Anwesha Sahu

I am a first year PhD researcher working with the white dwarfs and transients research group. My supervisor is Deanne Coppejans. I study AM CVn stars (a sub-class of binary white dwarf stars) in the radio spectrum using data from the VLA. I completed my MSci at the University of Birmingham with my final year dissertation on machine learning applications for radio astronomy, with a focus on classification of radio objects from MeerKAT. I also work with the GOTO and ePESSTO+ collaborations for follow-up and data analysis on transients.

Past Research

Using data from the MeerKAT galactic plane survey and the VLA FIRST survey, I constructed a deep learning model which identified and classified different radio objects within the MeerKAT galactic plane survey. This was done in conjunction with a GAN (generative adversarial network) to generate synthetic radio images from the MeerKAT GPS for training the classification algorithm. This project was performed as a preparatory study for an automated classification algorithm to identify radio objects with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) when it will be operational in the near future.
Due to inaccurate weather outputs from on-site weather stations at the SPECULOOS South Observatory, Paranal, Chile, resulting in a reduction in observation time, I constructed an algorithm which analyses the sky conditions in real-time from an on-site All-Sky camera. This provided accurate sky conditions with accuracies of over 90% which would result in an increase in observation time, thus aiding the detection of transits with longer durations.
During my third year of my BSc/MSci, I calculated habitable exoplanet occurrence rates around K dwarf stars, using a simulated set of stars from TRILEGAL. I applied this for the upcoming ESA PLATO mission, and contributed to the asteroseismology aspects of the project involving simulating oscillation curves of these stars too.

Research/Publications

Machine Learning Applications for Radio Astronomy, May 2023 (MSci Dissertation)
Classifying Optical (Out)bursts in Cataclysmic Variables: The Distinct Observational Characteristics of Dwarf Noave, Micronovae, Stellar Flares and Magnetic Gating; Ilkiewicz et al., 2024
The fast transient AT 2023clx in the nearby LINER galaxy NGC 3799, as a tidal disruption event of a very low-mass star; Charalampopoulos et al., 2024
Evolution of Spin in the Intermediate Polar CC Sculptoris; Paice et al., in prep
Sahu et al., in prep

Meetings & Conferences

AM CVn 5 - 5th International Workshop on AM CVn Binaries. 5-8 September 2023, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, Northern Ireland, UK
What was that? - Planning ESO Follow up for transients, variables, and solar system objects in the era of LSST. 22-26 January, ESO Garching

Outreach/Engagement

Astronomy & Astrophysics Representative at the Postgrad Student Staff Liaison Committee, Department of Physics, University of Warwick.
Organiser for Machine Learning for Transient Science, Warwick 2023
I have been on committee as chair and outreach officer for the University of Birmingham's Astronomical Society from 2020 - 2023. During this period, I organised talks, school outreach events, and astronomy events for the nearby communities. You can find out more about my outreach engagements and watch the talks I have delivered on my website Sitara Tales.
You can check my LinkedIn for other engagements.

Awards/Scholarships

Warwick Astrophysics PhD Prize Scholar (2023/24 entry), University of Warwick

Teaching

Year 1 physics undergraduate math support sessions

Write to:

Anwesha Sahu,

Department of Physics,

University of Warwick,

Coventry CV4 7AL

Contact details:

E-Mail: anwesha.sahu@warwick.ac.uk