Conferences, Schools and Workshops
The 3rd Astro-COLIBRI Multi-Messenger Workshop
The 3rd Astro-COLIBRI Multi-Messenger Workshop was Held from September 16-20, 2024, at the Institut Pascal at Université Paris-Saclay with the support from IRFU CEA Paris-Saclay,
The event focused on advancing a research agenda for interconnecting software tools in real-time multi-messenger astronomy. It was an incredible opportunity for collaboration, bringing together leading scientists and young researchers from around the globe.
Dr. Ankur Ghosh from CAPP contributed a talk on the impact of magnetars on kilonova afterglow emission in short GRBs, with insights from late-time radio observations.
HEASA 2024
The High Energy Astrophysics in Southern Africa 2024 (HEASA 2024) conference, hosted by the School of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), took place from October 2nd to October 4th, 2024, at the Wits Rural Facility.
Building on the success of HEASA 2023, which was held in Mtunzini, Kwa-Zulu Natal, this eleventh edition of the conference continued its mission of bringing together scientists from Southern Africa, across the continent, and around the world who are dedicated to the study of high-energy astrophysical phenomena.
At HEASA 2024, discussions spanned a wide array of topics, including theoretical perspectives, multi-wavelength observations, and multi-messenger approaches to studying various astrophysical sources. These included active galactic nuclei (AGNs), galaxy systems, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), X-ray/gamma-ray binaries, supernovae, supernova remnants, neutron stars, pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, and cataclysmic variables (CVs).
Ms Tamador Aldowma contributed a talk on the Implications of Joint Spectral Analysis from Fermi (GBM, LAT, and LLE) on Phenomenological GRBs Correlations and Dr Khushboo Dixit contributed a talk on Astrophysical Insights into Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos with IceCube Observations.
11th International Fermi Symposium 2024
Professor Sobeur Razzaque, Doctor Monica Barnard and Ms Tamador Aldowma had attended The 11th International Fermi Symposium 2024 which was held in Washington D.C from the 9th to the 13th of September. It had brought together the brightest minds in astrophysics to discuss groundbreaking findings from the Fermi mission, its advanced instruments, collaborative studies and upcoming research opportunities.
IAU GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2024
On the 5th of August the CAPP Team attended The IAU General Assembly 2024 in Cape Town South Africa.
The conference featured over 200 scientific sessions with renowned speakers and offered both in-person and virtual participation. Highlights included hybrid poster sessions, open-access talks, public outreach, cultural events, and technical tours.
This innovative conference aimed to reshape global perceptions through Astronomy whilst also allowing Africa to showcase its rich culture and indigenous art. The conference inspired future scientists worldwide and fostered global collaboration. This event offered a unique platform to challenge stereotypes, promote knowledge sharing, and advance astronomical research on an international scale.
Dr. Khushboo Dixit, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, presented her poster titled ‘Measure of Quantum Complexity in Neutrino Oscillations’ and contributed talk on ‘Searching for signatures of pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos in IceCube data‘ at ICHEP 2024, held in Prague, Czech Republic, from 18-24 July 2024.
ICHEP is a series of international conferences organized by the C11 commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). It has been held every two years for over 50 years and is the reference conference for particle physics where the most relevant results are presented.
At ICHEP, physicists from around the world gather to share the latest advancements in particle physics, astrophysics/cosmology, and accelerator science and to discuss plans for major future facilities.
Read more about the conference: https://ichep2024.org/
From July 8-12, 2024 members from the Centre for Astro-Particle Physics (CAPP), Prof. Soebur Razzaque, (Director), Dr. Monica Barnard (Post Doctoral Research Fellow), Dr. Ankur Ghosh (Post Doctoral Research Fellow) and Tamador Aldowma (PhD Student), attended the Gamma Ray Burst Forum in Athens Greece.
The conference explored the various aspects of gamma-ray bursts, covering emission physics, high-energy radiation, polarization, central engines, jet generation, multi-wavelength observations, and using GRBs as cosmological probes.
Read more about the conference here.
PhD students Mfuphi Ntshatsha and Lutendo Nyadzani attended the annual South African Institute of Physics conference, between the 1st and 5th of July 2024. The conference was held at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape as it celebrated its 120th anniversary. This year’s theme was “To the next 100, South Africa’s future in physics,” inspired great talks, presentations, and posters. Read more about the conference: https://saip2024.co.za/
Awards
Mr. Lutendo Nyadzani was awarded the ‘Best PhD Presentation in Astrophysics’ for the second year in a row.
Prof. Soebur Razzaque presented his contributed talk titled ‘Multiwavelength emission from Gamma-Ray Burst’ at the 4th Annual AfAS Conference held in Marrakech, Morocco from April 15 to 20, 2024. This conference aims to further the goals of AfAS by focusing on astronomy research, outreach, communication, and education activities in Africa. It also aims to promote collaboration between countries. For more information on the conference proceedings, visit the dedicated Indico website here: https://conference.afasociety.org/
NITheCS Colloquium 2024
At the NITheCS Colloquium held on 13 May 2024 at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, Prof. Soebur Razzaque presented a talk titled ‘Gamma-ray Bursts: The Most Powerful Explosions in the Universe’. You can watch his talk here on YouTube here.
