Multi-Messenger Astronomy 2019

For the first time in human history, in fall 2017, astronomers were able to “catch” the counterparts to cosmic sources of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos by making observations with traditional and high-energy astronomical facilities. The gravitational waves and light from a binary neutron star merger on August 17 were identified as they occurred and studied for months afterward using facilities around the globe. Concurrently, a high-energy neutrino detected on September 22 was shown to have been emitted by an accreting supermassive black hole “blazar” more than a billion light years from Earth, and subjected to a similar global campaign of multiwavelength observations, from radio to gamma-rays.

Together, these two spectacular events marked the dawn of a new era of multi-messenger astronomy, with astronomers and physicists seeking to probe the mysteries of the universe using not only the “light” of various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, but also the “sound” of gravitational waves propagating through spacetime, and the massive particles known as “cosmic rays” that are emitted by distant sources and detected at Earth.

This summer, over the week of July 15–19, a group of top researchers in multi-messenger astronomy working at Penn State will offer a frontier workshop on this emerging field, addressing what we can learn about the multi-messenger universe using observations, experiments, and computations. The topics include introduction to multi-wavelength observations, gravitational waves, high-energy particle physics, and computational astrophysics.

This Penn State In-service Workshop in Astronomy offers high-school educators a professional training opportunity in STEM fields, and an immersive experience with various research programs carried out at Penn State, including LIGO, IceCube, the Astrophysical Multi-messenger Observatory Network, and the CyberLAMP project. This outreach event is fully funded by National Science Foundation, and each participant will receive a scholarship to cover the cost of attending the workshop.

Teachers who teach in districts that serve students from traditionally underrepresented and underserved populations will be given first priority for all scholarship funds.