Dr Clancy James | Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Introduction

I am a postdoctoral research fellow working at the interface between transient radio astronomy and astroparticle physics. My research interests include cosmic rays, neutrinos, and fast radio transients. I am a member of the CRAFT collaboration, searching for enigmatic fast radio bursts with ASKAP, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder; the ANTARES and KM3NeT neutrino telescope collaborations, in order to detect high-energy astrophysical neutrinos in the depths of the Mediterranean; and the Square Kilometre Array's High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group, in order to study cosmic rays using the nanosecond radio pulses they generate when interacting in matter - including a current experiment with the Murchison Widefield Array.

Employment History

2006-2009: PhD, University of Adelaide, South Australia

2009-2011: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

2011-2017: Erlangen Centre of Astroparticle Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

2017- : ICRAR/Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University, Western Australia

Research Interests

Radio detection of Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays are the highest-energy particles in nature, bombarding the atmosphere with energies millions of times higher than can be produced even by the Large Hadron Collider. The source of these extreme particles (perhaps supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and/or supermassive black holes), and what occurs in their collisions, is yet unknown.

When cosmic rays interact with the Earth's atmosphere, they produce a cascade of secondary particles, which in turn emits a pulse of radio-wave radiation. The Dutch radio telescope LOFAR has demonstrated that these pulses are the most precise method for studying cosmic rays, and the key to unlocking their origin.

The Murchison Wideeld Array (MWA) is a low-frequency radio telescope located in outback Western Australia. It is an ideal instrument for cosmic ray studies: it can study the emission at higher frequencies than LOFAR, and it is located in the radio-quiet Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Furthermore, it is a precursor for the Square Kilometre Array, and the SKA's High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group plans to use to study these particles with ultimate precision.

To this end, a prototype particle detector has recently been deployed in conjunction with the MWA, in order to measure particles making it to ground level, and trigger the MWA to observe the few microseconds of data every hour that will contain a cosmic ray signature will be present. Studies are also ongoing to use radio-only data to search for a cosmic ray signature.

Neutrino Astronomy

Whatever in the universe is producing cosmic rays will also produce neutrinos. After photons, these almost massless particles are the most common in the universe, with billions passing through each of us every second. The interactions of cosmic rays with matter and light during their production and propagation inevitably leads to neutrino via the decay of pions, muons, and neutrons. Unlike cosmic rays, which have their paths bent by cosmic magnetic fields (thus obfuscating their origin), neutrinos are uncharged, and only weakly interact. Detecting them will therefore point back to sites of cosmic ray acceleration, and open a new window on the universe.

KM3NeT, and its predecessor ANTARES, are underwater neutrino telescopes located in the Mediterranean sea. Utilising the dark of the ocean depths, they detect the Cherenkov radiation resulting from the rare interactions of neutrinos in the surrounding water. The low scattering of deep ocean water allows precise a reconstruction of the light signature of detected events. The goal of KM3NeT is to study both Galactic and extragalactic neutrino sources,. The IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole has so-far discovered only one such source - and this is not yet well-understood.

Supervision

Teaching Summary

PHYS2005: Electromagnetism (with Dmitry Fursa)

Publications

2020

2019

2018

Bhandari, S., E. F. Keane, E. D. Barr, A. Jameson, E. Petroff, S. Johnston, M. Bailes, N. D. R. Bhat, M. Burgay, S. Burke-Spolaor, and 60 more contributors. 2018. "The survey for pulsars and extragalactic radio bursts - II. new FRB discoveries and their follow-up." Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society 475 (2): 1427-1446.
Albert, A., M. André, M. Anghinolfi, G. Anton, M. Ardid, J. J. Aubert, J. Aublin, T. Avgitas, B. Baret, J. Barrios-Martí, and 90 more contributors. 2018. "Long-term monitoring of the ANTARES optical module efficiencies using 40K decays in sea water: The ANTARES Collaboration." European Physical Journal C 78 (8)
Albert, A., M. André, M. Anghinolfi, G. Anton, M. Ardid, J. J. Aubert, J. Aublin, T. Avgitas, B. Baret, J. Barrios-Marti, and 90 more contributors. 2018. "All-flavor Search for a Diffuse Flux of Cosmic Neutrinos with Nine Years of ANTARES Data." Astrophysical Journal Letters 853 (1)
Aiello, S., S. E. Akrame, F. Ameli, E. G. Anassontzis, M. Andre, G. Androulakis, M. Anghinolfi, G. Anton, M. Ardid, J. Aublin, and 90 more contributors. 2018. "Characterisation of the Hamamatsu photomultipliers for the KM3NeT Neutrino Telescope." Journal of Instrumentation 13 (5)
Shannon, R. M., J. P. Macquart, K. W. Bannister, R. D. Ekers, C. W. James, S. Osłowski, H. Qiu, M. Sammons, A. W. Hotan, M. A. Voronkov, and 21 more contributors. 2018. "The dispersion–brightness relation for fast radio bursts from a wide-field survey." Nature 562 (7727): 386-390.
Albert, A., M. André, M. Anghinolfi, M. Ardid, J. J. Aubert, J. Aublin, T. Avgitas, B. Baret, J. Barrios-Martí, S. Basa, and 90 more contributors. 2018. "Joint Constraints on Galactic Diffuse Neutrino Emission from the ANTARES and IceCube Neutrino Telescopes." Astrophysical Journal Letters 868 (2)

