The Future of Gamma-Ray Experiments in the MeV-EeV Range
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2021-03-14
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract
Naturally occurring particle accelerators shine brightly throughout the universe, inviting
us to discover fundamental laws and hone our theories if we look in their directions with
the right detectors. Gamma-rays, the most energetic photons, carry information from the
far reaches of extragalactic space with minimal interaction or loss of information. They
bring messages about particle acceleration in environments so extreme they cannot be
reproduced on earth for a closer look. Gamma-ray astrophysics is so complementary with
collider work that particle physicists and astroparticle physicists are often one in the same.
Gamma-ray instruments, especially the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, have been
pivotal in major multi-messenger discoveries over the past decade. There is presently
a great deal of interest and scientific expertise available to push forward new technologies, to plan and build space- and ground-based gamma-ray facilities, and to build multi-messenger networks with gamma rays at their core. It is therefore concerning that before the community comes together for planning exercises again, much of that infrastructure could be lost to a lack of long-term planning for support of gamma-ray astrophysics.
Gamma-rays with energies from the MeV to the EeV band are therefore central to mul tiwavelength and multi-messenger studies to everything from astroparticle physics with
compact objects, to dark matter studies with diffuse large scale structure.
These science goals and the excitement of new discoveries have generated a wave of
new gamma-ray facility proposals and programs. Since the legacy of existing facilities is
well covered in many other places, this paper highlights new and proposed gamma-ray
technologies and facilities that have each been designed to address specific needs in the
measurement of extreme astrophysical sources that probe some of the most pressing questions in fundamental physics for the next decade. The proposed instrumentation would
also address the priorities laid out in the recent Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astro-physics (Astro2020), a complementary study by the astrophysics community that provides
opportunities also relevant to Snowmass.