High-Energy Astrophysics

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
ICECUBE & Limits on neutrino emission from gamma-ray bursts IceCube collaboration Journal Club talk Alex Fry.
Advertisements

X-Ray Astronomy Lab X-rays Why look for X-rays? –High temperatures –Atomic lines –Non-thermal processes X-ray detectors X-ray telescopes The Lab.
Who are the usual suspects? Type I Supernovae No fusion in white dwarf, star is supported only by electron degeneracy pressure. This sets max mass for.
Introduction to Astrophysics Lecture 3: Light. Properties of light Light propagates as a wave, and corresponds to oscillations of electric and magnetic.
AST 101 Lecture 9 The Light of your Life
Light Waves Electromagnetic waves that radiate Made of small pieces or particles of “light” energy called photons The more particles you put in front.
High-energy particle acceleration in the shell of a supernova remnant F.A. Aharonian et al (the HESS Collaboration) Nature 432, 75 (2004) Nuclear Physics.
Spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is complex - but it can be very useful in helping understand how an object like a Star or active galaxy is producing light,
X-ray observations of Dark Particle Accelerators Hiro Matsumoto (KMI, Nagoya University) 1.
PHY418 Particle Astrophysics
Neutron Stars and Black Holes
25 ii 2011NASM1 Exploring the Crab Nebula with the Hubble, Chandra and Fermi Space Telescopes Roger Blandford KIPAC Stanford.
X-ray polarisation: Science
Detection of Gamma-Rays and Energetic Particles
Gamma-Ray Astronomy Call no Assoc. Prof. Markus Böttcher Clippinger # 339 Phone:
EGRET unidentified sources and gamma-ray pulsars I. CGRO mission and the instrument EGRET and it’s scientific goals II. Simple introduction of EGRET sources.
Multiwavelength Sky by NASA. Radio Continuum (408 MHz). Intensity of radio continuum emission from surveys with ground- based radio telescopes (Jodrell.
Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes. Gamma Ray Astronomy Beginning started as a small budget research program in 1959 monitoring compliance with the 1963 Partial.
Gamma-ray Astronomy Missions, and their Use of a Global Telescope Network.
What is High-Energy Astrophysics? What is studied by high-energy astrophysicists: Supernovae Supernovae remnants Pulsars/magnetars Gamma-ray bursts Accreting.
Multi-Messenger Astronomy AY 17 10/19/2011. Outline What is Multi-messenger astronomy? Photons Cosmic Rays Neutrinos Gravity-Waves Sample-Return.
Light and Telescopes Chapter 5. Radio Interferometry The Very Large Array (VLA): 27 dishes are combined to simulate a large dish of 36 km in diameter.
Gamma-Ray Astronomy Dana Boltuch Ph. D
Swinburne Online Education Introduction to Particle Physics and High Energy Astrophysics © Swinburne University of Technology Module 8: High Energy Astrophysics.
The Spectrum of Markarian 421 Above 100 GeV with STACEE Jennifer Carson UCLA / Stanford Linear Accelerator Center February MeV 1 GeV 10 GeV 100.
Astronomy 100 Tuesday, Thursday 2:30 - 3:45 pm Tom Burbine
HAWC: A Next Generation All-Sky VHE Gamma-Ray Telescope.
Gamma Ray Bursts A High Energy Mystery By Tessa Vernstrom Ast 4001, Fall 2007 A High Energy Mystery By Tessa Vernstrom Ast 4001, Fall 2007.
Electromagnetic Spectrum. Different forms of radiation arranged in order according to their wavelength. – Travels through space at 300,000 km/s or 186,000.
 Celestial Sphere  Imagine a sphere that surrounds our planet in which all the stars are attached. This sphere is allowed to rotate freely around the.
Chapter 3 Light and Matter
Chapter 3 Radiation. Units of Chapter Information from the Skies 3.2 Waves in What? The Wave Nature of Radiation 3.3 The Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Stellar Parallax & Electromagnetic Radiation. Stellar Parallax Given p in arcseconds (”), use d=1/p to calculate the distance which will be in units “parsecs”
