IIHE Invited seminar: Neutrino Astrophysics with the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO)

Abstract: The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Long Duration Balloon Mission, which launched from McMurdo Station in Antarctica on December 20, 2025 and flew for 23 days.  PUEO aims to detect the highest energy astrophysical and cosmogenic neutrinos, which is an important step toward understanding the most energetic cosmic accelerators in the universe. After giving a broader overview of the field, I will discuss PUEO’s science, the instrument, the flight, and the ongoing analysis of data.

Short Bio: Abigail Vieregg is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and serves as the David N. Schramm Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on experimental particle astrophysics and cosmology.  She is the PI of the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) mission, a senior member of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G), a senior member of the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and the BICEP suite of telescopes at the South Pole, and is developing concepts for low-frequency radio detection of cosmological signals.  She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and her honors include a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Cottrell Scholar Award, a Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship, The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and a Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigator award.