The students of the Physics faculty of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University undertook the internship in Seoul (Republic of Korea) and Paris (France).
The students of the Physics faculty of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University undertook the internship in Seoul (Republic of Korea) and Paris (France).
The internship was funded by the Grant of the Russian government on engaging of the leading scientists to the Russian Institutes and Universities won by SINP scientists. Professor of Berkeley University (California, USA), Nobel Laureate George Smoot was nominated for the invited scientist. A project of Extreme Universe Laboratory was proposed simultaneously.
Extreme Universe Laboratory was founded in Autumn 2011. MSU scintists and students of this Laboratory develop a satellite "Lomonosov" intended for studies of gamma-bursts - the most powerful energy outbreaks, which the stars output during a period from a split second to several minutes at the finishing stage of their evolution. This satellite will provide information about distant objects of the Universe, formed during the appearing of the first stars, galactics and black holes. These studies will give us ideas about the origin of the Universe.
The students were chosen not only according to their academic progress, but also according to their fields of interest in space physics. The 4th year student Boris Goncharov took part in gamma-spectrometer calibration. In future he plans to conduct research in the field of gamma-bursts studies basing on the data of the "Lomonosov" satellite. The 4th year students Igor Markelov and Ilya Golovanov are also ready to participate in the studeis of space gamma-bursts by means of new detectors. The 3d year student Kirill Saleev is specialized in programming of the processors in order to control satellites.
The students were accompanied by their scientific supervisors: Professor Vladimir Galkin in Seoul and Associated Professor Vitaly Bogomolov in Paris (both from the Space Physics Chair of the MSU Physics Faculty). Scientific supervisors compiled the program of the internship together with their colleagues from the host Institutes.
In Seoul the students spent 12 days in the Early Universe Institute, based on the EWHA Woman's University. The first part of the internship included a number of lectures, the most long of which was given by Professor Smoot, whose presentation about the studies of the Universe included over 150 slides and lasted during 4 days.
The second part of the internship consisted of practical exercises. The students trained in processing of space gamma-bursts data and studied design and using of gamma-bursts optical radiation detector, analogous to the one planned to be used onboard the "Lomonosov" satellite.
In Paris the students spent two weeks in the Space Particles and Cosmology Institute based on the University Paris-7. The internship also included theoretical (lectures) and practical parts. Vitaly Bogomolov especcially marked the talk about gamma-bursts theory - it was so detailed and clear, that students achieved mastery in this topic without any problems.
During the practical exercises the students operated photomultiplyer in the single photon observation mode and analyzed the shape of the signals several nanoseconds long. Electronics photomultiplyers are also planned to be used in order to study gamma-radiation both onboard the "Lomonosov" satellite and in other projects. The students also learnt how to process the scientific data obtained by the international observatory "Integral", in particular, got acquainted with the methods of gamma-radiation polarization.
Now the students are preparing the reports about their business trips which will be presented to the scientific supervisors and the SINP scientists. They are sure that all their acquirements will be particularly useful for the development of the "Lomonosov" satellite and the other research projects conducted by the Extreme Universe Laboratory.