EDUCATION:

Ph.D. 1983, Columbia University
B.A. 1977, Cornell University

RESEARCH:

My research involves the development of novel instrumentation and experiments for balloon-borne and satellite-borne missions to investigate a variety of astrophysical problems.

We are currently building the hard X-ray optics for the Nuclear Spectroscopy Telescope Array (NuSTAR). NuSTAR is the first high energy astrophysics mission to utilize focusing hard X-ray optics in the 10-80 keV energy band, and this will provide 100 times better sensitivity than previous missions. NuSTAR is designed to conduct a census of black holes on all mass scales.  It is often called the “black hole finder” mission. In addition, NuSTAR’s high angular and energy resolution will be used to study the 44Ti ejected from young supernova remnants. By imaging the nuclear gamma rays emitted by the titanium, we can constrain theories of explosive nucleosynthesis. NuSTAR will also conduct a survey of hard X-ray emission from the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.  The NuSTAR optics are being built at Columbia using a novel approach to optics construction pioneered at Columbia and tested on the High Energy Focusing Telescope (HEFT) balloon experiment. The first of three telescopes is complete, and the others will be delivered by early next year. The NuSTAR telescopes will also be calibrated at Columbia. My group has particular interest in several NuSTAR science projects, especially the galactic plane survey and the study of 44 Ti and non-thermal emission from young supernova remnants. NuSTAR will launch early in 2012.

We are also involved in particle astrophysics, in particular a balloon-borne experiment to hunt for dark matter.  The General Antiparticle Spectrometer Experiment (GAPS) will search for cosmic antideuterons. Supersymmetric (SUSY) and Kaluza-Klein theories both postulate weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS) that can annihilate in WIMP-WIMP interactions in the galactic halo. The antideuterons are produced as a rare byproduct of these annihilations, and potentially offer a smoking gun signature of dark matter. In many beyond-the-standard-model theories, antideuteron searches offer the most sensitive means to detect dark matter. GAPS complements underground dark matter experiments by probing different regions of theoretical parameter space.  A joint detection of dark matter using GAPS and underground experiments would better constrain theories. 

GAPS uses a novel scheme to detect antimatter through identification of atomic deexcitation X-rays produces when antimatter is captured in matter, forming an exotic atom. The X-ray signature, combined with pions emitted in the resultant nuclear annihilation, can be used to uniquely identify the antimatter particle (eg. antiproton, antideuteron etc.). GAPS requires the development of a novel pixellated Si(Li) detector, and this development is currently underway at Columbia. A prototype experiment will be launched from Hokkaido, Japan in 2011 to be followed by a major experiment launched from Antarctica in 2014.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

C.J. Hailey, H-J An, K.L. Blaedel, N.F. Brejnholt, F.E. Christensen, W.W. Craig, T.A. Decker, M. Doll, J. Gum, J.E. Koglin, C.P. Jensen, L. Hale, K. Mori, M.J. Pivovaroff, M. Sharpe, M. Stern, G. Tajiri and W.W. Zhang, “The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR): Optics Overview and Current Status”, Proc. SPIE 7732, 28, 2010.
 
C.J. Hailey, “An Indirect Search for Dark Matter Using Antideuterons: the GAPS Experiment”, New Journal of Physics, vol.11, 105022, 2009.
 
C.J. Hailey, T. Aramaki, W.W. Craig, F. Gahbauer, J.E. Koglin, L. Fabris, N. Madden, K. Mori, H.T. Yu and K.P. Ziock, “Accelerator Testing of the General Antiparticle Spectrometer, a Novel Approach to Indirect Dark Matter Detection,” Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, JCAP01, 007, 2006

K. Mori and C. Hailey, “Detailed Atmosphere Modeling for the Neutron Star 1E1207.4-5209: Evidence of an Oxygen/Neon Atmosphere,” Astrophysical Journal, 648, 1139, 2006

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