2024 SURP PROJECTS
2024 SURP PROJECTS
Counting Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe with JWST
The stellar mass function, the volume-averaged number densities of galaxies, is a fundamental tool used to understand the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. Due to observational and modeling challenges, distant galaxies that are more massive than the Milky Way are difficult to quantify. In particular, lower mass galaxies (outliers) with certain spectral features can masquerade as massive galaxies in large photometric catalogs. In this project, we will use simulated JWST galaxy catalogs and explore a variety of statistical techniques to estimate the outlier rate as a function of time in massive galaxy samples.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Jacqueline Antwi-Danso , Prof. Josh Speagle, and Samantha Berek.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Python programming, statistical inference
DMD-based Multi-Object Spectrograph Calibration and Data Reduction
We are developing the cutting edge DMD-MOS fed by the 0.5m telescope with F/6.8 beam in the seeing limited resolution of 1.5”, including both spectroscopic and imaging modes within one instrument. As part of this project, students will participate in the DMD-MOS development and calibration (understand the science requirements, calculate the parameters, et al.). This process will superbly help students deeply understand the principle of complex spectrographs and apply the technologies to analyze data. Students will work on the program and coding for the spectral data calibration and reduction. They will have the chance to utilize the spectrograph in the telescope and observe spectral images at the research-grade E. C. Carr Astronomical Observatory.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Shaojie Chen.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Students who have astrophysical or data science-related backgrounds will be a better fit for this position.
DMD-based Multi-Object Spectrograph Integration and Testing
We are designing the cutting edge DMD-MOS fed by the 0.5m telescope with F/6.8 beam in the seeing limited resolution of 1.5”, including both spectroscopic and imaging modes within one instrument. This project is in the building phase, so students will be intensively involved in the DMD-MOS assembly, investigation, and testing. Students will learn and apply different metrologies, equipment, and methods to get the instrument to work precisely as expected. It will be a great chance to gain practical skills in instrument development by working with our senior engineers, including design, testing, and verification. Students will have the chance to participate in installing the spectrograph onto the telescope and observing spectral images at the research-grade E. C. Carr Astronomical Observatory.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Shaojie Chen.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Students who have engineering or optics related background will be a better fit for this position.
3-D convection in giant stars and Fates of planets
Stars are thought to be spherical. However, there are reasons to believe that in giant stars, turbulence may take on a highly asymmetric shape. The gravity field of the star is then no longer purely spherical. This means, e.g., when the Sun turns into a giant, our planets may say bye to the perfect Keperian orbits they have occupied for billions of years. The fate of the solar system, and countless other extra-solar systems would be altered. This project aims to simulate convection (turbulence) in giant envelopes, using either the Euerlian code Athena++, or the spectral code Daedalus.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Yanqin Wu.
Essential skills for applicants?
physics, math, computer
Assembly of the interferometer for an Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer
My laboratory will be developing a prototype of a high-resolution imaging spectrograph over the next 5 years. The first system to be assembled is the interferometer. It consist of a beam splitter, a fixed mirror and a moving mirror. An actuator and electric piezos are attached to the moving mirror to control its position and alignment with the second mirror. We use an IR laser to measure the position and alignment of the moving mirror at all time and correct for any tilt or optical path displacement errors. This project is associated with the assembly of these elements on an optical bench and to start optimize the system alignment using labview.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Laurie Rousseau-Nepton.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Disentangling filaments through kinematics in star-forming clouds
This project will be supervised by Prof. Rachel Friesen.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Observational studies of FRBs and radio pulsars using radio interferometers
This position offers an opportunity to conduct detailed observational studies of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) and radio pulsars, contributing to the ongoing effort to unravel the mysterious origins of FRBs, understand the emission processes of radio pulsars, and improve current techniques of radio interferometry. We have active observational programs that include very-long baseline interferometric studies, pulsar scintillometry studies, as well as testing and commissioning of new instruments. The successful candidate can take part in any of the campaigns above based on their preference.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Nina Gusinskaia.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Essential: Strong interest in astrophysics (observations and data analysis) and a willingness to learn new skills. Helpful: experience programming in Python or equivalent.
