Feeding the faintest black holes: the nature of low-luminosity accretion. The overwhelming majority of black holes are found in an extremely faint quiescent state. This project aims to improve understandings of this large population of black holes, determining the geometry of the inflowing gas, the source of the faint X-ray emission, and the fraction of energy pumped outwards in fast-moving jets. Building on recent ground-breaking results, this project aims to conduct a survey to detect a new po ....Feeding the faintest black holes: the nature of low-luminosity accretion. The overwhelming majority of black holes are found in an extremely faint quiescent state. This project aims to improve understandings of this large population of black holes, determining the geometry of the inflowing gas, the source of the faint X-ray emission, and the fraction of energy pumped outwards in fast-moving jets. Building on recent ground-breaking results, this project aims to conduct a survey to detect a new population of black holes in dense star clusters, providing new laboratories to explore accretion physics. It aims to measure the distances of the black holes and their motion through space, test evidence for the existence of event horizons, and provide new insights into how black holes form and how they affect their surroundings.Read moreRead less
Pinpointing the hosts of Fast Radio Bursts with UTMOST-2D. This project proposes to localise a sample of detected ‘fast radio bursts’ to their host galaxies (or local progenitors) for the first time. ‘Fast radio bursts’ are impulsive bursts of radio energy, with characteristics consistent with an origin billions of light-years from Earth. If the source of the bursts can be pinpointed, they would offer a unique tool to study the tenuous, otherwise nearly invisible plasma that permeates the interg ....Pinpointing the hosts of Fast Radio Bursts with UTMOST-2D. This project proposes to localise a sample of detected ‘fast radio bursts’ to their host galaxies (or local progenitors) for the first time. ‘Fast radio bursts’ are impulsive bursts of radio energy, with characteristics consistent with an origin billions of light-years from Earth. If the source of the bursts can be pinpointed, they would offer a unique tool to study the tenuous, otherwise nearly invisible plasma that permeates the intergalactic medium. They could also be used as cosmic rulers to measure the expansion history of the Universe. To date, no burst has been associated with a host galaxy at a known distance, and some researchers maintain that fast radio bursts originate from more nearby sources, potentially even within our own Galaxy. The project plans to explore this hypothesis.Read moreRead less
Understanding the enigma of the most energetic particles in the Universe. By combining an innovative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based calibration technique with the unparalleled sensitivity of future gamma-ray and radio telescope arrays, this project will study astronomical particle accelerators and Dark Matter with unprecedented accuracy. This will afford us a unique view of the Universe' most energetic processes and allow us to study the laws of physics inaccessible to us in the lab. In the ....Understanding the enigma of the most energetic particles in the Universe. By combining an innovative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based calibration technique with the unparalleled sensitivity of future gamma-ray and radio telescope arrays, this project will study astronomical particle accelerators and Dark Matter with unprecedented accuracy. This will afford us a unique view of the Universe' most energetic processes and allow us to study the laws of physics inaccessible to us in the lab. In the context of interdisciplinary research, the UAV innovation created will also be leveraged against key applications of remote sensing. With these two goals, this project will demonstrate the capabilities of novel Australian technology whilst providing Australia with a unique science use-case in high-energy astrophysics.Read moreRead less
Transforming carbon onions into nanodiamond: technological and astrophysical implications. This project will develop a novel approach for converting carbon into nanometre-sized diamond. Control of the process will lead to a new technology for making diamond coatings and insight into how nanodiamonds form in space.