavour will encourage senior science academics women in the Centre, from students to employees, (Affiliate, University of 2016 (21) and professional staff to promote gender balance. The and the gender balance on committees and among Queensland) 2017 (21) organisation will be launched in mid 2018 and will conference speakers. And even just halfway through ƒƒ Dr James Allison Affiliates be chaired by Professor Matthew Colless, CAASTRO CAASTRO’s life, the panel saw that CAASTRO’s (Affiliate, CSIRO) 2011 (11) Chief Investigator at the Australian National University. gender initiatives were changing the culture not only of ƒƒ Dr Anais Möller 2012 (15) Professors for Change has become a reality largely 2013 (27) CAASTRO but also of our member organisations. (Researcher, Australian thanks to the hard work of two members of the Gender 2014 (33) National University) Action Committee, Jessica Bloom and James Allison. The Gender Action Committee has always been 2015 (34) committed to creating a legacy that will last beyond ƒƒ Professor Rachel Webster 2016 (37) The Committee also worked with the Australian CAASTRO’s lifetime and reach into other organisations. (Chief Investigator, University 2017 (34) Tertiary Education Managers (ATEM) on providing a In 2017 we finished work on two major legacy items: of Melbourne) Research Staff 2011: 17% women | 2017: 41% women leadership program for women, and men, in CAASTRO. our case study, CAASTRO’s Path to Gender Equality, ƒƒ Professor Elaine Sadler 2011 (17) This program involved four online learning modules and the CAASTRO Gender Toolkit, a set of tools and a face-to-face training session held in Adelaide in (Centre Director/Chief 2012 (23) other organisations can use to help them build more 2013 (23) November, just before CAASTRO’s annual retreat. Investigator, University of gender-inclusive workplaces. This toolkit is available Sydney) 2014 (24) The Committee’s last official action was to survey for download on the current CAASTRO website; more 2015 (30) ƒƒ Ms Jessica Bloom 2016 (31) CAASTRO members about sexual harassment. The importantly it will available on our legacy website, (PhD Student, University of 2017 (29) survey’s responses will be collated and analysed by an which will be at www.caastro.org when the Centre Sydney) independent academic at the University of Melbourne, and ends on 31 March 2018. Professional Staff ƒƒ Ms Bonnie Zhang the results made available in early 2018. The Committee The greatest impact we may have had is the national 2011 (13) (PhD student, Australian 2012 (16) considered at length the best way to report incidents of SAGE (Science in Australia Gender Equity) initiative, National University) 2013 (11) sexual harassment so as to limit repeat offences. which is directly linked to CAASTRO’s gender-action ƒ Dr Steven Tremblay 2014 (14) program. The Chair of the Gender Action Committee, ƒ 2015 (14) Professor Brian Schmidt (ANU), has acknowledged that (Researcher, Curtin University) 2016 (12) Impact and legacy CAASTRO’s activities were ƒƒ Dr Danail Obreschkow 2017 (13) The Australian Research Council (ARC) carried out its what motivated and empowered me to co-start that (Affiliate, University of Western Students 2011: 50% women | 2017: 44% women Australia) mid-term review of CAASTRO in 2014. The reviewing initiative [SAGE] in the Academy of Science, and this 2011 (12) panel noted that: has now blossomed into a federally-funded initiative ƒƒ Ms Kate Gunn 2012 (25) The gender-equity program is a highly noteworthy that 40 institutions are participating in, representing (CAASTRO Chief Operating 2013 (36) hundreds of thousands of students and employees. Officer, University of Sydney). 2014 (40) development within the Centre, fostering a high 2015 (50) degree of awareness of gender-equity issues 2016 (48) throughout the Centre staff. The Centre has a 2017 (57)

0% 10%20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 68 CAASTRO 69 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 INVITED TALKS 2017 Major Conferences *this list does not include public talks or school talks

The spectra of early type MWA lessons Testing for tensions Surveying the cosmos with galaxies Randall Wayth, between datasets ELTs Jeremy Mould, Galactic Realising SKA-Low: new David Parkinson, CosKASI Matthew Colless, Southern Renaissance, Caltech, CA, technologies & techniques Conference 2017, Korea Cross 2017: Surveying USA, February 2017 for imaging and calibration Astronomy and Space the Cosmos, The Science Illuminating the dark ages of low frequency arrays, Science Institute, Daejeon, from Massively Multiplexed of the Universe Perth, Australia, March Republic of Korea, April Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Rachel Webster, Global 2017 2017 June 2017 Conference on Cosmology Blinding the Hubble The state of the Universe Uncovering galaxy and Frontiers in Applied Constant in 2017 individuality with SAMI Astro Science (CFAAS Bonnie Zhang, Blind Brian Schmidt, Aaronson Scott Croom, Southern 2017), Chennai, India, Analysis in High-Stakes Symposium 2017, Arizona, Cross 2017: Surveying February 2017 Survey Science: When, USA, April 2017 the Cosmos, The Science Integral field spectroscopy - Why, and How?, SLAC Deeper, wider, faster: from Massively Multiplexed science with SAMI, Hector National Accelerator chasing the fastest bursts Surveys, Sydney, Australia, and ULTIMATE-IFU Laboratory, CA, USA, in the Universe June 2017 Julia Bryant, Subaru March 2017 Jeff Cooke, Diving into Radio surveys and their International Partnership and Uncovering galaxy Gravitational Waves, US connection to other Instrumentation Workshop, individuality with Virgin Islands, May 2017 wavelengths National Astronomical multiplexed integral field Surveys for superluminous Elaine Sadler, Southern Observatory Japan, Tokyo, spectroscopy at z > 2 Cross 2017: Surveying Japan, March 2017 Scott Croom, Integral field Jeff Cooke, MIAPP the Cosmos, The Science Fast transient science spectroscopy workshop, Superluminous supernovae from Massively Multiplexed Jeff Cooke, Subaru Korean Astronomy and in the next decade, Surveys, Sydney, Australia, International Partnership Space Science Institute, Germany, May 2017 June 2017 and Instrumentation Daejeon, Republic of Korea, Searching for HI absorption April 2017 Are mergers factories for Workshop, National massive stars? in the brightest southern Astronomical Observatory Uncovering galaxy Jeff Cooke, MIAPP radio galaxies Japan, Tokyo, Japan, individuality with Superluminous supernovae Elizabeth Mahony, March 2017 multiplexed integral field in the next decade, HI Absorption 2017 Aspects of the Dark Energy spectroscopy Germany, May 2017 Workshop, Dwingeloo, The Scott Croom, Korean Netherlands, June 2017 survey Cosmology in the era of Tamara Davis, Aspects of Astronomical Society A successful search for Meeting, Changwon, the SKA Gravity and Cosmology, Tamara Davis, Fundamental intervening 21cm HI Inter-University Centre Republic of Korea, April absorption at 0.4 < z < 1 2017 Physics with the Square for Astronomy and Kilometre Array, Mauritius, with ASKAP Astrophysics, Pune, India, Dark matter in the cosmic May 2017 Elaine Sadler, HI March 2017 context Absorption 2017 Klaus Meisenheimer: Near field cosmology Katie Mack, CosKASI Workshop, Dwingeloo, The Conference 2017, Korea dealing with galaxies from Netherlands, June 2017 Joss Bland-Hawthorn, a distance and students Subaru International Astronomy and Space Galaxy and mass Science Institute, Daejeon, close-up Partnership and Christian Wolf, Honorary assembly: studies in galaxy Instrumentation Workshop, Republic of Korea, April demographics from the 2017 Scientific Conference, National Astronomical Max Planck Institute for GAMA survey Observatory Japan, Tokyo, SkyMapper transient Astronomy, Heidelberg, Edward Taylor, Southern Japan, March 2017 surveys: recent results and Germany, May 2017 Cross 2017: Surveying future the Cosmos, The Science MWA polarisation studies Hector - A massive new Emil Lenc, Realising SKA- Anais Möller, Cook’s from Massively Multiplexed Branch, Mitchell Institute Integral field spectroscopic Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Low: new technologies instrument for the AAT & techniques for imaging Workshop, Texas A&M June 2017 PRESENTATIONS University, USA, April Julia Bryant, Southern and calibration of low The K2 supernova 2017 Cross 2017: Surveying frequency arrays, Perth, the Cosmos, The Science cosmology experiment Australia, March 2017 Words about Marc from Massively Multiplexed Brad Tucker, Kepler and LWA: lessons learned Jeremy Mould, Aaronson Surveys, Sydney, Australia, K2 SciConIV, NASA Ames Steven Tremblay, Realising Symposium 2017, Arizona, June 2017 Research Center, CA, USA, SKA-Low: new technologies USA, April 2017 June 2017 & techniques for imaging Kate Gunn presents at the final and calibration of low CAASTRO Annual Retreat frequency arrays, Perth, Credit: Cristy Roberts Australia, March 2017 70 CAASTRO 71 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Pulsar Science with the Radio Galaxy Zoo and MWA pulsar science and Mrk 1018 returns to the FRBs as astrophysical tools Imaging galaxies The importance of the MWA primary beam Murchison Widefield Array Citizen Science survey plans shadows Jean-Pierre Macquart, Fast intergalactic and nearby identification of simulated determination Ramesh Bhat, The Broad Julie Banfield, ADACS Ramesh Bhat, Radio Rebecca McElroy, 229th Radio Bursts, Aspen, USA, environment galaxies Ben McKinley, Realising Impact of Low Frequency Data Intensive Astronomy Astronomy Forum 2017 American Astronomical Feb 2017 Attila Popping, Rodrigo Cañas, Mock Perth: SKA-Low: new Observing, Bologna, Italy, Workshop, Melbourne, (RAF2017), Hanglong, Society Meeting, Dallas, Studying HI absorption in PHISCC2017, Pune, India, challenges for simulations technologies & techniques June 2017 Australia, August 2017 China, September 2017 USA, Jan 2017 AGN with ASKAP Feb 2017 in the era of SKA and large for imaging and calibration Low-frequency The SAMI galaxy survey: The 300: Cluster Astrophysics overview Elizabeth Mahony, Be nice to satellites, they’re IFU surveys, Australia, Mar of low frequency arrays, observations of nearby origins of gas in galaxies Comparison project Katie Mack, CAASTRO- PHISCC-2017, Pune, India, going through a tough 2017 Perth, Australia, Mar 2017 galaxies traced by kinematic Pascal Elahi, Groups and CoEPP Workshop, Feb 2017 phase Synthetic universes for Dependence on HI mass George Heald, The Broad misalignments Clusters II, La Serena, Melbourne, Australia, SkyMapper transient Rhys Poulton, ANITA surveys on halo mass in ALFALFA- Impact of Low Frequency Julia Bryant, From Black Chile, October 2017 Jan 2017 survey and SN2016hhd 2017 (Australian National Pascal Elahi, Mock Perth: GAMA survey overlap Observing, Bologna, Italy, Hole to Environment: The SKA EoR project Radio Galaxy Zoo: citizen Anais Möller, K2 Institute for Theoretical challenges for simulations Martin Meyer, From June 2017 galaxy evolution over Cathryn Trott, IAUS 333: science and machine Supernova experiment & Astrophysics), Hobart, in the era of SKA and large Field to Clusters: HI as a Exploring the dynamic radio multiple wavelengths, Peering towards Cosmic learning workshop, USA, Feb 2017 Australia, Feb 2017 IFU surveys, Australia, tracer of galaxy evolution, sky with SKA pathfinders Canberra, Australia, August Dawn, Dubrovnik, Republic Julie Banfield, Detecting The gaseous outskirts of Mar 2017 Melbourne, Australia, Mar 2017 FLASH – the first large 2017 Tara Murphy, The Broad of Croatia, October 2017 the Unexpected: Discovery absorption survey in HI: galaxy clusters Extracting useful Impact of Low Frequency Dark matter in the cosmic Results from MWA-EOR in Astronomically Big Data, commissioning and early Chris Power, ANITA kinematics from What ASKAP will tell us Observing, Bologna, Italy, context Rachel Webster, IAUS 333: Baltimore, USA, Feb 2017 results 2017 (Australian National simulations about galaxy evolution: June 2017 Katie Mack, Current Peering towards Cosmic Gravitational potential and Vanessa Moss, Institute for Theoretical Katherine Harborne, Mock early science results and Radio AGN populations and Themes in High Energy Dawn, Dubrovnik, Republic surface density drive the PHISCC-2017, Pune, India, Astrophysics), Hobart, Perth: challenges for prospects for the future their evolution Physics and Cosmology, of Croatia, October 2017 stellar population of ETGs Feb 2017 Australia, Feb 2017 simulations in the era of Martin Meyer, Mock Perth: Elaine Sadler, The Broad Copenhagen, Denmark, Tania Barone, SAMI-GAMA Parkes 21-cm intensity SKA and large IFU surveys, challenges for simulations August 2017 Cosmic clustering and An improved statistical Australia, Mar 2017 in the era of SKA and large Impact of Low Frequency homogeneity Meeting, Perth, Australia, foreground model for the mapping Observing, Bologna, Italy, AGN feeding and feedback Feb 2017 Jonghwan Rhee, Ionospheric conditions IFU surveys, Australia, Mar Tamara Davis, A Fractured EoR 2017 June 2017 in central galaxies Universe? Fundamental Current follow-up efforts Steven Murray, ANITA PHISCC2017, Pune, India, above the MRO with MWA Low frequency imaging Chris Power, From Black Physics, Symmetry, and Shivani Bhandari, Fast 2017 (Australian National Feb 2017 EoR Overview of ionospheric Andre Offringa, The Broad Hole to Environment: Life, Sydney, Australia, Radio Bursts, Aspen, USA, Institute for Theoretical Quenching star formations Christopher Jordan, analyses and calibration Impact of Low Frequency galaxy evolution over November 2017 Feb 2017 Astrophysics), Hobart, in galaxy groups Realising SKA-Low: new Daniel Mitchell, multiple wavelengths, technologies & techniques Realising SKA-Low: new Observing, Bologna, Italy, Murchison Widefield Array The first interferometric Australia, Feb 2017 Adam Schaefer, SAMI June 2017 Canberra, Australia, August Kinematics Meeting, Perth, for imaging and calibration technologies & techniques 2017 Randall Wayth, SKA detections of FRBs WTF: discovering the of low frequency arrays, for imaging and calibration The EoR with LOFAR Regional Pathfinders Manisha Caleb, Fast Radio unexpected in next- Australia, Feb 2017 Radio Galaxy Zoo and Perth, Australia, Mar 2017 of low frequency arrays, Andre Offringa, The Broad workshop, Sydney, Bursts, Aspen, USA, Feb generation radio surveys MUSE observations of Perth, Australia, Mar 2017 Impact of Low Frequency Citizen Science Australia, November 2017 2017 Ray Norris, Detecting the 1E 0102.2-7219 Physical processes that Observing, Bologna, Italy, Julie Banfield, ACAMAR Unexpected: Discovery in Ivo Seitenzahl, 331 IAU govern the formation of Observational status of 3, Hobart, Australia, Radio AGN populations and Deeper, wider, faster: a galaxies with low HI mass angular momentum in June 2017 their cosmic evolution novel program to resolve Astronomically Big Data, Symposium: SN 1987A, September 2017 Baltimore, USA, Feb 2017 30 years later – Cosmic (using GALFORM) galaxies Observing the EoR with the Elaine Sadler, Science the nature of fast radio Hansik Kim, From Field Danail Obreschkow, Mock MWA Galaxy surveys and the at Low Frequencies bursts with a single Positron annihilation in a Rays and Nuclei from distance scale Supernovae and their to Clusters: HI as a tracer Perth: challenges for Cathryn Trott, The Broad IV, Sydney, Australia, detection dynamic ISM of galaxy evolution, simulations in the era of Impact of Low Frequency Matthew Colless, Stellar December 2017 Jeff Cooke, Fast Radio Fiona Panther, ANITA aftermaths, Saint-Gilles- populations and the Les-Bains, France, Feb Melbourne, Australia, Mar SKA and large IFU surveys, Observing, Bologna, Italy, MWA status and plans Bursts, Aspen, USA, Feb 2017 (Australian National 2017 Australia, Mar 2017 June 2017 distance scale, Shanghai, 2017 Institute for Theoretical 2017 China, September 2017 Randall Wayth, Science A hybrid multiresolution Pulsar observations and A review on gas in galaxies at Low Frequencies Distinguishing FRB Astrophysics), Hobart, The WALLABY survey with SkyMapper and the Australia, Feb 2017 ASKAP scheme to efficiently model processing with MWA and their evolution IV, Sydney, Australia, cosmological models the structure of reionisation Steve Ord, Realising SKA- Claudia Lagos, In & Out: transient survey December 2017 Bryan Gaensler, Fast Testing for tensions Lister Staveley-Smith, Anais Möller, ACAMAR PHISCC2017, Pune, India, on the largest scales Low: new technologies What rules the galaxy An overview on HI Radio Bursts, Aspen, between datasets Hansik Kim, Mock Perth: & techniques for imaging baryon cycle? Munich 3, Hobart, Australia, USA, David Parkinson, ANITA Feb 2017 September 2017 intensity mapping challenges for simulations and calibration of low Institute for Astro- and Laura Wolz, Science Feb 2017 2017 (Australian National Using wavelets to explore in the era of SKA and large frequency arrays, Perth, Particle Physics, Germany, A comparison of distance at Low Frequencies Extracting useful Institute for Theoretical the Epoch of Reionisation IFU surveys, Australia, Mar Australia, Mar 2017 July 2017 ladders Astrophysics), Hobart, Cathryn Trott, ANITA IV, Sydney, Australia, kinematics from 2017 The extended HI properties A review on gas in galaxies Jeremy Mould, Stellar December 2017 simulations Australia, Feb 2017 2017 (Australian National populations and the Institute for Theoretical HI in galaxies: a simulation of galaxies with IMAGINE and their evolution Katherine Harborne, ANITA Learning from FRB perspective Attila Popping, Mock Perth: Claudia Lagos, The Galaxy distance scale, Shanghai, 2017 (Australian National scattering/scintillation/RM Astrophysics), Hobart, China, September 2017 Other Australia, Feb 2017 Claudia Lagos, From challenges for simulations Ecosystem - Flow of Institute for Theoretical Ue-Li Pen, Fast Radio Field to Clusters: HI as a in the era of SKA and large Baryons Through Galaxies, Type 1a Supernova Presentations 2017 Astrophysics), Hobart, Bursts, Aspen, USA, Feb AAOmega tracer of galaxy evolution, IFU surveys, Australia, Mar Germany, July 2017 progenitors (Conferences, Australia, Feb 2017 2017 Brad Tucker, K2 Supernova Melbourne, Australia, Mar 2017 Neutral hydrogen in the Ashley Ruiter, Steller workshops, colloquia, Extracting useful ASKAP update experiment & workshop, 2017 Evolution, SN & USA, Feb 2017 Tracing the low column distant Universe projects, collaborations) kinematics from Attila Popping, Nucleosynthesis across MWA polarisation studies density HI with IMAGINE Elaine Sadler, New simulations PHISCC2017, Pune, India, C16 & C17 overview Emil Lenc, Realising SKA- Attilla Popping, From Heights in Astronomy, Cosmic Time, Japan, Modelling dark matter Katherine Harborne, SAMI Feb 2017 Brad Tucker, K2 Supernova September 2017 Pascal Elahi, CAASTRO- Low: new technologies Field to Clusters: HI as a ESO, Garching, Germany, Kinematics Meeting, Perth, experiment & workshop, & techniques for imaging tracer of galaxy evolution, August 2017 CoEPP Workshop, Australia, Feb 2017 USA, Feb 2017 Melbourne, Australia, and calibration of low Melbourne, Australia, Mar Jan 2017 frequency arrays, Perth, 2017 Australia, Mar 2017 72 CAASTRO 73 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Outskirts of galaxy clusters Fast-evolving galaxies MANIFEST destiny – why The DECamERON project Precision cosmology with Simulations beyond the A low frequency census of Challenging EoR Challenges – view from cosmological Ivy Wong, From Field to MOS and IFS instruments Jeremy Mould, Type Ia supernovae: the point source; more realistic southern pulsars with Array Redundancy simulations Clusters: HI as a tracer are needed on ELTs Superluminous supernovae Hubble constant and dark simulations to better Mengyao Xue, The Broad Ronniy Joseph, Chris Power, From Field of galaxy evolution, Matthew Colless, 2017 in the next decade, MIAPP, energy understand foreground Impact of Low Frequency Astronomical Society of to Clusters: HI as a tracer Melbourne, Australia, Mar International Telescopes Germany, May 2017 Bonnie Zhang, Centre removal Observing, Bologna, Italy, Australia Annual Scientific of galaxy evolution, 2017 Support Office Science Radio transients SWG for Astrophysics Jack Line, MWA Project Jun 2017 meeting, Canberra, Melbourne, Australia, Mar GLUV Symposium, Canberra, Tara Murphy, OzSKA 3, & Supercomputing Meeting, Padova, Italy, Jun The drivers of stellar Australia, Jul 2017 2017 Brad Tucker, CubeSat, Australia, May 2017 Sydney, Australia, May Colloquium, Swinburne 2017 population in early-type MWA polarisation studies HI gas evolution over the Sydney, Australia, Apr High redshift 2017 University, Melbourne, Status of SKA for HI galaxies Emil Lenc, SPARCS Australia, May 2017 cosmic time 2017 superluminous supernovae Between wedge and absorption Tania Barone, Astronomical SPARCS VII The Precursors Jonghwan Rhee, Mock ASKAP and ITSO: surveys window: an improved The history of cold gas in Martin Meyer, HI Society of Australia Awaken, Perth, Australia, Perth: challenges for Understanding feedback Jeff Cooke, Superluminous statistical point-source the Universe using the SKA absorption 2017, ASTRON, Annual Scientific meeting, Jul 2017 simulations in the era and fuelling radio galaxies supernovae in the next foreground model for the James Allison, Southern The Netherlands, Jun 2017 Canberra, Australia, Jul The Epoch of Reionisation of SKA and large IFU James Allison, 2017 decade, MIAPP, Germany, EoR Cross 2017: Surveying Spectral classification 2017 Jack Line, Harley Wood surveys, Australia, Mar International Telescopes May 2017 Steven Murray, the Cosmos, The Science update. DASH: deep Chasing the bright end of Winter School, Sydney, 2017 Support Office Science DLAs in galaxy spectra Fundamental Physics with from Massively Multiplexed learning for supernova the z > 8 galaxy luminosity Australia, Jul 2017 #nofilter: SAGE and the Symposium, Canberra, Jeff Cooke, 2017 the SKA, Flic-en-Flac, Surveys, Sydney, Australia, classification function: follow-up Jun 2017 An update on the MWA Epoch of Reionization, how Australia, May 2017 International Telescopes Mauritius, May 2017 Daniel Muthukrishna, Dark imaging of galaxies during EoR experiment relevant is the filtering HI galaxy science SWG Support Office Science Cold gas models MWA high time resolution Energy Survey meeting, reionisation with Spitzer Jack Line, Astronomical mass? James Allison, OzSKA 3, Symposium, Canberra, Danail Obreschkow, science update Chicago, USA, Jun 2017 IRAC Society of Australia Annual Jacob Seiler, Mock Perth: Sydney, Australia, May Australia, May 2017 OzSKA 3, Sydney, Ramesh Bhat, MWA EoR science update Stephanie Bernard, Meeting 2017, Sydney, challenges for simulations 2017 DECam detection and Keck Australia, May 2017 Project Meeting, Padova, Bart Pindor, MWA Project Astronomical Society of Australia, Jul 2017 in the era of SKA and large Italy, Jun 2017 Australia Annual Scientific The present and the future spectroscopy on ongoing Testing dark energy and Meeting, Padova, Italy, Jun SkyMapper transient IFU surveys, Australia, Mar high redshift superluminous GLEAM: calibration, 2017 meeting, Canberra, 2017 of the DWF program modified gravity with the Australia, Jul 2017 survey Igor Andreoni, 2017 supernovae evolutionary map of the images, and catalogues Linking absorption and Anais Möller, Astronomical Future prospects for International Telescopes Chris Curtin, Munich Universe survey Paul Hancock, The Broad emission of the CGM with Pulsar science with the Society of Australia detecting the 21cm signal Support Office Science Institute for Astro- and David Parkinson, Impact of Low Frequency IMAGINE Murchison Widefield Array Annual Scientific meeting, from the EoR Symposium, Canberra, Particle Physics (MIAPP) Fundamental Physics with Observing, Bologna, Italy, Attila Popping, HI Ramesh Bhat, 13th Canberra, Australia, Jul Cathryn Trott, Mock Perth: Australia, May 2017 Seminar, Germany, May the SKA, Flic-en-Flac, Jun 2017 absorption 2017, ASTRON, Asian-Pacific Regional IAU 2017 challenges for simulations 2017 Mauritius, May 2017 The Taipan Galaxy Survey The Netherlands, Jun 2017 Meeting (APRIM 2017), in the era of SKA and large Optical constraints on Taipei, Taiwan, Jul 2017 Profile variability studies extreme scattering events Cosmology in the era of Cosmic HI density Andrew Hopkins, Southern Imagine galaxies with PPTA pulsars IFU surveys, Australia, Mar the SKA Cross 2017: Surveying Sub-arcsec compact 2017 Keith Bannister, 2017 evolution intergalactic and nearby Aditya Parthasarathy, International Telescopes Tamara Davis, Fundamental Jonghwan Rhee, OzSKA the Cosmos, The Science environment source properties using International Pulsar Timing Overview of focus groups Support Office Science Physics with the SKA, 3, Sydney, Australia, May from Massively Multiplexed Attila Popping, What wide field interplanetary Array, Sevres, France, Jul Cathryn Trott, SKA EoR/ Symposium, Canberra, Flic-en-Flac, Mauritius, May 2017 Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Matters around Galaxies, scintillation with the 2017 CD Science Working Group 2017 Jun 2017 Murchison Widefield Array Australia, May 2017 The potential of the SKA Durham, UK, Jun 2017 Explaining Galactic Meeting, Pisa, Italy, Mar Tracing HI in obscured Update on the 4MOST Rajan Chhetri, The Broad 2017 Searching for FRBs with from a particle physicist’s Evolution of cosmic gas Impact of Low Frequency antimatter with faint ASKAP AGN perspective system for the Vista density thermonuclear supernovae Connecting galaxy Marcin Glowacki, OzSKA Telescope Observing, Bologna, Italy, Keith Bannister, OzSKA Signe Reimer-Sorenson, Lister Staveley-Smith, HI Jul 2017 Ashley Ruiter, The Impact dynamics to cosmic flows 3, Sydney, Australia, May 3, Sydney, Australia, May Fundamental Physics with Andrew Hopkins, Southern absorption 2017, ASTRON, of Binaries on Stellar Charlotte Welker, Mock 2017 2017 the SKA, Flic-en-Flac, Cross 2017: Surveying The Netherlands, Jun 2017 SURFS: Synthetic Evolution, Garching, Perth: challenges for the Cosmos, The Science UniveRses For Surveys Keck spectroscopy of Extragalactic continuum Mauritius, May 2017 Dissecting galaxies with Germany, Jul 2017 simulations in the era of SWG from Massively Multiplexed Pascal Elahi, Canadian SKA and large IFU surveys, z ~ 7 galaxies: probing the The EoR/CD science Surveys, Sydney, Australia, 6D physical models using Astronomical Society, Neutral hydrogen in the physics of reionisation Minh Huynn, OzSKA 3, working group SAMI/GAMA data distant Universe: new Australia, Mar 2017 Sydney, Australia, May Jun 2017 Edmonton, Canada, Jul Stephanie Bernard, 2017 Cathryn Trott, OzSKA, Dan Taranu, Southern 2017 results from the Australian Transforming galaxies: star International Telescopes 2017 Sydney, Australia, May Ionospheric Cross 2017: Surveying SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) formation and morphology Support Office Science Searching for axion dark 2017 characterisation above the Cosmos, The Science Fireballs and space debris telescope Christian Wolf, From the Murchison Radio with the MWA Symposium, Canberra, matter with the SKA Murchison Widefield Array from Massively Multiplexed Elaine Sadler, 13th Asian- Field to Clusters: HI as a Australia, May 2017 Katharine Kelley, Observatory with EoR Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Paul Hancock, Pacific Regional IAU tracer of galaxy evolution, update datasets Astronomical Society of Fast radio bursts Fundamental Physics with Randall Wayth, OzSKA, Jun 2017 Meeting (APRIM 2017), Melbourne, Australia, Mar the SKA, Flic-en-Flac, Christopher Jordan, The Australia Annual Scientific Taipei, Taiwan, Jul 2017 2017 Shivani Bhandari, OzSKA Sydney, Australia, May Broad Impact of Low Director’s report meeting, Canberra, 3, Sydney, Australia, May Mauritius, May 2017 2017 Randall Wayth, MWA Reverberation mapping in Purify: imaging using Frequency Observing, Canberra (Australia), Jul 2017 Joint microlensing and Investigating the HI Bologna, Italy, Jun 2017 Project Meeting, Padova, 2017 bulk with DES/OzDES compressive sensing reverberation mapping Italy, Jun 2017 Natalia Eiré Sommer, techniques Pulsars with the Murchison distributions after OzDES multi-object ASKAP pre-early science: Widefield Array analysis of HE0435-1223 reionisation with SKA-Low Studying black holes Astronomical Society of Laura Wolz, Realising SKA- Anthea King, Manhattan spectroscopy for the Dark GAMA23 field Australia Annual Scientific Low: new technologies Ramesh Bhat, OzSKA, Laura Wolz, Fundamental Energy Survey at high redshift with Andrew Hopkins, SPARCS Sydney, Australia, May Microlensing, New York, Physics with the SKA, SkyMapper and Taipan meeting, Canberra, & techniques for imaging USA, May 2017 Chris Lidman, Southern SPARCS VII The Precursors Australia, Jul 2017 and calibration of low 2017 Flic-en-Flac, Mauritius, May Cross 2017: Surveying Christian Wolf, Southern Awaken, Perth, Australia, frequency arrays, Perth, Hector HI and soft X-ray 2017 the Cosmos, The Science Cross 2017: Surveying Jul 2017 Murchison Widefield Array Australia, Mar 2017 Julia Bryant, OzSKA 3, absorption from Massively Multiplexed the Cosmos, The Science Randall Wayth, Vanessa Moss, OzSKA 3, from Massively Multiplexed CASDA Astronomical Society of Sydney, Australia, May Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Minh Huynn, SPARCS 2017 Sydney, Australia, May Jun 2017 Surveys, Sydney, Australia, Australia Annual Scientific 2017 Jun 2017 SPARCS VII The Precursors meeting, Canberra, Awaken, Perth, Australia, Australia, Jul 2017 Jul 2017 74 CAASTRO 75 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Radio Galaxy Zoo DR1 The Milky Way: evidence The SkyMapper southern The SKA Between wedge and A unified galaxy scaling Radio follow-up of Investigating AGN structure Ivy Wong, SPARCS for the Seyfert activity in survey Evan Keane, IAUS 337: window: an improved relations with SAMI GW170817 using a joint reverberation SPARCS VII:The Precursors the recent past Christian Wolf, From Black Pulsar Astrophysics – The statistical point-source Dilyar Barat, CAASTRO Dougal Dobie, CAASTRO mapping and microlensing Awaken, Perth, Australia, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, From Hole to Environment: Next 50 Years, Jodrell foreground model for the 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Annual Retreat, analysis of lensed quasar Jul 2017 Black Hole to Environment: galaxy evolution over Bank Observatory, UK, Sep EoR Barossa Valley, Australia, Barossa Valley, Australia, HE0435–1223 A blinded determination of galaxy evolution over multiple wavelengths, 2017 Steven Murray, IAUS 333: Nov 2017 Nov 2017 Anthea King, CAASTRO multiple wavelengths, Canberra, Australia, Aug Peering towards Cosmic 2017 Annual Retreat, H0 from low-redshift type The wedge and the Seven Years of low Radio follow-up of Ia supernovae, calibrated Canberra, Australia, Aug 2017 window Dawn, Dubrovnik, Croatia, frequency time-domain gravitational wave events Barossa Valley, Australia, by Cepheid variables 2017 Radio Galaxy Zoo DR1 Steven Murray, ICRAR con, Oct 2017 surveys: achievements and Dougal Dobie, Stars Nov 2017 Bonnie Zhang, Jet-driven outflows of cold Ivy Wong, From Black Hole Mandurah, Australia, Sep MWA observations of future prospects in Sydney, Macquarie Investigating AGN structure Astronomical Society of gas: the case of 3C293 to Environment: galaxy 2017 EOR1 field Martin Bell, CAASTRO University, Australia, Nov using a joint reverberation Australia Annual Scientific Elizabeth Mahony, From evolution over multiple Where is the gas? detecting Bart Pindor, IAUS 333: 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 mapping and microlensing meeting, Canberra, Black Hole to Environment: wavelengths, Canberra, neutral hydrogen in the IGM Peering towards Cosmic Barossa Valley, Australia, WISE data as a analysis of lensed quasar Australia, Jul 2017 galaxy evolution over Australia, Aug 2017 Attila Popping, ACAMAR 3, Dawn, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Nov 2017 photometric redshift HE0435-1223 Shaping the circumgalactic multiple wavelengths, Detection of radio emission Hobart, Australia, Sep 2017 Oct 2017 Chasing the bright end indicator for radio AGN Anthea King, CAASTRO Canberra, Australia, Aug 2017 Annual Retreat, medium through radio-loud from fireballs with the Lessons from Parkes, Faint thermonuclear of the z > 8 galaxy Marcin Glowacki, AGN interactions on kpc 2017 MWA supernovae and Ti-44 luminosity function with CAASTRO 2017 Annual Barossa Valley, Australia, ATCA and ASKAP Nov 2017 scales Reverberation in mapping Xiang Zhang, International Lister Staveley-Smith, RAF Ashley Ruiter, With one the BoRG Retreat, Barossa Valley, Julie Banfield, From Black with DES/OzDES Union of Radio Science 2017, Guizhou, China, Sep hand waving free – John Stephanie Bernard, Australia, Nov 2017 The UTMOST SMIRF Hole to Environment: Natalia Eiré Sommer, From (URSI) GASS 2017, 2017 Lattanzio’s 60th birthday, CAASTRO 2017 Annual A numerical investigation survey galaxy evolution over Black Hole to Environment: Montreal, Canada, Aug Port Douglas, Aus, Oct Retreat, Barossa Valley, Vivek Venkatraman GLUV – a high-altitude UV into the spin parameter multiple wavelengths, galaxy evolution over 2017 2017 Australia, Nov 2017 Katherine Harborne, Krishnan, CAASTRO 2017 Canberra, Australia, Aug multiple wavelengths, survey Annual Retreat, Barossa Millisecond pulsars across Brad Tucker, 68th The Kepler extra-galactic Supernova cosmology CAASTRO 2017 Annual 2017 Canberra, Australia, Aug the MWA band survey Bonnie Zhang, Sam Hinton Retreat, Barossa Valley, Valley, Australia, Nov 2017 International Astronautical 2017 Properties of subarcsecond Ramesh Bhat, ACAMAR Congress, Adelaide, Brad Tucker, Astronomical and Dillon Brout, The Australia, Nov 2017 compact source population Feedback and the structure 3, Hobart, Australia, Sep Australia, Sep 2017 Society of Australia Dark Energy Collaboration Preserving your project: Angular momentum in identified using widefield of local galaxies: insight 2017 Annual Scientific meeting, Meeting, Brisbane, galaxies: lesson from the Strong field tests of gravity software tooling and interplanetary scintillation from simulations and A first SkyMapper Canberra, Australia, Oct Australia, Nov 2017 resources EAGLE simulations with the MWA integral field kinematics with PSR J1141–6545 2017 Claudia Lagos, CAASTRO variability census and the Vivek Venkatraman, IAUS A first SkyMapper Sam Hinton, CAASTRO Rajan Chhetri, From Black Dan Taranu, From Black search for counterparts to Mapping the Sky — variability census and the 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Annual Retreat, Hole to Environment: Hole to Environment: 337: Pulsar Astrophysics – Barossa Valley, Australia, high-energy events The Next 50 Years, Jodrell from ancient times to search for counterparts to Barossa Valley, Australia, galaxy evolution over galaxy evolution over Seo-Won Chang, the modern Australian high-energy events Nov 2017 Nov 2017 multiple wavelengths, multiple wavelengths, Bank Observatory, UK, Astronomical Society of Sep 2017 SkyMapper Telescope Seo-Won Chang, CAASTRO Evolutionary map of the Current and future Canberra, Australia, Aug Canberra, Australia, Aug Australia Annual Scientific Christian Wolf, Annual 2017 Annual Retreat, simulations for multi- 2017 2017 MWA phase II status and Universe meeting, Canberra, Seminar of Mapping Barossa Valley, AUS, Nov Andrew Hopkins, GAMA: wavelength galaxy surveys Resolving the 40-year-old Galactic winds and Australia, Sep 2017 plans Sciences Institute of 2017 Claudia Lagos, GAMA: Randall Wayth, ACAMAR Final data release, legacy, mystery of the size of high metallicities: EAGLE vs HI cosmic density via Australia, Australia, Oct HI cosmic density via and future galaxy evolution Final data release, legacy, redshift DLAs SAMI 3, Hobart, Australia, Sep 2017 and future galaxy evolution stacking 2017 stacking surveys, Perth, Australia, Jeff Cooke, The Circle Edoardo Tescari, The Qingxiang Chen, ACAMAR An atlas of SFR changes Qingxiang Chen, GAMA: Nov 2017 surveys, Perth, Australia, of Life: Connecting Circle of Life: Connecting Radio Galaxy Zoo DR1 Nov 2017 3, Hobart, Australia, Sep in nearby galaxies from Final data release, legacy, Taipan galaxy survey the Intergalactic, the Intergalactic, 2017 Ivy Wong, ICRAR con, SkyMapper and future galaxy evolution OzDES: current status Circumgalactic, and Circumgalactic, and Mandurah, Australia, Sep Andrew Hopkins, GAMA: Stellar populations and Christian Wolf, surveys, Perth, Australia, Final data release, legacy, and first cosmological Interstellar Media, Kruger Interstellar Media, Kruger 2017 Astronomical Society of Nov 2017 constraints Park, South Africa, Aug Park, South Africa, Aug dynamics from resolved and future galaxy evolution Pulsar and transients group Australia Annual Scientific Chris Lidman, CAASTRO 2017 2017 spectroscopy of galaxies Stellar populations and surveys, Perth, Australia, Matthew Colless, Chemical Mengyao Xue, ICRAR con, meeting, Canberra, dynamics from resolved Nov 2017 2017 Annual Retreat, Resolving environmental Signal processing with Mandurah, Australia, Sep Australia, Oct 2017 Barossa Valley, Australia, Evolution of the Universe, spectroscopy of galaxies Cosmology with peculiar quenching of star formation heterogeneous digital Tarrytown, USA, Sep 2017 2017 Improved constraints Matthew Colless, Nov 2017 with SAMI filterbanks: lessons from velocity surveys Detection of meteors and on the growth rate of CAASTRO 2017 Annual Chasing low frequency Scott Croom, From Black the MWA and EDA Testing gravity with Cullan Howlett, CAASTRO space debris with the structure from modelling Retreat, Barossa Valley, burst from magnetically Hole to Environment: Randall Wayth, CASPER 4MOST-based peculiar 2017 Annual Retreat, MWA the density-velocity cross- Australia, Nov 2017 active stars galaxy evolution over Workshop 2017, Pasadena, velocity surveys Barossa Valley, Australia, Xiang Zhang, ACAMAR correlation in the 6dF Christene Lynch, multiple wavelengths, USA, Aug 2017 Cullan Howlett, 4MOST The SAMI galaxy survey Nov 2017 3, Hobart, Australia, Sep Galaxy Survey CAASTRO 2017 Annual Canberra, Australia, Aug All Hands Meeting, Lyon, Scott Croom, GAMA: Final The GAMA legacy ATCA Conference summary France, Sep 2017 2017 Caitlin Adams, CAASTRO data release, legacy, and Retreat, Barossa Valley, 2017 Rachel Webster, Shedding 2017 Annual Retreat, southern survey Australia, Nov 2017 Toward measuring the future galaxy evolution Black holes in both normal Light on Dark Matter Calibration in the era of Barossa Valley, Australia, Minh Huynn, GAMA: Final global EoR signal with the surveys, Perth, Australia, Fast radio burst source and disrupted dwarf with Extremely Large large N-arrays Nov 2017 data release, legacy, and moon and the MWA Nov 2017 counts galaxies Telescopes, Lanzhou, Ronniy Joseph, ICRAR con, future galaxy evolution Benjamin McKinley, IAUS Cosmology with Type Ia Jean-Pierre Macquart, Michael Drinkwater, From China, Aug 2017 Mandurah, Australia, Sep Three of the highest surveys, Perth, Australia, 333: Peering towards Supernova gravitational CAASTRO 2017 Annual Black Hole to Environment: 2017 redshift supernova spectra Nov 2017 The growth of Cosmic Dawn, Dubrovnik, lensing Retreat, Barossa Valley, galaxy evolution over Epoch of Reioniation ever collected from the first Pulse profile and supermassive black holes Croatia, Oct 2017 Jacobo Asorey, CAASTRO HSC-SSP supernova survey Australia, Nov 2017 multiple wavelengths, Christian Wolf, From Black update 2017 Annual Retreat, scintillation studies of PSR Canberra, Australia, Aug Ronniy Joseph, ICRAR con, Keck follow-up campaign J2241-5236 Hole to Environment: galaxy Barossa Valley, Australia, Chris Curtin, CAASTRO 2017 evolution over multiple Mandurah, Australia, Sep Nov 2017 Dilpreet Kaur, CAASTRO 2017 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Annual Retreat, wavelengths, Canberra, Barossa Valley, Australia, Australia, Aug 2017 Barossa Valley, Australia, Nov 2017 Nov 2017 76 CAASTRO 77 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Searching for HI absorption Revealing the local stellar From time-lags to dark Deriving gas kinematics for MWA high time resolution Dissecting disks with SAMI Everything you wanted to Gravitational waves: a new in the brightest southern populations of SN1991bg- energy: reverberation irregular disk galaxies using science update Dan Taranu, Hunstead know about dark matter era of astronomy begins radio galaxies like supernova host mapping with DES/OzDES trans-dimensional Bayesian Ramesh Bhat, MWA Workshop 2017, Sydney, but were afraid to ask Brian Schmidt, World Elizabeth Mahony, galaxies Natalia Eiré Sommer, Gaussian mixtures project meeting, Sydney, Australia, Dec 2017 Katie Mack, Astronomical Science Festival, Brisbane, CAASTRO 2017 Annual Fiona Panther, CAASTRO CAASTRO 2017 Annual Mathew Varidel, CAASTRO Australia, Dec 2017 Extended source models Society of Victoria, March 2017 Retreat, Barossa Valley, 2017 Annual Retreat, Retreat, Barossa Valley, 2017 Annual Retreat, MWA pulsar science and for EoR Science Melbourne, February 2017 Philosophy of the cosmos Australia, Nov 2017 Barossa Valley, Australia, Australia, Nov 2017 Barossa Valley, Australia, survey plans Cathryn Trott, Science Unravelling the dark side of Brad Tucker, ANU, Mapping emission regions Nov 2017 I’m batman! (and here’s Nov 2017 Ramesh Bhat, Science at Low Frequencies IV, the Universe Canberra, March 2017 in magnetospheres: Conference summary why..) Gender action committee at Low Frequencies IV, Sydney, Australia, Dec Katie Mack, Renaissance The life and times of stars simultaneous observations Attila Popping, CAASTRO Natalia Eiré Sommer, report Sydney, Australia, Dec 2017 Weekend, Santa Fe, New Brad Tucker, ANU, of subpulse drifting with 2017 Annual Retreat, Mount Stromlo Christmas Rachel Webster, CAASTRO 2017 MWA Director’s report Mexico, USA, February Canberra, March 2017 the MWA and the GMRT Barossa Valley, Australia, Student Seminars, 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Radio follow-up of Randall Wayth, MWA The past, present, and Sam McSweeny, Nov 2017 Canberra, Australia, Nov Barossa Valley, Australia, gravtitational wave events project meeting, Sydney, The dark side of the CAASTRO 2017 Annual 2017 Nov 2017 future of Mount Stromlo Does what we know Dougal Dobie, Bolton Australia, Dec 2017 Universe Observatory and space Retreat, Barossa Valley, of galaxy halos tell us Reverberation mapping in From the ashes to…15 Symposium, Sydney, Katie Mack, North Carolina Australia, Nov 2017 Brad Tucker, ANU, anything about what dark bulk years of SkyMapper project Australia, Dec 2017 Museum of Natural Canberra, March 2017 Deep investigation of matter is? Natalia Eiré Sommer, The Christian Wolf, CAASTRO Public Talks 2017 Sciences, Raleigh, North New capabilities for the The future of space neutral gas origins Chris Power, CAASTRO Dark Energy Collaboration 2017 Annual Retreat, MWA: rapid response SN 1006 Carolina, USA, February Martin Meyer, GAMA: Final CoEPP Workshop, Barossa Meeting, Brisbane, Barossa Valley, Australia, 2017 Brad Tucker, Questacon, triggers Brian Schmidt, St Gallen, Canberra, March 2017 data release, legacy, and Valley, Australia, Nov Australia, Nov 2017 Nov 2017 Paul Hancock, MWA Switzerland, January 2017 The life and times of stars future galaxy evolution 2017 Mount Stromlo past, Dissecting disk galaxies Optical follow-up of project meeting, Sydney, Exploding stars, dark Brad Tucker, ANU, surveys, Perth, Australia, Seeking the signatures with multiwavelength data GW events with ANU Australia, Dec 2017 Canberra, February 2017 present, and future Nov 2017 energy, and the end of the Brad Tucker, Greenway of dark matter in future Dan Taranu, CAASTRO telescopes (past and Near-field transients: Universe Using space telescopes to Spectral flattening of galaxy formation surveys 2017 Annual Retreat, future) Probus Club, Canberra, detecting satellites and Brad Tucker, Kioloa, look for the first galaxies March 2017 Crab giants pulses at low Chris Power, GAMA: Final Barossa Valley, Australia, Christian Wolf, OzGrav space debris with the January 2017 Stephanie Bernard, Mt frequencies data release, legacy, and Nov 2017 Retreat 2017, Melbourne, MWA Burnett Observatory, Mount Stromlo Bradley Meyers, CAASTRO future galaxy evolution Australia, Nov 2017 The past, present, and Observatory Dissecting disks – galaxy Paul Hancock, Science future of Mount Stromlo Melbourne, March 2017 2017 Annual Retreat, surveys, Perth, Australia, modelling synergies with Testing galaxy evolution at Low Frequencies IV, Brad Tucker, ANU Barossa Valley, Australia, Nov 2017 Observatory and space History of supernova Collections, Museums, and deep imaging, SAMI and through HI intensity Sydney, Australia, Dec Brad Tucker, Kioloa, cosmology Nov 2017 The magic of accretion: simulations mapping cross-correlations 2017 Heritage Studies, Canberra, January 2017 Tamara Davis, University March 2017 SkyMapper transient survey how to make a neutron Dan Taranu, GAMA: Final Laura Wolz, CAASTRO Unexpected, exciting of Queensland Physics towards the first data star from a white dwarf data release, legacy, and 2017 Annual Retreat, Our Universe The dark side of the developments in ionospheric Brad Tucker, ANU, Students Society, Brisbane, release Ashley Ruiter, Stars in future galaxy evolution Barossa Valley, Australia, imaging March 2017 Universe Anais Möller, CAASTRO Sydney 2017, Sydney, surveys, Perth, Australia, Nov 2017 Canberra, six sessions in Tamara Davis, ANSTO, Christopher Jordan, Science January 2017 Collision: A unique Insight 2017 Annual Retreat, Nov 2017 Nov 2017 Radio Galaxy Zoo at Low Frequencies IV, Sydney, April 2017 Barossa Valley, Australia, into the world of hadron Datacube construction The scatter matters: O. Ivy Wong, CAASTRO Sydney, Australia, Dec Our Universe from Mount Cosmic shambles live, end Nov 2017 Stromlo Tamara Davis, World for SAMI via transformed measuring the dispersion 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Science Festival, Brisbane, of the Universe First results of the Gaussian process priors in the stellar-to-halo mass Barossa Valley, Australia, Brad Tucker, ANU, Katie Mack, Melbourne, Toward measuring the Canberra, January 2017 March 2017 SkyMapper transient Richard Scalzo, CAASTRO relation Nov 2017 Global EoR signal with the April 2017 survey 2017 Annual Retreat, Ned Taylor, GAMA: Final EARTH 2.0: a future Low-frequency pulsar Moon and the MWA Speed date a scientist How to Use Twitter for Anais Möller, IAUS 339: Barossa Valley, Australia, data release, legacy, and habitat for humanity polarimetry across the Benjamin McKinley, MWA Rachel Webster, ACT good (and science) Southern Horizons in Time- Nov 2017 future galaxy evolution Brian Schmidt, Tamara MWA Band project meeting, Sydney, National Youth Science Katie Mack, Melbourne, Domain Astronomy, Cape surveys, Perth, Australia, Forum (NYSF) Partners’ Davis, Alan Duffy, World A night in the deep beyond Mengyao Xue, CAASTRO Australia, Dec 2017 Science Festival, Brisbane, April 2017 Town, South Africa, Nov Brian Schmidt, The Dark Nov 2017 2017 Annual Retreat, Day, Canberra, January Neutral hydrogen in distant March 2017 The dark and energetic 2017 Energy Collaboration Investigating Barossa Valley, Australia, 2017 galaxies: the ASKAP Universe SkyMapper and the Meeting, Brisbane, magnetospheres of pulsars Nov 2017 Why do we think there FLASH survey An intermediate-mass black Natalia Eiré Sommer, Mt transient survey Australia, Nov 2017 with the MWA was a Big Bang? Supernova cosmology with Elaine Sadler, Hunstead hole in the globular cluster Stromlo Public Astronomy Anais Möller, The Dark Stephen Tremblay, 47 Tuc Bart Pindor, Mornington Extragalactic archaeology the Dark Energy Survey Workshop 2017, Sydney, Peninsula Astronomical night, Canberra, April 2017 Energy Collaboration with SAM CAASTRO 2017 Annual 3-year ‘spectroscopic’ Australia, Dec 2017 Holger Baumgardt, Society Winter Lecture, Past, present, and future of Meeting, Brisbane, Nic Scott, CAASTRO 2017 Retreat, Barossa Valley, sample Brisbane Astronomical Engineering development Melbourne, March 2017 Mt Stromlo Australia, Nov 2017 Annual Retreat, Barossa Australia, Nov 2017 Bonnie Zhang, CAASTRO Society, Brisbane, February array: a low frequency Brad Tucker, ANU, The SkyMapper transient Valley, Australia, Nov Seven years of CAASTRO 2017 Annual Retreat, 2017 Australian radio astronomy: radio telescope utilising past, present and future, Canberra, April 2017 survey 2017 EoR – where are we now? Barossa Valley, Barossa, SKA precursor technology Dark energy and dark Astronomer in Residence Explosions and collisions in Anais Möller, Cherenkov Galactic centre annihilation Cathryn Trott, CAASTRO Nov 2017 Marcin Sokolowski, Science matter Tristan Reynolds, space Telescope Array Workshop, Lister Staveley-Smith, 2017 Annual Retreat, Studies of bursty and at Low Frequencies IV, Tamara Davis, Queensland Astronomer in Residence, Brad Tucker, ANU, Canberra, Australia, Nov CAASTRO CoEPP Barossa Valley, Australia, quiescent emission of two Sydney, Australia, Dec Museum, Brisbane, 2017 Nov 2017 February 2017 Uluru, two sessions in Canberra, April 2017 Workshop, Barossa Valley, ultra-cool dwarfs with the 2017 March 2017 Insomnia: stories to keep Between window and Australia, Nov 2017 The SkyMapper search for GMMRT Bayesian physical galaxy Around the Universe in 3 The future is in good you up at night wedge: a new statistical WALLABY: an all-sky HI Planet 9 Andrew Zic, CAASTRO modelling using MagRite years with the Murchison hands: a next generation Tamara Davis, Brisbane, point-source model of EoR survey Brad Tucker, CAASTRO 2017 Annual Retreat, Dan Taranu, Workshop Widefield Array (MWA) Steven Murray, CAASTRO 2017 Annual Retreat, Barossa Valley, Australia, Emil Lenc, Western Sydney perspective May 2017 Lister Staveley-Smith, on Statistical Challenges Brian Schmidt, World 2017 Annual Retreat, GAMA: Final data release, Barossa Valley, Australia, Nov 2017 in Astronomy, Sydney, University, Sydney, Barossa Valley, Australia, Nov 2017 February 2017 Science Festival, Brisbane, legacy, and future galaxy Australia, Dec 2017 March 2017 Nov 2017 evolution surveys, Perth, Australia, Nov 2017 78 CAASTRO 79 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Legacy of Einstein Dispatches from a dark Everything you wanted to Astronomy for fun – The Dispatches from a dark What’s out there? Explosions and collisions in Black holes in the distant Michael Drinkwater, New Universe know about dark matter life of stars Universe Brad Tucker, Strictly space Universe Scientist Live Masterclass, Katie Mack, Staff Stuff but were afraid to ask Brad Tucker, ANU, Katie Mack, Women in Science, Canberra, August Brad Tucker, Cassini Grand Elaine Sadler, Uluru Sydney, May 2017 Byron Bay, Byron Bay, June Katie Mack, Women in Canberra, July 2017 Physics Lecture Tour, 2017 Final, Canberra, September Astronomy Weekend Journey to the edge of 2017 Physics Lecture Tour, Exploding stars and the Tasmania, August 2017 Astronomy for fun – 2017 2017, Uluru, October 2017 the Universe – 3 years of The future of space travel Brisbane, July 2017 expanding Universe Everything you wanted to cosmology Citizen science project & The future of Australian research with the MWA and exploration A tour of the Universe (and Brad Tucker, Mt Stromlo, know about dark matter Brad Tucker, ANU, supernova sighting space Emil Lenc, Western Sydney Brad Tucker, ANU, selected cosmic mysteries) Canberra, July 2017 but were afraid to ask Canberra, August 2017 Anais Möller and Brad Brad Tucker, ACT YMCA Amateur Astronomy Group, Canberra, June 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Wake up astronomy Katie Mack, Women in Radio galaxies Tucker, Universe Today Space Camp, Canberra, Sydney, May 2017 Kepler’s view of exploding Physics Lecture Tour, James Allison, Science Physics Lecture Tour, Julie Banfield, Astronomer Weekly Space Hangout, October 2017 Evolution of the Universe stars Brisbane, July 2017 Week, Sydney, August Tasmania, August 2017 in Residence, Uluru, USA and Canada, Space’s Influence on Policy Claudia Lagos, Fremantle, Brad Tucker, De Anza Dispatches from a dark 2017 A tour of the Universe (and September 2017 September 2017 Brad Tucker, ANU, WA, May 2017 College, Cupertino, CA, Universe Radio galaxies selected cosmic mysteries) Super-massive black holes: Citizen science in Canberra, October 2017 Dispatches from a dark USA, June 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Julie Banfield, Astronomer Katie Mack, Women in friend or foe astronomy Space Mining Universe The science behind alien: Physics Lecture Tour, in Residence, Uluru, Physics Lecture Tour, Julie Banfield, Starfest, Brad Tucker, GeoScience Brad Tucker, US Space Katie Mack, Space Covenant Canberra, July 2017 August 2017 Tasmania, August 2017 Canberra, Canberra, Australia, Canberra, Summit, Canberra, September 2017 Association of Australia, Brad Tucker, ANU Film Everything you wanted to Women in astronomy A tour of the Universe (and September 2017 Canberra, October 2017 Melbourne, May 2017 Group, Canberra, June know about dark matter Tamara Davis, Macarthur selected cosmic mysteries) The size and age of the UN space 50 Planet 9 and our solar The dark and energetic 2017 but were afraid to ask Astronomy Society, Katie Mack, Women in Universe Brad Tucker, Questacon, system Universe The future of space travel Katie Mack, Women in Sydney, August 2014 Physics Lecture Tour, Julie Banfield, Starfest, Canberra, September 2017 Brad Tucker, ANU, Natalia Eiré Sommer, and exploration Physics Lecture Tour, Adelaide, August 2017 Canberra, Canberra, Explosions and collisions in Canberra, October 2017 Canberra, July 2017 What’s next? To infinity Questacon, Canberra, May Brad Tucker, ANU, and beyond Everything you wanted to September 2017 space Beginning – and end – of 2017 Canberra, June 2017 A tour of the Universe (and Tamara Davis, Women know about dark matter Dark matter Brad Tucker, ANU, the Universe Black holes - what are The Universe explained in selected cosmic mysteries) on Mars, Sydney Opera but were afraid to ask Tamara Davis, Queensland Canberra, September 2017 Rachel Webster, Uluru they, really? 15 minutes or less Katie Mack, Women in House, Sydney, August Katie Mack, Women in Skeptics, Brisbane, Looking for the first Astronomy Weekend Natalia Eiré Sommer, ANU, Jessica Bloom, Sydney Physics Lecture Tour, 2017 Physics Lecture Tour, Brisbane, September 2025 galaxies in the Universe 2017, Uluru, October 2017 Canberra, July 2017 Adelaide, August 2017 Canberra, May 2017 Astrofest 2017, Sydney, The dark side of the Simulating the Universe Stephanie Bernard, Katie Dark cosmos Are we alone? July 2017 Everything you wanted to Universe Finding planets around (and other fun things to do Mack and Laura Wolz, Rachel Webster, Uluru Brad Tucker, ANU, What can observations know about dark matter Tamara Davis, Capstone other stars on cloudy nights) AstroLight Festival, Astronomy Weekend Canberra, May 2017 tell us about Fundamental but were afraid to ask talk, University of Ben Pope, Astronomer in Paul Geil, Astronomer Melbourne, September 2017, Uluru, October 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Residence, Uluru, August 2017 Past, present, and future of Physics? Queensland, Brisbane, in Residence, Uluru, Exploring the hidden Tamara Davis, University of Physics Lecture Tour, August 2017 2017 September 2017 How galaxies start and Mt Stromlo Sydney, July 2017 Universe Brad Tucker, ANU, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, The dynamic radio sky Finding planets around Going walkabout with the stop forming stars Dougal Dobie, Science Canberra, May 2017 Denmark, July 2017 The invisible universe Dougal Dobie, Astronomer other stars Murchison Widefield Array Ivy Wong, Starfest, in a Lunchtime, Sydney, Tara Murphy, Sydney Ben Pope, Astronomer in Canberra, September 2017 From garbage truck driver Building models of the in Residence, Uluru, two (MWA) November 2017 Milky Way (and other Astrofest 2017, Sydney, sessions in August 2017 Residence, Uluru, August Emil Lenc, Western The hunt for new worlds to astrophysicist and July 2017 2017 Xenoepidemiology – more science communicator galaxies), Astronomer in Immersive science: The Sydney University Public Andrew Zic, Astronomer reality than you think Brad Tucker, Australian Residence The most distant galaxies next frontier in Australian Falling into a black hole Astronomy Night, Sydney, in Residence, Uluru, two Brad Tucker, Australian Science Communicators, Katherine Harbourne, Michele Trenti, Astronomer astronomy Natalia Eiré Sommer, September 2017 sessions in September Medical Association, Canberra, May 2017 Astronomer in Residence, in Residence, Uluru, two Katie Mack & Alan Duffy, Physics in the Pub, Future of space 2017 Canberra, November 2017 Uluru, two sessions in July sessions in July 2017 National Science Week VR Canberra, August 2017 Katie Mack, AstroLight, The dark side of the The future of space 2017 Citizen science exploration Collisions and exploisions Show, Melbourne, August Astronomy for fun – The Melbourne, September Universe Julie Banfield, Brad Tucker, Questacon, The search for new worlds in space 2017 solar system 2017 Tamara Davis, University Peterborough, Canada, Canberra, May 2017 Christene Lynch, Sydney Brad Tucker, Sydney Dispatches from a dark Brad Tucker, ANU, The end of the Universe of Southern Queensland, December 2017 Astrofest 2017, Sydney, Astrofest 2017, Sydney, Universe Canberra, August 2017 Katie Mack, AstroLight, Toowoomba, October The nature of things – do July 2017 July 2017 2017 Citizen science aliens exist? Katie Mack, Women in Astronomy for fun – Melbourne, September Julie Banfield, Toronto, Brad Tucker, Ursula Hall, Humans in Space Exploding stars, dark Physics Lecture Tour, practical astronomy 2017 Breakthrough! The Canada, December 2017 Canberra, May 2017 Katie Mack, Melbourne, energy, and the end of the Melbourne, August 2017 Brad Tucker, ANU, How do we study the dark detection of gravitational July 2017 Universe Canberra, August 2017 waves from a neutron star Exoplanets and life in space Everything you wanted to side of the Universe? Everything you wanted to Brad Tucker, CWAS know about dark matter The science of Interstellar Anais Möller, Starfest, merger Katie Mack, Royal Society Astrofest, Parkes, July Tara Murphy, Allison of Victoria, Melbourne, know about dark matter but were afraid to ask Brad Tucker, Science at the Canberra, September 2017 but were afraid to ask 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Cinema, Canberra, August Levick Memorial Lecture, June 2017 What can light from far, far Sydney, October 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Explosions and collisions in Physics Lecture Tour, 2017 away tell us? The story of light: Physics Lecture Tour, space Melbourne, August 2017 Exploring the invisible surveying the cosmos Astronomy for fun – Anais Möller, Starfest, Perth, July 2017 Brad Tucker, CWAS A tour of the Universe (and galaxies Canberra, September 2017 universe Katie Mack and Tara Astrofest, Parkes, July Tara Murphy, Uluru Murphy (panel), Vivid Dispatches from a dark selected cosmic mysteries) Brad Tucker, ANU, CAASTRO and gender Universe 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Canberra, August 2017 Astronomy Weekend Sydney, Sydney, June equity in astronomy 2017, Uluru, October 2017 2017 Katie Mack, Women in Astronomy for fun – Physics Lecture Tour, Loving science, science Elaine Sadler, Science in Physics Lecture Tour, historical astronomy Melbourne, August 2017 loves you Australian Gender Equity, Brisbane, July 2017 Brad Tucker, ANU, Brad Tucker, The Sydney, September 2017 Canberra, July 2017 Wholesome Show, Canberra, August 2017 80 CAASTRO 81 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS TO VISITS TO OVERSEAS LABORATORIES CAASTRO IN 2017 AND FACILITIES IN 2017

