Martin Houde, Professor

I am an astrophysicist who is mostly concerned with understanding the basic physical processes at play in the interstellar medium and astrophysical plasmas in general. In recent years, I undertook with my research group a novel line of research where we applied the superradiance phenomenon to astrophysics and, in particular, to strong radiation flares observed in maser-hosting regions and to fast radio bursts (FRB). Past research endeavours on the study of magnetic fields and turbulence in star-forming regions led to the development of novel methods and physical models that have significantly contributed to this field of research (e.g., dispersion analysis of polarization maps and the discovery of anisotropic resonant scattering (ARS) in molecular lines).

1. Wyenberg, C. M., Rajabi, F., and Houde, M., “Super-radiance from a relativistic source”, New Journal of Physics, vol. 24, no. 12, p. 123046, 2022. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aca994
2. Houde, M., Lankhaar, B., Rajabi, F., and Chamma, M. A., “The generation and transformation of polarization signals in molecular lines through collective anisotropic resonant scattering”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 511, no. 1, pp. 295–315, 2022. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab3806
3. Chamma, M. A., Rajabi, F., Wyenberg, C. M., Mathews, A. And Houde, M., "Evidence of a shared spectro-temporal law between sources of repeating fast radio bursts", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 507, pp. 246-260, 2021. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2070
4. Rajabi, F. and Houde, M., "Astronomical masers and Dicke's superradiance", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 494, pp. 5194-5206, 2020. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa1067

[ Complete Publications List (Scopus)]

[ Complete Publications List (NASA ADS)]

• Faculty of Science Graduate Mentoring Award, Western University, 2020
• Faculty Scholar, Western University, 2020
• CRCTier II in Star Formation, 2005-2015
• Renewal of Canada Research Chair, Tier II, in Star Formation, 2010–2015
• Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Research Award, 2008–2013
• Canada Research Chair, Tier II, in Star Formation, 2005–2010

• NSERC Discovery Grant Physics Evaluation Group Member, 2016-2019 and 2022-2023
• Canadian Atacama Telescope Consortium (CATC) co-Director and Western’s representative. 
• HAWC+ polarimeter for SOFIA science team member.