Studying Astrophysics in Antarctica: Allen Foster, Graduate Researcher, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

Allen Foster

Graduate Researcher

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

Allen is a 5th year PhD student in the Physics Department at CWRU working with professor John Ruhl. He is analyzing data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) to look for astrophysical transients and monitor the variability of active galactic nuclei (supermassive black holes at the center of far-away galaxies). He has been to the South Pole several times over the past few years to install and calibrate the newest camera on the SPT, SPT-3G, and most recently to maintain the telescope's continued operation over the long 9-month Antarctic winter.

While operating the telescope during winter 2020 (South Pole winter season runs from Feb-Nov) Allen also discovered the first astrophysical transient with a known counterpart in SPT data. A subsequent paper has recently been accepted to the Astrophysical Journal and a near real-time alert system has been constructed in an attempt to catch these explosions in action at multiple wavelengths with other telescopes.

In his free time Allen plays hockey for the Case Western Ice Hockey team (or at least did before 2020), and enjoys running, recently becoming a bona fide ultrarunner.