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

粒子和伽马射线天体物理学与 HAWC/VERITAS（犹他集团资助）

• 批准号: 1807029
• 负责人: David Kieda
• 金额: $ 74.5万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2021-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1807029&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Particle; Gamma; Ray; Astrophysics; HAWC

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.

伽马射线是电磁辐射的最高能量形式。 对天体物理学伽马射线的观测可以作为整个宇宙中最极端环境中的物理条件和过程的探测器，并可用于测试基础物理学。 该奖项支持犹他州大学的科学家利用两个互补的地面观测站开展伽马射线天体物理学研究。 位于亚利桑那州南部的高能辐射成像望远镜阵列系统（VERITAS）旨在通过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（HAWC）天文台位于墨西哥Sierra Negra的斜坡上，是一个连续运行的阵列，具有广阔的视野，每天可以观察三分之二的高能伽马射线天空。 犹他州大学小组将为VERITAS和HAWC的运行和维护作出贡献，并与FERMI卫星伽马射线观测站合作，对来自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，该小组将发展天文学和地球科学之间的跨学科联系，以及城市规划和经济发展。该小组将继续和扩大其现有的教育和推广活动，通过研究实习，旨在为小型文理学院的物理本科生带来研究机会，通过组织年度SNOWPAC会议系列和美国物理学会四角部分的会议，并举办一次关于黑暗天空科学的会议。 犹他州大学小组将利用最近开发的漫射分析技术和多波长分析来研究银河双星系统LS I +61 303和Swift J0243.6+6124的性质，并解决银河微类星体SS 433的假定探测问题。该小组将用这些分析技术重新处理新的和存档的VERITAS观测结果，以寻找最近HAWC观测所建议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，以大幅改善点源和扩散源的源定位和能谱约束。 该奖项支持更多的工作，以了解由广泛的空气簇射产生的高能水平μ子的起源，这些空气簇射对高能宇宙射线的组成和起源敏感。该奖项还支持在VERITAS天文台使用恒星强度干涉测量仪器首次对30颗邻近恒星进行可见波段光学成像。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

An Archival Search for Neutron-star Mergers in Gravitational Waves and Very-high-energy Gamma Rays

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac0623
• 发表时间: 2021-06
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: C. Adams;W. Benbow;A. Brill;J. Buckley;M. Capasso;J. Christiansen;A. Chromey;M. Daniel;M. Errando;A. Falcone;K. A. Farrell;Q. Feng;J. Finley;L. Fortson;A. Furniss;A. Gent;C. Giuri;D. Hanna;T. Hassan;O. Hervet;J. Holder;G. Hughes;T. Humensky;W. Jin;P. Kaaret;M. Kertzman;D. Kieda;S. Kumar;M. Lang;M. Lundy;G. Maier;C. McGrath;P. Moriarty;R. Mukherjee;D. Nieto;M. Nievas-Rosillo;S. O’Brien;R. Ong;A. Otte;N. Park;S. Patel;K. Pfrang;M. Pohl;R. Prado;E. Pueschel;J. Quinn;K. Ragan;P. Reynolds;D. Ribeiro;E. Roache;J. Ryan;M. Santander;G. Sembroski;R. Shang;A. Weinstein;D. Williams;T. Williamson;I. Bartos;K. Corley;S. M'arka;Z. Márka;D. Veske

Periastron Observations of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from a Binary System with a 50-year Period

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aae70e
• 发表时间: 2018-10
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: T. V. C. A. U. Abeysekara;W. Benbow;R. Bird;A. Brill;R. Brose;J. Buckley;A. Chromey;M. Daniel

A Search for TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS

VERITAS 搜索脉冲星尾部的 TeV 伽马射线发射

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac05b9
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Benbow, W.;Brill, A.;Buckley, J. H.;Capasso, M.;Chromey, A. J.;Errando, M.;Falcone, A.;Farrell, K. A;Feng, Q.;Finley, J. P.
• 通讯作者: Finley, J. P.

