Radio Transients / CHIME

The McGill Radio Transients group studies short-duration flashes of radio waves from new and unexpected astrophysical phenomena. Their most active area of research is in so-called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), mysterious, powerful, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves that originate outside of the Milky Way galaxy. To study these phenomena, the group uses several world-class radio observatories, including the Arecibo Observatory and the Green Bank Telescope. Most recently, the team has played a leadership role in the development and commissioning of the now fully operational CHIME telescope in collaboration with researchers from U. Toronto, UBC and the NRC. Although originally designed as a cosmology experiment, because CHIME has a broadband radio response and a wide effective field-of-view, it can scan for FRBs over an enormous area of sky, making CHIME a powerful FRB detector.


Faculty Members

Dobbs, Matt

Professor of Physics
Office: TSI 103
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Hessels, Jason

CERC in Transient Astrophysics, Professor of Physics
Office: ERP 215
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Kaspi, Vicky

Director of TSI, Professor of Physics
Office: TSI 203
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Sievers, Jonathan

Associate Professor of Physics
Office: ERP 333


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