A Transdimensional Approach to Gravitational-Wave Astronomy. This project uses ripples in the fabric of spacetime––gravitational waves––to understand the cosmos and the fundamental nature of reality. We aim to discover new sources of gravitational waves from exploding stars. Using gravitational waves from colliding black holes, we aim to uncover new physics beyond Einstein's theory of general relativity. To achieve these goals we will develop tools from the cutting-edge of data science.
Precision cosmic expansion in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy. The disagreement in the size of the cosmic expansion rate, between measurements from local galaxy indicators and predictions from the early Universe, is a crisis for cosmology. This Project aims to resolve this situation using recent scientific breakthroughs in both observations and theory. We will optimise expansion measurements from the standard sirens discovered by gravitational-wave astronomy by accurate modelling of th ....Precision cosmic expansion in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy. The disagreement in the size of the cosmic expansion rate, between measurements from local galaxy indicators and predictions from the early Universe, is a crisis for cosmology. This Project aims to resolve this situation using recent scientific breakthroughs in both observations and theory. We will optimise expansion measurements from the standard sirens discovered by gravitational-wave astronomy by accurate modelling of the cosmic velocity field which limits this analysis. And we will use recent breakthoughs in numerical general relativity to explore the influence of space-time curvature variations on these measurements. We will hence improve our understanding of the most important parameter describing the Universe, and its physics.Read moreRead less
Weighing the Universe using fast radio bursts. Fast radio bursts are a newly-discovered astronomical phenomenon whose millisecond-timescale emission occurs at cosmological distances, rendering them exceptional probes of the matter that lies in intergalactic space. This project aims to measure the positions and obtain the distances to these bursts to make a direct measurement of the density of ordinary matter in the Universe, at least 50 per cent of which is believed to remain undetected in inter ....Weighing the Universe using fast radio bursts. Fast radio bursts are a newly-discovered astronomical phenomenon whose millisecond-timescale emission occurs at cosmological distances, rendering them exceptional probes of the matter that lies in intergalactic space. This project aims to measure the positions and obtain the distances to these bursts to make a direct measurement of the density of ordinary matter in the Universe, at least 50 per cent of which is believed to remain undetected in intergalactic space. This project will measure the distribution of this missing matter, and find how it has evolved throughout the history of the Universe. This will provide significant benefits, such as addressing two fundamental questions about our Universe: how much matter does it contain, and has a large fraction of it hitherto evaded detection in intergalactic space?Read moreRead less
The diversity of core-collapse supernovae. This project aims to develop a comprehensive picture of the explosions of massive stars as core-collapse supernovae using high-end computer simulations. Such explosions come in many varieties and arise from different classes of progenitor stars. This project seeks to thoroughly understand this diversity. It endeavours to provide simulations of supernovae powered by magnetic fields, supernovae that produce black holes, supernovae in binary systems, and t ....The diversity of core-collapse supernovae. This project aims to develop a comprehensive picture of the explosions of massive stars as core-collapse supernovae using high-end computer simulations. Such explosions come in many varieties and arise from different classes of progenitor stars. This project seeks to thoroughly understand this diversity. It endeavours to provide simulations of supernovae powered by magnetic fields, supernovae that produce black holes, supernovae in binary systems, and the most energetic neutrino-driven supernovae. The project also aspires to better link numerical simulations, observations of supernovae and their remnants, and the nucleosynthesis fingerprints that supernovae have left in the chemical history record of galaxies.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100241
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$421,540.00
Summary
Discovering the origin of gravitational waves. This project aims to discover the astrophysical origin of gravitational waves. This project expects to calculate the properties of neutron stars and black holes in binaries, using state-of-the-art simulations performed on the largest Australian supercomputers. Expected outcomes of this project include comparisons between gravitational-wave observations and theory using advanced statistical and machine learning techniques, providing new and unique in ....Discovering the origin of gravitational waves. This project aims to discover the astrophysical origin of gravitational waves. This project expects to calculate the properties of neutron stars and black holes in binaries, using state-of-the-art simulations performed on the largest Australian supercomputers. Expected outcomes of this project include comparisons between gravitational-wave observations and theory using advanced statistical and machine learning techniques, providing new and unique insights into the most massive stars in the Universe. This project should provide significant benefits such as answering key questions about the Universe, cementing Australia's place in the international astronomical community and inspiring and training future generations of Australia's workforce.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,898.00
Summary
