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.
Five recent relevant references
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
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
HAWC Collaboration, Very high energy particle acceleration powered by the jets of the microquasar SS 433, 2018, Nature 562, 82-85
K. Fang, & K. Murase, Linking High-Energy Cosmic Particles by Black Hole Jet Embedded in Large-Scale Structures, 2018, Nature Physics
K. Fang, K. Kotera & A. V. Olinto, Newly-born Pulsars As Sources of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays, Astrophys.J. 2012, Astrophys.J. 750, 118