Prof. Soebur Razzaque presented his contributed talk titled ‘Search for Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos from Astrophysical Sources in IceCube Data‘ at the American Physical Society’s April Meeting held in Sacramento, California from April 3 to 6, 2024. The theme of the ‘Quarks to Cosmos’ meeting is “New Challenges and Questions for the Micro and Macro Universe”. This scientific conference brings together physicists and students from around the world. It encourages connection and collaboration across various fields of physics, including astrophysics, particle physics, nuclear physics, and gravitation. For more information on the meeting proceedings, visit the dedicated Indico website here: https://april.aps.org/
The ‘Quantum Information Workshop 2024’, hosted by the Centre for Astro-Particle Physics (CAPP) took place from February 5-7, 2024, at the University of Johannesburg’s Physics Department and was also available virtually on Zoom. This follows the Applications of Quantum Information in Astrophysics and Cosmology Workshop, which took place at the Mathematics & Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in Cape Town from April 24-26, 2023.
The lectures aimed to introduce quantum information fundamentals and their applications, targeting advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students. Lectures were self-contained and assumed a basic understanding of quantum mechanics. Tutorial problems supplemented the lectures, promoting collaborative problem-solving among students.
The lecturers included Prof. Tibra Ali from Brac University Bangladesh, Dr. Shajid Haque from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and our own Dr. Garreth Kemp from the Physics Department, as well as Dr. Khushboo Dixit, a postdoc at the Centre.
For more information about the workshop, visit the dedicated webpage here: https://indico.cern.ch/e/QIW2024
Ms. Dimakatso Maheso attended the ‘The 44th International School for Young Astronomers (ISYA)’, which took place from 19 November to 9 December 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ms. Maheso presented a project titled “Studying FGCE 0328 through its spectral lines”. Observations were conducted using the SALT telescope during the school.
For more information about this school, visit their website: https://isya2023.saao.ac.za/
Prof. Soebur Razzaque attended the TeV Particle Astrophysics (TeVPA) conference in Napoli, Italy from September 11th to September 15th, 2023. This international conference showcases the latest advancements in the field of Astroparticle Physics.
For more information about the conference, please visit their website: https://agenda.infn.it/event/33457/
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks:
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks:
- Prof. Soebur Razzaque: Virtual
- Prof. Hartmut Winkler: Photometry of blazars using the Las Cumbres Observatory robotic telescope network
- Mr. Lutendo Nyadzani: X-ray – UV anti-correlation in ultra-luminous sources
- Ms. Chanelle Gouws: Engaging physics departments and science faculties in outreach activities
- Ms. Anna Samara Larmuth: The significance of social media in physics: Insights from a social media specialist secondee at CTAO
- Ms. Monica Barnard: Modelling very-high-energy gamma-rays detected from GRBs with external Compton emission using Naima (Virtual)
- Ms. Tamador Aldowma: Joint spectral analysis of Fermi and Swift data from gamma-ray bursts
- Mr. Luyanda Mazwi: Estimation of the orbital inclination angle for compact binary mergers through Bayesian inference
- Ms. Dimakatso Maheso: Temporal and spectral analysis of short GRBs detected by the Fermi gamma-ray burst monitor with known redshift
Excursion
Mtunzini River Cruise
The Centre for Astro-Particle Physics (CAPP) team had an amazing time attending the Mtunzini river cruise during the HEASA 2023 conference.
The team enjoyed the beautiful scenery and had some great conversations about the local wildlife. We hope to have many more experiences at future conferences!
Prof. Razzaque delivered a keynote talk at the New Evolution of MultiMessenger Astrophysics (NEMMA) symposium held at Penn State University, USA from August 21 to 23, 2023.
For more information about the symposium, visit https://web.cvent.com/event/735ff167-c195-4c89-814b-1725f0113bb6/summary.
Mr. Luyanda Mazwi (Master’s Student) attended the Second MaNiTou Summer School on Gravitational Waves: A New Window to the Universe in Nice, France from July 3-8, 2023.
Staff and students from the Department of Physics and the Centre for Astro-Particle Physics (CAPP) attended the ‘67th Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics‘ at the University of Zululand, Richards Bay Campus from July 3-7, 2023.
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks:
- Prof. Soebur Razzaque: Possible origins of > 10 TeV photons detected from the burst of all time (BOAT) GRB 221009A
- Ms. Dimakatso Maheso: Pulse fitting and spectral analysis of Fermi -GBM short GRBs with known redshift and comparisons with magnetar giant flares
- Mr. Lutendo Nyadzani: ULXs as progenitors of merging compact binary systems
- Ms. Getrude Thando Mothogoane: Star-forming galaxies and radio-active galactic nuclei in the faint radio sky
Posters:
- Mr. Thabo Msiza: Fitting NOvA and T2K data with the revamped 𝐴4 symmetry model for the poorly constrained neutrino oscillation parameters
Awards:
- Mr. Lutendo Nyadzani: Best PhD Presentation in the Astrophysics Division (See his contributed talk here: ULXs as progenitors of merging compact binary systems)
Prof. Soebur Razzaque (Director) attended the ‘PPC 2023: XVI International Conference on Interactions between Particle Physics and Cosmology‘ in Daejeon, South Korea from 12-16 June 2023.
