Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101840
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,696.00
Summary
Fantastic companions of giant planets and where to find them. The gas giants in the Solar System are hypothesized to have played important roles in the formation and habitability of the Earth. This project aims to put the Solar System in a broader context of the exoplanet demography. The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) a uniform sample of small planets discovered with the public Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data; (2) detection of additional gas giants and in-depth charact ....Fantastic companions of giant planets and where to find them. The gas giants in the Solar System are hypothesized to have played important roles in the formation and habitability of the Earth. This project aims to put the Solar System in a broader context of the exoplanet demography. The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) a uniform sample of small planets discovered with the public Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite data; (2) detection of additional gas giants and in-depth characterisation of the best planetary systems; (3) occurrence rate of planetary systems cohosting both gas giant and small planets. This study will provide significant benefits for theoretically understanding the uniqueness of the Solar System, as well as the formation and evolution of planetary systems in general.Read moreRead less
The worlds next door: terrestrial exoplanets with the TOLIMAN space mission. This project aims to to explore our nearest neighbour star system, Alpha Centauri, for the first time probing for exoplanets with physical characteristics that resemble those of Earth. The finding of any such world, with the potential to support a biosphere like our own and lying only 4 light-years away, would profoundly alter our view of our place in the universe. The primary outcome of this project will be the design, ....The worlds next door: terrestrial exoplanets with the TOLIMAN space mission. This project aims to to explore our nearest neighbour star system, Alpha Centauri, for the first time probing for exoplanets with physical characteristics that resemble those of Earth. The finding of any such world, with the potential to support a biosphere like our own and lying only 4 light-years away, would profoundly alter our view of our place in the universe. The primary outcome of this project will be the design, construction, launch and operation of a novel and innovative space telescope: the TOLIMAN mission. This profoundly benefits the Australian space and university sectors, partnering them with international agencies to deliver marquee science with global impact: the search for our first stepping stone to interstellar space.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE200100035
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$610,000.00
Summary
WA CRC-MC-ICPMS for Earth, Planetary and Environmental science. This Application aims to provide a mass spectrometer for Australian researchers collaborating on NASA, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and China National Space Administration extra-terrestrial sample return missions as they characterise unique samples of dust and rock collected from asteroids, the Moon and meteorites. The Application will also support government geoscience agencies who will generate nationally significant isot ....WA CRC-MC-ICPMS for Earth, Planetary and Environmental science. This Application aims to provide a mass spectrometer for Australian researchers collaborating on NASA, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and China National Space Administration extra-terrestrial sample return missions as they characterise unique samples of dust and rock collected from asteroids, the Moon and meteorites. The Application will also support government geoscience agencies who will generate nationally significant isotopic datasets to improve mineral exploration success, and scientists monitoring Earth’s environment. Expected outcomes will ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of cosmochemistry, minerals research and environmental studies, which will provide significant benefits to our economy and society.
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How typical is our Local Galaxy Group? This project will uncover how unusual the Local Group is by comparing the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy (known as M31) halos to similar mass systems in the local Universe. By using well understood galaxy groups created as part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly project (GAMA), the study will be able to uncover the mass distribution of galaxies found in different mass groups. It will go further than any previous work by combining these robust groups with faint ....How typical is our Local Galaxy Group? This project will uncover how unusual the Local Group is by comparing the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy (known as M31) halos to similar mass systems in the local Universe. By using well understood galaxy groups created as part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly project (GAMA), the study will be able to uncover the mass distribution of galaxies found in different mass groups. It will go further than any previous work by combining these robust groups with fainter imaging data. The combination of both datasets will allow the determination of whether the Local Group is typical or unusual. Putting the Local Group into a cosmological context is vital since many future Galactic archaeology surveys assume that it is typical, and can meaningfully inform us about the wider universe.Read moreRead less
Utilising artificial intelligence to elucidate the physics of galaxies. For decades astronomers have puzzled over the connection between the structure and evolution of galaxies and the role played by host environments. This project aims to resolve this problem by combining multi-wavelength observations, multi-component simulations, and pioneering data analysis using artificial intelligence. In particular, we target the nearby Fornax galaxy cluster as a laboratory for studying galaxy formation in ....Utilising artificial intelligence to elucidate the physics of galaxies. For decades astronomers have puzzled over the connection between the structure and evolution of galaxies and the role played by host environments. This project aims to resolve this problem by combining multi-wavelength observations, multi-component simulations, and pioneering data analysis using artificial intelligence. In particular, we target the nearby Fornax galaxy cluster as a laboratory for studying galaxy formation in dense environments. Using our novel machine learning techniques, we will elucidate the physical mechanisms that drive the rapid evolution of star formation, galactic nuclei, and gas and dust content within Fornax. Our predictions will benefit ongoing and future surveys at the national and international level. Read moreRead less
