Dr Susmita Sett

Overview

Hola! Welcome to my page! 🙂

I currently work as an Associate Lecturer at Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy. My current research focuses on understanding and constraining the viscosity of accretion disks for low-mass X-ray binaries using the next generation of optical instruments such as Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Large Synoptic Survey telescope.

I am also interested in investigating image-based methodologies for pulsar searches using the SKA precursor, Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). This is related to the work that I have previously done as part of my PhD thesis.

I have published multiple peer-reviewed papers, presented at international conferences, and been involved in high-impact collaborations. In addition to my research, I am also dedicated to teaching and mentoring, having taught introductory astronomy courses and co-supervised PhD students. My work is recognized through awards and scholarships, including the Research Training Program Scholarship and CSIRO top-up scholarship.

An active member of various professional societies, I am also committed to outreach and diversity, serving as the current chair of the CIRA Development Committee.

In the future, I want to combine my expertise in radio and optical astronomy to inform the community of the wonderful science that can be done when the capabilities of next generation of telescopes such as the SKA and LSST can be combined.

Overall, my research interests are radio and optical astronomy, pulsar astronomy, accretion physics and low-mass X-ray binaries along with my deep interest in initiatives that support diversity and inclusion.

Research Projects

Ongoing work: Constraints on viscosity of accretion disks for low-mass X-ray binaries using LSST.
– Leveraging LSST simulated light curves to place constraints on viscosity.
– Aiming to answer questions about how many of these sources LSST will detect and how early in the outbursts they will be
identified.

Ongoing work: SKA-Low station sensitivity measurements using pulsar co-observations with the MWA
– Development of alternative method for measuring SKA-Low station sensitivity using pulsar observations.
– Validation of SKA-Low station performance through real-time sensitivity verification.
– Pulsar polarimetry development with SKA-Low data.
– Collaboration on SKA-Low sensitivity studies using advanced imaging techniques.

PhD project: Exploring the southern sky population of pulsars using image-based methodologies with the MWA.
– Developed and commissioned a MWA-VCS specific imaging pipeline on Pawsey Supercomputing Systems.
– Developed methodologies to detect pulsar candidates in continuum images based on pulsar properties.
– Conducted image-based surveys of the Galactic plane to detect new pulsar candidates.
– Performed population and spectral studies of low-frequency pulsars to explore emission mechanisms

Casual Research Assistant
– Assisted the Breakthrough Listen organization with observations using the Parkes Radio Telescope.
– Focused on searching for signals of extraterrestrial activity and other interesting objects in the Galaxy.

Masters thesis project
– Searched for radio pulsars in supernova remnants using high-time-resolution data from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT).
– Achieved 2 to 16 times higher sensitivity compared to previous surveys, though no new pulsars were detected.
– Published first-authored work in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal (A&A).

Data analysis of gravitational waves
– Extracted signals from noise in gravitational wave detectors like LIGO and VIRGO.
– Participated in the IndiGo mock data challenge to understand gravitational wave data analysis.

Reduction and extraction of stellar spectra of Be stars
– Analyzed spectral and emission lines of B[e] stars under the guidance of Dr. K.T. Paul.
– Utilized image reduction software (IRAF), gnuplot, and Python for analysis.

A collage portraying my research interest is given below:

Non-research activities

Outside my research, I am interested in travelling, painting, running, music festivals and spending time in the gym. I am also a huge coffee drinker and a whiskey enthusiast.  Funnily, one of my paintings was selected to be a beer can label and was popular all over the UK, even before I published my first paper.

A snapshot of my life outside research: