Spectral-line-processing

A series of new spectral line surveys will explore regions of our Galaxy. To do this with Parkes 64m telescope with its new ultra-wideband low receiver, required new software. Our Nimbus account has enabled us to collaborate, test and improve the software and has enabled us to complete some of the first and widest frequency band searches.
Person

Principal investigator

Chenoa Tremblay chenoa.tremblay@csiro.au
Magnifying glass

Area of science

Astronomy
CPU

Systems used

Magnus, Galaxy, Zeus, Nimbus and Topaz
Computer

Applications used

Ubuntu, SDHDF Tools, Python
Partner Institution: CSIRO Space & Astronomy | Project Code: L000286

The Challenge

These surveys cover a wide range of science goals from understanding diffuse gas within the Galactic Centre through carbon recombination lines, search for theorised dark matter particles called axions, and study molecules and recombination lines in star forming regions.

The Solution

The Nimbus environment has brought together a group of software developers, astronomers and theorists to work on improving ways we can process Parkes 64m telescope data.

The Outcome

We have now used this software to do some cutting edge searches for dark matter, setting some of the lowest limits and at one of the best frequency resolutions published. This work will be published in 2022.

Fig 1. • An example spectra created from data from the Parkes 64m telescope from data collected as part of the Axion particle dark matter search. Unfortunately, most of the matter in our Universe seems to be hidden. The search for “dark matter” is a key research area in modern day astronomy. It is possible that dark matter is made up of ultralight particles. We expect that those particles may be gravitationally bound to a highly magnetised star, known as a pulsar. We therefore are studying the signals emitted from the regions around pulsars in detail to look for evidence of this elusive dark matter.

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