Hi all,
Over January and February, we had an exchange student, Wanga Mulaudzi from the University of Cape Town, come to Amsterdam to work with us on a new project. This project uses multiwavelength data from an outbursting black hole X-ray binary to model how the jet physics evolved during the outburst. With Wanga, we collated radio, mm, infrared and optical observations to trace the jet evolution, as well as X-ray observations to determine how the accretion flow was changing and driving the jet evolution. Due to the multiwavelength and multi-disciplinary nature of this project, this project included many of us in Sera’s group: myself, Matteo, Sera, Fe, Tobi, and of course Wanga. While the project is still in its early days, despite some headaches with the data, Wanga has made some great progress and will continue to work with us on this project. Below is a short paragraph discussing her time in Amsterdam, but stay tuned for some more of the project results as we progress.
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During the months of January/February, I spent six weeks working on a project with Dr Thomas Russell, who is a part of Prof. Sera Markoff’s Theoretical High Energy Astrophysics group at the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy (API). The project was a part of the NWO/NRF program, which is an exchange program whose aim, out of many others, is to link students from South Africa with professors at the University of Amsterdam. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at API, as I had learnt a lot of the physics behind X-ray binaries, why they are important, and how you can extract really vital information from their spectra. I also learnt the art of patience, especially since I worked with the Interactive Spectral Interpretation System (ISIS) to analyse and apply physical models to the spectra. The learning curve was definitely a steep one, but certainly worth it since I hope to further my studies in jet and black hole theory. Something else I learnt was to be more adventurous when it comes to trying new foods! On my last evening in Amsterdam, I went to Sampurna along with a few other members of the group to try some Indonesian food. I had never had the cuisine before, and I very quickly realised that I had been missing out! We ordered the Batara Rice Table, which is consisted of a wide range of dishes containing coconut, ginger, shrimp, chicken, etc. It was a really wholesome meal; definitely better than a trip to the local Burger King!
