CTAO | Australia Meeting #2 2025

4 Nov 2025, 10:00 → 5 Nov 2025, 17:45 Australia/Melbourne

CTAO | Australia Meeting #2 2025 : Tues. 4 - Wed. 5 November, 2025

This will be a joint session with OzGrav which will provide an update and discussion time on opportunities for CTAO-A/Ligo++ collaborative projects from the the Australian perspective.

For continuing updates on the CTAO, please visit the CTAO news website for more details.

Venue

Monash University (Clayton campus), Melbourne. Rooms 107, 110, 117 on the first floor of the  School of Physics and Astronomy, 10 College Walk (Building 27). Google maps. Campus map PDF (look for "10" on the orange College Walk).

Times

Day 1 : 10:00 to ~17:30. Dinner ~18:30.

Day 2 : 10:00 to ~15:00.

Link to full timetable.

Zoom access: https://adelaide.zoom.us/j/84052035644?pwd=Jeaz7IVbDPbc5PJ46oZul4DMPNAQrZ.1

Please note that there is no registration fee for this event.

Suggested hotels: to be advised.

 

Scientific Organising Committee

Gavin Rowell, Uni. Adelaide, Australia
Sabrina Einecke, Uni. Adelaide, Australia

Local Organising Committee

Csaba Balazs, Monash Uni, Australia
Karen Hewitt, Monash Uni, Australia
Liam Pinchbeck, Monash Uni, Australia
Eric Thrane, Monash Uni, Australia

 

Tuesday 4 November

10:00 → 10:20 CTAO Status and Updates

I will present a brief status report on CTAO.

Speaker: Dr Gavin Rowell (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

gpr-CTAStatus.pdf

10:20 → 10:40 Transient Science

Speaker: Dr Gavin Rowell (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

gpr-CTAStransients.pdf

10:40 → 11:00 An Introduction to Contemporary Gravitational-Wave Science

A concise overview of gravitational-wave science: the nature of gravitational waves and how we detect them, highlighting results from the latest catalog as the field shifts from first detections to using gravitational waves as precision probes of the universe.

Speaker: Nir Guttman

GW-CTAO_meeting_Nov_04_Lachlan_03.pptx

11:00 → 11:30 Tea Break

11:30 → 11:50 Flexible modelling of gravitational-wave signals using Gaussian processes

Bayesian statistical methods form the foundation for signal extraction from gravitational-wave data. Commonly, these methods assume a functional form for the signal, and provide estimates for the function’s parameters. Gaussian processes allow for flexible modelling of signals, for which the functional form is unknown but the overall structure is. I’ll describe the kinds of problems that are well-suited to Gaussian processes, as well as several applications to gravitational-wave data.

Speaker: Lachlan Passenger

GW-CTAO_meeting_Nov_04_Lachlan_03.pptx

11:50 → 12:10 Follow up of Transients with the CTAO

Speaker: Sabrina Einecke (The University of Adelaide, Australia)

CTAO-Oz_Transients.pdf

12:10 → 12:30 Discussion: CTAO-Australia - OzGrav

20251005_cta-oz_mou_nfht.pdf

gpr-CTAfunding.pdf

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

13:30 → 13:55 Progress on SST QCAM-i data analysis from Tenerife

In July 2025 the initial build of a quarter camera (QCAM-i) designed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) Small Sized Telescope (SST) design was tested observing the sky above Tenerife, Canary Islands. This was the first field test of the camera hardware which will eventually be used across dozens of SSTs at CTAO-South in Chile. Dark field observations (pointed away from known gamma-ray sources) were taken to collect cosmic-ray shower images, which can be compared with Monte Carlo simulations for validation. This talk will present recent progress in the processing and analysis of QCAM-i data, including charge extraction performance, calibration methods, and comparisons with simulations.

