The extreme physics of spider pulsar binaries

Binary pulsars are formidable laboratories, allowing us to investigate fundamental physics due to their extreme nature (density, magnetic field and gravitational field). This is only possible as they offer proxies to measure their physical parameters via multi-wavelength observations. Of particular importance are the pulsar binaries nicknamed after the deadly spiders 'black widows' and 'redbacks', which contain a rapidly rotating millisecond pulsar that gradually destroys a low-mass companion. Current observations demonstrate that these particular systems harbour some of the most rapidly spinning and massive pulsars known to us.
The PhD student will contribute to several projects led by the supervisor's "Spiders team" which aim to find and characterise new spiders to understand the underlying physical mechanisms to their remarkable properties. On the observational side, the Spiders team is involved with multiple pulsar searching efforts conducted at optical and radio wavelengths such as surveys conducted by the TRAPUM collaboration with the MeerKAT telescope. In-depth studies of known systems across the electromagnetic spectrum are then performed in order to feed into models that enable us to determine system parameters such as orbital inclination, masses, and more. On the theoretical side, numerically modelling of the binary evolution is another active area of investigation which offers insights about the extreme interactions which led the pulsar to gradually destroy its companion.
The overarching goal of the PhD project will be to shed light on the impact of the pulsar on the companion's evolution. They will apply cutting-edge data science techniques (e.g. statistical inference, processing large datasets and high performance computing) to some of the areas highlighted above to extract information on the binary interaction.