Related papers: Gamma-ray detector and mission design simulations
It is difficult to discover pulsars via their gamma-ray emission because current instruments typically detect fewer than one photon per million rotations. This creates a significant computing challenge for isolated pulsars, where the…
Cosmic gamma rays provide insight into some of the most dynamic processes in the Universe. At the dawn of a new generation of gamma-ray telescopes, this review summarizes results from the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on…
The unrivalled, extreme luminosities of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) make them the favored beacons for sampling the high redshift Universe. To employ GRBs to study the cosmic terrain -- e.g., star and galaxy formation history -- GRB luminosities…
The two most favored explanations of the Fermi Galactic Center gamma-ray excess (GCE) are millisecond pulsars and self annihilation of the smooth dark matter halo of the galaxy. In order to distinguish between these possibilities, we would…
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are astronomical phenomena detected at highest energies. The gamma ray photons carry energies on the order of mega-electronovolts and arrive to us from the point-like sources that are uniformly distributed on the…
The techniques of laser cooling combined with atom interferometry make possible the realization of very sensitive and accurate inertial sensors like gyroscopes or accelerometers. Besides earth-based developments, the use of these techniques…
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory observes atmospheric showers produced by incident gamma rays and cosmic rays with energy from 300 GeV to more than 100 TeV. A crucial phase in analyzing gamma-ray sources using…
The Universe is largely transparent to $\gamma$ rays in the GeV energy range, making these high-energy photons valuable for exploring energetic processes in the cosmos. After seven years of operation, the Fermi {\it Gamma-ray Space…
In recent years, observational $\gamma$-ray astronomy has seen a remarkable range of exciting new results in the high-energy and very-high energy regimes. Coupled with extensive theoretical and phenomenological studies of non-thermal…
The Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope (VLAST) is a mission concept proposed to detect gamma-ray photons through both the Compton scattering and electron-positron pair production mechanisms, enabling the detection of photons with…
Ground based extensive air showers arrays can observe GRBs in the 1-1000 GeV energy range using the "single particle" techique. The sensitivity to detect a GRB as a function of the burst parameters and the detector characteristics are…
An extensive program for the calculation of galactic cosmic-ray propagation has been developed. Primary and secondary nucleons, primary and secondary electrons, and secondary positrons are included. The basic spatial propagation mechanisms…
At ultra-high energies, the flux of cosmic rays is too low for direct measurements to be meaningful. When a cosmic ray enters the atmosphere, it initiates an extensive air shower, producing a cascade of secondary particles that propagate…
Attenuation of high--energy gamma rays by pair--production with UV, optical and IR background photons provides a link between the history of galaxy formation and high--energy astrophysics. We present results from our latest semi-analytic…
High-energy gamma rays are a valuable tool for studying particle acceleration and radiation in the magnetospheres of energetic pulsars. The six or more pulsars seen by CGRO/EGRET show that: the light curves usually have double-peak…
Gamma-ray bursts are still not fully understood events. However, their exploration could provide a useful tool for a better understanding of the early Universe because they belong to the most distant and violent objects that astronomers…
JEM-EUSO is an international program for the development of space based Ultra High Cosmic Ray observatories. The program consists of a series of missions which are either under development or in the data analysis phase. The instruments…
The main goal of this thesis is to study the physical processes that can produce non-thermal emission at high energies in astrophysical objects capable to accelerate particles up to relativistic velocities. In particular, we have studied…
Nuclear physics offers us a powerful tool: using nuclear resonance absorption lines to infer the physical conditions in astrophysical settings which are otherwise difficult to deduce. Present-day technology provides an increase in…
The detection of astrophysical Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) has always been intertwined with the challenge of identifying the direction of the source. Accurate angular localization of better than a degree has been achieved to date only with…