Tessa Vernstrom (CASS/CSIRO, Kensington)

Tessa Vernstrom Colloquium: The Faint Extragalactic Radio Background

Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

The radio sky covers a large range of sources, from small single galaxies to large clusters of galaxies and the space between them. These sources consist of some of the most powerful objects in the Universe, as well as diffuse weak emitters; all together these sources make up the Cosmic Radio Background (CRB). Understanding the radio background can tell us about how galaxies have evolved over time, the different kinds of galaxy populations, the star formation history of the Universe, and the role of magnetism, as well as details of large-scale structure and clustering. Advancements in radio telescopes and novel data analysis techniques now allow us to push observational limits to new depths, probing fainter galaxies and farther back in cosmic time. This talk will discuss the use of some of these new data and statistical techniques (such as confusion analysis and cross correlations) for studying point sources and source counts as well as diffuse cluster emission and the synchrotron cosmic web. I will go over the benefits and challenges to statistical techniques for investigating the nature of the faint extragalactic components of the radio sky.