Projects / Programmes
Multimessenger astrophysics
January 1, 2022
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.02.00 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Physics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.03 |
Natural Sciences |
Physical sciences |
multimessenger astrophysics, ultra-high energy cosmic particles, hadronic interactions at extreme energies, gamma ray astronomy, astrophysical transients, black holes, dark matter, new physics
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
June 28, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
2,555 |
135,674 |
117,956 |
46.17 |
| Scopus |
2,583 |
168,480 |
148,716 |
57.57 |
Researchers (21)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Research program P1-0031 Astroparticle physics is oriented towards obtaining a more complete, unified picture of the Universe, its constituents, their interactions and high-energy processes. Combining the information carried by different cosmic messengers: photons, charged cosmic particles, neutrinos and gravitational waves, is the key for achieving this objective, which is reflected in the new proposed name of the program, P1-0031 Multi-messenger astrophysics. The primary goal of the proposed program extension is to investigate phenomena related to extreme energies in nature and push forward the knowledge frontier. With our active participation in leading international research collaborations in this field we will contribute to cutting-edge science in searches for extremely energetic astrophysical sources, transient astrophysical phenomena, dark matter and possible mechanisms responsible for the matter - anti-matter asymmetry in the Universe. The results of this work are expected to be extremely relevant for science in general and in particular for the fields of astro- and elementary particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. The research of ultra-high energy cosmic particles (UHECR) will be pursued within the Pierre Auger Collaboration. It has insofar led to major breakthroughs, such as the evidence for the suppression of the UHECR flux above 55 EeV and UHECR extragalactic origin. Major open questions still remain, such as particle composition of the UHECR flux and the identity of their sources. To facilitate the identification of the primary UHECR, the observatory is being substantially upgraded (AugerPrime). We will take an active role in the AugerPrime science activities, focusing on the composition and anisotropy studies of the highest-energy particles. The research of high (HE, ? 20 MeV) and very high (VHE, ? 20 GeV) energy gamma rays will continue to be pursued within the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration and the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Observatory. LAT is the leading space laboratory for HE gamma ray research, while the emerging CTA will provide full-sky coverage for VHE gamma-rays with improved sensitivity, angular and energy resolution with respect to present experiments. Our scientific activities within LAT and CTA are expected to bring significant advances in the studies of cosmic ray sources, gamma-ray interactions with interstellar medium, the properties of black hole particle accelerators, and dark matter searches. The research of astrophysical transient sources, which include tidal disruption events in vicinity of black holes, gravitational wave events, gamma ray bursts, and supernovae, is another essential component of multi-messenger astrophysics, expected to bring important new insights in various fields. These activities will be conducted through our involvement in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), Gaia Science Alerts, Liverpool Telescope, and ENGRAVE collaborations.
Significance for science
Complementary studies of the phenomena on the extremely large and the extremely small scales via astrophysical observations of the Universe provide a more complete, unified picture of matter and its interactions. Combining the information carried by different cosmic messengers, photons, charged cosmic particles, neutrinos and gravitational waves is the key to better understanding of physical processes in the Universe. The goal of the proposed program extension is to investigate the phenomena related to astrophysical processes at extreme energies, applying, where possible, the multimessenger approach. Its activities are embedded into the work of international research collaborations (Pierre Auger, Cherenkov Telescope Array, Fermi-LAT, Gaia, Liverpool Telescope, ENGRAVE and Vera C. Rubin Observatory) with competent partners, including among others the institutions from the EU, USA, Brazil, Argentina and Japan. They are focused on the searches for extremely energetic astrophysical sources, transient astrophysical phenomena, dark matter and possible mechanisms responsible for the matter - anti-matter asymmetry in the Universe. The program results will be of fundamental nature and are expected to be relevant for science in general and in particular for the fields of astroparticle and elementary particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. The research of ultra-high energy (UHE, ? 1 EeV = 1018 eV) cosmic rays (CRs) and their interactions in the Earth's atmosphere (at several 10's of times higher energies than the projected final energies of the LHC collider) is at the forefront of the global physics endeavors in fundamental science. UHECRs are the most energetic particles in nature, and their collisions at the energies reaching a few 100 EeV may, with present technologies, never be achievable in man-made particle colliders. Analysis and interpretation of UHECR data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory via the indirect primary CR detection may be more difficult than that for data collected at accelerators, but due to its uniqueness provide all the more a challenge to the research community. A related activity is the investigation of high (HE, ? 20 MeV) and very high energy (VHE, ? 