Jacobo Asorey Dougal Dobie Claudia Lagos Jeremy Mould ASTRON, The Netherlands Brad Tucker University of Chicago, USA Max Planck Institute for Space Telescope Science University of Wisconsin Cardiff University, UK Elaine Sadler Astro- and Particle Physics, Institute, USA Per Andersen Xuecong Liu Julie Banfield Milwaukee, USA Jack Line European Southern Germany University of Copenhagen, Nankai University, China California Institute of Dougal Dobie INAF – Astronomical Observatory, Garching, Brad Tucker Denmark James Mason Technology, USA University of the Virgin Observatory of Padova, Italy Jeremy Mould Germany University of California University of the Virgin Berkeley, USA (four visits) Nichole Barry University of Colorado, USA Julie Banfield Islands, USA Jack Line Islands, USA Ivo Seitenzahl University of Washington, Brad Tucker Javier Mejuto Carnegie Observatory, USA Pascal Elahi Kumamoto University, European Southern USA Daniel Muthukrishna University of Maryland, USA Universidad Nacional Julie Banfield Japan Observatory, Santiago, Chile Hertzberg Institute of Kavli Institute of Gianni Bernardi Autónoma de Honduras, Science Space Telescope Vivek Venkatraman Astronomy, Canada Katie Mack Cosmological Physics, Ivo Seitenzahl Rhodes University, South Honduras Institute, USA Auckland University of California Institute of University of Chicago, USA Africa Pascal Elahi Very Large Telescope, Chile Technology, New Zealand Raffaella Morganti Julie Banfield Technology, USA University of Victoria, Fiona Panther Lister Staveley-Smith Garima Chauhan ASTRON, The Netherlands Dunlap Institute Randall Wayth Canada Katie Mack Heidelberg Institute for University of Glasgow, Colin Norman for Astronomy and SKA Office, Jodrell Bank, California Institute of Haverford College, USA Theoretical Studies (HITS), Scotland Pascal Elahi UK Technology, USA Johns Hopkins University, Astrophysics, University of Germany University of Washington, Avinash Deshpande USA Toronto, Canada Katie Mack Lister Staveley-Smith Randall Wayth Fiona Panther Raman Research Institute, USA Imperial College London, The National Centre for INAF – Astronomical Andre Offringa Shivani Bhandari Max Planck Institute for India United Kingdom Observatory of Padova, Italy ASTRON, The Netherlands West Virginia University, Kate Gunn Astronomy, Germany Radio Astrophysics (NCRA- Bryan Gaensler USA Cranfield University, UK Katie Mack TIFR), Pune, India Rachel Webster Harvey Richer Fiona Panther University of Toronto, Korea Astronomy and Space City University of New University of British Ramesh Bhat Kate Gunn Max Planck Institute for Natalia Eiré Sommer Canada Science Institute, Republic York, USA Columbia, Canada The Five-hundred metre Imperial College London, UK Extraterrestrial Physics, Ohio State University, USA Greg Hallinan aperture spherical telescope of Korea Jayanta Roy Kate Gunn Germany Dan Taranu Rachel Webster California Institute of National Centre for Radio (FAST), China Katie Mack Ethiraj College for Women, Institute of Physics, UK Fiona Panther McMaster University, Technology, USA Astrophysics, Tata Institute Niels Bohr Institute, Chennai, India Ramesh Bhat Max Planck Institute for Canada Kate Gunn Kelley Hess of Fundamental Research, University of Bielefeld, Denmark Kernphysik, Germany Rachel Webster Kapteyn and ASTRON, The Pune, India Kings College London, UK Dan Taranu Germany Katie Mack Institute of Modern Physics, Netherlands Bart Pindor University of Toronto, Matthieu Schaller Rajan Chhetri Kate Gunn Swarthmore College, USA Chinese Academy of INAF – Astronomical Canada Nick Kaiser Durham University, UK Loughborough University, Sciences, China INAF – Astronomical Elizabeth Mahony Observatory of Padova, Italy Institute for Astronomy, Observatory of Padova, Italy UK Dan Taranu Stuart Sim ASTRON, The Netherlands Bart Pindor Rachel Webster University of Hawaii, USA University of Washington, Queens University, Northern Rajan Chhetri Kate Gunn Ruder Boskovic Institute, Royal Society of New David Kaplan Ireland, UK Elizabeth Mahony USA Instituto di Radioastronomia, Swansea University, Wales, Republic of Croatia Zealand, New Zealand University of Wisconsin- The National Centre for Evangelia Tremov Italy UK Edoardo Tescari Rachel Webster Madison, USA Radio Astrophysics (NCRA- Bart Pindor Michigan State University, South African Astronomical Ruder Boskovic Institute, Alex Codoreanu Kate Gunn TIFR), Pune, India University of Gronigen, Ben Keller USA Observatory, South Africa Republic of Croatia Durham University, UK University College London, Kapetyn Astronomical McMaster University, Tessa Vernstrom Rebecca McElroy Institute, The Netherlands Jeff Cooke UK Steven Tremblay Rachel Webster Canada University of Toronto, Leibniz Institute for Keck Observatory, USA Attila Popping Bielefeld University, University of Gronigen, Joern Kuensmueller Canada Kate Gunn Astrophysics, Potsdam, SKA Office, Jodrell Bank, Germany Kapetyn Astronomical Jeff Cooke University of Cambridge, UK Germany Bielefeld University, Mark Wilkinson UK Institute, The Netherlands Germany National Astronomical Cathryn Trott University of Leicester, UK Kate Gunn Rebecca McElroy Christian Wolf Observatories of Japan, Attila Popping INAF – Astronomical Kathleen Labrie University of Liverpool, UK Max Planck Institute for Centre de Données Japan The National Centre for Radio Observatory of Padova, Italy Gemini Observatory North, Astronomy, Germany astronomiques de Kate Gunn Astrophysics (NCRA-TIFR), USA Scott Croom Cathryn Trott Strasbourg, France University of Nottingham, Rebecca McElroy Pune, India Korea Astronomy and Space Scuola Normale Superiore, UK Yale University, USA Jongwhan Rhee Christian Wolf Science Institute, Republic Italy The National Centre for European Southern of Korea Kate Gunn Sam McSweeney Radio Astrophysics (NCRA- Brad Tucker Observatory Garching, Scott Croom University of Sheffield, UK Raman Research Institute, TIFR), Pune, India Challenger Centre for Germany Yonsei University, Republic India Cullan Howlett Space Science Education, Christian Wolf of Korea Martin Meyer Ashley Ruiter Durham University, UK European Southern Washington, DC, USA Max Planck Institute for Zagreb University, Croatia Chris Curtin Astronomy, Germany Anthea King Observatory Garching, Brad Tucker Max Planck Institute for Bradley Meyers Germany American Museum of Google X, USA (four visits) Ivy Wong Astro- and Particle Physics, SKA Office, Jodrell Bank, UK Natural History, New York, Ashley Ruiter ETH-Zurich, Switzerland Germany Brad Tucker USA Vanessa Moss Heidelberg Institute for NASA Ames, USA (four Mengyao Xue Tamara Davis The National Centre for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Anthea King visits) INAF – Astronomical Inter-University Centre Radio Astrophysics (NCRA- Germany Gemini North Telescope, Observatory of Padova, Italy for Astronomy and TIFR), Pune, India Brad Tucker Hawaii, USA Ashley Ruiter Bonnie Zhang Astrophysics, Pune, India NASA Goddard, USA Jeremy Mould St. Mary’s University, SLAC National Accelerator Tamara Davis Claudia Lagos California Institute of Canada Brad Tucker Laboratory, Stanford University of Chicago, USA ALMA Observatory, Belgium Technology, USA Elaine Sadler Smithsonian Institute, USA University, CA, USA 82 CAASTRO 83 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 OzSKA 3 Workshop 8–9 May 2017, University of Sydney, New South Wales This year’s OzSKA workshop, like the these longer presentations, Warren Bax previous ones, was held to inform (CSIRO) and Natasha Hurley-Walker participants about developments related (ICRAR–Curtin) gave short reports on to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) their SKA Fellowship visits to the SKA project. Sixty-four people attended. Organisation in the UK. WORKSHOPS There were updates from the SKA Board CAASTRO hosted a number of interesting, well-attended and stimulating workshops during 2017. Five talks were presented remotely, and Australian SKA Office, progress including three by women who were, reports from the Australian and South for family reasons, unable to attend in African precursors and pathfinders, person (and who were grateful for the summaries of activities within most of opportunity to present remotely). Zoom CAASTRO–CoEPP Joint Workshop: the SKA Science Working Groups and was used for these presentations and Focus Groups, descriptions of the new worked well. Connecting Astrophysical Dark Matter with Direct Detection ARC Centres of Excellence (OzGrav and 30 January–1 February 2017, The University of Melbourne, Victoria ASTRO 3D), introductions to a number CAASTRO, ICRAR and CSIRO sponsored The third CAASTRO–CoEPP Joint Workshop was a CAASTRO astronomers, because directional detectors David Luchetti speaking of multiwavelength projects, and a the meeting and CAASTRO’s event great success, bringing together about 60 astronomers may be able to give us detailed information about at OzSKA 3 Workshop number of contributed talks from the coordinator, Kylie Williams, gave support and particle physicists from Australia and overseas. properties of our Galaxy’s dark-matter halo. Credit: Phil Edwards astronomical community. In addition to throughout. The workshop was designed to promote interaction and The workshop consisted of two days of talks followed collaboration between members of the astronomy and by a CYGNUS collaboration meeting. The first day of the particle physics communities who are interested in the workshop focused on dark matter’s role in astronomy problem of dark matter and its role in cosmology. Like and what we have learned from observations and the previous CAASTRO–CoEPP Joint Workshop, this experiments up to this point. The second day was a Fundamental Physics with the event was partly motivated by current and possible future deeper dive into the future of dark-matter detection Square Kilometre Array Australian investment in dark-matter detection programs experiments, both directional and non-directional. We Credit: Bryan Gaensler at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory in Victoria. heard from a wide range of speakers, from graduate Researchers from several overseas institutions have students to group leaders, who represented universities recently put together an exciting new proposal for in Australia, Asia, the USA and Europe. Some of the a directional dark matter detector – one that could participants, both speakers and others, attended the distinguish the direction of the recoils of atomic nuclei, workshop remotely, from their home locations. and so perhaps determine the direction in which dark- By the end of the meeting we had a document, signed matter particles are travelling. The collaboration to build by many of the meeting’s participants, that expressed such a directional detector is called CYGNUS. This support for the ongoing use of the Stawell Underground project has already attracted a great deal of interest Physics Laboratory (SUPL) for dark-matter studies. This within CoEPP. Part of the purpose of this CAASTRO– was very well received by the Northern Grampians CoEPP workshop was to introduce the concept to Shire Council, which administers SUPL’s region.

