Events at Physics |
Events on Friday, October 31st, 2008
- Joint String Theory/Phenomenology Seminar
- Holographic Superfluidity and Superconductivity
- Time: 1:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Chris Herzog, Princeton University
- Physics Department Colloquium
- H.T. Richards Lecture
- Surveying the TeV Gamma-Ray Sky with Milagro and HAWC
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: Brenda Dingus, Los Alamos National Lab
- Abstract: TeV gamma rays point to Nature's astrophysical accelerators. Many of these accelerators output most of their electromagnetic energy in gamma rays, and their output may flare by more than an order of magnitude. In order to study these TeV accelerators, a new type of detector was developed with a large field of view and >90% duty factory. This detector, called Milagro, used a 5000 square meter pond of water to detect Cherenkov light from extensive air showers. Milagro surveyed the 2 pi sr of the Northern Hemisphere and discovered new sources of TeV gamma rays as well as diffuse emission from the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a next-generation version of the Milagro observatory that will be built in Mexico at an altitude of 13500' and will have over 10 times the sensitivity of Milagro.
- Host: Westerhoff