Prof. Razzaque presented a contributed talk titled ‘Possible origins of > 10 TeV photons detected from GRB 221009A’.
Dr. Khushboo Dixit (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) attended the ‘Quantum Information Theory in Quantum Field Theory and Cosmology 2023‘ conference at the Banff International Research Station in Banff, Canada from June 4th to June 9th, 2023.
Dr. Dixit presented a contributed talk titled ‘Quantum Spread Complexity in Neutrino Oscillations‘. You can watch Dr. Dixit’s talk below:
Ms. Tamador Aldowma (PhD Student) and Ms. Dimakatso Maheso (Master’s Student) attended the ‘Fermi Summer School 2023‘ at the University of Delaware Conference Center in the United States from May 30 to June 9, 2023.
Ms. Aldowma presented a talk titled ‘Using machine learning to estimate Fermi GRB redshifts’, while Ms. Maheso presented a talk titled ‘Pulse fitting of short gamma-ray bursts and the magnetar giant flare, GRB200415A, with the Norris function’.
The NITheCS ‘Applications of Quantum Information in Astrophysics and Cosmology’ workshop was held at the Mathematics & Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Cape Town (UCT) during 24-26 April 2023. The conference aimed to showcase recent developments in Quantum Information Theory (QIT) with a focus on quantum field theory and cosmology as topics. To visit the conference’s Indico site, go to https://indico.cern.ch/e/NITheCSQIT.
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks
- Tamador Aldowma: Machine Learning approach to probe Gamma-Ray Bursts as Cosmological Standard Candles
- Luyanda Mazwi: Estimation of orbital inclination angle for compact binary mergers through Bayesian Inference
- Thabo Msiza: Fitting NOvA and T2K data with the revamped A_4 symmetry model for the poorly constrained neutrino oscillation parameters
- Khushboo Dixit: Quantum information theoretic aspects of neutrino oscillations
The SAAO ‘Magnetism & Accretion’ conference in memory of Darragh O’Donoghue took place in Cape Town, South Africa during the period 16-19 January 2023 and focused on the topic of magnetically influenced accretion and outflows throughout the Universe. The conference received support from the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), the University of Cape Town Department of Astronomy and the Southern African Large Telescope Foundation.
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks
- Soebur Razzaque: Recent highlights on gamma-ray bursts
- Lutendo Nyadzani: ULXs as progenitors of merging compact binary systems
- Monica Barnard: Very high-energy gamma-ray afterglows from GRB 180720B and GRB 190829A with external Compton emission (Virtual)
Posters
- Dimakatso Jeannett Maheso: Spectral and temporal analysis of short gamma-ray bursts detected by the Fermi space telescope with known redshift (Poster Talk)
The Tenth International Fermi Symposium was held in person for participants from around the world at Misty Hills Country Hotel, Conference Centre, and Spa from the 9th-15th October 2022. This meeting focused on the new scientific investigations and results enabled by Fermi, the mission and instrument characteristics, future opportunities, and coordinated observations and analyses. Visit the Tenth International Fermi Symposium’s Indico Page here.
Contributions by Staff and Students
Contributed Talks
Posters
- Dimakatso Maheso (Co-Author): Multi-messenger Astrophysics Master Class: Gamma Rays
- Tamador Aldowma: Neural Networks for Estimation of Gamma-Ray Burst Redshifts
- Mfuphi Ntshatsha: Constraining magnetic fields and gamma-ray production zones in blazar jets by fitting the broad-band spectral energy distribution
- Monica Barnard: Modelling external inverse Compton emission of gamma-ray burst afterglows in the very-high-energy regime
Excursions
Participants of the Tenth International Fermi Symposium 2022 were taken out for the day to experience what South Africa has to offer!
Participants were taken on a game drive at the Rhino and Lion Park to see wild animals, such as White and Brown Lions, Cheetahs, Rhinos, and everything in between! Participants had a picnic lunch at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, where they also received a tour of the observatory. Last but not least, participants were taken to experience the deep depths of the Sterkfontein Caves, where they also received a specialty tour from the tour guides in the anthropology shed.
In the evening, participants wined and dined on specialty meat at the Carnivore, located on the praises of Misty Hills.
Carbon Wise Certificate
The Recreation African Group certifies that the Tenth International Fermi Symposium hosted by the Centre for Astro-Particle Physics (University of Johannesburg) from 9th-15th October 2022 is Carbon Wise for choosing Misty Hills Country Hotel, Conference Centre & Spa as the hosting venue. In honour of the conference, 15 trees will be planted. The Recreation African Group will plant ONE Indigenous tree for every TEN Conference Delegates at one of their Venues. For more information about the Recreation African Group, click here.