Mock Perth: Challenges for Simulations in the Era of SKA and Large IFU Surveys 20–22 March 2017, Trinity College, Crawley, Western Australia The galaxy surveys of the next decade will transform datasets. The meeting focused on star formation, how we view galaxies of all sizes and all periods of the feedback and environmental processes, such as ram- Universe’s history – from the smallest dwarfs to the most pressure stripping: there were special sessions on, for Fundamental Physics with the Square Kilometre Array Conference massive galaxies in the centres of clusters, and from the example, the Epoch of Reionisation and neutral hydrogen 1–5 May 2017, Flic en Flac, Mauritius Epoch of Reionisation to the present day. The Mock Perth (HI) in galaxies, and more general ones on understanding meeting, hosted by ICRAR–UWA, was a look at how what the major challenges are for simulations and This CAASTRO workshop, organised by Bryan Gaensler physics-ska/presentations/). We held breakout discussion well prepared our galaxy-formation models are for making how they can be overcome. Current simulations can had a goal to engage the theoretical-physics community sessions on specific questions within each topic then predictions for these surveys. Some 40 observational, successfully reproduce many statistical properties of in the science case and design of the Square Kilometre reconvened in a plenary session for more discussion. theoretical, and computational astronomers from around observed galaxy population but struggle to capture their Array (SKA), and to bring together radio astronomers The meeting generated such excitement and the world came together to discuss what we can expect detailed internal properties. The meeting highlighted that, and theorists to jointly consider how the SKA can test momentum that we are now writing a white paper from future surveys, based on the current state-of-the- to make useful predictions, future models must be better and explore fundamental physics. summarising the prospects for fundamental physics art observations; what current galaxy-formation models at handling feedback processes, binary stellar evolution, Around 70 scientists attended, from 23 countries with the SKA, addressing the same four topics as the predict; and what future galaxy-formation models need and turbulence in the interstellar medium. across all six inhabited continents. We particularly meeting did. This paper will be submitted as a refereed to do if they are to be useful for interpreting the surveys’ wanted to engage the African scientists who will be manuscript to Publications of the Astronomical Society involved in constructing the SKA; astronomers from of Australia; the draft will be available to all meeting Mock Perth Workshop Credit: Chris Power South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya and Ghana all attended participants beforehand. and gave invited reviews of the radio-astronomy Participants found this meeting highly stimulating research being carried out in their countries. and enjoyable, with an excellent mix of theorists and The remaining science talks were divided into four observers, faculty and students. We hope that the ideas topics: Cosmic Dawn and Reionisation, Cosmology and from this meeting will become part of the framework Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Astroparticle Physics, and and discussion around the specifications for the full Gravity and Gravitational Radiation. For each topic there SKA, and that we can hold a follow-up meeting in a were invited reviews from both observers and theorists, few years to develop them further. followed by several shorter contributed talks. (All talks are available at http://skatelescope.ca/fundamental- 84 CAASTRO 85 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

ACAMAR 3 Workshop, Hobart Credit: Andreas Wicenec DES Meeting, Brisbane Credit: Josh Calcino

From Black Hole to Environment 21–24 August 2017, Australian National University, Canberra This meeting drew a mix of observational and the Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) blind ranked Fourth CAASTRO-CoEPP Joint Workshop: Challenging Dark Matter theoretical astronomers, 85 in all. Its subject was the submitted abstracts. The SOC was given only the 21 November 2017, Novotel Barossa Valley, South Australia how galaxies evolve through feeding and feedback talk title, abstract, and a note if the submission was In this fourth and last of the joint CoEPP–CAASTRO detections could inform our dark-matter models. processes, broken down into four themes: from a student. Ensuring an even split among the four workshops, we started by reminding ourselves that, Chris Power (ICRAR–UWA) talked about cold dark ƒƒ galaxy groups, clusters, large-scale structure: themes along with observation and theory presentations, while the organisational landscape is changing, the matter versus warm dark matter, and how we might dynamics; mergers and interactions the end result was a balance program including 8 female desire to collaborate continues. When putting this separate the effects of dark-matter particle physics and 8 male highlight talks from student to full professor. event together we had in mind a challenge thrown out from those of galaxy assembly. Lister Staveley- ƒƒ galaxies in the high-redshift Universe: AGN (active The invited speakers included Jorge Morano (Pomona galactic nuclei) feedback and gaseous outflows by Anthony Williams (University of Adelaide): is there Smith (ICRAR–UWA) spoke about Galactic Centre College) who provided the overview for the meeting any way around dark matter? Is it the 20th century’s annihilation processes; Nick Iwanus (University galaxies in the low-redshift Universe: the refuelling ƒƒ while survey specific talks were given by Christian Wolf equivalent of phlogiston? The workshop’s program of Sydney) described self-interacting dark matter; and feeding black holes; star formation (ANU) for SkyMapper, Natasha Hurley-Walker (Curtin) focused less on conventional cold dark matter models Christian Reichardt (University of Melbourne) spoke ƒƒ centres of galaxies: black-hole accretion; the for GLEAM, and Elisabete Da Chuna (ANU) for TAIPAN. and more on the ‘roads less well travelled’. about the cosmic microwave background constraints launching jets of and galactic winds; starbursts and The meeting strayed from the normal format of talks Elisabetta Barberio (University of Melbourne) opened on dark matter; and Ray Volkas (University of star formation. and question time to include 30 - 40 minute discussion the meeting by presenting the cross section–mass Melbourne) floated the idea that dark matter might The meeting focused on multiwavelength science periods. The discussion included a panel containing a diagram for dark-matter particles (the probability of be the stable component of the dark sector. There that addressed these areas of science, and members selection of speakers from the previous talk sessions an interaction with ‘normal’ matter, as a function of were also contributions from Nicole Bell (University of major galaxy surveys and simulation projects gave with the invited speakers leading the discussion. The the mass of the dark-matter particle). All dark-matter of Melbourne), Martin White (University of Adelaide), updates on their work. The conference organisers made discussions were lively with full participation from all experiments cover some region of this parameter Peter Quinn (ICRAR–UWA) and Michael Tobar (UWA). every effort to create a balanced program into different attendees. Having observations and theory discussed space. In nuclear-recoil experiments the sensitivity In summing up, Jeremy Mould (Swinburne University) career stages and between observations and theory. in the same room contributed to the success of these requirement is <1 event/10 kg/day, much less than reminded everyone that dark matter is one of the top discussions. The conference dinner was held at Old Following on the success of the 2016 CAASTRO Annual the background. We expect annual modulation of a problems in astrophysics, ever. It’s right up there Parliament House. Scientific Conference The Changing Faces of Galaxies, detected signal. The notable experiments of this nature with the Copernican system. Diverse experiments and are Xenon 1T and DAMA-LIBRA. observations are needed to explore the wide range ACAMAR 3, Australia–China Workshop on Astrophysics The talks that followed Elisabetta’s were wide of possible interactions of dark and non-dark matter. Whether you are a particle-physics experimenter, a 18–20 September 2017, Wrest Point Conference Centre, Hobart, Tasmania ranging. Gary Hill (University of Adelaide) described particle-physics theorist, a high-energy astrophysicist, The third Australia–China Workshop on Astrophysics, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), both the dinner the operations of the world’s largest neutrino detector, IceCube, which is built deep in the ice at the South a simulator, an observational astronomer or a lab organised by the Australia–China Consortium for itself and the ferry ride along the river that we took to physicist, there is much work to be done. Astrophysical Research (ACAMAR), was an exciting get there. On the final day of the workshop we visited Pole. Victor Flambaum (UNSW) considered electron and well-attended event, drawing more than 70 the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of relativistic effects that are important near the nucleus. Participants appreciated the efforts of Silvana participants. Sessions covered Antarctic astronomy, Environment and Energy. Here we explored the life of Katie Mack (North Carolina State University), speaking Santucci (CoEpp), Kylie Williams (CAASTRO) and their gravitational waves, radio astronomy, instrumentation krill, the tiny crustaceans that underpin the ocean’s by videolink, discussed how future gravitational-wave colleagues in organising this well-run meeting. and big-data challenges. The workshop was an food chain, and visited the Division’s clothes store, to excellent opportunity to strengthen existing research see how we’d dress if heading south on an icebreaker! collaborations between Australia and China, and to plan It was a thoroughly enjoyable educational activity. Science at Low Frequencies IV new ones. A highlight was the workshop dinner at the 12–15 December 2017, University of Sydney, New South Wales This meeting drew representatives from all the major talks, and poster presentations. Several research teams Dark Energy Survey Collaboration Meeting low-frequency facilities, including the Murchison took the opportunity to hold breakout meetings, to 6–10 November 2017, University of Queensland, Brisbane Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia, the Low Frequency advance their collaborations on topics such as the Array (LOFAR) in Europe and the Giant Metre Wave Epoch of Reionisation, low-frequency studies of pulsars The international Dark Energy Survey (DES) this year Way, and on the kilonovae that result from the merging Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India. We had 130 people and all-sky surveys. held one of its biannual collaboration meetings at the of two neutron stars. (The first confirmed such merger attend, from institutions around the world. Department of Physics of the University of Queensland. was detected this year: see page 19.) Talks in the science program were chosen to reflect The science topics ranged from space physics to diversity in gender and seniority, and to represent a A hundred and ten scientists from around the world A highlight of the meeting was the public lecture given galactic and extragalactic science and cosmology. range of countries and facilities. We received excellent spent a week discussing all aspects of the survey, by three DES scientists. Hosted by Nobel Laureate A highlight was an invited talk by Dr Masafumi Imai feedback from participants on the outstanding which is now entering its fifth year. Brian Schmidt (Australian National University), the (University of Iowa), who presented recent results from organisation by CAASTRO staff, and special praise for The cosmological analysis of the first three years of event was attended by 450 people. Another 2,000 the Juno mission to study Jovian auroral emission. the catering. The local organising committee involved DES data is now under way. At the meeting we made viewed the lecture online, while on Facebook it Dr Gregg Hallinan (California Institute of Technology) many CAASTRO students and postdocs, and did an excellent progress towards getting all the tools in place reached 34,000 people. gave a special talk on the first radio detection of an excellent job of creating a smoothly-run event. The for the analysis. We look forward to seeing the results The meeting’s success was thanks to the support of afterglow to a gravitational-wave event, GW170817 meeting was funded by CAASTRO, The University of of this work over the course of the next year. CAASTRO, and to the efficient and dedicated work – work that a number of CAASTRO researchers were Sydney (through the Hunstead Fund), The University In addition to the cosmology, there were talks on the of the staff, postdoctoral fellows and students at the involved in. Many students attended the meeting, of Melbourne, and the International Centre for Radio stellar streams and satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky University of Queensland. presenting their work through science talks, sparkler Astronomy Research (ICRAR). 86 CAASTRO 87 CAASTRO ANNUAL RETREAT ANNUAL REPORT 2017 “The Murchison Widefield Array will do a pulsar survey in early-type galaxies. (Matthew did provide the answers, CAASTRO’s final annual retreat was held in South Australia’s Barossa Valley 1000 times faster than the Parkes telescope,” Ramesh but those interested should read the paper (Barone et al. over 22–24 November. Although this was a formal farewell to the organisation, Bhat (Curtin) predicted. “We can use gravitational waves 2018).) SAMI data looks set to get even better: Richard to measure the Hubble constant!” Dark theme leader Scalzo (University of Sydney) described new analysis it was also an occasion for CAASTRO members to do what they have always Tamara Davis (Queensland) announced. The diversity of techniques that are dramatically improving the quality of done: report on plans and achievements, and collaborate with each other. UNITEthe talks showed how CAASTRO’s research program SAMI data cubes. Richard and his colleague Sebastian has branched and expanded, as members have seized Hahn are doing this work within the University’s Centre new opportunities as they have arisen. for Translational Data Science, which also works on SkyMapper is a nice example of this. Its planned ‘short projects in human metabolism, the environment and survey’ of the southern sky is complete, and the first social studies: it is a true interdisciplinary environment. data release, DR1, was issued this year (page 33); the CAASTRO has always been keen to connect main survey will take another few years. Among the astronomers with enterprises beyond astronomy. At telescope’s achievements has been the discovery of the retreat, Chief Operating Officer Kate Gunn spoke the oldest (most chemically pristine) star known, SMSS about CAASTRO’s extensive industry engagement J0313–6708. SkyMapper has faced many travails – fire program. There were several strands to this: workshops and smoke, an infestation of ladybirds, crucial equipment for students on career paths outside astronomy; arriving from abroad in pizza boxes, excessive cold, and internships with industry; participation in ‘hackathons’, more – eloquently described by Christian Wolf (ANU) in where astronomers displayed their coding skills; his talk at the retreat. But now the telescope is carrying the inaugural Galaxy Convention (page 93), which out its first variability survey, led by ANU postdoc connected students, including university students, with CAASTRO Celebrates its last Annual Retreat Seo-Won Chang, and looks set to do something else entrepreneurs in STEM (science technology, engineering and toasts founding Director Bryan Gaensler not originally planned for: team up with the Australian and mathematics); an e-book on intellectual property, Credit: Kate Gunn SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) to find and localise fast radio which forms part of CAASTRO’s legacy; seed funding bursts as they happen. Brad Tucker (ANU) too talked for a coding project with applications in industry; and about a search he has run that “it turned out SkyMapper relationships with other sectors, such as defence. These CAASTRO Director Elaine Sadler opened the Survey) cosmology project, in which several CAASTRO would be well suited to” – one for ‘Planet 9’, a putative were targeted initiatives, with results usually achieved by proceedings, reminding us how remarkably collaborative members take part, is now getting constraints on some new planet in our Solar System. For this project, partnering with other institutions. CAASTRO has always been. In 2014, Nature measured cosmological parameters that are as good as Planck’s Tucker harnessed the power of citizen scientists: a joint the degree of collaboration among multi-institution (page 24). At the time of the meeting, the SkyMapper Stargazing Live event with the BBC in March saw more As always, the annual retreat was full of stimulating centres like CAASTRO, and found we were number one transient survey had also spectroscopically confirmed than four million classifications done in under three days. talks. But this year it was also laced through with a in Australia and among the top five in the world. This 41 Type Ia supernovae. Those low-redshift supernovae little sadness at CAASTRO’s demise. The last session intense collaboration has continued, and was evident are going to be used, indirectly, in determining the Such citizen-science projects have grown in size, of the last day was naturally devoted to reflecting on throughout the retreat. Elaine also highlighted how Hubble constant, which measures the rate at which the number and sophistication during CAASTRO’s lifetime CAASTRO’s seven years. What were the problems much the centre has achieved. To August 2017, we Universe is expanding. Tamara spoke about the work and other CAASTRO researchers have also been using and challenges? The group identified a few: the initial had published 583 papers, which have generated more of Bonnie Zhang (ANU), who this year made the first them to good effect, particularly as a foundation difficulty of getting the best out of our high-profile than 11,000 citations. Three papers had been in Nature calculation of the Hubble constant in a way specifically for future large surveys. Radio Galaxy Zoo, led by overseas members (“big names are busy people”) and and five in Science, and more have appeared in those designed to eliminate human bias (page 24). Tamara CAASTRO’s Julie Banfield (ANU) and Ivy Wong (UWA) the lack of career progression for postdocs (something has about 12,000 registered citizen scientists. At the journals in the months since. CAASTRO finished the year also mentioned other great projects in the Dark theme CAASTRO successor ASTRO 3D will tackle). But there retreat, Wong described how these volunteers have with 189 members, 59 of them students. such as ongoing analyses of the rate of growth of were many more pluses. “Students felt taken seriously cross-matched more than two million radio sources structure in the Universe (page 22). and appreciated the generosity of the organisation,” Following Elaine’s talk the three theme leaders expanded with optical host galaxies, doing work that would have said PhD student Chris Curtin (Swinburne). “We had on each theme’s achievements. Lister Staveley-Smith, But 2017 really belonged to the Dynamic theme, and taken more than 80 years, if done conventionally, in the opportunity to meet the whole community and who took up the role of Evolving Universe theme leader Theme Leader Tara Murphy (Sydney) positively glowed under four. Anais Möller (ANU) described a second learn about projects,” added CAASTRO Affiliate James in early 2017, ran through the theme’s eight major as she recounted her team’s success in capturing radio project, started more recently, in which 1,800 Allison (CSIRO). “Changing the culture”, “so many great projects. Of these, four – the MWA Epoch of Reionisation waves from GW170817, the merger of two neutron volunteers are classifying transients found by the science results”, “creating an exceptional environment observations (page 29), simulations of the Epoch of stars. As its name shows, this event was first detected SkyMapper transient survey: they have made more than for students and postdocs”, were other contributions. Reionisation, the SAMI Galaxy Survey (page 29) and the from the gravitational waves it had created. That 36,000 classifications to date. These projects generate “CAASTRO has allowed big teams to function in a GLEAM (the GaLactic and Extragalactic MWA survey) detection, and the subsequent detection of light, radio training sets for machine learning, another area that human way,” said Matthew Colless (ANU), a veteran survey – are well advanced, or mature: the SAMI team waves and other electromagnetic radiation from the has burgeoned during CAASTRO’s lifetime, and which of many large projects. And, as Director Elaine Sadler produced 14 papers in 2017, the GLEAM survey 5. source, has opened the door on a new era of astronomy is now used to handle the huge datasets appearing in said, “it has been particularly rewarding to see a new The BIGHORNS (Broadband Instrument for the Global (page 19). Also exciting were the many detections of every area of astronomy (page 28). generation of researchers move into leadership positions HydrOgen Reionisation Signal) experiment is ongoing. The fast radio bursts – five from the UTMOST telescope As always, instrumental developments have shaped as CAASTRO has evolved.” WALLABY and FLASH surveys for neutral hydrogen (in and a number (still unpublished at year’s end) from the discovery. Within CAASTRO, SAMI (the Sydney emission and absorption respectively), both being carried Australian SKA Pathfinder (page 32) – and pioneering A few tears may have been shed at this final gathering University–AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph) low-frequency studies of pulsars with the Murchison (particularly in the bar late at night), but there were out with the Australian SKA Pathfinder, are in their early has opened up great possibilities. Nicholas Scott Widefield Array (page 17). certainly no regrets. CAASTRO has fulfilled the stages; so too is the relatively new technique of neutral- (Sydney) spoke at the retreat about how SAMI is hydrogen intensity mapping (page 13). We will see results These projects were described in more detail in the extending the concept of ‘galactic archaeology’ – Australian Research Council’s vision for what a Centre of from all of these over the next several years. sessions that followed, which (more or less) progressed unraveling a galaxy’s formation history – from our own Excellence can be and can achieve. As Dynamic Theme leader Tara Murphy said at the summing-up, “CAASTRO Tamara Davis, leader of the Dark Universe theme, also from the ‘smaller’ objects of the Dynamic theme to Galaxy to others: although we cannot observe individual has changed the culture of Australian astronomy”. had much to report on. The OzDES survey, now in the galaxy-scale physics of the Evolving theme, and stars in these galaxies, SAMI gives us enough detail its fifth year, stood out as an example of consistent then onto the big-picture topics in the Dark theme. from which to draw conclusions. Dan Taranu (UWA) Like all CAASTRO retreats, this final one was a achievement: at the time of the meeting it had Along the way there were ‘sparkler’ sessions – short talked about how he is extrapolating from SAMI data successful and memorable event. And, as always, that observed the 35,000 objects, taken 100,000 spectra, descriptions of work presented in posters, lasting to work out the best ways to measure the fundamental was thanks to the organising skills and hard work of determined 26,000 redshifts and spectroscopically no more than 30 seconds – that covered interesting properties of spiral galaxies. And Chief Investigator the CAASTRO A-team, particularly COO Kate Gunn and confirmed many supernovae – more that 50 in just one territory. “Are the laws of gravity uniform across the Matthew Colless (ANU) described a major SAMI study CAASTRO’s inimitable Events Manager, Kylie Williams. recent run (page 21). The related DES (Dark Energy Universe?” cosmologist Chris Blake (Swinburne) asked. that has looked at what drives stellar age and metallicity They have set the bar high for CAASTRO’s successors! 88 CAASTRO 89 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 EDUCATION & OUTREACH

When CAASTRO began, we set out to do astronomy Social media – an integrated approach explained the results and their significance. We produced In 2017 we received a Women in STEM and education and public outreach a bit differently to other 11 ViPRs over six years: they covered diverse areas and Entrepreneurship grant from the Australian Government. organisations. A major consideration was how to Today every research centre has a presence on showed the impressive talent of many of CAASTRO’s This allowed us to offer sessions specifically on careers social media: always a website, usually Facebook make best use of our resources, as the Education and junior members. Our two ViPRs in 2017 netted 1,500 within CAASTRO in the Classroom, and to present and Twitter accounts, and often other channels such Outreach (E&O) program was well funded but minimally views for the CAASTRO YouTube channel. The overall Galaxy Convention, an event designed to inspire the as Instagram, Flickr, YouTube or Vimeo. But much staffed. Almost seven years on, as CAASTRO draws to champion, however, remains the 2015 ViPR Cosmic next generation of female entrepreneurs in STEM fields a close, we can be pleased with our success in E&O. social-media activity is poorly thought through, lacking cinema: astronomers make real-time, 3D movies of (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). We stuck to our vision and achieved our goals. Our relevance, consistency, timeliness and responsiveness. plasma tubes drifting overhead, which featured the work We held the first Galaxy Convention in December legacy is a combination of examples of best practice For CAASTRO, we decided that we did not want to of a University of Sydney Honours student, Cleo Loi. and high-quality productions. The CAASTRO brand maintain a social media presence just “because we had This video was viewed more than 1.3 million times. 2017: it is described in detail on page 93. slotted seamlessly into a busy research and outreach to” but because we were really dedicated to sharing our research and outreach news with a large community. landscape in Australian astronomy, without creating Resources for schools duplication or competition. No matter how far they Sourcing content was therefore our top priority. We School engagement on the national scale were from the E&O headquarters at Curtin University, monitored CAASTRO’s internal records of publications Our first big school outreach program, CAASTRO in the Bright Stars calendar CAASTRO members at all locations played an integral and wrote short, semi-technical research summaries Classroom, has gone from strength to strength since role in the portfolio, writing news stories, interacting for every CAASTRO first-author paper that had been we started it six years ago. Enabled by a New South with our audiences, participating in working groups and accepted by a journal. These stories became the main Wales Department of Education grant and inspired by receiving relevant training. source for the News section on the CAASTRO website, the government’s Connected Classrooms initiative, the CAASTRO created the positive momentum that helped giving insight into the everyday research efforts of a program was initially coordinated by a single postdoc at establish two successors: the ARC Centre of Excellence large collaboration. To make best use of the time and the University of Sydney. Through videoconferencing we for All-sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) effort we put into the stories, we also made them delivered astronomy and career presentations to more and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational available in our CAASTRO Reader’s Digest booklets. school groups, at more diverse locations, than even the Wave Discovery (OzGrav). We can be proud that these These could be downloaded from the website and were most dedicated researcher could visit in person. also printed and distributed to High School students, centres are adopting some of our E&O programs and At first we reached 200 to 900 students every year. The extending our work. amateur astronomy societies, science discovery centres and audiences at public astronomy events. We program expanded when CAASTRO won an Australian published 127 research stories: 109 that appeared in Maths and Science Partnership Program (AMSPP) 5,700 printed copies of the Digest, and 18 online-only. grant from the Commonwealth Government. This grant allowed us to appoint a School Education Officer, CAASTRO Education and Outreach led the production To track our impact, we set up more than 200 alerts to Jenny Lynch, who mapped sessions to the curriculum of two major school resources and made them available pick up online mentions of our members, key research and began offering the program to all Australian States to Australian schools free of charge. A joint effort with facilities and publications. This gave us a wealth of and Territories. Videoconferencing was not suitable for Telescopes in Schools at the University of Melbourne, news items for Facebook (about two items per week, many schools outside New South Wales, so we had our Bright Stars wall calendar for 2017 featured ten which went to more than 21,000 users) and Twitter to explore other technologies such as Skype (with the researcher profiles, significant dates in astronomy and (about two items per day, delivered to more than 2,000 researcher talking to a single school) and live-streaming space exploration, and stunning imagery. An intern followers). The contents were specific to CAASTRO, via YouTube. In 2016 the program went national and supervised by CAASTRO’s E&O team led the interviews, avoiding the unfortunate impression of “oh look, here’s student numbers skyrocketed to more than 3,500 drafted the profiles and designed the calendar. The a random astronomy picture”. students (3,000 of whom attended the very first live- researchers profiled ranged from PhD students to The CAASTRO YouTube channel, with more than streaming event). That year we also boosted the long- professors: they shared their personal stories and 1,700 subscribers, has been home to 256 short video term value of the program by posting video recordings productions. Some covered our research projects; many on the CAASTRO YouTube channel and producing experiences, and advice for the next generation of of these re-used material from our internal media library teaching resources (available from the CAASTRO aspiring scientists. We sent a copy of the calendar to of 90 animations (seven of which were new in 2017). website). The latter were also used in teachers’ every one of the 1,500 high schools in Australia. A Other YouTube videos were interviews and career advice professional development seminars that we offered further 3,500 copies were made available at public from some of our most senior members and international at several national science teachers’ conferences, in outreach events such as Sydney Astrofest and the partners; recordings of research seminars and outreach collaboration with the Advancing Science by Enhancing Melbourne AstroLight Festival, for gold-coin donations. presentations; and our Video Press Releases (ViPRs). Learning in the Laboratory (ASELL) program, which had The money raised has gone to science-outreach activities These last were produced in-house to accompany also received an AMSPP grant. such as the building of a new telescope dome at Mount Elizabeth Mahoney, University of Sydney written CAASTRO press releases. ViPRs always featured The CAASTRO in the Classroom sessions for 2017 are Burnett Observatory in Melbourne, a facility that will Credit: CAASTRO the lead researcher of the work in question, who described in a separate report (page 91). host citizen-science projects. 90 CAASTRO 91 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Rebecca McElroy and Tara Murphy present CAASTRO Capturing the Cosmos Planetarium Show Tara Murphy presents Waves in the Sky, March 2017. Filmed Students at St Joan of Arc School, Haberfield, enjoying Scott Croom’s in the Classroom Credit: Museum Victoria and CAASTRO at NSW Department of Education studio, Strathfield. Wake up to Astronomy show during National Science Week. Credit: CAASTRO Credit: CAASTRO Credit: St John of Arc School

the Market Place; giving presentations about research; involved in the follow-up to a neutron-star merger offering question-and-answer sessions; and joining the detected through gravitational waves (page 19). Many of COLLABORATIONS resort’s stargazing tours as the astronomy experts. the institutions collaborated in promoting the research, Every astronomer-in-residence engages with 100 or achieving great media success. Museum Victoria so resort guests, making this a program that reaches Just as CAASTRO was born from the conviction beyond the self-selected audiences at most public that working together delivered better results than astronomy events. CAASTRO IN THE CLASSROOM working in isolation, our Education and Outreach In addition, our researchers have taken part in an annual portfolio established powerful partnerships to maximise Uluru Astronomy Weekend, which has drawn about 100 CAASTRO has run CAASTRO in the Classroom (CitC), its impact. One of these partnerships was with the participants every year. The event programs have been an outreach program that connects astrophysicists to Melbourne Planetarium team at Museum Victoria, packed with free astronomy-themed activities: talks schools, since 2012. In 2016 it was expanded into a for the production of the 25-minute full-dome show, by senior members of CAASTRO, astrophotography national program by our then School Education Officer, The Cosmic Adventures of Alice and Bob Capturing the Cosmos, which used CAASTRO sessions, movies and hands-on telescope Jenny Lynch. Jenny left CAASTRO in May this year, Our second major school resource was the CAASTRO research to explain all-sky astronomy to the public. demonstrations. Resort guests have also been able to and her successor, Janette Ellis (University of Sydney), children’s comic, The Cosmic Adventures of Alice and We dedicated a substantial proportion of our outreach attend the special ‘dinner under the stars’, at which guided the program from June onwards. budget to this two-year project. The show’s beautiful Bob. This, our first product specifically for a pre-teen CAASTRO researchers share their knowledge. The Uluru CitC originally used traditional video-conferencing, audience, has now found a home in 7,200 Australian visualisations and immersive time-lapse photography partnership has been a very rewarding one for Voyages and one such session was held this year. However, primary schools. The comic was created by Perth- were accompanied by narration from Academy Award- Indigenous Tourism; for the resort guests who have met teachers have indicated that they prefer live streaming, based artists and science communicators Cristy Burne winning actor Geoffrey Rush. We launched the show our researchers (and who frequently send us emails of so we held 13 streaming sessions this year via (author) and Aśka (illustrator), in collaboration with the in March 2016, synchronising the main event in thanks); and for CAASTRO members, who have always CAASTRO’s YouTube channel. Thousands of students CAASTRO E&O team. Its quirky plot entertains young Melbourne with launches in other States. This was returned from their stay with positive reports. readers, at the same time showing how success can the first-ever simultaneous launch of a planetarium across Australia tuned in. Streaming creates high- require creativity and resilience. The comic includes show in Australia: licensing constraints usually make Media releases quality recordings that can be viewed at any time, and students can participate via Twitter or Live Chat. All stories of real and sometimes serendipitous science them impossible, but CAASTRO had secured early The Education and Outreach portfolio has collaborated discoveries, to encourage young people to persist; it also distribution and free licenses for all members of the not only big projects but also on the smaller, more the streaming videos from 2017 CitC sessions were shows how space research has led to some of the most Australasian Planetarium Society. In just the first 6 frequent activities, notably media releases. We have viewed many times after the live event, and they are common everyday products, highlighting the value of months after its release the show played in eight fixed always worked with the media office of the lead still available on YouTube. This year we also created ‘blue sky’ research. A double spread covers CAASTRO’s planetaria and four portable venues around Australia, author’s university to create and distribute releases. new resources for students in Years 7, 10 and 11 that involvement in next-generation telescope surveys and attracting more than 40,000 visitors (including 1,500 Over the course of CAASTRO’s lifetime, we have complement the live streams. citizen-science projects. We boosted the comic’s value school students). Capturing the Cosmos was entered issued 48 press releases about particularly newsworthy One of 2017’s streaming sessions was Waves in as a teaching resource by producing notes that relate its into eight national and six international film festivals research, ten of them published in 2017. We drove the Sky, a collaboration with the NSW Department content to the curricula for science, maths, visual arts, and received much praise. The flat-screen version of the collaborative effort behind these press releases, of Education’s Distance and Rural Technology Unit English, and design and technology, and suggesting the show, completed in mid 2016, was used at public getting all leading institutions on board – if they wished (DEC DART). The presenter, Associate Professor Tara classroom activities. These teaching notes have now events such as astronomy nights and in CAASTRO’s to join – and coordinating the locally adapted drafts, Murphy, described her current role and the course her been downloaded more than 400 times. Uluru outreach partnership (described below). Capturing sharing our resources and scheduling the release. In career has taken, and explained how her CAASTRO Each school received a free copy of the comic for its the Cosmos is a major legacy of the CAASTRO most cases the university media office would not have Masters student Cleo Loi used the Murchison Widefield library, but was also invited to order class sets (30 Education and Outreach portfolio and our partnership been aware of an upcoming paper if it had not been for Array (MWA) to discover plasma tubes in the Earth’s copies) – an offer enthusiastically taken up by more with Museum Victoria benefited both institutions. us starting the conversation. And more often than not, ionosphere (work described in CAASTRO’s 2015 than 60 schools, home schoolers and other science- the conversation had to deal with differences in priorities annual report). education institutions. The comic book was officially Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia and sensitivities: understandably, a university or research launched at the 2017 Perth Astrofest, as the keynote Another example of an advantageous partnership is the institute is mainly interested in promoting itself, while We held ten streaming sessions during National event. We made available there, and at other public one we have had with Voyages Indigenous Tourism our goal was to have all CAASTRO nodes and members Science Week in August. Wake up to Astronomy was events, the copies from our 15,000 print-run that had Australia for the Astronomer in Residence and Uluru represented. Six years after the first CAASTRO press a 15-minute question-and-answer (Q&A) show held not already been committed for distribution. As for Astronomy Weekend programs. Each year since 2014 release, we acknowledge that we did not choose the each morning, with astrophysicists answering questions the Bright Stars calendar, this generated donations we have sent between 13 and 20 astronomers-in- easiest path, but we stand by our decision to work sent in by students in the preceding weeks. Lunchtime that have been used to help science outreach projects: residence to Ayers Rock Resort for fortnightly stays collaboratively. At least partly as a result of our actions, Astronomy, also held daily during Science Week, was money raised in Perth, for example, went towards between March and November. The researchers Australian astronomy institutions now collaborate more a 30-minute show either linked to school syllabuses or the indigenous sky-knowledge program of the Gravity interact with resort guests by providing information, in promoting their research than they did six years ago. featuring a CAASTRO PhD student talking about his or Discovery Centre and Gingin Observatory. activities and give-aways at the CAASTRO table in For example, 2017 saw many Australian institutions her favourite aspect of astrophysics. 92 CAASTRO 93 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Uluru Astronomer in Residence Program Binary star merger Galaxy Convention (GalCon) delegates. Michelle Melbourne from Intelledox speaking at GalCon. Credit: Natalie Eiré Sommer Credit: University of Sydney Credit: CAASTRO Credit: CAASTRO

In November we collaborated with the Museum of Galaxy Convention the International Space Station, showing how broad are Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) and DEC DART to the career possibilities for STEM graduates. run two streaming sessions at Sydney Observatory: The inaugural Galaxy Convention was held 4–5 December 2017 at the University of Sydney’s They also threw themselves into marketing and strategy Days of Darkness for Year-5 students and Reasons for Second Sydney Astrofest draws workshops, which were the hands-on component of the Seasons & Days in a Phase for Year-7 students. These Nanoscience Hub. This unique event brought together 3000 people nearly 150 high-school students, teachers, university event. One of these involved developing a marketing were presented by Sarah Reeves (a former CAASTRO plan for an existing enterprise, Cuberider, whose student now at MAAS), Jason Drury and Kathryn Ross. 1 July 2017, University of Sydney students, academics and members of the business community. It was designed to inspire the next founder, Solange Cunin, was on hand to provide a reality This year we also held 13 Q&A sessions, which give CAASTRO and the University of Sydney held the generation of female entrepreneurs in STEM fields check. Another exercise required teams to develop a schools the chance to have a one-to-one conversation second Sydney Astrofest on Saturday 1 July 2017. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), strategy for getting to Mars by 2032. with an astrophysicist. We delivered most of these This stargazing event came with a great line-up of and was supported by the Australian Government The combination of talks and practical activities helped sessions via Skype, and some via Zoom and Google speakers, activities for kids, a plethora of exhibitors through a Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship delegates understand how entrepreneurs bring their Hangouts. Everyone involved told us how much they and a travelling planetarium. (WISE) grant. Galaxy Convention talks were live- ideas to the marketplace, the challenges they face, the enjoyed them. It took place in and around the Charles Perkins streamed and have been made available on CAASTRO’s strategies they employ and the lessons that have been CitC met face-to-face with teachers in Hobart in July, Centre, next to Oval no. 2, and at the Sydney YouTube channel. learned in start-up journeys. They also learned that to when we were one of the exhibitors at CONASTA66, Veterinary Science Centre. The astronomy-keen Female students in years 10–12 from all over Australia be a successful entrepreneur takes resilience, humour, th the 66 annual science education conference of the rolled in from 3:30pm, instantly forming a queue for applied to take part. Their keenness was clear from creativity and courage! Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA). We planetarium tickets. They then stormed the lecture comments such as this one, from a Year 11 student: The workshop was well received, especially by the also presented at TeachMeet at the Museum of Sydney theatre for the official opening by Professor Elaine “I wish to participate in this convention because I’m school students. One year-12 student from Western during National Science Week. TeachMeets are informal Sadler (CAASTRO Director). That was followed by really interested in the growing influence of women in Australia said, “[i]t has opened my eyes to so many events where anyone involved in education can share the first talk, by CAASTRO PhD Student Jessica STEM careers, and I wish to be one of these influential possibilities and has made me excited for the future.” ideas and experiences. We have found that primary- Bloom. Many people settled down in the theatre for women in the future.” Thirty-seven students, and a We hope these talented young women will stay school teachers are particularly eager for astronomy a night of great talks, while others formed lines to number of teachers, came from interstate, from as far excited about their futures and become the change- resources: Year-5 students are the most-represented look through the eight telescopes on site at Mars, away as the Northern Territory and Tasmania. makers of tomorrow. school grade across all CitC activities. Saturn, Jupiter and the odd nebula. Inside in the Attendees heard personal stories from entrepreneurs CitC is presented with the support of the Australian warmth kids were busy building space stations and aliens out of LEGO and concocting telescopes out including Deb Noller (Switch Automation), Solange Government through a Women in STEM and Cunin (Cuberider), Michelle Melbourne (Intelledox), Entrepreneurship (WISE) grant. This grant has allowed of toilet rolls, while their elders checked out goodies Lynnette Terrett (Iconyx), Tara Murphy (Grok The T-shirt us to expand the program to incorporate activities on the stalls, from liquid-nitrogen demos to virtual- reality goggles. After all that activity had fed the Learning), Dharmica Mistry (BCAL Diagnostics) and worn by Galaxy (such as Galaxy Convention, held in December) that Convention mind, the Lions Club Sausage Sizzle was there to Daniel Shaddock (Liquid Instruments). The speakers’ encourage and educate young entrepreneurs. experience was diverse, from creating prosthetics with volunteers. feed the body too – and raise funds for the Starlight Credit: CAASTRO Foundation charity in the process. recycled waste to running student-built experiments on Sydney Astrofest was organised by CAASTRO and CAASTRO Youtube Library well supported by the School of Physics. The many Credit: CAASTRO exhibitors and sponsors also gave the event great support, with Sydney Observatory and Celestron, both of which donated prizes, deserving special mention.