HAWC observations of the acceleration of very-high-energy cosmic rays in the Cygnus Cocoon

• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01318-y
• 发表时间: 2021-03
• 期刊: Nature Astronomy
• 影响因子: 14.1
• 作者: A. Abeysekara;A. Albert;R. Alfaro;C. Álvarez;J. Camacho;J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez;K. Arunbabu;D. Rojas;H. Solares;V. Baghmanyan;E. Belmont-Moreno;S. BenZvi;R. Blandford;C. Brisbois;K. Caballero-Mora;T. Capistrán;A. Carramiñana;S. Casanova;U. Cotti;S. León;E. D. L. Fuente;R. Hernández;B. Dingus;M. DuVernois;M. Durocher;J. C. Díaz-Vélez;R. Ellsworth;K. Engel;C. Espinoza;K. Fan;K. Fang;H. Fleischhack;N. Fraija;A. Galván-Gámez;D. García;J. García-González;F. Garfias;G. Giacinti;M. González;J. Goodman;J. P. Harding;S. Hernández;J. Hinton;B. Hona;D. Huang;F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla;P. Hüntemeyer;A. Iriarte;A. Jardin-Blicq;V. Joshi;D. Kieda;A. Lara;William H. Lee;H. L. Vargas;J. Linnemann;A. Longinotti;G. Luis-Raya;J. Lundeen;K. Malone;O. Martinez;I. Martinez-Castellanos;J. Martínez-Castro;J. Matthews;P. Miranda-Romagnoli;J. Morales-Soto;E. Moreno;M. Mostafá;A. Nayerhoda;L. Nellen;M. Newbold;M. Nisa;R. Noriega-Papaqui;L. Olivera-Nieto;N. Omodei;A. Peisker;Y. P. Araujo;E. Pérez-Pérez-E.-Pérez-Pérez-1431205495;Z. Ren;C. Rho;D. Rosa-González;E. Ruiz-Velasco;H. Salazar;F. Greus;A. Sandoval;Michael Schneider;H. Schoorlemmer;F. Serna;A. Smith;R. Springer;P. Surajbali;K. Tollefson;I. Torres;R. Torres-Escobedo;F. Ureña-Mena;T. Weisgarber;F. Werner;E. Willox;A. Zepeda;H. Zhou;C. D. León;J. Álvarez

Evidence that Ultra-high-energy Gamma Rays Are a Universal Feature near Powerful Pulsars

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abf4dc
• 发表时间: 2021-01
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: Hawc Collaboration;A. Albert;R. Alfaro;C. Álvarez;J. Álvarez;J. R. A. Camacho;J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez;K. Arunbabu;D. Rojas;H. Solares;V. Baghmanyan;E. Belmont-Moreno;S. BenZvi;C. Brisbois;K. Caballero-Mora;T. Capistrán;A. Carramiñana;S. Casanova;U. Cotti;J. Cotzomi;S. Le'on;E. D. L. Fuente;C. D. Le'on;R. D. Hernandez;B. Dingus;M. DuVernois;M. Durocher;J. C. Díaz-Vélez;R. Ellsworth;K. Engel;C. Espinoza;K. Fan;M. F. Alonso;N. Fraija;A. Galv'an-G'amez;J. García-González;F. Garfias;G. Giacinti;M. González;J. Goodman;J. P. Harding;S. Hernández;B. Hona;D. Huang;F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla;P. Huntemeyer;A. Iriarte;A. Jardin-Blicq;V. Joshi;D. Kieda;A. Lara;W. Lee;J. Lee;H. L. Vargas;J. Linnemann;A. Longinotti;G. Luis-Raya;J. Lundeen;K. Malone;V. Marandon;O. Martinez;J. Martínez-Castro;J. Matthews;P. Miranda-Romagnoli;J. Morales-Soto;E. Moreno;M. Mostafá;A. Nayerhoda;L. Nellen;M. Newbold;M. Nisa;R. Noriega-Papaqui;L. Olivera-Nieto;N. Omodei;A. Peisker;Y. Araujo;E. Pérez-Pérez-E.-Pérez-Pérez-1431205495;C. Rho;Y. J. Roh;D. Rosa-González;E. Ruiz-Velasco;H. Salazar;F. Greus;A. Sandoval;M. Schneider;H. Schoorlemmer;J. Serna-Franco;A. Smith;R. Springer;P. Surajbali;M. Tanner;K. Tollefson;I. Torres;R. Torres-Escobedo;R. Turner;F. Ureña-Mena;L. Villaseñor;T. Weisgarber;E. Willox;H. Zhou