CRD Students Receive Degrees, Acclaim

Bagrat Mailyan, the newest young scientist to immerge from the Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) of the Artem Alikhanyan National Laboratory (AANL) in Armenia, has been engaged in researching cosmic ray physics models, particle detectors, methods of data analysis, and simulation of detector response. Prof. Ashot Chilingarian, the head of CRD, highly praised the quality and significance of Mailyan’s work and his unique chance to contribute, at a young age, to the solution of very important physics problems. Mailyan defended his Ph.D. thesis “The energy spectra of thunderstorm correlated electrons and gamma rays” at the June 7 session of the AANL Council Meeting. His official thesis reviewers were Norayr Akopov from the AANL and Dr. Mikhail Panasyuk from Moscow State University. Panasyuk said it was the first time that energy spectra of electrons and gamma rays from the newly discovered phenomena of relativistic runaway electron avalanches in the atmosphere were presented to the scientific community. Mailyan will present the results of his work at the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Beijing, China this August, and will participate in the competition for the post-doctoral position at the CRD to be organized by the AANL this autumn.

While Mailyan was engaged in experimenting, analyzing data, and defending his thesis, two other students were conducting their senior undergraduate research projects at the CRD. Hasmik Rostomyan and Hripsime Mkrtchyan from Yerevan State University conducted their senior research at CRD’s high-altitude research stations on Mt. Aragats and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree.

With Chilingarian as their senior advisor, both women researched topics related to the ongoing work at CRD. The title of Mrktchyan’s thesis was “The relation of the electrical field intensity at the Earth’s surface to the flux of cosmic rays at the thunderstorm activity.” Rostomyan’s research topic was “Research of the Forbush decrease on Feb. 18, 2011”; this topic refers to the rapid decrease of intergalactic cosmic rays reaching the Earth during massive solar eruptions known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

In accordance with a new AANL policy of supporting bright, young Armenian scientists, both graduates were given employment at the CRD while pursuing advanced degrees. Rostomyan has been accepted by the United States Space Agency (NASA) to attend its upcoming space weather school in Slovakia in July.

Anahid Yeremian, a physicist and chairwoman of the Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (SCACRD), commented that the support from the Armenian Diaspora greatly facilitated these achievements. “We are proud of our diaspora,” she said, “and immensely proud of CRD’s leadership, staff, and especially our talented young Armenian students, scientists, and engineers.”