Dr. Alison Mitchell

Physics Insitute
Chair of Physics

Room 02.038
Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Str. 2
91058 Erlangen

Phone number: +49 9131 85-70729
Email: alison.mw.mitchell@fau.de

I’m a researcher working in gamma-ray astronomy, a branch of the wider field of high energy astrophysics. The theme underlying my research interests is the quest to understand the nature and origin of the energetic cosmic rays permeating our universe and continuously bombarding Earth.

I am leading a DFG-funded Emmy Noether group at ECAP focussed on: Unveiling the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays: Exploring Pulsar Environments at the Highest Energies.

CV

since October 2021 – Junior research group leader at ECAP, FAU
2021 – Postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich
2018 – 2020 – Postdoctoral researcher at University of Zurich
2016 – 2018 Assistant Project Scientist for CTAO, gGmbH (67%)
2016 – 2018 Postdoctoral researcher at MPI Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg (33%)

2013 – 2016 PhD from the University of Heidelberg, IMPRS-HD, Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics: Dissertation

2008 – 2013 Undergraduate studies at the University of Warwick, UK

Research Interests

Gamma-ray Astronomy : with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes & Particle Detectors
Extensive Air Showers : properties of muons
Pulsar Wind Nebulae & Pulsar Halos
Galactic Novae
Gamma-ray data analysis and calibration techniques

Selected Publications

H.E.S.S. Collaboration (see “Author contributions” under Acknowledgements) Time-resolved hadronic particle acceleration in the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi, Science, 376, 77-80 (2022)
Olivera-Nieto, L.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; Bernlöhr, K.; Hinton, J.A. Muons as a tool for background rejection in Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope arrays, EPJC, 81, 1101 (2021)
Mitchell, A. M. W. Status of Ground-based and Galactic Gamma-ray Astronomy , PoS (ICRC2021) 046
Collins, T.; Rowell, G.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; Voisin, F.; Fukui, S.; Sano, H.; Alsulami, R.; Einecke, S. Explaining the extended GeV emission adjacent to HESS J1825-137, MNRAS, 504, 1840-1853 (2021)
Mitchell, A.M.W.; Rowell, G.P.; Celli, S.; Einecke, S. Using Interstellar Clouds to Search for Galactic PeVatrons: Gamma-ray Signatures from Supernova Remnants, MNRAS, 503, 3522-3539 (2021)
Baumgartner, S.; Bernardini, M.; Canivete Cuissa, J. R.; de Laroussilhe, H.; Mitchell, A. M. W.; Neuenschwander, B. A.; Saha, P.; Schaeffer, T.; Soyuer, D.; Zwick, L. Towards a Polarisation Prediction for LISA via Intensity Interferometry, MNRAS, 498, 4577-4589 (2020)
Principe, G.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; Caroff, S.; Hinton, J.A.; Parsons, R.D.; Funk, S. Energy dependent morphology of the pulsar wind nebula HESS J1825-137 with Fermi-LAT , A&A, 640, A76 (2020)
Giacinti, G.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; López-Coto, R.; Joshi, V.; Parsons, R.D.; Hinton, J.A. On the TeV Halo Fraction in gamma-ray bright Pulsar Wind Nebulae , A&A, 636, A113 (2020)
Gaug, M.; Fegan, S.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; Maccarone, M.C.; Mineo, T.; Okumura, A. Using muon rings for the calibration of the Cherenkov Telescope Array: A systematic review of the method and its potential accuracy ApJ Supplement Series, 243, 11 (2019)
Mitchell, A.M.W.; Dembinski, H.P.; Parsons, R.D. Potential for measuring the longitudinal and lateral profile of muons in TeV air showers with IACTs, Astropart. Phys., 111, 23-34 (2019)
Araya, M.; Mitchell, A.M.W.; Parsons, R.D. Revealing a new region of gamma-ray emission in the vicinity of HESS J1825-137, MNRAS, 485, 1001-1007 (2019)
H.E.S.S. Collaboration (corresponding authors: Mitchell, A.M.W.; Caroff, S.) Particle transport within the pulsar wind nebula HESS J1825-137, A&A, 621, A116 (2019)
“Highlight” paper of the A&A journal
Mitchell, A.M.W.; Parsons, R.D.; Hofmann, W.; Bernlöhr, K. Cross calibration of telescope optical throughput efficiencies using reconstructed shower energies for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, Astropart. Phys., 75, 1 (2016)

Dr. Alison Mitchell