Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2007 APS April Meeting
Volume 52, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, April 14–17, 2007; Jacksonville, Florida
Session M11: Future TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP Chair: James Ryan, University of New Hampshire Room: Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront City Terrace 7 |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:15PM - 3:27PM |
M11.00001: The Status of the Veritas Gamma-Ray Telescope Array Ozlem Celik VERITAS, an array of four 12m diameter Cherenkov telescopes, is a ground-based observatory designed to explore the very high energy gamma-ray sky in the energy band between 100 GeV and 50 TeV. The construction and commissioning of VERITAS has taken place during the past year, as the instrument moved through 2-, 3- and 4-telescope operational phases. Engineering observations were carried out in 2006 and scientific observations started in January 2007. We have detected the emission from the Crab Nebula strongly during the engineering phases and we report here the results for sensitivities attained at each phase. We also present here the current status of the observatory, in terms of its performance and sensitivity, and review the analysis of the data taken during the last year. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:27PM - 3:39PM |
M11.00002: White Paper on the Status and Future of Ground-based Gamma-ray Astronomy - Overview Brenda Dingus, Martin Pohl, Henric Krawczynski, Vladimir Vassiliev In recent years, ground-based gamma-ray observatories have made a number of important astrophysical discoveries which have attracted the attention of the wider scientific community. The continuation of these achievements into the next decade will require a new generation of observatories. In view of the long lead time for developing and installing new instruments, the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society has requested the preparation of a White Paper (WP) on the status and future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy to define the science goals of the future observatory, to determine the performance specifications, and to identify the areas of necessary technology development. The prime focus of the WP will be on the astrophysical problems which can be addressed at energies above 10 GeV. The WP will also enumerate the available space and ground-based observational techniques. In this submission we will outline the history and the purposes of the WP and explain how both US and international scientists from the entire spectrum of astrophysics can contribute to the concepts and ideas presented in it. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:39PM - 3:51PM |
M11.00003: The future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy: SNR and cosmic rays Martin Pohl Recently, the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society requested the preparation of a White Paper on the status and future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy. A number of science working groups have formed to explore the scientific questions that may be addressed with a future observatory. Here we report preliminary findings of the working group {\it Supernova remnants and cosmic rays}. Among the most pressing questions are the following: Are cosmic rays above the knee really Galactic in origin? What is the origin of the spectral break at 3 PeV known as the knee? What is the spectrum of cosmic ray electrons above 1 TeV? What is the origin of the extended sources which are very bright in TeV gamma-rays, but remain almost silent at lower frequencies? Are isolated SNRs the main sources of cosmic ray ions? Do shocks in SNRs produce strong magnetic-field amplification and is the particle acceleration process efficient enough to account for this? Due to the ubiquitous presence of shocks and high-energy particles in the universe, these questions will impact a large number of applications in astrophysics and cosmology, but are also related to problems in plasma fusion research. A key to answering them with any future VHE observatory will be the unambiguous disentanglement of emission from electronic versus hadronic cosmic rays. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:51PM - 4:03PM |
M11.00004: White Paper on the Status and Future of Ground-based Gamma-ray Astronomy: GRB Science Working Group Report Abraham Falcone In the fall of 2006, the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society requested a white paper about the status and future of ground based gamma-ray astronomy. Several working groups have formed to define the scientific goals that may be addressed by future instruments. In an effort to involve and inform the broader scientific community, we are reporting here on the preliminary findings of the gamma ray burst working group for the white paper. In addition to discussing the status of current instruments attempting to observe GRBs at GeV-TeV energies, we will discuss the potential of future ground based gamma-ray experiments to observe the highest energy emission ever recorded for GRBs, particularly for those that are nearby and have high Lorentz factors in the GRB jet. We will then discuss the key implications of these observations on GRB models, as well as cosmic ray origin. These topics will include a discussion of the relevance of recent exciting discoveries by the Swift GRB mission. Additional involvement in the white paper will be encouraged. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:03PM - 4:15PM |
