Astro Seminar Series - Hybrid Seminar

Stefano Camera is an Associate Professor at the University of Turin (Italy), where he returned after having been postdoc and research fellow at the High Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics of The University of Manchester (UK).  His research spans various areas of cosmology with surveys of the large-scale structure of the Universe, with a definite predilection for innovative cross-correlations and multi-wavelength synergies.  For this reason, he is involved in several experimental collaborations, amongst which the most important are: the SKA Observatory, for which he has been serving as Chair of the Cosmology SWG for three years; and the European Space Agency’s Euclid satellite, with Builder status since 2022.

Talk Title and Abstract

Cosmology with the SKA Observatory

The SKA Observatory (SKAO) - formerly known as the Square Kilometre Array - is a radio-astronomy facility currently under construction jointly in South Africa and Australia.  When built, it will be the world's largest radio telescope, spanning a frequency range from 50 MHz up to 15.4 GHz, with a goal of 24 GHz.  Amongst its many science capabilities, it will also usher in a new era for cosmology at radio frequencies.  In this talk, I shall review the major characteristics of the SKAO's radio-telescope(s) for cosmology, focussing mainly on the South African instrument, whose frequency range is the most promising for cosmological studies.  I shall review the main envisaged probes, in comparison and synergy with cosmological surveys across the electromagnetic spectrum.  Finally, I shall also present recent results from science verification data from so-called SKAO precursors and pathfinders.

This will be a hybrid seminar. If you would like to join in person, please meet in the Physics building (Room 308). Would you like to join this seminar via Zoom?  Please email WCA.