ANU academic Daniel Shaddock telling The Leadership Kitchen’s Felicity Solange Cunin of Cuberider speaking the story of his company, Liquid Waterford coaching GalCon delegates in at GalCon. Astrofest 2017, Sydney Instruments, at GalCon. how to pitch an idea. Credit: CAASTRO Credit: Geoff Wyatt Credit: CAASTRO Credit: CAASTRO 94 CAASTRO 95 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION

Professional Development has been a focus of CAASTRO activity Credit: SIfA

The CAASTRO "Intellectual property, Industry engagement and your career!” eBook was finally completed in 2017, and was revised later in the PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT year after feedback from IP Australia regarding some productivity commission recommendations. It provides an invaluable resource for CAASTRO Career Development Paper Writing Coding members who are interested in innovation, or wanting to find a job in industry. In November 2017, the CAASTRO Postdoc Committee CAASTRO ran a trial paper-writing workshop at In December 2017, CAASTRO ran a coding workshop and the CAASTRO Student Committee arranged a CAASTRO’s 2016 Annual Retreat. After receiving useful in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth. In 2017 CAASTRO career development day for Early Career Researchers feedback on this trial, the CAASTRO Student Committee Facilitated by Samuel Hinton (UQ PhD student) and assisted two PhD students which took place a day prior to the CAASTRO retreat in worked closely with Christian Wolf (CAASTRO ANU Fiona Panther (ANU PhD Student) the workshop was and one post doctoral the Barossa Valley. The event was specifically designed Node Leader) to expand the materials and make them well received and considered a great success. researcher gain paid to provide training for students and post doctoral suitable for a comprehensive, day-long workshop on Coding makes up a significant part of astrophysics industry internships. researchers embarking on their career as independent scientific writing. The content covered how to structure research, and yet the majority of astrophysics These range in length researchers, but it was open to all interested members and plan a manuscript, how to refine first drafts, and researchers are self-taught programmers. As such, from length from 4–12 within CAASTRO. The members of the Committees what to expect from the peer-review process. The there are often useful tools, tips and tricks when coding weeks, and provide had some enlightening discussions on the challenges workshop was run in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, that are often unknown or under-used. This workshop invaluable experience of we each face in our daily work-life and we identified Canberra and Perth, and had over 100 attendees. At aimed to change this, and sessions covered: work outside academia. self-management and proposal writing as the most each event, the touring presenters Caitlin Adams and All placements were with prominent training requirements. Chris Wolf were supported by local presenters including: ƒƒ coding practices software development Michael Brown, Jack Line, Janie Hoormann, Jacobo ƒƒ coding tools companies. We organised two professional facilitators from the University of Adelaide to give two half-day seminars, Asorey, James Allison, Fiona Panther, Dougal Mackey, ƒƒ code documentation Sarah White and Paul Hancock. The workshops were Building your Personal Resilience and The Perfect ƒƒ code testing Pitch. During the Resilience program, the participants organised by Caitlin Adams, Stephanie Bernard, Natalia NASA International Space Apps ƒƒ resources to help get software open source and learnt about the physiological and psychological Sommer, Marcin Glowacki, Rebecca McElroy, Josh online, build pipelines, archiving code, publishing Challenge science of stress, and were invited to reflect on Calcino, Tristan Reynolds, Bradley Meyers, Kylie Williams and Kate Gunn. and getting your code citable. Over 29–30 April, a team of CAASTRO members from their own reactions to stressful events. During group around the country gathered in Sydney to take part discussions, we discovered that most of us responded The feedback from attendees was incredibly positive: in NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge. This very similarly to stressful situations and shared many students commented that there were useful tips Mentoring annual event is held simultaneously around the world strategies to build up resilience. on grammar and style for both native and non-native CAASTRO has continued its internal mentoring program in selected cities. During an intense 48 hours, problem English speakers. Attendees were grateful for the The afternoon training was active, compared to in 2017, which matched up senior and junior members solvers work closely together, using real NASA data to hands-on approach, and their active participation made the contemplative morning, and focused on how to at different CAASTRO locations. It is designed to solve one of many posed challenges. The challenges each event a great success. The workshop materials convincingly present ideas. We studied structures for build and offer an initial professional network where can be related to either Earth or space: this year, they will be released as a CAASTRO legacy item so that coherent proposals, as well as body language, and questions around career progression can be discussed. were focused on Earth. these events can be run again. had to convince each other of our research ideas. The Feedback on the program suggests that most The CAASTRO team delivered a product titled Polar day concluded with pizza and a very lively group trivia participates have valued the career advice from their Explorer, designed to display polar-ice regions in 3D where people could already be observed applying skills mentor the most. on a website, making them available to anyone in of both trainings of the day. the world. Using the website, the viewer can see the changes in the ice profile with time, giving a sense of how the world’s climate is changing. With more development time, the website could be extended into a virtual-reality app, which would give a full-scale view of the ice and how it is shrinking with time. We did not place among the top three of the 28 participating teams, but we did give an excellent presentation on the motivation and execution of our product, and enjoyed the experience of working in a team with a tight schedule. PERFORM 96 CAASTRO 97 ANNUAL REPORT 2015

CAASTRO Animation Library CAASTRO Postdoc and Student Resources THE CAASTRO LEGACY

At the end of its funding period (2017–2018) CAASTRO is keen to leave behind a legacy of useful items for future researchers, outreach and professional staff members working within astrophysics, and other disciplines. CAASTRO has created a Legacy website where the resources we have created over our funding period are available for download. CAASTRO Software Tools

www.caastro.org CAASTRO Gender Equity Toolkit

CAASTRO Teacher resources

CAASTRO News Stories

CAASTRO "Intellectual property, Industry engagement and your career!” eBook

CAASTRO Mentoring e-book

CAASTRO Research Highlights Video CAASTRO 5 Minute Highlight Video 98 CAASTRO 99 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

2017 ICRAR members Credit: ICRAR

CAASTROLOCATIONS CAASTRO AT THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR RADIO ASTRONOMY RESEARCH (ICRAR)

ICRAR hosts astronomy and astrophysics research in in with other ICRAR research groups, as encouraged CAASTRO’s two WA member Universities and is an by the ARC. Perth-area meetings are organised on a equal joint venture between Curtin University and the regular basis and alternate between Curtin and UWA. University of Western Australia (UWA). ICRAR is a ICRAR’s significant pre-existing involvement with single organisation with two physical nodes, located radio astronomy projects has allowed CAASTRO to near the main campus of each university. ICRAR has leverage greater science return from its investment a unified business plan and conducts joint research and benefit from considerable in-kind support from programs, seminars and senior undergraduate ICRAR’s engineering, ICT and science staff. astronomy programs. CAASTRO’s engagement with ICRAR is through the CAASTRO Chief Investigators at the individual Universities, Ramesh Bhat at Curtin, and Lister Staveley-Smith the node leader from UWA. CAASTRO postdocs and students are mixed

EDUCATE 100 CAASTRO 101 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO Curtin University team members

ƒƒ Ronniy Joseph, a CAASTRO PhD student supervised CAASTRO Director Elaine Sadler, Chhetri, Morgan by Trott, continued his work on exploring calibration and Ekers investigated the nature of compact radio strategies using hybrid arrays for the detection of sources newly discovered this way. This work has EoR signal. now appeared in papers by Chhetri et al. (2018) and Morgan et al. (2018). Dynamic Universe Theme ƒƒ Jean-Pierre Macquart continued his work on the detection and interpretation of fast radio bursts. The Curtin node’s contribution to the Dynamic Universe Macquart is the co-Principal Investigator of the theme comes largely from MWA pulsar data. We are CRAFT (Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast beginning to see rewards from the years of effort Transients) survey, which has already made several put into developing the MWA’s high-time-resolution successful detections. The first fast radio burst capability: a wide range of science making use of from ASKAP was reported in Bannister et al. (2017) the MWA’s unique features is beginning to emerge. (page 32). The project is ramping up, and many Other significant research includes the fast radio burst papers now being prepared will report on new program taking off at the Australian SKA Pathfinder detections and their cosmological significance. (page 32), studies of interplanetary scintillation with the ƒƒ Paul Hancock and his PhD student Xiang Zhang MWA (page 35), and the hunt for radio emission from continued to hunt fireballs (very bright meteors) fireballs (very bright meteors). with the MWA, carrying out a 322-hour survey. ƒƒ This year two new CAASTRO students joined They were able to constrain the limits on radio CAASTRO AT CURTIN UNIVERSITY the MWA pulsar team: PhD student Dilpreet Kaur emission in the MWA’s 72–103 MHz band. Their started in June 2017 and Nicholas Swainston was analysis reached a detection threshold of 3.5 Jy/ The Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA) at Curtin ƒƒ Chris Jordan processed 972 EoR0 observations from with us through the year as an Honours student. beam, and the derived upper limit on the radio University is a partner in the International Centre for 2015 (32 hours of data) with the MWA Real-Time Kaur is studying millisecond pulsars while Swainston spectral index is –3.7 at the 95 per cent confidence Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the managing Data Pipeline, and examined and classified them worked on a pilot pulsar search with the Phase 2 level. Hancock and Zhang made convincing organisation of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). for ionospheric activity. This work is now published MWA. Their research was supervised by CAASTRO detections of reflected FM broadcast signals from Research at CAASTRO’s Curtin node continues to focus (Jordan et al. 2017). From these quality-assessed Chief Investigator Ramesh Bhat and CAASTRO small satellites, showing that the MWA can detect on the Evolving and Dynamic themes; Curtin is also the data, Cathryn Trott selected a subset showing low postdoc Steven Tremblay, who are also overseeing and track space debris as small as 10 cm across. headquarters for CAASTRO Education and Outreach. ionospheric activity and processed them with the the work of three other PhD students, Mengyao This year the node had 23 members, including two EoR power-spectrum pipeline. Until this work, the Xue, Bradley Meyers and Samuel McSweeney. Dr Ramesh Bhat newly enrolled students; a new affiliate, Ben McKinley; best (systematic-limited) limit on the cosmological ƒƒ The work of McSweeney et al. (2017), MWA CAASTRO Node Leader and a new research staff member, Dr Clancy James, EoR power spectrum had been that of Beardsley observations of ‘drifting subpulses’ with high Theme: Dynamic who has been recruited to work on the fast radio burst et al. (2016). Now, thanks to the preliminary sensitivity and time resolution (page 17), shows that Bhat’s research continues to focus on pulsar astronomy program under way at ASKAP. Dr Marcin Sokolowski classifications, Trott and Jordan have been able to the MWA is now mature. The analysis of the MWA and fast radio bursts (FRBs). A significant part of continued to work on Curtin’s SKA developments and obtain a deeper limit from only half as much data. data revealed previously unknown subtleties in the his research this year involved exploiting the newly to support MWA operations and scheduling. CAASTRO ƒƒ Cathryn Trott and Randall Wayth investigated the emission of PSR J0034–0721; the rate at which the developed capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Associate Investigator Dr Randall Wayth continued in potential bias caused by extended radio sources emission structure moves in phase shows a more Array (MWA) for pulsar science. He supervises four the role of MWA Director. Curtin engineering intern Ms in the EoR power spectrum, to arrive at useful complex pattern than seen before. Understanding PhD students who are using the MWA to study pulsar Mia Walker contributed to CAASTRO-related activities as insights pertaining to the design of SKA-low. Their such puzzling results may be the key that unlocks the emission physics, pulsars as probes of the interstellar well as undertaking MWA technical duties, and Ms Kim work suggests that the telescope needs additional secrets of the pulsar emission mechanism. medium, and millisecond pulsars as an aid to pulsar Steele filled in the role of outreach coordinator (part- short baselines as well as long ones (up to 5 km) ƒƒ Bradley Meyers led a study of giant radio pulses timing array experiments. He has also facilitated the time) from April 2017 while Dr Wiebke Ebeling was on baselines, so that it can handle information on a from the Crab pulsar, using the complementary MWA’s participation in the ASKAP CRAFT (Commensal maternity leave. Dr Ramesh Bhat became CAASTRO’s wide range of scales, which will be needed for frequency ranges of the MWA and the Parkes Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients) project, which is Curtin node leader in April after Professor Carole Jackson measuring the EoR power spectrum. telescope to study them at the widest range of beginning to detect FRBs at an impressive rate, and is moved to ASTRON. ƒƒ Trott also led the work that looked at the spectral frequencies (page 17). The work suggests that the co-supervising a Curtin PhD candidate who is exploring performance SKA antennas need to have for giant-pulse spectrum flattens at low frequencies, the use of FRBs as cosmic probes. Bhat is the Science Evolving Universe Theme studying the EoR. In Trott et al. (2017), she and which has implications for the detectability of fast Lead of the MWA high-time-resolution science group her collaborators investigated the performance of radio bursts in that frequency range. and in April 2017 also became Curtin Node Leader. In the Evolving Universe theme, CAASTRO members two SKA1 log-periodic dipole antennas, SKALA2 at Curtin contributed to advances in instrumentation, ƒƒ Mengyao Xue and collaborators exploited the and SKALA3, and the MWA dipole antenna. The Dr Rajan Chhetri observations and theory, particularly ones relating MWA’s huge field of view by making the first pulsar EoR detection experiment will be primarily limited CAASTRO Research Staff to SKA development and the MWA’s Epoch-of- census with the MWA, at a frequency of 185 MHz. by the sky-calibration accuracies and thermal-noise Theme: Evolving Reionisation (EOR) experiment. From 40 hours of data they detected 50 pulsars, performance, and this work suggests that the many of them for the first time at low frequencies. Chhetri joined CAASTRO’s Curtin node in 2016. As ƒƒ The Engineering Development Array (EDA), a low- designs of both SKALA3 and the MWA dipole will Xue’s team extended their analysis to forecast the part of a small team, he has helped to develop the frequency radio telescope using SKA precursor be able to meet this requirement. SKALA4 may capability of SKA-low, predicting that it may find as widefield interplanetary scintillation (IPS) technique technology, has been commissioned at the resolve this. many as 9,400 pulsars. Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). with the MWA. This technique identifies sub-arcsecond ƒƒ Steven Murray and collaborators extended the ƒƒ Chhetri, Morgan, Ekers and Macquart worked on compact structures in low-frequency radio sources: it The EDA is for prototyping and verifiying technology mathematical description of the foreground ‘noise’ for the SKA, as detailed in Wayth et al. (2017). The the phenomenon of interplanetary scintillation improves the MWA’s angular resolution by more than in EoR observations to include the clustering of (IPS), the scattering of radio signals by charged two orders of magnitude and can be implemented array is sky-noise limited over the 60–240 MHz foreground galaxies, using the latest estimates of the range; MWA infrastructure was used to measure particles flowing off the Sun (page 35). These quickly to cover large parts of the sky. The IPS team’s broad differential source count from MWA and other particles cause compact cosmic radio sources to work, described in more detail on page 35, is providing its absolute sensitivity by obtaining calibrated deep observations. The formalism involves estimating visibilities. The EDA’s unique ability to record ‘twinkle’ (scintillate) at radio wavelengths. The unprecedented insights into the properties of low- a modified covariance. Murray and his collaborators MWA is well suited to making IPS observations and frequency compact source populations. It also offers Nyquist-sampled, full-band voltage data is being show that failing to include this contribution may can survey for compact sources at low frequency a new way to identify candidate high-redshift radio used to detect millisecond pulsars and improve the lead to an under-estimation of the uncertainty and with unprecedented depth and breadth. Along with galaxies and high-quality calibrators for the future SKA. MWA’s time resolution. potentially a false detection of the EoR signal. The work is reported in Murray et al. (2017). 102 CAASTRO 103 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Mrs Angela Dunleavy cosmic-rays key science project to study extensive air Dr Jean-Pierre Macquart observe the ‘intermittent’ pulsar J1107–5907. In the CAASTRO Administrator showers in the Earth’s atmosphere. He is a co-chair of CAASTRO Associate Investigator final year of his PhD project Meyers will use low- the SKA’s High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group, Theme: Dynamic frequency MWA observations to explore the links Dunleavy is responsible for collating non-financial data and co-author of the CoREAS code for calculating the between pulsar populations. Meyers is the Curtin for CAASTRO reports and provides administrative radio emission from cosmic ray cascades. From 2011 This year Macquart has worked primarily on fast radio representative on the CAASTRO Student Committee. support to the Curtin CAASTRO team and CAASTRO to 2017, James worked in Erlangen, Germany, on bursts (FRBs); in particular, he worked with CAASTRO events held at Curtin. As part of the CAASTRO the ANTARES and KM3NeT neutrino telescopes, in Advisory Board member Ron Ekers on the statistical Dr John Morgan A-Team, Dunleavy also provided support for CAASTRO particular using multi-messenger observations with the properties (source counts) of the FRB population to CAASTRO Affiliate Annual Retreats during 2012–2017. TANAMI collaboration to study high-energy astrophysical understand how the prevalence of FRBs has evolved Theme: Evolving processes. James is currently working on the CRAFT over the history of the Universe (page 18). Macquart is Morgan works with data from the Murchison Widefield Dr Wiebke Ebeling (Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients) project to a co-Principal Investigator of the CRAFT (Commensal Array, investigating how the ionosphere affects radio CAASTRO Education and Outreach Manager detect fast radio bursts with ASKAP. Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients) project survey, which Theme: Education and Outreach is using the Australian SKA Pathfinder to characterise waves and looking at how the solar wind makes radio the rare but bright end of the FRB population. These sources ‘twinkle’ (scintillate): this work is described on Ebeling had oversight of the Education and Outreach Dr Christopher Jordan bright FRBs the key to understanding the cosmological page 35. Morgan is also helping to produce the MWA portfolio as it made the transition from final major CAASTRO Affiliate distribution of FRBs (page 32). With Ekers and fellow survey catalogue. productions to legacy status in 2017. The highlight Theme: Evolving CAASTRO members Morgan and Chhetri, Macquart has was the launch of the CAASTRO children’s comic The Dr Steven Murray Jordan works in the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) group also harnessed the resolving power of interplanetary Cosmic Adventures of Alice and Bob in a keynote stage at Curtin University, using the Murchison Widefield scintillation to probe compact sources with the MWA CAASTRO Research Staff show at Perth Astrofest. Over 7,200 free copies of the Array (MWA) radio telescope. In 2017 he analysed (page 35). Theme: Evolving comic book were sent to the libraries of all Australian MWA Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) data collected over Murray is a postdoc working with the MWA Epoch of primary schools; similarly, more than 1,500 free copies four years, to observe trends in ionospheric activity. Dr Benjamin McKinley Reionisation (EoR) team. He works on sophisticated of CAASTRO’s other school resource, the Bright Stars This research is vital to understanding one of the CAASTRO Affiliate statistical models of the radio sources that lie between wall calendar, were sent to all Australian high schools. biggest impediments to detecting the EoR signature, Theme: Evolving us and the EoR, obscuring and distorting it: in particular, Ebeling also coordinated the compilation of teaching and aids all other avenues of low-frequency radio he has developed an analytic description of how the notes accompanying the comic (which related the story astronomy. In the course of this work Jordan identified In July 2017 McKinley moved from the University of cosmological structure of the foreground sources affects to the science, maths, English, design and technology, unusual, rapidly varying properties of the ionosphere, Melbourne to Curtin University, where he has continued the EoR signal. Other work he contributes to includes and visual arts curricula), and fulfilled requests for which may be caused by ‘space weather’ or terrestrial his work on the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). McKinley characterising the ionosphere and its effects on EoR additional class sets from more than 60 Australian weather. In addition to aiding other EoR-related work, is attempting to measure the global (all-sky averaged) observations and using halo-modelling techniques to schools, home schoolers and other educational and taking part in discussions related to the SKA, signal from the EoR using a novel method that employs understand the biasing of HI sources. institutions. In 2017, two short video productions Jordan contributes to the Australian star-formation the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and observations supporting a CAASTRO press release made available community: in particular, he co-leads a legacy project of the Moon. In 2017 he published a paper on our Ms Tina Salisbury via YouTube, as were recordings of presentation from on the Australia Telescope Compact Array that is nearest neighbouring radio galaxy, Centaurus A, which CAASTRO Administrator the inaugural CAASTRO Galaxy Convention (page 93). searching for tracers of star formation across the gained some media attention. In 2018 McKinley will Galactic plane. transition to a new ARC Centre of Excellence, ASTRO Salisbury organises financial support for the CAASTRO Dr Paul Hancock 3D, to continue his work on detecting the EoR signal. team members at Curtin and reconciles financial data CAASTRO Affiliate Mr Ronniy Joseph against the CAASTRO budget. Mr Samuel McSweeney Theme: Evolving, Dynamic CAASTRO PhD Student Dr Marcin Sokolowski Hancock has a strong background in radio surveys, Theme: Evolving CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Dynamic CAASTRO Associate Investigator radio variability, and software to support astronomy. In October 2016 Joseph commenced his PhD under Theme: Evolving He is the main developer of the Aegean source-finding supervision of Trott and Wayth, after which he joined Sam started his PhD at Curtin in 2016, under the algorithm and the analysis pipeline for the Variable and CAASTRO as part of the Evolving Universe theme. supervision of Bhat and Tremblay (both at Curtin) In 2017 Sokolowski began a project to measure Slow Transients (VAST) survey, which is to be carried His project focuses on the use of heterogeneous radio and Avinash Deshpande (Raman Research Institute, the absolute flux of calibrator sources, using the out with the Australian SKA Pathfinder. Hancock is interferometers to probe the weak signals from the India). He investigates the radio emission mechanism BIGHORNS total-power radiometer and the Engineering currently leading projects that use Murchison Widefield Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). He will study the use and of pulsars by studying the sub-pulse drifting behaviour Development Array (EDA) at the Murchison Radio- Array (MWA) data to detect radio emission from benefits of combining antennas from different arrays. In that some pulsars exhibit. His wider research interests astronomy Observatory. He also became responsible fireballs (bright meteors), characterise the scintillation particular, he will look at whether combining antennas include applying machine-learning techniques to for scheduling Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and seen from cosmic radio sources at low frequencies, in this way provides additional information not available science. He also helps maintain the software pipeline EDA observations, and monitoring MWA data quality. and detect and monitor space debris with passive radar from traditional arrays, and whether it makes array for processing pulsar data obtained with the Murchison In 2017 he finalised his testing of a new MWA beam techniques. He is also collaborating on a project that calibration easier. Widefield Array. model developed in 2016 and continued to work on aims to detect the prompt radio emission from short extending the EDA’s observing capabilities, mainly for gamma-ray bursts with the MWA. In collaboration Ms Dilpreet Kaur Mr Bradley Meyers pulsars and spectral lines, and calibrating EDA data. with the Desert Fireball Network, Hancock has led the CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO PhD Student installation of a commercial-grade camera to monitor Theme: Dynamic Theme: Dynamic Ms Kimberly Steele the night sky above the MWA. CAASTRO Affiliate Kaur started her PhD in mid 2017, and is supervised Meyers’ research interests are primarily in pulsar Themes: Evolving, Dynamic, Education and Outreach Dr Clancy James by Bhat and Tremblay. She is studying the interstellar emission physics and interstellar propagation effects, especially at low frequencies. Meyers joined CAASTRO In early 2017 Steele acted in part of Ebeling’s Education CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher medium (ISM) in the line of sight to millisecond pulsars, in early 2016 to work with Tremblay and Bhat at Curtin and Outreach role, updating CAASTRO’s social media Theme: Dynamic particularly those used in pulsar timing array experiments that aim to detect gravitational waves. ISM effects on University on his PhD project, investigating sporadic presence, collaborating with researchers to write news James specialises in the detection of high-energy propagation of pulsar signals are highly pronounced emission phenomena from pulsars using the MWA stories, distributing CAASTRO’s comic book The neutrinos and cosmic rays with radio telescopes. His PhD at low observing frequencies: the MWA is therefore Voltage Capture System. He has studied giant pulses Cosmic Adventures of Alice and Bob, and performing work was with the LUNASKA project to detect neutrinos an excellent instrument for studying these pulsars and from the Crab pulsar, using simultaneous observations other tasks. In September she returned to her original hitting the Moon with CSIRO’s Parkes telescope and the characterising the ISM towards them. This work will help with the MWA and Parkes to characterise the giant full-time role as the CIRA (Curtin Institute of Radio Australia Telescope Compact Array, for which he was us to develop effective methods for correcting noise in pulse spectral behaviour and energetics (page 17). Astronomy) Engineering Graduate Intern, documenting awarded the 2010 Bragg Gold Medal. From 2009 to timing measurements that arises from the ISM. It will Meyers is also searching for rotating radio transients and participating in on-site activities at the Murchison 2011 he worked on the LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) also inform optimal strategies for doing PTA experiments with the MWA, and recently began an observing Radio-astronomy Observatory, mainly maintenance of with the Square Kilometre Array. campaign using both the MWA and UTMOST to the Murchison Widefield Array and other projects. 104 CAASTRO 105 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO UWA team members

