Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Exploring the Ultrahigh Energy Universe with ANITA
Presented by Dr. Cosmin Deaconu (KICP, University of Chicago)
The ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment is a
balloon-borne broadband radio telescope that flies up to 40 km above
Antarctica. Unlike most telescopes, ANITA looks down, seeking to detect
the impulsive radio emission expected to be produced from interactions
of ultrahigh-energy (>1 EeV) neutrinos in Antarctic ice. Such energetic
neutrinos have not yet been detected, but are expected to be produced
either in interactions of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with
the cosmic microwave background or in astrophysical sources. After four
flights, ANITA sets the best constraints on diffuse neutrino flux above
30 EeV and has also constrained fluence from sources. ANITA is also
sensitive to radio emission from extensive air showers. Through this
channel, ANITA has detected many UHECR candidates as well as several
"anomalous" events that appear to be consistent with upward-going air
showers. This latter class of events, if not a background, are
difficult to explain within the standard model. The successor to ANITA
is the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO), which will
have numerous improvements that the sensitivity by over an order of
magnitude.
2:00 pm, Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Zoom,
Individuals with disabilities who need an auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in P&A events should contact the Physics Department (phone: 505-277-2616, email: physics@unm.edu) well in advance to ensure your needs are accomodated. Event handouts can be provided in alternative accessible formats upon request. Please contact the Physics front office if you need written information in an alternative format.
A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php