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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
5/24/2017
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
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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!