Fermi GAMMARAY SPACE TELESCOPE: From Launch to First Light

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Fermi GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE From Launch to
First Light

• Peter F. Michelson
• Stanford University
• Principal Investigator, Large Area Telescope
  Collaboration
• peterm_at_stanford.edu
• on behalf of the Fermi LAT Collaboration
• and the Fermi mission

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Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
DoE NASA international partnership
GLAST renamed Fermi by NASA on August 26,
2008 http//fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was an Italian
physicist who immigrated to the United States. He
was the first to suggest a viable mechanism for
astrophysical particle acceleration. This work is
the foundation for our understanding of many
types of sources to be studied by the Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly known as
GLAST.
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The Large Area Telescope (LAT)
GBM
LAT images the sky one photon at a time g-ray
converts in LAT to an electron and a positron
direction and energy of these particles tell us
the direction and energy of the photon
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GLAST LAT Collaboration

• France
• IN2P3, CEA/Saclay
• Italy
• INFN, ASI, INAF
• Japan
• Hiroshima University
• ISAS/JAXA
• RIKEN
• Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Spain
• ICREA and Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai
• Sweden
• Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
• Stockholm University
• United States
• Stanford University (SLAC and HEPL/Physics)
• University of California at Santa Cruz - Santa
  Cruz Institute for Particle Physics
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Naval Research Laboratory

Principal Investigator Peter Michelson
(Stanford University) 270 Members (90
Affiliated Scientists, 37 Postdocs, and 48
Graduate Students) construction managed by
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC),
Stanford University
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LAT all-sky First Light map
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Fermi LAT science objectives
gt 2000 AGNs blazars and radiogal
f(q,z) evolution z lt 5 Sag A
Possibilities starburst galaxies galaxy
clusters measure EBL unIDs
10-50 GRB/year GeV afterglow spectra to high
energy
Dark Matter neutralino lines sub-halo clumps
g-ray binaries Pulsar winds m-quasar jets
Pulsars emission from radio and X-ray
pulsars blind searches for new Gemingas magnetosph
eric physics pulsar wind nebulae
Cosmic rays and clouds acceleration in Supernova
remnants OB associations propagation (Milky Way,
M31, LMC, SMC) Interstellar mass tracers in
galaxies
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LAT as a Telescope

• LAT has already surpassed EGRET and AGILE
  celestial gamma-ray totals
• Unlike EGRET and AGILE, LAT is an effective
  All-Sky Monitor
• whole sky every 3 hours

EGRET
AGILE (ASI)
CGRO EGRET
Fermi / LAT
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June 11, 2008 1205 pm (EDT)
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Earth albedo g-rays
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LAT all-sky First Light map
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In a few days, Fermi confirmed the EGRET
pulsars and found new g-ray pulsars as well
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LAT all-sky First Light map
3C454.3 Supermassive black hole 8 billion
light-years from us
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• The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is fully
  operational..
• In just a few days, the Large Area Telescope
  (LAT) corroborated many of the great discoveries
  of EGRET and AGILE now finding new sources as
  well
• Undoubtedly, the most exciting is yet to come as
  we have just started the all-sky survey phase and
  with time probe deeper and deeper into the
  high-energy Universe