Project Overview

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration extragalactic transient events, so powerful that they can be detected after travelling more than half the age of the Universe to reach earth. Currently, the origin of FRBs is unknown, although lead theories include young, rapidly rotating, and highly magnetised neutron stars; and the merger of compact objects such as a neutron star and a white dwarf. The field also aims to use FRBs to study the distribution of matter in the Universe, to determine how much exists in the circum-galactic medium vs the inter-galactic medium, and to independently determine cosmological parameters. 
The ‘CRAFT’ Collaboration uses the ASKAP radio telescope to detect FRBs, determine their direction of origin, and critically, study the properties of their emission down to nanosecond timescales. Our science is world-leading, having been awarded the 2020 Newcomb Cleveland Prize for most impactful Science paper that year. We have also recently commissioned a new detection mode which will increase our rate of FRB detections ten-fold, and an analysis pipeline on the OzStar supercomputer in Swinburne to process the data.

Aims

The aim of this project is to use precision measurements of the time-profiles and polarisation properties of FRBs to determine their origins, and study the media through which they traverse, revealing the location of hidden matter in the Universe. This will be conducted as part of the CRAFT Collaboration, which is centred on Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney, but has extensive international collaborators in e.g. Chile, the USA, Germany, and Japan. In particular, we aim to test the hypothesis of neutron-star origin of FRBs, and determine how and why some neutron stars emit FRBs (which are extremely rare) while others do not. We also aim to disentangle the effects of astrophysical plasmas in intervening galaxies along the line of sight to FRBs from effects due to their progenitors – which is also critical in determining the matter distribution in the halos of those intervening galaxies.

Objectives

The objectives of this project will first be to analyse a large number of FRBs detected by the CRAFT Coherent Upgrade (‘CRACO’) system on ASKAP, and determine their high-time-resolution properties. The student will then analyse this sample for effects such as generalised Faraday rotation in relativistic plasmas near the source, plasma or gravitational lensing, the sweep of position angle indicative of a rotating neutron star origin, and/or quasi-periodic oscillations due to resonances in a neutron star crust. They are expected to publish papers on specific FRBs of particular interest, and catalogue papers which analyse the overall population of FRBs. Especially, a systematic comparison of the FRB HTR properties with those of the Galactic pulsar population would reveal what leads to FRB emission from some neutron stars. This work will utilise the OzStar supercomputer in Swinburne, Melbourne, and the student will work with – and extend – our data processing pipeline that produces high-time-resolution data.

Significance 

Fast radio bursts are currently one of the hottest topics in astronomy, with a very high publication/citation rate. Our Collaboration has published many high-impact papers in the field, and with the advent of CRACO, we will continue to be at the forefront of international efforts. FRBs have the ability to address some major problems relevant to all of astrophysics – for example, resolving the Hubble Tension, locating the so-called “missing matter”, determining the physics of neutron stars and perhaps even their equation of state. CRAFT has also demonstrated that the new CRACO system can study the recently discovered long-period transients, with periods of hours, and may be able to reveal what kind of objects – white dwarfs, neutron stars, or something else – is producing them.

This project is embedded in the CRAFT Collaboraiton, which was begun at CIRA in 2009. Since then, CRAFT at CIRA has been awarded one ARC LIEF grant and two Discovery projects, and CIRA has invested significantly in this research, funding approximately $100k of equipment and $1M of personnel. Currently, one permanent staff member, three post-doctoral research associates, and two PhD students work on CRAFT at CIRA, and the student will be embedded in this team. Apurba Bera I leading the interpretation of high-time-resolution data, while Clancy James leads the understanding of experimental biases in that data. Our success at Nature/Science publications also provides a significant pot of money in which to support a student, and we expect to be able to fund an overseas conference trip for that student to present the results of their work. We have access to supercomputing allocations at both the Pawsey Centre, and in particular OzStar at Swinburne, for this work, and extensive collaborative links to researchers interstate and overseas.

• 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.

A stipend top-up of $10,000 per annum over 3 years may be provided for this project, funded by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)

1

All applicable HDR courses.

We prefer applicants demonstrating a high competency in analytical reasoning and thirst for knowledge. Experience with coding (in particular, Python) and supercomputing will help, as will a background in radio astronomy, general astronomy, and/or physics, in particular electromagnetism. However, the necessary knowledge can be taught as part of the PhD – we fundamentally aim to recruit a talented candidate who is keen to make the most of the world-leading dataset we have to offer.

 

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 Clancy James