SAAO Cape Town Open Night

Speaker: Reikantseone Diretse

Reikantseone is a Data Analyst at the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His work focuses on calibrations and imaging of data sets from MeerKAT and the uGMRT telescope in India. His research interests vary broadly from time domain radio transients, cosmic explosions, pulsars, black hole x-ray binaries, to active galactic nuclei. He started his academics with a Bachelors in Chemistry and Physics, and has a Masters in Astronomy. Beyond academics, Reikantseone enjoys hobbies including archery, swimming, running, or simply brewing a good cup of tea.

Abstract:

Gamma ray bursts are the most luminous cosmic explosions in the universe. These incredibly cataclysmic events are observed in distant galaxies and their bursts are signaled by a flare of highest energy photons in the electromagnetic spectrum, the γ-rays. Their long lasting afterglows can be studied at radio frequencies to better understand the evolution of these explosions. In this talk, I present a MeerKAT study of the highly energetic gamma ray burst (GRB), GRB190114C, which was the first GRB to have been recorded at teraelectronvolt (TeV) energies by the MAGIC telescope. We observed this GRB with the very powerful MeerKAT radio telescope with excellent cadence, obtaining the most detailed low frequency coverage of this event and constraining its physical dynamics. I further explored the data to survey the background field for any potentially interesting transient sources, discovering 11 scintillating active galactic nuclei (AGNs). All this analysis was achieved with the pioneering power of the IDIA cloud computing facility.