Radio analog signal chain calibration and standardization for Radio Astronomy
In radio astronomy, the precision and reliability of radio equipment are critical. Our research team is developing key radio astronomy equipment, including amplifiers, equalizers, filters, and radio-over-fiber (RFoF) devices. This project focuses on the critical phase of calibrating and standardizing these components to ensure optimal performance and accuracy. We seek a student to assist in this vital process, contributing to the data acquisition and processing capabilities in radio astronomy.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Albert Wai Kit Lau.
Preferred skills for applicants?
Basic electronic knowledge or radio astronomy knowledge
Development of instrumentation for radio astronomy applications
In this project, students will collaborate closely with teams from the University of Toronto Radio Astronomy and InstrumentatioN (UTRAIN) Lab and the Long Wavelength Lab (LWLab). They will actively engage in the development, characterization, and deployment of instrumentation tailored for radio astronomy applications. This includes radio antenna and receiver design, algorithmic development for digital correlators, and data analysis for instruments like the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), CHIME Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB), the CHIME/FRB Outriggers program, the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD), and ongoing instrumentation initiatives at the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO)
This project will be supervised by Prof. Juan Mena-Parra and Prof. Keith Vanderlinde.
Essential skills for applicants?
Students should have a strong interest in astrophysics and instrumentation and a willingness to learn new skills. Students will get the most out of this research position if they have experience programming in Python or equivalent.
Study of Young Supernovae and Unusual Optical Transients
Supernovae studies have been central in moving modern astronomy forward,
which is best described as “seeding the elements and measuring the Universe.”
Young supernovae that are detected within a few hours from the explosion
are of particular interest and importance since they have crucial information for
how supernovae explode. They are also prime targets for neutrino and/or gravitational
wave detection. Using the new KMTNet facility, which provides 24-hour continuous
sky coverage with three wide-field telescopes in southern hemisphere, we are now
detecting elusive young supernovae as well as unusual optical transients
previously unidentified. This project is to study those young supernovae and
optical transients to understand their origin and nature.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Dae-Sik Moon.
Essential skills for applicants?
Experience in coding (e.g. Python)
Galactic Paleontology: Uncovering the Assembly History of Galaxies using their Surviving Stars
The growth and assembly of galaxies involves many complex processes, which culminate in the diverse collection of galaxies we observe today. One of the best ways of understanding these processes is through “Galactic Paleontology”, which tries to reconstruct the assembly history of nearby galaxies (including our own Milky Way) through their surviving “fossils” (i.e. their present-day surviving stars!). Using this data, we simulate the birth, evolution, and death of many thousands/millions of stars, compare the end result with the stars we observe today, and repeat this process many times for many different evolutionary pathways to see which ones match the observed data better.
This project will work with a combination of imaging and spectroscopic data to try and see how well we can recover various physical properties and chemical abundances of stars. Depending on student interest, this may involve the development of new statistical/machine learning methods, software/package development, and applications to cutting-edge data from SDSS-V and DESI.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Josh Speagle and Prof. Ting Li.
Essential skills for applicants?
All students are welcome to apply, but some additional background in programming or statistics is preferred.
Image: The Terzan 5 cluster, which contains stars that are 12 billion years old. Other stars in the cluster, half that age, were likely stripped from another galaxy. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA.
Time Domain Science with Cosmology Telescopes
Telescopes designed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in order to probe fundamental cosmology are also providing exciting opportunities for time domain science. This is a new field in millimetre astronomy and there is lots to explore. For instance, the dataset from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (pictured) can be used to search for moving objects in the solar system such as the hypothetical ‘Planet 9’, for transient events like gamma ray burst afterglows, for regularly flashing objects like pulsars and magnetars, and for variability of active galactic nuclei. In many cases, observing in the millimetre will tell us important new things about these objects. The next generation CMB experiments, like the Simons Observatory, will yield an order of magnitude more data, and have time domain science as part of their explicit scientific goals. In this project we invite students to explore such possibilities with us and to think of interesting ways to use CMB datasets for time domain science. The project can be tailored based on the student’s interests will likely involve analysis of maps and/or timestream data.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Adam Hincks and Dr. Yilun Guan.
