Since the end of the school year in May I've been working with a professor in the physics department--who also happens to be my WINS mentor--on a project in astrophysics. We're using Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) to probe the Galactic Magnetic field (GMF) of the Milky Way and determine its basic structure. UHECRs, which are very energetic charged particles coming from extra-galactic sources in space, get deflected by the GMF when they enter the galaxy; this deflection can be measured and in turn can be used to determine the structure of the GMF.
So far it's been going well. The project is mostly simulational, meaning it's computer-based. I'm learning, slowly but steadily, how to program, which is an invaluable tool in physics. The GMF has been fairly well-studied, but the current models, based on data other than cosmic rays, tend to disagree with observations. Using UHECRs is a new approach, and will hopefully yield working models of the GMF soon. So far I'm really enjoying my project.
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