Current research interests
Einstein's theory of gravity has been put to the test and challenged from its very inception almost 100 years ago. Many aspects of the theory have been exhaustively tested, but the gravitational wave (GW) prediction remains extremely challenging to verify directly. By studying the orbit of a neutron star binary discovered by Hulse and Taylor (1975), Taylor and Weisberg (1982) showed that General Relativity predictions of GW emission matched observations to within half a percent. As a result, Hulse and Taylor were both awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize, yet no one has been able to measure GW directly.
Direct measurement of gravitational radiation will open a new and otherwise inaccessible window of observation in the universe. A timed array of ultra-stable pulsars, called a Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) was proposed by Sazhin (1978) and Detweiler (1979) as an elegant means of detecting GWs. Mingarelli et al. Phys.Rev.Lett. 109, 081104 (2012), explores the use of PTAs to detect GWs from individual Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) and lays the groundwork for new and exciting physics to be extracted from them.
More recently, I have generalised the usual isotropic overlap reduction function to include anisotropies up to the quadrupole. This appearing shortly on the arXiv.
Direct measurement of gravitational radiation will open a new and otherwise inaccessible window of observation in the universe. A timed array of ultra-stable pulsars, called a Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) was proposed by Sazhin (1978) and Detweiler (1979) as an elegant means of detecting GWs. Mingarelli et al. Phys.Rev.Lett. 109, 081104 (2012), explores the use of PTAs to detect GWs from individual Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) and lays the groundwork for new and exciting physics to be extracted from them.
More recently, I have generalised the usual isotropic overlap reduction function to include anisotropies up to the quadrupole. This appearing shortly on the arXiv.
News updates
20 May 2013: I have just been awarded an Institute of Physics "Public Engagement Award" to help the Birmingham GW Group attend the Cheltenham Science Festival.
17 May 2013: I have been asked to be a referee for Classical and Quantum Gravity. This will be my first referee role!
10 May 2013: Awarded Moreton Travel Award by the School of Physics and Astronomy to attend the next IPTA meeting in Krabi, Thailand. See new blog entry on how PhD students can apply for travel awards.
25 April 2013: Today I participated in ASTRON's Girls Day event, see blog post about this.
25 April 2013: Excellent news! I have just been awarded a Universitas 21 Scholarship to work with Prof. Ingrid Stairs for 1 month at the University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada.
17 May 2013: I have been asked to be a referee for Classical and Quantum Gravity. This will be my first referee role!
10 May 2013: Awarded Moreton Travel Award by the School of Physics and Astronomy to attend the next IPTA meeting in Krabi, Thailand. See new blog entry on how PhD students can apply for travel awards.
25 April 2013: Today I participated in ASTRON's Girls Day event, see blog post about this.
25 April 2013: Excellent news! I have just been awarded a Universitas 21 Scholarship to work with Prof. Ingrid Stairs for 1 month at the University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada.
Professional Affiliations
- European Pulsar Timing Array
- International Pulsar Timing Array
- LIGO collaboration (20% CBC and EPO groups)
- Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS)
- Associate Member of the Institute of Physics (AmIoP)
- Co-founder and an active member of Birmingham's Women In Physics group
- Postgraduate Research Student Representative for PhD students in the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham.
