Speaker
Prof.
James Buckley
(Washington University)
Description
Ground-based gamma-ray instruments such as HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS make
use of arrays of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to provide sensitive
measurements of astrophysical sources in the 100 GeV to 50 TeV energy range.
Over the last decade, these instruments have detected ~ 100 sources that provide
important data on the origin of cosmic rays and on particle acceleration in supernova
blast shocks, relativistic pulsar wind-termination shocks, and accretion powered jets
of supermassive black holes. These astrophysical observations also provide
constraints on fundamental physics and cosmology including probes of the history of
galaxy formation, Lorentz-invariance violation and even constraints on Axion-Like
particles. Ground-based gamma-ray observations of the Galactic center and nearby
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are also providing constraints on particle dark matter with
masses above a few hundred GeV. Here I discuss the status of particle-astrophysics
measurements made with these instruments, as well as prospects for future
instruments like CTA for detection of Dark Matter.
Primary author
Prof.
James Buckley
(Washington University)
