CAREER: Achieving Unprecedented Measurement Accuracy by a New Radio-Muon Method for Multi-Messenger Particle Astrophysics

职业生涯：通过多信使粒子天体物理学的新型射电介子方法实现前所未有的测量精度

基本信息

批准号：
2046386
负责人：
Frank Schroeder
金额：
$ 68.37万
依托单位：
University of Delaware
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-06-01 至 2026-05-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046386&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Achieving Unprecedented Measurement Accuracy

项目摘要

This award will fund the development of a novel method, combining radio and muon detection of cosmic-ray air showers, that will maximize the measurement accuracy of leading astroparticle observatories for the type and mass of the cosmic-ray particles. These cosmic rays are mostly atomic nuclei accelerated by unknown natural objects in the Universe to energies far beyond human technology. Recent measurements provide compelling evidence for a mixed composition of cosmic nuclei over the complete energy range over which such measurements are available today. Disentangling this mixture by a better classification of the primary particles will enable us to search for their origin in various ways: proton-enhanced cosmic-ray astronomy, correlations of mass-dependent anisotropies with source candidates, and the selection of neutrino and photon candidates for pointed astronomy. The development of this radio-muon method will boost the measurement accuracy to enable cosmic-ray astronomy as an additional tool of multi-messenger particle astrophysics. The project contains an educational plan contributing to a globally competitive STEM workforce, including measures to improve the diversity of historically underrepresented groups in physics. Two successful educational projects will be enhanced by contents related to the research plan and by measures to improve the diversity of incoming STEM students. These are the yearly IceCube masterclass for senior high school students, and a renowned international summer school for graduate students in particle astrophysics. Moreover, the successful biannual science fair of the Pierre Auger Collaboration for school students of all levels will be supported. This radio-muon method will be optimized using simulations, experimentally validated, and applied to world-leading cosmic-ray observatories. With this, the radio-muon method will leverage the potential of ongoing detector upgrades. Using the large-scale radio upgrade and underground muon detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio-muon method will be used to search for the sources of the highest energy, extragalactic cosmic rays. The method can be applied to the energy range of the Galactic-to-extragalactic transition to find expected mass-sensitive anisotropies that will hint to the origin of the most energetic Galactic cosmic rays. In addition, the radio-muon method will enable multi-messenger observatories for the detection of photons, neutrinos, and cosmic rays with a single experiment comprised of radio and muon detectors. Thus, this award addresses and advances the science objectives and goals of the NSF's "Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" program.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.

该奖项将资助一种新型方法的发展，结合了宇宙射线阵雨的无线电检测和muON检测，这将最大程度地提高领先的肌动颗粒观测值的测量精度，以实现宇宙射线颗粒的类型和质量。这些宇宙射线主要是原子核的，宇宙中未知的自然物体加速了远远超出人类技术的能量。最近的测量为宇宙核混合组成的完整能量范围提供了令人信服的证据，如今可以进行此类测量。通过更好地分类的主要粒子分类将使我们能够以各种方式搜索它们的起源：质子增强的宇宙射线天文学，质量依赖性各向异性与源候选者的相关性，以及选择中微子和光子候选者的选择。这种无线电方法的开发将提高测量准确性，使宇宙射线天文学成为多门会粒子天体物理学的附加工具。该项目包含了为全球竞争性STEM劳动力做出贡献的教育计划，包括改善物理学中代表性不足的群体的多样性的措施。通过与研究计划相关的内容以及改善传入STEM学生多样性的措施，将增强两个成功的教育项目。这些是年度高中生的ICECUBE大师班，也是著名的国际暑期学校，用于粒子天体物理学的研究生。此外，将支持Pierre Auger合作的双年一年度科学博览会，为各个级别的学校学生合作。该无线电方法将使用模拟，实验验证并应用于世界领先的宇宙射线观测站。这样，无线电方法将利用正在进行的检测器升级的潜力。使用Pierre Auger天文台的大规模无线电升级和地下若子探测器，无线电方法将用于搜索最高能量的源外层次宇宙射线的来源。该方法可以应用于银河系到超级乳酸转变的能量范围，以找到预期的质量敏感各向异性，这些各向异性会暗示最能有力的银河系宇宙射线的起源。此外，Radio-Muon方法将通过一个由无线电和MUON探测器组成的单个实验来启用多理智的观测值，以检测光子，中微子和宇宙射线。因此，该奖项旨在解决并促进NSF“宇宙中的窗口：多理智的天体物理学时代”计划的科学目标和目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来通过评估来支持的。