Science interest for a

mid-frequency aperture array

in southern Africa

MFAA 2014 workshop programme

Saturday, 22 February 2014


 

Chair: Renée Kraan-Korteweg
9:00 - 9:05  Opening by Renée Kraan-Korteweg (University of Cape Town)
9:05 - 9:10  Welcome address from Arnold van Ardenne (ASTRON)
9:10 - 9:35  African-European Radio Astronomy Platform - Building mutually beneficial African-European research and innovation partnerships (Video avaiable)
                      Takalani Nemaungani (Department of Science and Technology)



Current status in Africa:
9:35 - 10:00 Developments in Mauritius (Video available)
                              Girish Beeharry (Mauritius University, Mauritius)
10:00-10:25 Related projects overview (Video available)
                              Justin Jonas (Rhodes University, RSA)

 

10:25 - 10:45    Discussion

 

10:45 - 11:15    Coffee break

 

 

Technical aspects:
Chair: David Davidson
11:15 - 11:40 Introduction to mid-frequency aperture array technology
                              Jan Geralt bij de Vaate (ASTRON, NL)
11:40 - 12:05 Current and future capabilities
                              Ilse van Bemmel (ASTRON, NL)
12:05 - 12:30 Calibration challenges
                              Oleg Smirnov (Rhodes University, RSA)

 

12:30 - 12:50    Discussion

 

12:50 - 13:45    Lunch

 


Science aspects:
Chair: Tyler Bourke
13:45 - 14:10 Transients with SKA-mid: from planets to FRBs
                              JP Macquart (ICRAR, Curtin, Australia)
14:10 - 14:35 Cosmology with HI intensity mapping
                              Mario Santos (University of Western Cape, RSA)
14:35 - 15:00 Galaxy formation and cosmology with continuum
                              Matt Jarvis (Oxford University UK/ University of Western Cape, RSA)
15:00 - 15:25 Polarization
                              Anna Scaife (University of Southampton, UK)

 

15:25 - 15:55    Tea break

 

Chair: Jan Geralt bij de Vaate
15:55 - 16:20 Cosmology with local HI
                              Renée Kraan-Korteweg (University of Cape Town, RSA)
16:20 - 16:45 Pulsars
                              Joeri van Leeuwen  (ASTRON, NL)
16:45 - 17:10 Neutral gas in galaxies
                              Sarah Blyth (University of Cape Town, RSA)

 

17:10 - 18:00    Discussion