CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Galactic Astronomy with a Cryogenically cooled Phased Array Feed

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. In this position you will undertake research to utilise the latest technology on the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope, Murriyang, to monitor and study astrophysical masers associated with high-mass star formation. A major component will be the commissioning and early science of the cryogenically cooled phased array feed, or ‘CryoPAF’, due on the telescope in late 2022. The CryoPAF uniquely allows the simultaneous monitoring of multiple sites of high-mass star formation (each at a different phase of the process). Through a targeted observing campaign, the fellow can establish how these regions evolve and ultimately feed our Galaxy, and provide insight into the problem of high-mass star formation. The project will also utilise observations with the Ultra-Wide-bandwidth Low frequency receiver (‘UWL’) taken for the Maser Monitoring Organisation (‘M2O’). 

Your duties will include:

• Design and initiate a hydroxyl maser monitoring programme utilising the CryoPAF receiver.
• Assist scientific commissioning of the CryoPAF receiver and its spectral line observing modes.
• Explore existing and ongoing maser monitoring data from the UWL receiver.
• Collaborate with international colleagues to develop scientific theory on maser physics and high-mass star formation.
• Enhance and support the Australia Telescope National Facility.