OUR GROUP
Multimessenger astrophysics aims to combine observations of different cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, gravitational waves, and cosmic rays) to provide insights into the physical processes at work in some of the most extreme sources in the Universe that would not be possible by using electromagnetic observations alone. Some of the sources that are of particular interest to multimessenger astrophysics are supermassive black holes, supernova remnants, and gamma-ray bursts, among many others.
The research in our group is targeted towards multimessenger studies of high-energy astrophysical emitters. Our group is part of the IceCube (neutrinos), VERITAS, CTA and SWGO (gamma rays) Collaborations and we also work with data from a number of ground- and space-based telescopes (in particularFermi, Swift, and NuSTAR).
Contact us if you have questions or if you are interested in joining!
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Physics, astronomy, CS and engineering undergraduate students interested in joining the group are encouraged to contact us for potential research projects.
RECENT GROUP NEWS
April 2022 – Group members present at april APS meeting
Graduate students Ava Ghadimi, Sreetama Goswami and RileyAnne Sharpe and undergraduate student Aidan Klingelberg presented results from their work at the 2022 APS April meeting in NYC.
- A. Ghadimi, M. Santander (for the IceCube Collaboration) “Probing magnetars as high-energy neutrino emitters with IceCube”.
- S. Goswami, M. Santander, G. Privon (for the IceCube Collaboration) “Search for high-energy neutrinos from hard X-ray AGN with IceCube”.
- A. Klingelberg, M. Santander “Discovery and Multi-Wavelength Studies of New Hard Gamma-Ray Sources Using Fermi-LAT Data”
- R.A. Sharpe, A. Acharyya, M. Santander, S. Buson, “Multiwavelength Follow-up Observations of Astrophysical Neutrino Events”
Ghadimi and Goswami are supported by NSF while Sharpe and Klingelberg are supported by NASA NuSTAR and Swift GI grants.
AUGUST 2021 – GROUP FUNDED to extend the optical monitoring capabilities of VERITAS
Recent observations performed by VERITAS have extended the capabilities of the observatory beyond the gamma-ray range into the optical band, enabling the measurement of stellar diameters, and other parameters, through asteroid occultations and stellar intensity interferometry.
A project led by VERITAS members at Washington University in St Louis in collaboration with our group has been funded by NSF to upgrade the telescope electronics in order to enable further optical studies across the entire field of view of the cameras.
JULY 2021 – ATREYA ACHARYYA and jAMES DELAUNAY JOIN the group as postdocs
Atreya Acharyya (Durham University) and James DeLaunay (Penn State University) have joined the group as VERITAS/CTA and IceCube postdocs, respectively. Atreya worked on gamma-ray observations of AGN during his graduate studies, while James worked on multi-messenger studies including IceCube, AMON and Swift-BAT. Welcome to both!
JULY 2021 – GRAD STUDENTS present at the 2021 international cosmic ray conference
Group members Ava Ghadimi, Sreetama Goswami, Weidong Jin and RileyAnne Sharpe presented their work at the 2021 ICRC:
- A. Ghadimi (IceCube): Searching for Sources of High Energy Neutrinos from Magnetars with IceCube
- S. Goswami (IceCube): Search for high-energy neutrino emission from hard X-ray AGN with IceCube
- W. Jin (VERITAS), R.A. Sharpe: VERITAS follow-up observations of the blazar TXS 0506+056
- K. Satalecka et al (FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS collaborations): Searching for VHE gamma-ray emission associated with IceCube neutrino alerts using FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS, Corresponding VERITAS author: W. Jin
- R. de Menezes et al: Multi-Messenger observations of the Fermi-LAT blazar 4FGL J0658.6+0636 consistent with an IceCube high-energy neutrino. Corresponding VERITAS author: W. Jin
JUNE 2021 – GROUP CONTRIBUTES TO Unprecedented observations of the radio galaxy M87
Graduate student Weidong Jin led the VERITAS contribution to a joint study of the radio galaxy M87 involving the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) as well as a wide range of observatories covering the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to VHE gamma-rays. These observations were collected in 2017, while EHT obtained the now-famous observation of M87 that resolved the event horizon of the supermassive blackhole. More details in the UA News article and the paper in ApJL.
APRIL 2021 – Undergrads present at UA conference, Nathan silvey wins award
Undergrad students Aidan Klingelberg, Sera May, Nathan Silvey and N’Dia Wilder presented at this year’s UA Undergrad Research and Creative Activity (URCA) conference. The titles of their posters are below:
- Aidan Klingelberg (Physics): The Search for new sources of extragalactic gamma-rays
- Sera May (Geography): Gamma-ray observatory location analysis in South America
- Nathan Silvey (Aerospace Engineering, Randall Scholar): Characterizing the long-term behavior of gamma-ray blazars using the Fermi-LAT space telescope.
- N’Dia Wilder: Gamma-ray observations of the active galaxy 1ES 1959+650 with VERITAS
Nathan won first prize in the Physics Sciences category for his poster. Congratulations to Nathan and all our students!
OTHER news
- UA group presents IceCube results at the Neutrino 2020 conference.
- UA Assists in Detection of Crab Nebula Using Innovative Telescope.
- Group funded by NSF for multimessenger studies involving very-high-energy gamma rays.
LOCATION
Address:
317B Gallalee Hall
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
The group gratefully acknowledges main funding support from the National Science Foundation through awards PHY-1828168, PHY-1914579, PHY-2012944, OIA-2019597, AST-2108517 and from NASA through awards 80NSSC20K0473, 80NSSC20K0049, 80NSSC20K1494 and 80NSSC20K1587
