Lisa Harvey-Smith
Postdoctoral Fellow in Radio Polarimetry
I'm an astrophysicist, working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. My main research interests are cosmic magnetism, Faraday rotation, masers, massive star-formation, supernova remnants and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). I am particularly interested in observing circumstellar material (discs, tori and outflows) by mapping the intense microwave emission these regions generate using many of the world's largest radio telescopes. I co-ordinate the University of Sydney's Astrophysical Maser Group. I also teach undergraduate course PHY1500: Introductory Astronomy and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.
I work at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, which is part of the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. We are located on the beautiful Camperdown campus in the centre of Sydney, which dates back to 1850.
Latest News:
Canberra ultra-marathon On 19th April 2009 I finished the Canberra 50km ultra-marathon with a net time of 5 hours 11 mins. Needless to say, I was rather chuffed. My next goal is a sub 4-hour marathon.
Summer Student project David Webster, a third year undergraduate student is working with Tim Robishaw and I on imaging methanol 12.2-GHz masers using the VLBA. The aim is to determine the proper motions of the masers both in the molecular envelope of the ultra-compact HII region W3(OH) and in the broadline region at the probable site of the massive OB star(s) that are ionising the region.
A methanol maser in a massive circumstellar disc My latest paper on EVN observations of methanol 6.7-GHz masers in a massive circumstellar disc is available through astro-ph.
GALFACTS project observations The G-ALFA Continuum Transit Survey (GALFACTS) is a polarimetric survey of the entire Arecibo sky. In November I took part in one of the first full observing runs for this survey at the Arecibo 305m telescope in Puerto Rico. I am also working on automation of the bandpass calibration of the data with colleagues at the University of Calgary.
Sydney Marathon I completed my second marathon in a time of 4 hours 24 minutes. I managed a sprint finish, so I reckon I can aim faster next time!
Parkes Observations I spent a week in August observing the Carina Supershell with the Parkes Radio Telescope. I have also been awarded more time on "The Dish" later this year for extragalactic maser studies.
ATCA Observations In April I travelled to the Australia Telescope Compact Array in Narrabri to observe a sample of extended polarized radio sources believed to have intervening galaxies between the Earth and the extended background galaxies. We will be looking for the signatures of the magnetic field of these intervening galaxies in the Faraday Rotation Measures measured.
Seven Magnificent Marathons Englishmen Dave Heeley and Malcolm Carr have completed their seven marathons in seven days on seven continents challenge, raising money for Guide Dogs. Dave is blind and uses a guide dog to achieve his independence, something that most of us take for granted. I and four others ran the 42.2 km course with Dave and Mac in Sydney. If you are ever feeling uninspired, read this blog entry from a fellow support runner.
Student project complete Year 10 work experience student Nicholas Gustavo Funai and I carried out a proper motion study of methanol masers in W3(OH) across a 15-year epoch. By measuring the change in positions of the masers between 1992 and 2007 (Menten et al. 1992; Harvey-Smith et al. 2008 in prep.) using the European VLBI Network, we were able to test the 3-5 km/s expansion speed measured by Kawamura and Masson (1998) in the radio continuum data from the VLA and the inferred age of the HII region (2300 years). Nicholas has written a project webpage outlining the results of his four day investigation.
If you would like more information about my research, please check out the navigation bar (left) or contact me personally. This website will be updated regularly.
Sydney | London |
WWW: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~lhs/
Address: School of Physics A29, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9036 5106, Fax: +61 2 9036 7843