Particle Astrophysics: What Is It?

[hadsed]

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.

 

[Lavabug]

I think it usually refers to the study and the development of apparatus (underground, underwater, surface level, and orbiting detectors) that can detect cosmic rays/high energy particles from outer space, like neutrinos. See: Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

I recall watching a series of videos on youtube on some high energy detector that picked up a proton form outer space with the kinetic energy of a well-pitched baseball, but I forget what the title was. Everything about it seemed very high-tech.

 

[Ken G]

Yes, all I could say is that I believe the core idea about particle astrophysics is basically asking what can we learn about particles by using the universe as our "accelerator", instead of building our own (like CERN). Outside of that basic concept, it's pretty wide open, and each new discovery changes the meaning of the term a little. I'm sure you find people working in it as part of physics departments, who want to know what you can do with particles without joining huge CERN teams, and in astronomy departments, who may be interested in what certain kinds of detectors might discover if aimed at the sky instead of a beam of some kind. You mention dark matter, so that's a classic example of how much in flux a subfield like particle astrophysics might be-- if evidence for what dark matter is comes from space, then particle astrophysics will take on a whole new importance, or if it comes from laboratories, then dark matter will be less of an astroparticle issue. In the mean time, who knows?

 

[supratim1]

http://www.phys.cwru.edu/part-astro/