Essential skills for applicants?
Python Coding
Paving the Way for JWST Stellar Spectroscopy
The absorption features imprinted on a star’s spectrum encode its physical structure, chemical composition, and radial motion, which in turn provide a fossil record of the host galaxy’s chemical and dynamical evolution over cosmic time. JWST’s unique spectroscopic capabilities enable efficient high-quality resolved star spectroscopy in the Local Group’s most distant, faint, and crowded galaxies. As such, JWST has the potential to shine new light on the evolution of neighboring galaxies and their stellar populations. However, because of its novelty and uniqueness, the domain of JWST resolved star spectroscopy is largely unexplored. There remain many unanswered questions regarding optimal strategies for collecting, reducing, and analyzing this valuable data.
There are a variety of directions this project can take depending on data availability and the interest of the student. The project may involve one or more of the following undertakings: i) machine learning methods for measuring stellar chemical abundance information from archival JWST spectra using the overlapping spectral region observed by the APOGEE survey; ii) refinement of the JWST reduction pipeline for crowded field point-source spectroscopy; and iii) development of optimal observing strategies for future programs.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Nathan Sandford, Prof. Ting Li, and Prof Jo Bovy.
Essential skills for applicants?
Experience in Python. A familiarity with statistical inference and machine learning is preferred but not required.
The Chemodynamical Evolution of the Smallest Galaxies
The chemical composition and kinematics of stars provide a unique tracer of a galaxy’s evolution over cosmic time. Supernovae, stellar winds, and neutron star mergers each leave a unique signature in the abundance patterns of stars observed today through which a diverse range of astrophysical processes can be studied. The stellar chemistry of dwarf galaxies provides an especially powerful lens through which to study stellar and galactic physics, as their low-mass dark matter halos and ancient stellar populations make them particularly sensitive to the physics of stellar feedback, cosmic reionization, and metal-poor star formation in the early Universe.
This project will involve applying galactic chemical evolution and dynamical models to large stellar chemodynamical datasets of nearby dwarf galaxies collected by spectroscopic surveys. Depending on interest, the student can focus their investigation on one or more of the following topics: the accretion and merger histories of satellite galaxies, the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements, and the nature of star formation and stellar feedback.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Nathan Sandford and Prof. Ting Li.
Essential skills for applicants?
Python Programming. familiarity with statistical inference is preferred but not required.
Nature or Nurture: Cosmic Explosions, Collisions and their Environments
While most of the Universe appears unchanged throughout our human lifetimes, the most violent and dynamic events in the Universe take place on time scales of seconds to months. These are astrophysical transients – cosmic explosions, flares and collisions – that provide a natural laboratory for performing exquisite tests of general relativity, radiative transfer theory, and for uncovering the origin of heavy elements in the periodic table. Do these extreme transients occur because of special intrinsic properties of particular astronomical objects (nature), or due to unique and often extreme environments (nurture)? And what are the origins of the most powerful transients known to astronomers?
In this project, you will have the opportunity to tackle these questions and explore the variety of astrophysical transients at the forefront of modern research – from the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave merger events whose vibrations momentarily ripple through the entire Universe, to the mysterious bright millisecond flashes of fast radio bursts coming to us from galaxies found at cosmological distances. You will work with observational data from cutting edge international facilities across the electromagnetic spectrum, including both dedicated and untargeted survey data, to interpret these events. You will have the opportunity to engage with and participate in a diverse and vibrant transients collaboration, consisting of astronomers and astrophysicists primarily in North America, Israel and Australia.
This project will be supervised by Dr. James Leung and Prof. Maria Drout.
