Particle Astrophysics and the Afterlife of Stars
| Date/Time: | Monday, 17 Oct 2016 - Wednesday, 19 Oct 2016 |
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| Location: | Phys 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Abstract: Products of stellar death such as core-collapse supernovae, supernova remnants, pulsars, and pulsar wind nebulae are among the Universe's naturally-occurring particle accelerators. As such, they are fertile laboratories with which to study a broad range of questions in high-energy and particle astrophysics, including the long-standing question of what astrophysical phenomena are responsible for accelerating cosmic rays. Supernova remnants have long been thought to accelerate particles up to the knee (1015 eV) of the cosmic ray spectrum, while pulsars relatively close to the Solar System and their associated wind nebulae may explain the unexpected increase in cosmic ray positrons at high energies measured by experiments from PAMELA to AMS. Over the past decade, data from high-energy (E > 300 MeV) and very high-energy (E > 85 GeV) gamma-ray observations, combined with information gleaned from across the electromagnetic spectrum, has already altered our thinking about cosmic-ray accelerators. I will describe some of these sea changes in our understanding, paying particular attention to advances made using data from the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory. I will also outline a promising new data analysis technique that will permit VERITAS to have an even greater impact on this field in the future.
*Dr. Weinstein is a candidate for promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor