Errando awarded funding for astrophysics of relativistic jets

Relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are some of the most powerful particle accelerators in the universe.

Manel Errando
Errando

Manel Errando, an assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences and a fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a $375,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct studies of AGN with simultaneous TeV gamma-ray observations with VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope System at the Whipple Observatory in Arizona) and X-ray observations with the IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) satellite.

The team will complete and deliver a public legacy dataset of AGN observations, including the first unbiased survey of a flux-limited sample at TeV energies. This project also will create summer research internships for local high school students from St. Louis Public Schools and establish a network of regional science teachers and counselors to support student engagement in the STEM fields.

Read more on the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences website.