High Energy Astrophysics

• Complementary to the "Astrophysics" course it will focus on high energy phenomena and processes relevant for particle astrophysical messengers.
• As a part of the final exam, student will be expected to prepare a short presentation on a pre-selected topic with the aim of developing critical thinking and understanding of the main scientific trends.

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1. CR discovery and early implications
2. Radiative Processes
3. Non-thermal Particles
4. Particle acceleration in astrophysical sources: electrodynamics of compact objects (pulsars), shock acceleration (super nova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae), accretion, acceleration and collimation of relativistic jets (active galactic nuclei, gamma ray bursts)
5. High-energy astrophysics in our Galaxy: the interstellar medium, diffusion, energy losses and secondary emission
6. Neutrino oscillations: cosmology (BBN), solar and lab experiments

Students will acquire:

• In-depth knowledge in astroparticle physics and be able to clearly identify the main topics which are in the center of contemporary research. They will also gain an insight in the expected improvements due to the data from upcoming telescopes;
• At the end of the course students should have acquired enough of experience in the field of astrophysics to be able to independently survey the current research literature and prepare a short seminar on the topic of choice.

• Malcolm Longair, High Energy Astrophysics, Cambridge University Press, 2011. Catalogue E-version
• Mario Vietri, Foundations of High-Energy Astrophysics, The U. of Chicago Press, 2008. E-version
• Alessandro de Angelis and Mario Pimenta, Introduction to particle and astroparticle physics, Springer, 2015. Catalogue E-version

• written tests, writen exam
• oral exam
• seminar presentation

Prof. dr. Samo Stanič je redni profesor za področje fizike na Univerzi v Novi Gorici. Samo Stanič is full professor of physics at the University of Nova Gorica.

Izbrane novejše objave / selected recent references:

1. O. Ballester et al., A 1.8 m class pathfinder Raman LIDAR for the Northern Site of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory - Technical Design, Remote Sens. 17(6), 1074 (2025).
2. B. Sripathi Acharya et al., Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre, JCAP 01 057 (2021).
3. B.P. Abbott et al., Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger, The
   Astrophysical Journal Letters, 848, 1-59 (2017).
4. A. Aab et al., AUGER Collaboration. Observation of a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 × 1018eV , Science, 357, 1266-1270 (2017).
5. S.-W. Lin et al., Belle Collaboration. Difference in direct charge-parity violation between charged and neutral B meson decays, Nature, 452, 332–335 (2008).