Astronomy with cosmic rays and neutrinos

by Dr Hylke Koers (ULB)

Thursday 16 Oct 2008, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Brussels

e.349

Astrophysicists have long wanted to study the universe in ways complementary to the traditional electromagnetic bands, using cosmic rays and cosmic neutrinos to broaden their horizon - figuratively, and perhaps even literally. Such studies are rapidly becoming a reality thanks to great experimental effort in both neutrino and cosmic-ray observatories. Very recently, the Pierre Auger cosmic-ray observatory has obtained a groundbreaking result by establishing anisotropy in the highest-energy cosmic rays. This anisotropy implies that cosmic rays carry an imprint of the distribution of their sources, opening the door to cosmic-ray astronomy. In fact, the data suggest that Centaurus A may be a source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. If true, this would provide a unique opportunity to test models of cosmic-ray and neutrino production in astrophysical sources.

Slides UCLtalk_koers.pdf