Ke Fang
Co-I (Neutron Stars)
I am an assistant professor in the physics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am interested in understanding the Universe through its energetic messengers, especially high-energy neutrinos, gamma rays, and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. I currently serve as the US spokesperson for the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-ray Observatory.
My research in the past few years has been divided into two components. The first is to run numerical simulations to study astroparticle sources. Recent multi-messenger observations have raised outstanding questions. For example, how do nature’s peta–electron volt accelerators, aka PeVatrons, work? Where do ghost particles-high-energy neutrinos come from? I have developed propagation codes to study particle interaction in various cosmic environments. Currently, I am most interested in the proposed study on hadron interaction and high-energy neutrino production in the vicinity of neutron stars and black hole jets.
My research also analyze data from particle astrophysics experiments such as HAWC, IceCube and Fermi-LAT. Multi-messenger astronomy's power lies in its ability to coordinate observations and interpretations of multiple, disparate messengers. SCEECS efforts will motivate the joint analysis of multi-messenger data, as well as the development of next-generation neutrino and gamma-ray experiments.
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Five recent relevant references
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K. Fang, M. Kerr, R. Blandford, H. Fleiscchhack, E. Charles, Evidence from Fermi-LAT Observation of SNR G106.3+2.7 for PeV Proton Acceleration, 2022, Phys. Rev. Letts. 129, 071101 Editor’s Suggestion
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K. Fang, J. S. Gallagher, F. Halzen, The TeV Diffuse Cosmic Neutrino Spectrum and the Nature of Astrophysical Neutrino Sources, 2022, Astrophys.J. 933, 190
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HAWC Collaboration, Very high energy particle acceleration powered by the jets of the microquasar SS 433, 2018, Nature 562, 82-85
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K. Fang, & K. Murase, Linking High-Energy Cosmic Particles by Black Hole Jet Embedded in Large-Scale Structures, 2018, Nature Physics
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K. Fang, K. Kotera & A. V. Olinto, Newly-born Pulsars As Sources of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays, Astrophys.J. 2012, Astrophys.J. 750, 118