Mr Nick Swainston In addition, Trott works in the Dynamic Universe theme. CAASTRO Honours Student Here she participates in a range of projects: for instance, Themes: Dynamic understanding the statistical properties of high-time- resolution data in order to detect signals more efficiently. Swainston joined CAASTRO in 2017 as an Honours student. His project used the Murchison Widefield Array Associate Professor Randall Wayth to perform a pulsar search, for which he developed a CAASTRO Associate Investigator pipeline using Python, Bash, and SQLite. This pipeline Theme: Evolving used ~71,000 CPU hours and successfully detected three pulsars. Swainston has also worked with the Wayth is a member of the Curtin University Department CIRA (Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy) Pulsar of Electrical and Computer Engineering and has both Team to produce a Python script that processes pulsar engineering and science interests in astrophysics. detections and uploads them to a pulsar database using He took on the MWA Director role in 2016 and also SQLite, and contributed to an MWA pulsar census manages the CAASTRO-supported BIGHORNS Epoch of (page 17) by developing a Python script to list known Reionisation Global Signal project. Wayth co-supervises pulsars within an observation’s field of view. two CAASTRO PhD students working in the Evolving Universe theme and one in the Dynamic theme. He Professor Steven Tingay has continued as Project Scientist within the SKA- CAASTRO Affiliate low Aperture Array Design and Construction (AADC) CAASTRO AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Theme: Evolving, Dynamic consortium, a role that he took up in 2015. Wayth works with several CAASTRO members on the MWA’s Tingay is the John Curtin Distinguished Professor, GLEAM survey and Epoch of Reionisation key science the Executive Director of the Curtin Institute of Radio program. Astronomy, and the Deputy Executive Director of the The UWA node of CAASTRO is located alongside data from integral-field spectrographs such as SAMI the International Centre for Radio Astronomy International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research. As Ms Mia Walker (page 33) and future HI surveys. a CAASTRO Affiliate, Tingay continues collaborations Research at the Ken and Julie Michael Building near CAASTRO Affiliate Tristan Reynolds studied the spectral-line performance with CAASTRO Staff and students he started as a the university’s main campus. This node hosts four Themes: Evolving, Dynamic, Education and Outreach of a phased-array feed on the Parkes radio telescope to CAASTRO Chief Investigator, primarily on research CAASTRO-funded research staff, 10 researchers (Chief determine the usefulness of this technology for deep projects being carried out with the Murchison Widefield Walker’s main activity in 2017 was helping to deploy Investigators, Associate Investigators and Affiliates), studies of neutral hydrogen in the distant Universe. Array (MWA). the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)’s new long- one administrator and nine PhD students. In 2017, our In this study, Reynolds stacked neutral-hydrogen baseline configuration. Her work in the Operations team major CAASTRO research topics were cosmological and Dr Steven Tremblay at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy also includes galaxy-evolution studies, neutral-hydrogen surveys, and spectra of distant galaxies and made intensity maps CAASTRO Research Staff the ongoing development of receiver technology to be optical surveys with imaging spectrometers, and our for redshifts up to one. The results were encouraging: Theme: Dynamic used in an even larger array in the future. researchers contributed to 57 of CAASTRO’s refereed it was particularly pleasing that the phased-array feed publications. UWA researchers are engaged mainly in greatly reduced the levels of standing-wave interference Tremblay has continued to lead the Murchison Ms Mengyao Xue the Dark and Evolving Universe themes. experienced on the telescope. Widefield Array’s (MWA) Voltage Capture System (VCS) group. A significant portion of his effort in CAASTRO PhD Student Jonghwan Rhee continued his work on intensity 2017 went into verifying the polarimetric pulsar Theme: Dynamic Dark Theme mapping and neutral-hydrogen stacking with profiles created with the MWA against those of other Xue started her PhD studies in Nov 2015 and joined In the Dark Universe theme, a highlight this year was interferometers and single dishes. He has developed instruments operating at similar frequencies. He also CAASTRO in early 2016: she is supervised by Bhat, Cullan Howlett’s computation of the velocity power techniques to combat foreground/background continued to develop the VCS software, making it Tremblay, and Ord. She has carried out a low-frequency spectrum of galaxies in the CAASTRO-led 2MTF contamination and radio-frequency interference. ever more approachable to new users. Tremblay co- census of southern pulsars with the MWA (Xue et al. (2MASS Tully-Fisher) survey. This has allowed a new supervised four CAASTRO PhD students in 2017 and 2017). This work was based mainly on archival, high- estimate of the growth rate of structure formation in also continued as a member of CAASTRO’s Gender time-resolution data generated by the MWA Voltage the nearby Universe, independent of the effects of Other highlights Action Committee. Capture System (VCS) since 2014. Xue is now working galaxy bias. The results imply that the growth rate does ƒƒ Khaled Said, a co-supervised PhD student of the on testing the fidelity and stability of the polarimetric Associate Professor Cathryn Trott not depend on scale, and are completely consistent University of Cape Town, was awarded his PhD. response of the MWA when observing pulsars at with the predictions of general relativity. CAASTRO Associate Investigator different zenith angles and different frequencies. Following this, he received The Gruber Foundation Theme: Dynamic, Evolving Annual Fellowship for 2017, for his work on the Zone Evolving Theme of Avoidance. He will hold the Fellowship at the ANU. Trott’s work in the Evolving Universe theme has focused Ms Xiang Zhang on processing Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) data from CAASTRO PhD Student As part of the GLEAM (GaLactic and Extragalactic ƒƒ CAASTRO research scientist Kapínska accepted an the MWA. She is also leading efforts to understand the Theme: Dynamic All-sky MWA) survey undertaken with the Murchison ongoing staff scientist position at the National Radio impact of foreground contamination on EoR estimation. Zhang is a PhD student who joined CAASTRO Widefield Array, Anna Kapínska made a new study of Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, USA. She has derived a framework for understanding the in September 2016. She works with Wayth and the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. She examined ƒƒ Obreschkow was successful in his application to impact of ionospheric activity on EoR power spectra, and the energy spectrum of electrons generated by low- Hancock on a project to detect radio emissions from hold a Focus meeting, Galactic Angular Momentum, has published work exploring the benefits of wavelet energy cosmic rays in several regions of the galaxy, fireballs (bright meteors). In this project she searches at the General Assembly of the International analysis for studying signal evolution. for intrinsic radio emission from fireballs with the revealing the influence of the dense nuclear plasma on the radio emission from the well-known central Astronomical Union in Vienna in 2018. The three- Trott played a large role in shaping the EoR experiment Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope and day meeting will highlight recent work in this field. for the SKA this year, participating in the Science compares the results with data from the Desert Fireball starburst region. Working Group Board and contributing to the design Network. To date she has processed 300 hours of radio Dan Taranu developed a powerful method of ƒƒ A simulation meeting, Mock Perth, was held and specifications of the telescope and the SKA-low observations and used these to put an upper limit on simultaneously modelling the kinematics and morphology during 20–22 March 2017, and attracted antenna. She is also an active member of the SKA fireball emission. In the course of this work she has of galaxies in a fully self-consistent manner. His MagRite 46 participants including Colin Norman (Johns Science and Engineering Advisory Committee and also detected several transient radio events caused by algorithm is suitable for estimating bulge, disk and dark- Hopkins University) and CAASTRO visitor several SKA Resolution Teams. reflection from satellites. halo parameters, and has been developed especially for Matthieu Schaller (Durham University). 106 CAASTRO 107 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Professor Lister Staveley-Smith Dr Pascal Elahi Ms Katharine Kelley Dr Danail Obreschkow CAASTRO Deputy Director, Evolving Theme Leader, CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO Associate Investigator Node Leader and Chief Investigator Themes: Evolving and Dark Theme: Dark Themes: Evolving and Dark Themes: Evolving and Dark Elahi is a computational astrophysicist studying Kelley joined CAASTRO in 2015 as part of the Obreschkow’s key focus is galactic angular momentum, Staveley-Smith is UWA node leader, Evolving Theme cosmic structure in multiple cosmologies, dark-matter Dark theme. Her doctoral research relates mainly to which he is now investigating with hydrodynamic leader and CAASTRO Deputy Director. He co-supervises haloes, galaxy evolution and the physics of galaxy understanding and modelling the interactions of quantum simulations. In 2017 Obreschkow continued as the five CAASTRO PhD students. His activities in 2017 formation. He works in the Evolving and Dark Universe chromodynamic (QCD) axions, hypothetical subatomic primary supervisor of CAASTRO postdoc Taranu, who included facilitating activities within the Australia–China themes. Recently Elahi has focused on developing particles. QCD axions have long been considered a is modelling galaxies observed in the SAMI Galaxy ACAMAR collaboration (page 137) and co-organising tools for N-body simulations, studying the evolution strong candidate for cold dark matter. Kelley is modelling Survey and who this year published his first SAMI paper. the 2017 ACAMAR workshop in Tasmania. He has also of dark-matter haloes across cosmic time and the the all-sky signal resulting from the conversion of QCD Obreschkow also supervises two PhD students: Kamran assisted the executive of CAASTRO and ASTRO 3D lives of subhaloes/satellite galaxies, and identifying axions in the Galactic magnetic field and investigating Ali, who this year published his first paper on the two- (the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics observational signatures of modified dark-matter the potential axion signatures from interactions in the point statistics of star-forming material in galaxies, and in 3 Dimensions) in appointments and other transition models. He is involved in several major research early Universe. This work could pave the way to using Scott Meyer, who works on HI line stacking. arrangements, and assumed the role of Evolving Theme projects: he leads the ICRAR-based project SURFS radio telescopes to detect dark matter. leader for the remainder of CAASTRO. His CAASTRO (Synthetic UniveRses For Surveys); is a key member of Ms Clare Peter research this year included using a phased-array feed the international, multi-institutional nIFTy Cosmology Dr Claudia Lagos CAASTRO Administrator on the Parkes telescope for intensity mapping, starting collaboration; and has recently joined the new ARC CAASTRO Associate Investigator Peter joined CAASTRO in 2013. She coordinates early science for WALLABY (an all-sky HI survey), and Centre of Excellence ASTRO 3D as a key member of Theme: Evolving reporting and financials for the UWA node and provides continuing to exploit results from the 2MTF (2MASS the GENESIS computational program. Lagos has been a DECRA fellow at the UWA node of administrative support. Tully-Fisher) survey. Ms Katherine Harborne ICRAR since May 2015; prior to that, she was a Fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. Dr Attila Popping Mr Kamran Ali CAASTRO PhD Student She works on galaxy-formation simulations and semi- CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Evolving analytic models: she has explored relevant physical Theme: Evolving Theme: Dark Harborne has been a member of CAASTRO since she processes such as black-hole accretion and galaxy Popping’s research interests lie in galaxy evolution, Ali, supervised by Obreschkow, has dedicated most of began her PhD in 2016. Supervised by Chris Power, co-evolution, and has modelled the interstellar medium, particularly the neutral hydrogen content of galaxies. his time to looking at the excess information in the line- she uses hydrodynamic simulations to study dwarf star formation and supernovae dynamics and feedback. He leads IMAGINE (Imaging Galaxies’ Intergalactic and correlation function for various cosmological models. galaxies. She recently worked on a pipeline to construct Recently Lagos has focused on theoretical studies of Nearby Environment), a large ‘legacy’ project of the Alternative (non-standard) cosmology models possess mock kinematic data cubes from simulated galaxy the kinematics of galaxies and their connection with Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA): this is a rich phenomenology in the transition to a non-linear models. This work stems from the wish to better galaxy assembly and growth. Lagos has been awarded aimed at improving our understanding of how galaxies regime. Ali is interested in statistical measures that are understand results from the SAMI survey (page 33) by several international prizes, including the Springer interact with the surrounding intergalactic medium. highly sensitive to the underlying gravitational physics exploring the effects that observational limitations have Theses 2014 and the MERAC prize 2014 for the best Popping is an active contributor to the DINGO and at these scales. on our ability to recover galaxy kinematics. PhD in Europe in the area of theoretical astrophysics WALLABY neutral-hydrogen surveys being carried out (awarded by the European Astronomical Society). with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and is Mr Rodrigo Adolfo Cañas Vazquez Dr Cullan Howlett At UWA she was the Institute for Advanced studies co-leading the ASKAP spectral-line processing working Distinguished Fellow in 2016. CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher group. He is working on several experiments involving Theme: Evolving Theme: Dark Mr Lincheng Li HI stacking and plans to use stacking techniques to Cañas Vazquez is a second-year PhD student at Over the last year Howlett has focused on using do early science with ASKAP. Popping is also a core UWA. He uses numerical simulations to study the peculiar-velocity surveys to constrain cosmology. He CAASTRO PhD Student member of the CHILES survey, a large neutral-hydrogen diffuse stellar component that surrounds galaxies, has measured the correlations between the velocities Theme: Evolving survey being carried out with the VLA (Karl G. Jansky galaxy groups and clusters. In 2017 he contributed of galaxies in the 2MTF (2MASS Tully-Fisher) survey, Li is a joint PhD student from National Astronomical Very Large Array) in the USA, and co-supervises PhD to improving the halo finder VELOCIraptor, which and from these obtained constraints on the growth rate Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He student Qingxiang Chen, who is working on a widefield identifies galaxies in numerical simulations. Cañas of structure in the Universe; he has also predicted how carried out two years of research in China on a project HI survey using the VLA. Vazquez is the lead investigator of the Intra-Cluster well this growth rate could be measured using Type IA to investigate the effect a galaxy’s environment on its Light project: this is part of a larger international supernovae detected with the future Large Synoptic neutral hydrogen content. Since 2016 he has continued Mr Rhys Poulton collaboration, The Three Hundred, which compares Sky Telescope. Howlett is the Dark Theme Scientist his studies at UWA, working on the intensity-mapping CAASTRO PhD Student different galaxy-formation simulation codes and semi- and also a key member of the Taipan Galaxy Survey, project led by Staveley-Smith. Themes: Evolving and Dark analytic models. which will start observations in 2018. Dr Martin Meyer Poulton is a computational astrophysicist working with Mr Qingxiang Chen Dr Minh Huynh a leading suit of N-body simulations, SURFS (Synthetic CAASTRO Associate Investigator UniveRses For Surveys). He will be using SURFS to CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO Associate Investigator Theme: Evolving study the orbital evolution of satellite dark-matter Theme: Evolving Theme: Evolving Meyer’s research focuses on neutral hydrogen (HI) halos throughout cosmic history, to better understand Chen began his PhD at UWA in November 2015. Huynh is a Senior Data Scientist and Research surveys and the role played by hydrogen gas in the properties such as mass-loss rate and the timescales of Supervised by Meyer, he uses the VLA–DINGO early- Astronomer, jointly employed by CSIRO and ICRAR– formation and evolution of galaxies. He leads DINGO dynamical friction. science data to investigate the properties of gas in UWA. She is the project leader for the CSIRO ASKAP (Deep Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins), a project galaxies through spectral stacking. Chen processes Science Data Archive, which will house data obtained that will take deep HI observations with the Australian Professor Chris Power the data and then measures the average density of with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). From SKA Pathfinder and use them to understand how CAASTRO Associate Investigator neutral hydrogen by stacking the 21-cm radio emission 2010 to 2013 she was the Deputy International Project the HI content of the Universe has evolved over the Theme: Evolving from thousands of galaxies. This work will help us Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array. Huynh studies past four billion years. He also works on surveys Power’s CAASTRO work in 2017 focused on the understand the evolution of the gas content in galaxies, galaxy formation and evolution. She is working on the with the Very Large Array in New Mexico, including use of simulated galaxies to better understand how and help to constrain galaxy-evolution theory. identification of radio sources detected by the GLEAM a 1000-hour deep HI survey, CHILES (the COSMOS well integral field unit (IFU) observations can recover (GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA) survey, using HI Large Extragalactic Survey), and a widefield HI- intrinsic kinematic structure. He has worked with existing data from the Australia Telescope Compact stacking experiment in the GAMA G09 field. In 2017 ICRAR–UWA PhD student Kate Harborne to construct Array. This will pave the way for science that combines Meyer was awarded a fellowship to visit the Square a sample of galaxies of fixed mass and explore observations by the Murchison Widefield Array and Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation’s UK headquarters ASKAP’s EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe) survey. and also completed his term as co-chair of the SKA HI galaxy-science working group. 108 CAASTRO 109 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO University of Sydney team members how well the galaxy stellar spin parameter can be disk; a compact, spherical stellar bulge; and a spherical recovered. Power and Harborne have also started to halo of invisible dark matter. These 3D models fully examine how well the Toomre Q parameter, which reproduce the motions of stars in galaxies observed measures the stability of discs, can be reconstructed with SAMI, allowing for more precise measurements of from observations. This work is being written up by the sizes and masses of each part of the galaxy. Taranu Harborne for publication, and feeds directly into the also completed dozens of sophisticated supercomputer SAMI Galaxy Survey. simulations of collisions of spiral galaxies in groups. Such dramatic galaxy mergers are thought to have Mr Fei Qin created the most massive elliptical galaxies in the CAASTRO PhD Student nearby universe. The modelling suggests that massive Theme: Dark ellipticals have several distinct components as a result of their complicated formation histories – signatures Qin is a second-year PhD student supervised by seen in high-resolution images of SAMI galaxies. Staveley-Smith and Howlett. For his thesis he is working with measurements of the bulk-flow velocity, Dr Charlotte Welker the weighted mean of the peculiar velocities of galaxies: he is using bulk-flow measurements to CAASTRO Affiliate test the standard cosmological model and is also Theme: Evolving developing new algorithms for measuring the bulk Welker is a Research Associate and Jim Buckee flow. Qin is using a combined data set from the 2MTF Fellow at ICRAR–UWA. She works on hydrodynamic (2MASS Tully-Fisher) survey and the peculiar-velocity cosmological and zoom simulations. Welker’s main CAASTRO AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY component of the 6dF Galaxy Survey to measure the research interest is the interplay between the cosmic bulk-motion dipole term. He plans to develop new web on large scales and galaxy evolution: in particular, algorithms to measure higher-order moments, using she is examining how the filamentary pattern of the Cosmicflows–3 data. cosmic web funnels the gas inflows and infalling The CAASTRO node is co-located with the Sydney groups and clusters. The SAMI instrument uses a satellites down to the cores of haloes, affecting the Institute for Astronomy (SIfA) within the University of novel ‘hexabundle’ technology jointly developed Mr Tristan Reynolds advection of angular momentum, the ultimate shaper Sydney’s School of Physics. SIfA is one of Australia’s by Sydney and the Australian Astronomical CAASTRO PhD Student of galaxies. In 2017 and 2018 Welker was granted largest research groups in astronomy and astrophysics, Observatory (AAO). The Sydney node researchers Theme: Evolving four million CPU hours on Australian supercomputers taking part were Bland-Hawthorn, Bloom, Bryant, to produce highly resolved groups and clusters that she and carries out observational and theoretical research This year Reynolds published results from trial Croom, McElroy, Sadler, Schaefer, Scott and Varidel uses to investigate the fate of the gas in more detail. as well as developing novel astronomical techniques observations made with an ASKAP MkII phased-array These studies will help us both understand the impact and instrumentation. SIfA’s long-standing involvement ƒƒ analysis of low-frequency radio data from the feed mounted on the Parkes radio telescope in 2016, of cosmic flows on galaxies and design new methods in instrumentation and large-area astronomical surveys MWA, with a focus on polarised and peaked- which demonstrated the capabilities of phased-array to infer the properties of real cosmic flows from galaxy underpins many of the research activities at CAASTRO’s spectrum extragalactic radio sources. This work feed receivers on single-dish telescopes. He then joined observations. Sydney node. In 2017 there were 31 CAASTRO team involved Callingham, Lenc, Murphy and Sadler. the spectral-line working group for the WALLABY members at the Sydney node, including 12 students. Sadler and Mahony also worked with CAASTRO neutral-hydrogen survey, helping to process and image Dr O. Ivy Wong The research activities at this node mainly fall within the Curtin researchers on the analysis of a pilot survey spectral-line observations and test the automated CAASTRO Affiliate Evolving and Dynamic themes. for compact low-frequency sources using the new data-reduction pipeline for ASKAP (the Australian SKA widefield interplanetary scintillation (IPS) technique Pathfinder). Theme: Evolving In the Dynamic Universe theme, our major activities for Wong works on multiwavelength observations of low- 2017 were: ƒƒ studies of the redshifted 21-cm absorption line of neutral hydrogen (HI) as a probe of the cold gas Dr Jonghwan Rhee redshift galaxies. She aims to determine the physical ƒƒ radio follow-up of gravitational-wave events content of galaxies in the distant Universe, as CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher processes that govern how galaxies start and stop detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational- part of an ASKAP survey, FLASH (the First Large Theme: Evolving forming stars, grow supermassive black holes and Wave Observatory (LIGO), in collaboration with an evolve. She plans to use the new radio telescopes Absorption Survey in HI) Rhee’s research interests lie in galaxy evolution and international network of colleagues at observatories located in Western Australia to help her answer some ƒƒ the analysis of spectral-line commissioning data cosmology using HI observations: in particular, he is around the world. Tara Murphy led the radio follow- of these questions. Wong is a member of the ASKAP from ASKAP. This was our largest undertaking this working on the evolution of HI gas out to a redshift up of these events using the Australia Telescope spectral-line processing team and examines early year. Glowacki, Mahony, Moss and Sadler were of one, using HI spectral stacking and an intensity- Compact Array (ATCA), Australian SKA Pathfinder science data that has been taken for WALLABY, a involved. mapping technique. Rhee’s main project at present is (ASKAP) and Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), survey for neutral hydrogen gas being carried out an HI intensity-mapping experiment with the Parkes with Dobie, Lynch, Lenc and Sadler also involved Our overseas visitors this year included Professor with ASKAP. Wong also belongs to teams carrying radio telescope. In 2017 Rhee examined various ƒ the analysis of data from several radio-transient Raffaella Morganti (ASTRON, The Netherlands), out other ASKAP surveys (DINGO, EMU and FLASH) ƒ foreground-removal techniques and their effects on surveys, in preparation for the Variables and Slow Associate Professor David Kaplan (University of and MeerKAT surveys (MALS and MHONGOOSE). power-spectrum results, knowledge needed for properly Transients (VAST) survey to be carried out with Wisconsin–Milwaukee, USA), Professor Colin Norman With Dr Julie Banfield (ANU), Wong co-leads an analysing HI intensity-mapping observations made with (Johns Hopkins University, USA) and Dr Evangelia online citizen-science project, Radio Galaxy Zoo ASKAP. The researchers involved were Dobie, Lenc, Parkes. Rhee also helped Reynolds reduce and analyse Tremou (Michigan State University, USA). We also (radio.galaxyzoo.org), in which participants cross- Lynch, Murphy, Qi and Zic pilot intensity-mapping data taken with a phased-array hosted many researchers from other CAASTRO nodes match radio jets to the host galaxies from which the ƒƒ searches for fast radio bursts with the upgraded feed on Parkes. who visited us for Busy Weeks and workshops. jets emanate. Molonglo radio telescope (UTMOST), in The highlight of 2017 for the Dynamic Universe Dr Dan Taranu collaboration with CAASTRO Chief Investigator Adam Deller and colleagues at the Swinburne node. theme was the first detection of light and radio waves CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher Green and Murphy participated in this work. associated with the merger of two neutron stars, Theme: Evolving initially detected by LIGO (the Laser Interferometer In the Evolving Universe theme, our major activities were: Taranu is a member of the SAMI Galaxy Survey. This Gravitational-Wave Observatory) as a gravitational- year he published a paper (Taranu et al. 2017) directly ƒƒ continuation of the Sydney–AAO Multi-object wave event (GW170817) and by NASA’s Fermi applicable to the survey: it details a novel method and Integral-field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey, Gamma-ray Space Telescope as a short gamma-ray code for building realistic 3D models of spiral galaxies, an ambitious integral-field spectroscopic survey burst. Tara Murphy led the successful Australian with components that include a thin, rotating stellar of 3,400 low-redshift (z < 0.12) galaxies, search for a radio counterpart, and also represented covering both isolated galaxies and those in CAASTRO at a joint press conference with OzGrav 110 CAASTRO 111 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

