Supervisor : Prof Jim Hinton (jah85@le.ac.uk)

Details of Project

Gamma-ray and IR Emission from a Starburst Galaxy. Optical (red), near-infrared (green) and gamma-ray (blue) image of the galaxy NGC253. Credit : S. Ohm et al.

Particle acceleration is associated with several phases in the life-cycles of massive stars and the accelerated particles may in turn influence the star-formation process. Gamma-ray emission can be used as a probe of ultra-relativistic particles in and around star-formatting regions, as illustrated by recent GeV and TeV gamma-ray detections of starburst galaxies. 

The name HESS stands for High Energy Stereoscopic System. The instrument allows scientists to explore gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandths of the flux of the Crab nebula (the brightest steady source of gamma rays in the sky).

This project would study the connection between Galactic and extragalactic star-forming regions, and the way in which energetic particles escape from these systems, using gamma-ray data from the Fermi satellite and the HESS array of ground-based gamma-ray telescopes. The project forms part of the scientific preparations for CTA, an international project to build a ~100 telescope next-generation ground-based gamma-ray detector.  

Background Reading

Prof Jim Hinton Research Page
Detection of Gamma Rays from a Starburst Galaxy

IAU Symposium 284 : The Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies

 Talk by Prof Jim Hinton in Session 5