Particle and Gamma-Ray Astrophysics with HAWC/VERITAS (Utah Group Grant)

伽马射线是电磁辐射的最高能量形式。对天体物理伽马射线的观测可以作为宇宙中最极端环境中的物理条件和过程的探测器，并可用于测试基本物理。该奖项支持犹他大学的科学家使用两个互补的地面天文台进行伽马射线天体物理研究。位于亚利桑那州南部的高能辐射成像望远镜阵列系统(VERITAS)旨在用非常敏感的定点观测来研究高能伽马射线。高海拔水切伦科夫天文台(HAWC)位于墨西哥内格拉山脉的山坡上，是一个连续运行的阵列，视野宽，每天可以观测三分之二的高能伽马射线天空。犹他大学小组将协助运行和维护VERITAS和HAWC，并与费米卫星伽马射线观测站一起对这两个观测站的科学数据进行分析和解释。通过他们在新成立的暗天研究联盟中的领导作用，该组织将在天文学、地球科学以及城市规划和经济发展之间建立跨学科联系。该小组将继续并扩大其现有的教育和外联活动，通过旨在为小型文科学院的物理学本科生带来研究机会的研究实习，通过组织年度SNOWPAC会议系列会议和美国物理学会四角分会会议，以及通过主办关于黑暗天空科学的会议。犹他大学研究组将使用最近发展的漫射分析技术和多波长分析来研究星系双星系统LS I+61 303和SWIFT J0243.6+6124的性质，并解决可能探测到的星系微类星体SS433的问题。该小组将使用这些分析技术重新处理新的和存档的VERITAS观测数据，以寻找HAWC最近观测到的一类新的高度扩展的高能伽马射线源。研究人员将把多波长分析应用于Fermi-Veritas-HAWC联合观测，以显著改善点源和漫射源的局部化和能谱约束。该奖项支持更多的工作，以了解由对高能宇宙线组成和起源敏感的大范围空气簇射产生的高能水平µ子的来源。该奖项还支持在VERITAS天文台使用恒星强度干涉测量仪器对30颗附近恒星进行首次可见光波段光学成像。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Gamma-rays are the highest energy form of electromagnetic radiation. Observations of astrophysical gamma-rays serve as probes of physical conditions and processes in the most extreme environments throughout the Universe and can be used to test fundamental physics. This award supports scientists at the University of Utah to carry out gamma-ray astrophysics research using two complementary ground-based observatories. The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), located in southern Arizona, is designed to study high energy gamma-rays with very sensitive pointed observations. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, located on the slopes of the Sierra Negra in Mexico, is a continuously-operating array with a wide field of view that can observe two-thirds of the high energy gamma-ray sky every day. The University of Utah group will contribute to the operation and maintenance of VERITAS and HAWC and work on analysis and interpretation of the scientific data from both observatories in conjunction with the FERMI satellite gamma-ray observatory. Through their leadership role in the newly formed Consortium for Dark Sky Studies the group will develop interdisciplinary connections between astronomy, and earth sciences, as well as urban planning and economic development. The group will continue and expand their existing education and outreach activities through research internships designed to bring research opportunities to physics undergraduate students in small liberal arts colleges, through the organization of the yearly SNOWPAC conference series and the meeting of the four-Corners Section of the American Physical Society, and by hosting a conference on dark skies science. The University of Utah group will use recently developed diffuse analysis techniques and multi-wavelength analyses to study the properties of galactic binary systems LS I +61 303 and Swift J0243.6+6124 and to resolve the putative detection of galactic microquasar SS433. The group will reprocess both new and archival VERITAS observations with these analysis techniques to search for a new class of highly-extended high energy gamma-ray sources that have been suggested by recent HAWC observations. The researchers will apply the multi-wavelength analyses to joint FERMI-VERITAS-HAWC observations to substantially improve source localization and energy spectrum constraints on point and diffuse sources. This award supports additional work on understanding the origin of high energy horizontal muons created by extensive air showers that are sensitive to high energy cosmic ray composition and origin. This award also supports first visible band optical imaging of 30 nearby stars using stellar intensity interferometry instrumentation at the VERITAS observatory.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.