About

Professor Bryan M Gaensler leads a research team known as Team B-Force, which includes postdoctoral fellows, research staff, graduate students, and undergraduate and high-school students. He expresses gratitude for collaborating with many brilliant and enthusiastic students, postdocs, and other researchers. The page lists current and past members of his research group, indicating a long history of mentorship and collaboration with a diverse group of scientists and students. However, the page text does not provide specific details about his research focus, background, or key contributions beyond his role as group leader and his collaborative work with his team members.

Research topics

• Physics
• Astrophysics
• Astronomy
• Computer Science

Selected publications

• The First CHIME/FRB Fast Radio Burst Catalog

  The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · 2021 · 464 citations

  • Physics
  • Astrophysics

  Abstract We present a catalog of 536 fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) Project between 400 and 800 MHz from 2018 July 25 to 2019 July 1, including 62 bursts from 18 previously reported repeating sources. The catalog represents the first large sample, including bursts from repeaters and nonrepeaters, observed in a single survey with uniform selection effects. This facilitates comparative and absolute studies of the FRB population. We show that repeaters and apparent nonrepeaters have sky locations and dispersion measures (DMs) that are consistent with being drawn from the same distribution. However, bursts from repeating sources differ from apparent nonrepeaters in intrinsic temporal width and spectral bandwidth. Through injection of simulated events into our detection pipeline, we perform an absolute calibration of selection effects to account for systematic biases. We find evidence for a population of FRBs—composing a large fraction of the overall population—with a scattering time at 600 MHz in excess of 10 ms, of which only a small fraction are observed by CHIME/FRB. We infer a power-law index for the cumulative fluence distribution of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.40</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.11</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">stat.</mml:mi> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.09</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.06</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">sys.</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:math> , consistent with the −3/2 expectation for a nonevolving population in Euclidean space. We find that α is steeper for high-DM events and shallower for low-DM events, which is what would be expected when DM is correlated with distance. We infer a sky rate of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">[</mml:mo> <mml:mn>820</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>60</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">stat.</mml:mi> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>200</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>220</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">sys.</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">]</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">sky</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">day</mml:mi> </mml:math> above a fluence of 5 Jy ms at 600 MHz, with a scattering time at 600 MHz under 10 ms and DM above 100 pc cm −3 .

  DOI

• A bright millisecond-duration radio burst from a Galactic magnetar

  Nature · 2020 · 638 citations

  • Astrophysics
  • Physics
  • Astronomy
  DOI

• Periodic activity from a fast radio burst source

  Nature · 2020 · 383 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Physics
  DOI

• Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

  2017 · 1398 citations

  • Physics
  • Astrophysics
  • Astronomy

  On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg² at a luminosity distance of 40₋₈⁺⁸ Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the OneMeter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• R. B. Wayth

  769 shared

• S. J. Tingay

  Curtin University

  733 shared

• L. Staveley‐Smith

  International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research

  589 shared

• P. J. Hancock

  514 shared

• D. A. Mitchell

  483 shared

• M. E. Bell

  University of Technology Sydney

  479 shared

• S. M. Ord

  431 shared

• N. Hurley‐Walker

  397 shared

Labs

• Team B-ForcePI

  Not provided

Education

• PhD, School of Physics

  The University of Sydney

  1999

• BSc (Hons IM), School of Physics

  The University of Sydney

  1994