3:00 pm in Howey Lecture Room 5 (pre-reception at 2:30 in Howey N201)
Rene Ong
University of California, Los Angeles
"Particle Astrophysics at Very High Energies"
The field of very high energy (VHE) particle astrophysics has developed rapidly during the last few years as a result of new instruments and exciting discoveries. In particular, ground-based telescopes, such as VERITAS in southern Arizona, have discovered numerous astrophysical sources of VHE gamma rays, including supernova remnants, binary star systems, blazars, radio galaxies. These telescopes are also carrying out sensitive searches for the annihilation of particle dark matter. Similar exciting results are arriving from the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. This talk will review what we know about the VHE universe at the present time and outline the scientific prospects for the next few years.
