The primary aim of the grant is to translate Pulsar Timing Array measurements of the amplitude of the gravitational wave background into inferences about the black hole-galaxy connection. The project will combine state-of-the-art simulations of galaxy mergers, sampled from cosmological merger trees, with machine learning tools to calculate the gravitational wave background based on black hole and galaxy properties. The successful applicant will assess the efficiency of massive black hole mergers and construct a theoretical model for the amplitude and shape of the observed signal.

The researcher will have access to Surrey’s High Performance Computing cluster Eureka2 as well as career mentoring and training opportunities. Travel and equipment funds are available as part of the grant. They will join the Astrophysics group, a vibrant, diverse and dynamic environment with 10 faculty and over 20 graduate students and early-career researchers. Areas of interest in the group include supermassive black holes and gravitational wave sources, galactic dynamics and archeology, cosmology and stellar evolution.

More details can be found here.