Smart astronomy: using computational science to understand distant radio galaxies

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Radio galaxies are among the largest galaxies in the universe with their copious radio emission powered by massive black holes. Australian radio telescopes are very effective at tracing these massive galaxies back in time so we can measure how black holes formed and developed. These measurements depend on reliable identification of the radio sources with our optical telescopes to make vital measurements of their distances. Until now this identification process has been straightforward, but the next generation of studies will look so far back in time that the identification will become ambiguous. Our project will develop a software tool that applies techniques from computational science to overcome the ambiguity in this matching problem.