MeerKAT at 5
Abstract
The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa was inaugurated 5 years ago. In this talk I’ll provide a broad overview of science results to date. Among other examples, I’ll show: how an exquisitely sensitive continuum image is constraining the star formation history of the universe, putting it into tension with UV+IR-derived evolution; the discovery of OH megamasers at redshift > 0.5; how the study of neutral hydrogen down to column densities of ~5e17/cm^2 is enabling Local Group science outside the Local Group, and revealing how gas is shaped and removed from galaxies in cluster environments. Come see how MeerKAT combined with a pulsar timing backend developed in Australia is enabling unprecedented tomographic mapping of the Local Bubble and constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves. I’ll also cover the discovery and study of numerous extragalactic and Galactic transients – including still mysterious sources with rotation periods up to tens of minutes – done in part jointly with the MWA and ASKAP.