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“VERITAS Science Highlights” VERITAS: TeV Astroparticle Physics Array of four 12-m Cherenkov telescopes Unprecedented sensitivity: ~100 GeV to ~30 TeV.

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Presentation on theme: "“VERITAS Science Highlights” VERITAS: TeV Astroparticle Physics Array of four 12-m Cherenkov telescopes Unprecedented sensitivity: ~100 GeV to ~30 TeV."— Presentation transcript:

1 “VERITAS Science Highlights” VERITAS: TeV Astroparticle Physics Array of four 12-m Cherenkov telescopes Unprecedented sensitivity: ~100 GeV to ~30 TeV Major, US-led TeV astroparticle physics experiment Operated by a collaboration of ~100 scientists 1/3 faculty, 1/3 post-docs, 1/3 students Construction cost: ~$20 million; Site-operation costs supported equally by DOE, NSF and SAO Detected 40 sources of >100 GeV γ-rays 40 refereed publications & 27 PhD theses Observations address 4 scientific themes Particle physics & fundamental laws Cosmology Black holes Galactic Tevatrons & Pevatrons Long-term science plan developed, with community input, for operations through at least 2017. VERITAS Sky Catalog (2012) The VERITAS Array near Tucson, AZ

2 “VERITAS Science Highlights” Unexpected Tevatron: >100 GeV γ-rays from a Pulsar VERITAS detection rules out accepted exponential cutoff in spectrum Current pulsar modeling does not explain Enables strong, novel test of Lorentz invariance Science, 334, 69, 2011 Spectrum of Pulsed γ-rays from the Crab

3 “VERITAS Science Highlights” Cosmology: M82 & Cosmic-ray Origin VERITAS detection provides key evidence supporting the widely-held theory of the supernova / massive star origin of cosmic rays M82 cosmic-ray density is ~500x higher than in Milky Way Nature, 462, 770, 2009 NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI / AURA) Combined VERITAS / Fermi-LAT Spectrum of M82 ApJ, 709, L152, 2010

4 “VERITAS Science Highlights” Black Holes with VERITAS Program takes advantage of synergies with major observatories at other λ (e.g. Fermi-LAT, Swift, VLBA) & results challenge models M87: TeV + radio flare shows that γ-rays are produced on the “rim” of supermassive black holes VERITAS detects black-hole driven emission from ~2 dozen objects Rapid flares constrain potential Lorentz invariance violation Will use to measure optical/IR extragalactic background light density by 2017; analogous to cosmic microwave background 2008 Flare of M87 Science, 325, 444, 2009 Spectral Energy Distribution & Modeling of RBS 0413 Aliu et al., Astrophysical Journal, submitted

5 “VERITAS Science Highlights” Fundamental Physics: Dark Matter & VERITAS VERITAS surveys dark-matter-dominated objects for potential TeV γ-ray emission from particle self-annihilation / decay Data provides constraints on cross section, decay lifetime and boost factors for TeV-mass DM particles VERITAS results (Segue 1) strongly disfavor a DM interpretation of the ATIC / PAMELA cosmic-ray electron anomaly Aliu et al., Physical Review D, in press, 2012 Theoretical expectations VERITAS Wimp Annihilation Limits from the Dwarf Galaxy Segue 1: Various Channels VERITAS Upper Limits from Segue 1 on the DM-annihilation Boost Factor (Model Indep.)


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