Clancy James (University of Adelaide)

Towards Ultra-High Energy Neutrino and Cosmic-Ray Astronomy with the Moon and Radio Telescopes - Clancy James Special Talk

ATNF Basement Meeting Room

Abstract

Ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays are the highest-energy particles observed in nature. Despite decades of study, their origin is still unknown, partly due to their extreme rarity (~1 per km² per century). A key to resolving this mystery will be observations of UHE neutrinos. A method to detect the UHE neutrinos is the lunar Cherenkov technique, which involves using a radio-telescope to observe the characteristic ~1 ns pulses expected from these particles interacting in the outer layers of the Moon. In this talk I discuss the progress we have made to develop this technique.