Prof H Winkler is studying the variations and optical spectral characteristics of active galactic nuclei (AGN). He is developing a web-based atlas of the visual spectra of comparatively nearby Seyfert galaxies, as well as a catalogue of AGN based on a revised, more sophisticated, spectral characterization scheme.
Research Highlights - Prof Winkler
Dr CA Engelbrecht is specialising in the theoretical study of physical processes in neutron stars, as well as time series analysis of astronomical data. He collaborates with Prof FAM Frescura (WITS), Prof N Sauer (University of Pretoria), Dr C Flanagan (WITS), Dr T Brown (WITS), Ms S Buchner (Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory) and Prof F Lombard (UJ). Mr GB McDonald, Mr MB Lodewijks and Mr JM Hartman are busy with MSc projects under Dr Engelbrecht's supervision.
Dr LL Leeuw conducts multi-wavelength astrophysical research on the evolution of elliptical galaxies and their progenitors, in both gravitationally lensed and un-lensed systems. For this he exploits observations at infrared to radio and complementary wavebands obtained using ground and space telescopes, both large and small. Recently publication highlights from this research includes The Detection of a Population of Submillimeter Bright, Strongly Lensed Galaxies by M Negrello, et al, Science, 330, 800-804 (2010) and Observation of H2O in a strongly lensed Herschel-ATLAS source at z = 2.3 by A Omont, et al, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 530, L30 (2011). This research has attracted interest for graduate projects from students as far as Cape Town, with Sidiki Zongo of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences having recently completed his Postgraduate Diploma Essay and Itumeleng Monageng of the University of Cape Town starting his Honours Project in this area. Further, Mr Bernard Asabere just joined the group to begin his PhD on The submillimetre-to-radio view of high- redshift star-forming galaxies and galaxy clusters co-supervised by Prof Cathy Horellou of Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Bernard, who is under the South African Square Kilometer Array Project Postgraduate Scholarship Programme, hails from Ghana where he was a research scientist at the Ghana Space Science and Technology Centre and the project manager of the African Very Large Baseline Interferometer Network-Ghana
Research Highlights - Dr Leeuw