This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Dr Chakrabarty and his team will use the Murchison Widefield Array, an innovative low-frequency radio telescope currently under construction in Western Australia, to search for transient radio sources. These would include the coronal (outer) layers of nearby stars; radio-bright jets which develop as material falls onto neutron stars or black holes; stars exploding at the end of their lives; and potentially, radio waves from planets orbiting nearby stars. Initially the team will complete software development for the transient observing system. Then, areas such as the Galactic Center, regions of the Galactic plane, and young star clusters will be surveyed. Once the system is able to capture the radio-transient data, the team will involve astronomers working at other wavelengths in follow-up observations to understand the nature of the transient sources.
Work on this project will build capabilities that are needed for the planned Square Kilometer Array radio telescope project. All those involved will have the opportunity to participate in programs with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kavli Institute's Education and Public Outreach office, which develops after-school science programs.