1 Tuning in to Nature’s Tevatrons Stella Bradbury, University of Leeds T e V  -ray Astronomy the atmospheric Cherenkov technique the Whipple 10m telescope.
1 Arecibo Synergy with GLAST (and other gamma-ray telescopes) Frontiers of Astronomy with the World’s Largest Radio Telescope 12 September 2007 Dave Thompson.
CHAPTER 3 (p ) Light. Only a very small range of wavelengths, 400nm to 700nm, are visible to humans. Wavelengths are very small so astronomers use.
50 announcement: next week only : office hours Tuesday 2-4.
Problems associated with Earth based observation Optical band = stars and planets and nebulae. Infrared band = low energy heat sources. Radio band = dust.
Optics and Telescopes. Optics and Telescopes: Guiding Questions 1.How do reflecting and refracting telescopes work? 2.Why is it important that professional.
International research project GALA: Monitoring of high energy gamma-ray astrophysical sources.
Survey of the Universe Tom Burbine
Black Holes Escape velocity Event horizon Black hole parameters Falling into a black hole.
Jacques Paul Soft Gamma-Ray Astronomy 23 January 2001 Rencontres de Moriond Les Arcs Expected Impact on VHE Phenomena Panorama in the Coming Years INTEGRAL.
Gamma-Ray Telescopes. Brief History of Gamma Ray Astronomy 1961 EXPLORER-II: First detection of high-energy  -rays from space 1967 VELA satelllites:
Project Gamma By Wylie Ballinger and Sam Russell Visit For 100’s of free powerpoints.
Atmospheric shower simulation studies with CORSIKA Physics Department Atreidis George ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI.
Development of Ideas in Ground-based Gamma-ray Astronomy, Status of Field and Scientific Expectations from HESS, VERITAS, MAGIC and CANGAROO Trevor C.
Space-based Gamma-ray Astronomy Liz Hays (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Discovery of  rays from Star-Forming Galaxies New class of nonthermal sources/gamma-ray galaxies (concept of temperature breaks down at high energies)
Presented by Ellen Holmes. Hubble Space Telescope Launched August 25th, 1997  Optical telescopes gather visible light, just like our eyes, but greatly.
Structure Formation in the Universe Concentrate on: the origin of structure in the Universe How do we make progress?How do we make progress? What are the.
MA4: HIGH-ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS Critical situation of manpower : 1 person! Only «free research» based in OAT. Big collaborations based elsewhere (Fermi,
Chapter 3 Radiation. Units of Chapter Information from the Skies 3.2 Waves in What? The Wave Nature of Radiation 3.3 The Electromagnetic Spectrum.
THE COMPTON GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORIE By: Windell Barfield and Landris Baggs.
Death of Stars II Physics 113 Goderya Chapter(s): 14
Earth & Space Science March 2015
Diffuse Emission and Unidentified Sources
Sources emitting gamma-rays observed in the MAGIC field of view Jelena-Kristina Željeznjak , Zagreb.
Satellites, Telescopes, Probes and Rovers
Exploring an evidence of supermassive black hole binaries in AGN with MAXI Naoki Isobe (RIKEN, ) and the MAXI
A black hole: The ultimate space-time warp Ch. 5.4 A black hole is an accumulation of mass so dense that nothing can escape its gravitational force, not.
High energy Astrophysics Mat Page Mullard Space Science Lab, UCL 1. Overview.
A fast online and trigger-less signal reconstruction Arno Gadola Physik-Institut Universität Zürich Doktorandenseminar 2009.
The Search for Black Holes
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Searches for Dark Matter Signals Workshop for Science Writers Introduction S. Ritz UCSC Physics Dept. and SCIPP On behalf.
Lecture Outlines Astronomy Today 8th Edition Chaisson/McMillan © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 3.
Chapter 2 Read Pages 7-17 Continuous Radiation from Stars.
High Energy Observational Astrophysics. 1 Processes that emit X-rays and Gamma rays.
1B11 Foundations of Astronomy Glossary of terms
Presentation transcript:

