40th Saas-Fee Course: Astrophysics at Very-High Energies
The 40th Saas-Fee Course, organized by the Swiss Society of Astrophysics and Astronomy (SSAA), has been held in Les Deablerets in the Swiss Alps during March 14-20, 2010. The course has run annually since 1971, and this time the theme chosen was "Astrophysics at Very-High Energies."
Undergraduate and graduate students traveled to the course from almost every corner of the world. The lectures were given by the three world-leading scientists in the field of high-energy astrophysics. They are Prof. Felix Aharonian (DIAS, Dublin & MPIK, Heidelberg), Prof. Lars Bergström (Stockholm University), Dr. Charles Dermer (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory). The speakers presented the state of the science in the field of high-energy gamma rays, which has been revolutionized in recent years with the success of Cherenkov astronomy and finally with the launch of the NASA Fermi mission. Other topics such as the study of gamma rays from galactic and extragalactic sources and the detection of dark matter were also heavily laid out in the presentations. Many unanswered questions and predictions were also addressed to give the audience some ideas for their research.
Since the lectures were held in the morning and late in the afternoon, there was time for getting to know each other and for informal discussions with other course participants.
The Research Department "Plasmas with Complex Interactions" made it possible for Jenny Reimchen to participate in the Winter School.