Project Overview

Approximately once every 10,000 years an unlucky star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy and is destroyed. Known as a tidal disruption event, the destruction of the star produces a bright flash that illuminates a previously invisible supermassive black hole millions to billions of light-years away. Gravitational energy released when mass is suddenly dumped onto black holes powers some of the most explosive phenomena in the Universe, but the specifics of the accretion process and how material is ejected are currently poorly understood due to the long timescales over which jets and outflows from supermassive black holes usually evolve. Tidal disruption events provide a unique opportunity to witness the accretion (and ejection) of material by a supermassive black hole on human timescales.  
To date, we have discovered approximately 100 tidal disruption event candidates, and find approximately 20 new candidates per year. However, the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time in Chile will provide the first opportunity to survey the Southern Sky in detail for tidal disruption events, and is expected to discover hundreds of new events per year. Australia is in a unique position to provide the fastest and most comprehensive follow-up support, and Australian radio observatories are a world-class addition to this. This project will work with international collaborations to follow up new tidal disruption events with Australian radio telescopes in order to answer fundamental questions about supermassive black holes such as: How much of each star is swallowed by the black hole, and how much is ejected? How do supermassive black holes eject material and launch outflows and jets? How do these jets and outflows feed back into the host galaxy and what can we learn about distant galaxies by constraining these jets and outflows?

Aims

Use world-class radio telescopes such as the ATCA, ASKAP, VLA, MeerKAT, and uGMRT to collect new radio observations of tidal disruption events in order to measure the velocity of outflows and how they evolve over time. Use these new observations, combined with existing observations of radio-emitting outflows and multi wavelength observations, to model in detail the outflow physics and shock propagation for a population of events with the ultimate goal of constraining the mechanism for outflow ejection.

Objectives

The PhD student will use new and existing radio observations of TDEs combined with detailed theoretical modelling to understand the ejection mechanism of jets and outflows from supermassive black holes.

Significance 

Radio emission from tidal disruption events has only recently been discovered (in the last decade), and provides unique insight into the launching of jets and outflows from supermassive black holes with observations on human-observable timescales. This project strengthens Curtin University’s significant research profile in astrophysical radio transients and aligns with the strategic goals of the Square Kilometre Array.

The research will be conducted at the Curtin Institute for Radio Astronomy (CIRA) which is the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), a joint venture with the University of Western Australia and supported by the Australian Government. The successful candidate will be in a vibrant research environment interacting with staff and students across the two ICRAR nodes who specialise in astronomical science, engineering and high-performance computing. ICRAR is working to further Australia’s contribution to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and this PhD is linked with the SKA key science goals. Along with the standard University support for computing and travel, additional ICRAR resources may be used to send PhD students to present their work at the Astronomical Society of Australia’s annual meeting, and participate in training and networking opportunities. This project will make use of observations made with multiple world-class radio telescopes, including existing proprietary data from the VLA, ATCA, and UGMRT, as well as future observations to be taken by pre-approved observing programs with ATCA and the VLA. The supervisory panel has significant expertise in transient astrophysics, radio observing, and interpreting radio observations. They collaborate with International researchers in the field and as a Forrest Research Foundation fellow the principal supervisor has access to additional resources and networks.

• Future Students

• Faculty of Science & Engineering
  • Science courses
  • Engineering courses

• Higher Degree by Research

• Australian Citizen
• Australian Permanent Resident
• New Zealand Citizen
• Permanent Humanitarian Visa

• Merit Based

The annual scholarship package, covering both stipend and tuition fees, amounts to approximately $70,000 per year.

In 2024, the RTP stipend scholarship offers $35,000 per annum for a duration of up to three years. Exceptional progress and adherence to timelines may qualify students for a six-month completion scholarship.

Selection for these scholarships involves a competitive process, with shortlisted applicants notified of outcomes by November 2024.

1

All applicable HDR courses.

Experience in observational techniques (particularly radio astronomy), coding and scripting languages, and scientific writing. The ideal candidate would have strong programming and problem-solving skills.

 

Please send your CV, academic transcripts and brief rationale why you want to join this research project via the HDR expression of interest form to the project lead researcher, listed below. 

You must be enrolled in a Higher Degree by Research Course at Curtin University by March 2025.

Project Lead: Dr Adelle Goodwin