I am a Visiting Lecturer based at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in New Mexico, USA.

My main research interests are the exploration of magnetic fields in the tenuous depths of interstellar and intergalactic space, and the development of statistical techniques and theory for interpreting observations of cosmic magnetism. I am an expert radio astronomer. I am part of the design team for the Next Generation Very Large Array radio telescope.

I am available to co-supervise Newcastle-based PhD students, particularly those interested in combining observational research with theory and simulations. This will include periods of travel to work with me at NRAO. Please contact me for further information about projects.

Public Outreach

• Hand Of Charity: Northumberland Space Programme (Kielder Observatory & Newcastle, Sep 2018) [Media: ITV News (YouTube)]
  
• Year 11 Physics Enrichment Event (Newcastle University, July 2018)
  
• Pint of Science Festival: Magnetic Fields in Deep Space (Newcastle, May 2018)
  
• Royal Astronomical Society Public Lecture: Magnetic Fields in Space (London, Mar 2018)
• Science Uncovered, European Researchers' Night (Great North Museum, Newcastle, Sep 2017)

Previous Positions

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Newcastle University, UK (2017-2018)
  
• Assistant Scientist, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA (2016)
• Jansky Fellow, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA (2013-2015)
• Postgraduate Teaching Fellow, University of Sydney, Australia (2009-2011)
• Satellite Support Engineer, Optus, Australia (2007-2008)

Qualifications

• PhD Astrophysics, University of Sydney, Australia (2013)
• BSc Physics, University of Sydney, Australia (2008, Hon I)
• BE Aerospace, UNSW, Australia (2005, University Medal & Hon I)
  

Memberships

• Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)
  
• European Astronomical Society (EAS)
• American Astronomical Society (AAS)
  
• Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA)

Health & Safety Qualifications

• First Aid (North East Ambulance Service, Jan 2018)
• Mental Heath First Aid (MHFA England, May 2018)
  
• EVAC chair (Newcastle University, Dec 2017)

Research Interests

• Magnetic fields in interstellar and intergalactic space (sub-parsec to cosmic scales)
• Radio astronomy
• Galaxy evolution
• Cosmology
• Statistics
• Data and image analysis software

Other Interests

• Interdisciplinary research (e.g. medical imaging)
• Psychology and mental health

Large Collaborations

• CHILES Con Pol (principal investigator)
• SuperCLASS
• ngVLA
• SKA
  

Articles

• arXiv
• NASA/ADS
• Google Scholar

Software

• GitHub

I am available to co-supervise Newcastle-based PhD students, particularly those interested in combining observational research with theory and simulations. This will include periods of travel to work with me at NRAO in New Mexico USA. Please contact me for further information about projects.

Current Students

• Agustina Blanco (undergraduate, UNLP Argentina), 2019, Undergraduate Research Project

Previous Students

• Michael Lee (undergraduate, Newcastle UK), 2018, PHY3027 BSc Individual Research Project
• Nathan Stephenson (undergraduate, Newcastle UK), 2018, Summer Research Project
• Amit Seta (PhD candidate, Newcastle UK), 2017, Applied Mathematics PhD Reading Module
• Kelsey Lund (undergraduate, NRAO USA), 2016, NAC Summer Research Project

Previous Lecturing

• MAS2602 Computing for Mathematics and Statistics (Newcastle UK), 2017, portion of course on algorithm complexity

