Past Events

Abstract

The IceCube Antarctic Cherenkov telescope has detected a diffuse neutrino background flux at TeV to Pev energies which is of astrophysical origin, while the Fermi spacecraft has detected a diffuse 0.1-300 GeV diffuse gamma-ray background flux, neither of whose origin is obvious. I will discuss several astrophysical source models addressing these issues, including galaxy mergers, star-burst galaxies, low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.

About the Speaker

Professor Peter Mészáros is the Eberly Chair of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is Director of the Center for Particle and Gravitational Astrophysics. His main research interests are high energy astrophysics, cosmology and particle astrophysics. He has made significant contributions in the theory of structure formation in the early Universe; the high energy properties of magnetized neutron stars; the physics of gamma-ray bursts; ultra-high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, and gravitational astrophysics. He is known for the "Mészáros effect" in cosmology, and for his role in the development of the fireball shock model of gamma-ray bursts and the theory of afterglows.

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Physics colloquium is organized to introduce cutting edge researches and new development in physics, designed to be suitable to graduate and undergraduate students, and also to scientists working on different fields. Each colloquium will generally start with an extensive introduction of the background of the field, followed by forefront research topics and results. The colloquium will serve as an education forum for students and laymen alike, and also serve as a platform for exchange and update their knowledge of various branches of physics among academic staff members.

Coffee and tea will be served 20 minutes prior to the colloquium.
Anyone interested is welcome to attend.