In Search of New Gravity: testing advanced theories of gravity with cosmological data. The most startling discovery in cosmology in the last few decades has been that the Universe is accelerating. This remarkable fact indicates that our theory of gravity may need revision. Our current theory, Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, stands up in our solar system. If this theory breaks down on large scales, leading to the accelerating expansion, there must be some ‘cross-over’ scale where the the ....In Search of New Gravity: testing advanced theories of gravity with cosmological data. The most startling discovery in cosmology in the last few decades has been that the Universe is accelerating. This remarkable fact indicates that our theory of gravity may need revision. Our current theory, Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, stands up in our solar system. If this theory breaks down on large scales, leading to the accelerating expansion, there must be some ‘cross-over’ scale where the theory changes. This project will make theoretical predictions for those models that contain a cross-over and test them against current data for current and upcoming Australian cosmological surveys. It will determine if our current theory of gravity is a satisfactory theory, and if it is not, which new theory should replace it.Read moreRead less
Understanding the dynamics of the dark universe. This project aims to test theories of dark matter and dark energy with the ultimate goal of understanding the properties of the dark components of the universe and how those properties can be explained by new fundamental physics. The project will use two astronomical datasets, the Dark Energy Survey, with measurements of approximately 3000 supernovae, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, with measurements of 30 million galaxies. By compar ....Understanding the dynamics of the dark universe. This project aims to test theories of dark matter and dark energy with the ultimate goal of understanding the properties of the dark components of the universe and how those properties can be explained by new fundamental physics. The project will use two astronomical datasets, the Dark Energy Survey, with measurements of approximately 3000 supernovae, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, with measurements of 30 million galaxies. By comparing theoretical models to this combination of data the project will help to determine whether dark energy changes with time, measure detailed clustering properties of dark matter, and test advanced theories of gravity.Read moreRead less
Mapping the dark matter with early type galaxies. Unidentified dark matter outweighs luminous matter (stars, gas, and galaxies) by several times and is detected by its gravitational effects in the Universe. The Six Degree Field Galaxy Survey is now complete and this project will prepare a larger survey, which will put the team clearly in the lead in understanding the distribution of dark matter.
Weighing Black Holes with The Australian Dark Energy Survey. This project plans to measure how supermassive black holes have evolved over the last 12 billion years. Direct measurements of central black hole masses only exist for about 40 relatively nearby galaxies. The unique time-lapse observations and five-year baseline of the Australian Dark Energy Survey will enable us to measure masses for about 400 black holes, an order of magnitude more than previously possible. In addition to weighing bl ....Weighing Black Holes with The Australian Dark Energy Survey. This project plans to measure how supermassive black holes have evolved over the last 12 billion years. Direct measurements of central black hole masses only exist for about 40 relatively nearby galaxies. The unique time-lapse observations and five-year baseline of the Australian Dark Energy Survey will enable us to measure masses for about 400 black holes, an order of magnitude more than previously possible. In addition to weighing black holes, recent results show that with precision measurement these systems may provide a standard candle, a new fundamental yardstick for cosmology. Unlike supernova observations that discovered dark energy, our measurements are practical to distances stretching back across 90 per cent of the observable universe.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100003
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,675.00
Summary
Understanding diversity: chemical and kinematic tracers of galaxy evolution. Understanding how galaxies form and evolve throughout the Universe is one of the biggest outstanding challenges in astrophysics. The project aims to develop an innovative method for understanding the fundamental properties of angular momentum and chemical content of all kinds of galaxies. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the field of galaxy evolution, for the first time enabling astronomers to robustly ....Understanding diversity: chemical and kinematic tracers of galaxy evolution. Understanding how galaxies form and evolve throughout the Universe is one of the biggest outstanding challenges in astrophysics. The project aims to develop an innovative method for understanding the fundamental properties of angular momentum and chemical content of all kinds of galaxies. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the field of galaxy evolution, for the first time enabling astronomers to robustly compare distant, long-ago galaxies with those in the nearby, present-day Universe. Expected outcomes include a novel framework for determining galaxy morphology, based on fundamental physics. The framework will be highly beneficial to understanding the evolution of diverse types of galaxies, including our own Milky Way.Read moreRead less