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UWA researchers are already exploring the far reaches of the Universe.

Addressing key questions of physics and cosmology: Associate Professor Chris Power

Associate Professor Chris Power, who grew up in rural Ireland, was drawn to astronomy at a young age and today, talking about the Universe at his daughter’s school, he gets immense pleasure seeing light bulbs flicker on as children grasp why stars twinkle or why we always see the same face of the moon.

“As a boy I could think of nothing better than a long clear winter’s night with all my favourite constellations to pore over,” recalls the ICRAR scientist. “As I grew older I wanted to know more about the solar system, then our galaxy, then distant galaxies. By the time I finished my undergraduate studies in theoretical physics at Trinity College in Dublin, I wanted to study how galaxies formed.

“Whereas some view science in terms of its economic impact, I think people are drawn to astronomy, cosmology and fundamental particle physics because they tell us more about who we are, and where we come from. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope of distant exploding stars and majestic spiral galaxies enrich our lives.”

Professor Power is a computational astrophysicist, and is an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), a collaboration of Australian universities and overseas partners that aims to use galaxy surveys on nextgeneration telescopes such as the SKA Pathfinder and the SKA to explore dark matter, galaxy formation and evolution, the growth of super-massive black holes and Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.

His extensive experience and expertise lies in running supercomputer models of the Universe and creating ‘synthetic’ galaxy surveys which are an invaluable tool for interpreting the astrophysical implications of ‘real’ galaxy surveys.

help observational astronomers make sense of what they see through their telescopes,” explains the Irish-born scientist.

Professor Power’s dark matter simulation (on the Contents page) shows the expected distribution of dark matter in the halo of a galaxy similar to our own Milky Way.

“Next generation telescopes such as the SKA will play a pivotal role in helping us to answer what is one of the key questions facing fundamental physics and cosmology in the 21st century.”

Simulations of galaxies: Postdoctoral Dr Alan Duffy

Alan Duffy’s research centres on cosmology, galaxy formation and dark matter evolution and he makes computer simulations of stars, black holes and more. Simulations give us a chance to make predictions and interpretations. “If you have an optical telescope, you can see the stars within the galaxy, but that’s only a small part of the true galaxy,” he says. “If you want to see the whole galaxy in unprecedented detail, you need a radio telescope like the SKA.”

Raised in Northern Ireland, the articulate postdoctoral fellow’s enthusiasm has done much to excite the Australian physics teachers he talks to and for whom he has created online cosmology courses.

Dr Duffy’s ability to communicate complex cosmology in an accessible way has ensured that he is highly-demanded as a public speaker. At a recent TEDx talk organised by the City of Perth, he outlined some of aspirations and challenges the SKA will produce when the telescope is completed in a decade, and what benefits researchers are already accruing. He concluded by throwing a challenge to the students in the audience: “Are you going to help solve these problems and make this amazing telescope work? Once we overcome the challenges, who knows what benefits we can expect for society at large.”

Published in Uniview Vol. 31 No. 3 Spring 2012