Speaker: Simon Lee (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

2025-11_CTAO-Aus.pdf

muon_00002514.mp4

13:55 → 14:15 Approaches on Long-term Lightcurves of Blazars for Theoretical Modelling Comparison

Modeling the emission of gamma-ray photons of blazars is often performed as a core step in short-term IACT blazar analyses. It is, however, of interest to analyze the temporal component of blazar emission on a long-term scale, which yields insights into temporal aspects of acceleration mechanisms through comparison with theoretical modeling.

This requires, on one hand, a consistent and reliable method for analyzing large amounts of data with reproducible configuration in a shorter timeframe. For this purpose, the database-driven automation tool autoMAGIC was developed for data from the MAGIC telescopes.

On the other hand, a theoretical modeling tool is required to provide theoretical temporal simulations for comparison with long-term lightcurve data. Hence, this use case is being developed based on the cosmic-ray propagation framework, CRPropa.

This talk presents the autoMAGIC structure and an example analysis performed with autoMAGIC, demonstrating reliability compared to established methods as well as the outline and possible challenges in the comparison with theoretical modeling.

Speaker: Cyrus Walther (TU Dortmund University)

CTAO_Australia_2025.pdf

14:15 → 14:40 Modelling the unknown with CTAO: Investigating indirect WIMP dark matter search systematics

Dark matter is one of the most important, elusive and enduring mysteries of physics in the last century. Gamma ray astronomy offers a possible avenue to determine dark matter's particle nature through observation of gamma ray by-products of its annihilation or decay. However, it is challenging to formulate a robust dark matter search given our lack of knowledge on dark matter physics and background contributions around targets of interest. In this talk, I describe a robust, flexible framework that can account for many of these systematics. In order to achieve this, we model the final state output contributions and differential J factor maps in a model-independent way using future data from the Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory and all of the pertinent background parameters of interest utilising normalising flows.

Speaker: Liam Pinchbeck (Monash University)

CTAO_Australia_2025_Meeting_No2.pptx

14:40 → 15:05 Where do cosmic rays go to die?

Cosmic rays that escape from star-forming galaxies may significantly influence the dynamics or thermodynamics of the circumgalactic gas reservoir that sustains star formation over long timescales. I will explain how our semi-analytic model for cosmic ray transport and energy loss in the CGM can, in combination with empirical inputs, constrain the importance of cosmic rays in the CGM environment and inform the CRs' long-term fate.

Speaker: Roland Crocker (Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University)

15:05 → 15:35 Tea Break

15:35 → 15:55 Modelling Millisecond Pulsars and CTAO's Detection Prospects

The upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) presents a unique opportunity to probe the as-yet unexplained Fermi-LAT galactic centre gamma-ray excess (GCE). I will present results from my research that show CTAO may be able to distinguish between two different origins of the GCE.

Speaker: Hayden James (Adelaide University)

CTAO_Oz_Presentation_Hayden_James.pdf

15:55 → 16:20 Update on Reconstruction Performance with Truncated Images

Speaker: Ms Violet Harvey (The University of Adelaide)

ctao-australia_meeting-2025-11.pdf

16:20 → 16:45 Deep Learning and Muon Physics with IACTs

At very high energies, there is a deficiency in the number of muons produced in hadronic extensive air showers (EAS) in simulated interaction models compared to experimental measurements. Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) can be used to study this ‘muon puzzle’. These telescopes detect the resultant Cherenkov light emitted from the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nuclei. To study this discrepancy, muons must be efficiently identified with sufficient statistics to be able to distinguish different shower models. Presented in this talk is an introduction to how muons are measured with IACTs, the properties of air showers and muons that are useful to develop an efficient model, and the machine learning techniques that will be used.

Speaker: Lydia Castellucci (Adelaide University)

ctameetingtalk_final.pdf

18:30 → 20:30 Notting Hill Hotel ("The Nott"), 260-262 Ferntree Gully Rd., about 1.35 km north of the venue: Dinner

Notting Hill Hotel ("The Nott"), 260-262 Ferntree Gully Rd., about 1.35 km north of the venue.

Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EeVZgUWzHQba8tWR7

Menu : https://assets.nottinghillhotel.com.au/NHH-TAPROOM-MENU.pdf

Menu

Wednesday 5 November

09:30 → 10:00 Supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is one of our nearest galactic neighbours and has been well-surveyed at multiple frequencies. A recent MeerKAT radio-continuum survey provides unprecedented sensitivity and resolution of the LMC, revealing its supernova remnant (SNR) population in greater detail than previously seen. Combining this new data with previous multi-frequency surveys, I have characterized the entire visible LMC SNR population. This catalogue enables statistical analysis of morphological and spectral properties including diameter, ovality, age, and spectral indices. Statistical tests, such as comparing core-collapse and thermonuclear SNR populations, can help reveal distinctive evolutionary patterns. This work provides a comprehensive radio foundation for understanding the LMC SNR population, complementing future multi-frequency observations and surveys, such as the upcoming CTA surveys.

Speaker: Zachary Smeaton (WSU)

CTA_pres.pptx

10:00 → 10:30 ASKAP Update

These are golden days for radio-astronomy... A number of new cool discoveries at are steadyly coming from the new generation of radio telescopes. I will update CTA-Oz with the latest results in this space.

Speaker: Miroslav Filipovic (Western Sydney University)

CTA_Oz_25.pptx

10:30 → 11:00 StarFiSH and the CTAO: Update

We present an update on the previously discussed StarFiSH legacy survey. StarFiSH is a 7 mm dense gas survey that mapped the fourth quadrant Galactic Plane. The data have remained relatively untouched, and would be a crucial ancillary data set for high-energy Galactic targets for the CTA. In this update, we provide an update of the ongoing collaborations for the reduction of the data, as well as some tantalising 'first-look' images.

Speaker: Aaron Bradley (WSU)

CTA-StarFISH_2.pptx

11:00 → 11:30 Tea Break

11:30 → 12:00 SKAO Science Operations Update

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Science Operations Team is focused on the development and implementation of various workflows and procedures to ensure that SKA-Low and SKA-Mid will be operationally ready for transformational science. In this talk, I will give an update on the telescope capability rollout, as well as plans for the upcoming Science Verification phase.

Speaker: Jess Broderick (SKAO)

12:00 → 12:25 Progress on Optical Polarization Measurements

The work focused on measuring the linear polarization of bright and faint stars to validate the instrument’s performance and refine the data-reduction pipeline. Using a sequence of retarder-angle images, we calculated the polarization fraction and angle, tested calibration consistency, and automated key steps in the Python-based workflow. These results establish a reliable framework for upcoming blazar observations and multi-site CTApol integration.

Speaker: Ahmad Al-khalaila (WSU)

12:25 → 12:40 AAL Update

Speaker: James Murray (Astronomy Australia Limited)

12:40 → 13:00 Discussion: LIEF #4 spending plans + Wrap Up

20251005_cta-oz_mou_nfht.pdf

gpr-CTAfunding.pdf

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:00 Colloquium: TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy with the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO)

The CTAO represents the next major step in TeV gamma-ray astronomy. CTAO is now under construction at two sites - a northern site at La Palma, Spain, and a southern site at Paranal, Chile. Together, the CTAO's North and South arrays will provide an order of magnitude improvement in performance beyond current instruments (like HESS and MAGIC) to unveil the gamma-ray sky like never before. Australia has vital roles in CTAO construction, contributing funding (ARC, NCRIS plus seven universities including Monash Uni.), hardware towards telescope cameras, and expertise in analysis software development. Australian CTAO Consortium members are actively working on challenges in astrophysics and astroparticle physics that CTAO aims to tackle. Such challenges include the origin of cosmic rays, relativistic flows, extreme transients, and the nature of dark matter. This talk will provide an update on the status of CTAO, and the various roles of Australian teams.

Speaker: Dr Gavin Rowell (School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide)

gpr-CTA-colloq.pdf