Lucia Haerer (Germany)
lucia.haerer @ mpi-hd.mpg.de
Cosmic ray acceleration around star clusters
The origin of Galactic cosmic rays is still uncertain. While supernova remnants have historically received wide-spread attention, they cannot accelerate particles to PeV energies at the flux level that is observed. Superbubbles, which are blown by the winds of young massive compact star clusters, present an alternative scenario. I investigate cosmic ray acceleration in superbubble environments and their gamma-ray signatures. The thesis encompasses modelling of the gamma-ray emission from specific source regions, such as the star cluster Westerlund 1, magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the superbubble structure, and data analysis. Key to this is the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), a gamma-ray telescope located in Namibia.
Supervisor: Brian Reville (MPIK)