Lecturer to discuss cosmic ray research and living at the South Pole

April 7, 2010

CHARLESTON, SC – April 13, 2010 – One of the nation’s leadingground-based cosmic ray researchers will visit The Citadel this month to share his research and what it is like to live at the South Pole. 

Jordan Goodman, a professor at the University of Maryland at CollegePark, will speak to physics students and faculty at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday,April 13 in the Graham Copeland Auditorium in Grimsley Hall. His lecture is free and open to the public. 

For most people summer is meant to be spent at the beach or lake orsomeplace else warm. For Goodman the driest, windiest, and coldest place on earth during the Antarctic summer is the perfect place to learn more about our universe. Goodman is studying neutrinos, which are low-masssubatomic particles that lack an electric charge. They are produced bynuclear interactions, including fusion, radioactive decay and othermechanisms. Their lack of electric charge allows them to traverse agreat deal of matter without collisions; that combined with their highspeed (close to the speed of light) makes them incredible intergalacticmessengers.

“The study of neutrinos from cosmic objects can tell us about the mostenergetic processes in the universe, such as gamma ray bursts and events at super massive black holes,” Goodman said. 

Key to the research is the construction of the IceCube NeutrinoObservatory. The IceCube detector will be buried deep in the Antarcticice and what it finds could help scientists understand cosmic energy and what fuels the bombardment of cosmic rays to the Earth.

A graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, Goodman has led teams on projects including the CYGNUS cosmic ray detector array,the MILAGRO Gamma Ray Experiment and the Super-Kamiokande NeutrinoExperiment in Japan. In addition to IceCube he also is currently working on the HAWC Gamma-Ray Telescope in Mexico.