WoU-MMA: Multi-messenger Signatures of Ion Acceleration in Active Galactic Nuclei

星系中心的超大质量黑洞是控制其环境演化的极端天体物理机器。 它们是高速风和相对论喷流的来源，它们与宇宙中能量最高的粒子有关。 它们发出从无线电到伽马射线的电磁辐射，最近它们与极高能量天体物理中微子的产生有关。 这些粒子的起源是一个多学科领域，与天体物理学，空间物理学和实验室等离子体有关。 将多信使天体物理学与空间和等离子体社区联系起来，放大了等离子体物理学对理解宇宙至关重要的信息。该项目将对研究生进行天体等离子体物理学培训，并向广大公众提供新的概念和发现。多信使天文台首次提供了活动星系核中高能离子加速的线索。该项目的目标是解开负责加速活动星系核外流中离子的物理过程。PI将使用一种半解析形式，通过动力学等离子体模拟验证，模拟AGN风冲击和相对论磁流体动力学模拟的加速度，并跟踪测试粒子，以计算预期来自AGN喷流的UHECR和中微子的光谱。他们将解决以下问题：（1）离子是如何在活动星系核风中加速的，它们的多信使信号是什么？(2)活动星系核喷流产生的扩散和源极超高能宇宙线和中微子谱是什么？(3)在产生高能宇宙射线和中微子的过程中，风和喷流之间是否存在相互作用？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。

The supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies are extreme astrophysical machines that control the evolution of their environments. They are sources of high-velocity winds and relativistic jets, and they are associated with the highest-energy particles in the Universe. They emit electromagnetic radiation from radio to gamma-ray, and they have been associated recently with the production of very-high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. The origin of these particles is a multidisciplinary field, with relevance to astrophysics, space physics, and laboratory plasmas. Connecting multi-messenger astrophysics with space and plasma communities amplifies the message that plasma physics is crucial for understanding the Universe. The project will train graduate students in astroplasmaphysics and provide new concepts and discoveries to the broader public. Multi-messenger observatories have provided the first clues of high-energy ion acceleration in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The goal of this project is to unravel the physical processes that are responsible for the acceleration of ions in AGN outflows. The PIs will use a semi-analytical formalism, validated by kinetic plasma simulations, to model acceleration at AGN wind shocks and relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations with tracked test-particles to calculate the spectrum of UHECRs and neutrinos expected from AGN jets. They will address the following questions: (1) How are ions accelerated in AGN winds, and what is their multi-messenger signature? (2) What are the diffuse and source ultra-high-energy cosmic ray and neutrino spectra produced by AGN jets? (3) Is there an interplay between winds and jets in producing energetic cosmic rays and neutrinos? This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.