WoU-MMA: Astrophysics with Very High-Energy Gamma Rays

高能伽马射线被用来研究宇宙中最极端的物体，如活跃星系中心的黑洞和伽马射线暴（GRB）。 宇宙伽马射线还可以揭示粒子物理学和宇宙学标准模型之外的新物理学。 最强大的极高能量源是河外的，它们有狭窄的高能粒子喷流，朝地球方向发射。该奖项支持加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的研究人员对天体物理喷流如何传播以及其中发生的过程进行研究。该小组将利用高能辐射成像望远镜系统（VERITAS）进行高能伽马射线观测，以研究活动星系核（AGN）和伽马射线暴的关键特征，并将这些源用作信标，以研究伽马射线传播的河外介质的特性。 该团队将为高中生，本科生和研究生创造独特的研究机会，并开发一个“公民科学家”计划，该计划将对下一代成像空气切伦科夫望远镜记录的事件图像进行分类。 极高能伽马射线测量提供了探测极端天体物理学物体的性质的手段，包括发射区的大小和位置以及磁场强度，这是关于被加速粒子和基本加速机制的重要信息。 应用VERITAS获得的扩展数据集和利用机器学习的新数据分析技术将提高研究天体物理源的灵敏度，并限制预计加速最高能量宇宙射线的环境模型和属性。 对实时瞬态引力波和中微子多信使事件的密切相关的对应物的搜索将增强对极端宇宙的理解。 这些数据还将用于研究与河外背景光碰撞产生的伽马射线吸收，并与新的直接测量结果进行比较，这将检验对星星形成和星系演化的宇宙学模型的预测，以及最高能量下的洛伦兹不变性。该项目推进了NSF宇宙大创意窗口的目标。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。

High-energy gamma-rays are used to study the most extreme objects in the Universe, such as black holes at the center of active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Cosmic gamma-rays can also reveal new physics beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. The most powerful very high-energy sources are extragalactic and have narrow jets of high-energy particles beamed in the direction of Earth. This award supports researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz to conduct studies of how the astrophysical jets propagate and what processes occur within them. The team will apply high-energy gamma-ray observations with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope System (VERITAS) to study key features of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and GRBs, and use these sources as beacons to study the properties of the extragalactic medium through which the gamma-rays propagate. The team will create unique research opportunities for high school, undergraduate and graduate students, and develop a “citizen scientist” program that will classify event images recorded with a next generation imaging air Cherenkov telescope. Very high-energy gamma-ray measurements provide the means to probe the properties of extreme astrophysical objects, including the emission-region size and location and the magnetic field strength, crucial information about the particles being accelerated and the underlying acceleration mechanisms. Applying expanded datasets obtained with VERITAS and new data analysis techniques that harness machine-learning will increase the sensitivity to study the astrophysical sources and constrain the models and properties of the environments that are anticipated to accelerate the highest energy cosmic rays. A closely related search for counterparts to real-time transient gravitational wave and neutrino multi-messenger events will enhance the understanding of the extreme Universe. The data will also be used to study gamma-ray absorption by collisions with the extragalactic background light, comparing to new direct measurements, that will test predictions of cosmological models of star formation and galaxy evolution, as well as Lorentz invariance at the highest energies. This project advances the goals of the NSF 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.