Photo caption: University of Canterbury Professor Jenni Adams (front) is working with three postgraduate students, Christopher Eldridge, Sebastian Vergara and Rhia Hewett, on world-first research into cosmic rays.
Cosmic rays are the highest energy particles in our galaxy and they travel at close to the speed of light, but their exact origins are unknown.
A world-first research project, which has won a $941,000 grant from the Marsden Fund Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden over the next three years, aims to discover where in our galaxy these rays come from, and how they are generated.
Professor Jenni Adams from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury School of Physical and Chemical Sciences is leading the study using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the world’s largest neutrino detector which is equipped with over 5,000 sensors buried under tonnes of ice at Antarctica’s South Pole.
Finding out more about the high-energy particles within cosmic rays could lead to discoveries with real-world applications, Professor Adams says.
“It’s about pushing our understanding. Big discoveries come from following natural phenomenon and finding out more about them. Huge technological leaps may well come from studying how the energy of cosmic rays is produced, in the same way that people have come up with lasers and electricity in the past.
“We hope that what we’re doing now could have a major impact in the future.”
Cosmic rays, which were first discovered in 1912, are constantly travelling through our galaxy, largely unnoticed except when they interfere with our electronics. It’s believed they originate from the Sun, from outside the solar system in our own galaxy, and from the areas around super massive black holes in distant galaxies.
Last year, Professor Adams was part of a team that proved the IceCube telescope is now sensitive enough to detect neutrinos, which act as astrophysical messengers for cosmic rays. For her new project, neutrino observations will provide vital clues to the trajectories of cosmic rays within our own galaxy.
Professor Adams says it’s a privilege to collaborate with institutions in Australia, the United States and Europe on this project. “Hopefully together we’ll be able to answer one of the curliest questions in astrophysics.”
She is the lead New Zealand scientist for the international IceCube Collaboration which involves about 350 physicists from 58 institutions around the world. In 2021 Professor Adams became the first woman to win the Dan Walls Medal, the top award of the New Zealand Institute of Physics.
Three post-graduate students at the University of Canterbury are getting a stellar opportunity to join Professor Jenni Adams’ cosmic ray research.
Christopher Eldridge and Rhia Hewett, both Master of Science in Physics students, and Sebastian Vergara, who is working towards a PhD in Physics, are contributing their expertise to the study.
Vergara sums up his enthusiasm by saying, ‘space is cool’. “That’s why I’m doing this. This kind of research opens the door to a lot of data analysis techniques that are useful across many disciplines.”
Hewett says the study uses neutrinos as a lens on the universe. “It’s a good mixture of the two subjects that I really love; particle physics and astronomy.”
It’s also an opportunity to be part of an international collaboration, Eldridge says. “For us, it’s a chance to do leading research while networking with institutions and other researchers around the world.”
The IceCube Collaboration neutrino detector has thousands of sensors buried deep under the ice at Antarctica’s South Pole. Photo credit: IceCube Collaboration.
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