Calvin Leung

I am a Miller Fellow and former NASA Einstein Fellow at UC Berkeley in the Department of Astronomy. I am a member of the CHIME/FRB Collaboration, and did my PhD in physics at MIT with Kiyo Masui. Since 2018 I've been playing a leading role in the CHIME/FRB Outriggers Project. The VLBI array is online and we are on track to VLBI-localize hundreds of fast radio bursts (FRBs) to 50 mas precision every year. These FRBs and their redshifts will open up a new tracer of baryonic large-scale structure, and solve the mystery of what stellar progenitors cause FRBs. FRBs are also fast, compact, and plentiful: coherent FRB lensing and scintillometry open up futuristic possibilities for strong lensing science and FRB emission physics. I have liked building things since I was an undergraduate. My undergraduate work was in fast optical astronomy. I built a instrument which made nanosecond-precision light curves of the Crab pulsar, which had applications in quantum optics too. Even though I've stopped doing active research in these areas, I closely follow research in laser spectroscopy, atomic physics, and tabletop searches for dark matter/new physics.

Email me at [three-letter acronym for fast radio burst] [at symbol] mit.edu

References

My core references are Kiyo Masui (MIT), Vicky Kaspi (McGill), and Matt Dobbs (McGill). You may also contact Paul Schechter (MIT), David Kaiser (MIT), Alan Guth (MIT), or Jason Gallicchio (Harvey Mudd College).

First and co-first author papers

I am interested in fast radio bursts, VLBI instrumentation and astrometry, the CGM and ISM, baryonic feedback in large-scale structure, and interstellar optics.

  1. Stellar Mass-Dispersion Measure Correlations Constrain Baryonic Feedback in Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxies
  2. A Catalog of Local Universe Fast Radio Bursts from CHIME/FRB and the KKO Outrigger
  3. A VLBI Software Correlator for Fast Radio Transients
  4. A fast radio burst localized at detection to a galactic disk using very long baseline interferometry
  5. Wave Optics, Interference, and Decoherence in Strong Gravitational Lensing
  6. Constraining Primordial Black Holes using Fast Radio Burst Gravitational-Lens Interferometry with CHIME/FRB
  7. A High-Time Resolution Search for Compact Objects using Fast Radio Burst Gravitational Lens Interferometry with CHIME/FRB
  8. A Synoptic VLBI Technique for Localizing Non-Repeating Fast Radio Bursts with CHIME/FRB
  9. Testing the Weak Equivalence Principle using Optical and Near-Infrared Crab Pulses
  10. Astronomical random numbers for quantum foundations experiments
  11. Measuring the spatial resolution of an optical system in an undergraduate optics laboratory
  12. Estimation of Unmodeled Gravitational Wave Transients with Spline Regression and Particle Swarm Optimization

Student-Led Papers

My goal is that every student who works with me as a primary supervisor can eventually lead a first-author paper, or multiple. Mostly I work on observations, data analysis, and instrumentation, but no background using any particular set of tools is necessary. I work well with students who are curious and eschew a ``black box'' approach to physics and astronomy. If you are interested in working with me please shoot me an email!

  1. Accretion from a Shock-Inflated Companion: Spinning Down Neutron Stars to Hour-Long Periods
  2. A repeating fast radio burst source in the outskirts of a quiescent galaxy
  3. A VLBI Calibrator Grid at 600MHz for Fast Radio Transient Localizations with CHIME/FRB Outriggers
  4. Scintillation Timescales of Bright FRBs Detected by CHIME/FRB
  5. Evaluating and Enhancing Candidate Clocking Systems for CHIME/FRB VLBI Outriggers

Other (contributing author) Papers

I take pride in playing a strong supporting role to my colleagues, many of whom have become my close friends.

  1. FRB 20250316A: A Brilliant and Nearby One-Off Fast Radio Burst Localized to 13 parsec Precision
  2. Investigating the sightline of a highly scattered FRB through a filamentary structure in the local Universe
  3. TONE: A CHIME/FRB Outrigger Pathfinder for localizations of Fast Radio Bursts using Very Long Baseline Interferometry
  4. Axion dark matter-induced echo of supernova remnants
  5. Localizing FRBs through VLBI with the Algonquin Radio Observatory 10-m Telescope
  6. A clock stabilization system for CHIME/FRB Outriggers

Papers outside astrophysics

Selected papers from my past life outside astrophysics, on the Cosmic Bell test, and on using laser spectroscopy to search for dark matter.

  1. Evidence of Two-Source King Plot Nonlinearity in Spectroscopic Search for New Boson
    (PRL)
  2. Evidence for Nonlinear Isotope Shift in Yb+ Search for New Boson
    (PRL)
  3. Cosmic Bell Test Using Measurement Settings from High-Redshift Quasars
    (PRL)
  4. Cosmic Bell Test: Measurement Settings from Milky Way Stars
    (PRL)

Music and Random Stuff

I'm an avid cellist and I love playing chamber music! Some of my favorites are listed here. I also like hiking and running. The template on which this website is based was written by Dhruv Rohatgi.