Essential skills for applicants?
Preferred (but not essential): fluency in Python
LUVCam – Space Telescope Development
LUVCam, the Little UV Space Telescope Camera is being tested for its upcoming flight onboard the GRBBeta spacecraft. We’re also adapting its design for its maiden flight as a fully functional science instrument. Come join us and work on a space telescope that’s going to fly!! The work involves:
• testing the camera in a representative space environment, a TVAC Chamber
• conduct testing on a flight model of the LUVCam space telescope
• upgrade the TVAC chamber as needed to support testing
• design upgrades to the existing LUVCam, particularly with respect to layout and interfaces so that it is in a suitable configuration for its upcoming flight as part of the Czech national space telescope, QUVIK.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Suresh Sivanandam.
Essential skills for applicants?
CAD experience or willingness to learn CAD is required; Experience with tools and machining of parts is highly desirable; Experience with electronics and coding, such as would be gained through Arduino or RaspberryPi projects is highly desirable; Coding experience is highly desirable
Tracing the stellar halo of the Milky Way with blue horizontal-branch stars in the deep wide-field DELVE survey
The stellar halo of the Milky Way contains key information to unveil its hierarchical assembly history and structure, and a direct method to probe the halo’s outer regions is to use bright stellar tracers. Blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars are excellent distance indicators and can trace the outer halo out to large distances, owing to their intrinsic brightness. In particular, these stars can be used to investigate the properties of the halo’s building blocks (star clusters and dwarf galaxies) and their distribution provides key insights on the shape of the halo (among other uses). The DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey (DELVE) aims to map the southern sky using deep wide-field images from the DECam, which is mounted on the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo. In this project, the student will expand our current efforts to probe the outer halo with high-precision photometry and BHBs, taking advantage of DELVE’s capabilities. The student will learn to identify a clean sample of BHB stars by removing common contaminants, creating one of the largest BHB catalogs currently available by adapting existing tools and optimizing the selection strategy. The project will continue with the analysis of the BHB’s association with currently (un)known clusters and dwarf galaxies and a study of their radial density profile. This project will involve actively participating in an interdisciplinary working environment, within a constantly growing international collaboration.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Gustavo Medina Toledo.
Essential skills for applicants?
Coding experience preferred; Great for students new to research
Image credit: https://delve-survey.github.io/
Birth or death of stars
We will investigate a problem either involving 1. the formation of stars within interstellar clouds, or 2. explosions or disruptions of stars, depending on interest. Either option will involve getting to know the field, designing and performing computer simulations, analyzing and interpreting results, and working toward an ultimate publication.
Example of Option 1: Star formation lies at the heart of our understanding of galaxies and planets, and yet we currently do not have a predictive theory for star formation. Part of the difficulty is the chaotic nature of the multi-scale multi-physics problem: stars form in a constantly changing environment where newborn stars affect their environment (`feedback’). Some theories predict that the star formation rate is predictable given simple measures of the turbulent environment, but these theories neglect feedback. We will perform new simulation experiments within an existing framework to test whether feedback can be incorporated within these theories, or whether it fundamentally invalidates them.
Example of Option 2: An exciting class of transient events, the Quasi-Periodic Eruptions, is likely to involve stars that periodically plunge through the dense inner accretion disk of a supermassive black hole in a galactic nucleus. Within this scenario, how does a star’s structure respond to being repeatedly harrassed, and how does this influence how it impacts the disk, and what we see from Earth? We will tackle this problem with numerical experiments and analytical theory.
The student will gain mastery of physics concepts as applied throughout cosmology and gravitational strong lensing, as well as programming and data analysis skills, with the possibility of practicing oral, visual, and written science communication and publication.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Christopher Matzner.
Essential skills for applicants?
A dedicated, logical, and organized approach will be very helpful. Prior experience with numerical simulations is a bonus but not required.
