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 convective boundaries in stars. This project aims to locate the boundaries of convection, a problem in models of stars. It will calculate high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of stars and observe star clusters. The effect of this advance on stellar modelling could be profound since almost all stars contain convective regions. Many branches of astronomy rely on stellar models so the effect could extend far beyond the immediate field, ultimately expanding understanding of the Universe ....The convective boundaries in stars. This project aims to locate the boundaries of convection, a problem in models of stars. It will calculate high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of stars and observe star clusters. The effect of this advance on stellar modelling could be profound since almost all stars contain convective regions. Many branches of astronomy rely on stellar models so the effect could extend far beyond the immediate field, ultimately expanding understanding of the Universe. It could also be crucial in realising the scientific advances of the surveys which are gathering data for up to a billion stars.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100656
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,259.00
Summary
The stars that should not exist. This project aims to explain the origin of stars with a chemical composition that is so peculiar that they cannot be explained by any theory of how stars evolve or how elements are created. Their very existence represents fundamental problems in astrophysics. This project proposes a novel method to distinguish peculiarity of up to 20 million stars, mostly observed from Australia. Expected outcomes include new theories to explain two of the most puzzling kinds of ....The stars that should not exist. This project aims to explain the origin of stars with a chemical composition that is so peculiar that they cannot be explained by any theory of how stars evolve or how elements are created. Their very existence represents fundamental problems in astrophysics. This project proposes a novel method to distinguish peculiarity of up to 20 million stars, mostly observed from Australia. Expected outcomes include new theories to explain two of the most puzzling kinds of peculiar stars, discoveries of new kinds of anomalous stars, and discoveries of ancient or metal-free stars that should not exist. The project is expected to generate social benefit, as well as long-term economic benefits by inspiring and training the next generation of data analysts, programmers, engineers, teachers, and scientists. It may also generate economic benefits from a generalised method for outlier detection in high-dimensional datasets.Read moreRead less
Nucleosynthetic signatures of convective-reactive events in stars. This project aims to better understand where the elements in the periodic table come from, by investigating spectacular but poorly understood nuclear-burning events that occur in stars. The project aims to understand the inner workings of stars by calculating detailed three-dimensional simulations using Australia's largest supercomputers, and to combine this with telescope surveys that are recording the chemical make-up of millio ....Nucleosynthetic signatures of convective-reactive events in stars. This project aims to better understand where the elements in the periodic table come from, by investigating spectacular but poorly understood nuclear-burning events that occur in stars. The project aims to understand the inner workings of stars by calculating detailed three-dimensional simulations using Australia's largest supercomputers, and to combine this with telescope surveys that are recording the chemical make-up of millions of stars. The project expects to create new knowledge in the areas of stellar physics and nucleosynthesis. Many branches of astronomy rely on stellar models so the impact would extend far beyond the immediate field, ultimately expanding our understanding of the Universe.Read moreRead less
New Statistical Techniques for Galactic Archaeology. This project aims to develop methods that will enable us to exploit new astronomical data. A revolution is under way in stellar astronomy, with new space satellites and Australian survey instruments about to reveal the composition of millions of stars. These data hold the promise of disentangling the origin of our galaxy through identification of star-forming groups that have long ago dispersed into our galaxy. We can also learn about the nucl ....New Statistical Techniques for Galactic Archaeology. This project aims to develop methods that will enable us to exploit new astronomical data. A revolution is under way in stellar astronomy, with new space satellites and Australian survey instruments about to reveal the composition of millions of stars. These data hold the promise of disentangling the origin of our galaxy through identification of star-forming groups that have long ago dispersed into our galaxy. We can also learn about the nuclear and stellar processes that were active in long-dead stars, and hence explain why the Universe is the way it is. This project aims to extend the powerful Minimum Message Length method, never before used in astronomy, to handle this data. This would put us in a unique position to extract new knowledge from the data that will arrive in the next one to five years.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101520
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$439,700.00
Summary
