Science

Research:

My primary area of scientific research is in radio astronomy and the observation of astrophysical magnetic fields. I have observed with standard radio interferometers like the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and the Very Large Array (VLA), as well as VLBI interferometers like the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). All of my contributed works can be found here

Principal Investigator Projects:

Past Projects:

Heightened Faraday complexity in the inner 1 kpc of the galactic centre: Here we looked at a 12 x 12 degree area of sky around the Galactic Centre (GC) using continuum ATCA polarimetric observations with the 16 cm receiver (1.1 - 3.1 GHz). By measuring changes in polarisation angle of sight-lines via Faraday rotation through the GC across the 2 GHz bandwidth, we found that the GC shows a greater amount of polarisation complexity than sight-lines from elsewhere across the sky. From this we were able to constrain the size of magneto-ionic turbulence to a few parsecs (around 10 lightyears), which we attribute to the presence of increased star-formation and stellar outflows within the GC.

A radio polarisation study of magnetic fields in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Here we used archival ATCA 16 cm data to observe the magneto-ionic environment of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the two largest low mass galaxies currently orbiting the Milky Way. The SMC is about 61000 parsecs (or approximately 200000 lightyears) away from our solar system. We found 80 polarised sight-lines that were behind the SMC, and using these data we found that the SMC has a primarily negative magnetic field directed away from us which is consistent with previous studies. We found potential signatures of the SMC magnetising its surroundings through cold gas outflows, and found that the SMC has a magnetic field very similar to the Magellanic Bridge, a region of stars and gas that is shared between the SMC and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) .

Magnetic Fields in the Large Magellanic Cloud and their connection to the Magellanic System: Here we used similar archival ATCA 16 cm data (the originial study looked at the neutral Hydrogen of the Magellanic Clouds) to observe the magneto-ionic enviroment of the LMC, and connection it to the rest of the Magellanic System.

Current Projects:

MOJAVE XXII - Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Faraday Rotation in AGN jets:

ERMINES - Extreme Rotation Measures In AGN jEtS: This project aims to investigate the possible presence of extreme Faraday rotation within the cores of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) using standard interferometers like the VLA. The central engines of AGN are believed to powered by supermassive blackholes (SMBHs) which should have strong magnetic fields and large electron densities. This magneto-ionic environment would cause significant Faraday rotation, and as such signatures of extreme Faraday rotation will help us to understand these highly relativistic and bizarre environments.

Education:

Undergraduate at the Australian National University: 2014 -- 2018

Bachelor of Advanced Science (First Class Honours), Physics
Certificate (Specialisation), Astronomy and Astrophysics
Certificate (Minor), Mathematics

Postgraduate at the Australian National University: 2019 -- 2022

Doctor of Philosophy, Astrophysics, The Magnetic Fields of the Magellanic System