Unraveling the Radiative Properties of the Interstellar Medium
A comprehensive 3D map of the properties of dust can serve as a great probe for the interstellar medium (ISM), as well as the radiation field of the galaxy, which plays a critical role in many applications, including physics of the galactic magnetic fields, polarization measurements, modeling of the diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission for dark matter searches, and star formation.
Previous work (see 1) has combined existing 3D maps of the reddening (-> density) of the dust in the ISM, with emission observed by Planck and IRAS at five frequency bands, to create a 3D temperature map (see 2) of the interstellar dust temperature, at resolutions of 27’ (see figure below).
In this project, the student can build on the 3D dust temperature map to explore potential applications: models of galactic magnetic field, polarization maps, correlations with star forming regions with other data catalogs, as well as other ideas. Resolution matching will likely play a role in determining the feasibility of the application.
The student will gain knowledge of theory, data analysis, statistics and programming, with the possibility of practicing oral, visual, and written science communication and publication. Project details can change to match the students skills and interests.
1 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.07667.pdf
2 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLijDPBNhGIqQccgN0BKJciE16NJ1PtsdO
This project will be supervised by Dr. Ioana Zelko.
Figure description: 3D visualizations of the 27′ resolution map of the temperature of galactic dust and its density. Perspective shown in the galactic plane towards the anti-center (180◦ galactic longitude), towards the Orion, Taurus, Perseus, and California clouds. Credit: Zelko et al. 2022
Using machine learning to accelerate the search for dark matter in cosmological data
Overwhelming evidence, from the Universe’s first light (cosmic microwave background) to the Milky Way, shows that most of the Universe’s mass is invisible dark matter. One of the most pressing challenges in cosmology is identifying the fundamental constituents of dark matter. We are about to enter a new observational era where we will be able to answer long-standing questions about the nature of dark matter. However, the theoretical modelling of these observations that is required can be prohibitively computationally expensive. In this project, the student researcher will develop a machine learning (ML) alternative to the modelling to make future analyses possible. Depending on the interests of the student, they can (i) investigate the most effective ML algorithms (e.g., neural networks, normalising flows, Bayesian optimisation); (ii) make forecasts for the constraining power of future observations; (iii) use the method to analyse current cosmological data; or any combination of the above.
The project will involve coding in Python and the use of popular scientific machine learning packages (e.g., scikit-learn, GPy, Tensorflow). The student will develop the full range of skills required for the data-focussed astrophysicist, in scientific coding, the use of machine learning packages and the analysis of astronomical data and simulations; with the focus matched to the student’s interests.
The project will be supervised by Dr. Keir Rogers.
Essential skills for applicants?
Python coding
Bullets from the Smoking Gun: Hypervelocity stars as signposts of intermediate mass black holes in Milky Way Globular Clusters
Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs), with masses ranging from ~100 to ~100,000 solar masses, are the presumed link between stellar mass black holes and supermassive black holes. IMBHs likely play an impactful role in evolutionary history of supermassive black holes, but the precise role they play remains an open question in astronomy, owing in large part to a lack of uncontroversial detections of IMBHs in the first place. In many proposed IMBH formation scenarios, they are formed within the dense cores of globular clusters (GCs). Despite some telltale detections and premature claims over the years, there does not yet exist “smoking gun” evidence of an IMBH lurking within a Milky Way GC. One intriguing method of probing the existence of IMBHs is to consider stars ejected from GCs at extreme velocities following a close dynamical encounter with an IMBH. The finding of such hypervelocity stars (HVSs) would be tantalizing, as a massive and compact object would be required to explain the fastest HVSs. While none of the known HVSs have yet been conclusively associated with a Milky Way GC, this may change as ongoing and near future surveys of the Milky Way detect and measure billions of stars. This project will involve building, running and analyzing realistic Python simulations of HVSs ejected from Milky Way GCs. Studying these simulated populations of GC-ejected HVSs can offer predictions about the population of IMBHs in the Galaxy, with more specific goals tailored to the interests of the applicant.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Fraser Evans and Prof. Jo Bovy.
Essential skills for applicants?
