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WVU Center for Astrophysics and NRAO Green Bank Maura McLaughlin, Associate Professor (WVU) Richard Prestage, Scientist (Green Bank) WVU Center for Astrophysics Faculty: Anderson, Lorimer, McLaughlin, McWilliams, Pisano Adjunct faculty: Lockman, O'Neil, Frayer Staff: Garver-Daniels, Moore Postdoctoral research associates: Huerta, Levin, Zhang Grad students: Armentrout, Cardoso, Chennamangalam, Cui, Gentile, Hough, Johnstone, Jones, Miller, Palliyaguru, Rabidoux, Seymour, Swiggum, Wolfe Astrophysics Courses Graduate courses (every other year) Radio Astronomy (Fall '13) Computational Astrophysics (Spring '14) Stellar Structure (Fall '14) Galactic Astronomy (Spring '13) General Relativity (Fall '14) more courses to follow... We also encourage/support student participation in summer schools as well as extended visits to collaborating institutions. Current research interests Neutron Stars: Lorimer, McLaughlin Gravitational Waves: Lorimer, McLaughlin, McWilliams Galaxy formation/evolution: Pisano, (O'Neil) Star formation: Anderson, Pisano Radio Transients: Lorimer, McLaughlin Galactic astronomy: Pisano, (Lockman), Anderson Not just radio astronomy... gamma-rays, x-rays, optical, infrared... Resources National and international observatories - in particular Green Bank, WV Dedicated Linux clusters Pulsars: nature's finest clocks Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that are the remnants of massive stars. They have strong magnetic fields that are responsible for light being beamed from the magnetic poles. Pulsars are the most stable clocks in the universe and serve as excellent tools to study fundamental physics. Search → Time → Probe fundamental physics → Learn about populations A unique niche - GW detectors We can use changes in the arrival time of stable pulsars to search for gravitational waves. A worldwide network of telescopes is currently timing pulsars in a “pulsar timing array”. This complements existing ground-based gravitational wave detectors. Detecting Gravitational Waves 7/20/2015 Sensitivity improves with each new pulsar... High-school students have so far discovered six new pulsars! http://pulsarsearchcollaboratory.com Collaborations with, and Opportunities at NRAO Green Bank NRAO Green Bank • World’ s premiere single-dish radio telescope • Active development program • Astronomers, mechanical, electronic and software engineers • On-site housing Opportunities for Students • • • • • • • Winter / May terms (two week REU precursor) REU (research experience for undergraduates) Undergraduate Interns Co-ops (multiple return) Undergraduate Senior Projects Graduate Students On-site housing available Example Projects • Development of a FPGA based pulsar backend – Hardware developed from reconfigurable off-theshelf platforms (IBOB's and BEE2) and software tools that allow rapid deployment of astronomical signal processing systems. • Numerical modeling of dynamic track loading that includes walking behavior. – There is no numerical model that includes the behavior of rail creep in the direction of travel – Without a model that includes this phenomenon significant rail stresses may be being overlooked. This project is applicable to all heavily loaded tracks. Besides us this included railroads, stadium roofs, heavy cranes etc. Summary • Rapidly growing research group • Broad range of graduate courses • Excellent ties to external facilities, with 500 hours of GBT time available through contract with NRAO • Excellent computational facilities • Established radio astronomy center • Future gravitational wave center • Many student opportunities at Green Bank http://astro.wvu.edu All of this depends on our students! • February 15th graduate application deadline • Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) fellowship program offers full tuition, stipend, mentoring, and travel funding for five years. • Contact Maura McLaughlin at maura.mclaughlin at mail.wvu.edu to discuss opportunities or to arrange a WVU visit! Richard Prestage at: rprestag at nrao.edu for a Green Bank visit!