Application of Accretion Disk Wind Models to QSOs /AGN

最高能量粒子的起源这个项目的目标是对最高能量宇宙射线(即E5x1019 eV的宇宙射线)的起源进行理论研究。利用这些高能粒子(从年轻的中子星风到活动星系核)的产生和传播的合理场景，Olinto和他的同事将研究几种类型的加速模型，并对可能构成UHE宇宙射线的不同类型粒子的传播进行建模。使用这些不同的模型，他们将产生预测(例如能谱和相对各向同性)，以便与Pierre Auger项目、高分辨率苍蝇眼、日本望远镜阵列和OWL-AirWatch实验等实验获得的数据进行比较。有时，一个亚原子粒子以如此大的能量进入大气层，它会产生一个由数百亿个次级粒子组成的巨大级联，地球上的非常大的探测器可以观察到这一现象。产生这些巨大的空气骤雨的粒子已经被加速到比地面机器所能获得的能量要大得多的能量，这表明了以前没有预见到的令人难以置信的强大的天文加速器。对这些高能粒子起源的解释仍然不清楚，随着观测的积累，许多可能性被提出并受到限制。这些粒子来自可见宇宙边缘的可能性受到微波背景的存在的限制，微波背景填充了整个空间，并降低了这种高能粒子的能量。微波背景将这些奇妙的宇宙加速器的位置限制在宇宙学上相对较近的位置。从附近星系中心的超大质量黑洞到大爆炸遗留下来的衰变粒子，最可信的假设范围很广。这个项目的目标是试图通过详细研究大多数合理的建议和对从源头到地球的传播的模型方面的研究来找到答案。传播学研究将与目前观测到的最大尺度的磁场知识和最高能量相互作用的粒子物理模型密切相关。在可能的来源中，我们将调查许多模型，从最接近的这些粒子是我们银河系盘中年轻中子星中的铁加速的可能性，到大的额外维度对超高能宇宙射线物理的可能影响。该项目的资金由NSF河外天文与宇宙学计划(AST/EXC)提供。*

AST-0071235Olinto, Angela V.The Origin of the Highest Energy ParticlesThe goal of this project is to conduct theoretical investigations into the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays (UHE cosmic rays, with E 5x 1019 eV). Using plausible scenarios for the production and propagation of these energetic particles (ranging from young neutron star winds to AGNs), Olinto and co workers will study several types of acceleration models and also model the propagation of different types of particles which may make up the UHE cosmic rays. Using these different models, they will generate predictions (of for example energy spectrum and relative isotropy) for comparison with the data obtained by such experiments as the Pierre Auger Project, the High Resolution Fly's Eye, the Japanese Telescope Array, and the OWL-Airwatch experiment.Occasionally a subatomic particle enters the atmosphere with so much energy that it produces a giant cascade of many tens of billions of secondary particles which can be observed by very large detectors on Earth. The particles that produce these giant air showers have been accelerated to far greater energies than can be achieved with terrestrial machines indicating incredibly powerful astronomical accelerators previously unforeseen. The explanation for the origin of these highestenergy particles remains unclear with a number of possibilities being proposed and constrained as the observations accumulate. The possibility that these particles come from the edge of the observable Universe is limited by the presence of the microwave background that fills all of spaceand degrades the energy of such high energy particles. The microwave background limits the location of these fantastic cosmic accelerators to relatively nearby in cosmological terms. The most plausible proposals range from supermassive black holes in centers of nearby galaxies to decaying particles left over from the Big Bang. The goal of this project is to try and find the answer by studying most plausible proposals in detail and model aspects of the propagation from source to Earth. Propagation studies will be intimately related to the knowledge of magnetic fields in the largest scales presently observed and particle physics models of interactions at the highest energies. Among plausible sources, we will investigate many models ranging from the most nearby possibility that these particles are iron accelerated in young neutron stars in the disk of our own Galaxy to the possible effects of large extra-dimensions on the physics of ultra-highenergy cosmic rays. Funding for this project is provided by the NSF program for Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC).***