Basic Python experience
Searching for Stellar Streams with DESI Spectroscopic Survey
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is surrounded by numerous small galaxies and star clusters that can be influenced by its gravitational forces, leading to the formation of stellar streams— celestial “rivers” orbiting around our galaxy. These streams offer a unique opportunity for astronomers to delve into the mysteries of galaxy formation and the elusive nature of darkmatter. (For an intriguing example, check out our feature in The Globe & Mail:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-star-streams-reveal-milky-ways-ravenous-history/)
Thanks to cutting-edge cosmic surveys, we now have access to comprehensive data on millions of stars in our universe, including their full 6D information (position and velocity). The SURP Scholar will be at the forefront of developing a Bayesian framework to assess the membership probability of each star in potential streams and to characterize the properties of these stellar streams. This involves leveraging vast astronomical datasets, totaling several gigabytes of data, obtained from one of the largest spectroscopic surveys, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI, https://www.desi.lbl.gov/).
In this research project, the SURP Scholar will explore the development and application of innovative statistical and computational techniques. These methodologies are crucial not only for unraveling the secrets hidden within stellar streams but also for paving the way for future astronomical surveys.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Gustavo Medina Toledo and Prof. Ting Li.
Essential skills for applicants?
Python Programming; Statistics and data mining
Developing the Next Generation of SCIDAR
Adaptive optics (AO) instrumentation encompasses a wide range of systems that measure and correct for the loss in image quality due to turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere, enabling image quality comparable to space-based telescopes. The design of these systems depends on both our understanding of atmospheric turbulence and our ability to understand it. In this project we will work on the development of a SCIntillation Detection and Ranging (SCIDAR) device that will be used to study the atmosphere at unprecedented timescales. Opportunities include working on the optomechanical design of the instrument, software development for the operation of the instrument, and the developing advanced simulation of atmospheric turbulence for future AO simulations. Specifics of the project can be adjusted to fit the interest and skill set of the applicant. Our aim is to help the student hone their skills in python programming, statistics, and simulation.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Ryan Dungee and Prof. Suresh Sivanandam.
Essential skills for applicants?
Python Programming
Photonic Adaptive Optics
Ground-based astronomy and free-space optical communication systems suffer from the distortion in the optical wavefronts caused by Earth’s atmosphere. This limits the resolution of astronomical telescopes and reduces the efficiency of coupling the laser beams into optical fibers. Adaptive optics systems use deformable mirrors and wavefront sensors to correct the aberrations and flatten the wavefronts but mechanical systems are limited in terms of speed, stroke and power consumption. In this project, a novel photonic circuit is proposed that can perform both the sensing and the correction by means of integrated components embedded in a silicon-on-insulator chip. Currently, the project activities concern the simulations, design, and testing of the second-generation chip. Simulations involve writing scripts and using specialty software to calculate the propagation of light beams through the various components of the system and predict its performance. Testing involve running experiments with the fabricated chip and building optical setup to simulate celestial sources and atmospheric turbulence in the lab.
This project will be supervised by Prof. Suresh Sivanandam.
Essential skills for applicants?
1. Programming skills. 2. Hands-on experience with optical setups.
Probing magnetic field properties in galaxy clusters with POSSUM
The “Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism” (POSSUM) is a radio polarisation survey of the entire southern sky, aiming to observe roughly 30 polarised sources per deg^2. This is a factor 30 increase over the previous best large-area sky survey and will thus provide unprecedented statistics for studying magnetic fields on large scales in the Universe.
The aim of this project is to find the polarised radio sources associated to clusters and to fit simple models of the polarised emission as a function of frequency. With this information, we can investigate the polarisation properties of the radio sources as a function of their distance to the nearest cluster of galaxies. This will provide information on the elusive magnetic fields in galaxy clusters, whose properties are still relatively unconstrained.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Erik Osinga and Prof. Bryan Gaensler.
Essential skills for applicants?
Requires students with an affinity for coding (will involve python).