Astroparticle Physics Summer School

APSS 2024

Summary

The APSS Astro-Particle Summer School was inaugurated in 2019. The school was designed as an exchange program for students from the United States and French students from the Lycée Descartes in Tours, France. The goal was to give students a chance to exchange scientific ideas, set up potential scientific collaborations, and engage in cultural immersion. The school was coordinated by Professor Reshmi Mukherjee (member of the SCT and VERITAS Collaborations, USA) and Dr. Christian Mariaud (originally member of the H.E.S.S. Collaboration, France). The intention was to introduce students to astroparticle physics and very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. Unlike most other “summer” schools that are designed for graduate or advanced undergraduate levels, this school was aimed at first and second-year undergraduates with a passion in science. In that sense, this school was conceptualized for the “novice” with the goal of potentially recruiting students for a STEM career pathway. Since the inaugural program, the school has evolved. The exchange partnership is now with Lycee Dessaignes, Blois, and the students participating from Barnard College are expected to have at least three semesters of introductory physics classes.

In 2024, the dates are as follows:

Dates

1-week at Barnard College and Nevis Labs, New York (run by pSCT and VERITAS scientist Reshmi Mukherjee): June 3-8, 2024
1-week at Blois, Lycee Dessaignes, June 24-28, 2024

Activities and lectures will include carrying out cosmic ray experiments such as measuring the lifetime of the muon, attending talks about particle astrophysics during a week-long stay in New York City. Topics discussed will cover cosmic rays, dark matter, compact objects, gravitational waves, binary systems, and gamma-ray astronomy. Visiting students will tour laboratories, as well as explore the local area's history in science and astrophysics.

About the Program

This program brings together students from the United States and students from the Lycee Dessaignes, Blois, France, to exchange scientific ideas, set up potential scientific collaborations, and engage in cultural immersion. The goal of this program is to introduce students to astroparticle physics and gamma-ray astronomy at very high energies using ground-based telescopes. The school is aimed at first and second-year undergraduates and advanced high school students with a passion in science. Students will have hand-on experience with cosmic ray experiments and will attend talks about particle astrophysics during a week long stay in Blois, France or New York City. Topics discussed will be cosmic rays, dark matter, compact objects, gravitational waves, binary systems, and gamma-ray astronomy. Visiting students will tour laboratories, as well as explore the local area's history in science and astrophysics.

Institutions

Nevis Labs

Columbia Nevis Labs

Lycee Dessaignes, Blois

2024 Program Details - New York

Lecturers

Dr. Olivier Hervet, Assistant Project Scientist in high energy astrophysics, UCSC, USA
Dr. Christian Mariaud, Professor, Lycée Dessaignes, Blois, France
Prof. Reshmi Mukherjee, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA
Dr. Ruo Yu Shang, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA
Svanik Tandon, Columbia University (Muon Lab)

Weekly Program and Seminars

2 June: Arrival at Nevis Labs
3 June: Day 1
- 8:30 Breakfast
- 9:00 Aqueduct walk
- Morning Session 10:00 - 12:00: Lectures (Science Building)
  - Introductions and goals
  - Greetings from Nevis Director: Prof. Mike Shaevitz
  - Lecture 1: Introduction to Gamma-Ray Astronomy: Prof. Reshmi Mukherjee
  - Lecture 2: Gamma-ray sources & gamma-ray emissions mechanisms: Dr. Olivier Hervet
  - Discussions and planning of student presentations
- 12:00 Lunch
- Afternoon Session 14:00 - 16:00 Hands-on Laboratory work
  - Lecture 3: Cosmic ray muons & muon lifetime: Dr. Christian Mariaud
  - Muon Lifetime Experiment
  - Hands-on work in the lab
  - 15:00 PM REU Lecture: RARAF (G. Garty)
  - 16:00 PM Lab Tour: RARAF
4 June: Day 2
- 9:00 Breakfast
- Morning Session 10:00 - 12:00: Lectures (Science Building)
  - Lecture 4: Introduction to the Standard Model: Prof. Reshmi Mukherjee
  - Lecture 5: Blazars and emission processes: Dr. Olivier Hervet
- 12:00 Lunch
- Afternoon Session 14:00 - 16:00 Hands-on Laboratory work
  - Muon Lifetime Experiment
  - Hands-on work in the lab
  - Visit to labs at Nevis
  - Lecture 6: Numerical methods in astrophysics (MCMC): Dr. Olivier Hervet
  - Free time to work on research presentations
5 June: Day 3
- 9:00 Breakfast
- Morning Session 10:00 - 12:00: Lectures (Science Building)
  - Hands-on Blazar modeling: Python tutorial 1: Dr. Olivier Hervet
- 12:00 Lunch
- Afternoon Session 14:00 - 16:00 Hands-on Laboratory work
  - Muon Lifetime Experiment
  - Hands-on work in the lab
  - Visit to Astrochemistry Lab - Savin Group, Dr. Dmitry Ivanov (3PM)
  - Free time to work on research presentations
6 June: Day 4
- 9:00 Breakfast
- Morning Session 10:00 - 12:00: Lectures (Science Building)
  - Lecture 7: Gamma-ray binaries: Dr. Christian Mariaud
  - Hands-on python session: Dr. Christian Mariaud
  - Time to work on research presentations
- 12:00 Lunch
- Afternoon Session 14:00 Travel to New York City
  - Visit to campus (Tours of Columbia and Barnard)
  - Visit to the American Museum of Natural History & Rose Center
  - Dinner in NYC
7 June: Day 5
- Morning Session 9:00 - 12:00: Lectures (Science Building)
  - Breakfast and lectures
  - Lecture 8: Frontiers of Astrophysics
  - Student presentations
- 12:00 Lunch Dobbs Ferry restaurant
- 14:00 Wrap up and End of Summer Program
- Free afternoon
8 June: Day 6 Depart for Paris

