Multi-messenger Astrophysics 2025/26
Course for l’École Doctorale Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED127)
In recent years, multi-messenger astronomy has emerged as a promising observational approach that can revolutionize our understanding of the Cosmos. Indeed, the complementarity of the fours messengers allows to obtain unique insights on the relevant physical processes responsible for their emission, as well as information about the medium they traverse.
In this course we will address all four messengers: electromagnetic radiation, cosmic rays, neutrinos, and gravitational waves. We will understand how these messengers can be used for studying various types of astrophysical objects, their capabilities as probes of fundamental physics and cosmology, and their combined potential to make sense of high-energy astrophysical observations in a self-consistent manner.
We will start the course by introducing the main relevant observational techniques and facilities: gravitational-wave detectors, radio interferometers, infrared to X-ray telescopes, Cerenkov arrays and air-shower-type experiments for cosmic rays and neutrinos. We will then discuss some of the sources that can be studied with these techniques, such as pulsars, active galactic nuclei, compact binaries at different scales, and the mechanisms of propagation of high-energy emission over large distances. This will be followed by a session dedicated to time-domain astronomy. We will also discuss how multi-messenger observations can be used to constrain cosmological parameters.
The course will include three types of activities: lectures, practical sessions, and invited seminars by external researchers.
Instructors
Rafael Alves Batista (RAB), Irina Dvorkin (ID)
Course Material: slides
introduction to multi-messenger astrophysics (RAB)
detection techniques and instruments (RAB)
particle acceleration (RAB)
radiative processes and particle interactions (RAB)
propagation of cosmic messengers (RAB)
multi-messenger observations (RAB)
time-domain astronomy (RAB)
multi-messenger probes of fundamental physics (RAB)
GW theory: introduction (ID)
GWs: ground-based observations (ID)
cosmography (ID)
GWs: space-based detectors, PTA, BH binaries (ID)