• Riseley CJ, Grainge KJB, Perrott YC, Scaife AMM, Battye RA, Beswick RJ, Birkinshaw M, Brown ML, Casey CM, Demetroullas C, Hales CA, Harrison I, Hung CL, Jackson NL, Muxlow T, Watson B, Cantwell TM, Carey SH, Elwood PJ, Hickish J, Jin TZ, Razavi-Ghods N, Scott PF, Titterington DJ. AMI-LA Observations of the SuperCLASS Super-cluster. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2018, 474(4), 5598–5613.
• Hales CA. Calibration Errors in Interferometric Radio Polarimetry. The Astronomical Journal 2017, 154(2).
• Hales CA. CASA Interferometric Pipeline Polarization Calibration & Imaging Requirement & Design Specifications. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2017. NRAO Memo Series.
• Hales CA, Benaglia P, del Palacio S, Romero GE, Koribalski BS. Synchrotron radiation and absence of linear polarization in the colliding wind binary WR 146. Astronomy and Astrophysics 2017, 598, A42.
• Hales CA, Max-Moerbeck W, Roshi DA, Rupen MP. A search for sub-second radio variability predicted to arise toward 3c 84 from intergalactic dispersion. Astrophysical Journal 2016, 823(2), 93.
• Riseley CJ, Scaife AMM, Hales CA, Harrison I, Birkinshaw M, Battye RA, Beswick RJ, Brown ML, Casey CM, Chapman SC, Demetroullas C, Hung C-L, Jackson NJ, Muxlow T, Watson B. Deep observations of the super-CLASS supercluster at 325 MHz with the GMRT: The low-frequency source catalogue. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2016, 462(1), 917-940.
• Fernandez X, Gim HB, Gorkom JHV, Yun MS, Momjian E, Popping A, Chomiuk L, Hess KM, Hunt L, Kreckel K, Lucero D, Maddox N, Oosterloo T, Pisano DJ, Verheijen MAW, Hales CA, Chung A, Dodson R, Golap K, Gross J, Henning P, Hibbard J, Jaffe YL, Meyer JD, Meyer M, Sanchez-Barrantes M, Schiminovich D, Wicenec A, Wilcots E, Bershady M, Scoville N, Strader J, Tremou E, Salinas R, Chavez R. Highest Redshift Image of Neutral Hydrogen in Emission: A Chiles Detection of a Starbursting Galaxy at z = 0.376. Astrophysical Journal Letters 2016, 824(1).
• Vacca V, Oppermann N, Ensslin T, Jasche J, Selig M, Greiner M, Junklewitz H, Reinecke M, Bruggen M, Carretti E, Feretti L, Ferrari C, Hales CA, Horellou C, Ideguchi S, Johnston-Hollitt M, Pizzo RF, Rottgering H, Shimwell TW, Takahashi K. Using rotation measure grids to detect cosmological magnetic fields: A Bayesian approach. Astronomy and Astrophysics 2016, 591, A13.
• Franzen TMO, Banfield JK, Hales CA, Hopkins A, Norris RP, Seymour N, Chow KE, Herzog A, Huynh MT, Lenc E, Mao MY, Middelberg E. ATLAS - I. Third release of 1.4 GHz mosaics and component catalogues. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2015, 453(4), 4020-4036.
• Casey CM, Hodge JA, Lacy M, Hales CA, Barger A, Narayanan D, Carilli C, Alatalo K, da Cunha E, Emonts B, Ivison R, Kimball A, Kohno K, Murphy E, Riechers D, Sargent M, Walter F. Next Generation Very Large Array Memo No. 8 Science Working Group 3: Galaxy Assembly through Cosmic Time. 2015.
• Hopkins AM, Whiting MT, Seymour N, Chow KE, Norris RP, Bonavera L, Breton R, Carbone D, Ferrari C, Franzen TMO, Garsden H, Gonzalez-Nuevo J, Hales CA, Hancock PJ, Heald G, Herranz D, Huynh M, Jurek RJ, Lopez-Caniego M, Massardi M, Mohan N, Molinari S, Orru E, Paladino R, Pestalozzi M, Pizzo R, Rafferty D, Rottgering HJA, Rudnick L, Schisano E, Shulevski A, Swinbank J, Taylor R, Van Der Horst AJ. The ASKAP/EMU Source Finding Data Challenge. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 2015, 32, e037.
• Hales CA, Norris RP, Gaensler BM, Middelberg E. ATLAS 1.4 GHz data release 2 – II. Properties of the faint polarized sky. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014, 440(4), 3113-3139.
