Major Projects
The Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing is involved in a number of major research projects of significant importance.
 |
To simulate the performance of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the next generation radio telescope, that is currently being planned and designed by an international consortium of radio astronomy institutes, in cooperation with universities, governments, and the private sector. The Group's simulations will make extensive use of the Centre's supercomputer, in collaboration with other groups in Australia and around the world, through the SKA Simulation Working Group (SSWG). A more detailed description of the Swinburne Group's SKA simulation activities can be found under the research link. Relevant publications and documents can be found under the publications link.
To undertake scientific investigations of celestial sources of radio emission using interferometric techniques. Interferomeric instruments used in this work include the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Australian Long Baseline Array, the Very Long Baseline Array, the Very Large Array, the European VLBI Network, the VLBI Space Observatory Programme, and other synthesis telesopes. Scientific targets include active galactic nuclei, galactic black hole candidates, starburst galaxies. The group is also interested in technique-based studies in areas such as wide-field VLBI imaging. Other information on the activities of the Group can be found under the research and publication links.
The SKA simulation work undertaken in the SKA Simulation and Radio Interferometry Group is supported under the Major National Research Facilities program of the Commonwealth of Australia, through the Department of Innovation, Industry, and Regional Development in the State of Victoria, by Dell Computer Pty Ltd, and by the Swinburne University of Technology.
|
PSRCHIVE consists of a suite of useful programs and a C++ development library for use in the storage and analysis of the observational data commonly encountered in experimental pulsar astronomy. It implements an extensive range of tools for use in pulsar timing, scintillation studies, polarimetric calibration, single-pulse work, RFI mitigation, etc.
|
GEMS (Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study)
The GEMS project is a collaboration involving groups at Birmingham, Liverpool John Moores, Melbourne, Nottingham, Sussex and Swinburne Universities. Our aim is to combine data taken in a variety of wavebands, to study the properties of galaxy groups and the galaxies within them. Comparing these properties with cosmological simulations and evolutionary models, will improve our understanding of the way in which galaxies evolve within the environment in which they are most commonly found.
|
SAGES (Study the Astrophysics of Globular clusters in Extragalactic Systems)
The aim of the project is to investigate the formation and evolution of globular clusters and their host galaxies. This problem is tackled using high resolution imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope, ground-based imaging, and multi-object spectroscopy with the Keck Telescopes.
|
Using the AAOmega instrument on the AAT, we will measure redshifts for 400,000 galaxies and hence the clustering of matter at redshift z ~ 0.75. This clustering, or `baryonic wiggle', is a relic of the Big Bang and provides a measurement of the Dark Energy content of the Universe
|
