Understanding magnetism across the universe in the era of next generation radio telescopes

Event Date:
2025-09-15T16:00:00
2025-09-15T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Jennifer West, Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO)
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Allison Man (aman@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

 

Event Information:

Abstract: 

The pursuit of understanding the structure and origin of Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields is a central science driver for current and future radio telescope surveys. Magnetic fields are pervasive and thought to be a critical driver in many astrophysical processes across all physical scales from solar flares to exoplanet habitability, stellar evolution, galactic turbulence, cosmic ray acceleration and propagation, and the evolution of the Universe. Radio polarization observations offer a unique probe of both the line-of-sight and plane-of-sky components of the magnetic field, yet the interpretation is extremely challenging due to Faraday rotation effects, and that we are integrating a vector quantity along vast lines of sight. New projects on next generation instruments are providing key information including wide bandwidths and sensitive, high resolution data that are necessary to disentangle this complex information. Some of these exciting projects include, the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM), which uses Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS), the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), and the upcoming International SKA Observatory. 

These data are giving us an unprecedented view of the polarized radio sky, changing the way we think about the formation and evolution of planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe itself. These massive datasets are also posing new challenges to the traditional ways that we visualize and analyze such data, forcing us to innovate new approaches. I will discuss progress thus far, as well as the remaining challenges, and highlight the new ways these data will revolutionize our understanding of magnetism across the universe.
 

Bio:

Jennifer West is currently a Covington Fellow at the Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada. She is interested in magnetic fields in supernova remnants and the Milky Way Galaxy, using data from large surveys using cutting edge radio telescopes. Previously she was at the Dunlap Institute at the University of Toronto and prior to that she completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba.

Learn More: 

Add to Calendar 2025-09-15T16:00:00 2025-09-15T17:00:00 Understanding magnetism across the universe in the era of next generation radio telescopes Event Information: Abstract:  The pursuit of understanding the structure and origin of Galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields is a central science driver for current and future radio telescope surveys. Magnetic fields are pervasive and thought to be a critical driver in many astrophysical processes across all physical scales from solar flares to exoplanet habitability, stellar evolution, galactic turbulence, cosmic ray acceleration and propagation, and the evolution of the Universe. Radio polarization observations offer a unique probe of both the line-of-sight and plane-of-sky components of the magnetic field, yet the interpretation is extremely challenging due to Faraday rotation effects, and that we are integrating a vector quantity along vast lines of sight. New projects on next generation instruments are providing key information including wide bandwidths and sensitive, high resolution data that are necessary to disentangle this complex information. Some of these exciting projects include, the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM), which uses Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS), the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), and the upcoming International SKA Observatory.  These data are giving us an unprecedented view of the polarized radio sky, changing the way we think about the formation and evolution of planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe itself. These massive datasets are also posing new challenges to the traditional ways that we visualize and analyze such data, forcing us to innovate new approaches. I will discuss progress thus far, as well as the remaining challenges, and highlight the new ways these data will revolutionize our understanding of magnetism across the universe.  Bio: Jennifer West is currently a Covington Fellow at the Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada. She is interested in magnetic fields in supernova remnants and the Milky Way Galaxy, using data from large surveys using cutting edge radio telescopes. Previously she was at the Dunlap Institute at the University of Toronto and prior to that she completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba. Learn More:  About the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory: https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/nrc-facilities/dominion-radio-astrophysical-observatory-research-facility About radio polarization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves) About Polarization Sky survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM): https://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/possum/ Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope: https://www.csiro.au/en/about/facilities-collections/atnf/askap-radio-telescope Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS): https://public.nrao.edu/vlass/ LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) surveys: https://lofar-surveys.org/surveys.html The Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS): https://gmims.ok.ubc.ca/ International SKA Observatory: https://www.skao.int/en  Event Location: HENN 318