A New Era of Galactic Archaeology with Large Surveys and Machine Learning. The project aims to advance the symbiotic relation between astronomy and machine learning to unravel the origin and the evolutionary history of the Milky Way. The proposed study will base heavily on the data from the Australian-led spectroscopic survey and, as a result, contribute to realising the full potential of this multi-million dollar endeavour. The goal of the study is to walk ourselves back in cosmic time, using t ....A New Era of Galactic Archaeology with Large Surveys and Machine Learning. The project aims to advance the symbiotic relation between astronomy and machine learning to unravel the origin and the evolutionary history of the Milky Way. The proposed study will base heavily on the data from the Australian-led spectroscopic survey and, as a result, contribute to realising the full potential of this multi-million dollar endeavour. The goal of the study is to walk ourselves back in cosmic time, using the most advanced technologies of our time to reveal the Milky Ways oldest story. The investigation aims to consolidate Australia's position in big data astronomy and give Australia a unique competitive advantage in data analytics. Such an endeavour is essential for Australia to maintain its leadership in astronomy.Read moreRead less
FIRE-DRIVE: Feedback in Realistic Environments to DRIVE turbulence. This project aims to understand galactic turbulence, which controls the formation of stars in the Universe and determines galaxy evolution and planet formation. Galactic turbulence is not yet well understood. This project’s goal is to determine the turbulence driving with realistic simulations and compare them to observations, to predict star, planet and galaxy formation and evolution. The simulations and observational tools dev ....FIRE-DRIVE: Feedback in Realistic Environments to DRIVE turbulence. This project aims to understand galactic turbulence, which controls the formation of stars in the Universe and determines galaxy evolution and planet formation. Galactic turbulence is not yet well understood. This project’s goal is to determine the turbulence driving with realistic simulations and compare them to observations, to predict star, planet and galaxy formation and evolution. The simulations and observational tools developed in this project will transform our understanding of galactic cloud and star formation, advancing international and Australian research on galaxies, stars and planets.Read moreRead less
Ancient stars: the origin of elements. The story of the origin of the elements fascinates mankind and touches many branches of science. This project combines new stellar population models of the oldest stars with new data from the Australian million-star GALactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey to address basic astrophysical problems: mixing in stars, mass transfer in binary stars and measurement of the masses of the first stars. Knowing how these ancient stars behave is crucial to unders ....Ancient stars: the origin of elements. The story of the origin of the elements fascinates mankind and touches many branches of science. This project combines new stellar population models of the oldest stars with new data from the Australian million-star GALactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey to address basic astrophysical problems: mixing in stars, mass transfer in binary stars and measurement of the masses of the first stars. Knowing how these ancient stars behave is crucial to understanding element production in the early Universe, both in our Milky Way and distant galaxies. By statistically comparing new models to the GALAH data, this project aims to measure the masses of the oldest galactic stars directly impacting branches of astrophysics from planets to galaxies.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100023
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$185,000.00
Summary
Detailed spectrophotometric/velocity mapping of galaxies and identifying transient Gamma-Ray Burst Sources (GRBs) and the first stars with the unique upgraded Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) facility. This project will allow light from galaxies be more efficiently detected and analysed. In particular details of a galaxy's composition, rotation, recessional velocity and star formation history will be possible following extensive refurbishment of the Siding Spring Observatory's Wide Field Spectrog ....Detailed spectrophotometric/velocity mapping of galaxies and identifying transient Gamma-Ray Burst Sources (GRBs) and the first stars with the unique upgraded Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) facility. This project will allow light from galaxies be more efficiently detected and analysed. In particular details of a galaxy's composition, rotation, recessional velocity and star formation history will be possible following extensive refurbishment of the Siding Spring Observatory's Wide Field Spectrograph and installation of new extremely sensitive charged couple device (CCD) detectors.Read moreRead less
The formation of the first stars in the universe. This project aims to solve one of the fundamental problems in astrophysics, how the first stars in the Universe were formed after the Big Bang. Using high-resolution simulations, including magnetic fields and jet/outflow feedback, the mass function of the first stars can be determined. The project will transform our understanding of how the first heavy elements were created in the Universe, providing crucial input for Australian-lead internationa ....The formation of the first stars in the universe. This project aims to solve one of the fundamental problems in astrophysics, how the first stars in the Universe were formed after the Big Bang. Using high-resolution simulations, including magnetic fields and jet/outflow feedback, the mass function of the first stars can be determined. The project will transform our understanding of how the first heavy elements were created in the Universe, providing crucial input for Australian-lead international and national observational surveys, and semi-analytic models of galaxy, star and planet formation, all directly following the formation of the first stars. This project will contribute to three of the six big questions defined in the Decadal Plan for Australian Astronomy 2016-2025, expand knowledge in the physical sciences and drive the next generation of large facilities and Australian frontier technologies.Read moreRead less