Physics Colloquium, February 17, 2009
The Highest Energy Cosmic Particles Angela V. Olinto

University of Chicago

The most energetic particles in the present universe are ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Millions of times more powerful than anything produced by man-made accelerators, their origin has been a mystery for about a century. Over the last several years, an international collaboration of 17 countries joined forces to solve this mystery by building the Pierre Auger Observatory. Spread over 3,000 square kilometers in western Argentina, the observatory was recently inaugurated. During its construction, the observatory gathered enough of these rare particles to find the first clues to their origin. A correlation between the arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays measured by the Auger Observatory and the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects signals the dawn of particle astronomy. We will discuss these historic results and their implications both for astrophysics and particle physics.
Future projects on the field will also be addressed.

Dr. Olinto's Web Site

4:00 p.m., Physics Research Building (PRB), Room 1080

Reception at 3:45 p.m., Atrium, PRB