Astrophysique à Haute Energie

Deep Learning for ALTO/CoMET data analysis

The University of Paris Cité is welcoming a student for a Master project in Data Intensive Astroparticle Physics to work under the supervision of Prof. Yvonne Becherini.

Context and Goal of the research project

Gamma-ray observations of flaring blazars

Super-massive black holes are known to dwell at the center of galaxies. When accreting matter they are observed from Earth as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In a minority of AGNs the accretion of matter onto the black-hole is associated with the ejection of a relativistic jet of plasma along the polar axis. 
When the black-hole's jet points right in the direction of the Earth, relativistic effects boost the emission and make these objects among the brightest in the Universe. This peculiar AGNs are called blazars. 

Search for high-energy cosmic neutrinos

The origin and nature of cosmic rays at very high energy (UHECRs) is a long-standing puzzle that is still not completely resolved after a century of theoretical and experimental efforts. Neutrinos can travel untouched from their source, thus indicating their locations. Neutrinos of cosmic origin are expected to be produced via the decay of charged pions and kaons, generated in hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with gas or radiation in their acceleration sites or during their propagation.

Cosmic ray acceleration in star forming regions

Cosmic rays are energetic particles (mainly protons) that constantly bombard the Earth’s atmosphere from outer space. They were discovered more than a century ago, but their origin is still debated. This is because cosmic rays are strongly deflected by interstellar magnetic fields, which makes their particle distribution function almost perfectly isotropic. This implies that the observed arrival direction of a cosmic ray particle does not point to the site of its production, i.e. cosmic ray astronomy is not feasible.

Astrophysique à Haute Energie