- #1
hadsed
- 492
- 2
I posted a topic about this in the academic advisement forum... but it seems that no one really knew the answers (so it died off pretty quick). So I thought I'd ask here, maybe someone will know.
Anyway, what I want to know about is particle astrophysics. From the name, I'd think that it's the merging of particle and astrophysics (two of my favorite areas in physics, which is why I'm interested), but beyond this I don't really know what it means. I was wondering if anyone knew where the majority of particle astrophysicists work (that is, in the particle physics dept., high energy dept., or astrophysics). For example, as I was applying for internships this summer I came across this project that mentioned I'd be creating computational models for dark matter annihilation around black holes. That's the sort of thing that I would be very interested in doing, of course, but if anyone can point me to an exhaustive list (if there exists one, my understanding of the field is that it's rapidly growing but no one really knows what it is yet) or just give any remotely relevant knowledge, that would be great. Since I'm mainly a numerical guy, I'd like to know about some of the areas of particle astrophysics/high energy astrophysics that are being studied numerically. I'm not really very interested in observational astronomy, but I'm a good programmer and I like to work with the math and so theoretical interests me more.
Anyway, what I want to know about is particle astrophysics. From the name, I'd think that it's the merging of particle and astrophysics (two of my favorite areas in physics, which is why I'm interested), but beyond this I don't really know what it means. I was wondering if anyone knew where the majority of particle astrophysicists work (that is, in the particle physics dept., high energy dept., or astrophysics). For example, as I was applying for internships this summer I came across this project that mentioned I'd be creating computational models for dark matter annihilation around black holes. That's the sort of thing that I would be very interested in doing, of course, but if anyone can point me to an exhaustive list (if there exists one, my understanding of the field is that it's rapidly growing but no one really knows what it is yet) or just give any remotely relevant knowledge, that would be great. Since I'm mainly a numerical guy, I'd like to know about some of the areas of particle astrophysics/high energy astrophysics that are being studied numerically. I'm not really very interested in observational astronomy, but I'm a good programmer and I like to work with the math and so theoretical interests me more.