David Hanna, McGill University
Physics
Professor
Montreal, Quebec
hanna@physics.mcgill.ca
Office:
(514) 398-6510
Bio/Research
My research interests are in experimental high energy physics at both ends of the distance scale; I have worked in particle physics at accelerator laboratories and am now participating in a program of ground based gamma ray astronomy.
I began my research career in Geneva, Switzerland at ...
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I began my research career in Geneva, Switzerland at ...
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Bio/Research
My research interests are in experimental high energy physics at both ends of the distance scale; I have worked in particle physics at accelerator laboratories and am now participating in a program of ground based gamma ray astronomy.
I began my research career in Geneva, Switzerland at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings where I did my thesis experiment (R606) studying proton-proton collisions. Following that I did postdoctoral work at the same accelerator but with a different detector (R110).
After joining the McGill Physics Department I worked for many years in the ZEUS collaboration at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany. ZEUS is an experiment in which electron-proton collisions are studied.
My current research is in astrophysics. I was a founding member of the STACEE collaboration. We constructed a detector which used Cherenkov light from high energy showers to detect gamma rays in the energy range 100 < E < 1000 GeV. This detector was built using the heliostats at a solar power research facility in New Mexico. It was a cheap way to get a very large mirror for collecting the Cherenkov photons. We ran STACEE between 1999 and 2007 and produced some nice results and some great students but as better detectors such as VERITAS came on line it was time to shut it down.
Currently I am a member of the VERITAS collaboration. We are operating a third-generation detector for gamma rays on the lower slopes of Mount Hopkins in Arizona. The detector comprises an array of four 12-metre diameter imaging telescopes. We can detect gamma rays with energies from about 100 GeV to beyond 10 TeV. You can read about it in a CERN Courier article that I wrote.
I enjoy building detectors and have produced several components and calibration systems for the ZEUS detector as well as a significant fraction of the STACEE apparatus. I am continuing this practice on the VERITAS project. I also do projects which are purely instrumentation research, including some studies for the next generation of gamma-ray telescopes. I am founding member of a collaboration that is developing a Compton-Imager, a telescope that is used to detect gamma-rays in the 100 keV to 1 MeV range and will be used in safety and security applications.
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I began my research career in Geneva, Switzerland at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings where I did my thesis experiment (R606) studying proton-proton collisions. Following that I did postdoctoral work at the same accelerator but with a different detector (R110).
After joining the McGill Physics Department I worked for many years in the ZEUS collaboration at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany. ZEUS is an experiment in which electron-proton collisions are studied.
My current research is in astrophysics. I was a founding member of the STACEE collaboration. We constructed a detector which used Cherenkov light from high energy showers to detect gamma rays in the energy range 100 < E < 1000 GeV. This detector was built using the heliostats at a solar power research facility in New Mexico. It was a cheap way to get a very large mirror for collecting the Cherenkov photons. We ran STACEE between 1999 and 2007 and produced some nice results and some great students but as better detectors such as VERITAS came on line it was time to shut it down.
Currently I am a member of the VERITAS collaboration. We are operating a third-generation detector for gamma rays on the lower slopes of Mount Hopkins in Arizona. The detector comprises an array of four 12-metre diameter imaging telescopes. We can detect gamma rays with energies from about 100 GeV to beyond 10 TeV. You can read about it in a CERN Courier article that I wrote.
I enjoy building detectors and have produced several components and calibration systems for the ZEUS detector as well as a significant fraction of the STACEE apparatus. I am continuing this practice on the VERITAS project. I also do projects which are purely instrumentation research, including some studies for the next generation of gamma-ray telescopes. I am founding member of a collaboration that is developing a Compton-Imager, a telescope that is used to detect gamma-rays in the 100 keV to 1 MeV range and will be used in safety and security applications.
Click to Shrink <<