Distributed Computing for Pulsar Astrophysics

This project has developed from a long-standing collaboration with the School of Physics and Astronomy to develop algorithms for processing data from astrophysical instruments. The best known of these are the radio telescopes linked with the Jodrell Bank Observatory. The current generation of telescopes and space missions are generating a deluge of data that needs to be processed via algorithms to extract information from the images and signals.

We have an on-going collaboration in particular with the Pulsar Group, at Jodrell Bank that has involved the development of algorithms that run on distributed computing resources to search for the signals of pulsars in data sets where the amplitude of noise is many orders of magnitude greater than the signal itself. Interestingly, in this case, the limit of resolution becomes a function of the amount of processing power that can be applied to the signal.

In this PhD project you will be working with a co-supervisor from Jodrell Bank. You will work along radio astronomers to develop efficient algorithms to distribute the stages of the pulsar-searching pipeline on distributed resources. This will involve applying models of distributed computing to different hardware realisations of the distributed computing infrastructures for radio astronomy. These are currently still in the process of design, so there is a real opportunity to make an impact in the astronomy of the future.