PhD student Debatri Chattopadhyay, joined the OzGrav team just weeks before they announced their biggest astrophysical discovery yet, the detection of gravitational waves from the death spiral of two neutron stars. Debatri shares why this discovery is so astronomical, and what it’s like entering the field at the dawn of this new era of astrophysics.
Written by PhD student Debatri Chattopadhyay, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, OzGrav.
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity predicts that accelerating masses creates a disturbance in the space-time fabric that spreads like a wave, famously known as ‘Gravitational Waves’. These gravitational waves have only ever been theoretically predicted before and never detected.
Now, thanks to the efforts of the brightest minds and latest technologies, we are able to visually "observe" gravitational waves from giant black holes. For the first time we are able to actually see the black holes merging together, in binary systems that are light years away from us.
Now that the universe can be ‘seen’ in not only electromagnetic radiation but also gravitational waves, the future prospects of this emerging field seem limitless. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) aims to uncover the secrets of the universe; from the dynamics of space-time to collisions of massive binary systems and cosmological inflation.
Artists impression of two merging neutron stars: National Science Foundation/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet
Just starting my PhD at the dawn of this new era of astrophysics is really exciting for me. I will be able to simulate star clusters to investigate the evolution and collisions of binary systems. I will also have the chance to observe black holes inside these clusters.
I also have the chance to compute the evolution of binary systems of neutron stars by population synthesis. High mass binary systems are the generators of gravitational waves when they collide, and that makes them interesting candidates to study. Doing this within the dense stellar environment of a star cluster makes it even more extreme because here direct collisions and dynamical events are a common occurrence. Guiding me through this expedition of knowledge are my supervisors Dr. Jarrod Hurley and Dr. Matthew Bailes. Simulations will be performed on the new OzSTAR supercomputer currently being installed at Swinburne.
I’m also enjoying getting the chance to tell the public about my research and the science of gravity waves. Less than a month after starting at Swinburne, I joined my OzGrav teammates over at ScienceWorks for the Astrolight festival, where we took people on virtual tours through the Universe. The outreach programmes are wonderful, giving us the chance to interact with the general audience, and interpret science on a popular level.
Written by PhD student Debatri Chattopadhyay, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, OzGrav.
