Project summary
Australia is the co-host of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope, which is the next major international project in Radio Astronomy. One of the most outstanding issues for SKA will be in the accurate use of these facilities to precisely measure the dynamics of our and nearby galaxies. With the theoretical accuracy of SKA we should be able to address fundamental high priority problems in Astronomy: what are the motions of our and other galaxies? What therefore are their dark matter content and the distribution of that? What does that predict for the fate of the Local Group of nearby galaxies and indeed the whole Universe?
However, we are currently unable to even approach the potential theoretical accuracy as the limitation comes from the accuracy of the data analysis methods. In this project we will form a partnership of world-class researchers in Australia and Japan, who share an interest in these questions, to develop the required new approaches and methodologies, thereby demonstrating opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing. We will then pass on these methodologies in workshops, in both Japan and Australia, to educate the future users of the SKA.
The Japanese visitors will be hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in the University of Western Australia (UWA) for a period of a month. The Australians from UWA and University of Tasmania will make reciprocal month-long visits to the University of Kagoshima in Japan. When visiting Kagoshima the UWA and U-Tasmania partners will travel to Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, Tohoku region, for discussions about the contributions that the Japanese GPS network makes to astronomy. Whilst in UWA the Japanese will also travel to U-Tasmania for a week to compare their different analysis approaches and their results.
In U-Tasmania (Hobart) and U-Kagoshima (Japan) we will run 5-day long workshops on "Low Frequency Astrometry in the SKA-era", to share the results and outcomes with the larger community and educate young researchers. This will be an intense investigation of next-generation calibration methods with particular focus on advancing the interests of the host institutions for the SKA-era.
Australia-Japan Foundation grant: $23,100