Episode 116: Exploring Cosmic Events with Professor Rene Breton at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Some of the most energetic events in the cosmos are associated with the products left after a star’s violent end. These products are always smaller and denser: a white dwarf (the size of a planet), a Neutron star (the size of a city), or a Black Hole (an object without a size). The bigger the initial mass of a star, the sooner and more energetic its end will be. Our Sun is not all that massive; it will end up as a white dwarf in and out 4.5 billion years from now.

Professor Rene Breton, originally from Quebec, has been working at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics for over a decade. We discuss only a small part of his current research, including how Pulsars may one day be used as a GPS for interstellar travel. Other topics include

• Why and how he ended up in Manchester
• His first impressions of Manchester and comparisons with Quebec in Canada
• The key role of a high-school teacher, Mr. Gaudreault, setting him on his career in science
• Stellar evolution – how stars are born and the process by which they end up as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes
• Event Horizon Telescope – imaging the black hole in the centre of our galaxy
• The ultimate fate of our Sun
• Quasars are distant galaxies with a Black Hole in the centre,  so distant that they look like stars. 
• FAST Radio bursts, including Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), are from extragalactic distances. Events that last a few seconds or less – a sign of merging neutron stars or evidence of Hypernovae (not novae or supernovae)!
• Neutron Stars in Binary Systems, accretion discs and “spiders”
• Neutron Stars as a cosmic GPS for future space travellers
• Detect Gravitational Waves using neutron stars. Gravitational Wave detectors are not very sensitive, so they can only detect high-energy events, such as the collision of two neutron stars or the formation of black holes. 
• Space-borne Gravity Wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, which NASA plans to launch in the 2030s, will be able to detect a wider range of cosmological phenomena.
• Square Kilometer Array’s role in detecting more neutron stars, pulsars and even pulsars orbiting black holes
• Pulsar Timing Array – a GPS for interstellar travel