Dr. Jo-Anne Brown

Assistant Professor (2006 - present)

BSc - Physics (Honours) - University of Alberta (1991)
MSc - Electrical Engineering (Optical Communications) - Queen's University (1993)
Hardware Designer - Nortel Networks (1993-1996)
PhD - Astrophysics (Radio Astronomy) - University of Calgary (2002)
Postdoctoral Position - Alberta Ingenuity Associate, University of Calgary (2002-2004,2006)

Personal Webpage: www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~jocat

Research Interests:

Jo-Anne's research interest is cosmic magnetism with emphasis presently on the Galactic magnetic field.

Just as the Earth has its own magnetic field, so does our Galaxy. The Galactic magnetic field is believed to play an important role in star formation, as well as impacting the structure and evolution of the Galaxy itself. While we have known about the Earth's magnetic field for centuries, the idea that the Galaxy has a magnetic field has only been around since 1949. Consequently, relatively little is known about the field. One scientific goal is to understand how the field formed and how it is evolving. The first step towards this goal is to understand its present topology (its orientation, strength, and other
structural nuances).

Unlike the magnetic field of the Earth, direct measurements of the Galactic magnetic field are not yet possible. Therefore, we must be more creative with our observations, and take advantage of indirect probing mechanisms provided by nature, including radiation from pulsars and galaxies outside our own. Using data from these sources collected at various radio observatories, including the DRAO, the ATNF, Arecibo and Effelsberg, Jo-Anne has been making huge strides towards unraveling the complex mysteries of the Galactic magnetic field.

Since cosmic magnetism is a key science driver for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), Jo-Anne is helping to shape the Canadian involvement in this international project, and its prototype currently being developed in Australia (ASKAP). In addition, Jo-Anne is a member of the WG7 science team for the Planck satellite, to be launched in 2008. One of the goals of this science team is to develop a sufficiently accurate model of the Galactic magnetic field so that a model of the polarised foreground may be subtracted from the Planck data to accurately study the polarisation of the microwave background in the Universe.

CONTACT:
phone: (403) 220-8014
email: jocat at ras.ucalgary.ca