held in Canberra in October. Other highlights included optical telescopes in Chile. Results from this work Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn Ms Janette Ellis Christene Lynch’s novel work on searching for young were presented at international astronomy meetings CAASTRO Associate Investigator CAASTRO School Education Officer exoplanet systems through their circularly polarised in Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan. Sadler Theme: Evolving radio emission and Tara Murphy’s paper on the low- also worked with Curtin CAASTRO researcher Rajan Ellis is an experienced high-school science teacher who frequency radio properties of pulsars. Chhetri on the analysis of MWA measurements of Bland-Hawthorn leads the development of new survey has run the national outreach program CAASTRO in interplanetary scintillation (as a new way to identify instruments for the Anglo-Australian Telescope. the Classroom since June 2017. With support from This year also saw a big step in the Evolving Universe These include the SAMI 13-bundle spectrograph the Australian Government through a Women in STEM theme, the first major release of data (DR1) from the compact low-frequency radio sources in the southern sky), and with Dynamic theme members on analysis (in collaboration with Scott Croom), the Hector and Entrepreneurship (WISE) grant, CAASTRO in the SAMI Galaxy Survey. The release included spectral 100-bundle spectrograph (in collaboration with Julia Classroom has expanded to include entrepreneurship cubes and spatially resolved 2D maps for 772 galaxies of the host galaxy of the gravitational wave event GW 170817. Bryant), and the PRAXIS OH suppression spectrograph. events such as Galaxy Convention (page 93), which (about 20 per cent of the full SAMI galaxy survey). Bland-Hawthorn’s particular interest is to understand was designed to inspire the next generation of female Other science highlights from the SAMI team included Professor Scott Croom the evolution of galaxies in the context of their entrepreneurs in STEM (science, technology, engineering Nic Scott’s paper on the global stellar populations environment. He is a member of the teams carrying and mathematics). This year Ellis delivered several new of SAMI galaxies and Jessica Bloom’s work on the CAASTRO Chief Investigator Theme: Evolving out the GAMA and CALIFA galaxy surveys, and of the web-based resources and facilitated numerous live- low-redshift Tully-Fisher relation (which showed how team conducting GASKAP, which targets gas in the streaming events for schools, building on the excellent the 2D spatially resolved kinematics data from SAMI Croom is leading the SAMI Galaxy Survey, a project to Galactic halo. Bland-Hawthorn is an ARC Australian work of her predecessor, Ms Jenny Lynch. can increase the accuracy of this technique). On carry out spatially resolved spectroscopy on thousands Laureate Fellow. the radio-astronomy side of the Evolving theme, the of galaxies with the Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral- Mr Marcin Glowacki highlights were Vanessa Moss’s paper connecting field spectrograph (SAMI) on the Anglo-Australian Ms Jessica Bloom CAASTRO PhD Student neutral hydrogen (HI) and X-ray absorption in gas-rich Telescope. In 2017 the SAMI Galaxy Survey continued CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Evolving radio AGN (active galactic nuclei) and Emil Lenc’s apace: it has now observed more than 2,400 galaxies. Themes: Evolving, Dark paper on the challenges of making accurate polarisation Fifteen SAMI papers were published this year, covering Glowacki is part of the FLASH (First Large measurements with the MWA. work that included a study of spatially resolved star- Bloom’s research focus is the role of events such Absorption Survey in HI) team working with the as mergers in galaxy evolution. She has identified Australian SKA Pathfinder. The aim of FLASH is to One of the main education and outreach activities formation quenching, the connection between star perturbed galaxies and studied the relationships search for cool, star-forming material in the early at the Sydney node continues to be the CAASTRO formation and dynamical disturbance, new approaches between kinematic asymmetry, stellar mass and star Universe (0.4 < z< 1.0) by looking for the absorption in the Classroom program, and in 2017 our School to measuring angular momentum, and a new formation, showing that kinematic asymmetry is of the 21-cm radio signal from neutral hydrogen gas Education Officer Janette Ellis did an outstanding job of measurement of the intrinsic shape of galaxies. July inversely proportional to stellar mass and is linked to (HI). This will tell us more about galaxy evolution streaming talks and discussion sessions with CAASTRO 2017 saw the survey’s first major data release, DR1 an increased concentration of star formation. She has across epochs. Glowacki has been working with a astronomers to high schools across Australia. Janette (page 33). The SAMI team will complete observations also studied the kinematics of low-mass galaxies and commissioning sample of radio-bright obscured quasars. also organised the first CAASTRO Galaxy Convention for the Galaxy Survey in May 2018 and then analyse the influence of environment on kinematic perturbation. He has also worked on HI 21-cm absorption with the for high-school, undergraduate, PhD students and the full dataset. Bloom completed her PhD in 2017. Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), using a Post docs , held in Sydney in December 2017. Associate Professor Tara Murphy sample of compact radio galaxies selected from the Several Sydney node researchers and students again Dr Julia Bryant Australia Telescope 20-GHz survey. In addition, he has travelled to Uluru throughout the year to take part in CAASTRO Chief Investigator CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher created a photometric method for obtaining redshifts for CAASTRO’s Astronomer in Residence program at the Theme: Dynamic Theme: Evolving radio AGN. Glowacki submitted his PhD thesis in 2017. Voyages resort. The second Sydney Astrofest, held Murphy’s focus is on radio observations of transient at the University of Sydney in July, was an extremely and variable sources such as supernovae and gamma- Bryant’s key projects centre on using the dynamics of Ms Debra Gooley successful and well-attended event. ray bursts (at gigahertz frequencies) and exoplanets stars and gas, as measured by the SAMI Galaxy Survey, to identify how gas gets into galaxies to build up mass CAASTRO Finance Officer The University of Sydney hosts CAASTRO’s main and flare stars (at low frequencies). She also works to and make galaxies look the way they do in different Gooley has been the Finance Officer for CAASTRO for administrative office, which in 2017 consisted of develop intelligent algorithms for detecting transient formation environments. Bryant is on the SAMI Galaxy seven years. She helps CAASTRO to achieve its goals Kate Gunn (Chief Operating Officer), Debra Gooley events in the large volumes of data that will be Survey Executive team, chairs the Target Selection by coordinating and managing the KPI (key performance (Finance), Helen Keys (Executive Support), Janette produced by next-generation radio telescopes. In workgroup, is SAMI Instrument Scientist and runs the indicator) and financial reports required for its primary Ellis (School Education Officer), Kylie Williams (Events 2017 Murphy led a team that detected radio emission observations with the SAMI instrument at the Anglo- funding body, the Australian Research Council (ARC). and Communications) and Helen Sim (Media and Public from gravitational wave event GW170817 (page 39). Australian Telescope. Bryant is also the Project Scientist Relations). This team oversees the reporting system In 2018 she will continue to monitor this source, for the Hector instrument, SAMI’s successor: Hector will Emeritus Professor Anne Green across the Centre, handles all our financial obligations prepare for the next observing run of LIGO (the Laser be able to take spectra of more than ten times as many and transactions, organises our scientific workshops, Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), and CAASTRO Affiliate galaxies. As Project Scientist, Bryant links astronomers manages the CAASTRO Mentoring Program and conduct surveys for radio transients with the Australian Theme: Dynamic and instrument teams. She is also continuing to work prepares the CAASTRO newsletters and Annual Report. SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. Green is a collaborator on a project with CAASTRO’s on astronomical instrumentation, developing new The Admin team organised two major international Swinburne node to develop the capabilities of the astrophotonic optical-fibre imaging bundles for Hector. conferences in 2017, along with our Annual Retreat Dr James Allison Molonglo telescope as a multi-tasking detector of and a range of smaller workshops. CAASTRO Affiliate Mr Dougal Dobie transient sources, a project called UTMOST. UTMOST Theme: Evolving was launched in December 2015 to coincide with the Professor Elaine Sadler CAASTRO PhD Student 50th anniversary of the telescope’s opening. It has now Allison is a principal investigator of the ASKAP Theme: Dynamic CAASTRO Chief Investigator FLASH (First Large Absorption Survey in HI) survey, detected five fast radio bursts, including the first to be CAASTRO Director and Sydney Node Leader which probes the distribution and evolution of atomic Dobie started his PhD in 2017 and is working on found with an interferometer. Green continues to focus Theme: Evolving hydrogen (HI) to high redshifts. He is interested in using electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational wave events on searching for transient sources at cosmological with Australian radio telescopes. His main focus has distances and measuring the properties of pulsars. Sadler works with Mahony, Moss, and Glowacki and HI absorption lines to determine how the cold neutral been on developing an optimised observing strategy other members of the FLASH (First Large Absorption gas in galaxies has changed over the past 10 billion for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder to Survey in HI) team to study HI absorption in galaxies years. He also studies the role of neutral gas in fuelling detect long-term radio emission from poorly localised out to redshift z=1. In 2017 the team continued radio-loud active galactic nuclei and the mechanisms for gravitational-wave events. This year Dobie was involved its analysis of the data obtained with the first 12 feedback in their host galaxies. Allison served on the in the follow-up, with the Australia Telescope Compact dishes of the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) CAASTRO Gender Action Committee in 2017. Array, of the first detection of a neutron star merger, telescope, and was awarded time to carry out GW170817. These follow-up observations will continue, follow-up observations of ASKAP detections with the and will help to determine the energy of the merger, its Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) and large orientation and the properties of its environment. 112 CAASTRO 113 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ms Kate Gunn Ms Jenny Lynch Ms Aina Musaeva Ms Helen Sim CAASTRO Chief Operating Officer CAASTRO School Education Officer CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO Public Relations Officer Gunn has been CAASTRO’s Chief Operating Officer An experienced science communicator and project Themes: Evolving Sim has extensive experience in writing and performing for seven years. A start-up specialist with a wealth manager, Lynch was responsible until early 2017 Musaeva’s PhD project aimed to search for public relations for scientists, and is skilled in of business and university experience, she has for running the outreach program CAASTRO in the intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in nearby dwarf translating complex information into language for non- 25 years in management and a background in the Classroom. With support from the Commonwealth galaxies using X-ray catalogues from the Chandra technical audiences. She writes news stories and media commercialisation of university intellectual property. Government through the Australian Maths and Science and XMM–Newton space observatories. This search releases, and items for CAASTRO’s annual report, Partnerships Program (AMSPP), CAASTRO in the revealed only one strong IMBH candidate in NGC 404, newsletters and the web. Ms Helen Keys Classroom was expanded in 2016 to reach a national and so Musaeva plans to request X-ray observations CAASTRO Executive Assistant audience through videoconferencing and live streaming of nearby dwarf galaxies similar to NGC 404 that have Mr Mathew Varidel sessions for schools. In 2017 year Lynch worked with not been observed before. Musaeva submitted her PhD Keys joined CAASTRO in 2015 to provide executive CAASTRO PhD Student experienced science teachers to develop classroom thesis in 2017. assistance to the Director and Chief Operating Officer. Theme: Evolving resources and deliver professional-development She has had extensive experience working at The Varidel’s focus is to understand the processes that workshops for teachers. She left CAASTRO in May and Mr Hao Qiu University of Sydney in various roles associated with drive and sustain gas turbulence within galaxies. He was succeeded by Janette Ellis. the Senior Executive Group. CAASTRO PhD Student is developing a fully Bayesian method to model gas Theme: Dynamic Dr Elizabeth Mahony kinematics within galaxies, which he will apply to Dr Emil Lenc Qiu is a PhD student working on the detection of radio data taken with SAMI (the Sydney–AAO Multi-object CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher transients. He started his degree in mid 2017 and is Integral field spectrograph). Theme: Evolving Theme: Dynamic supervised by Tara Murphy, Keith Bannister (CSIRO) In 2017 Mahony continued working on the upcoming and Ryan Shannon (Swinburne). Qiu is part of the Ms Charlotte Ward Lenc joined the Slow Transients group at the University First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH) survey, Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients survey of Sydney in 2016. His research focuses on developing CAASTRO Honours Student along with fellow CAASTRO members Sadler, Allison, (CRAFT) group that is working on the detection of radio new search techniques for transients and pulsar-like Theme: Dynamic Moss and Glowacki. Using commissioning data, Mahony transients such as fast radio bursts (FRBs) with the objects in Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) data. This year Ward’s research focused on time-domain has detected HI absorption in a number of bright radio Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). He has recently This work builds on earlier research he undertook in radio astronomy, particularly the automated detection galaxies, providing insight into the fuelling mechanisms been simulating FRBs to help improve the accuracy of the Evolving theme, in which he developed tools for of fast radio bursts and other transients from Parkes at play in active galactic nuclei. She has also been the software used to detect these sources. In 2018 Qiu MWA polarimetry and difference imaging. Lenc plans to telescope survey data. Ward has been developing testing data pipelines and compiling multiwavelength will continue to work on FRB observation searches. continue exploring these techniques and apply them to machine-learning techniques for detecting these events, datasets, to prepare for a larger, blind survey for HI existing survey data to search for pulsars, exoplanets to address the difficulties of identifying single pulses in absorption that will be carried out with the Australian Dr Richard Scalzo and flare stars. large datasets and the need to identify bursts quickly SKA Pathfinder during its Early Science phase. CAASTRO Affiliate for multiwavelength follow-up. Her past work includes Ms Jing Li Theme: Dark, Dynamic Ms Rebecca McElroy using pulsars to study refractive scintillation in the CAASTRO Honours Student In late 2015 Scalzo moved to a research position at the interstellar medium and studying radio emission from CAASTRO PhD student Theme: Evolving University of Sydney’s Centre for Translational Data ultra-cool dwarfs. Theme: Evolving Science, but he has remained involved with CAASTRO Li worked with data from SAMI Galaxy Survey to McElroy works on integral-field spectroscopy of active as an Affiliate. He is continuing his research on Type Ia Ms Kylie Williams measure the star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies galaxies. She is a member of the SAMI Galaxy Survey, supernovae, developing hierarchical Bayesian models to in clusters. She compared these SFRs with those CAASTRO Events and Communications Officer helped with SAMI observations, and has worked to provide the largest and most accurate available suite of measured by radio and infrared surveys, to investigate Williams coordinates the regular CAASTRO newsletter combine her dataset of AGN (active galactic nuclei) bolometric light curves to date. how the radio-SFR correlation varies with environment. and organises events hosted by CAASTRO around with the SAMI sample in a new comparison paper. In 2017 Li completed her Honours project, which was Australia. In 2017 she organised or assisted with McElroy completed her PhD in 2017. Mr Adam Schaefer supervised by Bryant. She will do further research on 17 meetings, including the final CAASTRO Board CAASTRO Postgraduate Student SFRs and AGN (active galactic nuclei) for her Master’s Dr Vanessa Moss meeting; the Australian Parliament House celebratory degree, at the Australian National University. Theme: Evolving finale event; the CAASTRO annual retreat in the CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher and Affiliate Until 2017 Schaefer was a postgraduate student Barossa Valley, SA; and two international conferences, Dr Christene Lynch Theme: Evolving working in the Evolving Universe theme. He used ACAMAR 3 in Hobart and From Black Hole to CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher Moss joined the First Large Absorption Survey in spatially resolved spectroscopy from the SAMI Galaxy Environment in Canberra. In March 2017, Williams Theme: Dynamic HI (FLASH) team in mid 2014. Her focus is on Survey to investigate the influence of galaxies’ was funded by the School of Physics to attend a the galactic ecosystems of both intervening and environments on their star formation. Schaefer professional development course, the Executive In 2017 Lynch continued her work with the Slow associated absorbing systems, with an emphasis on completed his PhD in 2017 and has taken up a position Certificate in Event Management, at the University of Transients group at The University of Sydney. Her their multiwavelength footprints. She was the primary at the University of Wisconsin, USA. Technology Sydney. research focused on using observations of Solar System observer for the FLASH team when it used the six- planets to predict the brightness and frequency of radio antenna BETA array of the Australian SKA Pathfinder Dr Nicholas Scott Mr Andrew Zic emission from known extrasolar planets. She was also during 2015–2106 to make observations towards involved with follow-up observations, made with the CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO PhD Student more than 100 galaxies. This year Moss published Australia Telescope Compact Array, of a gravitational- Theme: Evolving Theme: Dynamic an analysis of the connection between HI and X-ray wave event produced by the merger of two neutron Scott is a University of Sydney Postdoctoral Research Zic is interested in radio transients, particularly in absorption. She also represented CAASTRO in science stars, GW170817. These observations confirmed the Fellow. His research focuses on understanding the techniques to detect them. His PhD research focuses on communication and outreach activities, such as first detection of radio emission associated with a processes of galaxy assembly through the use of low-frequency radio emission from low-mass stars, such CAASTRO in the Classroom. In the middle of the year gravitational-wave event. spatially resolved spectroscopy. In 2017 he published as M dwarfs and ultra-cool dwarfs. We understand little Moss moved to The Netherlands to take up a new a study examining the stellar populations of galaxies in about what generates these stars’ strong magnetic fields research position at ASTRON. the SAMI Galaxy Survey as a function of galaxy mass, and the processes that lead them to emit strong radio size, morphology and environment. Scott is currently bursts. Zic is studying these bursts with low-frequency leading the second major public release of SAMI Galaxy telescopes, such as the Murchison Widefield Array Survey data. and the Giant Metre-wave Radio Telescope in India, to investigate the physical conditions within the stars’ magnetospheres and coronae. 114 CAASTRO 115 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO University of Melbourne team members to calculate how a population of non-evaporating, Professor Rachel Webster 30-solar-mass black holes would distort the cosmic CAASTRO Chief Investigator microwave background. Mack also continued to work on Theme: Evolving the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory experiment with members of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Webster’s primary focus has been on the continuing Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP) development of the pipeline for analysing the substantial EoR dataset obtained with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA); in particular, making a robust pipeline Other highlights that is accessible to the wider MWA community. She has also continued her collaboration with Japanese The Melbourne node was very active in public outreach colleagues on the cross-correlation of the EoR HI and professional education activities throughout the signal with the high-redshift population of Lyman-alpha year. Key events included hosting two CAASTRO– galaxies. At the same time, she has begun a new CoEPP joint workshops in January and November; a student writing workshop in August; public science program of simulating observational and systematic presentations by research staff and PhD students effects in the measurement of the EoR signal, using the to members of the Mount Burnett Observatory; OSKAR program on the gSTAR supercomputer. participation in September’s AstroLight Festival staged Ms Stephanie Bernard at Melbourne’s Scienceworks Museum; and many media, panel and ad-hoc science outreach activities CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE undertaken by Dr Katherine Mack throughout the year, Theme: Dynamic, Evolving in Australia and overseas. Stephanie Bernard is a PhD student at the University of CAASTRO Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Edoardo Melbourne who is studying bright galaxies during the Tescari has formed a collaboration for exploring Epoch of Reionisation. In 2017 she led the analysis of indigenous astronomical knowledge in Australia and new data from the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) The University of Melbourne node of CAASTRO is and the 21-cm signal showed that the chance of a Central America. Local researchers involved are Dr survey (made with the Hubble Space Telescope, HST) located within the School of Physics. Although the detection was significantly improved if redshifts were Paola Oliva-Altamirano from Swinburne University and identified a large sample of new galaxy candidates Astrophysics group at Melbourne is only 25 years obtained for the galaxies using the PFS (point spread and Dr Duane Hamacher from the Monash Indigenous from only 500 million years after the Big Bang. She old, it has a record of excellence in observational and function) on the Subaru telescope (Kubota et al. 2017). Studies Centre. This year Tescari initiated a visit by also continued to lead a program using NASA’s Spitzer theoretical cosmology, areas that provide the basis With Wyithe and collaborators, Research Fellow Paul Geil Professor Javier Mejuto from the Universidad Nacional Space Telescope to follow up these galaxies, and worked for our contributions to CAASTRO. Melbourne node explored the possibility of combining observations from Autónoma de Honduras, to take the work further. with ASTRO-3D researchers on new HST data of early researchers are primarily engaged within the Evolving the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) with near-infrared In August, Professor Rachel Webster made her annual galaxies. In another line of research, Barnard this year Universe theme (formerly led by Melbourne’s Professor data from NASA’s planned Wide Field Infrared Survey ‘pilgrimage’ to the Northern Territory as one of four worked with CAASTRO researchers who are studying the Stuart Wyithe), with an emphasis on Epoch of Telescope (WFIRST), to map reionisation by imaging the guest astronomers at the annual Uluru Astronomy most distant supernovae known, using the Subaru and Reionisation (EoR) science. HI bubbles around massive galaxies. Individual bubbles Weekend, further strengthening the ties between Keck telescopes in Hawai’i. will be too small to detect, but stacking the images CAASTRO and the Northern Territory community. In would reveal the EoR signal. This method, while it could Ms Kim Dorrell late September, Paul Geil was the final Melbourne Evolving Theme be difficult to implement, would show whether the HI representative as CAASTRO Astronomer in Residence CAASTRO Administrator The Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) is the major project radiation was in absorption or emission. at the Ayers Rock Resort in the Northern Territory. In 2017 Dorrell continued her role as node within the Melbourne node of CAASTRO. One of the Intensity mapping of neutral hydrogen (HI) is a administrator, ensuring the integration of the Centre’s challenges of modelling reionisation is to account both As in past years, many secondary school students new observational tool to efficiently map large- procedures and activities within the University’s for the sub-halo-scale physics of galaxy formation and engaged with CAASTRO as part of the Telescopes in scale structure over wide redshift ranges. Associate overarching structures. She also continued her work the regions of ionisation on scales that are many orders Schools initiative, in which Melbourne researchers took Investigator Laura Wolz continued her active as Secretary to the Project Steering Committee of the of magnitude larger. This year Research Fellow Hansik part, and via Melbourne’s Year-10 work-experience involvement in a range of studies focussed on HI- Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL). The Kim, with Chief Investigator Stuart Wyithe and PhD program, which now includes an observing night to intensity mapping. With Chief Investigators Chris Blake University of Melbourne hosts nodes of two new ARC student Jaehong Park, used the hierarchical galaxy- which parents are invited. and Stuart Wyithe, Wolz developed a new method to Centres of Excellence that follow on from CAASTRO, formation model GALFORM to predict the correlation estimate the HI brightness temperature of optically OzGrav and ASTRO 3D, and Dorrell expects to be busy function of HI-detected galaxies. These simulations detected galaxies too faint to be directly detected. Future goals in 2018 as these nodes begin operating at full speed. showed that the detection limit of the observations This technique will be a powerful tool for investigating affected the measurement of the clustering amplitude galaxy evolution, extending available datasets from The University of Melbourne node will largely cease Dr Paul Geil and slope, and thus the interpretation of halo telescopes such as the Australian SKA Pathfinder. its participation in CAASTRO science projects at CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher occupancy. Kim also used the simulations to predict the Wolz and Blake also led a study to demonstrate a new the end of 2017. Its major projects, theoretical and Theme: Evolving contribution of galaxies with low HI mass to the 21-cm foreground-removal technique, which was applied to observational studies of the Epoch of Reionisation, intensity-mapping signal. the HI-intensity dataset from the Green Bank Telescope. will continue within one of CAASTRO’s successor Geil was originally a postdoctoral fellow working with institutions, the new ARC Centre of Excellence for All- The team carrying out the EoR project with the MWA This independent component analysis technique, Stuart Wyithe in Wyithe’s ARC Laureate DRAGONS sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D). continued to analyse its archived EoR dataset, paying FASTICA, was shown to be effective in removing project. In this role he undertook research into the Epoch particular attention to understanding the systematics foreground sources and robust against the loss of 21- of Reionisation, particularly the formation and evolution that affect the removal of the foreground signals. PhD cm signal. FASTICA complements the standard Singular of the first galaxies, their effects on the intergalactic student Jack Line published the algorithm he developed Value Decomposition (SVD) technique. medium, and the detectability of these effects. Geil to match MWA low-frequency radio sources to radio is experienced in simulating observations from radio interferometers such as the MWA and SKA, and so can sources from higher-resolution surveys (Line et al. Dark Theme 2017). Matching sources allows source positions to bridge the gap between the numerical simulation of the first galaxies and low-frequency observations. He has be determined more accurately, which in turn allows This year CAASTRO Affiliate Katherine Mack continued sources to be subtracted more effectively. The first her studies of potential candidates for dark matter. authored a number of peer-reviewed papers, especially in results of the studies with our Japanese collaborators She completed a project with Jerry Ostriker (Columbia collaboration with Wyithe. of the cross-correlation between Lyman-alpha galaxies University) and Massimo Ricotti (University of Maryland) 116 CAASTRO 117 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ms Clare Kenyon Mr Jack Line Dr Bart Pindor October Tescari took up a continuing position, focused CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher on academic engagement, in the Faculty of Science at Theme: Education and Outreach Theme: Evolving Theme: Evolving The University of Melbourne. In 2017 Kenyon took on a new outreach role at the Line submitted his thesis in February 2017 and Pindor concentrates on the problem of processing and Dr Laura Wolz University of Melbourne, with an emphasis on the high- graduated in December. From February he worked in calibrating data from the Murchison Widefield Array CAASTRO Affiliate, Postdoctoral Researcher school observing program, Telescopes in Schools (TiS). the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) collaboration as a (MWA) Epoch of Reionisation (EOR) experiment. In Theme: Evolving TiS hosted a stall at a major event called Stargazing Live, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne. 2017, as a member of the Australian EOR team, Pindor hosted by the ABC and based on a BBC program of the Line continued to produce interferometric simulations, continued to refine the EOR processing pipeline and This year Wolz continued her work studying cosmology same name. Over 5,000 people attended the four-hour collaborating with colleagues from Kumamoto University. characterise the systematic errors that limit our ability and galaxy evolution using HI intensity mapping. She event. Kenyon and her colleague Jacinta den Besten also He also took up the lead role in a project to measure the to detect the cosmological signal. Pindor has been published a study on how to measure the averaged HI hosted a professional development night for teachers MWA primary beam using ORBCOMM satellites. involved in transferring knowledge gained from the mass of a sample of very distant galaxies by cross- and volunteers of the TiS program at Museum Victoria’s MWA to the design of the Square Kilometre Array’s correlating the galaxy positions with HI intensity Scienceworks, in collaboration with Scienceworks’ Dr Katherine Mack low-frequency telescope, SKA-low. mapping data. This new measurement technique could volunteers, and participated in the AstroLight Festival CAASTRO Affiliate, Postdoctoral Researcher be feasible for future intensity-mapping observations held at Scienceworks in September. Kenyon redeveloped Theme: Evolving, Dark Ms Mahsa Rahimi with ASKAP (the Australian SKA Pathfinder). In and managed the Year-10 work‑experience program collaboration with CAASTRO postdoc Steven Murray In 2017 Mack continued her joint appointment as a CAASTRO PhD student at the University of Melbourne, for which CAASTRO (Curtin), Wolz also worked on formulating a theoretical CAASTRO–CoEPP Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theme: Evolving funded a student supervisor. framework for the intensity-mapping cross-correlations. Theoretical Cosmology while maintaining her prolific Rahimi was on maternity leave for most of 2017. Wolz is a member of a team that published a detection Dr Hansik Kim science-outreach activities. Mack’s research has mainly Returning to work late in the year, she continued to of the intensity-mapping signal in the cross-correlation been in particle physics, cosmology and theoretical process data to place a new limit on cosmological of radio data from the Parkes telescope with optical CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher astrophysics. Her current interests include the physics HI power. In 2018 she will also work on improving Theme: Evolving data from the 2dF survey, and which continues new of the early Universe, dark matter, the Epoch of calibration algorithms and studying the temperature of projects on the interpretation of data from the Green In 2017 Kim continued to investigate the importance Reionisation, Big Bang relics, compact objects and sky over the target fields of EoR experiments. Bank radio telescope. This year Wolz also increased her of low-HI-mass galaxies for future HI studies. He supermassive black holes. The unifying goal of her work involvement with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and showed that for redshifts higher than 0.5, a dark- is to find ways to use observational cosmology to better Mr Jarryd Rasti began co-chairing the SKA Cosmology Working Group 10 −1 matter halo mass resolution better than ∼10 h M understand the fundamental physical nature of the CAASTRO Masters student in December 2017. is required to predict converged 21-cm brightness- components and evolution of the Universe. In September ⊙ Theme: Evolving temperature fluctuations. Kim also investigated the Mack returned to the USA to take up a faculty position Rasti’s project is to measure the beam patterns of importance of modelling star-formation laws for at the University of North Carolina (Raleigh). MWA tiles, using downlink transmissions from low- understanding galaxy formation and evolution at high Earth-orbit satellites (particularly the ORBCOMM redshifts. Dr Ben McKinley satellites): he will measure the power received by each CAASTRO Affiliate Dr Anthea King tile, relative to a reference dipole antenna. In 2017 he Theme: Evolving made such measurements for eight MWA, analysed the CAASTRO Affiliate This year McKinley’s work focused on detecting the data and wrote up the results from publication. Theme: Dark, Evolving global, redshifted 21-cm signal from the Epoch of King is a postdoctoral researcher working with Reionisation, using the Murchison Widefield Array Mrs Jennifer Riding Rachel Webster at the University of Melbourne. She telescope and a novel technique involving lunar CAASTRO PhD student is a member of the OzDES team and helps the efforts occultations of the sky. He also continued to co- Theme: Evolving to perform reverberation mapping with the AGN supervise CAASTRO student Jarryd Rasti in a project Riding’s PhD is focused on finding methods to remove (active galactic nuclei) sample from that survey. She to measure the beam patterns of individual MWA tiles bright, complex sources (such as radio galaxies and is also leading a pioneering project that combines by recording power measurements of ORBCOMM nebulae) from EoR data. This work was delayed when reverberation mapping and gravitational microlensing communications satellites. McKinley continued his she started a job with Siding Spring Observatory in in a single object to study the inner regions of AGN. role as an active researcher within the MWA EoR northwest NSW. In 2017 she quantified her work King’s expertise is predominantly in AGN science and collaboration. In June McKinley left the Melbourne node on source subtraction in the power spectrum and her main research interests are in understanding AGN to take up a research position at Curtin University. continued to write her up final thesis plans. structure and how we can apply this information to obtain more accurate mass estimates of AGN and use Ms Sinem Ozbilgen Dr Edoardo Tescari AGN as ‘standard candles’. She is especially excited CAASTRO PhD student CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher about the information high-redshift AGN may be able Theme: Dark Theme: Evolving to provide, for studies of both galaxy evolution and Ozbilgen’s project continued to focus on tightening the dark energy. Her project with CAASTRO straddles Throughout 2017, Tescari continued to work on Tully-Fisher relation. She has compared data taken with the Dark and Evolving themes and involves modelling the SAMI project to study galactic outflows at low the ANU 2.3-m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory the structure of AGN using photoionisation modelling redshift by means of hydrodynamic simulations such with results from 100 galaxies in the EAGLE simulation. and microlensing. as EAGLE. He and his collaborators have found that Ozbilgen argues that adding velocity dispersion as a the outflowing activity of unperturbed disc galaxies third parameter to the Tully-Fisher relation reduces the correlates with stellar mass and star-formation relation’s scatter considerably. She is preparing papers rate surface density. This year Tescari started a on her findings. cross-cultural collaboration to explore indigenous astronomical knowledge in Australian and Central America: this involves colleagues from Swinburne and Monash Universities, and Dr Javier Mejuto (National Autonomous University of Honduras). Tescari also co-supervised to completion CAASTRO PhD student Angela Garcia (Swinburne) on a project to study the Epoch of Reionisation with metal absorption lines. In 118 CAASTRO 119 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO Swinburne University of Technology team members that uses ‘live’ data from Japan’s Subaru telescope and Dr Adam Deller follows up candidate events with the Keck telescope. CAASTRO Chief Investigator In another project, DECamERON (Dark Energy Camera Theme: Dynamic Epoch of ReionizatiON), researchers including Cooke, Mould and other CAASTRO members found a candidate Deller studies fast radio bursts (FRBs) using the for the highest-redshift superluminous supernova (still Molonglo and Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio awaiting confirmation). In May, Mould, Cooke and telescopes. Despite being just a few milliseconds in their collaborators ran a workshop on superluminous duration, FRBs are visible from cosmological distances, supernovae at the Munich Institute for Astro- and and their production mechanism (or mechanisms) Particle Physics (MIAPP) in Germany, bringing together remains an open question of great interest, because more than 40 experts in the field. they may represent previously unknown physical processes. Localising FRBs to their host galaxies and Professor Jeremy Mould hence obtaining a precise distance is a major step CAASTRO Node Leader along the way to understanding the physics at work, Theme: Dark and both Molonglo and ASKAP will be able to localise FRBs once upgrades, now under way, are completed. This year Mould published results from the This year the first raw ‘voltage’ data were saved from DECamERON (Dark Energy Camera Epoch of an FRB detected in real time with Molonglo: this is a ReionizatiON) survey, finding the highest-redshift crucial prerequisite for localisation. candidate superluminous supernova. He plans to pursue CAASTRO AT SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY this work with Professor Lifan Wang (Purple Mountain Dr Ixandra Achitouv Observatory) through the ACAMAR collaboration CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher (page 137), using the future James Webb Space Theme: Dark Telescope. Mould worked with Chris Blake (Swinburne) Research at the Swinburne node is predominantly in the model’, the ΛCDM model, may be lacking something and Matthew Colless (ANU) on the Taipan survey. Achitouv continued her studies of how the gravitational Dark and Dynamic Universe themes but the Evolving important. The jury is still out, and the race is on for Former CAASTRO PhD student Christina Magoulas field around voids, empty regions of the Universe, theme is also represented. In 2016 the node had three better data. Australia’s Taipan survey is one of the rejoined CAASTRO, following a postdoctoral position generate velocities in surrounding galaxies that may Chief Investigators: node leader Professor Matthew projects playing a part in this. in South Africa, to support this work. Mould is also be used to test the cosmological model. She published part of the OzDES project, which in 2017 made its analyses measuring these redshift-space distortions Bailes, Professor Jeremy Mould and Associate Professor The highlight of the year at Swinburne was, as first data release and hosted the Dark Energy Survey in N-body simulations corresponding to a standard Chris Blake. In 2017 Bailes left CAASTRO to become elsewhere, the first confirmed merger of two neutron collaboration meeting at the University of Queensland. cosmological constant model, and a quintessence director of one of CAASTRO’s successor institutions, stars. This event, GW170817, was detected by the Mould is involved in preparing a proposal for a new model of dark energy, modelling the velocity profile in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave gravitational waves it created and then followed up with ARC Centre of Excellence on dark-matter research, each case. These techniques may be applied to future Discovery (OzGrav), and Professor (now Emeritus) Mould conventional telescopes. Swinburne’s Igor Andreoni which would see ongoing research conducted at the observations by the Taipan Galaxy Survey. stepped into the role of node leader. headed a paper summarising the Australian-led follow-up Stawell Underground Physics Lab in Victoria. Mould Within the Dark theme, researchers led by Blake this (page 19). In recent years Andreoni has been active in chairs the Advisory Board of the ARC Centre of Ms Caitlin Adams year measured clustering, cosmic shear and matter a program led by Swinburne’s Jeff Cooke that aims to Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale, CoEPP, CAASTRO PhD Student density in the standard model of cosmology by capture as much information as possible about transients making him a link between the two Centres. The joint Theme: Dark combining data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), such as fast radio bursts (FRBs) and gravitational-wave CoEPP–CAASTRO workshops have fostered the growth the 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS), and the events. This Deeper, Wider, Faster program (DWF) Adams published the results of her joint cosmological of the astroparticle community in Australia: the fourth Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Dark- chases the fastest bursts in the sky with multi-facility, analysis of the galaxy density and peculiar-velocity and final one was held in conjunction with CAASTRO’s field in the 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey, detecting and theme researchers also made cosmological forecasts multiwavelength, simultaneous observations and rapid 2017 Annual Retreat in South Australia. for combined and next-generation peculiar-velocity and follow up, probing the milliseconds-to-hours time modelling the cross-correlation driven by gravitational physics, and improving constraints on the growth rate supernova surveys. One of the important upcoming domain with deep observations, wide regions of the Professor Chris Blake surveys is the Taipan Galaxy Survey, which will sky and fast cadence. DWF is proactive: target fields of structure. This year Adams also played an active role CAASTRO Chief Investigator measure a million galaxy redshifts with the refurbished are observed simultaneously and continuously with in the CAASTRO Student Committee, developing and Theme: Dark presenting a writing workshop attended by over 100 UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. multiple telescopes. If a transient such as an FRB is participants in several cities. Edward Taylor worked on Taipan, and also on the detected during DWF observations, not only are several Blake and his research group use a variety of observations to search for evidence of new physics, Anglo Australian Telescope’s GAMA and Sydney-AAO telescopes ready to observe the region interest just Mr Igor Andreoni Multi-Object Integral Field Spectrograph Galaxy Survey seconds after the detection, but observations have also beyond the standard cosmological model, that affects (SAMI) surveys. been made of the field during the transient’s appearance the gravity or matter-energy sectors. They published CAASTRO PhD Student new results in 2017 in the areas of gravitational Theme: Dynamic In September, Mould was honoured by a special and even before. DWF originated within CAASTRO and has now transferred to the new ARC Centre of lensing, peculiar velocities and large-scale structure. Andreoni is a third-year PhD candidate at Swinburne conference organised to mark a ‘significant birthday’. One of these results was the first joint cosmological Called Stellar Populations and the Distance Scale, this Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav. University, supervised by Jeff Cooke (Swinburne), analysis of overlapping gravitational lensing and galaxy- Matthew Bailes (Swinburne) and Stuart Ryder (AAO). meeting was held at the Kavli Institute of Astronomy and In the Evolving Universe theme, Alan Duffy and Greg redshift survey data, based on the Kilo-Degree Survey His research interests include the detection and science Astrophysics at Peking University. The topic recognised Poole are members of a simulations team working on (KiDS) and 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS): of transient events, and multi-messenger searches for Mould’s important contributions to the field, such as the Epoch of Reionisation. The team has published it places new constraints on the cosmological model. counterparts to gravitational wave signals. Andreoni his part in the HST Key Project to measure the local results on the ultraviolet luminosity function, the The group also developed novel techniques for joint is the primary member of the Deeper, Wider, Faster value of the Hubble constant. This project used Cepheid quenching of star formation by AGN (active galactic analysis of local direct peculiar-velocity and redshift observing program, which is exploring the fast (seconds variables (pulsating stars) to make a ground-breaking nuclei) and the sizes of high-redshift galaxies and surveys, including the cross-correlations induced by the to hours) transient Universe with simultaneous value of this parameter, a result with almost 4,000 ionised bubbles. CAASTRO PhD student Chris Curtin force of gravity. Finally, the group studied the physics observations by radio, infrared, optical, UV, X-ray, and citations. The Hubble Constant, H, is the expansion rate has been studying the rare superluminous supernovae. governing outflow from voids, under-dense regions of gamma ray telescopes, plus multi-messenger facilities. of the Universe; it is crucial to determining distances Now nearing the end of his thesis, he has led the the Universe that may experience modified gravitational In early 2017 Andreoni moved from CAASTRO to the in the Universe. As discussed elsewhere in this report announcement of the spectroscopic confirmation of force fields in alternative models of gravity. While new ARC Centre of Excellence in Gravitational Wave (page 27), the value of H that we measure locally may the highest-redshift superluminous supernovae known general relativity still provides a consistent description Discovery, OzGrav. be at odds with the value measured from the cosmic (z~2). These objects were discovered in the course of most of the existing data, interesting anomalies microwave background. If so, cosmology’s ‘standard of a collaborative project between Japan and Australia remain, and these will be intensely scrutinised over the next few years. 120 CAASTRO 121 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ms Elise Beaufils of deep images acquired over several years via New timing solutions for over 200 pulsars have been Mr Aditya Parthasarathy CAASTRO Pre-PhD Student Cooke’s collaboration with the Hyper SuprimeCam made during the upgrade and will be published in early CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Dark Subaru Strategic Program and the Dark Energy 2018. Work on refitting the telescope’s dormant north- Theme: Dynamic Survey has revealed dozens of z~2–4 supernovae, south arm began mid-year, with receivers designed Beaufils was a pre-PhD student working on a four- with three confirmed by Curtin and Cooke from Keck and installed by year’s end. Initial results have been Parthasarathy is a PhD candidate at Swinburne, month project under the direction of Chris Blake. spectroscopy. Deep Keck spectroscopy has helped the immensely encouraging and 2018 promises to be an supervised by Bailes, van Straten and Oslowski. Her project focused on the large-scale structure of team discover a population of high-redshift galaxies exciting time as the refit is rolled out. His interests lie in achieving the highest precision in the Universe. Beaufils was interested in testing the that may be largely responsible for cosmic reionisation, pulsar timing through robust statistical techniques. peculiar-velocity and over-density equation in the and Cooke has a Hubble Space Telescope program to Ms Angela Garcia Parthasarathy is involved in the Parkes Pulsar Timing frame of linear-perturbation theory. She used numerical image these galaxies. Finally, Andreoni and Cooke head CAASTRO PhD Student Array (PPTA) collaboration and is interested in studying simulations to test the first-order derivation by up the Deeper, Wider, Faster (DWF) program, which Theme: Evolving profile variability in radio pulsars. His work in the past measuring the growth rate. As this work highlighted coordinates more than 40 telescopes to detect and year has been focused on developing a generalised Garcia was awarded her PhD in November 2017. Her that a significant error in the growth rate can study transients with millisecond-to-hours durations. template-matching algorithm that accounts for jitter/ research involved running a set of high-redshift propagate, she derived this relationship to the second DWF performs simultaneous observations, Swinburne self-noise in observations of bright millisecond pulsars. (4 < z < 8) cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. order and applied the same tests. She and Blake supercomputer real-time data processing and analysis, He is also a part of the UTMOST commissioning team As the stars in these mock Universes evolve, they defined a precise frame of validity for these equations. and follow-up observations via a network of telescopes and has contributed towards developing the automatic produce supernova winds that enriched the surrounding Beaufils is now interested in how these errors in the worldwide and in space. scheduling and observing system at Molonglo. growth rate propagate in other methods, such as circumgalactic and intergalactic medium with metals redshift space distortion. Mr Chris Curtin such as carbon, silicon and oxygen. The medium is Ms Kathryn Plant then ‘viewed’ along random lines of sight, mimicking CAASTRO PhD Student CAASTRO Research Assistant Ms Shivani Bhandari observations for quasar absorption-line spectroscopy. Theme: Dark Theme: Dynamic Garcia’s simulations successfully reproduce the evolution CAASTRO PhD Student Plant was a pre-PhD student working on a one-year Theme: Dynamic Curtin has been searching for superluminous of the cosmological mass density (Ω) – the average supernovae at high redshift (z > 2). In May he attended density of a particular metal ion – of CII and CIV, with project in the pulsar/fast radio burst group at Swinburne, Bhandari’s work revolves around searching for and a workshop on the topic at the Munich Institute for Ω(CII) exceeding Ω(CIV) at z > 6, consistent with the building firmware for a new digital receiver for the localising fast radio bursts (FRBs), a relatively new Astro and Particle Physics (MIAPP); in December he current picture of the tail of the Epoch of Reionisation. Molonglo telescope. She is interested in how new class of transient radio source. She is involved in attended the second Keck LRIS spectroscopic follow- instrumentation can address the challenges of detecting two large collaborations: the High Time Resolution up run, led by Swinburne, of targets from the Survey Professor Karl Glazebrook and localising FRBs. Her Molonglo project focused on Universe (HTRU) survey, a legacy survey done with Using DECam for Superluminous Supernovae (SUDSS). CAASTRO Affiliate FPGA (field-programmable gate array) programming to the Parkes telescope, and the Search for Pulsars and Curtin also spent several months preparing a paper Theme: Dark acquire spectra at high frequency resolution and high Extragalactic Bursts (SUPERB), an ongoing survey for outlining Keck spectroscopic follow-up of targets from time resolution. Glazebrook is Distinguished Professor and Director pulsars and FRBs in real time, also being done with the Subaru HI-Z sUpernova CAmpaign (SHIZUCA). Parkes. Bhandari’s work involves looking for bright of Swinburne’s Centre for Astrophysics and Dr Danny Price single pulses in HTRU low-latitude data and leading Dr Alan Duffy Supercomputing. His research interests include CASTRO Postdoctoral Research Fellow observational cosmology and the formation and the multiwavelength follow-up for bursts discovered CAASTRO Affiliate Theme: Dynamic by SUPERB. Bhandari is a part of the UTMOST evolutionary history of galaxies. In 2017 Glazebrook Themes: Evolving, Dark Price is a postdoctoral fellow based at Swinburne commissioning team, which is making radio images was elected to the Australian Academy of Science. University of Technology, studying instrumentation and with the Molonglo radio telescope. She is also involved Duffy created and published a new simulation series Mr Andrew Jameson data analysis for fast radio bursts (FRBs). He is helping with two surveys planned for the Australian SKA tracking the formation of the first galaxies, the to upgrade the Molonglo radio telescope (UTMOST) Pathfinder telescope: VAST, a survey for variable and properties of which will be crucial for determining CAASTRO Affiliate to localise bursts in real time, and is running an FRB slow transients, and CRAFT, which is looking for fast the visibility of the Epoch of Reionisation. Duffy Theme: Dynamic continues as a Chief Investigator of the first southern- detection program on the Parkes telescope. transients, including fast radio bursts. Jameson is experienced in software development, hemisphere deployment of SABRE (Sodium-iodide with systems administration, high-performance computing Active Background REjection), a dark-matter detection Associate Professor Emma Ryan-Weber Mr Alexandru Codoreanu and data management. He has substantial expertise experiment that will be run at the Stawell Underground CAASTRO Associate Investigator CAASTRO PhD Student in the design and implementation of radio- Physics Laboratory in Victoria. Theme: Evolving Theme: Evolving astronomy instrumentation for single-pixel feeds and Ryan-Weber‘s research in 2017 continued to focus Codoreanu is working on understanding the interferometers, and has worked on systems deployed Dr Chris Flynn on metal absorption-line systems in the high-redshift enrichment and ionisation of metals towards the end at the Parkes, Molonglo and MeerKAT telescopes and CAASTRO Associate Investigator Universe. She has been supervising two Swinburne PhD of the Epoch of Reionisation by identifying absorption on pre-construction design for the Square Kilometre Theme: Dynamic students in this area, Luz Ángela García and Alexandru features in the spectra of quasar. He has made the Array. He is continuing to work in the areas of data Codoreanu. García collaborated with Edoardo Tescari first measurement on the amount of SiIV present Flynn has co-led (with Matthew Bailes) the acquisition, high-speed networking, real-time systems, and Stuart Wyithe on simulating metal absorption-line when the Universe was just one billion years old and transformation of the Molonglo radio telescope into interference excision, GPU software development and systems, and was officially award her PhD in November; has provided the first column-density functions for UTMOST, a machine for finding pulsars and fast radio the management of ‘big data’. Codoreanu is working on high signal-to-noise ratio MgII and SiIV during the same time period. This year bursts. In mid 2017 the UTMOST team completed Ms Susan Lester spectra of redshift-6 quasars to search for intervening he participated in the CAASTRO in the Classroom the refitting of the telescope’s 1.6-km-long east-west metal lines, in particular Mg II, at redshift 2–6. program and in the What Matter(s) Around Galaxies arm. Following this, pulsar timing and searches for fast CAASTRO Administrator radio bursts (FRBs) began with nearly round-the-clock conference in Durham, England. In 2017 Lester continued to assist Swinburne node operations. Late in the year the team discovered two members with their travel requirements and oversee KPI FRBs, one of which is the narrowest found to date and Dr Jeff Cooke reporting, finance and budgeting. CAASTRO Associate Investigator shows remarkable time and frequency structure. The Themes: Dynamic, Evolving discovery was possible because the project team had implemented a deep learning system to recognise FRBs Cooke leads research on high-redshift (z~2–6) and save the native time- and frequency-resolution supernovae, high-redshift galaxies, and the fastest data around the event, a world-first for an initial FRB bursts in the Universe. Cooke supervises CAASTRO detection. In late 2017 the team put in place a program PhD students Chris Curtin and Igor Andreoni, and for timing pulsars and searching for pulsars and bursts, co-supervises Stephanie Bernard. This year, analysis and this has proven remarkably stable and efficient. 122 CAASTRO 123 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO ANU team members Dr Edward (Ned) Taylor Mr Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Dark Theme: Dynamic Taylor has explored a new approach to measuring Venkatraman Krishnan spent most of 2017 working the dark matter surrounding galaxies through weak on upgrading the UTMOST telescope into a completely gravitational lensing. He has also been an active robotic facility. The telescope now automatically member of the SAMI Galaxy Survey team. The SAMI times pulsars, follows up the fields of fast radio bursts survey, already the largest in its class, will map the and performs a survey of the Galactic plane for new distribution and dynamics of stars and star formation intermittent pulsars, all without human intervention. within thousands of galaxies, and shed new light on This state-of-the-art instrumentation is the first of the processes that drive and regulate star and galaxy its kind for a radio telescope and could be used in formation. telescopes such as the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), the Australian SKA Ellert van der Velden Pathfinder (ASKAP), and the Square Kilometre Array CAASTRO PhD Student (SKA). The candidates from the Galactic plane survey Theme: Dynamic are automatically fed through a classifier that rejects radio-frequency interference and known pulsars and Van der Velden’s primary supervisor is Alan Duffy; he is provides the shortlisted candidates to the user for also supervised by Jeremy Mould, Darren Croton, and further inspection and follow-up. Chris Power. His thesis is titled “Utilizing cosmological CAASTRO AT THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY simulations to model the growth of galaxies and their In 2017 Krishnan also led the first-ever detection of role in ionizing the universe”, and he is working on a a frame-dragging effect (Lense–Thirring precession) method (called PRISM) for analysing complex galaxy predicted by general relativity. This was obtained from formation models that is an alternative to Markov Chain the long-term timing campaign of a relativistic binary Monte Carlo. pulsar system, PSR J1141–6545. The Australian National University (ANU) node In the Evolving Universe theme, Matthew Colless, of CAASTRO has 21 researchers, ranging from Francesco D’Eugenio and Tania Barone used the SAMI Dr Willem van Straten undergraduates to professors. It does research across survey to explore the links between stellar populations CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO’s three themes. Work at this node includes and dynamical properties such as mass, gravitational Theme: Dynamic observations and theoretical modelling of optical and potential and surface density. They found that the colour– radio transients; characterisation of dark energy and potential diagram is a more precise tool for determining Van Straten is an expert on radio polarimetry and dark matter through cosmological surveys; and efforts the developmental stage of the stellar population than the digital signal processing, and he is currently leading to understand the evolving Universe through optical and conventional colour–mass or colour–magnitude diagrams. the development of the pulsar-timing instrument for radio observations. Gravitational potential is also the primary regulator of the Square Kilometre Array. He supervises CAASTRO global stellar metallicity, via its relation to the gas escape students working on pulsars and fast radio bursts, and In the Dark Universe theme, PhD student Bonnie Zhang this year published a ‘blinded’ study that explored a velocity. However, age and alpha-element over-abundance he was the principal coordinating supervisor for Emily are most closely correlated with surface density, either as Petroff and Vincent Morello. Van Straten has recently significant discrepancy between measurements of the Hubble constant (page 27). Zhang and ANU colleagues a result of compactness-driven quenching mechanisms developed a novel statistical framework for analysing or as a fossil record of the relation between the surface the polarisation of signals that fluctuate on short Anais Möller, Natalia Sommer, Brad Tucker participated in the OzDES survey: the ANU team helps particularly density of star-formation rate and gas in their disk- timescales, such as the single-pulse emission from dominated progenitors. pulsars, rotating radio transients and fast radio bursts. with the observations and analysis of superluminous supernovae and AGN (active galactic nuclei) Christian Wolf led the publication of Data Release 1 reverberation mapping. Möller also leads the SkyMapper from the SkyMapper Southern Survey. This is the telescope’s supernova survey, which by the end of culmination of five years of work to which many 2017 had identified nearly 50 Type Ia supernovae for CAASTRO members have contributed. Following the cosmological analysis, as well as a number of unusual worldwide public release of the data in December events. Former ANU CAASTRO member Richard Scalzo 2017, the SkyMapper node of the All-Sky Virtual led the first publication presenting the survey; further Observatory registered more than 23,000 unique users papers are in preparation. Möller and Zhang are also in just the first month. working on the cosmology analysis of the international Several undergraduate project students made important Dark Energy Survey (DES). contributions in 2017. At the start of the year Matthew CAASTRO’s Dynamic Universe theme is coming to an Alger developed the active machine learning module end with a ‘bang’ that was felt across several nodes. Acton (available on GitHub). And just before Christmas The merger of a binary neutron star was detected for pre-PhD student Zefeng Li helped to discover the first the first time in August 2017 by the gravitational-wave two redshift-5 quasars from SkyMapper. detectors LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational- The ANU node gained new members this year, Wave Observatory) and Virgo. Triggered by LIGO, the including astronomer Seo-Won Chang, who works on SkyMapper team at ANU imaged an optical fireball transients and variable phenomena with SkyMapper, resulting from the merger as soon as twilight fell over and administrator Cristy Roberts. Zefeng Li joined us Siding Spring Observatory. The team followed it for from Beijing in China, for a two-month project. We had four nights before it faded from view. The ANU 2.3-m to say goodbye to Administrator Susanne Meinen, who telescope was on source at the same time. The story returned to Germany. Mayuri Sathyanarayana Rao and of GW170817, as the event was called, was reported Manisha Caleb finished their PhDs while Ashley Ruiter in more than 800 news stories in Australia alone. and Ivo Seitenzahl took up Future Fellowships at UNSW CAASTRO researchers joined over 3,000 others around Canberra: we congratulate all four, and wish them the the world for the concerted worldwide detection and best for the future. follow-up (page 19). 124 CAASTRO 125 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO at ANU led the Stargazing Live events test whether the distributions of dark and luminous has been a member since its inception of the MWA Dr Anais Möller held by the ABC and BBC in March and April. Over matter are the same on the largest scales. Colless is also Collaboration that has designed, built and operated the CAASTRO Postdoctoral Fellow two million viewers tuned into the ABC, and the BBC using the SAMI survey to investigate dynamical scaling Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia. He Theme: Dark, Dynamic saw a record 16.1 million. CAASTRO ANU also led relations in galaxies and their relation to the stellar has also been engaged in a long-term collaboration with the main citizen-science project, a search for Planet populations, both to understand galaxy evolution and astronomers in India and Australia to use India’s Giant Möller’s research interests focus on Type Ia supernova 9 with SkyMapper, which saw over 100,000 people to obtain more general and precise distance estimates. Metre-wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to measure the (SNe Ia) cosmology and machine learning. She is participate in three days and provide four million Colless will combine data from the SAMI survey with evolution of the gas content of galaxies over the last working on both high-redshift SNe Ia surveys such classifications – a record. Over the year, Brad Tucker that from two radio surveys, WALLABY and FLASH, to seven billion years, with the aim of learning how the gas as SNLS (the Supernova Legacy Survey) and DES and his outreach team hosted more than 12,000 people study the co-evolution of gas and stars at low redshifts, is related to galaxies’ star-forming properties. (the Dark Energy Survey) and the low-redshift survey for stargazing events and talks. using the radio surveys to measure the neutral hydrogen with SkyMapper Transient Survey. Möller has been gas and the SkyMapper and SAMI optical spectroscopy Ms Manisha Caleb leading the Transient Survey and is also involved in CAASTRO will close its doors In 2018, but work will the search for optical counterparts of gravitational- continue on the analysis of data from OzDES, SAMI, to measure the stellar component. CAASTRO PhD student Theme: Dynamic wave events and fast radio bursts. She is currently SkyMapper and citizen-science projects in Galaxy Dr Julie Banfield working on a new deep-learning algorithm for Zoo. The intense collaboration across the country Caleb began her PhD in July 2013 under the photometric classification of supernovae; spectroscopy that CAASTRO initiated has spawned new ideas and CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher supervision of Frank Briggs at ANU and Matthew Bailes Theme: Evolving of supernovae and their host galaxies with the 2dF– triggered new lines of research. A new centre, OzGrav and Chris Flynn at Swinburne University. She studies AAOmega system on the Anglo-Australian Telescope; (the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Banfield’s research is centred on radio-galaxy fast radio bursts (FRBs): bright, coherent, millisecond- and, within OzDES, selection biases for the DES Discovery), will continue to follow up future neutron- environments. She is a co-principal investigator of the duration radio emission of unknown origin, thought cosmology analysis. star mergers identified with LIGO. citizen-science program Radio Galaxy Zoo, a project to to occur at cosmological distances. Only a handful of cross-match radio sources with their host galaxies in these sources have been discovered to date. Caleb is Mr Daniel Muthukrishna Dr Christian Wolf preparation for the radio-continuum surveys that will taking part in the worldwide race to discover more of CAASTRO PhD student CAASTRO Node Leader be carried out with the Australian Square Kilometre these exciting sources, using the upgraded Molonglo Themes: Dark Theme: Evolving, Dynamic, Dark Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and South Africa’s MeerKAT Observatory Synthesis Telescope near Canberra. Caleb telescope. Banfield’s most recent work has been to and her team made the first interferometric detections Muthukrishna is a member of both the OzDES Wolf leads the SkyMapper Southern Survey and the collaboration and the SkyMapper Transient Survey SkyMapper node of the All-Sky Virtual Observatory map the host galaxies of radio-loud active galactic of FRBs in 2016, placing their origin at beyond the nuclei with the Australian National University’s 2.3-m ~10,000 km Fresnel limit of the telescope, and so team. He is interested in supernovae and their use (ASVO). His research interests include galaxy evolution in cosmological surveys. His research involves the and the decline of star formation in spiral galaxies. He telescope, to examine the interaction between the radio ruling out local sources of interference as a possible source and the host galaxy. origin. Caleb finished her PhD in January 2017. development of machine-learning software to automate works on improving measurements of star-formation the classification of supernovae. He also models rates in the infrared and radio domains. He is currently Mr Dilyar Barat Dr Seo-Won Chang interesting and unusual transient events, to understand searching for quasars at high redshift and investigating the physics behind them. Muthukrishna is continuing the growth of super-massive black holes in the early CAASTRO PhD student: CAASTRO Postdoctoral Fellow Theme: Dark, Evolving Theme: Dynamic, Dark his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he Universe. Wolf also works on dust extinction in the Milky moved in September. Way and external galaxies, and on AGN variability. He In 2017 Barat continued his PhD in Astronomy at Chang joined CAASTRO in January 2017 and has a has worked for 20 years on photometric redshift and the ANU under the supervision of Professor Matthew research background in stellar magnetic activity and its Dr Christopher Onken statistical classification techniques and pioneered high- Colless. Barat continues to work closely with the related variability. He works with the SkyMapper Team, CAASTRO Associate Investigator precision photometric redshifts and their application to SAMI Galaxy Survey. His research focuses on the where he is in charge of studying optical counterparts Themes: Dark, Dynamic, Evolving quasars; he led the COMBO-17 multiband survey, which optimisation of galaxy scaling relations and using to gravitational-wave events, fast radio bursts and explored the evolution of galaxies and quasars over them as distance probe to measurement cosmological other exotic transients. Chang also spearheads the Onken is the Operations Manager for the SkyMapper most of cosmic time. Wolf recently began working on parameters. Barat is also a member of the Taipan development of a probabilistic classification of variable Telescope, a facility contributing to all three CAASTRO statistical and active machine-learning methods to design survey, for which he will be mapping the matter sources based on their multi-epoch, multi-band data. themes. He joined CAASTRO in April 2015. Onken’s training sets of maximal value for minimal cost. distribution in the local Universe from the peculiar- This will allow the SkyMapper Transient survey to main research interests are active galactic nuclei and velocity survey. This year Barat took part in a better detect and characterise variability of several the measurement of black-hole masses. Professor Brian Schmidt CAASTRO industry placement with Intelledox, where types, on a range timescales. Chang is passionate CAASTRO Chief Investigator he worked for two months as a software developer. about preparing for future time-domain surveys such Ms Fiona Panther Theme: Dark as those that will be carried out with the LSST (Large CAASTRO PhD student Ms Tania Barone Theme: Dynamic Professor Schmidt is the Australian National Synoptic Survey Telescope). CAASTRO PhD student: Panther began her PhD in July 2015. Her CAASTRO University’s 12th Vice-Chancellor. He continues Dr Francesco D’Eugenio to be active in CAASTRO as a Chief Investigator; Theme: Dark, Evolving research involves improving our understanding of he also supervises a graduate student in the Dark Barone’s involvement with CAASTRO began in her CAASTRO Postdoctoral Fellow peculiar sub-luminous thermonuclear supernovae: Universe theme and chairs CAASTRO’s Gender Action Honours degree in 2016, when she researched the Theme: Dark, Evolving her project LEnsS (Local Environments of Sub- Committee. stellar populations of early-type galaxies from the Using SAMI, D’Eugenio is working on scaling relations luminous Supernovae) aims to measure the ages of the stellar populations that give rise to SN1991bg- Professor Schmidt makes many public appearances SAMI Galaxy Survey under the supervision of Matthew including the fundamental plane, dynamical modelling like supernovae, the largest subclass of SNe °Ia. This both in Australia and internationally. This year he spoke Colless. Now in the first year of her PhD, Barone has of early-type galaxies, and de-projected angular project will give insight into the possible progenitors at the World Science Festival in Brisbane and the World continued working in this field. She is investigating momentum. His other research projects include galaxy of these cosmic explosions and help us to understand Economic Forum in Davos, and delivered the Hintze the trends between a galaxy’s stellar population, evolution at intermediate redshift and the slow/fast how the rate of these events evolves over cosmic time. Lecture at the University of Oxford. and its structural and dynamical properties, to try to rotator kinematic-classification paradigm. understand the processes that govern galaxy evolution These sub-luminous supernovae might also be the Professor Matthew Colless from its star-forming phase to quiescence. Mr Zefeng Li source of the Milky Way’s mysterious positrons. CAASTRO pre-PhD student CAASTRO Chief Investigator Professor Frank Briggs Ms Cristy Roberts Theme: Evolving, Dark Theme: Dark CAASTRO Administrator CAASTRO Affiliate Zefeng finished his undergraduate degree at Peking Colless led the 6dF Galaxy Survey, which has provided Theme: Evolving, Dynamic Roberts joined the ANU node in 2017. She provides the largest single contribution to the map of the density University in 2017. He joined CAASTRO at ANU in administrative support to the team. and velocity fields in the local Universe. This map will be Briggs’ research interests have focused on the use of the late 2017 for a project with Christian Wolf on finding combined with the WALLABY all-sky survey for neutral 21-cm radio spectral line of neutral hydrogen to follow high-redshift quasars with SkyMapper, successfully hydrogen and the SkyMapper all-sky optical survey to the history of galaxy formation and evolution. Briggs discovering two new bright quasars at z~5. Li also works on quasar variability on long timescales. 126 CAASTRO 127 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Dr Ashley Ruiter galaxies and is using the repeated visits to the OzDES CAASTRO University of Queensland team members CAASTRO Postdoctoral Fellow supernova survey fields to record sensitive observations Theme: Dynamic of these enigmatic galaxies, to identify the underlying source types and their distances from Earth. Ruiter models the evolution of binary star systems: her aim is to understand the formation of interacting stars Ms Natalia Eiré Sommer that give rise to explosive phenomena and compact CAASTRO PhD Student objects. She is interested in transient sources such Theme: Dark as supernovae, RCrB stars, neutron stars formed by accretion-induced collapse, and binary stars that can Sommer investigates supermassive black holes be used as verification sources for gravitational-wave at centres of active galaxies using the method of detectors. Ruiter uses theoretical methods to uncover reverberation mapping. Reverberation mapping involves the evolutionary channels that lead to these stars comparing two signals originating at different places forming, predict their birth rates, and constrain their birth outside the black holes, and looking for a time lag sites and ages. Ruiter joined the University of New South between them. From these time lags one can estimate Wales Canberra in late 2017 as an ARC Future Fellow. black hole masses and study black hole evolution; the technique might even help us learn about the nature Ms Mayuri Sathyanarayana Rao of dark energy. Sommer’s work is particularly focused on the possibility of stacking data from a large number CAASTRO PhD student of supermassive black holes, to obtain results that Theme: Evolving individual objects cannot provide. CAASTRO AT THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Rao completed her PhD under the guidance of Frank Briggs at the Australian National University and Ravi Dr Brad Tucker Subrahmanyan at the Raman Research Institute in India. CAASTRO Postdoctoral Fellow The University of Queensland joined CAASTRO as a and lensing on moments of the Hubble diagram”), The focus of her thesis was spectral distortions of the Theme: Dark, Dynamic cosmic microwave background (CMB), particularly new node in 2014. Our research concentrates on the Joshua Calcino (“The need for accurate redshifts in those arising from the epoch of recombination through Tucker is currently working on projects aimed at Dark and Evolving themes. In 2017, five staff and eight supernova cosmology”) and Per Andersen (“Cosmology reionisation. She has developed methods to model and understanding dark energy through supernovae (SNe). students were involved in CAASTRO projects including with peculiar velocities: observational effects”). These subtract foregrounds for experiments seeking to detect He studies early and multiwavelength observations the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES), the papers look at the effects of inhomogeneities on our these CMB spectral distortions. Rao is now developing of SNe to learn about their physics and progenitors. Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) and the SAMI cosmological measurements. Tucker is involved in many supernova surveys, a prototype element of an array to detect these and galaxy survey. Node leader Professor Tamara Davis also In preparation for the beginning of the Taipan peculiar- including the SkyMapper Supernova Survey, OzDES, other cosmological distortions of the CMB. Her focus is leads CAASTRO’s Dark Universe Theme. velocity survey in 2018, we contributed to the survey the Carnegie Supernova Project and ESSENCE (Equation on aspects of high-level system design and integration, paper, “Taipan Galaxy Survey: Scientific Goals and of State: SupErNovae trace Cosmic Expansion) survey. calibration techniques and system analysis. Observing Strategy”. Meanwhile, observations have He leads the Kepler Extra-Galactic Survey, a NASA Dark Universe Theme ramped up for the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Kepler K2 key project to search for supernovae, black Dr Ivo Seitenzahl The most exciting highlights of 2017 for our CAASTRO (EMU) survey, which will be carried out with the holes and other extragalactic transient objects, and CAASTRO Associate Investigator science were the publication of the first cosmological Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). UQ CAASTRO the SkyMapper search for Planet 9. Tucker frequently Theme: Dynamic results from the international Dark Energy Survey (DES) Associate Investigator David Parkinson is leading the speaks to school groups and the general public about and the first data releases from both DES and OzDES. EMU cosmology working group. Finally, we were Seitenzahl is a theoretical nuclear astrophysicist and astronomy, and has regular TV and radio segments We participated in the DES release of the largest-ever excited to be part of Bonnie Zhang’s eagerly awaited his research focuses on explosive nucleosynthesis and (Sunrise and the Morning Show on Channel 7, ABC map of the distribution of dark matter in the Universe re-analysis of the Type Ia supernova measurement of three-dimensional simulations of Type Ia supernova 7:30 and ABC News 24) where he talks about (DES Collaboration 2017, including 12 OzDES and Hubble’s constant (page 27). Her results brought the explosions. His current research also includes work astronomy news and events. four UQ authors, “Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: value of Hubble’s constant measured using ‘standard on the neutrino and gravitational-wave signals of Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and candles’ such as supernovae slightly closer to the thermonuclear supernovae, the Galactic chemical Ms Bonnie Zhang Weak Lensing”). This dark-matter map was created value seen by standard rulers such as baryon acoustic evolution of Fe-peak elements, the atomic and nuclear CAASTRO PhD student by examining the shapes of 26 million distant galaxies oscillations and the cosmic microwave background. physics of late-time supernova light curves, and optical Themes: Dark, Dynamic over 1,300 deg2 of sky. Travelling towards us, the light observations (made with integral field units) of oxygen- This year saw the publication of the final two WiggleZ Zhang is a PhD student studying observational from these background galaxies is bent by the mass rich and Balmer-dominated supernova remnants in the Dark Energy papers, the culmination of work that cosmology. Her research is on using Type Ia in foreground galaxies, a phenomenon called weak Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. Seitenzahl joined started even before CAASTRO. WiggleZ was one of the supernovae to measure the cosmic distance scale, gravitational lensing. This slightly distorts our images of the University of New South Wales in Canberra in May major Dark Theme projects supported by CAASTRO. including precise analysis of supernova systematics. the background galaxies, and from the nature and degree as an ARC Future Fellow. One paper, led by Samuel Hinton, completed our dark- Her work spans the nearby and high-redshift Universe, of distortion we can determine the mass that caused it. energy measurements. This work involved measuring Dr Robert Sharp from measurements of the Hubble constant from The final DES sample will be completed by 2019 and will the baryon acoustic oscillation signal from galaxy low-redshift SNe to studies of cosmic acceleration include 300 million galaxies over 5,000 deg2. CAASTRO Associate Investigator separations in two dimensions: along the line of sight and dark energy at higher redshifts. In particular, Theme: Evolving, Dark Observing for DES and OzDES continues apace. and, separately, perpendicular to the line of sight. she is interested in improving estimates of errors in We already have detections and redshifts for over Sharp is instrument scientist for the Giant Magellan supernova-based Hubble constant measurements. She 5,000 supernovae. Some 2,000 of these are Type Telescope Integral Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS), a is part of both the SkyMapper team and the OzDES Ia supernovae with data good enough to be used in Evolving Universe Theme new instrument being designed at the Australian collaboration, and involved in cosmological analysis of cosmological analyses. With one year of observing still National University and destined for the Giant Magellan supernova light curves in the Dark Energy Survey at Our main paper from the Evolving theme this year was to go, we are well on our way to achieving our target the second of the final two from the WiggleZ survey (see Telescope in Chile in 2024. Within CAASTRO, Sharp high redshift. of 2,500 cosmology-quality supernovae by the end of is a leader of the SAMI Galaxy Survey data-analysis above). Led by Michael Drinkwater, this paper covered the survey. Next year will see the release of our first the survey’s final data release and measurements of the group. For the OzDES supernova survey project, Sharp cosmological results from Type Ia supernova studies. is the local coordinator for the reverberation-mapping metallicity of UV-luminous galaxies. project that will measure the masses of giant black This year our researchers published several other holes in distant quasars. In addition, Sharp has teamed exciting papers on supernova-related science, including up with radio astronomers interested in faint radio those by Edward Macaulay (“The effects of velocities 128 CAASTRO 129 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Dynamic Universe Theme Dr Jacobo Asorey Mr Lucas Grimes For the UQ node, this year’s Dynamic theme highlight CAASTRO Postdoctoral Researcher CAASTRO Honours Student was the very exciting discovery by Holger Baumgardt Theme: Dark Theme: Evolving and his collaborators that faint thermonuclear Asorey is a postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne Grimes is a PhD student at the University of supernovae could be responsible for most of the University and is based at the University of Queensland Queensland and the topic of his thesis is High-velocity antimatter that is being generated in the centre of the with Tamara Davis. His research interests lie in testing outflows from the centre of active galaxies. His Milky Way. In a study published in May 2017, the cosmological models by studying the expansion and supervisors are Michael Drinkwater and Tamara Davis. authors showed that the cause of this antimatter was growth histories of the Universe, using maps of its a series of weak supernova explosions over millions of large-scale structure from surveys such as DES (the Mr Samuel Hinton years, each created by the convergence of two white Dark Energy Survey) or OzDES. CAASTRO PhD Student dwarfs. Theme: Dark Holger Baumgardt Hinton is a PhD student at the University of Queensland. CAASTRO Affiliate In his undergraduate software and Physics theses, he Other highlights Theme: Dynamic developed the redshifting code Marz and analysed the The University of Queensland was delighted to host Baumgardt studies the dynamical evolution of star two-dimensional baryon acoustic oscillation signal in the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration Meeting in clusters and galactic nuclei and the dynamics of the data from the WiggleZ survey. Hinton has worked with November 2017. This was the first time DES had held dense stellar systems surrounding massive black the OzDES team and is now looking into a fully Bayesian its collaboration meeting outside the USA or Europe. holes. In 2017 he published two Nature papers and approach to supernova cosmology. In 2017 he delved One hundred and ten astrophysicists from around the gave media interviews about the possible existence of further into Bayesian analysis. world descended on UQ for a week of discussions an intermediate-mass black hole in the globular cluster and workshops. In conjunction with the conference 47 Tucanae. Mr Harry Hobson we held a public talk with four of the eminent CAASTRO Honours Student astrophysicists from DES, and this attracted over 450 Mr Joshua Calcino Theme: Dark members of the public. CAASTRO PhD Student Hobson is studying at the University of Queensland Professor Harvey Richer (University of British Theme: Dark under the supervision of Tamara Davis. Using the Columbia) visited the University of Queensland Calcino is a PhD student at the University of DES/OzDES reverberation-mapping dataset, he is in September 2017 to work with us. CAASTRO Queensland, supervised by Tamara Davis. His research investigating emission-line properties of active galactic PhD student Samuel Hinton ran a series of coding focuses on cosmology but he has a strong interest in all nuclei and how these properties affect the mass workshops around the CAASTRO nodes (page 57), areas of astronomy. estimates made with reverberation mapping. and a second CAASTRO PhD student, Joshua Calcino, was a finalist in the University of Queensland’s Mr Simon Deeley Mr Henning Schmidt Faculty of Science Future Superstars award. CAASTRO Honours Student CAASTRO Honours Student Theme: Evolving Theme: Dark Tamara Davis Deeley is an Honours student at the University of In 2017 Schmidt completed an Honours thesis under CAASTRO Node Leader Queensland, supervised by Michael Drinkwater. During Tamara Davis, using gravitational lensing to search for Theme: Dark his undergraduate studies at UQ he completed two MACHOS (massive compact halo objects) that could be Davis studies dark energy and black holes using projects looking the structures and star formation stellar-mass black holes. supernovae, the large-scale structure of the Universe, rates of galaxies in the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, and active galactic nuclei. She helps manage the and began looking at galaxy morphology within galaxy Ms Merryn Taylor Dark Energy Survey, an international project that now groups. For his Honours project he looked at how the CAASTRO Honours Student has more than 450 members. Her 2017 outreach fraction of elliptical galaxies varies across groups of Theme: Dark activities included over 40 public events, including TV different masses, using data from the Galaxy and Mass Merryn is an undergraduate student at the University appearances on Ben’s Food Lab, prime-time news, Assembly (GAMA) survey. He has since compared of Queensland. In 2017 she completed an Honours two ABC Catalyst episodes, a BBC documentary, and these results with merger simulations, finding that thesis, supervised by Professor Tamara Davis, in which talks at high-profile events such as the World Science galaxy mergers appear to be the dominant driver of she looked at the weak gravitational lensing of Type Ia Festival and a Women in Physics session at the Sydney galaxy evolution in these environments. Opera House. supernovae. Professor Michael Drinkwater Ms Candy Wu Mr Per Andersen CAASTRO Associate Investigator CAASTRO Administrator CAASTRO PhD Student Theme: Evolving Theme: Dark Wu joined the CAASTRO UQ node in March 2014, Drinkwater’s research focus is on the origin and having worked in finance and HR for six years at UQ’s Andersen is using observations of Type Ia supernovae evolution of galaxies. He is using observations from School of Maths and Physics and School of Business. to study the bulk cosmological flow of our local group the SAMI galaxy survey to determine the role of black Wu provided financial and administrative support to of galaxies, and the bulk combined velocity of our own holes in driving high-velocity outflows in galaxies. the CAASTRO members at the node until she left in and nearby galaxies. The bulk cosmological flow is With Simon Deeley, he recently demonstrated a strong June 2017. sensitive to large-scale structures, and our cosmological correlation between galaxy mergers and the formation models put a constraint on the size of large-scale of elliptical galaxies in galaxy groups. structure. By measuring the bulk flow of our local group we can test the current cosmological models and learn more about dark energy and dark matter. 130 CAASTRO 131 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