Visits to Laboratories

Visit with scientists at Columbia University, Columbia Astrophysics Lab
Nevis Laboratories

Student Presentations

Students participating in this program will give research presentations on Friday, June 7th.

2024 Program Details - Blois

Lecturers

Dr. Christian Mariaud, Blois
Dr. Loïc Villain, Institut Denis Poisson, Tours
Dr. Samy Caroff, LAPP, Annecy
Dr. Jonathan Biteau, IUF Univ. Paris Saclay

Weekly Program and Seminars

23 June: Day 1
- Arrival in Paris and Tours
- Lunch at Tours
- Arrival at Blois and stay in the dorm in Dessaignes High School
24 June: Day 2
- Morning session
  - Breakfast in Dessaignes High School
  - Visit to Blois Castle
  - Lunch at Dessaignes high-school
- Afternoon session
  - Lectures & Python activity
  - Gamma-ray binaries: Dr. Christian Mariaud
  - Lectures on air shower arrays and muon lifetime
25 June: Day 3
- Morning session
  - Breakfast in Dessaignes High School
  - Visit to Amboise Castle
  - Cloud chamber activity: Dr. Christian Mariaud
- Afternoon session
  - Lectures on Cherenkov Effect
  - Lectures on White dwarfs and neutron stars
  - Dinner at Dessaignes High School
26 June: Day 4
- Morning session
  - Breakfast in Dessaignes High School
  - Visit to Chambord Castle
- Afternoon session
  - Lectures & hands-on activities
  - The gamma-ray sky, a window to the fundamental laws of our universe: Dr. S. Caroff (LAPP - Annecy)
  - Petanque tournament
  - Dinner at Dessaignes High School
27 June: Day 5
- Morning session
  - - Travel to Paris
    - 10 am - 12pm : LPNHE visit (Dr. Daniel Kerszberg LPNHE)
      - Visit to a server room (one of the European GRID node)
      - Visit to assembly hall with LSST carousel
      - Visit to XeLab facility
    - 12PM: Lunch in Paris
    - 3:30 PM: Presentation on Chi-Square method
    - Seminar: Four messengers in the Universe: Dr. J. Biteau (Univ. Paris Saclay, IUF)
    - Dinner on your own in Paris
28 June: Day 6
- Morning session
  - Palais de la découverte
  - Free time in Paris
29 June: Departure from Paris to New York

Visit to Laboratories

LPNHE (Sorbonne University)
Laboratoire de physique nucléaire et des hautes énergies (LPNHE) - CNRS - Sorbonne Université/Université Paris Cité
Server room (one of the European GRID node)
The assembly hall with LSST carousel
The XeLab facility
Cloud chamber

Experiments

Cloud Chamber

A cloud chamber is an early form of particle detector developed by C.T.R. Wilson in the early 1900's. Charged particles interact with the vapor in the chamber and create a trail of ionized particles. These ions then form a thin line of droplets which display a track of the particle's path. These different tracks change depending on the type of particle.

Cloud chambers played an important role in experimental particle physics from the 1920s to the 1950s, until the emergence of the bubble chamber. In particular, the discoveries of the positron in 1932 and the muon in 1936, both by Carl Anderson (awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936), used cloud chambers.

Here is a nice review of the contributions of the cloud chamber to physics: "A Report on the Wilson Cloud Chamber and its Applications in Physics". Reviews of Modern Physics. (1946).

Muon Lifetime

Muons are stopped in a large block of scintillator, where they subsequently decay into an electron (or positron) and two neutrinos. A short light pulse is produced by the stopping muon, and a subsequent short light pulse is produced by the electron (or positron), both of which are detected and amplified by a photomultiplier tube. By measuring the relative delay between these two light pulses from many muons, we can measure their lifetime.

Particle Astro Research

Members of the particle astrophysics group at Barnard College and Columbia University are involved in the development of a prototype Schwarzchild-Couder telescope (SCT) under construction at the Fred Lawerence Whipple Observatory, Arizona. Find a press release on the SCT inauguration here

The development of the prototype SCT has been made possible by funding provided through the NSF-MRI program. The pSCT Collaboration consists of members from several institutions. Find a complete list of institutions here