Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
Speaker: Justin Vandenbroucke, UW Department of Physics
Abstract: Cosmic rays and their siblings, astrophysical gamma rays and neutrinos, are fundamentally simple objects: high energy subatomic particles. However, they arrive at Earth bearing information about some of the most energetic and enigmatic phenomena in the universe, including exploding stars, giant black holes at the center of distant galaxies, and dark matter. I will discuss recent progress and open questions, including the prospects for answering some of them with a new instrument called the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Finally, I will present the Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory, an app and website that enable members of the public to detect cosmic rays with cell phone camera sensors.