POEMMA: Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

TL;DR

POEMMA is a proposed space mission designed to study ultra-high energy cosmic rays and tau neutrinos, aiming to uncover their origins and advance multi-messenger astrophysics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel space-based observatory concept for detecting UHECRs and cosmogenic tau neutrinos, significantly increasing observational statistics and enabling new insights.

Findings

Enhanced detection capabilities for UHECRs and neutrinos from space.

Potential to resolve the origin of the highest energy particles.

Establishment of a new field in astroparticle physics.

Abstract

The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) mission is being designed to establish charged-particle astronomy with ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and to observe cosmogenic tau neutrinos (CTNs). The study of UHECRs and CTNs from space will yield orders-of-magnitude increase in statistics of observed UHECRs at the highest energies, and the observation of the cosmogenic flux of neutrinos for a range of UHECR models. These observations should solve the long-standing puzzle of the origin of the highest energy particles ever observed, providing a new window onto the most energetic environments and events in the Universe, while studying particle interactions well beyond accelerator energies. The discovery of CTNs will help solve the puzzle of the origin of UHECRs and begin a new field of Astroparticle Physics with the study of neutrino properties at ultra-high energies.