Contact information
Name:
Scott Shelley
Phone:
6103305223
Email:
shelleys@lafayette.edu
When:
Friday, November 4, 2016 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Where:
HSC 100
Presenter:
Zaven Arzoumanian
Price:
Free
On Friday, November 4th at noon in Hugel 100, Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will be giving a talk entitled:
Astrophysics and Exploration from the International Space Station with NASA's NICER mission
Planned for launch in early 2017, NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is designed to study the extraordinary gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear-physics environments embodied by neutron stars. Their exotic interiors harbor a form of ultra-dense matter that exists nowhere else in nature, with density and pressure higher than in atomic nuclei. NICER aims to reveal the fundamental physics of such matter -- a longstanding unsolved problem -- by inferring the masses and radii of neutron stars through high-precision timing and spectroscopy in the soft X-ray band. NICER will also explore dynamic phenomena associated with neutron stars, such as thermonuclear explosions and starquakes driven by accretion, strong gravity, and bulk quantum fluids. Finally, NICER will probe the extreme physics of pulsar magnetospheres, perhaps the most powerful cosmic particle accelerators anywhere.
These objectives are enabled by an instrument that brings together established technologies in an innovative configuration, exploiting International Space Station infrastructure to offer a low-cost, low-risk mission with unique capabilities. This talk provides an overview of NICER, its core science agenda, and its potential contributions across a range of X-ray astrophysics investigations made possible through a Guest Observer program. Finally, NICER's first-ever demonstration of spacecraft navigation using pulsars as beacons in a "Galactic Positioning System" -- the technology that may one day guide humankind through the Solar System and beyond -- is outlined.
These objectives are enabled by an instrument that brings together established technologies in an innovative configuration, exploiting International Space Station infrastructure to offer a low-cost, low-risk mission with unique capabilities. This talk provides an overview of NICER, its core science agenda, and its potential contributions across a range of X-ray astrophysics investigations made possible through a Guest Observer program. Finally, NICER's first-ever demonstration of spacecraft navigation using pulsars as beacons in a "Galactic Positioning System" -- the technology that may one day guide humankind through the Solar System and beyond -- is outlined.
Lunch will be provided to all attendees.
Sponsored by:
Physics Department