Wou-MMA: Particle Astrophysics with VERITAS and CTA

该奖项延续了一项雄心勃勃的多样化研究计划，重点是对银河系粒子加速器进行高精度测量，这是宇宙射线银河系起源的关键。 在过去的十年中，VERITAS天文台在打开宇宙最高能量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的地方，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。 该研究将利用VERITAS的新能力以及与新设施的协同作用，以寻找潜在的变革性新来源类别。 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维护、运营和校准中的作用提供运营支持。 该小组指导本科生，吸引当地高中生，并向业余天文学家和其他感兴趣的团体进行公开演讲。 他们还与VERITAS的整体外展计划合作，包括进行现场图尔斯参观，但主要的外展工作是为来自世界各地的研究生和博士后研究人员举办高能天体物理学暑期学校。VERITAS伽马射线观测的目标包括可能的PeVatron，它可能是最高能量的银河宇宙射线的来源，和一个伽马射线双星系统，其超轨道周期为4.5年。 VERITAS上的新仪器以及与加拿大氢强度测绘实验射电望远镜的新协同作用将用于寻找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，有些是创造性的，其他的是潜在的变革。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.