closely aligned with the Dynamic Reionisation Working Group. Mitchell Universe theme. He is a key member is a lead developer and maintainer of the VAST (Variables and Slow of ASKAPsoft, the calibration and Transients) survey project proposed imaging package for ASKAP, and CAASTRO LINKAGES for the Australian SKA Pathfinder of the Real-Time System, a GPU- telescope, and is a member of the accelerated pipeline used to process Pulsar Science Working Group for Murchison Widefield Array data. CAASTRO has very strong national (California Institute of Technology) computing, in the form of the University of Arizona, USA the Square Kilometre Array. and international linkages through and the Max Planck Institutes. Our Australian Square Kilometre Professor Ray Norris Professor Xiaohui Fan an extensive network of high- international Partner Investigators Array Pathfinder telescope, the Dr George Heald CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO Partner Investigator CAASTRO Partner Investigator performing Australian and overseas are not only active participants in Murchison Widefield Array, Professor Norris is an emeritus Professor Fan’s primary involvement researchers who participate in research studies with Australian SkyMapper, Molonglo, and the Dr Heald leads the CSIRO fellow at CSIRO and is the Project in CAASTRO science is within the one or more of CAASTRO’s three telescopes but also enhance these Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. Astronomy and Space Science Leader for EMU (Evolutionary Map Evolving Universe theme. He is research themes. These carefully efforts by contributing results CAASTRO has outstanding (CASS) Astrophysics team in Perth, of the Universe), one of the two key renowned for his expertise in the selected Partner Investigators and techniques from other major researchers at Australia’s highest- which is based at the Australian projects (the other being WALLABY) discovery of high-redshift quasars, have some of the strongest international projects. We also ranked universities and fastest- Resources Research Centre next to that were selected to drive the and more generally for his use of all- growing astronomy centres, with scientific records in international have Associate Investigators the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. design and construction of the sky surveys to discover rare objects; astronomy: they have proven expertise in radio astronomy, optical and Affiliates within our Partner His research interests include how Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope. strengths that are especially valuable success in executing large survey astronomy, theoretical astrophysics Organisations. galaxies’ gas content and magnetic EMU is an all-sky continuum survey for the Skymapper survey’s search projects and are from world-class and computation. Combined, these fields affect star formation. Dr that lies within CAASTRO’s Evolving for high-redshift quasars. institutions, including the Australian Australia has made large facilities and researchers enable Heald has extensive experience Universe theme. Its primary goal Astronomical Observatory, investments in widefield CAASTRO to do world-leading in designing and performing all- is to trace the origin and evolution CSIRO, Oxford University, Caltech technologies and high-performance science in widefield astronomy. sky imaging surveys at low radio of galaxies over cosmic time. EMU frequencies. He co-leads the ASKAP will also have a major impact on POSSUM survey, an investigation characterising dark energy and of cosmic magnetic fields; is a core constraining modified gravity, which University of Durham, UK PARTNER ORGANISATIONS member of the Cosmic Magnetism aligns it with the Dark Universe Professor Carlos Frenk Science Working Group for the SKA; theme. Professor Norris is also a CAASTRO Partner Investigator and serves on the Executive Board Professor, undertaking research, at through the AAO’s involvement in pursuing research on EMU (the Professor Frenk contributes to of the Murchison Widefield Array. Western Sydney University. projects such as the Dark Energy Evolutionary Map of the Universe, a CAASTRO in the Evolving and Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey of 70 million galaxies), and Dr Keith Bannister Dark Universe themes. Theoretical and the 4MOST instrument on the projects proposed for TAIPAN. CAASTRO Affiliate galaxy-formation models predict European Southern Observatory’s Australian Astronomical Dr Chris Lidman Dr Bannister is an Affiliate in the abundance and distribution of 4-m VISTA telescope. neutral hydrogen gas in the Universe. Observatory CAASTRO Associate Investigator CAASTRO, with expertise in Professor Andrew Hopkins radio data processing, radio Frenk, as the head of the Institute for Professor Warrick Couch Dr Lidman is an Associate California Institute of Computational Cosmology and joint CAASTRO Partner Investigator transients and archival searches. Investigator in CAASTRO. His role CAASTRO Partner Investigator His role in the Dynamic Universe Technology, USA lead investigator on the Millennium Together with AAO Director is in the Dark Universe theme, Professor Couch, Director of the theme is in modelling fast radio Professor Shri Kulkarni simulation (the largest simulation Professor Warrick Couch, Professor where he is contributing to the Australian Astronomical Observatory bursts, following-up astronomical CAASTRO Partner Investigator of the Universe ever undertaken), Hopkins coordinates the AAO’s follow-up of Type Ia supernovae (AAO) has a significant role in transients at radio wavelengths, is in a unique position to contribute contributions to CAASTRO. Hopkins Professor Kulkarni’s research supporting the operations and discovered by SkyMapper and the and conducting surveys for radio the theoretical galaxy-formation manages CAASTRO-supported interests fall within CAASTRO’s management of CAASTRO because Dark Energy Survey. His expertise transients; he has also developed models that will be needed to exploit student and postdoctoral researchers is in observational cosmology, Type Dynamic Universe theme. Kulkarni CAASTRO’s scientific observations. the AAO provides some of the a new technique for searching is one of the originators of the who observe with, and use data Ia supernovae, galaxy clusters, key facilities CAASTRO uses. for Extreme Scattering Events. Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), from, the Anglo-Australian Telescope primordial galaxies, and exotic The AAO operates the 3.9 Anglo- Bannister is currently helping to a northern-hemisphere counterpart and the UK Schmidt Telescope. He transient phenomena. Lidman is an Max Planck Institute Australian Telescope (AAT) and commission the Australian SKA to the Skymapper project. Using facilitates AAO support-astronomer expert in adaptive optics, near-IR for Radio Astronomy the 1.2m UK Schmidt Telescope Pathfinder, which he hopes to these facilities in concert, the interactions with CAASTRO imaging and optical spectroscopy. (UKST), which both offer widefield use to search for afterglows of CAASTRO team can monitor the personnel, coordinating pipeline data Max Planck Institute for Radio optical spectroscopy. The AAT is gravitational-wave bursts. entire sky for optical transients, and processing for observations made Astronomy, Germany equipped with the SAMI multi-object Dr Daniel Mitchell can share algorithmic and software with AAO telescopes and managing Professor Michael Kramer integral field unit and AAOmega CAASTRO Affiliate development between the two access to computing resources. CAASTRO Partner Investigator multi-fibre spectrograph, and the facilities. Professor Kulkarni also has Hopkins is responsible for identifying Dr Mitchell is a research scientist UKST has recently been outfitted an interest in the origin of fast radio Professor Kramer’s research falls programs using AAO facilities with the Software and Computing with its new TAIPAN positioner bursts, ruling out some scenarios and under CAASTRO’s Dynamic Universe that complement and add value Commonwealth Scientific Group in CSIRO Astronomy and and spectrograph. All of these trying to ascertain whether they can theme. His focus is on the exploration to CAASTRO projects. Leveraging Space Science. He specialises in instruments play, or will soon play, a and Industrial Research come from cosmological distances. and exploitation of the dynamic radio widefield interferometric imaging key role in research for CAASTRO’s the existing effort on such projects Organisation sky, in the study of both pulsars and and calibration, and is a senior three theme areas. Furthermore, allows more scientific goals to be new types of transients, phenomena Dr Simon Johnston member of the Australian Square Couch has a major leadership role achieved, increasing the return that allow us to address astrophysical CAASTRO Partner Investigator Kilometre Array Pathfinder in the SAMI Galaxy Survey, being a from existing investment. Hopkins’s questions ranging from the state calibration and imaging team; he member of its Executive, and directs primary research activities within Dr Johnston is based at CSIRO of matter at extreme densities to is also a member of the Square and resources research on galaxy CAASTRO fall under the Evolving Astronomy and Space Science and cosmology and tests of theories Kilometre Array (SKA) Science Data morphological transformation. In Universe theme, although some his research interests are pulsars, of gravity. Kramer is contributing Processor consortium and of the his position as AAO Director he is aspects of his work overlap with radio transients and Extreme his expertise to the search for fast SKA’s Cosmic Dawn / Epoch of also able to facilitate new scientific activities in the Dark Universe theme. Scattering Events (of signals by the transients by developing hardware opportunities for CAASTRO Within CAASTRO, Hopkins is mainly interstellar medium): they are thus and software solutions in collaboration with CAASTRO partners. 132 CAASTRO 133 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS

