Hi! I am an e-MERLIN Operations Scientist at Jodrell Bank Observatory, working at University of Manchester Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.
My research focuses on variable and transient radio phenomena from compact objects, such as active galactic nuclei, X-ray binaries, neutron stars, cataclysmic variables and supernovae. Spanning these different topics allows me to better understand what is responsible for the radio jets and emission seen on a broad range of scales.
X-ray binaries are black holes in our own Galaxy that slowly accrete from a companion star. Periodically, they go into outburst allowing us to detect them in the X-rays. The radio emission has been found to be correlated with the X-rays and sometimes X-ray binaries eject transient, collimated and (sometimes) super-luminal jets which we can detect for months afterwards.
At the centre of every galaxy a super-massive black hole resides, weighing a million times the mass of the Sun. Detecting the signatures of these beasts is difficult in nearby galaxies, because they are relatively weak compared to quasars. High resolution observations with e-MERLIN allow us to detect small-scale radio jets from these starved black holes - a 'smoking gun' of a low-luminosity AGN.
The sky is full of transient sources, and many of them emit radio emission. These include neutron stars and gamma ray bursts, supernovae and cataclysmic variables.