Physics of Cosmic Sources at TeV Energies

  • Meszaros, Peter Istvan (PI)
  • Waxman, Eli (CoPI)

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

Very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray and neutrino astrophysics is entering a new and exciting phase. This is marked by the rapidly advancing commissioning and operation of new ground-based VHE gamma-ray observatories such as VERITAS, HESS, and MILAGRO and of large neutrino observatories such as AMANDA and ICECUBE as well as the Pierre Auger cosmic ray array. New experimental results offer invaluable prospects for identifying the astrophysical objects responsible for the production of high energy particles, for testing and studying models of these sources, and for studying fundamental neutrino properties.

The PIs propose a theoretical study of some of the major open questions, in the context of new experimental data that are, or will soon be, available. They will focus on the sub-TeV and higher photon and neutrino emission by hadronic and electromagnetic interactions in astrophysical sources. They will use both semi- analytical methods and, where appropriate, Monte Carlo simulations. This research will consist of a theoretical study of high energy sources and a study of the constraints provided by neutrino flavor measurements on fundamental neutrino properties and on models of astrophysical sources. The broader impacts of this research are that the scientific results are expected to be useful to the high energy astrophysics, the high-redshift cosmology and the neutrino physics communities. The research activities will provide a training ground for postdoctoral fellows, as well as being the planned focus of seminars and workshops. They will also benefit students, with whom these developments will be shared in classrooms and research projects. The research will also provide exciting material for public presentations.

StatusFinished
Effective start/end date11/1/0810/31/12

Funding

  • National Science Foundation: $127,180.00

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