Research Interests

My research interests lie in radio astronomy and more specifically magnetic fields. I am curious about how what role magentic fields play in galaxy formation and evolution. I investigate the large scale magnetic field of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). How does the magnetic field interact with the gas and fueling of AGNs? How are these magnetic fields generated and maintained over such large distances? Are there magnetic fields that fill the space between galaxies (the intergalactic magnetic field)? These are some of the questions I am trying to help answer. Below are a list of my research projects that I am heavily involved in that focus on these questions.

Research Projects

Radio Source Morphology: 'Nature or Nurture'?

This is a new project that came to life during the end of 2011 over a conversation during lunch. A small group of us were describing our favourite research projects and one thing lead to another and volia the project was born. I am working with Bjorn Emonts (CASS) and Shane O'Sullivan (Sydney University) to observe the magnetic field of two interacting galaxies connected by an HI bridge (neutral hydrogen gas). We aim to determine whether or not the surrounding gas also has a significant impact on the structure and evolution of the radio galaxy.

We have been awarded time on the Autralia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in November 2012 to observe our system. With our success of this project we are planning to expand to a large group of galaxies in the local universe and another set of galaxies in the high redshift universe to study AGN fueling across cosmic time.

This project will begin to grow over the upcoming year and would be perfect for students at the undergraduate level right up to those thinking of a Ph.D. If you are interested please contact myself, Bjorn, or Shane and we would be happy to discuss the project in further detail.

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU)

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) is a radio survey of the southern sky with the Australia SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). The science goal of this survey is to answer the question: How do galaxies evolve?. We will be studying star-forming galaxies out to redshift z=2, tracing the evolution of massive black holes, and chart an unknown area of observation phase space. The survey will begin in 2013 and take roughly two years to complete.

While we wait for the survey to commence, we are completing a pilot study for EMU in the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS). ATLAS covers two small regions of the sky, ELAIS S1 and CDFS at 1.4 GHz with the ATCA.