On open questions in astroparticle physics with Jakub Vícha
Where do high-energy cosmic ray particles come from and how can we even learn what they are? Can they open up an opportunity for us to discover completely new physical processes? And can cosmic rays influence the weather? These questions have not been answered yet, but research by Jakub Vícha from the Department of Astroparticle Physics at FZU is bringing us closer to unravelling these mysteries.
The first ground-based wide-field observatory designed to detect very high to ultra-high energy gamma rays in the Southern Hemisphere will be built in the Atacama Astronomical Park in Chile. The observatory will study radiation from space that is emitted by the most extreme objects in the universe, such as black holes and neutron stars, gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.
The highest energy cosmic ray particles are likely to penetrate much deeper into the atmosphere than previously thought. The incoming particles are therefore likely to be much heavier. New and fundamental insights emerge from a method that generalises the approach to predicting models of cosmic particle collisions with the Earth's atmosphere. The accuracy of Jakub Vícha's method has been confirmed by hundreds of international scientists at the Pierre Auger Observatory, as shown in a study published these days in Physical Review D.
The new observatory will probe the most extreme phenomena and environments to address some of the most compelling questions about our Universe, from the origin of high-energy cosmic rays to searching for dark matter particles
This year's awards went to the Department of Optical Materials, Department of Thin Films and Nanostructures and the Department of Astroparticles Physics.