M11.00005: Gamma-Rays from Galactic Compact Sources Philip Kaaret Recent discoveries have revealed many sources of TeV photons in our Mikly Way galaxy powered by compact objects, either neutron stars or black holes. These objects must be powerful particle accelerators, some with peak energies of at least 100 TeV, and may be neutrino, as well as photon, sources. Future TeV observations will enable us to address key questions concerning particle acceleration by compact objects including the fraction of energy which accreting black holes channel into relativstic jet production, whether the compact object jets are leptonic or hadronic, and the mechanism by which pulsar winds accelerate relativistic particles. We report on work done related to compact Galactic objects in preparation of a White Paper on the status and future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy requested by the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:15PM - 4:27PM |
M11.00006: White Paper on the Status and Future of Ground-based Gamma-Ray Astronomy - Extragalactic Science Working Group H. Krawczynski, P. Coppi, C. Dermer, E. Dwek, M. Georganopoulos, D. Horan, T. Jones, F. Krennrich, R. Mukherjee, E. Perlman, V. Vassiliev In fall 2006, the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society requested a white paper about the status and future of ground based gamma-ray astronomy. The white paper will largely be written in the year 2007. Interested scientists are invited to join the science working groups. In this contribution, we will report on some preliminary results of the extragalactic science working group. We will discuss the potential of future ground based gamma-ray experiments to elucidate how supermassive black holes accrete matter, form jets, and accelerate particles, and to study in detail the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays in extragalactic systems like infrared galaxies and galaxy clusters. Furthermore, we discuss avenues to constrain the spectrum of the extragalactic infrared to optical background radiation, and to measure the extragalactic magnetic fields based on gamma-ray observations. Eventually, we discuss the potential of ground based experiments for conducting gamma-ray source surveys. More information about the white paper can be found at: http://cherenkov.physics.iastate.edu/wp/ [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:27PM - 4:39PM |
M11.00007: The Future of Ground-based Gamma-Ray Astronomy: Dark Matter James Buckley In response to the APS request for a White Paper on the status of the future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, we formed a working group to address the potential of a future gamma-ray observatory on dark matter science. We report findings of this group on the unique scientific potential of gamma-ray measurements for dark matter searches and the instrumental requirements for the next generation telescope. While many questions remain, our group has identified some of the primary areas where gamma-ray measurements will be of a major impact. Even if direct searches or the LHC detect dark matter particles, gamma-ray measurements will be required to determine the distribution of matter in dark halos and to understand the gravitational role of dark matter in galaxy formation. Moreover, measurements of the line to continuum ratio from gamma-ray measurements will provide constraints on supersymmetric parameters, orthogonal to other measurements. We have identified galactic substructure and local group Dwarf galaxies as important targets for future searches, but continue to solicit input from the community on future directions for a new experiment. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:39PM - 4:51PM |
M11.00008: The Future of Ground Based Astronomy: The Technological Possibilities Frank Krennrich, Karen Byrum Gamma-ray astronomy has undergone a revolution in recent years. A new window has opened for using gamma-rays to understand and more fully explore the most violent processes of the universe. These gamma-ray observatories include the new ground based telescope arrays of HESS, to the largest ever gamma-ray telescope of Magic, the very soon to be fully operational telescope arrays of VERITAS and the wide field of view water Cherenkov detectors of Milagro and future planned HAWC. These ground based instruments are all perfectly poised to complement the soon to be launched gamma-ray space based observatory GLAST. The continuation of gamma-ray astronomy into the next decade will require a new generation of instruments. In this report, we discuss different technology opportunities and discuss the technical feasibility for substantially improving IACTS and ground based particle detectors to achieve an order of magnitude better sensitivity than the instruments employed today as well as their planned upgrades. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:51PM - 5:03PM |
M11.00009: HAWC (High Altitude Water Cherenkov) Observatory for Surveying the TeV Sky Brenda Dingus The HAWC observatory is a proposed, large field of view ($\sim$2 sr), high duty cycle ($>$95\%) TeV gamma-ray detector which uses a large pond of water (150 m x 150 m) located at 4300 m elevation. The pond contains 900 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to observe the relativistic particles and secondary gamma rays in extensive air showers. This technique has been used successfully by the Milagro observatory to detect known, as well as new, TeV sources. The PMTs and much of the data acquisition system of Milagro will be reused for HAWC, resulting in a cost effective detector ($\sim$ \$5M) that can be built quickly in 2- 3 years. The improvements of HAWC will give $\sim$ 15 times the sensitivity of Milagro. HAWC will survey 2 $\pi$ sr of the sky every day with a sensitivity of the Crab flux at a median energy of 1 TeV. After one year of operation, half of the sky will be surveyed to 50 mCrab. This sensitivity will likely result in the discovery of new and flaring sources as well as allow the identification of which GLAST sources extend to higher energies. [Preview Abstract] |
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