Lowell M. Boone, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Physics

Physics 211: Calculus Physics II
Schedule

Gamma-Ray Astronomy with the Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS).    The primary goals of a next-generation TeV observatory will be to improve upon the sensitivity, energy threshold, and angular resolution of current observatories. Current TeV observatories, such as HESS, MAGIC, and VERITAS have already demonstrated the abundance of science available through such improvements. The current cadre of observatories has produced an explosion in the census of TeV sources, imaged extended TeV sources, and resolved portions of high-energy jets. But there is much more to be done. Improvements in detector sensitivity will make it possible to resolve spectra on very short time scales, and track flux variations of moderately bright flares—two critical aspects in constraining emission models for accretion systems of all sizes. And an increased resolution, coupled with an improved sensitivity, is expected to produce (relatively) high-resolution maps of extended objects that will provide further spatially dependent observational constraints on such emission models. A lower energy threshold will open the door for a more detailed characterization of the extragalactic background light (an important tracer of the star-formation history of the universe), stronger constraints on (if not the actual detection of) gamma-ray emission from galactic pulsars, and the exciting possibility of the observation of dark matter signatures in galactic halos. AGIS seeks to attain these goals through the use of the novel Schwarzschild-Couder telescope design, a much larger and more populated telescope array, and higher-resolution cameras.

Relativistic Outflows.    Jets are some of the more intriguing formations in the astrophysical inventory. They can be found in newly forming stars, and in the intense environments of stellar corpses such as neutron stars and black holes. They are even found at the centers of galaxies, emanating from super-massive black holes a million to a billion times the mass of our Sun. Jet sizes range from a few light years to hundreds of kilo-parsecs, and can contain relativistic particles with velocities approaching the speed of light. Such extreme environments can produce copious amounts of radiation over more than ten orders of magnitude in energy: extending from the radio, through the visible, and even into the X-ray and Gamma-ray regime.

Gamma-Ray Astronomy with the STACEE Detector.    The Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE) was a telescope that used the wave front sampling technique to detect the extensive air showers produced by cosmic rays. STACEE used the large steerable mirrors of an existing solar research facility to collect Cherenkov light from particle cascades in the upper atmosphere. The light was focused onto an array of photo-multiplier tubes (located on a central tower), where it was recorded and interpreted by high-speed electronics. Wavefront sampling detectors, such as STACEE, were the first ground based telescopes capable of detecting gamma rays at energies below around 200 GeV. STACEE was decommissioned in 2007.

Astronomy 101 (Intro. Astronomy) Physics 190 (Physics Today) Physics 195 (Frontiers in Physics)

Physics 121 (Algebra Physics I) Physics 122 (Algebra Physics II) Physics 210 (Calculus Physics I) Physics 211 (Calculus Physics II)

Physics 320 (Astrophysics) Physics 340 (Computational Physics) Physics 350 (Electronics) Physics 471 (Quantum Mechanics)

In addition, I also taught Math Methods, and E & M while in a visiting position at The College of Wooster.