Mr Garvit Grover

PhD Research Student

ME

I was born in India and grew up there for a bit and later moved to Australia and grew up there.

I like playing video games and watching anime. I have recently gotten into golf otherwise I am a fan of soccer and MMA. I like making coffee and eating cookies but struggling to stay healthy. I enjoy listening to rap/hip-hop music and creating quality playlists.

WORK

I am a student studying long-period and nulling pulsars and exploring their connection to the death mechanism of pulsars. There have been attempts to define constraints that lead to the death of a pulsar; however, we have continuously found pulsars that defy our expectations. Nulling has also been linked to being a possible indicator of pulsar death; however, no strong evidence has been found to show this.

A frequency and time view of my pulsar

In my first project, I explored the efficacy of different search algorithms (namely fast Fourier transform, fast folding algorithm and single pulse search) in finding long-period and nulling pulsars by simulating nearly 2 million signals. I used my results to make recommendations for future surveys on how best to use these algorithms together to find such objects.

I later discovered a long-period and nulling pulsar using the low-frequency telescopes MWA and GMRT. This pulsar showed unique quasiperiodic nulling behaviour. I explored other quasiperiodically nulling pulsars and found them to be on the leading edge of the supposed dying population of pulsars.

I am now doing a population analysis on long-period and nulling pulsars and trying to use novel approaches to measure nulling and explore their connection to pulsar death.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Besides PhD work, I am a part of the Development Committee that focuses on harbouring a more inclusive and diverse work environment. As a part of this, I get to organise cultural and diversity events and celebrate everyone’s identity. This has led me to write newsletters for the workspace and even organise a mentorship program for undergrads.

As a way to boost the morale of PhD students, I am the proud owner of a break bell, which is rung at 10 o’clock and 3 o’clock to remind everyone to take a break, have a coffee and procrastinate.

I have also been teaching labs at Curtin University which helps break up my PhD work and get a chance to teach and inspire younger students.