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David Seckel

Title: Office: Phone: email: Web:

Professor 200 Sharp Lab (302) 831-1846 seckel@bartol.udel.edu http://www.bartol.udel.edu/~seckel/

Fields of Research

Dr. Seckel's research includes both theoretical and experimental efforts on the boundaries between particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. As one pushes big bang cosmology back to its origins, one successively explores physical regimes of molecular, atomic, nuclear and particle physics. Going even further towards the origin requires extensions to particle physics beyond what can be explored by present day accelerators. Thus, the early Universe provides a unique laboratory for studying fundamental particle physics - one which should ultimately answer questions about the nature and origin of matter and structure in the Universe.

Similarly, many astrophysical sites provide unique environments for testing ideas of nuclear and particle physics. For example, the physics of core collapse supernovae is dominated by an interplay between nuclear matter and neutrino interactions in a regime of temperature and density beyond what is obtainable in terrestrial laboratories. Understanding the nature and origin of high-energy cosmic rays also depends on input from particle and plasma physics in new regimes. Dr. Seckel has contributed to these fields through the theoretical study of dark matter, axions, big bang nucleosynthesis, inflation, cosmic strings and magnetic monopoles, astrophysical and cosmological neutrinos, cosmic ray interactions in the sun and the Earth's atmosphere.

During the last decade, Dr. Seckel has joined two experimental efforts in particle astrophysics. BACH (Balloon Air CHerenkov) is a balloon borne experiment to perform a precision measurement of the flux of high energy cosmic ray iron nuclei. The energy range is higher than currently accessible to other direct measurements, and overlaps indirect methods where the cosmic ray composition is inferred from observations of cosmic ray induced air showers. BACH thus provides a unique calibration for air shower techniques and would validate their extension to higher energy. RICE (Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment) is a candidate experiment for observing neutrinos as a primary component of the highest energy cosmic ray flux. Such neutrinos are predicted in a variety of theoretical models, but require detector masses ranging from 10^9 tons to 10^13 tons, depending upon the proposed model and observation. RICE would take the form of an extensive array of radio receivers deployed in Antarctic ice to detect radio pulses induced by the neutrinos in question.