20 GeV) gamma rays. Contrary to charged cosmic particles, photons are not affected by magnetic fields, so they can point back to their production sites. We are contributing to the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), the main detector onboard the Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope, leading space laboratory for the high-energy gamma-ray research since 2008. Fermi LAT so far discovered more than 5000 gamma ray sources, which is more than an order of magnitude more than previously detected in HE range. Unexpectedly, it also discovered a large bubble-like structure stemming from the center of the Milky Way above and below the Galactic plane, called the Fermi bubbles, that are almost as tall as half of the whole Galactic disk radius. It also provided strong constraints on the nature of dark matter particles by investigating their decay or annihilation signatures in astrophysical objects. Our strong involvement in the CTA project, which is in the construction phase of the next generation ground-based very high energy gamma-ray observatory, places our research at the leading edge in VHE gamma ray astronomy. CTA is expected to provide crucial information on the non-thermal high-energy universe and will make significant progress on the key physics topics of the origin of cosmic rays and their link to the star formation, as well as on the studies of the nature and variety of black hole accelerators. CTA will also contribute to the dark matter search, Lorentz invariance violation and other fundamental physics tests. The research of astrophysical transient sources, which include tidal disruption events in vicinity of black holes, gravitational wave events, gamma ray bursts, and supernovae, is another highly important and topical component of the multi-messenger astrophysics. Our research on astrophysical transients conducted through our involvement in Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and Gaia Science Alerts, Liverpool Telescope, and ENGRAVE collaborations will be strongly supported by theoretical studies, which will be an up-grade of our theoretical modelling so far. Multi-messenger studies of compact objects are one of the highest priority in astrophysics in the next decade, promising to bring important new insights and providing tests in various fields from stellar evolution and dynamics to fundamental physics (neutron star equation of state, high-energy processes, theories of gravity etc.) The impressive rapidly growing amount of new and high-quality multi-messenger astrophysics data brings unprecedented opportunities for the improvement of the models of the relevant physical processes at all scales. In the next few years dramatic progress will be made in this fundamental field of study, of great importance for the development of science. Finally, the proposed research program extension is relevant for education and training of new generations of young astrophysicists, providing them with international experience, integration into research roadmap and research projects of EU, as the largest financial and manpower contributors for the ongoing Pierre Auger Observatory upgrade and the construction of the Cherenkov Telescope Array are institutions from EU (Germany, Spain, France, Italy). For both observatories our activities within the group will be coordinated with these institutions and oriented towards applying for European projects in the framework of Horizon Europe and other relevant European mechanisms.
Significance for the country
Direct impact of the proposed program on the economy and society arises through the possibility of a transfer of knowledge and state-of-the-art technologies, developed for use at international research collaborations (i.e. the Pierre Auger Observatory - PAO), to Slovenia for commercial use and public service, a task which we have been actively pursuing since our initial involvement with PAO. As a direct spin-off of the basic atmospheric research at PAO (characterization of the atmosphere as the main detector media using Lidar technology, timing of the ground detector array using GPS signals) the Center for astrophysics and cosmology of the University of Nova Gorica constructed the first lidar observatory site in Slovenia at Otlica, now operated by the Center for atmospheric research, which among others successfully tracked and characterized Icelandic volcanic ash in 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption. We independently developed a Raman lidar system for the remote profiling of water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere, and in collaboration with the Slovenian companies Optotech and Fotona we have also developed a mobile lidar for aerosol tracking and identification. Based on our most recent lidar development activities for the CTA observatory, we contributed to the studies of Bora wind flows in Slovenia, the studies of the effect of bioaerosols on ice formation in clouds and the studies of atmospheric pollution with black carbon. All these devices and activities provide not only scientific results but also results with a broader impact on society. At the present we are closely collaborating with two commercial companies (Aerosol and Haze Instruments), and we expect that these activities will be expanded and intensified in the scope of the proposed program extension. As an indirect impact of the proposed program on society we highlight the active and competitive participation of Slovenian researchers and students in these leading-edge global research activities; success of this and other such projects will help ensure the recognition of Slovenia as a high technology oriented country, which would further stimulate and promote international scientific, economical and financial cooperation. Of key importance is also the transfer of knowledge to generations of undergraduate and master students, which will propagate it to other areas of activities in our society. The proposed program will facilitate the transfer of knowledge at the leading edge of current global research activities and state-of-the art technologies into Slovenia, and in particular, it will provide a deeper insight into the description of fundamental interactions that govern our world, including gravity. The results are expected to bring indirect benefits on many levels of social activities, including a cultural level and a technological level, as a profound understanding of nature inevitably leads to the development of tools beneficial to the society and the humankind as a whole. Last but not least, topics in astophysics and the Universe in general attract considerable attention of the general public, therefore we consider it our mission to rise the general knowledge and the awareness of the importance of science through public lectures, press releases and other outreach activities.
