Teravolt astronomy

There is now good evidence for astronomical sources of gamma rays above 300 GeV, detected by the atmospheric Cerenkov technique, and two apparent detections above 200 TeV with Extensive Air Shower arrays. New experiments now in operation or under construction should significantly improve the Cerenkov flux sensitivity. If very high energy cosmic rays are accelerated in compact regions, they can produce photons and neutrinos by hadronic interactions at levels which are detectable in current or proposed experiments. Observations of both gamma rays and neutrinos provide complementary information about the matter around the source and the proton source spectrum. The optimum conditions at the source for gamma ray and neutrino production by cosmic rays are determined and possible sources and source types are proposed. The status of the now funded DUMAND project, which hopes to detect very high energy astronomical neutrinos, is briefly reviewed.     

Preliminary application of a novel algorithm to monitor changes in pre-flight total peripheral resistance for prediction of post-flight orthostatic intolerance in astronauts

Orthostatic intolerance (OI) is a significant challenge for astronauts after long-duration spaceflight. Depending on flight duration, 20–80% of astronauts suffer from post-flight OI, which is associated with reduced vascular resistance. This paper introduces a novel algorithm for continuously monitoring changes in total peripheral resistance (TPR) by processing the peripheral arterial blood pressure (ABP). To validate, we applied our novel mathematical algorithm to the pre-flight ABP data previously recorded from twelve astronauts ten days before launch. The TPR changes were calculated by our algorithm and compared with the TPR value estimated using cardiac output/heart rate before and after phenylephrine administration. The astronauts in the post-flight presyncopal group had lower pre-flight TPR changes (1.66 times) than those in the non-presyncopal group (2.15 times). The trend in TPR changes calculated with our algorithm agreed with the TPR trend calculated using measured cardiac output in the previous study. Further data collection and algorithm refinement are needed for pre-flight detection of OI and monitoring of continuous TPR by analysis of peripheral arterial blood pressure.