Physics Professor and Students Study Gamma Rays, Beginning of Universe

The VERITAS array

SAN LUIS OBISPO — If you want to learn about the beginning of the universe, head to Arizona. That’s where the VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) telescope configuration is being used to study gamma rays.

Gamma rays are created from particle interactions near black holes. The energies of the particles around black holes is similar to energies of particles that existed shortly after the Big Bang, so if scientists can understand what’s happening around black holes, they believe they’ll be able to draw a clearer picture of how the universe began.

Physics professor Jodi Christiansen has been sending students to do summer research at VERITAS since 2008. Because VERITAS is an international collaboration, students have the opportunity to work not only with students from other institutions but also with scientists from around the world.

"Physics students never see what a physicist does in the classroom or in the lab," Christiansen said. "So when we go out to the telescope and work with professional physicists, that's what working looks like."

The students contribute to ongoing research that focuses on finding out where the gamma rays come from. This past summer, LLuvia Rodriguez, a graduate student in electrical engineering, helped upgrade the cameras VERITAS is using to calculate the diameter of a star.

Rodriguez's typical day consisted of disassembling the cameras — disconnecting wires and bolts, taking apart the tubes that collect light to fix them and putting them back together again. This real-life research allowed her to do science in ways that weren't available in the classroom.

"It's getting to the nitty-gritty of what research is," Rodriguez said. "You have to get your hands dirty occasionally. In class you learn theories, but a lot of what you do in lab has been tested. When you work in the field, sometimes there is no right answer."

Rodriguez had been interested in the hardware side of astrophysics for a while, and her work with VERITAS gave her a chance to take that career option for a test run. "I'm glad I got to go hands-on and see it really is something I enjoy," she said.

Her advice to other students? "It's really important that if you think you want to do something like this you go out and get the experience. The experience is about learning what you can't get from a classroom."

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