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Department of Physics

The Cavendish Laboratory
 

 

Artist's Impression

About the Project

  • The SKA is a new radio telescope project, currently in the design study phase, which will have sensitivity 100 times greater than the most sensitive radio telescopes of the present generation, and an ability to survey the sky up to 1 million times faster.
  • It is planned to be a "world array" and will be located partly in South Africa and partly in Australia.
  • The telescope will:
    • study the distribution of galaxies out to redshifts of about 4, determining fundamental cosmological parameters including the equation of state of dark energy.
    • probe galaxy formation and evolution to the earliest epochs and "dark ages".
    • map the appearance of the first objects during the epoch of recombination.
    • test theories of gravity and observe gravitational waves using pulsars and cosmic clocks.
    • study the origin, evolution and role of cosmic magnetism.

Cavendish AP Group involvement

  • Work in Cambridge includes
    • Leading the key project into the origin of cosmic magnetism (SKADS-DS2)
    • Analysis and simulation of data flow, computation and telescope response (SKADS-DS3)
    • Calibration of aperture arrays (SKADS-DS3, DS4)
    • Input to design, construction, and integration of next generation aperture array - 2PAD (SKADS-DS4)