FY839: Astroparticle physics

The course is complementary to FY825, Galactic dynamics and dark matter, and students are encouraged to pick both courses for their elective courses.

Knowledge of special relativity mechanics at the level of FY546 and FY549 as well as introductory of astrophysics and cosmology, e.g. at the level of FY535 and FY537 is useful. Furthermore, knowledge of electrodynamics at the level of FY549 and elementary particles and their interactions at the level of FY545 is useful as well. Basic knowledge of programming with python and being familiar with jupyter notebooks is also beneficial.

The aim of the course is to introduce the students to high-energy astroparticle physics. Astrophysical objects can accelerate particles to enormous energies and we can only understand their observations with the help of elementary particle physics. This course enables the students to make the connection between astrophysics, elementary particle physics, detector physics, cosmology, as well as searches for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle phyiscs.

The course builds on the knowledge acquired in the courses FY535, FY537, FY545, FY546, and FY549, and provides an academic basis for advanced studies and graduate research in astrophysics and astroparticle physics.

In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:

• Knowledge of basic theoretical concepts and experimental methods based on research at the highest international level within the subject area of physics.
  

• Knowledge of topics within the physics research cultivated by the employees at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy
  

• Master solving scientific problems using a combination of theory, numerical simulation and experiments.
  

The learning objective of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:

• Provide a general overview of the basics of the field of (high-energy) astroparticle physics.
  
• Describe the radiative processes responsible in different sources for the generation of high energy gamma rays and cosmic rays
• Describe the different astrophysical sources that produce gamma rays, cosmic rays, neutrinos, and gravitational waves
• Be familiar with the principles to detect gamma rays, cosmic rays, neutrinos and gravitational waves
• Distinguish direct from indirect dark matter searches
  

• Cosmic rays, historical context and current observations
• Radiative processes and particle acceleration in astrophysical environments
  
• Galactic sources of high energy gamma rays: supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebula
• Extragalactic sources of high energy gamma rays: active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts
  
• Multimessenger observations: gamma rays, cosmic rays, neutrinos, gravitational waves
• Detectors for multimessenger observations
  
• Photon propagation over cosmological distances
  
• Searches for dark matter and physics beyond the Standard Model
  

• Intro phase: 30 hours
• Training phase: 14 hours, hereof tutorials: 14 hours

• Solution of bi-weekly assignments which include problem solving and programming assignments, in order to discuss these in the exercise sections.
• Solving the project assigments
• Self study of various parts of the course material.
• Reflection upon the intro and training sections.