GGrantIndex
← Search

DESPITE HAVING BEEN FOR LONG TIME MERELY A PREDICTION BY SOME COSMIC-RAY THEORISTS NOWADAYS MULTI-MESSENGER ASTROPHYSICS REVEALS TO BE A BLOOMING FIELD AND PROMISING GROUND FOR DISCOVERIES. THE COINCIDENCE OF AN ICECUBE HIGH-ENERGY NEUTRINO WITH A GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR HAS DIRECTED THE ATTENTION TO THIS CLASS OF OBJECTS AS THE MOST PROMISING ONE TO MAKE A FIRST STEP FORWARD INTO THE OPEN QUESTION OF THE HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC-RAY ORIGIN. BUILDING ON THIS SUCCESSFUL DETECTION WE PROPOSE NEIL GEHRELS SWIFT OBSERVATORY FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF PROMISING NEUTRINO SOURCE CANDIDATES. THE SWIFT DATA WILL BE A CRUCIAL COMPLEMENT TO OUR ANCILLARY MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS TO PROVIDE FURTHER PROOF OF THE AGN-NEUTRINO LINK. THE PROGRAM INVOLVES TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY FOLLOW UP OBSERVATIONS OF ASTROPHYSICAL NEUTRINO EVENTS FROM ICECUBE COINCIDENT WITH KNOWN OR NEWLY-DETECTED GAMMA RAY SOURCES. SWIFT XRT AND UVOT OBSERVATIONS WILL BE ANALYZED BY THE PI STUDENTS AND CO-I TEAM TO SEARCH FOR X-RAY AND UV COUNTERPARTS AND CHARACTERIZE THEIR SPECTRA. THIS PROGRAM IS WELL-ALIGNED WITH THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE SWIFT MISSION MAKING USE OF THE UNIQUE SENSITIVITY OF SWIFT IN THE UV AND X-RAY RANGE AND WITH NASA' STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1.1 "UNDERSTAND THE SUN EARTH SOLAR SYSTEM AND UNIVERSE".

$0FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Alabama

Investigators

View source on USAspending →