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

该奖项将资助开发一种新方法，将宇宙射线空气簇射的无线电和μ子探测相结合，这将最大限度地提高领先的天体粒子观测站对宇宙射线粒子类型和质量的测量精度。这些宇宙射线主要是原子核，被宇宙中未知的自然物体加速到远远超出人类技术的能量。最近的测量提供了令人信服的证据，证明在今天可以进行这种测量的整个能量范围内，宇宙核的成分是混合的。通过对初级粒子进行更好的分类来解开这种混合物，将使我们能够以各种方式寻找它们的起源：质子增强的宇宙线天文学，质量相关各向异性与源候选者的相关性，以及为指向天文学选择中微子和光子候选者。这种射电μ介子方法的发展将提高测量精度，使宇宙线天文学成为多信使粒子天体物理学的一个额外工具。该项目包含一项教育计划，有助于培养具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力，包括改善物理学历史上代表性不足的群体的多样性的措施。两个成功的教育项目将通过与研究计划相关的内容和改善即将入学的STEM学生多样性的措施得到加强。这是每年一次的高中生冰立方大师班，也是粒子天体物理学研究生的著名国际暑期学校。此外，还将支持皮埃尔·奥格合作组织为各级学生成功举办的两年一度的科学博览会。这种无线电μ介子方法将使用模拟进行优化，实验验证，并应用于世界领先的宇宙射线观测站。有了这个，无线电μ介子方法将利用正在进行的探测器升级的潜力。利用皮埃尔·俄歇天文台的大规模无线电升级和地下μ介子探测器，无线电μ介子方法将用于搜索最高能量的河外宇宙射线的来源。该方法可以应用到银河系到河外过渡的能量范围，以找到预期的质量敏感的各向异性，这将暗示最具活力的银河宇宙射线的起源。此外，无线电-μ子方法将使多信使天文台能够通过由无线电和μ子探测器组成的单一实验来探测光子，中微子和宇宙射线。因此，该奖项致力于推动美国国家科学基金会“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”计划的科学目标和宗旨。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.