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The past two decades have observed dramatic advancement in our understanding of the universe. Such progress in turn has triggered further questions yet to be answered. Aspired by such prospects, several institutions dedicated to the research of cosmology have been established in the last decade, which include the Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics (LeCosPA) at the National Taiwan University. To celebrate its 4th anniversary the First LeCosPA Symposium was held in February 2012 at NTU. Internationally renowned physicists and authorities in cosmology, particle astrophysics, gravity and general relativity, and high energy physics convened to survey our present understanding of the universe and to explore the future prospects from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. Topics covered include the detection and the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the fundamental understanding of space, time, mass and gravity itself, cosmological constant and vacuum energy, etc. This book should be valuable to researchers and students in the field of cosmology and particle astrophysics.
A tour of the exotic and remote outposts where scientists seek answers to the great mysteries: “A thrilling ride around the globe and around the cosmos.” —Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here In The Edge of Physics, a science writer journeys to the ends of the Earth—visiting remote and sometimes dangerous places—in search of the telescopes and detectors that promise to answer the biggest questions in modern cosmology. Anil Ananthaswamy treks to the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes, one of the coldest, driest places on the planet, where not even a blade of grass can survive, and the spectacularly clear skies and dry atmosphere allow astronomers to gather brilliant images...
"This document represents the final report of the United States Antarctic Program External Panel. The report has the unanimous approval of all 11 panel members and draws upon our collective experience which includes some 44 individual trips to Antarctica involving visits to all three U. S. stations, each research ship, support icebreakers and numerous field sites. As a panel, we visited McMurdo Station and South Pole Station and toured support facilities at Christchurch. We received approximately 70 briefings and conducted 80 “one-on-one” meetings with individuals involved in virtually all aspects of the Antarctic Program. Over 200 inputs were received in response to our request for “p...
IceCube Observatory, a South Pole instrument making the first actual observations of high-energy neutrinos, has been called the “weirdest” of the seven wonders of modern astronomy by Scientific American. In The Telescope in the Ice, Mark Bowen tells the amazing story of the people who built the instrument and the science involved. Located near the U. S. Amundsen-Scott Research Station at the geographic South Pole, IceCube is unlike most telescopes in that it is not designed to detect light. It employs a cubic kilometer of diamond-clear ice, more than a mile beneath the surface, to detect an elementary particle known as the neutrino. In 2010, it detected the first extraterrestrial high-en...
Recording the proceedings of the IAU XXVI General Assembly, this volume of the IAU Highlights of Astronomy covers virtually all aspects of modern astrophysics as discussed by 2400 participants from 73 countries. Notably, the common aspects of astrophysical phenomena known to exist in widely differing interstellar environments is thoroughly examined, providing fertile cross correlation from one specialisation to another. This text highlights the importance of the triennial IAU General Assemblies in bringing together the work of observers and theoreticians in widely different fields, but working towards a common goal: understanding the physics of the Universe. Together with the Proceedings of the IAU Symposia 235-240, this volume examines all of the astrophysics presented at the General Assembly.
'This book is recommended to those interested in knowing how TeV astronomy began, evolved, and remains a growth area.The author has captured the difficulties of being a pioneer, amply demonstrating the need to keep the faith and work the problem until you succeed. Cherenkov telescopes are now in operation around the world, and at the dawn of the CTA era TeV astronomy has a lot of evolving still to do.'The ObservatoryThis book documents how TeV gamma-ray astronomy painstakingly emerged from 20th century traditional cosmic-ray physics to become a keystone feature of contemporary high-energy astrophysics, fundamental to our understanding of high-energy cosmic processes and interactions. Contemp...
Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research has produced a wide array of important and exciting scientific advances. Spanning oceanography to tectonics, microbiology to astrophysics, the extreme Antarctic environment provides unique opportunities to expand our knowledge about how our planet works and even the very origins of the universe. Research on the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic ice sheets is becoming increasingly urgent not only for understanding the future of the region but also its interconnections with and impacts on many other parts of the globe. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) provides U.S. researchers with broad access to the continent and its surrounding ocean...
This book introduces the reader to how fundamental topics in particle physics can be studied with the largest neutrino telescopes currently in operation. Due to their large size, reaching cubic-kilometer volumes, and their wide energy response, these unusual detectors can provide insight on neutrino oscillations, dark matter searches or searches for exotic particles, new neutrino interactions or extra dimensions, among many other topics.Lacking a man-made neutrino 'beam', neutrino telescopes use the copious flux of neutrinos continuously produced by cosmic rays interacting in the Earth's atmosphere, as well as neutrinos from astrophysical origin. They have therefore access to neutrinos of higher energies and much longer baselines than those produced in present accelerators, being able to search for new physics at complementary scales than currently available in particle physics laboratories around the world.Written by carefully chosen experts in the field, the book introduces each topic in a pedagogical way apt not only to professionals, but also to students or the interested reader with a background in physics.
This book summarizes the science to be carried out by the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array, a major ground-based gamma-ray observatory that will be constructed over the next six to eight years. The major scientific themes, as well as core program of key science projects, have been developed by the CTA Consortium, a collaboration of scientists from many institutions worldwide.CTA will be the major facility in high-energy and very high-energy photon astronomy over the next decade and beyond. CTA will have capabilities well beyond past and present observatories. Thus, CTA's science program is expected to be rich and broad and will complement other major multiwavelength and multimessenger facilities. This book is intended to be the primary resource for the science case for CTA and it thus will be of great interest to the broader physics and astronomy communities. The electronic version (e-book) is available in open access.