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Bray, J. D., R. D. Ekers, P. Roberts, J. E. Reynolds, C. W. James, C. J. Phillips, R. A. McFadden, R. J. Protheroe, M. Aartsen, and J. Alvarez-Muniz. 2012. "Status and strategies of current LUNASKA lunar Cherenkov observations with the Parkes radio telescope." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 662 (SUPPL. 1)
James, C. W. 2012. "The Lunar Cherenkov technique-Answering the unanswered questions." In 4th International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activities, Jun 29, 2010, Nantes, FRANCE: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
Mevius, M., S. Buitink, H. Falcke, J. Horandel, C. W. James, R. McFadden, O. Scholten, K. Singh, B. Stappers, and S. ter Veen. 2012. "Detecting ultra high energy neutrinos with LOFAR." In 4th International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activities, Jun 29, 2010, Nantes, FRANCE: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
Singh, K., M. Mevius, O. Scholten, J. M. Anderson, A. van Ardenne, M. Arts, M. Avruch, A. Asgekar, M. Bell, P. Bennema, and 93 more contributors. 2012. "Optimized trigger for ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray and neutrino observations with the low frequency radio array." NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT 664 (1): 171-185.
Buitink, S., H. Falcke, C. James, M. Mevius, O. Scholten, K. Singh, B. Stappers, and S. Ter Veen. 2012. "Constraints on ultra-high-energy neutrino flux from radio observations of the Moon." Astrophysics and Space Sciences Transactions 8 (1): 29-33.

2011

2010

Ter Veen, S., S. Buitink, H. Falcke, C. W. James, M. Mevius, O. Scholten, K. Singh, B. Stappers, and K. D. De Vries. 2010. "Limit on the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux with the Westerbork synthesis radio telescope." Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 82 (10)
James, C. W., R. D. Ekers, J. Alvarez-Muniz, J. D. Bray, R. A. McFadden, C. J. Phillips, R. J. Protheroe, and P. Roberts. 2010. "LUNASKA experiments using the Australia Telescope Compact Array to search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos and develop technology for the lunar Cherenkov technique." Physical Review D 81 (4)
Mevius, M., O. Scholten, and C. W. James. 2010. "Ultra high energetic cosmic ray and neutrino observations with LOFAR and SKA."
Ter Veen, S., H. Falcke, R. Fender, J. R. Hörandel, C. W. James, S. Rawlings, P. Schellart, B. Stappers, R. Wijers, M. Wise, and 1 more contributors. 2010. "FRATs: A real-time search for fast radio transients with LOFAR."

2009

James, C., R. Ekers, C. Philips, R. Protheroe, P. Roberts, R. Robinson, J. Alvarez-Muñiz, and J. Bray. 2009. "Experimental set-up of the LUNASKA lunar Cherenkov observations at the ATCA." 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2009
James, C. W., R. D. Ekers, J. Alvarez-Muñiz, R. J. Protheroe, R. A. McFadden, C. J. Phillips, and P. Roberts. 2009. "Status report and future prospects on LUNASKA lunar observations with ATCA." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 604 (1-2 SUPPL.)
Ekers, R. D., C. W. James, R. J. Protheroe, and R. A. McFadden. 2009. "Lunar radio Cherenkov observations of UHE neutrinos." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 604 (1-2 SUPPL.)
James, C. W., and R. J. Protheroe. 2009. "The directional dependence of apertures, limits and sensitivity of the lunar Cherenkov technique to a UHE neutrino flux." Astroparticle Physics 31 (5): 392-398.
James, C. W., and R. J. Protheroe. 2009. "The sensitivity of the next generation of lunar Cherenkov observations to UHE neutrinos and cosmic rays." Astroparticle Physics 30 (6): 318-332.
Alvarez-Muñiz, J., C. W. James, R. J. Protheroe, and E. Zas. 2009. "Thinned simulations of extremely energetic showers in dense media for radio applications." Astroparticle Physics 32 (2): 100-111.
Alvarez-Muñiz, J., C. W. James, R. J. Protheroe, and E. Zas. 2009. "Coherent Cherenkov radio emission from EeV showers in dense media through thinned simulations."
James, C. W., and R. J. Protheroe. 2009. "The directional dependence of the lunar Cherenkov technique for UHE neutrino detection."

2008

Johnston, S., R. Taylor, M. Bailes, N. Bartel, C. Baugh, M. Bietenholz, C. Blake, R. Braun, J. Brown, S. Chatterjee, and 40 more contributors. 2008. "Science with ASKAP : The Australian square-kilometre-array pathfinder." Experimental Astronomy 22 (3): 151-273.

2007

Johnston, S., M. Bailes, N. Bartel, C. Baugh, M. Bietenholz, C. Blake, R. Braun, J. Brown, S. Chatterjee, J. Darling, and 40 more contributors. 2007. "Science with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder." Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 24: 174-188.
McFadden, R. A., N. D. R. Bhat, R. D. Ekers, C. W. James, D. Jones, S. J. Tingay, P. P. Roberts, C. J. Phillips, and R. J. Protheroe. 2007. "Developments in nanosecond pulse detection methods & technology." Proceedings of the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2007 5 (HE PART 2): 1549-1552.
James, C. W., R. M. Crocker, R. D. Ekers, T. H. Hankins, J. D. O'Sullivan, and R. J. Protheroe. 2007. "Limit on ultrahigh energy neutrino flux from the Parkes Lunar Radio Cherenkov experiment." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 379 (3): 1037-1041.
Alvarez-Muñiz, J., C. W. James, R. J. Protheroe, and E. Zas. 2007. "Cherenkov radio emission from showers in dense media at EeV energies."
James, C. W., R. D. Ekers, R. J. Protheroe, and R. McFadden. 2007. "UHE particle astrophysics with the SKA."