Melissa Gleiter, “STARS@UWM: The Search for Pulsars”
Mentor: David Kaplan, Physics
Poster #73

Pulsars are a type of star that is composed of extremely densely packed neutrons and rotates at an astonishingly fast and regular rate. These fascinating stars emit beams of radiation at radio wavelengths that appear to pulse like a lighthouse due to the pulsars’ rotation. Because we observe the pulses that these stars emit at consistent time intervals, we can use pulsars as standard clocks to study the universe in novel ways, the most exciting of which is searching for gravitational waves at very low frequencies. The detection of such gravitational waves would provide further evidence in support of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Undergraduate students in the Student Team of Astrophysics ResearcherS (STARS) at UWM help search for and study new pulsars, as well as make contributions to the goals of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), which is actively attempting to detect low-frequency gravitational waves. These students conduct observations remotely from UWM using one of the world’s largest radio telescopes, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and examine the radio signals detected during observations for indications that they may have been produced by pulsars. STARS positively impacts students by providing them with widely transferable data analysis skills and knowledge of advanced astronomical concepts, which often opens up opportunities for them to participate in more involved research projects at UWM, at universities across the country, and internationally. In the past, STARS students have received funding to travel as far as Australia, China, India, Italy, and South Africa and undertake astronomy research projects of their own there. Additionally, students at UWM collaborate with other institutions around the country, including Franklin & Marshall College, Hillsdale College, Kenyon College, University of Washington-Bothell, Vanderbilt University, West Virginia University, etc.