| MeerKAT science projects |
Research leaders |
| Priority Group 1 |
|
| Radio Pulsar Timing: Testing Einstein's theory of gravity and gravitational radiation - Investigating the physics of enigmatic neutron stars through observations of pulsars. |
Professor Matthew Bailes, Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Australia |
| LADUMA (Looking at the Distant Universe with the MeerKAT Array) - An ultra-deep survey of neutral hydrogen gas in the early universe. |
Dr Sarah Blyth, University of Cape Town in South Africa;
Dr Benne Holwerda, European Space Agency, The Netherlands;
Dr Andrew Baker, Rutgers University, United States |
| Priority Group 2 |
|
| MESMER (MeerKAT Search for Molecules in the Epoch of Re-ionisation) - Searching for CO at high red-shift (z>7) to investigate the role of molecular hydrogen in the early universe. |
Dr Ian Heywood, CSIRO/ATNF, Australia |
| MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey for atomic hydrogen and OH lines in absorption against distant continuum sources (OH line ratios may give clues about changes in the fundamental constants in the early universe). |
Dr Neeraj Gupta, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, India;
Dr Raghunathan Srianand, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, India |
| MHONGOOSE (MeerKAT HI Observations of Nearby Galactic Objects: Observing Southern Emitters) - Investigations of different types of galaxies; dark matter and the cosmic web. |
Professor Erwin de Blok, ASTRON, The Netherlands |
| TRAPUM (Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT) - Searching for, and investigating new and exotic pulsars. |
Dr Benjamin Stappers, Joddrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, UK;
Professor Michael Kramer, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany |
| A MeerKAT HI Survey of the Fornax Cluster (Galaxy formation and evolution in the cluster environment). |
Dr Paolo Serra, CSIRO/ATNF, Australia |
| MeerGAL (MeerKAT High Frequency Galactic Plane Survey) - Galactic structure and dynamics, distribution of ionised gas, recombination lines, interstellar molecular gas and masers. |
Dr Mark Thompson, University of Hertfordshire, UK;
Dr Sharmila Goedhart, South African SKA Project |
| MIGHTEE (MeerKAT International GigaHertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration Survey) - Deep continuum observations of the earliest radio galaxies |
Dr Kurt van der Heyden, University of Cape Town, South Africa;
Professor Matt Jarvis, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and the University of Hertfordshire, UK |
| ThunderKAT (The Hunt for Dynamic and Explosive Radio Transients with MeerKAT) - eg gamma ray bursts, novae and supernovae, plus new types of transient radio sources. |
Professor Patrick Woudt, University of Cape Town, South Africa;
Professor Rob Fender, University of Southampton, UK |
