Wou-MMA: Particle Astrophysics with VERITAS and CTA

这一奖项延续了一项雄心勃勃的多样化研究计划，专注于银河粒子加速器的高精度测量，这些加速器掌握着银河系宇宙射线种群起源的关键。在过去的十年里，VERITAS天文台在打开宇宙中最高能量的电磁窗口方面发挥了关键作用。伽马射线辐射揭示了相对论粒子加速发生在哪里，但加速机制，以及加速器与宇宙射线的起源和性质之间的联系，仍然不清楚。这项研究将利用Veritas的新功能和与新设施的协同作用来搜索潜在的变革性新的源代码类。该小组在规划下一代切伦科夫望远镜阵列(CTA)方面发挥着主导作用。该奖项为该集团正在进行的研究及其在VERITAS的维护、运营和校准中所扮演的角色提供业务支持。这个小组指导本科生，接触当地的高中生，并向业余天文学家和其他感兴趣的团体发表公开演讲。他们还与整个VERITAS外展项目合作，包括进行现场参观，但主要的外展活动是为来自世界各地的研究生和博士后研究人员举办的高能天体物理学暑期学校。VERITAS的伽马射线观测目标包括可能的PeVatron，它可能是银河系最高能量宇宙射线的来源，以及一个伽马射线双星系统，该系统处于4.5年超轨道周期的顶峰。Veritas上的新仪器，以及与加拿大氢强度测绘实验(CHME)射电望远镜的新协同作用，将用于搜索仍然神秘的快速射电爆发的光学和伽马射线对应物。许多VERITAS活动都是值得的，一些是创造性的，另一些是潜在的变革性的。这个奖项反映了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。

This award continues an ambitious and diverse research program focused on high precision measurements of Galactic particle accelerators, which hold the key to the origin of the Galactic population of cosmic rays. Over the past decade the VERITAS observatory has played a key role in opening the highest energy electromagnetic window on the Universe. Gamma-ray emission reveals where relativistic particle acceleration happens, but the acceleration mechanisms, and the connections between the accelerators and the origin and properties of cosmic rays, remain unclear. The study will exploit new capabilities of VERITAS and synergies with new facilities to search for potentially transformative new source classes. This group plays a leading role in planning the next generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). This award provides operational support for the group’s ongoing research and their role in the maintenance, operations and calibration of VERITAS. This group mentors undergraduate students, engages local high school students, and gives public presentations to amateur astronomers and other interested groups. They also work with the overall VERITAS outreach program, including conducting on-site tours, but the main outreach effort is a high energy astrophysics summer school for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from around the world.Targets for gamma-ray observation with VERITAS include a possible PeVatron, which may be the source of the highest energy Galactic cosmic rays, and a gamma-ray binary system at the peak of its 4.5-year super-orbital period. New instrumentation on VERITAS, and new synergies with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope, will be used to search for optical and gamma-ray counterparts to the still enigmatic fast radio bursts. The many VERITAS activities are all worthwhile, some are creative, and others are potentially transformative.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.