• Hales CA, Norris RP, Gaensler BM, Middelberg E, Chow KE, Hopkins AM, Huynh MT, Lenc E, Mao MY. ATLAS 1.4GHz data release 2 - I. Observations of the CDF-S and ELAIS-S1 fields and methods for constructing differential number counts. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014, 441(3), 2555-2592.
• Vacca V, Oppermann N, Ensslin T, Selig M, Junklewitz H, Greiner M, Jasche J, Hales CA, Reinecke M, Carretti E, Feretti L, Ferrari C, Giovannini G, Govoni F, Horellou C, Ideguchi S, Johnston-Hollitt M, Murgia M, Paladino R, Pizzo RF, Scaife A. Statistical methods for the analysis of rotation measure grids in large scale structures in the SKA era. In: Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array. 2014, Giardini Naxos, Italy: Proceedings of Science (PoS).
• Brown ML, Abdalla FB, Amara A, Bacon DJ, Battye RA, Bell MR, Beswick RJ, Birkinshaw M, Böhm V, Bridle S, Browne IWA, Casey CM, Demetroullas C, Ensslin T, Ferreira PG, Garrington ST, Grainge KJB, Gray ME, Hales CA, Harrison I, Heavens AF, Heymans C, Hung CL, Jackson NJ, Jarvis MJ, Joachimi B, Kay ST, Kitching TD, Leahy JP, Maartens R, Miller L, Muxlow TWB, Myers ST, Nichol RC, Patel P, Pritchard JR, Raccanelli A, Refregier A, Richards AMS, Riseley C, Santos MG, Scaife AMM, Schäfer BM, Schilizzi RT, Smail I, Starck JL, Szepietowski RM, Taylor AN, Whittaker L, Wrigley N, Zuntz J. Probing the accelerating Universe with radio weak lensing in the JVLA Sky Survey. arXiv:1312.5618, 2013.
• Hales CA. Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) white paper: Go deep, not wide. arXiv:1312.4602, 2013.
• Hales CA, Gaensler BM, Norris RP, Middelberg E. Analytic detection thresholds for measurements of linearly polarized intensity using rotation measure synthesis. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2012, 424(3), 2160-2172.
• Hales CA, Murphy T, Curran JR, Middelberg E, Gaensler BM, Norris RP. BLOBCAT: software to catalogue flood-filled blobs in radio images of total intensity and linear polarization. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2012, 425(2), 979-996.
• Zinn P-C, Middelberg E, Norris RP, Hales CA, Mao MY, Randall KE. The Australia Telescope Large Area Survey: 2.3 GHz observations of ELAIS-S1 and CDF-S: Spectral index properties of the faint radio sky. Astronomy and Astrophysics 2012, 544, A38.
• Norris RP, Hopkins AM, Afonso J, Brown S, Condon JJ, Dunne L, Feain I, Hollow R, Jarvis M, Johnston-Hollitt M, Lenc E, Middelberg E, Padovani P, Prandoni I, Rudnick L, Seymour N, Umana G, Andernach H, Alexander DM, Appleton PN, Bacon D, Banfield J, Becker W, Brown MJI, Ciliegi P, Jackson C, Eales S, Edge AC, Gaensler BM, Giovannini G, Hales CA, Hancock P, Huynh MT, Ibar E, Ivison RJ, Kennicutt R, Kimball AE, Koekemoer AM, Koribalski BS, Lopez-Snchez R, Mao MY, Murphy T, Messias H, Pimbblet KA, Raccanelli A, Randall KE, Reiprich TH, Roseboom IG, Rottgering H, Saikia DJ, Sharp RG, Slee OB, Smail I, Thompson MA, Urquhart JS, Wall JV, Zhao G-B. EMU: Evolutionary Map of the Universe. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 2011, 28(3), 215-248.
• Middelberg E, Norris RP, Hales CA, Seymour N, Johnston-Hollitt M, Huynh MT, Lenc E, Mao MY. The radio properties of infrared-faint radio sources. Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010, 526(1), A8.
• Hales CA, Gaensler BM, Chatterjee S, Van Der Swaluw E, Camilo F. A proper motion for the pulsar wind nebula G359.23-0.82, the "mouse," associated with the energetic radio pulsar J1747-2958. Astrophysical Journal 2009, 706(2), 1316-1322.
• Kaplan DL, Chatterjee S, Hales CA, Gaensler BM, Slane PO. Constraining the proper motions of two magnetars. Astronomical Journal 2008, 137, 354.
• Hales CA, Lewis GF. Resolving the Structure at the Heart of BAL Quasars Through Microlensing Induced Polarisation Variability. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 2007, 24(1), 30-40.