Affan was born and raised in India and moved to Canada for school. He graduated from UofT with an HBSc in Physics this June. Affan has always been interested in astronomy, particularly in the tenuous plasma that permeates the cosmos. In the fall, he will be continuing his work in astronomy by pursuing a PhD in astronomy at McGill University. Outside of astronomy, Affan spends most of time either cooking, reading or in nature.Â
What made you decide to participate in SURP?
I grew up watching a lot of space documentaries and the intense visuals had a strong impression on my young mind. This led me to be interested in being involved with astronomy research, and being involved with some of the research being done at Dunlap through SURP seemed like the perfect opportunity.Â
What is your favourite thing about SURP?
My favourite aspect of SURP is that it exposes me to a wide area of astronomy outside of my area of expertise through the large group of my peers, who are working on topics as varied as machine learning research for stellar spectra to instrumentation for telescopes such as CHIME. Through my interactions with my peers, I have learned just how much more there is for me to learn and has given me an appreciation for the breadth of research in astronomy.Â
Can you tell us about your research project?
The baryonic matter (matter we can see) of the cosmic web is dominated by magnetoionic plasma. The structure and origin of the magnetic field in the cosmic web still remains largely unknown. My project focuses on studying the magnetic field of a system of four nearby galaxy clusters and the bridges between the clusters. I will be using data from the POlarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism, which has a 40 times improved source density from previous similar surveys. This will give us an improved understanding, particularly of the tenuous plasma between clusters.Â
Can you explain how SURP has been different from your undergrad work?
My experience in SURP has been extremely different from my undergraduate experience. Research, in my opinion, requires a completely different skill set from my studies. I think in my studies, there were a lot of sources I could turn to when I was stuck (such as textbooks). However, research differs from this because there is no single resource I could turn to; instead of textbooks, I had to turn to the literature and compare the different methodology and results of varied papers and make decisions on what to apply to my on research. In this aspect, I think that I have had to be much more independent during my SURP project.Â
What are your plans for the future?
This fall, I will be starting a PhD at McGill University, working with Prof. Jason Hessels, where I will be studying magnetoionic plasma from scales as small as galaxies to as large as the cosmic web using fast radio bursts (FRBs). FRBs are short bursts of radio light that come from distant galaxies. They are well-suited to study the intervening plasma because they act as a backlight; FRBs are unique probes for this because they are the only extragalactic sources that provide us with information about both the magnetic field and the density of the intervening plasma. With more FRBs being detected with CHIME and the upcoming CHORD telescope, I intend to do much more detailed studies of foreground plasma than ever before.Â
Tell us something fun about yourself unrelated to SURP!
Outside of astronomy, I’m a huge nature buff. If I’m not travelling or away, I will likely spend my weekend in the woods and have the goal of hiking at least 20 kilometres each weekend. So far, I’ve hiked over 100 kilometres over the past few months. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen short of my goal due to some international travel but now that I’m firmly back in Toronto, I intend to make up for the lost distance.Â
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is an endowed research institute with over 80 faculty, postdocs, students, and staff, dedicated to innovative technology, ground-breaking research, world-class training, and public engagement.
The research themes of its faculty and Dunlap Fellows span the Universe and include: optical, infrared and radio instrumentation, Dark Energy, large-scale structure, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmic magnetism, and time-domain science.
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