Exploding massive stars and their implications for gravitational waves. This project aims to perform simulations of core-collapse supernovae, the explosive death of massive stars, to better understand their explosion properties, remnant properties, and gravitational wave emission. This project expects to produce gravitational wave emission predictions in previously unexplored areas of the supernova progenitor parameter space. The expected outcomes of this project include novel gravitational wave ....Exploding massive stars and their implications for gravitational waves. This project aims to perform simulations of core-collapse supernovae, the explosive death of massive stars, to better understand their explosion properties, remnant properties, and gravitational wave emission. This project expects to produce gravitational wave emission predictions in previously unexplored areas of the supernova progenitor parameter space. The expected outcomes of this project include novel gravitational wave data analysis tools, and a better understanding of the birth properties of neutron stars and black holes. This should provide significant benefits, such as improving our understanding of the astrophysics behind core-collapse supernovae, and improving our understanding of neutron star and black hole populations.Read moreRead less
AIM-GWM: Afterglow Imaging and Modelling of Gravitational-Wave Mergers. This project aims to capitalise on the dawn of the era of gravitational wave astronomy by studying the radio afterglows that result from gravitational wave merger events in minute detail. By comparing ultra-high resolution images to sophisticated computational models, we anticipate recovering information about the merger events that cannot be obtained from the gravitational wave data alone. In doing so, we expect new insight ....AIM-GWM: Afterglow Imaging and Modelling of Gravitational-Wave Mergers. This project aims to capitalise on the dawn of the era of gravitational wave astronomy by studying the radio afterglows that result from gravitational wave merger events in minute detail. By comparing ultra-high resolution images to sophisticated computational models, we anticipate recovering information about the merger events that cannot be obtained from the gravitational wave data alone. In doing so, we expect new insights into not just of the extreme and unique physics in the aftermath of a violent neutron star merger, but also about the fundamental nature of the Universe, namely the speed at which it is expanding. This knowledge will provide significant benefits to astronomers studying the Universe at all wavelengths.Read moreRead less
On the origin of very massive back holes. This project aims to investigate the origin of massive black holes observed in recent years by gravitational wave detectors. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of very massive stars utilising stellar evolution models, hydrodynamic simulations, light curve calculations and supernova observations, in order to explain the unexpected absence of a gap in the black hole mass distribution. Expected outcomes of this project include a bett ....On the origin of very massive back holes. This project aims to investigate the origin of massive black holes observed in recent years by gravitational wave detectors. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of very massive stars utilising stellar evolution models, hydrodynamic simulations, light curve calculations and supernova observations, in order to explain the unexpected absence of a gap in the black hole mass distribution. Expected outcomes of this project include a better understanding of mass loss and the collapse of very massive stars as key factors for the observed black hole mass distribution.This should provide significant benefits for gravitational wave astronomy, but also for observations of stellar explosions by informing future survey strategies.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100002
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,000,000.00
Summary
Australian Partnership in Advanced LIGO+: continuation. The aim of this project is, in collaboration with the USA and UK, to complete the installation and commissioning of the Advanced LIGO+ facilities in the USA in order to bring them to design sensitivity. These facilities expect to increase the event rate of gravitational wave signals by a factor of 125. This should lead to daily detections and the observation of new sources of gravitational waves. Given that only 5% of the universe is detect ....Australian Partnership in Advanced LIGO+: continuation. The aim of this project is, in collaboration with the USA and UK, to complete the installation and commissioning of the Advanced LIGO+ facilities in the USA in order to bring them to design sensitivity. These facilities expect to increase the event rate of gravitational wave signals by a factor of 125. This should lead to daily detections and the observation of new sources of gravitational waves. Given that only 5% of the universe is detectable by telescopes, the impact of gravitational wave detections on our understanding of the universe is inestimable. Australian partnership intends to enable our physicists and astronomers to be at the vanguard of this brand new field and inspire a new generation to study the physical sciences.Read moreRead less
Shining gravitational waves on binary astrophysics. This project aims to take advantage of the growing data set of gravitational-wave observations, which ushered in a new field of gravitational-wave astronomy, to answer fundamental questions in astrophysics. This project will combine state-of-the art theoretical modelling with innovative machine learning techniques in order to explore how the Universe makes merging black holes and neutron stars, and what they tell us about the lives and deaths ....Shining gravitational waves on binary astrophysics. This project aims to take advantage of the growing data set of gravitational-wave observations, which ushered in a new field of gravitational-wave astronomy, to answer fundamental questions in astrophysics. This project will combine state-of-the art theoretical modelling with innovative machine learning techniques in order to explore how the Universe makes merging black holes and neutron stars, and what they tell us about the lives and deaths of the most elusive but incredibly important massive stars. This will strengthen Australia's role in the emerging field of gravitational-wave astronomy and provide broad benefits through transferrable machine learning techniques, collaboration building, and big data training.Read moreRead less