High-Energy Astrophysics Class Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-4:15 pm in 618 VAN – note room change Are people available to go later? Topics: X-ray and gamma-ray detection X-ray data analysis Accreting neutron stars and black holes Pulsars, supernova remnants, cosmic rays Gamma-ray bursts

Grading Grades will be 50% problem sets and 50% on the data analysis project Students may work together on problem sets, but please write up your own answers Form groups of 2 or 3 for the data analysis project There will be both written and oral presentations of the project. During the oral presentation questions will be asked of individual students.

Data Analysis Every groups will get an account on phobos Need to know basic unix commands Arrangements to set up accounts and data software will be made during the second week of classes

High Energies By “high energy”, we mean radiation at X-ray or shorter wavelengths.

Photons Energy of photon is set by frequency/wavelength Unit is electon-volt (eV, keV, MeV, GeV, TeV) 1 eV = 1.610-19 J = 1.610-12 erg

Thermal Radiation Average kinetic energy of particles is proportional to temperature k = Boltzmann constant = 1.3810-23 J/K = 8.6210-5 eV/K Thermal spectrum peaks at 2.7 kT, falls off sharply at higher and lower energies.

Thermal Radiation Photons above X-ray band are generally produced by non-thermal processes

X-Rays Measure X-ray energies in energy units (eV or keV) or wavelength units (Angstroms) Soft X-rays = 0.1-2 keV Medium (“standard”) X-rays = 2-10 keV Hard X-rays 20-200 keV

Gamma-rays Formal definition of X-ray versus gamma-ray is that X-rays come from electronic transitions while gamma-rays come from nuclear transitions. In practice, gamma-rays in the X-ray band are usually referred to as X-rays Gamma-rays typically have energies above about 100 keV

Why High Energies? Photons are emitted at the characteristic energy of particles in a system. For a blackbody, we have Wien’s Law: peak of radiation (Ang) = 2.9 x 107 / T(K) In general, a system tends to produce radiation up to the maximum energy of its particles Thus, high energy photons are probes of very energetic systems which are the most extreme environments in the Universe

Energetic processes Extreme temperatures (X-ray emitting plasma) Extreme densities (black holes and neutron stars) Extreme magnetic fields (near neutron stars) Extreme velocities (jets from black holes) Extreme explosions (gamma-ray bursts)

Astronomical Interlude

Celestial Coordinates Coordinates are: Declination = degrees North or South of the equator. Right ascension = degrees East of the “Vernal equinox”. Vernal equinox is defined as the position of the Sun on the first day of spring. Note it is a point on the sky, not the earth.

Precession of the Earth Precession causes celestial coordinates to change slowly with time. When observing, one must have coordinates for the correct epoch.

Galactic coordinates

Angular Size 1º = 60 arcminutes = 60′ 1′ = 60 arcseconds = 60″ 1″ = 4.8510-6 radians

Parallax d = 1 / p Parallax As Earth moves from one side of the Sun to the other, a nearby star will seem to change its position relative to the distant background stars. d = 1 / p d = distance to nearby star in parsecs p = parallax angle of that star in arcseconds 1 parsec = 3.26 light years = 3.0861018 cm Parallax

Instruments for High Energy Astronomy Advances in observations follow directly from advances in instrumentation First key advance was development of rockets to loft telescopes above the atmosphere

Atmospheric Transmission

Space-Borne Observatories

High Energy Missions

High Energy Missions keV

X-ray instruments Convert X-ray to electrical signal Sounding rockets Satellites

Rocket Flight (1962)

Uhuru (1970-1973) 339 sources

X-Ray Pulsar Cen X-3 Pulses occur at intervals of 4.84 seconds

X-Ray Pulsar Cen X-3 Pulses are modulated at orbital period of 2.09 days

Einstein Observatory (1978-1981)

Rosat (1990-1999) > 100,000 sources

Chandra (1999 - present) Deep exposures with Chandra finally resolved the X-ray background discovered in 1962 into individual sources, mainly AGN

X-Ray Source Counts

Gamma-ray instruments Space-based Ground-based

SAS-2 (1972-1973) First dedicated gamma-ray satellite Discovered gamma-ray background

Gamma-ray spark chamber Gamma-ray converts into electron-positron pair

COS-B (1975-1982) Discovered diffuse emission from Galactic plane and a population of unidentified gamma-ray point sources along the plane

CGRO (1990-2001) Four instruments covered energy range from 20 keV to 10 GeV. Established AGN as gamma-ray sources, gamma-ray bursts as cosmological.

Whipple Air Cherenkov Telescope 10 meter diameter optical reflector Very fast (nanosecond) camera

Air Cherenkov Telescope

HESS Started operation in 2004 Major increase in sensitivity relative to Whipple Discovered about 12 sources along the Galactic plane

VERITAS ACT Array

Reading Longair - Chapter 1