Welcome to the official website of the Gamma Rays And Compact Emitters (GRACE) group. We are primarily based out of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Our group is dedicated to exploring astrophysical phenomena through advanced data analysis.

About

Our research primarily focuses on identifying and analyzing gamma-ray emissions from various undetected or potential source populations. By utilizing stacking analysis, we aim to constrain signal properties, such as dark matter signatures, and prepare students for future careers in astrophysics.

Methodology and Tools

We utilize data from the Fermi-LAT telescope in combination with the official Fermi Science Tools. Our group employs a custom-written codebase to create likelihood stacks, allowing us to:

• Create likelihood stacks of source types and parameter space.
• Compare the likelihoods of potential source populations to blank sky or control fields.
• Determine the significance of stacks using the Kullback-Leibler divergence.

Current Research

We are currently expanding our research focus to include:

• Stacking dwarf galaxies to investigate potential dark matter gamma-ray signals.
• Investigating hot stars, compact binaries, and undetected Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
• Analyzing other populations of potential gamma-ray sources.

Past and Current Discoveries

Our members have successfully completed a range of projects, including:

• Stacking analysis of a flare star.
• Stacking analysis of the undetected pulsar population.
• Stacking analysis of globular clusters.
• Stacking analysis for galaxy clusters.
• Stacing analysis of galactic novae.

Our Team

The advising team includes:

• Dave Zurek, Collections Manager at AMNH.
• Tim Paglione, Assistant Provost of York College and Chair of CUNY Astro.
• Joshua Tan, Professor of Natural Science at LaGuardia Community College and Secretary of CUNY Astro.