The physics of energetic transients across the spectrum

在这个项目中，你将使用地球上最大的望远镜和太空中最快的天文台来研究宇宙中最大的爆炸。近年来，瞬态宇宙在天体物理学方面取得了许多意想不到的进展，从引力波及其电磁对应波的发现，到超长伽马射线暴和相对论潮汐破坏事件的新种群。对这些动态种群的探索依赖于获取跟踪时间和光谱演变的新实例的数据。该项目将使您成为世界级观测设施中建立良好的国际合作的一部分，并提供机会来领导您自己的建议，并为定义新策略做出贡献，以获取和分析多波长，高节奏覆盖范围，以探索极端事件的起源。莱斯特大学领导着美国国家航空航天局斯威夫特卫星的英国科学数据中心，这是目前太空中伽马射线爆发的首要探测设施，以及与欧洲南方天文台甚大望远镜合作的国际STARGATE合作。我们的团队为Swift和即将到来的瞬态任务的开发做出了贡献，包括2021年发射的SVOM，并且是联盟的合作伙伴，并观察从最高能量伽马射线（例如CTA）到最低频率无线电（LOFAR）的项目。我们对伽玛射线暴和其他瞬态的多波长跟踪研究已经得出了许多令人兴奋的结果，揭示了这些极端事件的核心引擎的一些物理原理，在这些极端事件中，致密物体的吸积可以为快速流出提供动力，同时也建立了这些事件发生的环境的图片。这是一个观测天体物理学项目，它将汇集来自整个电磁频谱的数据，以探测瞬变源的物理特性：在新源发生时追踪它们，并进行人口研究。

In this project you will study the biggest explosions in the Universe, with the biggest telescopes on Earth and fastest observatories in space. The transient Universe has brought many unexpected advances in astrophysics in recent years, from discoveries of gravitational waves and their electromagnetic counterparts to new populations of ultralong gamma-ray bursts and relativistic tidal disruption events.Exploration of these dynamic populations relies upon the acquisition of data of new examples that tracks both the temporal and spectral evolution. This project will enable you to be part of well established international collaborations at world-class observing facilities, as well as present opportunities to lead your own proposals and contribute to defining new strategies to obtain and analyse multi wavelength, high cadence coverage, to probe the origins of extreme events.The University of Leicester leads the UK science data centre for the NASA Swift satellite, which is the premier detection facility for gamma-ray bursts currently in space, and the international STARGATE collaboration following up bursts with the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. Our team has contributed to the development of Swift and upcoming transient missions including SVOM launching 2021, and are partners in consortia and observing programmes from the highest energy gamma-rays (e.g. CTA) to the lowest frequency radio (LOFAR). Our multi wavelength follow-up of gamma-ray bursts and other transients has led to numerous exciting results revealing some of the physics of the central engines of these extreme events, where accretion onto compact objects can power fast outflows, as well as building a picture of the environments in which these events occur.This is an observational astrophysics project that will bring together data from across the electromagnetic spectrum to probe the physics of transient sources: chasing new sources as they happen and carrying out population studies.