research interests fall under the Evolving Universe theme, focusing used to search for the synchrotron Dark Universe theme, focusing on on numerical simulations of the Max Planck Institute for cosmic web and to study a new Extraterrestrial Physics, using the large-scale structure of the intergalactic medium and the epoch sample of peaked-spectrum radio matter distribution in the universe to of reionisation. Germany galaxies. In 2018 he will work on Astron, Netherlands University of Oxford, UK determine the physics of dark energy Dr Mara Salvato early-science observations made Professor Carole Jackson and test the theory of gravity. CAASTRO Partner Investigator with the Australian SKA Pathfinder. Professor Roger Davies CAASTRO Affiliate CAASTRO Partner Investigator Dr Salvato works in the High Energy Professor Ue-Li Pen Professor Jackson is the General Group and is a member of the CAASTRO Partner Investigator Professor Roger Davies is Philip and Scientific Director of ASTRON, Wetton Professor of Astrophysics eROSITA team. eROSITA is an X-ray Professor Pen brings to CAASTRO a the Netherlands Institute for Radio National Astronomical satellite: soon to be launched, it will wealth of experience in tackling the and Director of the Centre for Astronomy. She was previously map the entire sky. As a Partner fundamental problems in cosmology Astrophysical Surveys at Oxford the Western Australian Premier’s Observatories, Chinese Investigator Salvato promotes that are associated with many of University. Within CAASTRO, Fellow at Curtin University, Director University of New South Academy of Sciences Davies’s contributions are primarily collaboration between CAASTRO and the Centre’s science themes. He has of the Curtin Institute of Radio Wales Dr Tao Hong eROSITA and leads project groups considerable experience in studies in the Evolving Universe theme Astronomy and a Science Director CAASTRO Affiliate enhancing the synergy between and the SAMI project. His research Professor Brian Boyle of the Epoch of Reionisation and of the International Centre for Radio Dr Hong is an Assistant Investigator X-ray, radio and optical surveys of interests include cosmology CAASTRO Affiliate of extragalactic hydrogen, and has Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in in the National Astronomical active galactic nuclei. worked in these areas with fellow (the distance scale, large-scale Perth, as well as CAASTRO Node Professor Boyle is the Deputy motions of galaxies and galaxies Observatories, Chinese Academy CAASTRO investigators. Within leader at Curtin. Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise) at the of Sciences (NAOC), and is a CAASTRO, Pen’s research activities at high redshift); galaxy evolution University of New South Wales. (dynamics, stellar populations and Dr Antonia Rowlinson CAASTRO Affiliate. He works in are primarily under the theme of the CAASTRO Affiliate Professor Boyle was previously the the Dark Universe Theme, mainly Evolving Universe. His specific focus galaxy clusters); and telescopes, Acting SKA (Square Kilometre Array) instruments and techniques. Dr Rowlinson is an Assistant studying the peculiar-velocity field is to quantify the errors in the power Director for the Australian Department of the local Universe with the spectra of neutral hydrogen in Dr Jamie Farnes Professor in a joint position at of Industry, following his role as the University of Amsterdam and data from the 2MASS Tully-Fisher galaxies, as measured by surveys on CAASTRO Affiliate CSIRO SKA Director. Prior to that, Survey. His research interests Laboratoire de Physique the Australian SKA Pathfinder such ASTRON (The Netherlands Institute he was the Director of the CSIRO Dr Farnes is a Research Associate are H I in galaxies, observational as WALLABY and DINGO. for Radio Astronomy). Her research Australia Telescope National Facility Nucléaire et de Hautes at the University of Oxford and an cosmology, large-scale structures interests fall under the Dynamic (2003–2009), where he initiated the Energies (LPNHE), France affiliate of CAASTRO. His research and galaxy clusters. Universe theme, focusing on radio construction of the Australian SKA Dr Nicolas Regnault interests fall under the Evolving transient sources and compact Pathfinder, and Director of the Anglo- CAASTRO Partner Investigator Universe theme, focusing on radio binary mergers. Australian Observatory (1996–2003). galaxy environments and the evolution Dr Regnault worked on the of galaxies over cosmic time. Associate Professor Sarah Brough preparation and the design of the CAASTRO Affiliate SkyMapper supernovae survey, University of Oslo, Norway and he has been involved in the Dr Brough is a CAASTRO Affiliate. spectroscopic follow-up of the first Her role is in the Evolving Universe Dr Signe Riemer-Sørensen SNe discovered by SkyMapper, University of Belfast, UK theme, where she is working with CAASTRO Affiliate Raman Research Institute, National Computational CAASTRO to bring the Large Survey through CAASTRO’s participation Dr Stuart Sim Dr Riemer-Sørensen is a CAASTRO India Infrastructure, Australia Synoptic Telescope (LSST) project to in the PESSTO program. He CAASTRO Associate Investigator Affiliate working under the Dark has worked on the recalibration Professor Ravi Subrahmanyan Professor Lindsay Botten astronomers in Australia. Brough is Universe Theme. She investigates and refurbishing of the SkyDICE CAASTRO Partner Investigator CAASTRO Partner Investigator Dr Sim’s research focuses on the also a member of the SAMI survey how non-standard particles such as theory of supernova explosions. In team and contributes environmental light source, and has assisted Professor Subrahmanyan is in As Director of National dark matter and neutrinos affect the particular, he works on developing measurements and angular- the SkyMapper team with the the CAASTRO Evolving Universe Computational Infrastructure (NCI) Universe, and how their properties models for Type Ia supernovae, the momentum expertise to that survey. photometry and photometric theme, and his current research until early 2017, Professor Lindsay can be derived from cosmological events that are used as ‘standard Her primary research interest is galaxy calibration of the SkyMapper SN Ia lies in using spectral distortions in Botten supported CAASTRO’s observations. These observations candles’ to map out the expansion evolution, and the dependence of that light curves. the cosmic microwave background access to, and usage of, NCI’s cover all scales and range from history of the Universe. evolution on environment, particularly as a diagnostic of the cosmic high-end computing services, for all chemical abundances in quasar for Brightest Cluster Galaxies. baryon evolution in the Universe. of its themes and for researchers absorption systems to galaxy The research develops methods from all CAASTRO nodes. In 2017 surveys (for example, WiggleZ) and and instrumentation for all- CAASTRO members used eight X-ray emission from galaxy clusters. sky measurements of the radio million CPU hours on NCI facilities. Riemer-Sørensen’s work involves background, at centimetre and using advanced statistical methods University of Toronto, Canada longer wavelengths, for detecting for model selection and parameter global spectral-distortion signals Korea Astronomy and Space University of Nottingham, UK determination, and comparing Professor Bryan Gaensler from cosmological reionisation and Science Institute (KASI) Dr Jamie Bolton observations with simulations. CAASTRO Partner Investigator recombination. The research work Dr David Parkinson CAASTRO Associate Investigator Professor Gaensler is the Director of of Subrahmanyan and his colleagues CAASTRO Associate Investigator Dr Bolton is a Royal Society the Dunlap Institute at the University at the Raman Research Institute Dr Parkinson is a Senior Researcher University Research Fellow at the of Toronto. In 2017 he worked on with the Murchison Widefield Array at the Korea Astronomy and Space University of Nottingham and an wide-field survey data from the is primarily in efforts to detect the Science Institute and an Associate Associate Investigator in CAASTRO. Murchison Widefield Array, which he Epoch of Reionisation. Investigator in CAASTRO. His His research interests fall under the 134 CAASTRO 135 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CAASTRO COLLABORATIONS science programme. He is also Purple Mountain Observatory, Principal Investigator of the Survey This year CAASTRO team members have been China for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio involved in a number of Australian and international Bursts (SUPERB) at Parkes. Through Dr Syed Ashraf Uddin collaborations. The most significant are listed below. CAASTRO Affiliate his visiting role at Swinburne he Victoria University of supervises three CAASTRO PhD Dr Uddin is a President’s Technology, New Zealand students and is involved with the eROSITA ACAMAR: the Australia-ChinA International Fellow of the Chinese UTMOST project. He also leads a Dr Stephen Curran Academy of Sciences at the Purple Institutions: Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Consortium for Astrophysical Research science working group on TRAPUM CAASTRO Affiliate Mountain Observatory. His research Physik, CAASTRO Institutions: Purple Mountain Observatory of the (Transients and Pulsars with Dr Curran is a CAASTRO affiliate topic is supernova cosmology, The extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing, China), MeerKAT) project. member based at the Victoria which falls under the Dark Universe Telescope Array (eROSITA) is an instrument on the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese University of Wellington in New theme of CAASTRO. He is a core Russian Spektrum-Röntgen-Gamma (SRG) satellite, Academy of Sciences (NAOC), CAASTRO Zealand. His work is in the Evolving member of the OzDES collaboration which will be launched in 2018. eROSITA will perform Universe theme. He maintains ACAMAR is an umbrella and coordination point for and Australia China Consortium for an X-ray survey of the entire sky with unprecedented close collaborations with other bilateral astronomical collaborations. The centre’s stellar Astrophysical Research (ACAMAR). angular resolution and sensitivity. The German CAASTRO members of the theme, namesake, Acamar (θ Eridani), is a bright naked-eye University of Technology eROSITA consortium (eROSITA_DE) and CAASTRO particularly those involved with the star visible from both countries. ACAMAR maximises have signed a memorandum of understanding that Sydney survey team for FLASH (the First the scientific return on investments in astronomy enables collaboration on projects requiring combined Dr Martin Bell Large Absorption Survey in H I): infrastructure, particularly by helping the two countries data from eROSITA and Australian widefield facilities CAASTRO Affiliate this survey, to run on the Australian such as ASKAP, MWA, Molonglo, Parkes, ATCA, to cooperate in running telescopes based in Australia, SKA Pathfinder, will research the SKA Organisation Dr Bell is an Affiliate in CAASTRO. SkyMapper, AAT and TAIPAN. In 2017 the eROSITA Antarctica and China, and to coordinate observations reservoir of star-forming gas in the He is a principle investigator of telescope has been completed, assembled and and share data. It will also help to develop skills and Dr Evan Keane distant Universe. CAASTRO Affiliate the Murchison Widefield Array shipped to Russia for final test and integration into the knowledge, by facilitating the exchange of students, Transients Survey (MWATS), spacecraft. The first all-sky survey should be completed researchers and technical staff between institutions. In Dr Keane is a CAASTRO Affiliate. which will survey almost the entire in early 2019, and it is anticipated that seven more 2018 Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) will take over His role is in the Dynamic Universe southern sky multiple times at low passes of the whole sky will be completed by early the management of this agreement. Theme, where he works mainly frequencies, on timescales of one 2022. In 2018 Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) will in the areas of pulsars and fast month. The aim of the project is to take over the management of this agreement. radio bursts. Dr Keane is a Project search for dynamic and explosive SkyMapper Scientist with the SKA Organisation, objects in the Universe. Bell is also Institutions: Australian National University, CAASTRO, based at Jodrell Bank in the UK. a member of the Australian Square Monash University, Australian Astronomical There he is contributing to the Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Observatory design of the telescope and its commissioning team. SkyMapper is a 1.35-metre telescope with a 5.7 deg2 imager, located near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, and owned and operated by the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University. CAASTRO secured a $1.16m ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant to secure membership of the SkyMapper consortium for all Australian astronomers during 2014–2019. This funding contributes to the operating costs needed for SkyMapper to undertake a 5-year survey of the entire southern sky, provides Australian astronomers with 20 per cent of non-survey observing time on SkyMapper, and allows the development of robust and efficient software pipelines, analysis tools and data- access facilities. In 2017, SkyMapper published its Data Release 1 through its node in the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO). During the first month of world- wide access the database was hit by over 23,000 Richard Scalzo (CAASTRO Alumni), Martin Bell (UTS) unique users. The release includes almost 300 million and Chris Lidman (AAO) eROSITA commissioning astrophysical objects and covers nearly the entire Credit: Cristy Roberts Credit: MPE eROSITA southern hemisphere. 136 CAASTRO 137 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

TAIPAN OzDES Murchison Widefield Array Institutions: Australian Astronomical Observatory, Institutions: Australian Astronomical Observatory, Institutions: University of Melbourne, Australian OUTREACH COLLABORATIONS Australian National University, CSIRO Astronomy Australian National University, University of National University, University of Sydney, Curtin and Space Science, Macquarie University, Monash Queensland, University of Sydney, University of University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Astronomy Weekend and Astronomer in University of Melbourne, University of New South Monash University, Macquarie University, CSIRO, The University of Washington, Arizona State University, Residence at Uluru Wales, University of Queensland, University of Dark Energy Survey (~480 members from over 30 Brown University, University of Toronto, University of Sydney, University of Western Australia, Western institutions worldwide). Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Raman Research Institute In collaboration with Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, CAASTRO again had “Astronomers in Sydney University OzDES is a collaboration of over 20 Australian scientists, CAASTRO members make key contributions to Residence” at Uluru for the majority of the months in TAIPAN is a new facility for the UK Schmidt Telescope the vast majority of whom are CAASTRO members, the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) project within the the year. We also held our fourth Uluru Astronomy (UKST) at Siding Spring Observatory. It encompasses a using the Anglo-Australian Telescope to gather Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) collaboration. The Weekend, where CAASTRO team members gave novel optical-fibre positioner using the new ‘starbugs’ thousands of spectroscopic redshifts to complement the EoR team will obtain a significant dataset with the presentations about the Universe and offered insights technology and a purpose-built spectrograph; the project photometric Dark Energy Survey. Host-galaxy redshifts MWA 128-tile array with the aim of either detecting or into current astrophysical research. also involves refurbishment of the UKST itself. The for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) will facilitate construction setting limits on the detection of the radio signals from TAIPAN facility will support two major new surveys, of the largest SN Ia Hubble diagram to date, while repeat neutral hydrogen at the Epoch of Reionisation. In 2016 Taipan and Funnelweb. The Taipan survey of one and spectroscopy of high-redshift active galactic nuclei the MWA was expanded, with 72 new antenna tiles Planetarium show and a half million galaxies began observations in 2017. It is (AGN) may make it possible to use AGN reverberation installed in two sets of regular hexagons. These new educational resources aimed at: mapping for standard-candle cosmology beyond a antennas are specifically to improve the sensitivity of the MWA for the EoR power spectrum experiment. In With the view that CAASTRO all-sky data is most ƒƒ measuring the Hubble constant, H , with a precision redshift of two. In 2017 the DES Collaboration meeting 0 2017 CAASTRO members commenced an enhanced naturally presented on a domed screen, CAASTRO of one per cent was held in Brisbane. all-sky survey with the expanded MWA, using the entered into a collaboration with Museum Victoria ƒƒ measuring the bulk motion of galaxies, to better newly commissioned long baselines. The new survey (MV) for the production of a planetarium show. The understand dark matter Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will build upon the successful GLEAM survey with show was launched in early 2016, and the show is ƒƒ linking the star-formation and gas-fuelling properties improved sensitivity and resolution. still running regularly in many locations. CAASTRO Institutions: the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope of galaxies, to understand galaxy evolution. (This Education and Outreach has worked closely with the (comprising more than 30 member organisations), will be done in conjunction with the WALLABY radio MV Astronomy and Space Sciences team to create Australian Astronomical Observatory and CAASTRO. survey, made with the Australian SKA Pathfinder,) Stawell Underground Physics Lab educational resources, both hands-on and digital, that CAASTRO and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope tie in with both the show and the Australian curriculum. The Funnelweb survey is designed to: Institutions: University of Melbourne, Swinburne (LSST) have entered into a Memorandum of University of Technology, University of Adelaide, ƒƒ measure two million stars within our Milky Agreement on how CAASTRO can contribute to the Australian National University, Australian Nuclear Way Galaxy, uniquely characterising them and operational support of LSST, which is slated to begin Science writing for younger audiences Science and Technology Organisation, Italian National complementing the fainter GALAH Galactic full scientific operations around 2020. In 2017 the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Princeton University CAASTRO Education and Outreach has worked with Archaeology survey Australian Astronomical Observatory and CAASTRO freelance science-communication professionals in ƒƒ provide a robust input sample for the next-generation worked together to engage the whole Australian The design for the Stawell Underground Physics Lab Perth to create the Bright Stars school calendar and planet-finding satellite observatory, TESS. astronomy community in this project. In 2018 (SUPL) began in 2015 and construction is expected to a comic book, “The cosmic adventures of Alice and Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) will take over the start in March 2018. Called SABRE (Sodium iodide with The first Taipan paper has been published in 2017, Bob”. Bright Stars features the personal profiles of our management of this agreement. Active Background Rejection), the detection experiment da Cunha et al., 2017, PASA, 34, 47, and while the researchers and their advice to high-school students, – the first direct-detection experiment for dark matter scientific goals of the TAIPAN facility and surveys are which we hope will spark their interest in astronomy. in the Southern Hemisphere – is being developed closely aligned with CAASTRO goals, these projects are The calendar was produced in collaboration with by a consortium of institutions from Australia, the not currently receiving any CAASTRO funding. CAASTRO’s outreach partner Telescopes in Schools Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and is being distributed to Australian high schools as a and Princeton University. While this is primarily a free resource. The comic book was launched in March physics experiment, CAASTRO astrophysicists joined 2017: it too was distributed for free, to all Australian the collaboration to model the expected kinetic- primary and many combined schools. Both resources energy distribution of dark-matter particles and do will be major legacy products of the CAASTRO related work. It is anticipated that an ARC Centre of Education and Outreach portfolio. Excellence, Particle Physics at the Cosmic Frontier will compete in the CE20 round, focusing on this dark matter research. 138 CAASTRO 139 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Key performance indicators Articles about January – December 2017 CAASTRO KPI DASHBOARD achievements 2011–2017 847/67 (1323%) 0% 100% 180% 250% Research outputs focused on new algorithms & P [76 with CAASTRO lead] (162/50) techniques 105/41 P [53 with CAASTRO lead] (135/35)

(58/40)

A 220% (22/10) Papers in refereed journals 200% (14/10) 680/340

P 500% (25/5)

S (36/25) Theoretical papers on analysis of Unique HPC N 200% (10/5) CAASTRO-based users or projects surveys per year Invited talks at N (9/5) 83/50 15/9 major international 150% N (5/9) meetings 335/225 P (12/8)

ECR C (34/20) Media releases S (67/50) about achievements 73/64 Publications in 300% (6/2) top-tier journals 100% 490/476 (26/25) CPU core hours for research activities 267% (8/3)

N CAASTRO (millions) Actual/Target Research findings 66/76.3 (119/100)

2000% (80/4)

P (10/6) 50% N (3/3)

000 190% (76/40) P C 363% (145/40) Research training & O ARC 000 894% (1788/200) O 000 (172/200) professional education N CAASTRO (4/4) Professional training courses for staff & post-graduates - 227 T CAASTRO 188% (15/8) Staff a�ending all professional training courses - 267 R 440% (22/5)

CPU (10.7/9.4) New post-graduate students - 78

PC (14/10) New post-doctorates recruited - 65

P CAASTRO 200% (24/12) New honours students - 52 C (6/6) Post-graduate comple�ons - 39 P (45/40) ECRs working on core Centre research per year - 34 CPU 200% (4/2)

C PC 290% (29/10) Students mentored - 307

767% (115/15) Mentoring programs per year - 3 - - PG students supervised between nodes or na�onally within CAASTRO per year - 15 0 20 0 0 0 100 120 10 10 10 (per year) - 15

* Nature; Science; Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics; The Astronomy & Astrophysics Review; Physical Review (including Letters) The Astrophysical Journal (including Supplemental Series and Letters); The Astronomical Journal; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (including Letters); Astronomy & Astrophysics (including Letters and Short Communications etc.); Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 140 CAASTRO 141 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Links & networks FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Competitive research facilities used 170 CAASTRO FINANCIAL REPORT 2017 INCOME CPU core hours competitively awarded 32.5 million 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 INCOME ACTUALS 2018 INCOME ESTIMATED

ARC Income $3,000,000 $2,800,000 $3,100,000 $3,100,000 $3,100,000 $2,800,000 ARC Income $2,700,000 ARC Income $- Interdisciplinary research supported by CAASTRO 32 ARC Indexation $47,431 $153,527 $295,786 $398,406 $461,065 $471,130 ARC Indexation $501,614 ARC Indexation $- Node $912,272 $1,039,569 $842,002 $1,206,663 $997,980 $1,059,247 Node $980,191 Node $- Research outputs featuring Contributions Contributions Contributions cross-node authorship 48% Other Grants $750,000 $1,264,437

Visits to overseas laboratories & facilities 708 Other $747,294 $13,685 $28,206 $296,930 $301,210 $152,457 Other $260,455 Other $84,534

Grants wonˠ $400,000 -$400,000 National & international conferences/workshops held by CAASTRO (and correction 38 to 2011)

Total Income $5,106,997 $4,006,781 $4,615,994 $6,266,436 $4,860,255 $4,482,834 Total Income $4,442,260 Total Estimated $84,534 International visitors & visiting fellows Income 202 Carry Forward $- $2,930,552 $2,967,985 $3,037,571 $3,456,823 $3,184,858 Carry Forward $2,736,186 Carry Forward $1,734,744

In-kind contributions Total Funds $5,106,997 $6,937,333 $7,583,979 $9,304,007 $8,317,078 $7,667,692 Total Funds $7,178,446 Total Estimated $1,819,278 from collaborators Available Available Funds Available $58.2 Million *Other income includes CAASTRO workshop income/sponsorship, Secondments (CSIRO, AAO), reimbursement from TAIPAIN project ˠ Includes NSW SLF Grant Part II, DIISR Travel Grants and LIEF Grant won by UWA *** ANU contributed remaining 2015 funds of $84,215 in Jan 2016

Other research income EXPENDITURE Organisational awarded to centre members (other public sector) 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 ACTUAL 2017 ACTUALS 2018 ESTIMATED support $17 Million EXPENDITURE EXPENDITURE Salaries $1,467,096 $2,807,859 $2,875,061 $3,320,256 $3,874,054 $3,708,004 Salaries $4,034,098 Salaries $1,477,028

Other research income Travel, $363,516 $503,587 $778,788 $810,779 $831,743 $1,018,045 Travel, $877,219 Travel, $188,000 Accommodation Accommodation Accommodation awarded to New organisations and Conference and Conference and Conference centre members (ARC) involved with CAASTRO $18.3 Million 38 Marketing & $124,914 $139,732 $20,336 $92,675 $133,937 $165,440 Marketing & $233,694 Marketing & $20,000 Outreach Outreach Outreach

Operations & $103,342 $81,706 $56,535 $124,237 $66,916 $108,392 Operations & $174,198 Operations & $46,000 Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance

Equipment $102,993 $145,790 -$59,721 $29,891 $24,157 $32,674 Equipment $9,316 Equipment $30,000

PhD Support $5,709 $101,763 $126,522 $201,402 $182,211 $111,613 PhD Suppport $115,071 PhD Suppport $58,250

Research $8,874 $188,911 $5,766 $3,507 $19,202 $13,266 Research $106 Research $- Brie ngs - government, industry, business or community - 365 materials/ materials/ materials/ End-user links Experiments Experiments Experiments Public talks - 586 Corrections -$6,879 -$225,928

2013 Grants ** $750,000 $1,264,437 Public awareness programs - 7 Website hits - 499,000 Total $2,176,445 $3,969,348 $4,546,408 $5,847,184 $5,132,220 $4,931,506 Total $5,443,702 Total Estimated $1,819,278 Newsletters - 21 Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Major documentaries - 3

Scienti c animation/short video material - 852 mins Balance $2,930,552 $2,967,985 $3,037,571 $3,456,823 $3,184,858 $2,736,186 Balance $1,734,744 Estimated $0 balance

** LIEF, SIEF & AMSPP Grants have been reported as fully expensed in 2014, although LIEF Grant to be spent over 5 years, SIEF Grant to be spent over 36 months and AMSPP Grant to be spent over 2 years. ` Credit for non-ARC salary expenses - Collaborations 142

2017 INCOME 2017 EXPENDITURE

Salaries ARC Income Travel, Accommodaon and Conference ARC Indexaon Markeng & Outreach Node Contribuons Operaons & Maintenance Equipment Other PhD Suppport

CAASTRO IN-KIND REPORT JANUARY - DECEMBER 2017 University of Sydney $570,305 University of Western Australia $336,117 University of Melbourne $167,423 Swinburne University of Technology $553,809 Australian National University $277,199 Curtin University of Technology $317,131 CSIRO $3,920,194 Australian Astronomical Observatory $1,805,117 Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy $146,696 California Institute of Technology $134,673 The University of Oxford $53,792 Durham University $202,108 Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPIEP) $8,500 The University of Arizona $160,000 The University of Toronto $86,300 Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies $160,088 National Computational Infrastructure $270,000 Raman Research Institute $1,000,000 University of Queensland $123,977 Total In-Kind Contributions $10,293,428 CAASTRO 143 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

GRANTS WON BY CAASTRO MEMBERS IN 2017

ARC Future Fellowship ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Explosive evidence: connecting stellar abundances to How galaxies lose their gas: jet-driven outflows in the supernova progenitors. distant Universe. This project aims to determine the evolutionary scenarios This project aims to make measurements of the of thermonuclear supernovae through numerical impact that powerful radio jets, launched from simulations. Supernova explosions create heavy supermassive black holes at the heart of galaxies, elements, such as iron, that enable life on Earth, and are have on their host galaxy. Understanding how instrumental in proving that the Universe is expanding galaxies evolve remains a key unanswered question at an accelerating rate. For all their importance, the in astronomy. The project will map the interaction nature of their progenitors is still a mystery, which between radio jets and the cold gas in galaxies to has implications for many fields of astrophysics. further distances than ever before, shedding light on Through building inter-institutional and international how jets impact their environment at a crucial point collaborations, the project is expected to determine in the lifecycle of radio galaxies. These results will where, when, and how often these explosions occur. challenge our understanding of how galaxies have Benefits will include development of new technological evolved over the past 8 billion years and provide a methods and exploitation of Australian-led survey data much-needed observational basis to inform future from national facilities. simulations of galaxy evolution. FT170100243 DE180100448 $715,004 $336,288 Chief Investigator: Ashley Ruiter Chief Investigator: Elizabeth Mahony ARC LIEF ARC Discovery Project Doubling the power of a unique astronomical survey Weighing the Universe using fast radio bursts. facility. Fast radio bursts are a newly-discovered astronomical This project aims to double the number of fibres in phenomenon whose millisecond-timescale emission the spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope and occurs at cosmological distances, rendering them so double the number of stars and galaxies that it can observe simultaneously. This would allow rapid exceptional probes of the matter that lies in and timely completion of two major projects: the intergalactic space. This project aims to measure the Taipan galaxy survey would be first to test a potential positions and obtain the distances to these bursts to discrepancy in the expansion rate of the universe that make a direct measurement of the density of ordinary may signal new physics, while the FunnelWeb stellar matter in the Universe, at least 50 per cent of which survey would (in tandem with two space missions) is believed to remain undetected in intergalactic space. identify potential nearby exoplanets and trace the history This project will measure the distribution of this missing of the Milky Way. The benefits include high scientific matter, and find how it has evolved throughout the impact for the two surveys, international showcasing history of the Universe. This will provide significant of the Australian Starbug technology, and a national benefits, such as addressing two fundamental astronomical survey facility for the next decade. questions about our Universe: how much matter does it contain, and has a large fraction of it hitherto evaded LE180100009 detection in intergalactic space? $340,160 Chief Investigator: Matthew Colless DP180100857 CAASTRO investigators: Scott Croom; Christopher Blake; $367,072 Edward Taylor; Michael Drinkwater; Tamara Davis; Sarah Chief Investigator: Jean-Pierre Macquart Brough; Raymond Norris; and Andrew Hopkins CAASTRO investigators: Keith Bannister

Other Public Sector Funding The University of Sydney, Sydney Research Ian Potter Foundation Accelerator Fellowship Tamara Davis Tara Murphy $6,666 $50,000 University of Queensland, Global Strategy and Astronomy Australia Limited, eScience Partnerships Seed Funding Scheme Christian Wolf Tamara Davis $50,000 $20,000

Astronomy Australia Limited, eScience, ADACS Julie Banfield $45,000 144 CAASTRO 145 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 CAASTRO PEOPLE

1 2 3 16 17 18

4 5 6 19 20 21

CAASTRO Executive 1. Elaine Sadler (Director) 2. Lister Staveley-Smith (Deputy Director) 3. Ramesh Bhat 4. Tamara Davis 7 8 9 16. Warrick Couch 22 23 24 5. Kate Gunn (Chief Operating 17. Roger Davies Officer) 18. Xiaohui Fan 6. Jeremy Mould 19. Carlos Frenk 7. Tara Murphy 20. George Heald 8. Rachel Webster 21. Andrew Hopkins 9. Christian Wolf 22. Simon Johnston 23. Michael Kramer 10 11 12 Chief Investigators 24. Shri Kulkarni 25 26 27 10. Chris Blake 25. Ue-Li Pen 11. Matthew Colless 26. Nicolas Regnault 12. Scott Croom 27. Mara Salvato 13. Adam Deller 28. Ravi Subrahmanyan 14. Brian Schmidt 29. Bryan Gaensler

Partner Associate Investigators Investigators 13 14 15 15. Lindsay Botton 30. Joss Bland-Hawthorn 28 29 30 146 CAASTRO 147 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

31 32 48 49

33 34 35 50 51 52

36 37 38 53 54 55

48. Randall Wayth 49. Christopher Onken 39 40 41 56 57 58 31. Jamie Bolton CAASTRO 32. Jeff Cooke Research Staff 33. Michael Drinkwater 50. Ixandra Achitouv 34. Minh Huynh 51. Jacobo Asorey 35. Claudia Lagos 52. Julie Banfield 36. Chris Lidman 53. Julia Bryant 37. Jean-Pierre Macquart 54. Seo-Won Chang 42 43 44 38. Martin Meyer 55. Rajan Chhetri 59 60 61 39. John Morgan 56. Clancy James 40. Danail Obreschkow 57. Francesco D’Eugenio 41. Chris Power 58. Paul Geil 42. Ashley Ruiter 59. Cullan Howlett 43. Emma Ryan-Weber 60. Shahab Joudaki 44. Ivo Seitenzahl 61. Hansik Kim 45. Robert Sharp 62. Emil Lenc 46. Stuart Sim 63. Jack Line 45 46 47 47. Cathryn Trott 64. Christene Lynch 62 63 64 148 CAASTRO 149 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

65 66 82 83 82. Angela Dunleavy (Administrative Coordinator, Curtin U) 83. Wiebke Ebeling (Education & Outreach Manager, Curtin U) 84. Debra Gooley (Finance Officer, U. Sydney) 67 68 69 85. Helen Keys 84 85 86 (Executive Assistant to Director U. Sydney) 86. Sue Lester (Administrator, Swinburne) 87. Jenny Lynch (School Education Officer, University of Sydney) 70 71 72 88. Janette Ellis 87 88 89 (School Education Officer, University of Sydney) 89. Clare Peter (Administrative 65. Katherine Mack Officer, UWA) 66. Elizabeth Mahoney 90. Helen Sim (Public Relations 67. Anais Möller Officer, U. Sydney) 73 74 75 68. Steven Murray 91. Cristy Roberts 90 91 92 69. Bart Pindor (Administrator, ANU) 70. Kathryn Plant 92. Kylie Williams (Events & 71. Attila Popping Communications, 72. Daniel Price U. Sydney) 73. Jonghwan Rhee 93. Candy Wu 74. Marcin Sokolowski (Administration Officer, U. QLD) 75. Dan Taranu 76. Edoardo Tescari CAASTRO Affiliates 76 77 78 77. Steven Tremblay 93 94 95 94. James Allison 78. Brad Tucker 95. Keith Bannister 79. Laura Wolz 96. Holger Baumgardt 80. Ding Yan 97. Martin Bell CAASTRO 98. Brian Boyle Professional Staff Not pictured 81. Kim Dorrell (Executive Officer, Tina Salisbury (Operations 79 80 81 U. Melbourne) Coordinator, Curtin U) 96 97 98 150 CAASTRO 151 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

99 100 116 117

101 102 103 118 119 120

104 105 106 121 122 123

107 108 109 124 125 126 116. Anthea King 99. Frank Briggs 117. Ben McKinley 100. Sarah Brough 118. Daniel Mitchell 101. Stephen Curran 119. Vanessa Moss 102. Alan Duffy 120. Ray Norris 103. Pascal Elahi 121. David Parkinson 104. Jamie Farnes 122. Signe Riemer- 105. Chris Flynn Sørensen 110 111 112 106. Karl Glazebrook 123. Antonia Rowlinson 127 128 129 107. Anne Green 124. Richard Scalzo 108. Paul Hancock 125. Nicholas Scott 109. Tao Hong 126. Kimberly Steele 110. Carole Jackson 127. Edward Taylor 111. Andrew Jameson 128. Steven Tingay 112. Christopher Jordan 129. Syed Uddin 113. Anna Kapinska 130. Willem van Straten 114. Evan Keane 131. Mia Walker 113 114 115 115. Clare Kenyon 132. Charlotte Welker 130 131 132 152 CAASTRO 153 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

133 134 150 151

135 136 137 152 153 154

138 139 140 155 156 157

133. Ivy Wong 141 142 143 158 159 160 CAASTRO Students 150. Alexandru Codoreanu 134. Caitlin Adams 151. Christopher Curtin 135. Matthew Alger 152. Simon Deeley 136. Kamran Ali 153. Dougal Dobie 137. Per Andersen 154. Luz Angela Garcia Penaloza 138. Igor Andreoni 155. Marcin Glowacki 139. Dilyar Barat 156. Jacob Golding 140. Elise Beaufils 157. Guido Granda Munoz 144 145 146 141. Stephanie Bernard 161 162 163 158. Lucas Grimes 142. Shivani Bhandari 159. Katherine Harborne 143. Mohit Bhardwaj 160. Samuel Hinton 144. Jessica Bloom 161. Harry Hobson 145. Joshua Calcino 162. Fabian Jankowski 146. Manisha Caleb 163. Ronniy Joseph 147. Roderigo Canas Vazquez 164. Dilpreet Kauer 148. Garima Chauhan 165. Katharine Kelly 147 148 149 149. Qingxiang Chen 166. Jing Li 164 165 166 154 CAASTRO 155 ANNUAL REPORT 2017

167 168 184 185

169 170 171 186 187 188

172 173 174 189 190 191

175 176 177 192 193 194 167. Lincheng Li 184. Jennifer Riding 168. Rebecca McElroy 185. Khaled Said 169. Samuel McSweeney 186. Diane Salim 170. Bradley Meyers 187. Adam Schaefer 171. Vincent Morello 188. Henning Schmitz 172. Aina Musaeva 189. Jacob Seiler 173. Daniel Muthukrishna 190. Natalia Eiré Sommer 174. Sinem Ozbilgen 191. Nicholas Swainston 178 179 180 175. Fiona Panther 195 196 197 192. Merryn Taylor 176. Aditya Parathasarathy Madapusi 193. Ellert van der Velden 177. Rhys Poulton 194. Matthew Varidel 178. Fei Qin 195. Vivek Venkatraman 179. Hao Qiu 196. Charlotte Ward 180. Mahsa Rahimi 197. Mengyao Xue 181. Mayuri Rao 198. Bonnie Zhang 182. Jarryd Rasti 199. Xiang Zhang 181 182 183 183. Tristan Reynolds 200. Andrew Zic 198 199 200 156

GLOSSARY

ACRONYM DESCRIPTION DEFINITION ACRONYM DESCRIPTION DEFINITION 2MTF Project 2MASS Tully-Fisher HECTOR Project Follow-on IFU after SAMI 6dFGS Project 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey HIPASS Project H I Parkes All-Sky Survey AAL Organisation Astronomy Australia Ltd HTRU Project High Time Resolution Universe AAT Facility Anglo-Australian Telescope ICRAR Research Centre International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research ACAMAR Virtual Centre Australia-ChinA ConsortiuM for Astrophysical Research IFU Instrument Integral field unit (spectrograph) ASELL Organisation Advancing Science by Enhancing Learning in Laboratories LIGO Facility The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory ASTRO 3D Research Centre ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions LOFAR Facility Low Frequency Array telescope ATCA Facility Australia Telescope Compact Array LSST Facility Large Synoptic Survey Telescope AGN Object Active Galactic Nuclei MOST Facility Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope ASKAP Facility Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder MWA Facility Murchison Widefield Array ASTRON Organisation Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy NCI Facility National Computational Infrastructure ATLAS Project Australia Telescope Large Area Survey NRAO Facility National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA ATNF Facility Australia Telescope National Facility NVSS Project NRAO VLA Sky Survey BAO Term Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation OzDES Project Australian Dark Energy Survey BIGHORNS Project Broadband Instrument for the Global HydrOgen Reionisation Signal OzGrav Research Centre ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery CAASTRO Research Centre ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics PESSTO Project Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects CANDELS Project Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey PHISCC Committee SKA Pathfinders H I Survey Coordination Committee CASS Research Centre CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science RFI Term Radio frequency interference CitC Outreach CAASTRO in the Classroom SAMI Project Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph DINGO Project Deep Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins SKA Facility Square Kilometre Array DRAGONS Project Distant Radio Galaxies Optically Non-detected in the SDSS SNe Ia Object Supernovae Ia EMU Project Evolutionary Map of the Universe S-PASS Project S-band Polarisation All Sky Survey EoR Object Epoch of Reionisation SRG Facility Spektrum-Rötgen-Gamma, Russian satellite eROSITA Project extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array TAIPAN Facility Transforming Astronomical Imaging surveys through Polychromatic ESO Facility European Southern Observatory Analysis of Nebulae FLASH Project First Large Absorption Survey in HI UKST Facility UK Schmidt Telescope FRB Object Fast radio burst UTMOST Facility An upgrade of the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope GAMA Project Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey VAST Project Variable and Slow Transients GEG Project GaLactic and ExtraGalactic MWA group VLA Facility Very Large Array GLEAM Project Galactic and Extragalactic MWA survey WALLABY Project Widefield ASKAP L-Band Legacy All-sky Blind SurveY GMRT Facility Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, India WiggleZ Project A large-scale galaxy redshift survey GRB Object Gamma-Ray Burst WSRT Facility Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope D

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